The sweet scent of blooming flowers filled the air, carried by the flutter of the air. High up the clear blue sky, the sun was shining brightly, casting warm golden rays at the tall trees of the forest. The emerald shimmer of the leaves draped over the woods offered a shady retreat to whoever wished to stop for a moment and rest.

  Oriana stood before the crystal clear water of the river at the edge of the arbor.

  It was a peaceful day, one of the many just like it, and she loved every second of that untroubled life.

  Suddenly, she felt something cling to her robes. Something small, warm and full of energy. The Princess looked down curiously.

  "Eira? What are you doing here?" She asked.

  The white-haired bundle of energy looked up and showed her a wide grin.

  "Aunty Goddess! I missed you, so I came to visit you," the girl replied proudly.

  Oriana knelt before the Koa in Training and caressed her head, to her great joy. So great, in fact, that it caused a fluffy tail and a set of big ears to suddenly spawn. A common occurrence ever since the girl’s ability to shape-shift started dispying.

  "Did you run away from your csses again, Little Cub?" Oriana poked Eira’s squishy cheek. "Your parents will be worried. You know they can’t come here."

  Hearing the keyword ‘csses’ being mentioned the girl immediately switched expressions from a ‘happy baby’ to a ‘pouting baby.’

  "But the csses are sooooo boooring," she compined. "I want to learn how to fight, like Fergus!"

  "But the csses are important, so you can be a good queen in the future, Little Cub."

  The girl puffed her cheeks.

  "I don’t wanna be a queen," she decred with a serious expression, "I wanna be aooooooooh! A butterfly!" Eira didn’t seem to mind that she was in the middle of the sentence when a colorful butterfly passed right in front of her eyes, stealing all of the girl’s attention.

  The warmth filled The Princess’ heart as she watched her chase after the monarch.

  Ever since she learned to walk, Eira would often find her way to her, causing not a small commotion at the Castle, as King Conall and Queen Aoife shook through every nook and cranny in search of their daughter.

  "Come, Eira. I’ll take you home, before your mom decres a state of emergency."

  The girl’s attention snapped from the butterfly, she was chasing a moment ago, back to Oriana.

  "Noooo… Can I stay with you a little bit longer, Aunty Goddess? Pleaseeeee, pleasepleaseplease," she pleaded. Her round silver eyes, could melt the heart of even the biggest vilin.

  Naturally, Oriana stood no chance against them.

  "Alright," she sighed. "But only for a little bit longer and then I’ll take you back."

  As the correct collection of keywords were spoken, Eira proudly announced the return of the ‘happy baby and the wide grin’ with an excited wagging of her tail.

  Then, she raised her little arms, as if she was trying to reach the sun above her.

  "Up, up," she demanded with an unfairly cute voice.

  Oriana shook her head, pretending this image hadn’t just completely steal her heart.

  She leaned over and picked the girl up into her arms.

  Having her request fulfilled, Eira giggled happily.

  She cuddled to Oriana for a bit, then pulled away and brushed her tiny fingers through her hair.

  "Your hair is so pretty, Aunty," she said. "And white just like mine!" she added happily comparing her own strand of hair to Oriana’s.

  "Do you like that we have a matching hair color?" The Princess asked.

  "Yes! And I want to be as pretty as you when I grow up, Aunty!"

  "Like me? What about your mom? Don’t you think she’s pretty?"

  Eira nodded excitedly.

  "Mommy is very pretty. I wanna be as pretty as her too!"

  Oriana narrowed her eyes cunningly.

  "Hmm… and what about your dad?"

  The Little Cub raised a finger to her chin and deeply pondered the question.

  "Daddy is pretty too," she said at st. "But his beard is very rough and scratchy and I don’t like it and mommy doesn’t like it either, so he’s less pretty than you and mommy."

  The Princess could barely hold a ughter.

  It looked like Conall was out voted two to one in regards to keeping the beard he was so proud of.

  Eira and the Princess spent most of the day together.

  They took a stroll around the woods, where they gathered sweet berries. Then, they took a short break by the river eating the fruits they managed to forage on their walk.

  Afterwards, Eira demanded that Oriana took her to the clearing where, apparently, it was possible to spot a golden stag.

  It was almost sunset when all the frolicking and chasing after butterflies, birds and all sorts of other kind of local fauna, finally burned through Eira’s impressive energy levels.

  The Princess took the utterly exhausted child into her arms and carried her back to the Castle, where her parents were anxiously waiting for her.

  "Eira! We were so worried!" Aoife rushed to Oriana and Eira, the moment they stepped into the hall.

  "Mommy!" The Girl outstretched her little arms and clung to her mother. "I went to visit Auntie Goddess today and we ate berries from the woods and then there was a butterfly and it was so pretty but not as pretty as the stag and it was so big and it had such a big antlers and it was allll golden!" She recalled all of the interesting things that she had seen in one breath.

  Aoife, relieved to see that her daughter is all and well, hugged her tightly. Then she turned to Oriana.

  "My Lady, my deepest apologies," she bowed, the Little Wolf-Koa still in her arms. "We didn’t even realize she ran away again."

  The Princess smiled.

  "Nonsense. You have nothing to apologize for. It’s nice to have a company sometimes. Especially such cheerful company," she gently pulled Eira’s cheek, prompting the girl to giggle happily. "But you may want to consider starting the combat training earlier. The little Princess seems to be having way too much energy to sit through boring csses all day."

  "We will, My Lady. I shall assign an instructor to her first thing in the morning," agreed Conall. Then he sighed. "I was hoping she wouldn’t be interested for at least few more years."

  "It’s inevitable. Hot blood of Faolán Wolves runs in her veins, so it’s no surprise she feels this way. And being the future queen, she needs to know how to defend herself and her subjects," Oriana pointed out.

  Despite the things she said, she didn’t want Eira to be a warrior either. In fact if she could, she would make sure that no harm ever meets the Little Cub, she cared for so much.

  She knew, however, that some wishes are impossible to come true. The Princess said her goodbyes and turned around to leave, but just as she was about to, she remembered something.

  "Oh. And Conall?" She turned around to look at the King.

  "Yes, My Lady?"

  A mischievous smile bloomed on Oriana’s face.

  "You should shave."

  As the dream reached the end, the memory of it began fading away, covered by different, much less meaningful images.

  By the time the sun started shyly gncing over the horizon, Oriana had no recollection of the dense forest and it’s flickering leaves, or the crystal clear water in the river. She couldn’t remember the golden stag or the little white-haired girl.

  The only thing that remained, was the sense of loss lingering in her heart, that made her cling closer to Valeria peacefully sleeping next to her.

  "…So when you came in, I was simply saying that I won’t forget that she promised me to wear something nice, and will make her guard the pantry if she doesn’t. And the fact that we were having a sleep over won’t change that. I told you nothing happened," Oriana concluded her (heavily redacted) retelling of what happened st night and what exactly was that Kyra saw.

  The sister gnced between Valeria and the Princess.

  While the first wore unusually smug expression, the tter looked like she just finished her hour-long visit to sauna. That image alone was telling a whole different story than the one presented by Oriana.

  "Right…" Kyra didn’t have the heart to admit that she wasn’t buying it in the slightest.

  The Princess, on the other hand, either didn’t notice or simply chose not to notice the very obviously present doubt in the girl’s voice.

  "Good. If everything is clear then please excuse me. I have an important business to attend to," she got off the seat and strode to the exit.

  Valeria furrowed her brows.

  "What important business?"

  Oriana stopped by the door and looked at her over the shoulder. Then with the most serious expression she could muster, said…

  "Breakfast."

  And hastily left.

  Kyra looked at Valeria utterly dumbfounded. Her sister, however, seemed to be completely unaffected by the Princess weird (even by her standards) behavior. In fact, Valeria looked like she was in a really good mood.

  "Sooo…" she started carefully, "what really happened between you two?"

  The Commander stood before the mirror, fixing the colr of her uniform.

  "Nothing. Just like Oriana said," a smile curved her lips, "but I think she likes me."

  Kyra felt like she was suddenly thrown to a different reality, where her sister is not only able to dispy more emotions than just disapproval and displeasure, but also where she seems to be less dense in the romance department.

  "Really now? What makes you say that?" She asked with an honest curiosity as to what groundbreaking thing managed to get her utterly blind sister to finally see what’s in front of her.

  And whatever that was must’ve been really, really, ground breaking, because Valeria not only blushed (!) but also looked away while biting her lip (!!!).

  "We almost kissed," she said bashfully.

  "You said that nothing happened!!!"

  "We almost kissed. It didn’t actually happen…" Valeria answered, visibly disappointed.

  Kyra wasn’t sure if she should ugh or cry about how helpless her sister is… and apparently the Princess as well.

  "So what are you going to do about it?" She asked, not really expecting any substantial answer. It was Valeria, after all.

  "I have a pn," the Commander answered to her complete surprise. "But I’m going to need your help."