Author's Note: I really needed something fluffy to write. So here we are. This is set after A Divine Conspiracy in the same fantasy AU. I'm planning to write in enough background that you won't need to have read that behemoth to understand what's happening in this one... but we'll see. Let me know what you think!

-x-

Prologue: Destiny's Call

Tears filled Trini's eyes, but she made no attempt to hide them. As she stood before the throne, about to bid a formal, if private, farewell to her closest friend, the fear welling up inside her was only too familiar. It felt like only yesterday that she had made her ill-fated request: to go home to the land called Taye, that had been hidden and protected by powerful magic for her entire life. Then, she had thought that her parents had at long last sent for her. Now she knew better. Her parents were dead.

And, if memories revealed by magic could truly be believed, she was not the daughter of wealthy merchants sent to foster in a royal court, but the last survivor of the Tayene royal family, raised as Kimberly's handmaid and utterly ignorant of the truth. Only a few had known the real story, among them Jason's parents. The Scotts had always safeguarded and protected her, and now they were ready to help her reclaim her destiny.

It didn't seem to Trini that any of it could possibly be true. But there was a part of her that desperately wanted it to be. Thus the farewells and the journey ahead.

This time, Trini reminded herself, she was going at her own behest and no one else's. No one was plotting to kidnap her or to try to use her against her friends. She would be protected by trusted, loyal soldiers, and would never be alone.

She still felt almost sick with fear.

She bowed deeply, with utmost respect, glancing up through her lashes at her oldest, best friend. For a moment she wondered how Kimberly must feel. She was saying farewell today to Trini, as well as Zack and all the others that would be accompanying her south. And in very short order she would have to do the same for Jason and the Phaedan contingent. The castle here had seemed so full of life and familiar faces. In just a few weeks, it would seem hollow and empty. Trini's heart ached in sympathy for Kimberly's loneliness.

At least Kimberly would have Tommy to keep her company and, of all wonders, their son. Trini still wondered about that sometimes. For a thousand years, every Queen of this conspicuously unnamed land had given birth only to a single daughter, who had gone on to become Queen in her own time. Somehow Kimberly had flouted that legacy and given birth to a son. Trini supposed at least that would give both monarchs something to think about during the lonely months ahead.

Kimberly managed to maintain a straight face and regal bearing for the space of a few heartbeats… and then she flung herself from the throne to throw her arms around Trini's shoulders. "I'm going to miss you so much," she murmured.

"You'll come visit me, right?"

"As soon as you're settled," Kimberly promised. "Ivan Ooze couldn't keep me away!"

Trini giggled in spite of herself. "He couldn't keep you away last time," she pointed out.

"And he was alive then! Think how much easier it'll be this time," her friend teased right back.

From his place respectfully to one side, Jason cleared his throat. "Don't I get any credit for that?"

Kimberly shot him a glare; Trini was thankful that they were more or less only among friends. They would not have been able to get away with such friendly bickering in front of the full court, where absolute propriety was a must. "I did most of the work and you know it," Kim retorted.

Trini laughed and stepped back, making room for Zack to say his own farewells. He returned his Queen's embrace with a bear hug of his own. Kimberly's first Knight, Jason's sworn brother, and one of Trini's dearest friends, his presence on this journey would be a blessing.

As she stood there watching, Trini felt as if a rock were caught in her chest. Isabella Scott, Jason's mother, caught her gaze from across the aisle and offered a reassuring smile that did little to ease Trini's heartache and nothing at all to lessen the fear that gripped her.

Tomorrow she would leave this place, the place where she had grown up, the only home she had ever truly known. She would head south into the unknown, and might never return again. The thought terrified her.

The memories of what had happened the last time she attempted this journey were suddenly fresh in her mind. Last time, Jason and Kimberly had somehow discovered that she was in danger and had come to her rescue. She couldn't count on them doing the impossible a second time.

Lady Scott glided over to stand beside her and gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "It'll be all right, dear," she promised.

Trini nodded numbly. As the moment of departure loomed, she wanted more and more to go back to the way things had been before. Before Ivan Ooze, before Lord Zedd, before even Rita Repulsa. Immediately, she felt guilty for thinking such things. Without Rita's interference, Tommy and Kimberly probably would never have met. They certainly wouldn't have found their present happiness.

Deep down, Trini knew a measure of her anxiety stemmed from a yearning for that kind of happiness and safety, not from begrudging her friends their hard-won joy.

Casting a hopeful glance at Jason where he stood, unwontedly solemn in finery befitting the Emperor of Phaedos, she hoped she was making the right decision.

Her friends had followed the path laid by fate, and it had served them well. Now it was her turn to answer destiny's call. She only hoped that she, too, would find what she sought.