Yo. Sasha belongs to moi. As usual. Nothing else.

We arrived at the Mistari's palace which was in its old desert-ish place.

As we entered the village of stone huts, we were greeted by several tigers in their shifted forms.

Everyone kept cool expressions on their faces, but I knew the truth and so did the Mistari.

We could smell the fear wafting off of them in waves.

Particularly Adelina, which was surprising.

I laughed at her fear, and just smirked at her; telling her invisibly that I knew she was afraid.

She glared back at me, really annoyed.

Whatever; I cleared my throat at Charis, and she got the message to wave away our intimidating greeters.

They, then, escorted us to their elaborate palace which was very bright, colorful, and just screamed 'MISTARI'.

Yay colors! Now at least we know that they're not expressionless like the avians.

We went into the entrance, sort of in awe of the artwork, and travelled through the longest hallway I have ever seen in my life.

Must have a lot of time on their hands, um, paws to make uber-long hallways. Hm.

Is this what peaceful people do? Make halls?

Anyways, we came to the end of the longest hallway in the world to find ourselves in the throne room which also came with the Disa and Dio, looking majestic as ever.

Their eyes glanced to all of our faces.

First on Charis with familiarity.

Next on Irene with politeness.

Then on Zane, for a little bit longer, with musing.

And finally on me. With curiousity.

I wonder why. No duh.

Charis began the formalities, "My dear Disa and Dio, it is a pleasure to see you again on such good terms. I wondered if I would ever come to this beautiful area again."

The Disa smiled and agreed, "Yes, Charis it has been too long. Please, introduce me to your family."

Charis spoke, "But of course. This here is my eldest son Zane, the Arami. And this is my daughter Irene. And…this is Sasha, my adopted daughter. And these are our guards Adelina and Galen."

The Disa's eyes lingered on me, even after Charis had given my introduction.

She then said a little unsure, "I'm afraid I don't understand, Charis. How exactly did you come to adopt Sasha? Pardon me for being blunt, but I would like to know all of the circumstances going on in my court."

She smiled a little apologetically.

Charis started, "Well, we…"

I then burst in, wanting to speak for myself, "Well, Disa, there's nothing to it. I was found by the former Diente in a deserted forest, abandoned by my dead parents when I was only a few months old. I was then raised as a serpiente, as one of the Cobrianas. And that's pretty much it. Not very complicated."

The Disa raised her eyebrows at my outburst and slightly narrowed her eyes, "I see."

The Dio, however, had more to say.

He spoke for the first time, "Yes, we see, but don't understand. How is it possible to adopt someone from an entirely different species, and accept them into your family when you're entirely against everything another species does. The avians. How do you have such compassion in your times of bloodlust? Why did you not murder her the second Sasha was on your doorstep? Why did you keep a leopard in a house of serpents?"

He said this all in a frustrated yet wondering tone.

I found it slightly offensive that he thought that they would've killed me the second Donovan brought me in; not every serpiente's dying to kill, you know.

Charis responded sharply, echoing my thoughts exactly, "Well, dear Dio, we don't necessarily kill everyone of another species on sight. We do have consciences, and if you don't understand that…"

She was then cut off for the second time today, this time by Disa who said, "Oh, of course not Charis, we understand. But you have to understand that this means wonders for the peace talk. If the Shardaes are as willing to accept as you Cobrianas, then…this peace might just be possible."

We all stared at her then, in reaction to the word 'possible'.

Possible? Heck, yes!

The Disa stared at Charis, as if expecting an answer.

Charis stuttered, "Why, Disa…"

And was cut off for the third time today. Poor Charis.

This time by Zane, Arami himself.

He said smoothly, "What we all mean is…thank you. Thank you for giving us serpiente a chance."

The Disa and Dio both smiled.

The Dio then said, "You can rest in this room until the avians arrive. We will be back when they appear. It has been a pleasure."

And then they both left, in their royal manner.

Wish I could look that serious.

We all sighed in relief. Interrogation was over.

And then everybody collapsed in the back of the room to rest for a while, even Adelina and Galen.

I sat next to Zane, ruffling his hair as I sat down.

He rolled his eyes in that annoying way and said in a mocking manner, "Done being looked at like the freak, sis?"

I grimaced a little and rolled my eyes in return, "Definitely. You would have thought they saw horns on my head or something. That was just…weird. Don't know if they liked me though…"

Zane raised an eyebrow, "I don't think so. The Disa sort of looked, oh, I don't know, mistrustful when you came in here. She probably thought you were going to bite her head off anyways, since you're the only one who has a prayer of doing that."

I grinned, "Yup. They better be afraid. I've been known to bite heads off, you know."

The Arami grinned back, "Yeah, I do know, actually. I've actually experienced it too. Not very pleasant much."

"You bet," I responded as I stared into space, noticing that Galen and Irene were talking quietly to themselves as were Adelina and Charis.

The only difference between the two couples was the expressions: Galen and Irene serious and lovestruck, and Adelina and Charis just angry and frustrated.

Zane noticed the same thing and said absently, "She overreacts too much. Adelina."

"Duh," I said back in a tone that apparently irked him, since he turned back to glare at me.

"So," I continued, "are you nervous? You know, meeting the avians in person and all that jazz?"

He yawned, "Hm. I think not. And if I am, I won't let them see it."

I playfully gasped, "What?? Do you mean that you're going to hide your feelings as exactly as they do?? Are you turning avian on me, brother??"

He, once again for the umpteenth time today, rolled his eyes.

I then stiffened, and cocked my head to the side.

He frowned slightly at me, "You know I didn't mean…What's wrong?"

I responded, focused, "They're coming. I can hear it."

I could hear their footsteps, five, coming, and he couldn't because of the fact that I was a totally different species.

With better ears.

Gotta love those ears.

Then they entered. The avians. They were here.

They entered all at once.

Three guards, I could see, and the two Shardaes.

That's what we had reduced them to, two.

We could easy end this all here with just two strokes of my paw.

It would be so easy.

But I had to wait.

For peace.

I wouldn't kill it.

Yet.

Sorry this chapter is late like the last one!!!! I try, I really do! I'll put them up as fast as I can, and if you read this (YES, YOU, I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!) please review!!!! Please, please, please, please, please REVIEW!!!! I don't want to write for a ghost audience, I mean, come ON, people!!! Tell me anything; I don't care. Preferably good, but I'll take bad too!!! Any predictions, comments, concerns, questions, related stories, or jokes, JUST SAY IT!!!! Please. That's all I ask of you readers….please. PLEASE!!!  hopefully this will be my face when I see the reviews you guys sent in. Hopefully? Come on, you CAN do it! And so we go. (from Pendragon-read it if you don't know what it is) Please. Pretty please?