Russell tapped the arm of his throne as he looked at his youngest daughter, with the gathering of nobles, court was full and having his daughter dragged in front of him in chains was not a good look for his daughter. To say that he was furious would be an understatement. "What. Were. You. Thinking?" Each word is punctuated by a tap of his finger on the arm of his throne, and he can hear the whispers in the great hall as the nobles begin to gossip.

"That I was ridding the kingdom of trolls?" Charlie offered, it was the only thing that she could personally think of. She is not met with any laughter, or any amusement on her father's face, which could suggest that she was finally in enough trouble to get her out of the horrid idea of officially making her crown princess.

Russell inhaled deeply, ready to start ripping into his daughter when the door to the chamber opened and he looks to see his wife, who looked completely unamused. "I don't know what to do with her," he admits to his wife.

"I do, the money that you earned from running off to the badlands will be confiscated—"

"Mother!"

"I doubt very much that it will cover the cost of the repairs, let alone all the fish that Hiccup consumed, whatever remains will be taken from your personal budget," Judy announced.

"Well what about Kara?" Charlie questions. "We should throw her out of the kingdom—"

"The dwarven kingdom are our allies, we will do nothing of the sort," Russell interrupts. "You and Kara fighting was cute when you two were children, this has long passed cute and both of your wanton destruction of property will end. Do I make myself clear?"

Charlie scowled, she had no idea why she was the one getting all the blame for this. Kara was equally as culpable for this mess as she was. "There is a protocol to be followed when the sole heir of a foreign kingdom enters our borders. As far as I was aware Kara didn't formally request permission from you to enter our borders, and quite frankly with everything that is going on why isn't anyone else suspicious of why she's here?" Charlie questioned looking around at the nobles. "Given our history and the fact that Kara is indeed part troll, I merely wanted to ascertain whether she had come to pledge dwarven support to the Beastkin should it come to war."

"Bullshit!" Kara calls out, ignoring Lena who groans and tries to hide away in her chair.

Charlie turned to glare at Kara, she hadn't even been aware that Kara had been in the room, and she immediately hyper focuses on her nemesis. "Why the fuck are you even here? Shouldn't you be banging rocks together or whatever it is dwarves do in their spare time?"

"You threw a chair at me, I mean you missed because like everything else in life your aim sucks," Kara jeers trying to extricate herself from Lena, she could feel another fight coming on.

"I threw a chair at you because you kicked me out of your wedding and had me banished from the dwarven kingdom, all because you were upset that I bested you at drinking."

"You—"

"Enough!" Russell roared rubbing at his temples. "If you two want to kill each other then do it in a fashion that behooves your station. You are not commoners, you are not children anymore. Charlotte, what am I going to do with you? I told you to be on your best behavior, and yet here we are."

Charlie sighed, and looked down at the ground now was the time to show proper contrition and maybe she could get away without any punishment. "Apologies father."

Russell studied his daughter, she was attempting to play on his sympathies. "Your apologies have a hollow ring to them Charlotte, but I will give you a choice: you can help rebuild what you've destroyed, or you can spend the next two weeks doing hard labor." There's a gasp from the members of the nobility, to be jailed with the commoners and sent off to do back-breaking labor was not a punishment reserved for someone of her stature.

"She's not going to survive five minutes in a commoner's jail," Kara smirks at Charlie.

Charlie didn't bother to spare Kara a glance at that dig, "I would rather spend the time rebuilding what I've destroyed father, and hoping that the people will forgive my thoughtlessness," Charlie replied.

"If you and Kara destroy anything else, it will be a month of hard labor Charlotte," Russell informed his daughter.

"Yes father."

"Dismissed."

Charlie nods and pauses for a moment when she sees a black cat running towards the servant's entrance. Seeing cats around the castle wasn't that uncommon, they were there to help keep rodents out of the palace, but she'd never seen one inside before. She'd look into it later, or at least mention it to one of Quinn's sparrows to deal with.

~ O ~

"Well?" Matt Rutherford asked the moment he spotted Santana jumping from a tree branch into his room, transforming in mid jump till she appears human again and takes a seat on the windowsill. "What did you find out?"

Santana stretches out, fixing her shirt before looking at Matt. "Everything that Mercedes told me seems to be accurate. We haven't met the other members of the family though, but we should assume that it's about as accurate as her warning about the youngest princess."

"They all can't be that strong can they?" Matt questions.

Santana shrugged, her tail swishing as her mind immediately wandered back to the youngest princess, it didn't make any sense. Beastkins could certainly have sex and in some cases inpregnate a human, but as far as she could tell mate bonds weren't formed between humans and beastkins. Humans, like elves and dwarves, didn't have a core. It's what contained their magic, and while there were a few humans who could wield magic, it wasn't a part of them like it was for the beastkin. It was believed that the lack of a core was the reason why humans and beastkin couldn't mate. Yet she was certain that Charlie was her mate, her scent was intoxicating and she really wanted to have those arms wrapped around her.

"You need to be careful Santana, you managed to break away today and take advantage of the chaos, but I don't think they're going to let us just roam around freely. You're the only one in the delegation that can change your size so most of the reconnaissance is going to be on you."

Santana waved Matt's concerns away, "Do you think she'll be at the banquet tonight?"

Matt blinked his jaw dropping slightly at Santana's audacity. She was either brave or stupid, the youngest princess had passed him briefly and it had felt like he was staring at an apex predator. It had been nearly impossible to breathe around her, and being in the palace was suffocating. "How do you not feel it? Even Drogo felt it."

"Felt what?"

"Like we've walked into the den of an Apex predator, he felt it when he watched her fighting earlier. We can't afford to offend them. I thought it was a silly rumor but anyone who can handle and control a drake—"

Santana flicked her gaze towards him for a moment, before shaking her head, Matt was a prey animal of course he would be scared. "How long until the banquet?"

"We have some time—where are you going? We should check in with the others!" Matt sputters as Santana morphs into her kitten form and shoots him a look before it hops onto the nearest tree branch. "Don't die!"

~ O ~

Under normal circumstances, Santana would be looking for her mate, but with all the multitude of scents that covered the palace, finding her mate would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It wasn't her fault that she had gotten distracted by the mountains of fresh fish that were being taken by cart away from the main palace. Sneaking on board had been relatively easy, and now she was currently in heaven, surrounded by fish. She wasn't quite sure why the Agron kingdom needed four cartfuls of fish but she didn't really care.

She could get used to this, being buried in fresh fish while being carted around, there were so many fascinating new smells and technology she had never seen before and she wanted to learn more. After she was done eating her fish she would continue to explore the palace grounds. She was far more curious than she was afraid, but then again she wasn't a prey animal and she wasn't a big dumb bear either. The cart stops and Santana lifts her head out of the pile of fish and looks around to see the humans taking their leave, leaving the carts in what appeared to be some training ground.

Letting out a rather uncharacteristic purr, as she goes back to the fish that's already half eaten. She hadn't had a good meal in a week, Drogo hadn't allowed them to go hunting. It had been one long march and to enjoy some freshly caught fish was a treasure that she wouldn't—the cart suddenly shudders. A few of the fish that had been piled up high in the cart suddenly come crashing down on her, causing her to hiss as she shakes herself free and looks up she comes face to face with the fattest drake that she had ever seen, which wasn't that remarkable the first time she'd seen a drake was earlier today. But even she could tell that this drake had a considerable girth, especially around his gut.

A drake that was currently staring at her, his pupils constricting as it reaches for her, in an attempt to pick her up. Almost immediately Santana's claws come out and she swipes at the drake's appendage, but it doesn't seem to deter the drake as it picks her up, squeezing down on her ribs tightly, preventing her from escaping. As she's brought up towards the drakes open mouth, with it's large sharp teeth, it occurs to her that something was trying to eat her. Was this how prey animals felt all the time? Still as the drake attempts to drop her into its mouth she shifts, turning into her jaguar form and digging much bigger claws into the snout of the drake as she hops off and takes off, not giving the damn thing a chance to recover. She needed to get out of here.

There's a roar from the drake that rattles her bones and she glances back to see it chasing after her. Despite it's girth it was gaining on her quickly, in all her years she had never once felt like a prey animal and she had killed a crocodile just to prove that she could. She takes in her surroundings and turns sharply, spotting an open door and running towards it, maybe she would be able to lose him indoors. She darts right entering the large open area and shifting back to her kitten form as she slides into the room, her paws unable to grip on the smooth stone. She finally comes to a stop in front of a large mound of shiny jewels and gold. Santana immediately begins to look around for another exit when she realizes she's not being chased anymore. She turns to see the other drake just standing at the entrance glaring at her. Still if the drake isn't going to enter then she could take a few seconds to simply breathe and figure out a way to get out of here without getting eaten by a drake. This was not what she had planned for today, she had planned to get a closer look at her mate. If she died before actually mating—

The sound of gold dropping to the ground, and the sudden increase in temperature causes Santana to turn her head back to find a golden drake staring at her, and just like the first drake this one looked absolutely pissed that she had entered his territory. Santana immediately begins to back up, she had made a terrible mistake all because she wanted to eat some fresh fish. Turning into her human form probably wouldn't do her any good and she glances at the drake that's just outside the door. She should have known that it was a territory thing and she had mistakenly entered another drake's territory. Even worse it seemed to be where the drake was holding onto it's horde.

For the first time in her life, Santana understood the plight of prey animals, as she turned to flee just as the drake pounced another roar nearly deafening. She hesitates for a moment to allow the golden drake to get back to its feet before she runs directly at the other drake in her jaguar form before twisting into her kitten form as the drake tries to take a swipe at her. She instead darts to the right ducking under the drake's arm and causing the two drakes to crash into each other. She smirks inwardly as the two of them immediately begin to fight each other, forgetting about her existence.

This time, she wasn't going to take a single chance and she simply kept running. She needed to get out of here before she ran into something else that was trying to eat her. A loud screeching sound forces her to stop and cover her ears, as they ring and once again before she can do anything there's a loud thud and a massive drake appears in front of her, another one behind her. She was going to be eaten by drakes, and her death would probably kickstart a war that she had actually wanted to avoid.

There's another loud screeching sound from the drake in front of her and for the first time in her life her body freezes, for once unsure what to do. She had been the one to encroach in their territory, she had eaten their food and by rights they had every reason to want to kill her. The bigger drake suddenly nudges her from behind knocking her to the ground and letting out a deep roar that causes the other drakes to immediately retreat and she knows that she's found the drake that's going to eat her.

Instead of feeling sharp teeth tearing into her flesh the drake suddenly drags its massive tongue across her back. It was wet and cold and Hiccup, she was certain its name was Hiccup, lets out a small huff sending drake drool all over the ground. Santana opens an eye and stares at Hiccup who is studying her intently for a moment before he licks her again, this time getting most of her face.

One more loud screech echoes around the hall and she tilts her head to see the other drake glaring at Hiccup, there's a clicking sound. This seems to get Hiccup's attention and he immediately stands at his full height and lets out a rather loud growl, and the others drake immediately pull back heading back to their respective pens.

Trying to take advantage of the distraction Santana tries to slink away only for a large appendage to immediately pin her to the ground, keeping a firm grip on her even as she transforms between her full size and her kitten size trying to get some leverage so she can wiggle free. She knew when a predator was playing with its food and she would not be toyed with, she needed to have a bit of dignity before what she could only imagine was going to be a very painful death.

Finally deciding to switch to her human form, she's suddenly released for a brief moment before she gets captured by Hiccup's tail and she gets gently placed on Hiccup's back. She immediately transforms in surprise and finds a spot on Hiccup's back to settle in as the drake takes off leaving the training area and climbing past it. She can hear the shout of humans and she watches them immediately throwing themselves out of the way as Hiccup runs back to the main palace. At this point she didn't even care if she got into trouble just so long as they didn't feed her to the drakes.

Hiccup suddenly stops and Santana takes a peek and spots a large armed contingent of men with spears keeping Hiccup back, and she can hear the growing frustration before Hiccup turns sharply and takes off, ignoring the yelling and the calls to get Charlie down here to control her drake. Still she waits until Hiccup stops again and she hops off before he can do anything and looks up at the massive drake who looks back at her before turning and heading back towards the main gate again. Santana watches for a moment before deciding that perhaps exploring before they had taken the grand tour of the palace was not her wisest of decisions. Plus she needed to get ready for the banquet. She watches Hiccup for a moment longer before turning and getting ready to return back to the room that she had been given.