A/N: I'm back with chapter two! This one is a fun'un, in my opinion! Hope you like!

The sprites in the tree buzzed happily, skittered here and there with wide grins revealing pointed, shark-like teeth. When I emerged again, with a cloud of seven sprites trailing me, my tribe gave me bewildered looks. I sighed and thought to myself, Really, you'd think they'd be used to things like this by now.

"Bella, what are those?" Seth asked, brows drawn together.

"These are Woodland Sprites, Seth. May I introduce to you Koru, the tree-father, Pik, his mate, Graag, Koru's brother, and Koru's children: Oppej, Rosh, Hirma, and Braggh." The sprites flew forward in turn to introduce themselves. As it was, Braggh had been the small sprite to face Pik's wrath. "I asked for directions to the exact current location to the Askari camp and Koru volunteered to show us, as well as swearing the allegiance of his family to my service," I said, sheepishly.

I had never enjoyed the reverence certain individuals showed me simply for the gifts I had been given. It had always felt unwarranted, that they seemed to admire me more for the things I could do than the deeds I had done.

Rafael stepped forward and bowed slightly. "An honor to meet you all."

The sprites seemed mildly stunned by Rafael's manners. Before they could question this, I began to introduce my tribe and our extras. "This is my mate, Alice of the Cullen Coven." The sprites flew to her and bowed to her as they had to me. In sprite culture, any honors one sprite held their mate also shared. From then on, I only pointed to each other as I said their name. "Rafael is my second, then there is Birch, our oracle, the twins Aria and Archer, and our last two are Holly and her shifter mate, Seth."

The sprites showed them all due respect and eventually we were on our way yet again. Koru flew point, leading us along game trails through the dense forest towards the camp, while the rest of his family settled down somewhere either on my person or on Alice. Pik sat on my shoulder while Braggh sat on my other, chattering away in the Sprite language, one I was only vaguely familiar with. Graag perched on the rim of my quiver and Rosh clung to the pommel of Alice's sword while Hirma and Oppej had each claimed one of her shoulders.

"Not far now," Koru said as we entered into a particularly dense stand of pine trees.

The air began to hum with energy. The magic of so many hunters in one place sang around us. In prouder years people had reveled in it's rejuvenating feel and some even wondered if it was this atmosphere that kept us young for so long. It had the ability to keep the land fertile and lush, animals produced more young and food was easy to come by near Hunter camps. Flowers bloom in every spare patch, small animals come and go, birdsong twitters through the trees. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be. It had never been that way in my life time. My grandmother had been sure of that.

I dipped into my magic and probed the land ahead with my mind. The camp's location was protected under a myriad of spells but I had long ago learned the gaps in their weave. Putting their weaknesses to use now that we were closing in, I saw that we weren't far at all. The camp had moved slightly south since I had last been here in early summer but I had ranged far and the land still looked familiar. Koru's flight speed slowed and his path became a bit more jittery and haphazard. I was about to ask him if he was feeling alright when he turned to me.

"Perhaps it is better if we wait outside for you, Mistress," he said in a quivery voice.

"Is the magic irritating you?" I asked with a frown. His family seemed equally disturbed.

"No Mistress, only it is... unnerving being so near. Apologies, but it has been many years since we have been allowed within Hunter Territory."

My countenance darkened and I glared into the trees, as if somehow they would convey my anger to the camp. They weren't ill, they were scared! There had been a time when Hunter camps were safe havens for supernaturals. They were places of healing and lodging and comfort. They were long houses where hundreds of races could convene and tell stories and sleep side by side in front of a communal fire. They were foreign foods and jokes and alliances. Now they were a place of fear and false superiority.

"Koru, no harm will come to you while you are under my protection. The Askari Camp should not be a place of fear, and I am very angry that my family has made it so. Don't worry, I will protect you."

He did not seem as comforted as I would have liked, but he perched on my shoulder with his other family members and allowed me to walk on. I tried to ignore the feeling of their shakes and shivers. Finally, the trees before me shimmered and wavered, morphing before my eyes into a tall wooden wall as if the magic protecting them was running off in rivulets. Alice and Seth gasped, but I marched on with a determination that was quickly turning into anger. A gate loomed before us, protected by a wood-hatched portcullis. Along the top of the wall, two men in Hunter garb stood at attention. One called out as we approached.

"Halt! State your name and business."

"My name is Bella Ravensage, heir to the Askari throne, here to claim my birthright. Now open this damn gate!" I wanted to add 'Before I blast it to smithereens,' but I thought better of it. I was supposed to be winning their hearts, wasn't I?

Regardless of smithereens or no smithereens, they fell over themselves to heed me. I used magic to sharpen my eyes and saw their faces drain of color and sweat break out on their foreheads.

That's some high quality fear, Alice thought wryly in my mind, flavored with a hint of distaste.

I know. My grandmother had quite a reign.

The portcullis cranked upwards and we passed underneath, back home once again. I grit my teeth against the unpleasant thought. As soon as we passed through the gate people inside did one of two things: groveled on the ground or stared at me with startled anger. Quite frankly I preferred the latter, it was much more easily managed. Around us tents were propped up in a myriad of colors, all representing the crests of the families who lived in them. As we passed a whisper raced through the camp ahead of us so the farther we walked the more people stood out to greet us in their own special way. Eventually a train of them began to follow us, likely from curiosity. I would have told them to leave us to our business, except I knew that if I unclenched my jaw curses and blasphemes would be the only thing I could manage.

All around me was evidence of the Hunter's corpulent corruption and it sickened me to the bone. There were only two types of people I saw, either the lavishly jeweled and clothed that emerged from grand, gilded tents or the lean and haggard with worn clothing emerging from tattered homes, clutching emaciated children. Many of the wealthy looked enraged at my arrival but only a few had the grace to look guilty. They were in essence the children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and they had gotten away with it for far too long. I was here to set things right and they damn well knew it.

"Where is Brinnin?" I asked in a clear, ringing voice. It was laced with magic due to the anger running in my veins, aching to burst free and ravage the place.

"I am here, m'lady," his familiar voice replied. I turned in time to see him push his way to the front of the growing crowd and kneel before me.

"It is good to see you again," I said, my voice softening only a degree. "How have things fared here?"

He paused a moment, seeming to not like answering in front of a crowd. He settled on, "As well as can be expected, m'lady."

Bad, then, I thought with a wry grimace. "I see. Well in that case I-"

"Gods above, what are on your shoulders?" A new voice came from the crowd. It was rich and jovial with the type of disbelief one lends a child after they have made some sort of embarrassing mistake. I prickled and turned to find it's source, only to come face to face with a mountain of a man.

Many men were prided for having a tall stature with broad, muscular shoulders. That sort of thick frame was idolized in Hunter society. Unfortunately, this man was not that type of mountainous. He was nearly wider than he was tall, with soft dough-like skin as pale as milk. He had a flop of greasy brown curls atop his head and multiple rings glittered on his sausage fingers, constricting them severely. Amulets and jewels glittered along his person and he wore fine velvet robes instead of leather or mail. On his breast was a red dove carrying a blue arrow, sigil of the Redfern family.

"Master Redfern, how fare you?" I asked to be polite, choking down my repulsion. How any Hunter manages to get fat, I could never guess. He was barely two hundred years old, but his hair was already receding and he grew weak. Luckily he had had horrible luck with wives but wonderful luck with children. From his four passed wives, none of which were his true mate I might add, he had birthed over fifteen children that kept him well supplied with gold and honor. The Redfern family was highly respected, Gods only know why.

"I fare splendidly, my dear girl. Now if you please, your little friends there?" His voice remained condescendingly sweet, as if I had brought him a dead frog and said it was a prince.

"Lord Redfern, you startle me. Surely the excitement of my return hasn't addled you so much you cannot identify a Wood Sprite? They used to be so friendly with our people too, shame they no longer reside in our camps."

The man bristled quietly and only for a moment, but his reply came back sweeter than ever. In the meantime, I noticed the crowd looked on with vivid interest, all breathing held. "Pardon me, you're right of course. I just didn't expect our heir and liege to consort with such... creatures." 'Creatures' slid from his mouth like slime.

My voice cracked out like a whip, tired of his games. Magic seeped into my words. "My Lord, I feel it is my duty as your heir and liege to remind you that as a so-called Hunter, it is your duty to consort with creatures of all types. You are a Hunter, aren't you?"

He floundered, face flushing with anger. "W-well of course! What are you implying, girl?"

Rafael burst in, unable to contain himself any longer. "How dare you refer to your Queen as girl?"

I held a hand out to Rafael to stop him. I was on a roll and didn't need the help. "I imply nothing, Master Redfern. Instead I am saying that if you present yourself before me clad in robes instead of armor, adorned in jewels instead of scars, so fat you'd best mind your footing around slopes and scornful of the creatures we are sworn to protect then I will question your integrity as a Hunter! And I will tolerate no disrespect, have I made myself clear?"

As my speech progressed so did the amount of magic that leaked it's way through. The ocean within me was raging with all the force of a typhoon and it took all my strength to quell it. A trifle of fear flashed through me and I wondered briefly if it was too much to handle. By the end the ground trembled beneath our feet and the wind had picked up to the point that it whipped at Master Redfern's robes. His flushed face had gone pale.

"Yes, my lady. Apologies, my lady."

I took a deep, visible breath and closed my eyes, containing myself yet again. I hissed out in a hard voice, "I want the head of every family and the council to convene in the Royal Pavilion. Now."

I turned and stalked that way myself, leaving a stunned crowd in my wake.

It was Rafael who called out, "Are you deaf, she said move!"

They broke like a kicked anthill, scurrying this way and that. The ragged Hunters I noticed as I walked looked at me with awe and reverence in their eyes, and it occurred to me that if Redfern could try his hand at bullying a Queen, nothing would stop him from pushing around the families with less honor or wealth than his. I wondered how many had suffered under him.

The Royal Pavilion had been, by my decree, Brinnin's headquarters since he had arrived, which I sure wrinkled a few brows. He was not a high ranking Hunter and his Tribe had been half wiped out in the Rebellion, both labeling him as sub par by current standards. This was not to say that he was bad at what he did. He seemed intelligent and competent, and after looking through my records I had found that the only reason he was not placed within a noble Tribe was due to the high numbers of noble children in his class. I found him to be quite the effective conduit between me and the tribe, and planned to place him upon the council as soon as I fully came into my throne. Gods only knew when or how that would occur though.

The pavilion was massive and made from black and blue fabric, the colors of my family crest. Inside there were multiple chambers, one for sleeping and eating, another for entertaining visitors, and yet another, the largest, which was the council room. Spells soundproofed the area and it was enchanted to keep occupants calm and comfortable. Inside five Hunter's already awaited me, three women and two men. Of the women, only one showed any age, and that was Lady Wolfcharm. Her robes were the gray and gold colors of her sigil, and eerily matched her graying blond hair. Her other female counterparts still appeared to be young and youthful twenty-somethings, though I knew one, Lady Firesight, was over one hundred and twenty and the other, Lady Morrowtide, was over two. The men, Lord Flintwyn and Lord Oakheart were both somewhere in between.

They came in one after another, filling chair after chair. Some I liked, some I didn't, some I had no feelings for whatsoever because they had not been head of the family when I left. I assumed their predecessor's had died in the battle, but I wasn't about to ask. Lady Roseblade came in with Lord Goldwalker, followed by the young Lord Sparrowman who was hardly older than I. The hulking Lord Whitebear came in just behind Lord Stormrunner and both preceded Lady Cederlyn. More and more came until finally all the chairs were full and even then more came, standing on the fringes. Lower ranking Hunter's had come first, and more than once a higher ranking noble tried to remove them from their seat, only to be quelled into submission by a fierce glare from me. Finally my headcount notified me that all were in attendance and I began.

"Many of you probably aren't happy to see me. I understand that."

I paused to survey the room, making note of who's eyes flashed and who grinned and who glared. Listen for their heart rates, make note of who reacts to what I say, I told my tribe and Alice. I felt them all agree.

"Frankly, I don't care right now. Maybe I will tomorrow, maybe not, who knows. All I know right now is that I am absolutely sickened by the state of this camp. I made my opinions perfectly clear before my departure and I'm sure none of you are surprised to hear they have not changed. Are any of you aware of the state of the world? Do any of you even care?"

I paused again. Some looked bored and apathetic, some looked confused, all too few of them looked guilty.

"The world is terrified of us. The races hate the Askari, the gods refuse to work with you, even the creatures of your own forest are too scared to get close to the camp. Dammit, being a Hunter used to mean something! We used to be protectors, champions of the weak and defenseless, protector, Wardens of the World. That is what we were made to do, and yet somehow you've all turned your backs on that sacred duty. That sacred duty that has guided our actions for thousands and thousands of years. Yet all it took was one crazy tyrannical Queen and look at you now. Cruel. Lazy. Greedy. Are you proud of yourselves?"

No answer.

"You've all learned the lore, you know our history! Would your ancestors be proud of you?"

Still no answer, but many a gaze dropped to the table or to their feet.

"I said, would they be proud?" I grateful for the soundproofing of the room due to the volume of my words.

A smattering of whispered 'no's and several noncommittal grunts answered me. I glared at them for a long moment. "I'm claiming my right to the throne. Object now if you wish to challenge me."

Gazes hardened, faces turned to stone, anger lit in their postures but no one said a word.

"I will accept challenges, face to face on an open field as custom dictates. Is there no one?"

Nothing.

"Fine then. I will now accept oaths of fealty, nothing fancy, just needs to be done."

They went around the room, swearing themselves, their families and all they have to me. They swore loyalty and bravery and subservience but I could only believe a few of them. Some swore with tones of resignation, some with gusto, but I took none of it at face value. When it was over with I ran a hand through my hair.

"I have no interest in a coronation, it is done. I won't hold you here for much longer, but I need a basic run down of the state of the camp. Please consider the state of your family, the missions you've run, and the other families around you in your answer then come to me tomorrow starting at noon, one at a time. Nothing you tell me will be publicly divulged, I need an honest gauge of where we stand. Missions will resume in two days after I've made my decisions. Are there any questions before we adjourn.

To my surprise, several hands went up.

I nodded at the young Lord Sparrowman. "What tithe will you require of us?"

My brow furrowed. "Pardon?"

"The tithe. The late Queen demanded a monthly tithe from us, surely you knew?"

Anger kindled in my silver eyes, fierce as a true flame. It must have shown, seeing as several of those closest to me flinched away. "I was as removed from the council and their going-ons as I could have been. It helped that my Grandmother had no intention of including me or teaching me anything of worth. So no, I was unaware. I will take no tax from you, Lord Sparrowman. Other than the Clan cut of mission fees, that which has always been in place, your earnings are your own."

Surprise intermingled with disbelief.

"Don't look so stunned! From this day forward we are returning to our true purpose as a species. We're Hunters, not the Mafia!"

Another hand raised and I nodded to a Lady dressed in black and red, the colors of the Roseblade family. "Who shall oversee training? Both Hanson Oakheart and Gregor Windseer were slain in the battle. The children have gone without guidance."

I bristled. "Their families can take the responsibility of teaching them what they can until a suitable replacement can be found. Any children who's parents are incapable for some reason or another are to be sent to me or a member of my tribe."

Lady Roseblade looked satisfied so I nodded to the final hand, belonging to Lord Flintwyn. "Many important Clansmen and women were slain in the battle, such as our best Healer, our head of intelligence, many of our traders that convened with the other species. If we don't get replacements of those soon it will cripple the camp."

I pondered a moment then said, "Tomorrow while I meet with you all I will have several pieces of parchment, for lists of things like resources needed, positions that need to be filled, prominent folk who passed in the battle. Once everything is sorted out and accounted for we can make the necessary arrangements. Satisfactory?"

Lord Flintwyn nodded, a small smile on his face. The man appeared to be no older than mid-thirties with a crop of wavy brown hair and a large, well muscled build. His eyes were kind and warm, very few others in the room shared those traits. I liked him.

"If there is nothing else..?" I asked.

Silence met me once more.

"Very well. Meeting adjourned. I'll see you all tomorrow."

They filed out one by one, some grumbling to themselves and some painfully mute. Only a few like Lord Sparrowman and Lord Flintwyn stopped to say they were glad for my return. Before long the only ones left in the tent were my Tribe and I. I flopped down, face first on the table top.

"What have I gotten myself in to..."

"Aw, cheer up Bells!" Rafael said, clapping me on the back. "I think they like you!" I looked up to see a crooked sarcastic smile on his face.

"I am not above socking you in the jaw," I muttered but the bastard just laughed.

"It's not your job to make them like you," Aria said, fiddling with a strand of stark white hair.

"It kind of is," I said. "I mean yeah, I'm here to reform them but I'm also here to lead them. I'm not going to be a tyrant like my grandmother was."

"That's the fine line rulers have been struggling over for centuries," Birch said. "But if there's anyone in the history of the universe who can figure it out, it's going to be you."

His utter confidence in me twisted my stomach into knots. "Was this a vision?"

He shrugged. "Nah, just a hunch."

"Great!" I said sarcastically, throwing my arms outwards. "Hunches are what got me into this friggin' mess!"

"Oh hush," Alice said, running a smoothing hand through my hair. "Take a deep breath. When push comes to shove, you've got the power to do whatever the hell you want. Thing's always work out for the one holding the bigger stick, there's another history lesson for you."

Yeah, I've got the power, but do I control it or does it control me? I thought dismally, and Alice didn't seem to think that was fit for a response.

"Now come on. We need to go re-inhabit our old quarters," Holly said.

"They're new quarters now," Rafael reminded her. "We're allocated to the Royal Tribe's tents. All of the Queen's tribemates were killed, and their family have moved back to their family's plots. They're all ours now."

Holly's eyes lit with a fierce kind of pride. It was well earned, of course. After all, she had spent two years living as an exile, but now she held one of the highest positions in the Clan. The honor her family would hold just from their relation to her was substantial, had she not disowned them for disowning her. She actually came from the Whitebear family, and it was her great grandfather who had come to the meeting but they had spared not a glance for each other. The anger my tribe felt towards their blood relations was still substantial, even after all these years.

While I was supposed to live in the Royal pavilion I didn't think I was ready for that just yet. Besides I wanted to help settle my tribe in. We had just walked outside once more when a small form crashed into my side. I was caught by surprise and nothing besides my restraint kept me from frying the intrusion.

"Bella, you're back!" The voice was raspy and familiar, as was the mop of dark hair. I looked down into the freckled, blue eyed innocent gaze of my younger brother. My throat choked. I had stolen his throne, orchestrated a battle that had killed both our grandmother and father, and bent the Clan to my will but he was still overjoyed to see me, by the looks of him.

"M-Milo!" I stuttered out, still shocked. "Hey, yeah. I'm... I'm back."

My tribe could sense my discomfort but Milo seemed rather... well, oblivious.

A/N: Enter Milo: The hopeless case with Royal blood and Bella's only living family. I don't think it will surprise anyone to know that she really lacks those mothering genes. Good thing Milo's a sweetheart, huh? A ditzy sweetheart, but sweet none the less! Well, let me know what you think of this one, please? Pretty please.

E-Tacos for all who review! Your feedback keeps me going!

I love you all!

-Sun