Pew. It was close I couldn't update this month. Sorry about the lateness, but in the last chapter I warned you that maybe I wouldn't be able to update this month.

I've been badly "abused". Both my upper and under jaw was broken off and I was at the hospital for almost a full week. My doctor told me it looked just like they had planned. That bastard, I'm so mad at him. Fisrt he jokes with me that I look great, and that's the day after the operation when my face is the most swollen and I'm totally groggy after the drugs.

Oh, stop me before I go too deep into the subject. That wasn't what I was to tell you. Here's the next chapter of The Battle Princess.

Enjoy, and don't forget to REVIEW

Arrival to the white castle

Bakura sat at her brother's bed with his head hanging low. He came here every day after school to be with his brother. He hadn't eaten much since Ryou had fallen into dreams, but he got help from the kinder hospital personal. They brought him food and made sure he ate it, but that was all they could do.

Yami and Kanaka sat there as well, Yami most of it since Kanaka had to work to make it with Yugi's hospital bill. Bakura had simply told Dr Lou the truth; that his relatives paid all his bills and asked him to send the bill there. He knew they would be upset and angry with him for doing it, but he couldn't care less. His brother was worth more than that to him.

The second day though, when he and Yami silently sat beside their brothers' beds, a woman none of them had seen before entered the room with four flowers in her hands.

Yami jumped at the sight of her and Bakura stared. The woman looked way more able to be Yugi's mother than Kanaka did. Her hair was wavy and tricolored with pale, golden bangs framing her nothing but beautiful face. Some of the blonde hair also mixed with the rest slightly in the glossy, black waves before it gently toned over into crimson. Her eyes were amethyst and her skin polished and seemed as soft as a newborn's. Dressed in a formfitting shirt and tight, modern jeans she looked extra hot too.

"I guess you are the older brothers of Ryou and Yugi," she said and the staring boys immediately closed their open mouths.

"Um… yes, we are," Bakura managed to say.

"I am Seto's mother," the woman said. "My name is Yukino, and I too have noticed the strange similarity young Yugi has to me."

Yami blinked and shook his head. He had never before met Seto's mother, but Seto had said nothing about it, and he had met Yugi the day he started high school.

"My brother told us about Yugi the first day he had seen him," another voice said and the older boys looked down at Mokuba, who stood behind his mother's legs. "He even wondered if mama had given away a child he didn't know of."

Yukino smiled gently and placed a red rose at the table beside her son. Then she moved over to Ryou's bed and placed a white lily at his. "I have picked these flowers with these four boys in thought," she said as she moved over to Malik's bed and placed a sunflower beside him. And then there was the last one, a multicoloured rose with dark leafs.

"I thought it suited him."

Yami simply nodded in agreement. This flower was a mystery, as was his brother to everyone nowadays. First off he wasn't Yami's brother, then it was the mystery about his skeleton, and his blood mixed up with a mineral that didn't exist. It was giving him a headache.

Yami looked down at his younger brother. He looked so innocent where he slept, untainted by the world that surrounded him. Once again he wondered what the smaller dreamt about. Yugi had mumbled about him, so he guessed he was inside there in some way.

Yami had found that Yugi's face was definitely not as neutral as he thought in the first glance. He showed emotions all the time. Sometimes it was happiness, when the corner of his mouth twisted upwards slightly, so slightly it could only be seen if one really looked. Then it could be sadness, when a wrinkle appeared between his eyes that were so tiny it seemed to belong in his skin. All those small shows of emotion made Yami imagine what his brother was dreaming of. Right now he was smiling.

"Seto must dream of something embarrassing," Mokuba suddenly said as his tall brother blushed deeply in his sleep.

"So do Ryou," Bakura said as an even deeper blush covered his brother's cheeks.

"And Yugi's amused by it," Yami said. "He's smiling."

"…I still wonder if they are not dreaming the same dream after all," Bakura said quietly.

"Is that possible?" Mokuba asked with wide eyes.

"No," Yami said with a sigh. "According to the doc it is physically impossible. Yet… from what I have seen and heard, it still seems completely sane to say they are."

The door opened once again and a tall, bronze-skinned woman carefully walked inside. Her face was pale and her hands trembled a little, but she tried to keep them still by grabbing the small, light purple flowers she had taken with her tightly.

"So you are here too?" Yami asked with a cold look at the older girl. He recognized her as Malik's sister. Isis nodded shortly and her eyes became even more hunted and anxious.

"I-I-I wanted to see if he was fine. I-I haven't b-been here since… that time. I t-thought he might f-feel lonely…"

She looked around at all the people in the room. With her they were nine in total. She looked down and remembered she had brought flowers.

"Why so jumpy?" Yukino asked calmly. "You don't like hospitals?"

"N-no, I don't," Isis said, almost stumbling over the words. "Um… is there any change in their condition?"

Everyone shook their heads no. The only news was that Ryou and Seto also were Dreamers now. Isis nodded and once again looked down at her small flowers. Then she saw the sunflower and stared in confusion.

"I brought it," Yukino said. "I couldn't help myself when I bought a flower for Seto. I saw that rose at young Yugi's bed, and thought I couldn't buy one for just those two, so I bought to all of them."

Isis nodded her head again mouthing her understanding and once again looked down at the small flowers in her hands.

"Malik was never really found with flowers," she said quietly. "But he liked this clematis. He said they made him feel relaxed."

Yukino helped the jumpy girl putting the small flowers in a small vase of water. Then she too sat down beside her brother. Isis had no idea what she was doing here. She had planned to never again enter the hospital, but after seeing the clematis and remembering what Malik had said to her… she suddenly found herself outside his door at the hospital.

"I think Malik enjoys your visit," Yami said after studying the other boy's features for some time. From his distance it was a little harder to see his shows of emotion.

Isis looked first at Yami and then down at Malik, just to find him smiling slightly her way. She blushed slightly in shame. He was her little brother after all, she shouldn't be so arrogant with him.

"Young Malik seems to be a very sweet boy," Yukino said softly. "Shy… but sweet."

"I know," Isis mumbled. "He's been all his life. Distant, but kind-hearted."

Isis stayed quiet after that, she knew that she could have destroyed her brother's kindness a long time ago hadn't he closed off against her words. Right now she felt terrible about it, but it was too late to change anything at this rate.

Yuniko once again sat at the window before sun rose, waiting for something to ease the all heavier feeling of loneliness in her heart. Of cause she had Malin, but even the kind-hearted nurse couldn't understand… not the whole truth.

When the light of dawn coloured the world in grey and orange she noticed the small shadows standing at the cliff she had watched for five years. There were two of them, only children as far as she could see. But it was too far away to be sure.

Being sure it was her mother and her two younger sisters Atemu had told her about the princess went over to her nurse's bed and sat down. Malin rarely awoke before the sun was at least halfway out of bed.

The eighteen year old nurse slept lightly on her bed, covered with the white sheets. Yuniko still thought her friend looked like a child when she slept. She still clung to her pillow in that funny way of hers.

"They are coming now," she whispered to the sleeping form. "Soon I will uncover what I have not said to you. But yet I have to cover most of the truth for you."

It was now ten long days since the girls had first spotted the white castle. All the way there they had been able to see it and the dream that before they started this journey was no longer a dream. It was pure, touchable reality. It snowed hard and it was very cold for the lightly dressed girls when they reached the gate.

"Hold it! Who are you, and what reasons lay behind your visit?" a guard asked suspiciously. On his chest was a red cross painted. The shield had changed since the vampires' weakness was uncovered.

"We are simple travellers," Rose said. This guard was new and wouldn't recognize her, neither would any of the others. "We seek service here."

Ryouko and Kyoko looked with wide eyes at the soldiers. They were the most handsome men they had met on their journey. One of them, a tall, blond man stepped forward.

"Why would you wish to seek service here of all places in times like these? Are you not aware of the war?"

"War?" the three travellers asked in union.

"Obviously not, Joey," another soldier muttered.

"Then from where have you travelled?"

"From London, sir," Kyoko answered.

The soldiers looked at them and then at each other.

"Come in," the boy Joey said and nodded at them to follow him. The gate opened slightly so the four of them could come inside.

They were led to the small village of tree houses where the servants were living. Rose kept her head down all the way to hide her face. They entered the biggest of the houses and immediately stood face to face with a huge man.

"These girls seek service in the castle, do you have a place for them?" Joey asked right away.

"I have no need for whores," the man said tonelessly.

"We are no whores!" Kyoko shot back and glared at the man. Afraid was the last thing she was. She didn't even care that they actually had been whores this far, but that was not the reason they sought the castle.

The huge man stared back at her. His eyes were almost drained from all life. "Brave are you," he said. "Brave to talk back to your master."

Kyoko was about to snap back when Rose grabbed her arm tightly. She knew this man well, and he hadn't changed much during the years.

"Maybe I have a place for you…"

The door suddenly opened again and another woman entered hastily.

"There is a storm coming this way," she said as she threw back the hood and brushed snow off of her cloak.

"Miss Malin, what honours me your visit?" the man asked and his eyes immediately turned lustful. It was no secret he lusted for the princess's nurse.

"Her majesty ordered me to take a look at the newcomers," Malin answered as she stepped closer to Joey. She could defend herself, but she was never safe anywhere near this man. She looked over at the three, wet and cold girls and immediately started to fuss over them.

"Oh no, you are soaked! You will be sick. Come and let me change your cloths at least. I know where there is an empty room where you can stay for now," she said and started to move along a corridor. The head slave had showed her around the house when she had healed in belief she would live there, right before it was announced she would live in the castle as the princess's nurse. But before she led the way she turned and nodded to her blond friend. Joey bowed deeply for Malin and left without another glance at the head slave. He was higher than that.

"Here," Malin said as she led them into the room and lightened the oil lamp carefully before she started to work with a bonfire in the middle of the room. "There is a lock on the inside of the door, please lock the door right away. There are many men here and the news there are new girls here will lure them here in no time."

There was not much in the room. A few simple beds and cloths lying around in a corner. The room was neatly clean and smelled good of tallow and resin.

Malin, as the woman was named, fed the bonfire with more wood from a basket beside it before she walked over to the heap of cloths. Kyoko and Ryoko noticed she had the half-length skirt that marked a servant, but it seemed warm and she had high cotton socks to keep her long legs warm. She was really beautiful with her long, pale golden hair and bronze-coloured skin.

"Who are you?" Ryouko asked as she pulled her cold and all too thin dress off her cold skin.

"My name is Malin," the woman said and turned around with cloths and a kind smile. "I serve as the princess's nurse here. She is the one who told me to see to you. She thought it was strange for visitors to come here at times like these."

"The guards outside said the same thing," Kyoko said with a slight frown as Malin dried her hair with a soft towel. "What is it about the times?"

Malin's smile vanished for a moment. "I should have known you would not know. But I see you have gotten crucifixes at least. We, the princess mostly, are in war with the evil coming from north. It has already caused her a lot of pain, too much if you ask me."

"How is she? Is it true that the prince is dead?" Rose whispered. Ryouko and Kyoko both stared wide-eyed at her.

"It is," Malin said sadly. "The princess was deeply hurt, still is even if she is good at hiding her pain away. The prince was her brother and best friend. Not even I can fill the hole he has left in her heart."

"So you are the princess's friend?" Ryouko asked as Malin helped her dress in the warm, sheep wool dress and high cotton socks.

"I dare to say I am her best friend, now when the prince is not here."

"Is it true she is Scotland's highest beauty ever?" Kyoko asked eagerly from where she sat at the fire warming her hands.

"The princess is the most beautiful human in the world," Malin stated with a definite nod. "She is so pure not even the evils of the north can not hurt her skin, so innocent most people around her wish nothing but to protect it. There is this rumour going around among the lowest of slaves that she could tame the Devil himself to eat from her hands is she wished to."

"She can never be more beautiful than mother," Kyoko stated stubbornly.

Malin looked up at the face of the woman who was the girls' mother… and dropped her jaw.

"Good Heavens… you look almost like the queen on the painting!"

Rose immediately turned her face away. "I have no knowledge of what you are talking," she said a little too harsh.

"There is no need to be angry or offended. Her majesty told me more than ten years ago the queen got banished for some reason and has not been seen since then. The queen's parents died from age and her sister was executed for trying to commit the same crime the queen had failed, and the princess said she was too late to save her."

Rose felt a hard stab to her heart. Her sister was executed? She didn't know of that one. She had been transported out of Scotland the same day she was judged and hadn't been able to contact her family.

"Here, this will protect you even better than the crucifix," Malin said when she had helped Rose dress into another sheep wool dress. She handed the two younger girls a necklace with one single pearl of glass. "This pearl is filled with the princess's light. We believe the evil is intolerant towards light. Please promise me that you will always have these on."

Ryouko and Kyoko accepted the pearls and agreed to always carry them.

"Does everyone have this?" Ryouko asked curiously.

"No," Malin said from the door since she was about to leave. "Only I, the king and the princess's closest friends have one. So keep it hidden. If anyone sees it they will try to steal it. Fear and jealousy may even have you killed."

The three nodded and locked the door after Malin.

"Now what?" Kyoko asked. "Do you think that head slave will make us whores once again?"

"I do not think so," Rose said lowly as she watched the smoke from the fire leave through a hole in the ceiling. "If the princess gave you those pearls, I believe she has other plans for you."

"Princess?" Malin called once she entered their room. Yuniko hadn't moved from her place at the window.

"Have you seen to they are comfortable, Malin?" the young treasure asked without turning around.

"I have. They are mother and her two daughters. The mother look quite similar to the queen at the painting though. She has those amethyst eyes and almost your kind of hairstyle."

Yuniko played with the tops of her hair. They were turning blue again as her hair grew back out and the tops toned over to blue once again in the same tact.

"It was fifteen years ago mother was banished. She promised to come back to me one day."

Malin looked confused. "Do you think… that woman is… your mother?"

"I can not tell," Yuniko said with a heavy sigh. "I can not tell until I meet her in person. But if you ask me… I would love it if she was my mother. I have missed her so much."

Malin nodded in understanding. During the years it had been so obvious to her that Yuniko needed a mother around. She needed the motherly love that no one could give her.

"The evil is going out for their nightly hunt soon," the princess continued. "But I do not believe they will come close to my castle yet. There is still too much they need from me."

Malin's face seemed to be carved out of stone now. She refused to let her fear show in front of the princess, even if she currently was not looking. She hated it, Malin hated to be worthless in protection, hated the feeling of helplessness. Unicorn and Sky did that way better than she could ever compare with. The young nurse didn't deny she was jealous at those animals. She wished she could be as good as them.

"Malin," Yuniko suddenly said and reached a hand out for her nurse and best friend. "Can you come and sit with me for a moment?"

Malin nodded with a slight smile as she walked up to the princess and sat on a chair under her. Resting her head in Yuniko's soft lap she thought of how much she had experienced with the purest heart of the world. Yuniko had showered her with love and friendship ever since they first met, much more so than her real family had ever done. She had learnt to fight and was better than most of the guards and soldiers in many ways, not just for the fact she used her smaller body as advantage and was swifter than anyone else but the princess. No one could ever beat Yuniko in anything but telling stories, since the princess was no storyteller. That was the only thing Malin was better at, and Yuniko happily listened to her made up stories.

"Yuni," Malin whispered when she was halfway into sleep. The princess hummed in response. "You will never leave me, will you? You will always stay with me, and let me stay with you?"

Yuniko felt a slight pang of guilt. She had not rarely thought to send Malin to France to live with princess Tea's family where she would be protected, but knew that would only leave the princess alone.

"Of cause, Malin," she whispered back as she lovingly patted her friend's hair. "I will never leave you, and I will never let you leave my side. I need you so much more than you understand."

Malin heard and took the words to the deepest parts of her heart, but she was also more asleep than awake, and in her dreams she, Atemu and the princess lived in the castle in times of light.

That morning Malin woke up first. Yuniko was sleeping peacefully beside her in her bed, holding her hand. It was rare, but some nights, when the princess was hunted by nightmares she slept in Malin's bed. She had explained it calmed her to feel her nurse's breathing in her face, and Malin would never deny her friend anything that was calming to her. Yuniko's nerves were almost always tense, even if she looked as calm as a soft midsummer breeze.

Malin's thoughts went back to the three travellers she had met the night before. Those girls were awfully pretty, but there was something in their smell that somewhat disturbed the nurse, not in a bad way, just disturbing. And they seemed quite curious about the princess. Malin wondered once again where they had travelled from, and why they had sought service in the castle. Could it be just because of the princess?

"Are you awake, Malin?" Yuniko suddenly whispered, having awoken from her nurse's change in breathing.

"I am," Malin whispered back, not able to resist the sisterly patting on Yuniko's head.

"Will you watch the sunrise with me this morning?" the princess asked slowly.

Malin nodded her head yes and the two girls got up and dressed. Malin had actually never seen the sunrise before. The end of it, yes, but not the very beginning of the majestic play of light over the sky.

Yuniko, with her usual good taste, picked out a now-white dress with dune feathers around the collar and end of the sleeves. It was a warm winter dress of the finest sheep wool and cotton. Malin tied a wreath with thin bangs of the princess's golden hair with hairpins decorated with white feathers. Malin loved to do the princess's hair. It was like silk under her fingers and smelled of summer and autumn apples. And the soft waves in it mirrored the treasure's personality she thought.

Malin had a similar dress, without the feathers. Yuniko, in order to be as much alike her nurse as possible tied her hair with a flower made of purplish magpie feathers.

The sunrise had never been so beautiful. Malin sat in the chair below the window and Yuniko on the window hill. The sky-blue eyes of the princess seemed to change colour with the sky the nurse noticed. Her princess's eyes seemed to turn into gold, rubies, amethysts emeralds and at last back to the crystalline sapphires.

"Come," Yuniko said suddenly. "Let us go out and enjoy the sun. It was long since we just did that."

"Your father will not be pleased when you desert the morning meeting with the council," Malin stated, but not as scolding.

"I know what they will say," the princess said as she made her way over to the door. "There is no reason for me to…"

A knocking on the door stopped her in the middle of her sentence. Without hesitating she opened the door to reveal a very awake and hyper Mokuba, he too dressed completely in white.

"Good morning big sister! I still love you!" the errand boy greeted and hugged the princess's waist tightly and hid his face between her breasts in a very son-like way.

Yuniko just laughed and patted his head before returning the hug. "You are the sweetest boy in the world," she said with a loving smile. "I wish everyone had a little brother like you."

"Oh no," Malin and Mokuba said determinedly in choir. "I am/He is just for you."

Yuniko laughed again at her two friends and invited Malin too into the hug. "Let us go out and enjoy the sun," she told them with the happiest smile in a long time.

Ryouko and Kyoko were out early to enjoy the living dream they had shared together since they were born. It was just the first day and a lot could happen with the passing time.

"Maybe we will not be able so meet the prince," Ryouko said as she looked up at the clear sky. "But we will see the princess one day and I will tell her straight into her face mother is more beautiful than her."

"Me too," Kyoko said determinedly. "Most people we have met have never seen her in person. Only the ones we have met here have, but not up close. I bet she is the inside type who just sits on her ass and give orders."

"That Malin girl yesterday was very kind, though," Ryouko said quietly. "But she must have been closed in with the princess her entire life and has not seen many other girls than the princess and the servants of the castle."

The sisters turned when they suddenly heard laughing from the entrance of the castle. The door was slightly open and three persons rushed out in the snow, seemingly to enjoy the sun after the storm that had clad the land in a thick layer of pure, white snow.

"Is that not Malin?" Ryouko asked as she recognized the girl from the night before.

"It is," Kyoko agreed. "But who are those other two?"

It was a small boy with black hair dressed in white who ran ahead of two girls, one of them being Malin. The two girls took each others hands and started to spin around in a wild dance, all the while laughing their time away. The boy threw a snowball at the girls, which hit Malin's back and stopped the girls' dance. Malin made an own snowball and rushed after the boy with empty threats. She was smiling widely and failed to stop her laughing.

"They seem to have a lot of fun," Kyoko said.

"We never had enough freedom to just go out and play. They are spoiled with freedom," Ryouko said with bitterness.

A small snowball fight started between the three people and the two sisters watched with a hint of jealousy.

"You are not fair!" the boy suddenly called as he picked up more snow. "Lady Yuniko is moving too much, I can not hit you!"

The girl with a white wreath in her hair moved swiftly, so swiftly Ryouko and Kyoko had to blink at the mere sight of her moving. The still nameless girl caught the boy and threw him up in the air with a joyous smile on her face.

"They must be brother and sisters," Kyoko said and tilted her head to the side slightly.

"But one of them are wearing a long dress," Ryouko noticed confused. "That means she is of a higher class than a servant."

"That can not be possible," Kyoko protested. "No noble would lower so much as to play with servants."

The girl with long dress suddenly noticed them watching and, much to their confusion, waved happily at them. Malin walked up to the nameless girl and said something. The girl nodded and walked over to the sisters.

"So you are the ones who came here during the storm?" she asked. Her voice was just as bell-like as her laugher. The sisters could just nod.

"Are your mother not out?" Malin asked with a kind smile.

"Mother is a sleepyhead," Kyoko said, not able to take her eyes off of the beauty before her. The girl's hair could as well be water as its waves fell so perfectly over her shoulders. Her skin was pale but had a hint of golden brown that showed she was outside every now and then, but it was so pale it was not visible in a distance. Her body was curved perfectly, as if she was made by an angel, even if she didn't have too much in height. But what captured Kyoko as well as Ryouko were her eyes. The girl had blue eyes, crystalline, beating the sky itself in innocence and purity.

"Complete opposite from our princess then," the raven-haired boy said with a teasing grin.

"Do not talk out of place, Mokuba," Malin scolded with an I-can-hurt-you-if-I-wish look.

"You do all the time," the boy Mokuba returned and hugged the third girl's waist as if she would protect him against anything.

"I am her majesty's nurse, I have the right to do so," Malin said and turned her face away.

The other girl just laughed and the watching sisters blushed slightly. They seemed to be a very happy family.

But suddenly the girl with a long dress pushed the boy away from her gently and ran away from the group with the grace and elegance of a fairy.

"Lady Yuniko?" Malin and Mokuba asked after her.

"Sky needs to be loved," the girl named Yuniko answered and turned her face to the sky. Ryouko, Kyoko, Malin and Mokuba did the same and saw the mighty eagle diving towards them.

"A golden eagle," Ryouko whispered.

"The king of heaven?" Kyoko gasped.

"Sky," Malin said. "The princess's birthday present. He can not replace Guardian, the wild eagle that watched over her when she was young, but he is more than a friend to her, and she is more than just a mistress to him." Malin was quiet for a moment before she added whispering: "And it was long since last time I saw her smile like that."

The two sisters watched with eyes bigger than dinner plates as the eagle carefully landed on the girl Yuniko's shoulders and playfully nibbled her hair. A loud neighing was heard from the stables along with the calls of a young man before the most beautiful horse Ryouko and Kyoko had ever seen rushed towards Yuniko as well.

"It looks like everyone needs to be a little loved now when the time is as rough as it is," Malin said quietly.

"That can not be an ordinary horse," Kyoko said and stared in disbelief. She had never seen a white horse with golden mane and tail.

"Unicorn is Lady Yuniko's too," Mokuba explained. "She is the offspring of a half-wild horse named Shadow and Midnight, who was Scotland's best horse before Unicorn was born. She was born for Lady Yuniko only."

Malin nodded in agreement as she watched her best friend love her protectors and friends. But the cosy moment was broken by the soldier Joey who came running towards them from the castle.

"Princess, his majesty is furious for your disappearance. He has ordered everyone to look for you."

Ryouko and Kyoko's eyes opened as wide as it was possible when the coin suddenly fell through.

"Is he afraid I am taken by the vampires?" the girl asked.

"Obviously," Joey nodded. "He is tense as a bowstring. You can not worry him like this. If you keep this up he will die out of pure worry for you, Milady."

Malin walked over to them. "We awoke early and decided to play instead of going to the meaningless meeting. Milady said she already knew what it was about."

"That does not change matters," Yuniko said. "I will go and calm him. You can go back to your duties, Joey. You too Mokuba."

"Yes Milady," Mokuba answered and rushed towards the castle, knowing what to do.

"Princess Yuniko, the king ordered me to stay by your side as your bodyguard from now on," Joey said and bowed almost carefully.

Yuniko nodded and sent her two animal friends away, though they seemed quite satisfied with the short morning play they had had.

"That was the princess?" Kyoko and Ryouko whispered in union as Yuniko walked back to the castle with the soldier and Malin in her tracks.

"Mother! Mother!"

Rose awoke as her two daughters jumped at her in her bed, the most comfortable bed she had slept in since she was banished.

"Calm down my treasures. What has happened?"

"The princess!" Ryouko said in a loud whisper.

"We have seen the princess!" Kyoko picked up with wide eyes.

"She talked to us," Ryouko said and looked at her younger sister for support.

"She was playing with Malin and another servant," Kyoko told her mother and Ryouko nodded.

Rose just smiled. "So the princess is a disappointment?" she asked calmly.

Both girls shook their heads wildly.

"N-no, she is… she is the most b-beautiful human I have ever seen!" Kyoko stated.

"S-she looked like a real angel, dressed in white and her hair fell like water over her back, in waves, just like water!" Ryouko more or less yelled.

"And she had blue eyes, bluer than the sky, crystalline!" Kyoko said and nodded at her own statement.

Rose laughed at her daughters' flushed faces and sparkling eyes. They had dreamt so much of this place and she knew they had just had their picture of the princess ruined, in a good way.

"I-I never thought I would meet anyone who was more beautiful than you, mother," Kyoko said after much describing in different directions of what had happened. "But she was… she just was."

"Are you disappointed… that your mother is not the most beautiful one in this world?"

Both sisters looked at each other confused. They had never really thought of it.

"I do not know," Kyoko said, hesitatingly but honestly. "You just… you have always been more beautiful than all the other girls around us. Even in the whorehouse heads turned your way because of your beauty."

Rose nodded in understanding and was about to say something when a soft knocking suddenly was heard on their door. Rose stood from her bed and walked up to the door with a suspicious glint in her eyes.

"Who is it?" she called through the door.

"My name is Mokuba, the princess's errand boy. I have a message for you from the princess herself."

Ryouko and Kyoko looked at each other. Mokuba was the name of the boy from before, the one who had been playing with Malin and the princess. He was the princess's own errand boy?

Rose opened the door carefully and the slim boy sneaked in quickly and shut the door and locked it carefully behind him again.

"You have to be careful when you go outside. Many eyes are locked at this one door," the boy said once he turned around.

"What is your message?" Rose asked.

"Can you read?" Mokuba asked back. Rose nodded and the boy handed her a letter written down swiftly with a steady hand.

Kyoko and Ryouko stood at their mother's side in order to read it after she was done, but Rose had no such plans. Once she had read it through she turned and threw it into the fire that was still burning in the middle of the room.

"Mother?" the girls protested.

"What shall I bring back to her majesty?" Mokuba asked, his eyes now suspicious and less friendly.

"Tell her I will be there," Rose said, not looking up from the burning paper.

Mokuba bowed and left.