Tymon woke up early morning with a piercing headache. He opened his eyes as he tried to look around. His left hand felt very heavy as he turned to his side and saw Bihse cuddling against him. Memory of the previous night came flooding in. He moved his right hand as he cleared his face; the texture felt very wrong. He stared at his arm, which was now fully metallic. He raised it to the ceiling as he inspected it. Bihse screamed as she shot up from the bed and stared at Tymon, who looked at her slightly puzzled.

  “What’s your arm? Also, you have a horn on the side of your head.” Bihse pointed. She then saw her left arm, which was also fully metallic, and freaked out.

  “My arm! What is this?”

  Tymon also realized her horn had moved from the central to the side; her hair was also bck with strands of red. She no longer looked closer to a human than a troll, with her sharp teeth now gone and her eyes kinder.

  “You look beautiful.” Tymon was fully captivated by her; his heart raced. Bihse simply blinked as he pulled her closer. Their two metallic arms united, producing a small ring as if reacting to each other. Bihse leaned towards him as the two locked eyes. They moved their metallic arms in unison. The ring became a calming tone as Bihse started to hum. It was then they started to hear each other’s thoughts. Tymon joined in as they slowly synced.

  They both felt a rush and started to experience each other’s lives. Tymon saw the death of Bihse’s father in battle as he handed her the mantle. The hardships she had to face as she cared for her people, who were slowly dying from repeated wars with the empire. The helplessness she felt when the forest was slowly getting consumed by the empire; he experienced their first meeting and all her raw emotions. A small tear ran down his face as he continued to hum. Bihse felt his entire life from when he was young to growing up. How he met his wife and the time they spent together, the battles he had with the orcs as his comrades fell and he id them to rest, the birth of her child. She felt the intense emotions when he found his dead wife and child, the subsequent prosecution, the years of hate, loneliness, and resentment which slowly ate him until they found each other.

  The emotions were raw, as tears fell down their faces. They continued the hum as both their secrets and fears were id out to bear. The hum stopped as they both embraced each other; Tymon id small kisses on Bihse, who smiled.

  “Were you always this rge?”

  “You better be talking about my heart.” The two ughed as a maid knocked on their door.

  “I am sorry to interrupt, Sir Tymon, but the Queen has summoned you.”

  “I will be right there. Prepare a bath, please.”

  “As you wish. Should it just be for yourself or for your dy also?” Tymon stared at Bihse momentarily.

  “One will be fine.” Bihse smiled as the two prepared themselves for the bath. It was then Tymon realized he was as tall as Bihse now. He tried to wear the special outfit prepared by Adeline, but it could not fit, so he decided to wear Bihse’s uniform. It was a military suit which was bck and had three red lines from the shoulder down to their pants. Three red rubies were pced on the right of their chest. They made their way to the throne room, where the old butler was waiting. He opened the door, and the two entered.

  The first thing they saw was Adeline sitting on the throne, wearing a bck dress lined with red rubies. She looked very intimidating but very beautiful and elegant. They both bowed and made their way to their assigned seating, which were the closest to Adeline. Directly opposite was Azazel, who wore simir clothing but he only had two red rubies, followed by Sejin, who had one ruby. There were some older shamans and several others who only had the outfit. Adeline stared at Tymon and Bihse with a smirk.

  “Why are you wearing your girlfriend’s clothes?”

  “I couldn’t fit in mine, Your Highness.” Her smirk became even wider as she winked at Bihse, whose face was completely red. Azazel, on the other hand, was more interested in their physical and internal changes.

  “Your growth has accelerated rapidly. It should have taken several years until you had physical characteristics, but it seems your souls have somehow merged.”

  “Our souls have merged?”

  “I am guessing you both decided to be bonded to each other. Usually, it is just your consciousness, but for you two, it is your very soul. My wife and I share a simir bond. I theorized it is because of how powerful and old we are, but I am guessing that is wrong.” Azazel started to rumble to himself as the entire group simply stared at him, unable to understand him. Adeline cpped her hand as the maids brought in a magical crystal ball and connected it to Gena. She too wore a bck and red dress with four rubies; she looked quite pleased with it.

  “I greet you, Your Highness.”

  “I hope you have been well, Gena.”

  “I have brought you all together because I would like to discuss the structure of our new kingdom.” Everyone stood at attention as they paid attention.

  “At the head will be me, Queen Adeline Arbegon, followed directly by Gena. I do have a question for you, do you wish to retain your title of Queen?”

  “No, I don’t wish to. There can only be one Queen, and that is you.”

  “I will then award you the title of Mother of the Forest. You will have the power to make independent decisions regarding the care of the forest and the allocation of all creatures.”

  “I thank you, Your Highness.”

  “The next will be Tymon and Bihse. Tymon, you will take a more administrative and logistic role. You will manage things such as the budget, food allocation, housing, and such. You can have an entire department to aid you with that task, so don’t even think of doing everything by yourself.”

  “As you will, Your Highness.”

  “Bihse, you will be in charge of the army. You will be tasked with making sure the army is properly trained and equipped. You will also help Tymon with his tasks. You too can choose people under you and form your own department.”

  “Azazel, you will be in charge of research, development, and magic. All the shamans will be under you, so work together to come up with better ways to defend ourselves and better the day-to-day lives of those who live in the kingdom. That goes without saying that you will work together with Bihse as you develop these new tools.” Azazel silently nodded, as Adeline turned towards Sejin.

  “Sejin, you will be in charge of enforcing the w created by me. I have made a short list already for you to work with. You will execute this down to the letter, and you won’t be biased by your own personal thoughts about humans or trolls. Depending on the severity, it may vary from a warning to a prison sentence. If the transgression is too heinous, we will hold a meeting and proceed from there.”

  “Lastly, I would like to talk about the rubies on your uniform; they are to dispy seniority and the chain of command. This does mean in certain circumstances one could order the ones below them, but please be respectful.”

  “Why don’t I have four stars then?” Azazel was the first to protest.

  “Would you like more responsibilities also? The higher you are, the more involved you are with the kingdom.” Azazel fell silent as he started to think.

  “I am too busy with research to do other things, but still, I am the oldest here!”

  “As I said, if you want more stars, you will have to hold more responsibilities, and you also don’t want to lead.” Azazel fell silent again as he started to grumble underneath his breath. Everyone else seemed satisfied with the expnations and rankings. A knock was then heard as the butler opened the door, then bowed.

  “A delegation from the empire has arrived, and Risin has also returned and seeks an immediate audience with you.”

  “Bring Risin; leave the delegation outside. Make sure a guard is on them. If they make any silly moves, you can apprehend them.” The old butler bowed as Sejin got up from his seat. They both left as Risin entered the room; he looked very rough. He bowed, then stared at everyone in the room.

  “I delivered your message; the emperor also tried to kill me.”

  “Now, why would he want to do that?”

  “He mentioned my sister. Tymon was right about what happened.”

  “He was always right; you owe him more than your life. As promised, the woman and her children can now leave if they wish to, but do warn them that their safety in the empire is not guaranteed.”

  “Thank you, Your Highness.”

  “Please take a bath and wear your uniform. Don’t forget you will be directly under Tymon. You are not out of the woods yet.” Risin bowed and left the room. Bihse held Tymon’s hand. She could sense Tymon’s relief after seeing Risin return. Tymon turned and smiled at her as he gripped her hand. There were no secrets between them. Adeline stared at the two, feeling a bit jealous but happy nevertheless.

  “Bring in the delegation next; I want to hear what they say.”