*Disclaimer: Okay, um...I don't own any of the first T10K characters or the setting, but I do own Elizabeth, her mom (when she comes into the story eventually), David, Ethan, Stratton, Chas, and any other characters I decide to add in. You know what's mine and what isn't, don'tcha? Please r/r.

~*~ Chapter 1 ~*~

Princess Elizabeth peeked in the open door of her father's study. He was having another dull meeting. She didn't want to interrupt, but she was leaving, and he'd be very angry if she didn't ask for his permission first.

"Father, I'm riding over to the 1st Kingdom, okay? Goodbye!" She turned and started walking down the hall so he wouldn't have time to stop her, but he was used to this.

"Elizabeth." King Wendell said, knowing he wouldn't have to go after her, or raise his voice.

Sighing, she turned and walked back in. "Yes Father?" She knew what would come next, and she was dreading it.

"Why are you riding to the 1st Kingdom?"

"Well, Cinderella invited me to tea again."

"Again? Are you planning on riding alone?"

"Father, I don't want to bother anyone with having to escort me back and forth. I can go alone. It's fine."

"No it isn't. And you're not bothering anybody. It's in their job descriptions. How long are you planning to stay?"

"I'm not quite sure, Father. That's another reason I was planning on riding alone. You know I never can tell with Cinderella. We always start talking, and it's hard for either of us to stop."

"You may go, but you must take Ethan and Stratton with you."

"Ethan and Strat? But Father, I'll be perfectly fine alone."

"No, I will not allow it." He turned to a man standing by the door, apparently waiting for orders. "Tell Ethan and Stratton to prepare the carriage and horses. They will accompany her to Cinderella's palace. Understood?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

The man turned and walked out, and Wendell turned back to his daughter. He knew she wouldn't fight him on it, especially in front of all of his advisors. She didn't like to make scenes.

"You may go now. With Ethan and Stratton."

"Yes Father," she said in a small voice, admitting defeat.

She turned in her pale blue, silk dress and walked out. She waited outside the doors of the palace for her friends, Ethan and Stratton, to bring the carriage. They did this often enough. They were the stable boys, and since she often liked to go have tea with Cinderella, they had gotten to know each other pretty well.

~*~

When they came around to the front of the palace, Ethan jumped down from the front seat and opened the door for her. She glared at him. He knew she hated formal things like that. She thought they were ridiculous. She had even refused her own, personal maid. That was one of the few things she had really argued with her parents about. She said that if she wanted something done, she could do it herself. So, after a long period of arguing they decided to try it her way.

She stepped into the carriage and sat down. She folded her arms and pouted.

"You can't be that way throughout the entire trip, Elizabeth. You're no fun like that," he said, and mocked her, exaggerating her pout.

"Leave her alone, Ethan. You know she never stops pouting until we get into the outer provinces," Stratton said as he hopped into the carriage, trying not to laugh.

Elizabeth looked up in surprise. "I thought you were driving, Strat."

"Hey, look, Ethan! She stopped pouting!" he said teasingly and turned to her. "I decided to let the real coachman handle it, Elizabeth."

She sighed, and looked out her window, watching the familiar passing scenery. "I wish you two would stop calling me Elizabeth. It's so formal."

"But Elizabeth is your name. Would you rather we called you Princess Elizabeth, or Your Highness?" Ethan asked.

"No. But couldn't you call me Liz, or something?"

"Elizabeth, do we have to talk about this again? We used to call you Beth, remember? We got into the habit of it, and then King Wendell heard us, and we got a lecture that was so boring it was worse than watching grass grow," Stratton reminded her yet again.

~*~

They stopped for the night at a small inn. Because King Wendell demanded one of them to be awake all night in front of her door (to be sure there was no danger), Ethan and Stratton set up a table there so they could play cards, and neither got any sleep.

The next morning, Elizabeth opened her door to find them sitting there, looking like zombies, as she knew she would.

"Good morning, you two."

"Morning," Ethan barely managed to answer.

"Why don't you get some sleep, and I'll go get us some breakfast."

She knew they wouldn't realize what she was saying, because they were half asleep. Otherwise, they never would have let her go by herself. However, they were half asleep, so they quickly agreed. They moved the table back to the common room of the inn, and went into the room they had rented for the night to get some sleep.

Elizabeth walked out of the inn, and started walking out of the village. There were too many people there, and she needed to think. She had just gotten about a hundred meters away from the village when she ran into something that was . . . running? When she was finally able to get up, she stood and looked down to see what it was. It was a boy. A boy that looked to be her own age, but dressed in strange clothing. He was wearing--of all things!--odd, tan-colored pants, and a white shirt under an open, button-down, pale-blue plaid shirt.

She knelt down beside him, staring, and then he opened his eyes and stared back at her. She wasn't sure what to say, but she felt certain that this boy--whoever he was--was from the 10th Kingdom.

He sat up and put his hand on his head, as if it hurt, and started asking questions at once. "Who are you? Where am I? How did I get here? What happened?"

"Slow down. I'm Elizabeth. You're in an outer province of my father's kingdom. The 4th one. I don't know how you got here. You came out of nowhere while I was walking and knocked me down. And fell down yourself."

"Did you say your father's kingdom?" he asked her, bewildered.

"Yes. King Wendell. I believe you are from the 10th Kingdom? Or . . . what did Virginia call it? New York, I believe?"

"Yeah. New York. I was walking home from school through Central Park, and the next thing I know . . ." He made a gesture with his hand as if he didn't know how to finish.

"Central Park? Yes, I understand that's where the other side of the mirror is. Virginia can explain it to you better than I can, if you'd like me to introduce you to her. We'd have to turn around, but I think we're ahead of schedule. We could make it just in time to the 1st Kingdom, and Cinderella and I can still have tea." She finished her sentence talking more to herself than to the boy.

"Okay . . . Um, Cinderella?"

"Yes. Queen Cinderella. Ruler of the 1st Kingdom? Oh, yes. You're from the 10th Kingdom. Well, Virginia can tell you all about it. And Father has the other mirror so that you can get back."

"F--Father?" She nodded. "King Wendell?" She nodded to him again, beginning to get confused. What was he so nervous about? "Um . . . Okay. Are you sure it's no trouble?"

"Oh, I'm positive. I always leave at least a day early. My father always makes me bring the stable boys along to be sure that I'm safe." She grinned at him before finishing. "They stay awake at my door all night long, I wake up and tell them to go to sleep and that I'll get some breakfast, they sleep until noon, and when I get back they have lunch ordered, and they lecture me for telling them that when I knew they were half asleep."

"Oh."

They walked into the village without speaking. It was about noon when they finally reached the inn. They walked into the common room and found Ethan and Stratton eating lunch. When they had finally gotten used to Elizabeth's trick, they decided to order lunch while they waited instead of pacing, for she was always back by noon.

"Elizabeth!" Stratton and Etahn shouted in unison. They had both taken notice of the unusually dressed boy walking beside her. The boy stopped dead in his tracks. He knew they were looking at him strangely, but he didn't know why. They were the ones dressed weird, no matter what they said.

Elizabeth grabbed his arm and nearly had to drag him to the table Ethan and Stratton were sitting at. "Ethan, Strat, we are going to turn around. I ran into this boy outside of the village. He's from the 10th Kingdom. We'll take him to Virginia and Wolf, and they can take over from there."

She smiled, because she knew they couldn't refuse her. She was the princess, after all. She also knew they would despise having a peculiar boy along with them. He wasn't any danger, of course, but they were hesitant to let anyone near Elizabeth. Partly because King Wendell was very protective of her, also.

Ethan and Strat exchanged annoyed glances and turned to the boy.

"What's your name? Or do you have one?" Ethan asked him, not even trying to be polite.

"Oh! Sorry. I'm Charles. But my friends call me Chas. Only my parents call me Charles. The other people call me Charlie," he told them nervously.

Elizabeth smiled at him. "See? I'm not the only one that hates formal names. Chas, you can call me Liz."

Ethan and Stratton exchanged glances again.

"You may call the princess 'Your Highness,' Charles," Stratton told him sharply.

"No. You may call me Liz, Chas," she told him, glaring at Stratton.

They ate in silence, Chas looking at his plate while Ethan and Strat glared at him. Liz watched all of them,wondering what exactly would happen next. This "Chas" person certainly was interesting enough, even if he was . . . different.

When they were finally back in the carriage, turning around to Wolf and Virginia's Bed-n-Breakfast (to the coachman's confusion), Ethan sat by Liz, and Strat sat in front of her. She desperately wanted to ask questions about the 10th Kingdom, but Ethan and Strat were in no mood for dealing with her "rude" inquiries.

When they got to the Bed-n-Breakfast, however, Ethan and Strat waited in the carriage, while Liz--who had finally had to command it-- went inside with Chas to introduce him. She knew Virginia would ask him about everything.

~*~

Knock, knock.

Elizabeth had told Chas to wait around the corner, until she went inside. Then he could sit on the porch until she told him to come in. She wanted to talk to Virginia about him first.

Wolf opened the door. "Elizabeth! Here to see Virginia? She's not here." He scratched his head, in his usual habit.

"Oh . . . Wolf?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to talk to him.

"That's my name."

"When you met Virginia . . . you know . . . did you . . . well, what I mean to say is . . . you see, there's this-"

"Liz."

"Yes?"

"Just ask."

"Right. Can we talk . . . inside for a moment?"

"Where are my manners? Of course, come right on in. Is there someone else here? Someone . . . from the 10th Kingdom?" he asked, sniffing the air.

"Sort of," Elizabeth told him with a guilty look.

"Oh. I see. I can meet him after we finish talking, right?"

"Yes, Wolf. Please, can we just go?"

"Come on in, Liz."

They walked in, Liz praying that Chas hadn't heard anything. Wolf sat down in the recliner Tony had given him for his birthday, and Liz sat down on the sofa.

"Wolf?"

"Yes, Liz?" he asked expectantly.

"His name's Charles. His parents are the only ones that call him that, though, and his friends call him Chas, he likes that best, and the other people call him Charlie, and he may be dressed peculiarly, but he is so very handsome, and he came from the same place Virginia did, and what's school?" She stopped for a breath.

"Cripes . . . Virginia said school was a place where you have to read books and learn things to get a . . . a . . . an education. That's what she does with David. I think she calls it homeschooling."

"Somebody say my name?"

David had walked out of his room just in time to hear her ask what school was. Being the son of Wolf and Virginia, he was surrounded by attention--and he loved it. He was the opposite of Liz, though he hated formal things, too. It was the one thing they agreed on. But even so, they were close. After all, they had grown up together. David was like an older brother to Liz, and he picked on her all the time.

Liz saw him and turned beet red, hoping he hadn't heard everything. Neither she nor Wolf had expected him to "appear" like that.

"David. We were just talking. About nothing in particular. That's all. Nothing special," Wolf told him. He was horrid at lying, but so was Liz. That's because they both hated it.

"That's right, Davey. Nothing special. Nothing at all. Why don't you go . . . torment the shepherdesses? Doesn't that sound like fun? Only you might want to go out the back door. There's a . . . thing outside your front door. Not very . . . pretty," Liz lied.

"What are you two talking about? And what's outside the front door?"

He started walking to the door, and Liz jumped to block it. "You really don't want to go out that way! As I said--not very pretty," Liz said with an innocent smile.

He pushed her away, and before she could stop him, he opened the door. "What are you talking about, Liz? There's nothing out there." David had a confused expression on his face when she looked up at him.

"There's not? I mean, of course there's not," she smiled at him, and tried to think of something to tell him. "I was just trying to find out if you really trust me."

"Sure you were. What was out there, really?" David looked at her questioningly.

"Nothing, David. Now weren't you on your way out?" Wolf asked him. He always tried to help Liz get out of trouble because she was always helping him get out of binds with King Wendell and Tony.

"Yeah, yeah." David grabbed his basketball, and walked out the door.

"Whew," Wolf and Liz let out sighs of relief.

"Thanks, Wolf," Liz said, feeling very relieved.

"No problem, Liz. Now, what exactly were you trying to . . . ask . . . me? Liz?"

Elizabeth had suddenly gotten a terrified expression on her face which was getting more horrified by the second. "Wolf?"

"Yeah?"

"If he's not out there, then where is he?"

"Well, he could be . . . or maybe he . . . or . . . Liz, we might go try to find him. He might just be with Ethan and Stratton."

"What?! Oh, I hadn't even thought of that! If he's with them . . . Oh, no!" Liz groaned.They would surely give him a lecture or two. At the very least.

"C'mon, Liz, I'll help you look for him."

"Thanks, Wolf."

They started out the door and immediately heard David playing basketball. They walked out to the carriage to ask Ethan and Strat where Chas had gone, but the carriage was empty.

"Excuse me, sir?" Liz tried to get the coachman's attention.

"Yes, Your Highness?" He was ready and willing to do anything for the beloved Princess Elizabeth.

"Did Ethan and Stratton go somewhere with Charles?" she asked, but when she saw his questioning glance added, "Charles is the peculiarly dressed, yellow-haired boy we brought with us."

"Yes, I believe I saw them go that way with young David." He pointed in the direction of David's basketball court, the only one in the whole of the nine kingdoms.

Thank you, sir," Liz said politely, and headed that way worriedly, jogging as best she could in her full-skirted dress and slippers that certainly weren't made for running.

Wolf followed her, huffing and puffing. I'm too old for this, he thought. I haven't run a mile since before David was born.

When Elizabeth got down to David's basketball court, she saw him playing ball with Chas, Ethan, and Strat. She stopped dead in her tracks. She wasn't trying to sneak up on the boys, but she hadn't wanted to call as much attention to herself as she had. The boys abruptly ceased their game and turned around to stare at her. They could see the look on her face, and they--even Chas, who had known her for so short a time--knew what it meant.

But before she could say a word, Wolf came jogging down the hill toward them. When he got there they all just looked at him. He was trying to catch his breath, and all was silent for a few minutes.

"So Liz . . . I take it this is . . . the boy . . . you were telling me about," he said, a little confused.

"Yes . . . so, I see you met Charles, David. Since you all know each other already, I think you have some explaining to do about why you scared me half to death," Liz said, standing up straight and tall, with her arms folded and tapping her foot.

"Um . . . well . . ." David couldn't seem to think of anything to tell her quite yet.

"David! Um? Well? Um is not a word. And 'well' will just not do to get you out of this one, David."

"Geez, you sound like my mom," Chas mumbled.

"Pardon me, Charles, did you say something?" Liz knew what he said must have been bad, otherwise Ethan, Stratton, and David wouldn't be trying so hard not to laugh that they were turning the crimson color of the roses blooming on the bush outside her window, right beside her balcony of the palace.

"Nope."

"Nope? Oh, my. You're worse than David! I'm tired of this. I'm going to have tea with Cinderella. You four can stay and play this silly game if you'd like. Goodbye. I shall possibly see you when I get back. Charles, if you are not here when I get back, farewell, it was nice meeting you."

Liz turned around and started walking calmly to the carriage as if she had nothing on her mind, while all the while, she was thinking about a million things at once. She knew her father wouldn't like her going to the 1st Kingdom alone, but she wouldn't get into all that much trouble. She was Daddy's little girl. But Ethan, Stratton, and David would be in for trouble when she got back and told her father what had happened. Wolf would be in trouble, too, but she'd get him out of it by explaining to her father that he didn't really know what was going on, and he would've stopped her if he wasn't trying to get his breath back. He was a wolf, but he wasn't Superman.

She hadn't gotten far when she heard the boys discussing something, then she heard the basketball again. She rolled her eyes and told the coachman to take her to the 1st Kingdom. He looked slightly confused, because he knew how protective King Wendell was of his daughter, but he knew better than to question the princess.