Chapter One

A little girl lay, quiet, within the confines of the travelling chariot. The entire interior was decorated with soft white silk laid upon plush cushions; curls of long vines ran around the circular ceiling as it bounced with the gallop of the Pegasus pulling the vessel. Several light pink flowers blossomed vibrantly against the crisp pale fabric adorning the setup. The small creature couldn't see much outside of her transportation; all that was allowed was a small glimpse of hot sand mountains that rose into the child's vision when her body was bounced by the chariot. Her crisp blue eyes could barely see over window when she was seated regularly, and as a young lady she had been taught to sit only in a formal manner.

Beside her sat a small, but grown, woman dressed in a long white gown. Large flower patterns could be seen lightly stitched into the delicate fabric and shimmering golden bracelets adorned her slim wrists. Set into the fine jewelry was bright turquoise gems, similar to the earrings hanging from the woman's long and tapered ears. Blonde tresses cascaded alongside the elfin ears and were tied securely in knots of gold and green string. Between her pink painted fingernails settled a very small book in which she was jotting down notes with an equally tiny quill. Her free hand grasped comfortingly at the hand of the girl next to her.

The woman glanced to the girl next to her, dislodging her hand from the small child's hand to travel upwards to the youngling's cheek; slowly, she played with a strand of shimmering gold hair that was hiding behind a white cloak that had been pulled over the young child's head. The outfit the girl had chosen covered her elfin ears and fell elegantly over her thin and small shoulders. The thin silk headpiece was worn atop a small, light green dress that had pink flowers sewn into the bottom lining.

"I wish you would not wear that hood, Mercedes." The woman sighed dramatically as she tried to push the headpiece away from the small girl. Small fingers held it firmly in place. "You are being overdramatic."

"I do not want to show my ears to the humans, mama." The little girl complained loudly. "I do not even want to be among the humans! Why must I be here? This is silly!"

"You know that we must come here frequently. The winged fairies have expressed interest in the Ariant nobility lately and they expressed that we should as well." The Elf Queen told her daughter. It had been about the fourth time she had done so. "It shall not be as terrible as you are making it out to be. There will be other children to play with at the Ariant court. The Ariant nobles have many children."

"I do not care." Mercedes huffed, crossing her arms. Quickly, though, one hand each went to the bottom of her hood to keep her mother from yanking the hood downwards to reveal her pointed ears. "They are just a bunch of awful human children. I am a royal daughter of the mighty elfin people! Truly I have better things to be doing than mucking around with such lower creatures than these."

The Elf Queen sighed and glanced out the window. She couldn't say she particularly wanted to be here either, and she had her choice then Mercedes would probably had been left back in Eurel with the Elders. Unfortunately, the winged fairies…that silly Areda woman, had insisted that her daughter come along. The Queen knew it was a terrible idea, that her daughter was not yet ready to encounter the human world yet, but Areda was hard to just say no to and so she ended up packing Mercedes up in the chariot to take to Ariant. As expected, the child had complained the entire way there. The elfin mythology and teachings around Eurel had instilled in Mercedes a rather healthy dislike of the humans and the idea of being around them on a personal basis hadn't sat well with the princess at all.

Still….it made the Elf Queen nervous that Areda had insisted on Mercedes coming.

"What is that woman up to this time?" She mused quietly.

"What, mama?" Mercedes asked.

"Hmm?" The Elf Queen lifted her face away from her hand to look down at her curious young girl. Mercedes was peering up at her with wide blue eyes and her mother simply gave her a tired smile. "Oh, it is nothing, my darling. Mama was just thinking about something important. Something, um….something that is political."

Mercedes scrunched her face up. She had never taken kindly to the political lessons of the Elfin Court, but the Elf Queen hadn't remembered liking those lessons much herself either. They were particularly boring. No child, the equal of a seven year old, was going to enjoy being lectured on the complex nature of Elfin royal relations. So the Elf Queen just chuckled and patted her daughter on her hood adorned head.

"Yes. It is just political nonsense. So do not worry your cute little head about it. For now, mama will take care of the political business." She assured her daughter, casting her eyes back out to the sand covered landscape of the Nihal Desert to hide her mournful expression. Admittedly she was nervous about what Areda was up to with this place—this beautiful place, filled with humans who were both of the corrupt kind and of the abused innocent kind. But the Queen could not show that to her daughter. As far as Mercedes knew, the little girl was just there to have some fun and see the sights. To expand her world view and be a better queen.

"Ma'am!" The driver called to the Queen. Her attention shot away from the rolling hills of sand to the winged man; his colorful purple and green patterned butterfly wings blocked their view ahead. "We are approaching the city of Ariant."

"Very well." The Elf Queen sighed, fanning herself. The heat in this area was awful. It certainly was nothing like the cool, damp atmosphere of her homeland. Ever since she had entered the arid desert of Ariant, the pale woman had been sweating bullets endlessly. "Direct yourself to the entrance of the castle. There should be a group of guards waiting to help my daughter and I out."

And hopefully Areda will be there too. The Queen thought in vain. I would like to have a word with that woman for dragging me out to these treeless, dry desert hell.

When they dismounted into the dry air, the chubby fairy was nowhere to be seen. The two elves were instead greeted by a pair of tanned guards wielding long spears. Daggers were tucked securely into the sashes at their sides. The Elf Queen delicately placed her pale hand into one of their grasps, allowing the guard to brush his lips across the fingers in a greeting. They seemed awed by her almost ethereal appearance; the shimmering sun made the fairy almost glow in their eyes.

"You are as gorgeous as said, m'lady." The guard complimented. The Elf Queen chuckled lightly; humans were always like this with the flattery. They couldn't take the appearance of the becoming fairy creature. "May we assume this is the Princess Mercedes? She has inherited the grace and beauty."

"Do not speak to me, human." Mercedes mumbled, her words hidden and almost unheard behind her tiny hands. The Elf Queen rolled her eyes and took one of her daughter's hands to guide the girl into the palace; Mercedes' blue eyes flitted curiously across the waterfalls that fell from the disc shaped platform that held the golden structure above the city of Ariant. Splashes of water splattered onto her legs playfully and the girl giggled for the first time in hours.

"See? It is not so bad." The Queen said soothingly, patting her child on the back. Mercedes' smile disappeared. "I must go seek out Areda. She is the one who called me here and I fear…that she has been making trouble for me. Why don't you stay here and play in the water?"

"Yes, mama." Mercedes mumbled quietly as she sat beside the fountain. Her mother disappeared above into the castle, while a few guards stayed below with the young elfin princess to watch her…on the visiting Queen's command, of course. They were not keen to enrage such a powerful creature, especially not in a way as to allow harm to come to her one and only living child. However, they did not speak to the girl either; the young elf didn't seem to be the friendliest child in the world nor did she seem to wish to engage them.

Still, with so few people around, the girl felt a little more comfortable pushing her white hood down and pulling her long blonde hair away from her neck. The heat in this desert really was awful…

"You're kind of weird looking, aren't you."

The elfin girl jerked her head up immediately.

Across from her, ankle deep in the oasis water underneath the disc that was keeping the palace afloat, stood a small blonde boy that appeared about her age. Judging from his rounded human ears, though, Mercedes knew that he was not. Perhaps a few hundred years younger, around the human age of ten or eleven years old. The boy did, however, carry a certain air of superiority that was reflected in his clothing choice. He was certainly no servant…no, she was looking at a child of Ariant nobility.

Across his bare chest was a light purple vest decorated in bright gold and blue designs, curving into dark blue gems that latched together in the center with a gold trimmed lace. At his waist was a yellow sash pinned up with a bright blue gem, holding up white pantaloons that cut off a slight bit above his knees. His feet went without shoes, and his bright blonde hair went without adornment unlike most of the royals seen in Ariant. Wild amethyst eyes looked at the elf challengingly.

"I am not WEIRD LOOKING, human." Merced snapped, smacking her hand into the pool of water. The splash hit the cuff of the boy's white pantaloons and he chuckled lightly. "You're the weird looking one."

"Not here I'm not. Are you the visitors?"

"Maybe I am! That means you should treat me with RESPECT, you know." Mercedes sniffed, sticking out her pink tongue slightly. The boy snorted slightly. "After all, I am Princess Mercedes of the Eurel Elfin Court. I should be treated with the utmost respect and nothing else. Who do you even think you are calling ME weird?"

"You are HERE. This…" The boy gestured grandly to the palace, the city, around them. "…is not your Eurel Elfin Court, is it? You're weird, here. I'm just saying."

Mercedes was furious. She was seeing red, not even comprehending logic. Blocking out what little sense a child of her age would have, the elf girl reached out and gave the Ariant noble boy a hefty shove in the chest. With a loud shriek, the other child tripped and stumbled backwards into the cold water to soak his clothing and hair. When he jerked his head back above water he send an inspecting glare to the other girl.

"What a brat!"

"Like you should talk!"

The two blonde children proceed to, for the next few minutes, just glare maliciously at each other. Then, finally, after the childish staring contest, the boy cinched up his hands and squirted a steady flow of oasis water straight into Mercedes' face. She screamed and fell into a clump of green palms outside the fountain, spreading dirt all across her white poncho hood. The water dribbled slowly down onto her green dress. For a second, she stared wordlessly at the mess on her fine clothing, then let out a cry of young warfare and began to chase the other around the oasis kicking water at him. He retaliated in kind. The guards simply watched in unsure awe, unable to discern which child to stop.

"That is quite enough."

Mercedes did not cease in her actions, but the boy stopped dead.

In the pathway that the Elfin Queen had exited now stood a tall and foreboding woman. Long brown hair toppled down from the loose bun in her hair, tied up with a round gold circlet embedded with rubies and sapphires. The neckline of her dressed dipped deeply to reveal pale, round breasts decorated with an array of delicate beads and gems. Her skirt billowed out behind her in patterns of silken burgundy and gold, reflecting the hot gaze of the sun and occasionally showing glances of yellow slippers. Her amethyst eyes flitted between the two children judgmentally.

"Cyrus." The woman said curtly to the child.

"Phantom." He muttered irately.

"I will not have you running around with stupid gypsy nicknames, boy." The woman snapped irately. The blonde directed his eyes to the ground and kicked at the sand, annoyed. Mercedes stuck her tongue out at him again as she wrung the water out of her green dress. "And you are…the elfin princess, are you not? Mercedes?"

"Yes, m'lady." Mercedes replied, recognizing the woman as an individual of higher rank and changing her tone accordingly. Even if the woman was a human, Mercedes did have her manners to attend to. "And you are?"

"I am Lady Yvonne Nazari, fifth daughter of the third wife of the noble house of Ariant and mother of this inconsiderate whelp. Wife of Erol Nazari." The woman responded wryly as she grasped her son by the arm tightly. The boy simply replied with a huffing snort and a disdained expression. "I have met with your mother already. She is quite the elegant one, though she hasn't quite taken kindly to the ways of servitude in the capital of Nihal. I suppose we cannot expect to agree with the fairies on all…although hopefully Areda's words will promise true. Having fairy blood in the family…"

"Fairy blood?"

"It's not of your concern yet, Cyrus." Yvonne snapped at her son.

"Phantom."

"I told you, I will not refer to you by that idiotic gypsy trick name!" Yvonne snapped as she yanked the child around and smacked him forward towards the palace gates. The blonde boy huffed again but did as instructed. His mother sent a nasty glance towards the elfin princess that let Mercedes know that she should be following after the ill-behaved child. "Clean yourselves up! BEFORE Sophitia sees you again, young princess!"

"…Sophitia?" The blonde boy asked, once they were a safe distance from Yvonne.

"My mother. QUEEN Sophitia of the Eurel Elfin Court." Mercedes corrected the boy as they walked down the hall together, spreading droplets of water down the purple tiles. He simply rolled his amethyst eyes. "So…what's Phantom? She kept calling you Cyrus…"

"Not Cyrus. Phantom." The blonde snorted indignantly, a strand of hair blowing off his nose. "Cyrus is the name given to me by snotty nobles. Phantom is the name given to me by the Ageia. I treasure the Ageia name more than I treasure any stupid name given to me by a 'noble' mother and father. The name that Raven gives me is much more my TRUE name than….CYRUS. I don't even know what it means, and Yvonne doesn't either! But my Ageia name, Raven knows and so do I. They gave it to me with REASON."

"Ageia? Raven?" Mercedes asked, blue eyes curious and ear twitching slightly. The boy cast a suspicious glance around then grabbed the elf by the hand and dragged her down the hall. They turned down the left path into a garden full of exotic plants and past the throne room, finally reaching a set of double doors. They were engraved with ancient text and symbols, and embedded with valuable jewels. Cyrus, or Phantom as it may be, smiled mischievously and smacked tiny hands against the carved wooden doors.

As the doors swung open, a library was revealed.

"What is this? You bring a princess to a boring library?" Mercedes complained. She went ignored as the boy dug through piles of tomes, finally revealing a small red book and throwing it at her. She peered at it curiously, turning it upside down and trying to make sense of it. "What silly human language is THIS? I have never seen such symbols."

"And you think yourself so much smarter than the rest of the creatures of this world? Ha!" Phantom shrieked with youthful laughter. The young princess puffed up her cheeks in annoyance. "It's Ageian, the language of the local gypsy people of Ariant. They're very rare nowadays, and don't visit the city very often. Right now, there is a caravan of Ageia gypsies located in the city headed by a leader named Raven."

"SO?" Mercedes sniffed.

"Tch. Wouldn't expect an airhead like you to understand." Phantom snorted. Mercedes stiffened a bit at the insult. "I bet you just wallow in all the lavish gifts that they give you at your palace, huh, princess? I bet you don't even mind stepping on the heads of each and every citizen and servant in order to have your way. Most of the nobles don't. None of my cousins mind either, or my stupid siblings. My parents certainly don't mind. Why would a spoiled little princess elf who can't even respect other species respect citizens?"

"How DARE you!" Mercedes shrieked, rising to her feet abruptly to kick over a stack of books in indignant rage. The boy looked unruffled. "I will have you know that servants in the court of Eurel are treated like family, not like slaves! They eat off the same table as the royal elves and eat the exact same food as we do, and if they do not wish to work at the palace….if they do not even wish to be AT the Elfin Court, then they are free to leave and pursue their own choices! Our palace is completely different than your land of slavery and destitution so shut your stupid little human mouth! SCUM!"

The boy was quiet.

"…What makes you, the princess, different from the citizens and servants if all those things are true in the Elfin Court?" He asked finally. Mercedes snorted.

"It is simple. We were chosen by the Elfin Great Spirit to make politic decisions, and are bestowed with her tests in order to receive her gifts in order to go into battle to protect her people and argue for their peace." Mercedes said proudly. Phantom seemed rather interested now. "MY mother, Sophitia, fought in our wars. MY mother argued to save the land of our citizens. MY mother attends all the ceremonies of all elfin customs. We do not have slaves. We have those who choose to give back, and those who choose to not give back. And besides, everyone who works in the Elfin Court is paid."

"….The Ariant Palace really is corrupt." Phantom finally muttered. Mercedes' chubby young arms dropped to her side slightly; deep in her conscious, she considered that she may have gone too far in her statements. "It's not like that here. The royals here, they're awful. Even those who don't work in the palace are just considered slaves to my mother and the other nobles. I think it's stupid, and corrupt, and I hate every second of it. That's why I was going to—"

"Getting along, I see?"

Both children looked up from their pile of books to see Yvonne standing in the doorway with her arms crossed, now accompanied by the Elf Queen and what looked to be a rather overweight blonde fairy woman with wings that were far too small for her body. Mercedes figured that it had to be Areda; she recognized the fairy woman from the copious amounts of makeup that was mashed onto her piglike face. The Elf Queen had described the unbecoming woman to her daughter many a times, and never in a pleasant manner. Mercedes could now easily see why.

"Your daughter is a cute little dumpling, Sophitia." Areda cooed quietly, scratching the little elf under the chin. Then she frowned visibly. "But she's very, very wet."

"Yes, well, she fell in the fountain earlier." Yvonne interrupted hurriedly. "But don't worry about it. They're getting along just fine. It was very kind of Cyrus to show our little guest the library, was it not?"

"Yes, I suppose…" The Elf Queen's tone was suspicious, almost uncomfortable. "I still don't know if…"

"Don't be a stick in the MUD, Sophitia! I told you, it's absolutely LUCIOUS to have connection to the Ariant royal court. They have the most GLORIOUS jewelry and some of the finest foods you'll ever find." Areda interrupted. The Elf Queen cast an annoyed glance at the fairy. "Along with that, it will bridge a long time wounded gap in the relations between humans and elf. It's a win-win, Sophitia. And Yvonne has been looking for a way to tame THIS one for a while now, after all."

"Tame?" Mercedes and her mother glanced over to the brunette royal; Yvonne refused to meet their glance and instead focused on adjusting her son's vest. "Yvonne…"

"Don't you worry about it, Sophitia. I think it would be a fine match. Simply agree, and we can begin the engagement rites of Ariant! They're very fascinating, I'm sure the Elders of Eurel would most intrigued." Yvonne chirped in a falsetto. The blonde children backed a few steps away at the words; Mercedes knitting her brow in emotional agony as Phantom's amethyst eyes searching for an escape route. "So how about it? I think it would be a fine opportunity…open up all sorts of trade routes…"

"…Well…I suppose." The Elf Queen sighed and kneeled down next to her daughter with a slight smile on her face. "Dearest daughter, you wouldn't mind doing the kingdom of Eurel a favor…to bridge the gap between humanity and elf-kind, dear Miss Yvonne has proposed an arranged marriage between the elfin princess and her noble son Cyrus! Isn't that nice?"

The combined shrieked were the only replies given.

TBC.