There was no fuss made about the return of their Prince, though there was a string of servants and courtiers that flocked to him as soon as he was on the docks. He, however, turned to look for her as she hesitated at the top of the gangplank and looked out over the sea of faces.
Humans… humans everywhere… Ayathian was not a home of the mythicals but for every three humans there was one mythical being. Here… that number would be obscene, not a single face she came across was anything other than human and the sheer variety of them left her floored.
Holding his hand out to her, she stepped down the plank and stared around in fascination, just as they stared at her.
She had to wonder if many of them had seen someone like her before and she found herself tugging her hair down over her ears and slinking closer to Malik at the number of people staring at her.
"Come on, don't be such a wimp. Most of them probably haven't seen a Fae before," the captain boomed and she cringed, more turning to see what he was yelling about.
Word of his arrival spread like wildfire and the man was enthusiastic about the greeting, especially when an enormous bear of a man came barrelling towards him, roaring like a savage.
Sidestepping the assault, she turned and watched the two as they fell into a mass of pounding fists and curses.
Humans were such strange creatures, but then they might say the same thing about the mythical sleeping habits.
The giant man stood first and his eyes found her, going huge for a second and then he looked down at Malik who was still trying to get up.
"You brought a girl! We were starting to think you didn't like girls. The parents were starting to get worried."
"Not my girl," Malik groaned, dragging himself to his feet using the other man's arm.
"Oh good, means I have a chance."
Standing next to each other, she could see the familial resemblance clearly, the same nose and colouring, though the builds were wildly different.
"Good luck, brother."
Lifting her brows at the two of them, she turned away at a touch on her arm, and then down at a child who was running his tiny fingers over the gold band on her skin.
Freezing in place, she met the soft, wide brown eyes of the human child and he smiled, squeezing the skin gently before his mother pulled him away from her. A human child had touched her… a human child…
She didn't know what to do, all her instincts were shutting down in light of the taboo creature being so close. Everything was telling her to get away from it.
"So, who is she?" She heard the whisper from the bear when Malik finally had his feet under him again, and she clung to the words as an anchor to keep the panic down.
He was still looking at her and he waved, smiling like she was some doll in the window. She lifted her hand slowly, hesitantly, and curled her fingers in the briefest hint of a wave in response.
"Stowaway," Malik replied evasively.
Looking around at the two men, she found them both close and whispering conspiratorially.
"I can hear you…" she said dryly. "You need to learn how to whisper better."
"You need to learn not to eavesdrop," Malik shot back.
"It's not eavesdropping if the one you can hear doesn't know how to use an inside voice."
The bear was grinning, looking between the two of them with a delight she didn't much appreciate.
"It's not my fault you have freak hearing," he shot back.
"It's not my fault you are a failure when it comes to learning proper volume control. Something children learn by the age of five. You are less competent than a five-year-old."
"You ought to be nicer to me since I didn't throw you off the ship."
"You wouldn't have lived long enough to get three steps had you tried."
"Is that a challenge?"
"It's a pleasant enough day to die, I suppose."
"I like her!" The bear boomed. "Can we keep her?"
"I'm not a pet," she said, frowning.
"No, but you'd make a good wife for the little brother here."
"I already have two husbands; I don't need a third."
"Two?" the brothers said in unison, but she was already looking away.
Lucas had come down from the ship and had greeted a small group of elderly men, their glances in her direction telling her she didn't want to be anywhere near them.
"So, who are you? Aside from being half bear?" she asked the giant.
"Prince Russo." He thrust out his arm, and she took it. He lifted it up and bowed to brush one very bristly kiss over her knuckles and much to her amusement, he was also intentionally flexing.
"You're so cold, why didn't you get her a blanket or something, Malik?" Russo demanded.
His arm went around her, and she was jerked off her feet and into the giant's side.
He was amazingly warm, and she looked at Malik smugly, seeing his disgust.
"She doesn't get warmer," Malik complained.
Russo looked down at her, surprised. "Why not?"
"She's not human."
His confusion and then alarm was fantastic, though she had to wonder how he assumed she was, she looked nothing like a human.
"How many white skinned humans have you met?" she asked curiously, ducking out from under his arm.
"What are you?"
"One of the Fae."
"Why do you have her Malik?" Russo demanded, angry at his brother though she couldn't fathom why.
"She snuck onto my ship."
Etani moved away from the pair of them, fascinated by a shop that was filled to the absolute brim with glass figures. Forgetting the two men, she slipped inside and turned, looking around the walls covered in delicate glass.
"Good evening," a tiny voice said.
She turned, spotting an equally tiny man standing behind a wooden counter. He looked ancient, and she was fascinated by him, the sheer appearance of him. It was rare for someone to get to that age in Ayathian and there he was, just waiting for her to find him.
"Were you looking for something?" he quavered, squinting up at her.
"Do you have any cats?" she asked quietly.
The man frowned, scratching the tip of his chin with one scarred finger.
"Yes, a few," he said, hobbling towards the far wall.
He was taller than she expected, bent over a walking stick and she followed him, obsessed with the shape of him, his body bent to look remarkably like a question mark.
"Bit tall for a woman, aren't you?" he asked as he pointed to a shelf.
"Bit old for a human, aren't you?" she shot back, her eyes dragging away from him to the shelf. "Did you make these?"
"I did. It's been a long time since I've seen one of your kind," he was squinting hard at her and she smiled slightly, picking up one of the little cats but then she put it down as another caught her attention.
It was stretching, its long tail curled up and over its back and its front legs stretched out, stretching out its back and she was delighted to see a tiny little bubble in its head.
"That one has a bubble," he said.
"I know, it's perfect. She has a bubble too."
"Why are you in Istralis?"
"Just passing through, I will not be staying long," she breathed, holding the cat out to him.
He grunted and took it, taking it back to the bench and wrapping it in layers of cloth and then leather.
"How do you know what I am?" she asked.
"There are whispers of you in the city," he said.
She frowned, tilting her head. Was he not talking about her being a Fae?
"What is it you think I am?"
"A God, of course. You give off this aura of power. I haven't met a stupid God yet…"
"How many have you met?" she asked, fascinated.
"Three now."
"Who?"
"That's none of your business, you're a young one, aren't you?"
"Fairly young," she said slowly.
"I can see that. A baby Goddess, how sweet." He didn't sound like he found it sweet at all and her eyes moved past him at the frantic movements of Russo and Malik. Evidently, they had found her gone. Tilting her head to the side, she watched them from between the shelves on the window, amused at their panic.
"Here, take it," he said.
She straightened, pulling out one of the gold coins and placing it before him. He bowed his head, and she took the thing, smiling as she pushed the door open, and Malik spotted her. Approaching, his grip was painful on her arm.
"Ow…" she complained, looking down at her arm and then up at him.
"You need to stay close. This isn't the best part of the city and we can't protect you if you wander off," he growled, anger burning up in him at her wandering off.
"I can take care of myself, or did you forget about your man on the ship?" she asked, jerking her arm free of his grip.
"What happened on the ship?" Russo demanded, coming up on her other side.
"One of my men attacked her and then she… ate him."
"Tried to eat him, but you took him off me," she said, glaring at him.
"You were eating him!"
"I was defending myself."
"By eating him?!"
"You ate a man?" Russo sounded indignant, but she only shrugged.
"He knew I ate people before he let me out of the cell," she said, still glaring at Malik.
"Why didn't you just throw her overboard?" Russo sighed, shaking his head.
"Because she's the Princess, and I couldn't."
"What?"
Etani lifted her brows at Malik and then snorted derisively before turning and walking away from the both of them.
"You can't let a foreign princess just wander around unprotected!" Russo was bellowing while she strolled down the street, tucking her hands into her pockets with the glass cat clutched protectively in her fingers, taking in everything the street had to offer.
"You try and stop her then!"
There was a growl and the giant man stalked after her, a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips as she silently dared the man to touch her. Giant or not, he was still human, and he could break just as easily as any other human.
His hand came down with a surprising gentleness and she looked up at him, a mixture of curiosity and wariness on his face.
"Come up to the palace, you will be safer there and you'll have an opportunity to have a nice hot bath."
He had said the magic words, and he knew it, her eyes widening with the promise of a bath and clean clothes.
He grinned and motioned for Malik to follow, the indignant Captain following along behind her and his brother.
The palace was enormous and obscenely well defended, made of that same white stone with a red top that she decided made them look a bit like mushrooms, but the look was quite pretty, if nothing else.
Passing through first one—then a second—enormous metal gate, the palace was sprawling and tall, at least four levels, though it had no towers. The towers were on the wall around it, standing guard over the palace.
The grounds were spectacular, all green with patches of flowers and shrubs, trees heavy with fruit and birds.