Desiree returned to the ground as Danerik emerged from the wall with an armload of food. He effortlessly reverted back to human form and sat cross-legged on the sand, eating a loaf of bread. Swallowing, he asked, "So, what's next?"

Desiree rolled her eyes but answered him. "Well, since you seem to have flying and intangibility down…Oh, and apparently you got better at 'switching' or whatever you want to call it. Going from ghost to human. "

"Oh, yeah. That. I, um, had a few close calls in the marketplace." He shrugged and swallowed another mouthful. "You didn't tell me I could turn invisible."

"Well…I figured we would get to that later. Now, for the interesting part: since you have released me from my eternal bonds, blah blah, blah, I am now entitled to give you wishes."

"Three?"

"No, you've been listening to too many fables. I can decide how many you get, but I must give you at least one. But, since I'm nice, you get three. Depending on my mood, you might get more."

"Ummm…"

"Basically just make a wish."

"Well,…there is this girl I met, and, I don't know-"

"Nope! Nada! Zilch! I don't do love. It involves too many hormones. Try again."

"Let's see…can you make me a prince?"

Desiree smiled and held her hands out in front of her. "As you have wished it, so it shall be!"

The guards standing watch at the top of the stone wall noticed a flash of light from over near the city gate.

"Hey, Moe, do ya think-"

"Na, it's just a mirage. The heat's makin' ya scatterbrained. Get back to watchin'."

Danerik cautiously opened his eyes to find himself surrounded by, first of all, elephants. Lots of them. And in turn, there were camels by the elephants and people by the camels. Looking down at his clothing, he noticed, well, that he had enough of it to make a tent. Fine silk, laced with gold thread, almost three layers deep in outer robes and informal robes. Looking up again in astonishment, he saw Desiree smiling proudly at her work.

"Hello, Prince Danerik."

"So…I'm really a prince?"

"Yep. Full ticket. Now go on! Get on one of those monstrous elephant things. I hope I got those right."

"I think so. So I just call for a servant, and he'll help me?"

"Well, I certainly won't!"

Hesitantly, Danerik called for a manservant close by, and after a slightly painful struggle up the elephant, he was perched on top, looking out over the convoy under his command. Desiree floated up to join him, watching as he took it all in.

"So, these servants, they don't notice you?"

"Nah, they just don't worry about me. I'm normal to them. One of the perks of making your own humans."

"Woah."

"Oh, and you better know now: I can't just create random chunks of land. You'd have to get higher level djinni and more powerful ghosts and start playing with dimensions; it's just not pretty!"

"So? What does that mean?"

"It means that instead of being a prince only in name, you are now the only son of Sultan and Sultana Fenton, rulers of the neighboring kingdom and fervent scientists."

"Scientists?"

"Yeah. A bit too much sunstroke, I would say. Got their heads full of sand. I hope you don't mind having those two for parents."

"Hey. I've been an orphan all my life. Right now, any parents are better than none."

"True, true. Well, do we want to get going or what?"

"Into the city?"

"Give to order to charge!"

"It's 'proceed', not 'charge'."

As the train began moving, Desiree shrugged. "Whatever. How am I supposed to keep up on the latest human terminology?"

Gaaahh! Thanks to all of you for waiting so patiently, and everyone thank Alex Leep for A) reminding me I still had loyal readers and B) motivating me to finish this sooner rather than later. Apparently summer just isn't my 'season' for typing. Unfortunately, my paper copies of these next few scenes have been *gasp* lost! So these have been recreated from my memory, and might not be up to par. If I find them again, I'll try to fix these, but take these for now. Enjoy! And comment! Don't forget to comment!