"Thank you for the food Runetta." Ari said politely after she had eaten. "Oh, don't thank me dear, it is my job." Mrs. Hamlet said in her usual bouncy, happy manner. "Yes, thank you a bunch!" Lori stood up and gave Mrs. Hamlet a hug. "Now enough of that." She returned the hug and began to clear the table. "I am going to my room." Ari stood up and strode from the dinning hall. She walked up the staircase going up to her room at the top of the north tower. She walked through the brick maze. She stopped at a door with engravings on it. There were unicorns dancing on their hind legs. In the back round was the very palace she was in. She opened the door to her room. In the room there was a four-poster bed with satin sheets, and a down bed cover. She flopped onto the bed and sighed. Without her parents what was she? A normal 14-year-old girl, a very scared 14-year-old girl. Tears began to stream down her face again. Ari had learned that she had lost her parents about a year ago when she had first entered Balinor. Ari got up and walked over to the window. From her place in the palace she could see the Royal Mews. She could see the Royals grazing in the nearby meadow. A glossy black mare looked up from her grazing point, and seeing Ari at the window, she whinnied in greeting. "Hi Tierza." She called. The unicorn galloped till she was under Ari's window, but much lower down. "Come down Princess." The mare called up to her. Ari held up a finger to mean 'in a minute'. Tierza nodded. Ari looked around her room; old memories came flooding back, memories that she had once forgotten. She sighed and walked out the door again. Lori was just coming up the staircase when Ari was descending. "Oh, Ari, Linc wants you to brush him, I think he must have gone into the bushes or something because he is covered in burrs." Lori informed her. "Thank you Lori." Ari nodded and smiled. Ari kept walking down the steps. Linc was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. His cream and mahogany fur was knotted with burrs and twigs. "Linc," She scolded gently, "What have you been up to?" He wagged his tail. "Chase and I went for a jog through the forest." He said in his collie like accent, "Can you brush me?" "I'm sorry Linc, I was just about to go visit Tierza." She said patting his head, "Why don't you find Finn, I'm sure he would be happy to." "Alright." He said with a sad look in his eyes, "I guess I will." He trotted off to find Finn. Ari walked through the hall and out the back door that led to the Mews. Tierza was grazing near the door while she waited. "Hey Tierza, what's wrong?" Ari said with a look of concern. "Nothing milady, I just wanted you to come and join us, you have been so depressed lately." She said looking up, her blue eyes concerned. "We could go for a ride?" Ari suggested. Tierza pondered for a moment and nodded. "I would like that." She said with a bob of her head. She bent down a bit so Ari could climb aboard. Her height was nothing compared to the Sunchaser's, but she was still fairly tall. "Hey!" A bright yellow unicorn came up to them. "Sunburst!" Ari cried. "I have not seen you since you went off to the Isle." Sunburst nodded with respect.

"I have missed you." He trotted in a circle, "I am going to go graze." And he cantered off to find the perfect grazing spot. "OK, lets go." She said to Tierza who began to trot to the front of the castle. They went around the village, with the people waving as she went by. She smiled these were her parents' people, her people. Tierza trotted around a bend. Ari saw a unicorns the colour of leaves in the fall coming towards them. "Move aside." Ari ordered Tierza. She obeyed. The unicorn slowed to a stop in front of them. "Princess." The unicorn was out of breath. "We need your help!" She panted. "Jenny?!" Ari asked. The unicorn nodded. Ari slipped off Tierza and embraced the unicorn. "You have grown since the last time a saw you." Again the unicorn nodded. "Now what do you need?" "My Father!" Jenny said her voice calmer. "He has come back and is trying to regain the thrown." Ari gasped. "I thought the Shadow unicorns had fled?" Ari turned to Tierza. "They did, I made them." She said gravely. "There must be something evil out there that makes them fearless of us now." Ari shook her head. "Jenny, come with us back to the palace." Ari mounted Tierza and told her to go. Tierza broke into a canter, Jenny very close beside her despite her fatigue.