If Raenell Roth had to choose the one thing she hated most about being a princess of Azarath, it would have to be the suitors.

She could deal with her pea-brained queen of a mother and her abusive father, though they were awful. She could survive the awful, gaudy dresses and gossiping servants, who were entirely despicable. Raenell could even live with the horrible, stuffy banquets and public speaking. But the suitors? Unbearable.

The first suitor came when she was fifteen. He was alright. They laughed and joked all throughout dinner. He was intelligent and mildly handsome, with purple eyes and dark hair. He was a prince from the North, cousin to King Rorek of Nol. Raenell hadn't realized his intentions to marry her until he started speaking of dowries and honeymoons during dessert.

Dessert hadn't lasted long.

Of course, Raenell had received hell from her father, King Trigon, afterwards. Apparently, slamming Prince Malchior's plate of custard into his face and breaking his nose was not an acceptable response to a marriage proposal.

With each year of no marriage, the suitors got nastier and nastier. As Raenell grew older and still had yet to marry and have children, Trigon grew angrier and angrier. Raenell and her mother, Arella, were often at the receiving end of his anger. Arella was blinded by love, but Raenell remembered every blow she received. Raenell longed for revenge, even knowing she would never receive it.

The only escape Raenell had from the hell she lived in was her weekly excursion to the City. When she was amidst her people, listening to the ringing of bells and shouting people and animals bickering, she felt at home. So very different from the peaceful, perfumed castle, the normal smells of spices, fabrics, stables, animals, people and fresh, fresh air made her feel comfortable. It was only in the city that she lost her carefully crafted façade.

To most people who met the princess, she was stone cold and stoic. It was true that this was how Raenell was. This was her personality and she had never tried to change it. It was just that when she was in the City, she was less icy and kinder. No one suspected that their princess walked among them, as she always wore a blue cape, pinned with a red brooch. It was common dress among Azarathians.

It was always interesting for Raenell to be outside the high walls and gates of her safe home. The City was so different. It was jostling, violent, harsh, but not without order. Everyone had a place and no one strayed from the path. No one stood out. Not even her, the future queen of the kingdom.

While Trigon was despised by his citizens and Arella was thought of as the dumbest Azarathian queen in many years, the people loved Raenell. Even though she was neither the warmest nor the most trusting, she was truthful and fair. And, also unlike Trigon, she cared about the wellbeing of her people, and was always seeking new ways to help them.

The citizens also admired her for her confidence, for princess Raenell was not like normal people.

In every land east of the Great Blue, there were those with odd features. They were children born with oddly colored hair or skin. Some had odd features, such as horns or a tail. Princess Raenell was one of these odd ones. While her parents were normal looking, with black hair and purple eyes, as was normal in Azarath, Raenell had vibrant, glowing purple hair that fell to her shoulder blades. She was the only Azarathian princess in history to have an Oddity, as that was what people called those strange features.

Azarath was the largest kingdom in the EasternLand. To the North was Nol, ruled by King Rorek, who was a kind, intelligent man. Raenell had met him when she was younger. They were similar in age, and had had many similarities, such as their shared love of their horses and love of reading. Trigon had rejected him as a potential suitor, simply because he did not like the way Rorek ruled his kingdom. It was completely opposite to Trigon's method, which involved much fear. Rorek ruled his kingdom with kindness.

To the West lay the kingdom of Jump, ruled by King Bruce and his adopted son, Prince Victor. Bruce was similar to Trigon in that he loved women and money. Otherwise, they were very different. Bruce also ruled his kingdom well, thinking of his denizens before himself. He had an Oddity, and it was that he could communicate with bats. He had earned the name 'Man of Bats,' and after hearing of the title, made it official.

To the East lay Zelthura, the smallest of the countries. Zelthura was directly between Azarath and the Great Blue and had been named the 'Sister of Azarath,' for the wonderful network of communication between the Queen of Zelthura, Driarda, and Trigon. The two could have been siblings, as they were so alike. Driarda, while not as cruel as Trigon, was not kind to her subjects nor to her husband, Kraken, who was Trigon's younger, more-liked brother.

Zelthura, though small in size, was the largest trading center of the whole East. With ports all along the coast and a black market that encompassed nearly the entire country, everyone was a trader.

Driarda was a ruthless, aggressive queen who cared only about herself. When she and Kraken were married, she summoned a demon and promised him her firstborn if he would cripple the king in some way. He agreed to make the king mute, as he was, as long as Driarda gave her word that she would follow through on her deal. She agreed. The demon warned her that should she die, the curse would fall and the king would regain his voice. She thought that the risk was minimal, and agreed hastily. The week after the deal was made, Driarda was with child. A week after the news of her pregnancy came to light, Kraken fell very, very ill. When he woke, he could not speak.

When the child was born, she was bald. Even so, she was beautiful and calm, watching the world around her with large, curious blue eyes.

When Driarda held her for the first time, the ice around her heart cracked.

The princess' eyes were as blue as the sky. They were bluer than the blue jays that nested outside her window. Driarda named her after these beautiful birds. She became 'Neamh,' which meant 'Bluejay' in Zelthurian. Every girl in Zelthura had two parts to her name. The first part was something that the child reminded her mother of. The second name was usually something the mother wished upon her child. Driarda was 'Silk,' named so because when she was born her skin was as soft as silk. Her second name, 'Sruu,' meant happiness. When she held Neamh against her breast, the only thing she wished for her daughter was hope. Without hope one could never endure. Without hope one couldn't survive.

Neamh Drathdi. Bluejay Hope.

The demon came, black and scaly and so evil he made the room go cold, a week later. He came for the princess.

Driarda did not want to give away her daughter, but the demon threatened her with torture and death if she did not follow through on her deal. Driarda, despite loving Neamh, was a selfish, self-centered creature. She gave the demon her daughter in exchange for her own life.

The demon, whose name was Kyd Wykkyd, took the girl to the border of Zelthura and Azarath. There, lost in a maze of trees, was a tower that stood in a clearing. The tower had no door through which to enter. The only entrance was a window, far above the ground. Too far to jump from or to climb from. Kyd Wykkyd could teleport, and that was how he got from the ground, still carrying the babe, to the main room of the tower. There were two bedrooms. The bedroom in the loft would be for Neamh and the bedroom on the bottom floor would be for Kyd. There was a washroom and a section of the room with an oven for cooking.

It was in this place that Neamh grew up.

Raenell lived in a palace, had servants to wait on her every moment of the day and could have anything she wished for at the snap of her fingers. Even though she lived a life most people envied, she longed for freedom. The castle had become a cage, and every year the walls closed in on her a bit more. Raenell longed for more than domestic life. She didn't just want to marry and have babies and be a queen. She wanted to marry a man she loved, have children and help her kingdom rise from the horror that Trigon's rule had brought upon the Azarathians.

Neamh grew up shooting arrows from her window, learning swordplay from her 'father,' and dreaming about what the world might be like. Kyd Wykkyd never let Neamh leave the tower, saying that it was dangerous, and he only survived because of his powers. She believed him. What child wouldn't believe their father?

Wykkyd was surprised as Neamh grew. She had come into the world as a bald, blue-eyed baby. By the time she was three, her hair trailed like a train on the floor behind her. Even stranger was that it was an Oddity. Neamh's hair was bright, glowing azure that shone silver in the moonlight.

As Neamh entered her teenage years, she began to question Wykkyd's views of the world. Surely it couldn't be as horrible as he said.

The caged birds who longed for freedom.

Two girls who, under any other circumstances, wouldn't have met. But Fate has a funny way of working. Neither Neamh nor Raenell realized how entwined their destinies were, or that their dreams of freedom might finally be coming true.


So this is my first fanfic. I do not own Teen Titans but I do own Neamh, as she is my OC. I watched the entire series when I was younger with my brother and recently rewatched it. I'm going to try and finish this story, but the updates might be kind of sporadic.

Peace bros!

-Jujufish