The night was quiet for the first time in a while, the nocturnal animals were great full that the party was finally over, and to express their joy, they cried out to the night giving it a natural and earthly theme.

High up, two creatures hovered. So high that an eagle soaring at a hundred feet wouldn't even notice them.

"Ahh the dolin dragons never ceases to amaze me, as if having the ability to fly very high and good sight wasn't enough, they have the ability to hover perfectly in one position. They truly are works of art" she stroked the creatures head as she said this.

"Yes, works of art" her partner wasn't so collected "I just wish there was a little protection, seats with belts installed would have faired nicely"

She face palmed " just check the eye piece and tell me what is going on down there" her partner shakily brought out the thin cylindrical device and took a look through it, calibrating it from time to time until he was satisfied "so?"

"The party's finally over"

"Not that fool!"

"oh, sorry." He quietly looked around before speaking up "the guards seem to move in a hive formation"

"Any blind spots?"

"No"

She thought for a while "the tunnels"

"Looks sealed, it can only be open from the outside"

" they are heavily defended, all is going according to plan. Lets report back" he didn't budge "cadet?"

"I really feel for her"

"Who?"

"the new princess"

" she's awake?"

"yes, she's looking out of a window on the east tower. She looks nervous"

The woman looked down as though she could see from so high up. "If our sources are correct, she should be introduced to the prince today"

He sighed and placed the eye piece in his belt " she could have had a peaceful life but now that she is royalty… if only she knew what was coming"

"None of them do, but they would, soon."

…

Connie stared anxiously at her shoes, what if it was bad luck?, Servants have been sent to find the prince all had returned with no idea of the Prince's whereabouts. Would the king sense strange vibes if he found out, what if he saw it as a sign, a sign that worked against her.

"ALL HAIL HIS ROYAL HIGNESS, KING GREGORY. LORD AND PROTECTOR OF BEACHTOPIA."

She got up and curtsied as the king took his seat on the throne, fear overtook her insides but she managed to look calm, remembering something her mother said about confidence.

Greg looked around "uh, where's my son?"

Dewey, the only council member present got up "my apologies sire but the prince seem to be absent."

"what so you mean 'absent'?"

"He is not in the palace, it's grounds or in town"

Greg looked around confused "lapis" she curtsied "how did he react when you told him he would be introduced to his wife?"

All eyes were on the head of staff "your majesty, I did not tell him he was going to meet his wife today, I simply told him that he was needed for an important ceremony."

"Then he should be here" Greg mumbled to himself. The throne room was quiet until the answer hit Greg "garnet"

"Sire"

"Which squire did you assign to take the package to the northern village"

"Amethyst sire"

"Well there you have it, I'm sure she'll be with him and that Paddington girl. Looks like we have to postpone the ceremony."

There was mumbling as a few people walked out of the throne room, Connie turned to go when

"Princess" she turned and curtsied "were are you going?"

She took a deep breath and spoke in her most collected voice "Sire, Since the ceremony has been postponed, I would like to go to my quarters in order to give you the privacy you need for the upcoming meetings"

"privacy?" he chuckled "come here" she walked towards him "sit" he gestured at the throne beside Rose's, she sat down holding her breath "you are the future queen of beachtopia, meaning that henceforth, you are to attend every royal meeting and gathering except the ones that I and only I tell you not to. You are to be trained in the way of royalty, lapis will give you your schedule and delegations. Work hard and make me, your parents and the kingdom proud"

She sat up, "yes sire"

…

The window opened, amethyst jumped through and immediately brought out her crossbow while Steven fell through. "why do we have to go through the window?, There's a door for God's sake" the prince groaned as he dusted his backside. "And why in all of Beachtopia did you bring a weapon?"

Amethyst didn't answer immediately, she looked around, her hand on the trigger. She dropped it when she was satisfied. "Amethyst!" she pounced on him and shut his mouth

"shhhh" she hissed but it was too late. She had a whirring and clanking sound, she groaned, grabbed him and ran down the passage. Using her squire training and a few self-taught acrobatics, she was soon hanging against the ceiling while Steven looked down from the top of a shelf, confused. Almost immediately, a humanoid walked in, it was partly metal and partly wood but what Steven noticed most was the rows upon rows of arrows it carried. The rows were connected via metal tubes to it's palms. Steven swallowed and the machine looked up at him, he could swear he saw it smile before it raised it's arm and fired.

It missed but amethyst didn't. The contraption fell, an arrow sticking out of it's head. Amethyst jumped down and looked up at Steven, the young prince was frozen in fear. Amethyst smiled reassuringly "come on let's go give her a piece of our mind"

…

Amethyst burst a door open and immediately got wacked in the face by a by a cushion. "What in the…" she got wacked again. She dodged the third one and saw the culprit position, she dashed and soon she was holding the perpetrator by the scruff of her neck. "why were…peridot?"

The girl stopped squirming when she heard her name, she looked down at her captor and "amethyst?" she tried to talk again but a slap silenced her "what the…" another slap then a grunt as amethyst dropped her and she fell on her behind. "What was that for?" she said as she massaged her cheek

"You tried to kill me Paddington Peridot!"

"What?!, I would never"

Amethyst growled then she took a deep breath and smiled sarcastically "oh, I'm sorry. I thought the machine you created was a deadly one, I didn't know it was meant to give me hugs. Perhaps I misjudged thanks to barrage of arrows it fired at me the last time I came here"

"Oh. That machine was an accident."

"Accident?. Look peridot, you're roasting pork for everyone and you slightly burn it, that's an accident. You're walking down a path and you step on someone's foot, that's an accident. This is as far away from accident as you could possibly go!"

Amethyst looked like she was about to rain down on peridot so Steven ran in to prevent any unwanted harm. "come on you two, no fighting" peridot looked up in shock "ste…steven?" the boy turned to look at her "yes peridot, ugh!" she pounced on him and pulled him into a bear hug.

"Oh my God you're alive, I'm so happy."

"Yes, me too." He pulled away, and with a serious look he asked "peridot, why did you make killer robot?"

The young engineer looked down in embarrassment. "It is an old project, it is meant to give us an upper hand against enemy archers but it didn't work. On the day I heard about your illness, I trashed the entire house in frustrating that I only knew about machines and therefore couldn't directly help you. I tried to carry it but it was too heavy, so I kicked it and 'boom', it came to life"

"Just like that?"

"yes."

"You're lucky your mother didn't come home."

Peeidot face fell"Mother is halfway across the great sea by now, I'm not expecting her for a while."

"Oh. So what have you been doing while the robot paraded the house?"

"Hiding for my life"

"so you haven't been outside?" she shook her head "great, amethyst and I are on our way to deliver a package to the northern village, care to join us?"

"do I?!, Let's go!" she took a step toward the door and amethyst grabbed her "whoa whoa whoa Missy, hold it right there"

Peridot looked up, confused. "What?"

"Go and wash up, you stink"

Peridot was shocked "hey!, how about I lock you in a house with a pest in the form of a homicidal robot and then see how you smell."

Amethyst huffed then she grabbed peridot arm "um, peridot" the girl looked at her "sorry about everything, I thought you were hiding because you didn't like Steven and was only pretending to get something from him."

Peridot shrugged "its okay, I would have thought the same thing if I was in your shoes."

"Precisely except I won't do something like that"

Peridot froze "wait, are you trying to say I might actually do something like that?".

"I don't know. Maybe"

"Arghhh!. I can't believe this, how dare you!"

Steven couldn't help but chuckle, he really missed his friends

…

Greg took a sip from his goblet and sighed. Five hours passed and the meeting was still going on. "how about we take one more topic and call it a day"

The lords and council members affirmed happily making greg smile " so, what will it be?"

Dewey stood up"sire the Messengers we sent to Romando are yet to arrive"

"What!, Oh God"

"I would like to suggest we send a search party to see what the problem is."

Greg massaged his temples and tried to think it through. "Um sire" everyone turned to the new princess "I would advice against that"

"Why?"

"They are just Messengers, right?"

A couch member frowned "that does not mean they are any less of a human"

"what?, No, no, no. That is not what I meant" Connie tried to explain herself. "what I'm trying to say is that since they are Messengers, they wouldn't have anything valuable that thief's would try to take, they are also of no use to kidnappers. The only possible things that could have delayed them are either monsters, or an enemy of the kingdom. An enemy of Beachtopia would derive no gain in harming them, so the person could only use them to send a message to us. If we send a search party, they become a problem to that person, problems that might have to be exterminated."

A Lord nodded "the girl speaks the truth" but the council members wouldn't have it "sire we cannot risk the life's of our men all because of the theory of a child."

Greg sighed as he thought then came to a conclusion. "We will wait until the next moon, if there is still no sign from them, we will send a search party."