The next morning, Sara found herself in a strange situation, her eyes were still closed as she was still half alseep, but she was still able to feel an unsual soft and warm embrace surrounding her, she could also smell a fragrant scent that soothe her, within her subconcious she could only think 'This warmth, this scent, makes me feel so safe.'- Then she opened her eyes.
"Good morning, did you sleep well?"- Rosalind greeted Sara with a warm smile, as Sara's face was still nuzzled againts her bosom.
Sara quickly scurried backwards on the bed and her back hit the wall next to it, putting distance between her and Rosalind.
"What, what happened?"- Sara started looking franctically all around her, and soon she noticed something, her hair color had changed without her knowing.
"Miss Sara, it's okay, please calm down."- Said Rosalind trying to soothe Sara.
"Huff, huff"- Sara was breathing heavily, she covered her face with her hands, and suddenly her hair started changing colors again, a portion of her hair became jet black, another turned blonde, and another remained bright red, all except for the same white strand of hair did not change.
"Ellie stop, just let it be."- Murder yelled at Sara, she uncovered her face and looked at him with a saddened look, as if she was ashamed and dissapointed.
Sara finally calmed herself down, her hair went back to the previous bright red color.
"I am sorry Rosalind, I didn't wan't you to see me like this."- Said Sara in a depressed tone while holding her knees with her arms.
"Miss Sara, I am fine, ¿but could you please explain to me what is happening?"- Sara doubted for a moment, but Murder intervened.
"It's okay child, just tell her, It will be okay."- Said Murder standing next to her.
"I am sorry, I lied to you, Sara is not even my real name, my real name is Elysia, Elysia Mendel."
"Uh? Mendel? ¿so you are...The young duchess?"
"Yes, that rumor about me shutting myself in my palace for five years, I created it."
"But why? ¿for what purpose?"- Rosalind asked, still confused and in disbelief of what was happening.
"I needed to create the appearance that I was weak and unable to retaliate, the tragedy from five years ago that happened on my tenth birthday was not an accident, It was planned."
"What? ¿why didn't you tell the kingdom about it?"
"We did, we demanded justice, but our faction said that our evidence was insufficient and just let it slide. I have many enemies, and my allies did nothing to avenge us, they decided it was better to keep their mouths shut than to start a civil war in our name."- Elysia explained while shedding tears in frustration.
Rosalind approached Elysia hugging her tightly.
"Then why are you here, away from home?"
"The only way I can protect my family is to rebuild my strength, but I can't let anyone know about it, the only thing keeping us safe is that our enemies think that we are not a threat anymore."
"I think I understand, I am sorry, ¿what can I do to help?"
"You want to help me? ¿even after hearing all that?"
"Of course, you saved me, I wan't to repay you."
"But I only did that so you would be indebted to me, not because I am a good person, I have done so many terrible things during these last five years."
"I don't care, I don't care if you are not a good person, you are good to me, so I wan't to be good to you."- Rosalind stared directly into Elysia's blue eyes, wiping her tears away.
"There will be no negotiation, don't you know? I am a very stubborn merchant, so now tell me, ¿what do you need me to do?"
"Sniff, sniff, Thank you Rosalind."- Elysia hugged Rosalind, expressing deep gratitude, she could feel as if a great weight had been lifted.
"We will need to talk to your Dad first."
Elysia and Rosalind checked out of the Inn, and after buying new clothes and supplies, they departed to Ginger town to meet with Franklin.
"We are almost there now, we should be arriving to Ginger town in less than an hour, are you excited to meet your Dad?"
"Yes, but I am a little nervous, I am not sure how he will react."
"It will be fine, we will explain together, I'm sure he will understand."
"Murder, fly up ahead and find Nando and Franklin, then come back to report, and don't get yourself distracted on the way."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, sheesh."- Murder flew away while complaining.
"What was that about? ¿what's wrong with Murder?"- Asked Rosalind.
"Well for starters, he has a massive ego, I hatched Murder from an egg when I was six years old, He is from a lineage of super smart ravens produced in our Duchy, but even among all of them Murder was born the smartest ever. My Dad would often joke about him being able to do the work of a whole murder of ravens by himself, so we named him Murder. The problem is that ravens mature too quickly, and they do that by copying what they see and hear around them, but seeing as there were mostly women around the palace, Murder chose the only male available to emulate, my Dad."
"And then what happened?"
"Murder became a complete casanova, he copied all of my Dad's traits, specially the bad ones- He is extremely confident, and he also copied his love for women."
"Hehe, well I guess that is kind of normal for nobles right?"
"Yeah, I would know, I have three moms, and four siblings."
"Eh? ¿that many?"- Rosalind though she would not be surprised again, but she was wrong.
"Yes, I am actually not the eldest daughter of the family, I am the third, but I am the only daughter of Dad's lawful wife, so I inherited the title."
"So, in short, Murder became like a father figure to me, but he often gets distracted chasing female birds. There was this one time when Murder beat up a male peacock and plucked his tail feathers, and then he used them to seduce a female peacock."
"And...?"- Rosalind could not contain her curiosity.
"It worked, Murder is scary, ravens are supposed to be monogamous, but he said he is too special to be held by normal raven standards, I wonder if he will ever find the right one."
Elysia and Rosalind continued chatting, and 20 minutes later, Murder came back.
"Murder, did you find them?"
"Yes, we will meet then at the Lucky rat Inn, they are in a room on the third floor."
"Good job Murder, I will let you roam free this afternoon after meeting with Nando and Franklin."
"Hohohohoho"- Murder could not hide his excitement.
Finally, after another twenty minutes the group arrived at Ginger Town.