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"Hey! The sun's not all that bad!" Saji teased, laughing lightly.

Then, at the sudden change in subject Saji froze. All merriment died from her features and she stared at Niji. Her eyes widenned when his hair started to turn gray. As he began to pull out his sword Saji could feel the storm brewing overhead. She could also see her Corra almost close enough by now.

"Niji, can you hear me?" Saji shouted to him, hoping that he would hear even a hint of her voice. She recognized the effect his guardian had on Niji when he spoke to him.

Suddenly, sound slammed into her. She fell to one knee, covering her ears at the sheer volume.

"I will be the King of the True Kingdom..."

Blood trickled down either side of her face, her hearing temporarily damaged from the noise. For a moment she couldn't hear anything at all. She knew she was screaming for Niji, but even her own voice was cut off, sounding more like a hum.

Lightning struck the ground beside Saji suddenly and her Corra was instantly beside her agian. She dropped her hands from her ears and grabbed hold of the cloud. Lighting burst from it again, forming the blade of a long sword, the handle shaping around Saji's fingers.

She put herself between the Niji and where she knew the others to be. She didn't stand a chance against his guardian, but she knew she stood a chance against Niji.

"Niji! Fight him!! There is no battle here!"

Saji kept her eyes on Niji as the second sonic boom hit her. She was braced this time so it merely shook her, almost throwing her off balance, but she managed to keep her footing. It felt like her head would burst...

She doesn't care, if I were to die she'd only be happier.

Saji's eyes flashed dangerously. How dare his guardian say such a thing! She was tired of his lies, which only hurt her friend in the end.

"Niji! Niji, he's lying! You know he is!" Saji screamed at him, not sure if he'd even hear a hint of her voice. Slowly, his eyes softenned, turning red again.

"Saji..? Are you alright?" He changed completely back to normal again, stepping forward and touching her face.

"Saji? What's wrong?"

She sighed and dropped her Corra, lightning produced blade shot into the ground and vanished. The hilt flowed up around her hand to turn again into a cloud. "...Nothing Niji. Everything is fine now." She smiled and put her hand over his. "You're bleeding though..." She untied her sash and took his hand from her face, gently wiping the blood from that hand away with the bright blue cloth.

Jashe hopped onto her horse. Because she was wearing a dress she could only sit with both legs at one side of the saddle. It was something she hated but she had to do in order to keep her royal reputation. She waited for Jag to mount onto his steed then snapped her reigns. The horse trotted forward. She wanted to take the long way around the castle, just to have some more alone time with her friend before departing. However, if the prince was at the castle she couldn't keep him waiting. It would've been terribly rude, something she could not afford for a first impression.

They traveled out of the stables and through a stone archway. Her horse then began to act up. It simply did not want to go forward as its ears twitched constantly.

"Hm?" Jashe noticed, "What is wron-"

I will be the King of the True Kingdom..

The mighty voice blasted through them. Jashe's horse became crazy. It whined and stood on its hind legs. It bucked, almost sending Jashe right off. She began to pull at the steed's reigns, giving it direct orders but it refused. The horse bolted forward taking the princess with it. "Stop, woah! Stop I say!!" she screamed right before another voice boomed through the sky.

She doesn't care, if I were to die she'd only be happier

Her hair was ruffled and she looked to be in shock. She snapped out f it in a split second and fixed her hair. "Yes... I-I fine." she stuttered while finger-combing her hair, her eyes away from his. "Come lets continue."

She directed her horse around and they continued to the front gate. They made it to the gate wth the cobblestone pathway not long afterwards. She saw no prince but everyone else. Servants, nobles and knights were there. They stood on either side of the cobblestone pathway that led to the exit. They stood in silent respect. It was as if they saluting her and wishing a farewell. There was no time for a banquet or feast t celebrate this occasion. However, it didn't matter to Jashe. Parties were for something to be joyious about.

They all stood in certain order of rank, lowest to highest. Most of the guards and knights frowne, but she hardly ever saw them smile. Many of the people she was much more familiar with smiled at her but it was a sad smile. It was if they were feigning happiness for her just to make her feel better. They failed but Jashe mimmicked them. She even gave them a much more convincing smile to make them feel better. This was trujy about them and all the people of the Crystal Kingdom not her.

Jashe even spotted a few familiar merchants from the marketplace. One of them was a portly baker. In his hand was a beautifully wrapped box. He offered it to her. "Good luck on your journey Princess." he said in his harsh accent with a slight bow, "Here, you take this. It comes in handy when cravings come, no?"

"Cravings?" she asked.

"Oh you will know what I mean when they come, yes?"

"Oh...yes, of course. Thank you." she nodded hapilly though she wasn't too sure what he meant by that. She was also given fine clothing from a tailor and a meticulously crafted jewel necklace from the jeweler. She was thankful for all of their gifts, their generosity, service and kindness towards her for all of these years. They made her feel so very wanted. It made her feel better that she was making this sacrifice for them. She would have felt even better if she could find her father... or maybe not. Still she looked around. Did he even bother to show up or was he still in his throne room, giving himself a pat on the back for this genious idea?

Jag sat there in the saddle as he waited for Jashe to fix herself up from the horse suddenly taking off. What the hell has caused the poor horse to do that? Pushing that question to the back of his head Jag took the reins of his horse and the third on and followed the princess quietly on the cobblestone pathway.

When they reach the gate they noticed that the prince wasn't there but everyone else decided to show up. Jag lightly groaned at the sight, like the princess needed this to help her along the path she had no choice to make. Everyone was standing there, from the lowest class all the way up to the greatest knights he had fought along side with. It was nice to see them standing at attention as he rode pass them but really they did not have to, each knight that was there he had fought along side with at least once and considers them to be family; and family is something that was really important to him. But it seemed like they had no choice since they were in front of royalty, so the paladin gave them a slight nod and kept on going not even looking back.

When they reach the merchants though Jag was a bit taken back when the baker gave Jashe her going away present and explained it's use. He shot the man a small glare and sighed not wanting to bother with anything at the moment. Picking up the pace Jag went a bit ahead of Jashe knowing that now he had to keep himself on full alert if anything were to go wrong.

"Oh hush," Saji grinned at him. "It's just a sash anyway. I can always wash it." She wrapped it around his hand to make a bandage.

In truth the sash didn't show any rank at all among her people. It did, however, show family ties. On the edge of the cloth, which she carefully folding downward out of sight, was her family seal. She brushed the thought off. It was nothing but a mark among her people. Those here wouldn't know what it meant anyway, and as she'd said, she could always wash it.

"Anyway, we can't let you bleed all over the place," Her grin changed to an almost bitter smirk. "You'll scare your bride to be completely away," She breathed a small laugh to lighten the thought, wondering exactly what the Crystal Kingdom Princess would do under such curcumstances.

Nodding to the messenger, she followed after him, feeling embarassed that she passed by the very people she was to guide.

It wasn't really her fault, and it wasn't as if she even knew what they looked like to begin with. So, she followed the strange looking creature to the very spot where a Cloud Kingdom inhabitant and the one and only Blood Prince were talking. And like they were... fond of each other?

That really confused her. The Blood Prince was the most feared man in.... all the Kingdoms of the world for all she knew. The Cloud puff woman... she wasn't sure of. Were they all that loony? She was talking calmly to Death himself...

She quelled her thoughts as she and the messenger walked up closer to meet them.