Disclaimer: I do not own the Hollow Kingdom trilogy.

Icebend28: Jamie is not an elf, she's just a normal human. It's extremely doubtful that there will be much more stuff about her grandparents, except minor details every now and then. You probably noticed that Jamie's parents and grandparents don't have names. The reason for that is that it's extremely unlikely that they will be brought up again. The parents and grandparents were really just a reason for Jamie to be traveling to England, they're not really a part of the story besides that. Yes, I am working on a subplot, so it won't just be about their courtship. It won't be exactly like the first book, so Jamie probably won't be saving the kingdom, but there might be a mystery, and probably some action. Odds are, there will be a sequel. I haven't started writing it yet, but I have some ideas, and it involves a character named Nabusar, who's mentioned in the next chapter. I have no idea whether the author reads the fanfiction of her books, but I do believe she supports it. I hope that answered your questions. Thank you so much for your review! :)

Yay, I got five reviews for the last chapter! That's amazing! I'd like to thank BalletGirl98, ShearViscosity, AwkwardedOut, fruba14, Icebend28, TaintedSoul1124 and kaitamis for all your reviews. It's really an amazing feeling when I get a review, and it's fun to answer your questions and see your support. So thank you! :D

I'd like to thank BalletGirl98, TaintedSoul1124 and kaitamis especially for favoriting this story.

Chapter Four
Doubting Thomas

"Guard! Come here!"

Tabucal felt more than a little surprise and a healthy amount of terror when Marak suddenly called him over to join him and Milsheddura, his adviser, at the table they were currently standing at.

"Oh, Marak, leave the poor guard alone. What help can he be to you in defending your weak argument?" This slightly amused and somewhat scornful voice came from Milsheddura, although it was more of a growl emanating from his cat-like features.

"Ah, but Sheddura," Marak replied, turning back to him, "if I tell you, it won't be a humiliating surprise when you lose again." They both laughed at this.

For most of the king's guard, which included Tabucal, it was rare indeed to even be noticed by Marak. That it was an honor was undeniable, whether or not it was healthy was the real question. But despite being increasingly doubtful of his continued good health, Tabucal dutifully walked over to the two powerful goblins and made a small, respectful bow.

Once there, he could see that the table was covered in Marak's special magical maps and notes. He had invented them himself. The maps were imbued with magic and thus were extremely interactive; one could set a piece of the map on fire and the map would show how it would burn if it were a real fire. They also acted somewhat like the humans' satellites in that they had a view from the air. They made use of the magic from the water mirror and were able to zoom in on anyone within their range, and the user could see what that person was doing at that time. This feature was still not working properly within the elves' border spell, but Marak was working on getting around that. Marak was many things, including ruthless and terrifying, but idle was not among them.

Marak and his adviser both acknowledged his obeisance and then Marak spoke. "What's your name?"

"Tabucal, my lord," he replied in a soft, hissing voice.

"Well Tabucal," he drawled, "Sheddura here doesn't believe I can make this map work like the water mirror, and put an object into the map and have it appear in the actual place. Care to prove him wrong?"

"I am yours to command," Tabucal hissed. "What is your wish?"

"I need an object from you, small enough to fit easily into the map, and not suspicious to humans." Marak's multi-colored eyes raked over him, his eyes settling on Tabucal's arm. "That armband will do nicely. Don't worry," he added, seeing Tabucal's hesitation, "you'll get it back."

Tabucal quickly removed his gold-embossed, black armband and placed it into Marak's hand. In doing so, their hands touched, and Tabucal felt a slight shock from Marak's silver, magical hand. The hand was not only colored silver, it truly appeared as if it was made of silver; cold and smooth to the touch, it was unnatural even for a goblin. The silver claws were also extraordinarily sharp; one flick from one of them and blood was instantly drawn.

Tabucal watched excitedly as Marak clenched his silver fist over the armband, making his hand glow, and his silver right eye shined too. The lowly king's guard could feel the awesome power coming from his king. Suddenly, Marak smashed his fist into one of the maps on the table, the one detailing the property of the Hallow Hill estate, including the Hall and the smaller Lodge, nearby. Marak grinned and opened his fist, showing that it was empty.

"Bah! That proves nothing," Sheddura insisted. "You could have merely changed it into something too small to see."

"All these years and you still doubt my skill. It's becoming quite insulting," Marak laughed. "Very well, it seems I must go find the armband and bring it back to show you."

"I'll believe it when I see it," his adviser maintained.

"Then see it you will. I will rub the proof beneath your very nose." Marak turned and walked out of the room, saying over his shoulder, "I should be back within a few hours, but if I'm not, don't worry, I may decide to wander around that miniscule village for a while." And with that, he was gone.

Sheddura shook his head and smiled very slightly, then turned to Tabucal and told him he was dismissed. Tabucal bowed and returned to his post at the door, but inside, he was filled with thoughts of awe and admiration for his king. He, at least, had no doubts about Marak's magical skill; the king could probably do anything if he only set his mind to it. Much later, while the young guard was with his friends in the barracks, he related the entire tale to them, and they all marveled at Marak's amazing abilities.

Marak walked out of the room and headed for the stairs leading to the royal chambers so he could gather a few things for his trip to the village. The guards he encountered along the way all nodded respectfully, a marked contrast from the way the goblin children greeted him when he passed the page's floor. They all peeked out of their respective rooms to stare in awe, that is, until one of the teachers got them acting in so disrespectful a manner and scolded them soundly. Marak smiled slightly, he had no problem with the children, and it was hardly disrespectful of them to show their admiration in their excited stares.

No, it was not children that bothered him; mothers had that singular privilege, and there was one mother in particular that bothered him the most. Fortunately, his own mother was dead and had been for many years, followed by his father not more than five years ago. Five years that he had been a king with no wife, a fact which irked him considerably. Surprisingly, his adviser thought it was for the best that he had found no suitable wife for the past five years.

Sheddura, as all his friends called him for short, had told Marak repeatedly that he was too young to have a wife. It was all well and good to be a king at 25, but a wife was another matter altogether, he said. Marrying her was the easy part, being married was task that would require all his patience and kindness, and if he did it too early, he would not possess the self-control to handle all the difficult situations his wife would undoubtedly put him through. It might get better after the first few years, but then again, it might not; one could never know whether one's wife would grow to love him or not. Wait a few years, Sheddura had said. Clean up the mess your father made of the kingdom in his final years and gain the respect of your subjects. Then you can think about a wife.

Fortunately, Marak had not found any women that would make good wives anyway, only a few possible candidates that hadn't worked out in the end. If he had, he would have, in all likelihood, taken them and married them on the spot, completely disregarding his one requirement: she must come to him. He really had been foolish five years ago, hadn't he? If he'd taken a wife then, he would surely have gone insane and probably would have killed her in a burst of temper. Yes, he had been foolish and not at all prepared for a wife.

But that was different now. His kingdom was in order, he was well respected and admired by all his subjects and he had gained a large measure of self-control; those bursts of temper he had had so often in his youth were a rarity nowadays. They had been a large part of why his mother had become so terrified of him, although, ironically enough, they had started because of her irritation at his mere existence.

But most importantly, his magic had matured, giving him the ability to have a child. Usually, a King's magic didn't mature until past the age of 40, but it was no secret that Marak was quite an exceptional King. There was no question, Marak was ready for a wife. All that remained now was for her to make an appearance.

Yeah, he's totally not ready. Poor guy, he's about to get a big surprise. I know, I totally switched on you and left you hanging on that cliff. That was mean of me, especially because I won't pull you up until chapter 6. Suck it up. :P

So, this chapter plus chapter 1 should have clued you in, but Marak is pretty obviously an egomaniac. He is very proud and extremely arrogant, not to mention conceited, and all of his decisions are going to be colored by that. This is the main reason for his requirement that his wife has to come to him. Can you imagine being that conceited and having someone refuse to marry you? It would be unacceptable to him. I may have misled you into thinking there will be a long courtship before the wedding. There won't, but it's still not your typical kidnapping. I'll leave you to guess what that entails.

And now, the special reward. If you leave a signed review, I will give you the actual meaning of the goblin names, Tabucal and Milsheddura. It must be signed, but you can review any chapter after this and you will still get the meanings. The same applies to chapter 5, because there's a few more names in that chapter as well. I did actually take real words from ancient Assyrian and change them a little bit so they sounded better, so I didn't just make them up. There's also some elvish names next chapter that I took from Sumerian. In your reviews, please tell me if you'd also like the original words from the language, or just my version. Also, tell me if you think I should wait until the end of the story before I release the names to everyone, or if that's too mean and I should just wait a few chapters before I tell everybody. Also, feel free to tell me if you think this is a stupid reward. ;)

Okay, announcements are over, what did you think of grown-up Marak Silverhand? I'm also curious what you thought of the magic maps. Also, Tabucal might be part of the subplot, what do you think of that? Review, peoplz!

*Edit*
Okay, thank you ShearViscosity, for finding the first plot hole. She pointed out that Marak was not old enough to have a wife because his magic wasn't mature yet, which was very good point. I added to the last paragraph and hopefully that fixed the problem. Doing it this way actually makes the story work better I think.