"That is enough!" The king roared as everyone stopped their yelling and turned their eyes to the king. "I will not have my counsel act this way."

"We must do away with her sire before she kills us all in our sleep!" one general yelled as he pointed at Sakura as the others voiced their agreement. Sakura took a frightened step toward Ryo who put a protective arm around her.

"We will do nothing of the sort!" King Tallas said.

"You honestly can't expect us to let that child of a monster stay do you?" another man asked angrily.

"No, but we will decide this calmly." The king ordered. "They have made their case, we will now discuss it. Alecie if you would take them outside." He said giving his daughter a look from the side. Alecie nodded silently as she escorted them out, Sakura hanging her head. Once they were outside in the hall Sakura faced the others.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know my father had made enemies all the way up here!" she said earnestly.

"It's alright." Ryo said soothingly. "You didn't know."

"Why did they react that way?" Rowen asked.

"My father just seems to have that kind of effect on people." Sakura said pointedly.

"It's because of what happened a long time ago." Alecie spoke up. "A long time ago, Cloudrunners and earthwalkers lived together, but we soon came to outnumber the earthwalkers because we live slightly longer than you. A few of them started to get scared, afraid that we would out number that we would take over and become the dominate race. So instead of letting that happen, we became little more than slaves.  We were branded with a number on our arm, some of our elders still have theirs marks as proof. But even though we had been reduced to mere slaves that still wasn't good enough for some people."

"Let me guess, my father was one of them." Sakura interjected.

Alecie nodded as Sakura turned her face away.

"He was one of the worst. Back before he was banished, he led many revolts in trying to get people to kill their cloudrunner slaves. He even managed to convince a few to actually do it. That was when the cloudrunners fled to the skies, never to have contact with earthwalkers again."  Alecie finished.

"Why didn't you say something last night when I told you?" Sakura asked Alecie.

"That was a mistake on my part. I honestly didn't think that this subject would come up. I should have warned you though and now I will pay the price. Now that they know there is almost a zero percent chance that they will let you stay and help."

"It's all my fault." Sakura said. Ryo hugged her close to him for comfort as the others looked on unsure of what to say.

After they had waited for a while Cye broke the silence.

"Does it normally take this long to decide this kind of a thing?" he asked Alecie. She shook her head.

"No, they should have made their decision by now. I wonder what's taking them so long."

"I bet that is has something to do with who my father is." Sakura said. Just then the wooden doors opened as Joren's head poked through and gave a nod to Alecie.

"Alright, lets go." She said as she led them back inside. Sakura stayed close to Ryo for comfort as every eye in the room loathingly watched her every move. When they stood in the middle and Alecie had taken her seat the king stood up.

"You ronins have pled you case well." He began. "You genuinely seem to want to help and you seem to also have a feud with Broadway that could help us. The counsel and I have deliberated and we have decided that the Ronins may stay, but the girl goes." There was a titter going around the room about the final decision. The fact that the princess herself had brought them had swayed heavily in their favor, and the fact that they also had a reason to defeat Broadway gave them another boost. But the girl being the daughter of Talpa made many of the cloudrunners remember the old times and they were filled with a longstanding grudge.

Ryo stepped forward after the announcement. "Sakura is a part of the Ronin warriors." He said forcefully. "And I think that I speak for all of us when I say that if she goes, then we go." There was a murmur of agreement spreading through the group with an especially loud yes of agreement from Anubis.

After all he had worked for Talpa as well, longer than his own daughter had. And if they were going to discriminate against her, he knew they would do the same to him.

"We would appreciate the help that you could give us." The king said. "But I cannot allow her to stay. Her father…"

"Who cares who her father is?" Rowen spoke up on Sakura's behalf.

"Yeah, just because her father was like that doesn't mean she is." Sage agreed.

"I mean, look who she is married to! The leader of the group that her father was fighting against!" Cye added. Sakura gave her friends a look of gratefulness. The king looked at her for a moment.

"Is this true?" He asked looking at Ryo and Sakura. Sakura gave a small nod as she stepped forward until she was standing alone in the middle of the floor.

"Your highness." She began respectfully.  "I admit that my father wasn't the best person." This comment received many grunts of agreement which she ignored.

"And I am not proud of all the things that he has done, but I am not my father. I haven't always agreed with everything he has done. I ask that you and the counsel will give me a chance to prove myself, to show that I am not like my father."

The king looked at her face as she pleaded with the counsel. He gave a deep sigh as he saw the sincerity in her eyes.

"You may stay." He said as the counsel gave roars of disapproval. King Tallas held up his hand for silence as they resentfully sat back down.

"But, until further notice, you are not to be without an escort at all times. Do you understand?"

Sakura gave a bow. "Yes your majesty." The king nodded.

"Counsel is dismissed."