Brief author's note to say 'Hi~ Welcome to my crappy fanfic from Hell~' Anyways. Yeah. Hope you enjoy. If you have questions they will either be explained in later chapters or just message me. Too da loo~

(Jasmine's POV)

There was once a princess. A princess who was much loved and held in high regard. No matter where she went everyone knew and loved her. That was a story Jasmine was told my a kind old lady a few years ago and for a while she had fantasized about it. But fantasies don't get you far on the streets when you live in a place where street urchins are the bane of everyone's existence. So at 9 years old Jasmine had bucked up and put her fantasies behind her. Sometimes Jasmine entertained the thought of leaving the Balbadd Kingdom but she didn't have a way of doing that.

The old lady who used to take care of her said that Jasmine was too adventurous for her own good but also resourceful. Jasmine didn't think she was resourceful. Not when she had gone 3 days without food. The soldiers lately had been cracking down and raising the taxes. Just yesterday when an old man had begged a soldier that he didn't have money to give he had been viciously beaten. It still made Jasmine shudder. So for protection she had moved to the docks. They were at least bright and teeming with life unlike the rest of the godforsaken kingdom.

Breathing a sigh Jasmine cautiously peeked around the edge of a corner. The only ones around were some foreign sailors and no soldiers. While sailors could get a bit rowdy they weren't bad. Jasmine liked the sailors from Reim and Sindria best. They always brought tales back from their homeland. A little happy for the first time in a while Jasmine ran up to the sailors. As she got closer she noticed the one was a regular. His name was Alim and he seemed to have a soft spot for Jasmine.

"Ahoy look at what we have here!" Alim exclaimed. It had been a while since they had last seen each other. "How have you been little one?"

"Aleem!" Jasmine yelled. She had problems pronouncing his name which gave the other sailors a lot of amusement. "Aleem its sad. Granny passed away."

Everyone knew of Granny in the area. She had been a strong figure for everyone who had lived to the ripe old age of a 102 and somehow managed to take care of Jasmine. Jasmine was a ball of energy when Granny was alive and no one knew how Granny had been able to deal with it. Some people still claimed it was magic.

"Ah...tis sad. She was old though and lived a fulfilling life. Who's taking care of you now Jasmine?" Alim asked.

Jasmine shook her head. "No one. Taxes too high for anyone to want a street urchin." There was some grumbling. The sailors were from Sindria where stuff like this didn't tend to happen. Especially children living on the streets at such a young age.

It was at that moment they all heard the distant clatter that signified soldiers were coming to inspect how things were going and chat with the sailors. It was in this moment that Alim made a fateful decision. "Jasmine." He spoke to the girl about to flee. "You always asked for tales from us. How would you like to finally live one?"

"Eh?" Was Jasmine's response. There wasn't much time though so Alim nodded to another sailor who ushered Jasmine away quickly.

"Hide in here." He whispered and helped her in while reassuring her before plopping the top down. This was how Jasmines' fateful journey to discover her place in the world and create tales of her own started.

(Kalini's POV)

Kalini had lived a hard life since the day she was born into slavery. Or that's what she was told. She had heard the whispers of the older slaves as she grew up that really her mother had given her up to pay off a debt. Not that it mattered to Kalini, she didn't really have many emotions to begin with and slavery had crushed the emotions she used to have. It apparently mattered to her Master though. He was a cruel Master who always found mistakes where there were none.

As such Kalini always had a bruise on her body somewhere from him hitting her. She endured it though for there wasn't anything she could do about it. The other slaves were content to let her be the punching bag so that Master's wrathful eyes wouldn't fall on them. Then came today and how it seemed worse than usual.

For one Master wanted to go out into town and that spelled bad luck for Kalini as he called for her to come with him. The last time they went into town he found fault with the way she walked and beat her legs black and blue. It had taken her a week of recovery before she was able to walk properly again. So Kalini resigned herself to another public beating and dragged herself to where Master was waiting. That's where the torment began.

"You kept me waiting nasty slave! Do you think you have things better to do than attend to your master!?" Were the first words spit at her. Kalini kept quiet though. You never spoke back to master as only he was allowed to talk. Slaves weren't deemed worthy enough to ever talk to their masters. Not that Kalini didn't sometimes think her master was the filthy one.

The journey started off well enough with some verbal abuse and shove since Kalini was going to slow for her master. The true hell began when they got to town. As her master was getting down from the carriage Kalini had tripped into him. Which had led to one of the most painful beatings of her life. She didn't remember much after it though as she had blacked out but she did remember angry voices which she assumed was her master screaming more abuse at her.

When Kalini did eventually come to it was to the rocking and swaying of a boat. Her first articulate words from her mouth were, "Heeerwuzzay?"

What a great way to wake up she though. Surely if her master was around she was going to get another beating. Instead when Kalini did look around it was to a smiling woman. Who was not dressed the way people in the Kou Empire do and this greatly alarmed Kalini.

"Oh I'm sorry did I startle you?" The woman asked gently. "No need to be frightened though. You are safe here. We bought you off your master but there is no need to think of us as your new masters as we set you free. You are no longer a slave." The woman smiled at her blindingly.

Somehow, Kalini though, she could feel as if something great was about to happen. Yet she also felt great despair as now she didn't know what to do. All she knew was how to be a slave. Life wasn't going to be the same for her now.