Planting the seed for a small war

After Marika was done with taking a shower and changing her cloths she went to the biggest dining hall in the castle.

When she arrived she could hear the noise from the soldiers and sounded happy and lively.

'Hey guys sorry I'm late.'

"Yumaria!"

'As she sat down, 'Let's have a great time and celebrate our comradely!'

They all cheered to her toast and the dinner party started.

After a few hours Richard cam to check on her, but saw she was having a great time and was eating well.

She challenged a few soldiers to a drinking contest and another to an arm wrestling contest.

Richard left and went to his room.

When it was close to midnight the party came to an end and Marika told the soldiers there would be a special hanger over soup for them in the morning and a sturdy breakfast.

All the soldiers thank her and told her they should do this again after her wedding.

Marika nodded and bid them all good night.

Marika then held the two captains and the training instructor back for a moment.

'Can I ask a favor of you guys?'

"What is it?"

Marika looked a bit dejected and said 'Very soon there will be a small war, if and this is a big if, something will happen to me that forces me to be separated from Richard, could you guys please guard him from other women?'

The three man looked surprised at her "We will My Queen, we all recognize you and only you as Our Queen."

She gave them a hug 'You guys always set my mind at ease, thank you.'

The three man left the dining hall and Marika smiled.

[Two days later]

Canus, Aron and Rex were meeting up with Marika in Queentia.

'Alright, we will be heading to the Blood Kingdom and have these 4 wolfs settle in their new home.'

Marika looked at the 4 of them 'While you guys get to your new home I want you to know that there is a pesky White Fox Clan, and I want you to keep an close eye on them.'

'If you suspect them to come to my borders, just kill them, no mercy.'

"Are you sure about the?" Canus asked her.

'Of course I am, my daughter Luna is pregnant and Silva is currently there to help her ease her mind and prepare her for what's to come. I don't want my grandchildren and the children of my pack to get harmed by those sh*tty foxes.'

'Rufus, Serena, Stella, Rudy, remember what I told you. You are free to roam the lands near the border, any village you may encounter you are forbidden to get near it. You can hunt for food but you're not allowed to hunt villager. If you guys have a hard time to survive over there, what I doubt, come back to Queentia, but do not attack any people here.'

The 4 wolfs nuzzled her to let her know they understood.

Marika smiled at them 'Is everybody ready to go?'

"Yes Queen Yumaria"

'Alright let's head out.'

Just before they were ready to leave Kevin and Dante ran up to her.

"Sis!"

Marika turned around and was attacked by her brothers with a hug.

"Sis why can't we go with you?"

'Because you know you'll be targeted and I don't want you get hurt. And if your mother knows you're in The Blood Kingdom, she can and will make thing difficult for me and take you away from me and dad. Because the law there will give her the full right to take you away because your still not an adult.'

"I understand…but if you are going up against The White Fox Clan in a battle you better let me know, because I still want to pay them back for what they did to me in the human world."

'Don't worry Kevin, I'll make sure to call you so you can get your revenge.' Marika patted his head.

"Please be save over there, although you have Canus, Aron and Rex with you, I got word from Arthur that Raphael is up to something since he knows you're coming."

'Well Ray did tell me I should just kill him if he did something again.'

"Sis could you give this to Arthur when you meet him."

Marika took the dagger from Dante, and Dante explained that if Arthur took of the end of the hilt there would be a small whistle hidden.

Marika smiled 'So you trained Alacer to respond to the whistle.'

"Yes… it is soundless to us, but since I'm staying here until Aron gets back, Alacer should be able to hear it."

Marika patted his head. "My brother is so smart."

Marika gave them both a hug 'Be good, and I'll be back in a few days.'

"Stay save sister."

"Come back quickly sis."

Marika nodded and mounted Socius and left for Cruentus.

[Moon Castle]

Richard was in a meeting with Cillus and Cinis.

"When Marika gets back from Cruentus we are getting her magic back."

"I thought it would be another two weeks before that."

"Why did Mari left for Cruentus?"

"Because she will plant the seed for a small war and is going to discuss with Ray the evacuation plan."

"When is she ever going to take some time for herself" Cillus sighed.

"Well when she has her magic back she planned to visit you guys."

"Father don't forget the late autumn festival is in two weeks and Mari would be coming over with the children, how is she supposed to come if she hasn't her Magic back."

"Did you have a talk with her about her magic?"

Richard nodded "She was extremely angry, but she thought our concerns were reasonable so even though she didn't like it we have the permission to use magic suppressing stones."

"How about we have them designed and have the emblems of Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi, Lunae Lumen and Ignis engraved in them."

"That sounds good to me."

There was a knock on the door

"Enter"

"My King you asked for me?"

"Saxeus, we need your expertise on magic suppressing stones."

"You know how big the energy pool of Queen Yumaria is and it will become twice the size in a few days."

"But because her magic will be restored we need to suppress it."

"Well with her final awakening she was wearing an necklace from the Mystic Mountain Clan, that one alone should suppress her current state. But you can use additional stones and like earrings, rings, shout suppress it completely in her current state. But if for Our Queen wants to be on the safe side, making a belt out of suppressing stones should be sufficient."

"But even with all those stones it would not suppress her completely if her energy will be twice the size, but it would damper it a lot."

"Alright"

Cillus and Cinis nodded

"In this way she wouldn't feel completely helpless or incomplete."

[Border of Cruentus]

Marika and her group had past the border and met up with Julia.

'Julia! How have you been.'

Marika dismounted her horse and gave her a hug.

'I have been well. Thanks to your call last time Ray scolded Clause and he is less stuck up.'

'Is Clause looking forward to my visit?'

Julia giggled a bit 'Not at all, he is fearing you'll beat him up once you arrived and meet with him.'

'He is such a baby…but I promised Richard I would behave myself so he has nothing to fear.'

Marika called the wolfs over.

'Rufus, Serena, Stella, Rudy, this is Julia and she will be the queen of this country and your guardian and care taker.'

The 4 of them walked up to Julia and sniffed her and started to nuzzle her.

'Now let's go to your new home.'

Marika, Canus, Rex, Aron and the wolfs fallowed Julia.

When they arrived at the burrow that was dug out recently and a water source dug that ran along it.

'Wow.. this looks nice, what do you think?'

The wolfs looked happy and started to inspect the burrow that was made for them.

'Who made this?'

'It were the villagers who live nearby that made this for them, I told them there were 4 wolfs going to settle in our lands and they were so happy about it that they made this.'

'Oh…why is that?'

'While the village is pretty isolated and far from the castle they are on bad terms with The White Fox Clan, because the white foxes come here to hunt on the land and harass the people.'

Rufus heard it and came up to Marika whining.

'You guys want to meet the villagers and thank them for your new home?'

Rufus and the otters waged their tail.

'You remember what I told you guys about villages and the people…but if you promise me to protect them and not hurt them then I see no problem in it.'

Julia lead everybody to the village.

Once they arrived they were they were welcomed with open arms.

The wolfs started to sniff the people and made sure to remember their smell so they wouldn't accidentally hurt them. Among the people there were three baby's but it all looked fine and they were cautious around the baby's.

One of the mothers crouched down so they could have a better look and smell.

'Thank you for come to live in this area, now I'm more reassured about my child's safety.' As she patted them.

Marika was relieved to see that there were no problems with them being around children and infants.

A young man came up to the wolfs and patted them "Do you like your new home?"

They wagged their tails and nuzzled them.

"If you guys are having problems with food come and find us, we will help you out."

Marika smiled and was happy about the outcome.

'I heard you have some issues regarding The White Fox Clan?'

"Yes… they come here from time to time and just raid and steal resource."

'Well since the wolfs know your scent just call for them, they will come and help you scare them away.'

"But if it's regarding trading why not go to Queentia in Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi?" Aron asked them.

"We would like to, but we are well aware of the law that anybody who set's food in Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi unannounced to the Queen would be killed"

'That's true, but have you ever tried to reach out to her?'

"We tried to…every time we wanted to try The White Fox Clan either would interfere or would attack her country, we didn't want to be standing in the cross fire."

'Well you have reached out to her now and she has heard you.'

Marika nodded to Aron.

Aron gave them a special token "With this you can safely cross the border and visit Queentia. If by chance the token gets stolen take one of the wolfs with you and cross the border."

'Julia if for some reason this village is in trouble, I will lend them the refuge they need since they are closer to my border and Queentia.'

'Thank you Queen Yumaria.'

All the people wanted to bow to Marika but she stopped them

'You have welcomed me with open arms and gave these 4 a new home what I could not give them, so please treat me equally.'

"We will Queen Yumaria."

Marika gave the 4 wolfs a hug 'Be good and take care of yourselves and these villagers.'

Rufus, Serena, Stella, Rudy whimpered a little but they knew she was right as Marika was leaving them they let out a howl as to say goodbye and thank you.

While they were riding towards Blood Castle Julia asked 'Why did you offer refuge to the villager?'

'That's easy...they have issues with The White Fox Clan, I have a standing enmity with them.'

'And since that village is close to my border why not show them that there is a place although closed off will lend them aid in times of need.'

'And besides I also will be taking in refugees from Ignis soon. While my country is closed off, I can also protect the common people, because any enemy forces can and will be stopped by the border, one foot on my land means death.'

'You know I don't give a crap about status, backgrounds or race. But my country will not open up until it's peaceful.'

[Blood Castle]

Marika and her party arrived at the castle and were welcomed by Ray.

'Ray! How have you been?' Marika gave him a hug.

"I have been well Yumaria."

'Let me introduce to you; This is Aron of The Green Dragon Clan and Duke of Queentia, and this is my nephew Rex, who will be the next head of The Founding Green Dragon Clan.'

Suddenly something landed on Marika's head.

"Sky! Get of her head right this instant your being rude."

'Clause shut the hell up.'

'Sky how have you been?'

Sky screeched happily and landed in front of her.

Marika whistled and Aura came down.

'Aura, Sky why don't you and the others catch up on things.'

"You brought them all with you?"

'No…but they fallowed me when they heard Aura was coming with me and she would see Sky again.'

Ray started to laugh "Seems some habits are hard to get rid of."

'Clause you better leave them alone.'

"Yes Your Majesty."

"Julia would you be so kind as to show them to their room? I have a meeting with the Sanguis."

'Hum… let me join you.'

"Aren't you tired of your trip?"

'Not at all… and even if I were I can't pass up such a great opportunity.'

"Alright then."

'And Clause, no matter the noise they will make towards me or about me, keep your mouth shut.'

"Yes Your Majesty."

'Julia once you showed them to their room show Rex where he can train, and after that Aron you discuss with Julia about the trading between The Blood Kingdom and Queentia.'

"But…"

'Clause…shut up, she will do fine on her own and before everything is given a green light there will be checks and more negotiation.'

'And here I thought I had trust issues…but you Clause… you really take the cake.'

'Now show me to a room where I can fresh up and change my cloths, and bring me to the meeting room after that.'

"Yes Your Majesty, please fallow me."

Marika fallowed Clause inside the castle.

'Is it going to be alright to leave those two alone?'

"It's going to be fine, although they will be head butting with each other during her stay, I think she will manage to change Clause behavior or at least his perspective."

Julia told Rex, Canus and Aron to fallow her and a few servants to carried the belongings in side.

Ray also went inside to the meeting room.

While Marika was fleshing up and changing her cloth.

'Clause is the reason for your distrust because you failed to protect Alec?'

Clause flinched at her words.

"I guess it is."

Marika came out of the bathroom and smiled at him. 'What if I tell you that I have found prince Alec and I know where he is…What would you do?'

"I would beg him for forgiveness because I failed him."

'Hum…and what good will do you that?'

'Well I know of a better way.'

Clause looked up to her. "And what does Her Majesty have in mind?"

'Stay wary of other, support Ray and Julia and create a place for him to come back to.'

'If you do that, I doubt he will be angry at you…even if you failed him in protecting him back then, doesn't have to mean you failed in showing him that there are people waiting for him and he has a place to call home.'

Marika then whispered something to Clause and his eyes were wide of surprised.

"So my suspicious were true after all."

Marika patted him on the shoulder 'I hope you can keep up the act of being distrustful for now but let go of it once this is over and it's peaceful here in The Blood Kingdom.'

"But why do I need to shut up and not defending you during the meeting?"

'Simple…it's all part of a plan that I will discuss with you, Ray and Julia later.'

"Then Your Majesty…I will trust you."

'By the way Clause are you familiar how The King of Ignis and The King of The Moon Kingdom rule their countries?'

"Yes I am aware."

'Then how about Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi?'

"Not so much, because your borders are closed, and nobody can get in without your permission."

'Then why don't you come over and see it for yourself.'

"But what about…"

'Clause I told you so many times, Julia is more than capable, and if she hit's a wall she can ask Ray for help.'

"Alright Your Majesty."

'Now that I'm all done let's go to the meeting.'

Marika and Clause left the room and went straight to the meeting room.

'Just observe and speak up when they are being rude to Ray, don't worry about me.'

Clause nodded.

When she came inside the meeting room she saw the elders and Reinel sitting in the room together with Raphael and Arthur.

"Queen Yumaria, thank you for coming all the way to my castle so we can talk out the misunderstanding between the Sanguis and yourself."

'I thank you for this opportunity Your Majesty Caedis.'

Marika than sat down in the seat Clause led her to.

'I do want to mention I'm a very temperamental person, Duke Reinel and Raphael knows this best.'

'So I do advice you to think before you speak.'

Raphael stood up and pointed at Marika "You bitch! Why the hell are you even here?"

Marika frowned at Raphael and then looked at Reinel.

'You better make that brat shuts up before I do loos my temper and kill him.'

"You call me a brat!!! I'm older than you, you should be showing me respect."

'You may be older than me in the number, but you are far from being an adult unlike me.'

'It's really a sad sight that someone who is younger than then you by 3 years know how to behave and speak respectful.'

'You are equal to a 6 year old brat who throws temper tantrums as soon as it doesn't get what it wants or is beaten by someone who is younger than them.'

The elders didn't say anything and just observe Marika.

"Raphael just shut up and sit back down."

Marika then turned her attention to Arthur.

'I really pity you Arthur to have such a stupid elder brother…you probably feel ashamed of him right now.'

"I thank Her Majesty for her concerns about my well being but while I am ashamed about my elder brothers behavior, it should not affect me, or the efforts I will make in the future, nor should something like that be held against me. For I will achieve things with my own two hands."

Marika nodded.

'Really well spoken, I think everybody in the Sanguis family should learn from the youngest of the family.'

'While we had our disagreements and our brawls, I came to inform you that during my engagement banquet Arthur had stepped up and I decided to appoint him as an ambassador between Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi and Cruentus.'

'What do you think about this Your Majesty.'

Ray looked at Arthur "What do you think about it Arthur?"

"Your Majesty I will gracefully accept Her Majesty offer and will do my upmost to make sure the cooperation between Cruentus and Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi will be smooth and well protected."

Ray then nodded.

'I do have one condition…If His Majesty permits it I would like for Advisor Clause to come along to Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi so he can have a better grasp on my ruling and laws.'

"Are you sure about that Queen Yumaria, you and Clause are always butting head."

'I already discussed it with him, and butting heads with Clause is fun.' Marika smiled.

'I have to admit Claus can be stuck up, controlling and a nag, there is nothing wrong with those qualities. It only shows he will leave no rock un-turned and makes sure that Your Majesty and the people are save and happy.'

While Clause was observing Marika he noticed that only she can see what lies behind his attitude and have a clear picture of what he wanted to create for this Kingdom.

"I am honor by your words Your Majesty."

Marika smiled at Clause 'I only speak the truth.'

Then an elder of the Sanguis started to speak up "With all due respect Your Majesty Caedis, but it's the eldest who should be in the position of being an ambassador."

Marika looked at the elder 'Are you even aware what the eldest son of Reinel did or say to me?'

"We are aware of that but, something like this should not be left to the youngest."

Marika stood up and walked over to the elder.

Reinel had a bad feeling.

Marika stood in front of the elder and slapped him right in the face with full force and the elder fell to the ground.

'Are you insane?'

'You want me to have a bastard next to me, who is disrespectful, and tried to kill me.'

'Are you suffering from old age, is your brain even working?'

'Do you think I'm so stupid or naive to just fallow up on your suggestion.'

'If you had raised the eldest better than he would have had a chance, but I still stand by my opinion I have for this family, your stupidity is inheritable.'

Raphael was enraged by Marika's action and attacked her. But she managed to stop him and had him by the throat.

'Didn't I teach you your place and status last time? Or do you want to be stomped on, chewed on and spit out again?' Marika looked very cold and murderous.

'Then let me teach you again; I am a Queen, you are the son of a Duke, your position is way lower than mine. Your fighting skills are nothing compared to me, you are pathetic in every sense of the word.'

Marika then threw Raphael through a closed window and jumped after him.

Reinel helped up the elder.

Ray ran to the window and told the guard to stand down and not to interfere.

Rex, Aron, Canus and Julia also heard the noise and came to see what was going on.

Arthur, Reinel and the elders watch as how Marika was unleashing her battle skills on Raphael and watched in horror how she was cutting away on Raphael.

"Your Majesty you have to stop her."

"I wish I could, but only The Moon King can stop her now and he isn't here..."

"Then can't you make a call…"

Ray then called Richard and showed him what was going on.

"It's best to let her be…If I stop her, she will be pant up and I don't think your castle has any place that can withstand her pant up anger once she releases it."

"What is the radius of the damage?"

"Roughly around 300 meters will be completely be destroyed,"

Ray was calm but the Sanguis were as white as a sheet.

"But I have a sense of déjavu right now."

"Well that because she is literally repeating what she did to Raphael at my mansion."

What did she say and do before she start cutting him?"

"Well after Marika slapped an elder to the ground because he was opposed by the idea of Arthur pointed as an ambassador between Virtus et Caeruleus Viridi and The Blood kingdom, Raphael attacked her."

"She then said; Didn't I teach you your place and status last time? Or do you want to be stomped on, chewed on and spat out again? Then let me teach you again; I am a Queen you are the son of a Duke, your position is way lower than me. Your fighting skills are nothing compared to me, you are pathetic in every sense of the word."

"She then threw him through a closed window and jumped right after him."

"Ahaha she really is repeating what she did at the mansion."

Marika then turned in to her Dragon form and was biting down on Raphael.

"Your Majesty don't forget to chew properly, we don't want to inform The Moon King you choked on a vampire!"

Ray turned around and looked at Clause in disbelieve.

Richard laughed out loud because of Clause remark.

"What wrong Your Majesty?"

"I would expect to hear something like that from Richard… but not from you."

"What? I only advised her to chew properly…Who do you think that has to deal with all the paper work and what not if she chokes…I do wish to live a little longer and I don't want any unnecessary trouble for you or the people."

Marika spat out the mangled body of Raphael 'Let see if you are able to survive and recover from this.'

Marika then looked at the Sanguis family and they all looked enraged by what she did.

Marika then smirked with her eyes and started to roar at them, but it was not her typical roar. She was actually calling for all the dragons, but she had informed everybody to ignore her this time.

As she was keeping up her roar, tremors were felt and an earthquake was the result of it.

As she was roaring she simultaneously looking for the location of the epicenter of the tremors.

'I found you guys.'

She stopped her roaring and the tremors also stopped.

"Ray since she is now calm, there should nothing to be worried about, but if this happens again just let her be."

"Alright Richard."

Ray ended the call and looked down and saw Marika was in her 7th stage.

"Queen Yumaria!"

"Is it alright for the soldiers to come and pick up Raphael's body? I don't like it when there is trash on my lawn!"

'Sure thing King Ray.'

The soldiers carefully approached Marika and bowed to her.

"Is he still alive?" One of the soldiers asked.

"Who cares… he will survives this and he will be hell bend on trying to kill her next time."

'Don't worry he is still alive, but for how long who knows…' she shrugged her shoulders.

The soldiers flinched at Marika's words.

The leader bowed again "My apologies Your Majesty they lack…"

'No not at all, but what do you mean by he will be hell bent on killing me?'

The leader started to whisper something and Marika had an cold expression of her face.

'Are you sure about that? How do you know this?'

"Well we got suspicious about Raphael's recovery when he was wounded so bad that one would think he should be dead."

"So we sneaked in to where they were healing him up."

"Also we saw him in that state you put him in last time, it doesn't matter how you look at it, it's not normal even for us vampires to be fully recover in a matter of two days and have no traces of the attack on once body."

Marika started to laugh, and the soldiers looked at her in concern.

'No wonder… I should have known.'

'Well just give those Sanguis their sh*tty son back, I'm going to need him later anyway so he can't die just yet.'

The Soldiers then bowed again to Marika and left with Raphael.

Rex, Aron, Canus and Julia came up to Marika.

"Are you alright Yumaria?"

'No I'm not…but I accomplished what I came here to do anyway.'

"Aunt?"

Marika looked at Rex and slapped him at the back of his head.

"I'm sorry Yumaria."

"But what's wrong, you look like you're ready to murder somebody."

'Well that's because I am… But I will leave it alone for now.'

'Julia I need a map of this land.'

Everybody went inside the castle and back to the meeting room.

To Marika's surprise Reinel and the elders were still there.

On elder came up to Marika and wanted to slap her but he was stopped by Rex.

'Grandpa mind you blood pressure, you'll die from a heart attack if you stay enraged like this.'

The second elder started to yell at Marika "You monster! How dare you do that to our grandchild."

Marika shrugged her shoulders 'I warned you guys fair and square, I have a temper.'

Marika sat back down in her seat.

'Well what you just witness was nothing but a repeating action of mine, everything you saw I did to him before.'

'Well I did shew on him a little more this time.'

"Your Majesty, you can't ignore her actions just now."

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

"You need to execute her right now!"

Ray directed his gaze on Julia, "Darling what would happen if I did something like that?"

'Well…if we did that than we are doomed. If word got out that we killed Queen Yumaria over something this silly, we will be trampled on by The Azure King, The Black Dragon King and princes. Not to mention The Green Dragon Clan will join their hands.'

'Then there is also the possibility that even The Red and Yellow Clan will come here and aid them, since Queen Yumaria is also on friendly terms with them.'

'This Kingdom will fall.'

'Our race will be completely be destroyed.'

'Am I right Clause?'

"That sums it up quite accurate Your Highness."

Canus then drew his sword "You think you can just execute her?"

"I dare you to try…because when it all comes down to it, me and King Lunam can tear down this whole kingdom, just the two of us."

Marika stood up and walked over to Canus 'There, there brother calm down.' And she petted his head.

'He is right you know, although Canus is a blood firstly battle freak, I like that he loves to fight and kill mercilessly just like me so I gave him some extra training. He is now equal in strength and endurance as my husband. So just the two of them should be sufficient to take down this whole place.'

'So I recommend you not to bother and try it.'

'But if you insist on it just send me a declaration of war to me anytime. But at least have some balls and face me head on and don't drag any innocent people in this matter.'

Marika then excused herself and Julia took her to her room.

Marika settled down, and a servant came to the room bringing a map.

Marika looked at it and saw what the area was of the epicenter of the tremors.

'This is troublesome…'

'What's wrong?'

'Well when I let out my roar you felt the tremors right?'

Julia nodded.

'Well the epicenter of the tremors are right under this small city.'

Marika looked pensive and Julia then spotted a cave on the map.

'Yumaria this cave has a system of tunnel that run all the way up to this castle if I'm not mistaken.'

'Let's walk from here to the cave and maybe we find something on the way.'

'When do you want to go?' Marika asked Julia

'Let's go right now.'

Marika smiled quickly changed her cloth.

As the two were getting ready Ray asked them what they were up to.

'Oh nothing much, there is a cave I want to explore so Julia is going to show me the way.'

"Alright but be careful, I don't want to be the one who gets blamed if you get hurt."

'What are you worried about, with my healing ability even if we get hurt I can just heal ourselves.'

"Still you two are pruned for recklessness."

'Alright dad!'

Julia started to laugh because of Marika's remark.

"Which cave are you going?"

'The one near Alta Rubra, but we will depart from the castle so…'

"Alright…" Ray gave Julia a kiss on her head.

"Make sure you'll be back for dinner, if not I'll send soldiers after you."

'Dad we are big girls, stop worrying.'

Ray laughed and patted Marika's head "If I had a daughter like you I would be even more worried when she is an adult."

Marika smiled 'Then make sure you have a son.'

Marika and Julia left and went down to the basement of the castle.

Julia then pushed a shelf case and a door was visible.

Julia unlocked the door but took the key with her just in case.

As they went in further the air got heavier and damped.

During their walk through the tunnels Marika and Julia placed marks on the walls, so they could find their way back.

After a few hours they came they saw the main tunnel was split up in two separate ways.

'If we turn left we get to the cave.'

'What if we turn right? Where does that lead to?'