Daphne POV

"And here we are. I hope you like it" says the king, who opens a door in front of us, when we enter I smile at my surroundings; the queen-sized bed is draped in animal fur that looks unbelievably comfortable and warm. There is simple furniture around, a bedside table, a chest of drawers and a table with two chairs by the big window and the floor is almost completely covered in furs.

"Its great" I say, as Relish walks us over to the bed and lowers me down onto the bed, pulling a throw over me as well, I smile up at him in thanks.

"Now I am going to go and inform the clan what has happened. Get your rest Daphne, I want to see what you are made of and soon" he says then leaves the room, I stare at him with confusion,

"What did he mean by what I'm made of?" I ask, looking to Relish, he cocks his head to the side with a slight grin,

"It's my dads way of seeing what people are like. He'll convince you into doing the challenge of honour. Its what all trolls do at an age to prove themselves worthy of being in his kingdom" he says, I look at him curiously when he explains all this, having brought one of the chairs over to the side of the bed so we can sit and chat comfortably,

"What happens to those who don't win?" I ask, looking to him in question,

"They…get put into the stockades for a month. And the kingdom would come throughout that month and throw their un-used foods at you" he says with a sheepish look, I roll my eyes at this,

"Did you get put in the stocks?" I ask, though I kind of already know the answer,

"Absolutely not!" he laughs slightly,

"So what do you do in these challenges?" I ask curiously, he shrugs at this.

"Usually it's a fight, has been for many years, it was for me, I cant imagine what else it would be for you, but then with you being different they may change it" he says, I nod at this, I wont be in too much trouble, I'm good at fighting, I was taught how to fight since I was five.

"Could you perhaps do me a favour?" I ask, he looks at me directly from this, straightening his back; you would think I was about to send him to do a very honourable quest or something,

"Could you talk to the king and ask him to not change the tradition, I want to show that I can be accepted in this kingdom, without any special treatment" I say, he grins broadly from this, perhaps this has pleased him, I'm not completely sure why but I like making him smile and laugh.

"I will see to it right away" he says, then stands and leaves the room….

Wait No!

My eyes opening, blurry from sleep, focusing first on my crystal decorated ceiling light, and the plain boring white painted ceiling.

I sit up from bed, looking around my small bedroom, my personal possessions making this boring room actually have character, my best friend Virginia and her father Tony are the ones I live with. This room I live in was Virginias study room when she was in school but she gave it to me when I moved in with them.

Ever since I can remember I have had these dreams, like the one I unfortunately just awoke from.

That world…it always seems so real, it always feels more like a memory than a dream, but that's impossible, magic and creatures like those of my dreams don't exist in this world.

Unfortunately.

I look to my clock and see that I have an hour and a half to get ready and be going to work. Quickly I start getting dressed into my black leggings with a small black skirt that comes some inches above my knee that is also split at the sides, which I decorated at the corners of the sides with hanging silver gems. As you can probably tell I am quite creative, especially when it comes to crystals and jewellery.

My long sleeved black top and my see-through lacy white sleeveless top, some black leather boots that go a few inches above my ankles with buckles.

I also have my pendant, I've had it since Virginia found me. You see it was four years ago today that I was found in the city park, wearing tattered clothes and this clear crystal necklace and a brown leather wrist band, I smile as I look at it on my right wrist, I never take it off, it's a little too big but it rests nicely on my wrist after I tightened the strap to fit my small wrist. I sometimes wonder if maybe before I lost my memory that I had a boyfriend or something and they gave this to me as it is more of a mans wrist band, it has an insignia on it made of silver and gold, the insignia is of a castle but no one has ever found anything related to it when I took it to places that know of historical signs and family crests, but they never found anything.

I get my hand bag and walk out of my room, not surprisingly finding Virginia looking out the window to the park, she loves looking out that view, she'll love to know about my newest dream, but I better knock her out of her current daydream.

"Hey Virginia" I say, grabbing an orange juice carton from the fridge, hearing her intake of breath at my appearance,

"Hey Daphne, is it that time already?" she asks, I smile at her and nod after gulping down the rest of my orange juice,

"I had a new dream, I know how I met Relish now" I say smirking at her excited look at the mention of this, I've told her every one of my dreams, its considered odd that every one of my dreams seem to continue like a story or a film, but I like them, so I never complain,

"So? How did you meet him?" she asks, both of us grabbing our coats after she puts Tony's food in the microwave,

"I helped him escape from a prison we were both in" I say, she smirks at this,

"So you were a criminal, that makes sense, especially for your bad boy" she says, I laugh at this, holding the door open for her as she walks her bike out with me holding onto my own, I walk out behind her after locking the door with my key.

"Hey girls, see look at this! Its been chewed! This is not my job – this is an electricians job, but who gets to do it?" Where are you going?" he asks us as we walk into the elevator with both our bikes, we mastered this talent a year ago, setting both our bikes up against the wall next to one another, but we keep a good hold of them so that they don't fall or mark the walls, and this way there is still room for others who come into the elevator.

"To work dad, like we do every day," says Virginia, I smirk at this, by now you would think that he knew where we went every evening and sometimes during the day for the past four years.

"Alright, but on the way back, use the stairs, just in case" he says, I nod at this, its not too bad taking the stairs with the bikes, but we get worried that we might accidently drop them and hit someone when coming up.

"You know what I'm starting to think? I'm starting to think that the kind people that run this country is guys like me, you know people who work for scraps, who do six jobs, basically bend over and take it…" at this point I kind of zone out, everyone but the manager of this place knows how much Tony works, he barely has a moment to himself, but me and Virginia do our best to help out with the money so he doesn't have to work so hard. And whenever I make some jewellery I put it towards rent to help out too, and if I make a good amount I treat us all for a drink or something.

"Your barbecue ribs are on the microwave," says Virginia, my eyes look to the doors when they open and the manager and his son come in, and as soon as he sees Tony he's on him like a pack of wolves on a lonely lamb,

"Tony, I have been calling this elevator for the past half hour, I thought you fixed it" he says, I glare lightly at this,

"Well I did sir but its broken again," says Tony, I swear this bully makes Tony look like a dog with his tail between his legs,

"Tony, I am only going to tell you this once, there is an awful lot of people out there who would love your job, an awful lot of people" he say, I'm sure my glare just intensified at this. Thankfully the doors open to the ground floor, quickly I walk out with my bike after him,

"Mr. Murray!" I say, catching him and his sons attention, good, maybe he will learn a lesson as well as his father,

"What do you want?" he asks, I glare at him for this,

"For one, a little bit more respect towards your customers in this building, if it wasn't for us, you wouldn't be able to afford the beeswax on yours and your sons head, and second, treat your staff better, you cant expect one person to fix this entire building with the cheap tools your giving him" I say, hearing slightly behind me that Virginia and Tony are speaking in hushed tones, fear in their voices of the possibility of being evicted because of what I am doing, well don't you two worry this guy wouldn't dare,

"How dare you talk to me, do you know who you are talking to? I could have you evicted from this building right this second!" he says, I smirk at this,

"I don't think you will" I say, he looks at me surprised and with hate in his eyes,

"And why exactly don't you think I would?" he asks,

"Because if you did, then you would also lose a hell of a lot more people in this building once they learn that what they think they are paying when they believe they are paying for their building tax, is in fact paying for your entire families mortgage.

I have seen the contract that you have with us, the very same that you have with everyone else in this building, that proves that you should be paying our building tax, but I also know that on investigation from the bank, that this building hasn't had any tax paid in over three years.

I also know that you are in debt and if your not careful, will lose this building. And that would happen a lot quicker with just a few words and a couple of pieces of paper. Now why don't you instead of threatening one mans job – which by the way – no one would take because of how you treat your staff and that the pay you promise does not exist, you owe a lot of people money , you really don't want to add more onto that list, especially if the governors learn that you are not paying ANY of your staff properly and just hiding it by giving them an apartment to live in for free.

Now I will say it again, treat your staff better and give people more respect. Do I make myself clear?" I ask, my eyes never leaving his gaze, but already seeing him sweating, the fear in his eyes and the shifting he keeps doing with his body stance, as well as the fear in his sons eyes too at being founded out.

He takes a deep breath and nods,

"My apologies, please have a good evening Miss Lewis," he says, I smile brightly at him for this,

"And please don't forget Tony's new tools" I say, he nods at this then finally turns away with his son, and almost runs away.

I turn around to see both Tony and Virginia staring at me open mouthed,

"Close your mouths before you get flies in them" I say, smirking, now seeing them grinning after closing their mouths,

"I'm still not too sure how, but I thank everything above that we found you and you joined this family" says Tony, I laugh as he gives me big bear hug which I return, and then Virginia gives me a hug too.

"See you later Tony," I say, both me and Virginia walking out of the lobby,

"I cannot believe you did that, how did you know about all that stuff?" she asks,

"Couple of visits to the local governors office and archives, you would not believe how much family Mr. Murray actually has, its no wonder he is in debt with paying for all of them, but at the same time, they should be paying for themselves, the poor guy doesn't even realise that his family is using him because of his business, to be honest I think its mostly from his wife's family, their in more debt then him" I say, she giggles at this, I've always been good at finding things,