"He's been out for quite awhile." Frida asked when she noticed that Zebra Donkey has been out for three hours. "Should we wake him up?"

"No enjoy the silence, it may never come again." Manny said.

"Right." She said. "You know aside from that lunatic Carlito and that arrow incident today hasn't been so bad."

"Eh...I've had worse but I'm sure you've had better days Princess."

"Could you stop calling me princess? I have a name you know and believe me I've had days way worse than this one. Try spending everyday in total misery."

"Total misery, yeah right." He laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"No offense but I seriously doubt you lived in misery."

"Excuse me?"

"Look I'm sure it was difficult but I think you're overreacting because at least you had a home."

"Home? Try prison! I was locked in a small room, alone, in the dark, for seven years. Seven years I sat and waited and waited and waited. Dear God I thought I would loose my mind."

"How sad but I can top that. Try spending seven years constantly running from angry mons with torches and pitchworks, try having your britches burnt sixty times and the scorches still haven't healed."

"Hey at least you could run from your fire and despair I couldn't. I was stuck in that tower everyday of my life."

"People screamed every time they saw me!"

"People died before they even saw me!"

"I never had a decent place to sleep for five years!"

"You call that tower a decent place to sleep? The mattress was old and lumpy not to mention there were no blankets so I was always cold unless that dragon got mad and that usually resulted in me getting burned."

"I get hunted once a week!"

"I never got to go outside once!"

"I never had any friends!"

"Well neither did I!"

"I've been alone all my life!" They shouted at the same time. They both went quiet after that, then after five minutes of awkward silence Manny chose to speak first.

"Well I guess that's one thing we have in common." He said.

"Uh...Yeah I guess so." She agreed.

"But I like to be alone."

"Why?"

"Hello? Monster here? Everybody's afraid of me."

"Oh yeah. So quick question where exactly did your kind come from? Are you like the offspring of an animal and human?"

"No! First of all that's disgusting and physically impossible. Second my species was kind of an accident."

"How so?"

"Years ago there was this old wizard who was well out of his mind and he decided to turn a tiger into a man but his spell backfired so instead of turning him into a human he gave him human qualities. The tiger got away but he stole the spell and used it on a female, they mate, have a litter, next thing you know there's a new species."

"Alright that makes sense okay so here's another one, is it true that when you guys have babies you eat the runt of the litter?"

"No! Of course not! Believe it or not hybrids actually love their children. Though we don't normally have that many, actually we usually have about one but in rare cases we may have two or three."

"And you don't eat them?"

"No! That's just sick and wrong!"

"I figured as much but you know how people gossip."

"Well you shouldn't believe everything you hear."

"Huh? What? Where am I?" Zebra Donkey asked regaing consciousness. "What's going on?"

"Nothing let's go." Manny said.

Manny, Frida, and Zebra Donkey traveled a long way. It would take them a few days to get there but they didn't seem to mind, well Manny and Frida. They talked for hours and during their conversations they found out they had a lot more in common than they thought. They also found some fun things to do along the way like catching mice and birds, climbing trees, rolling around in the grass, and playing pranks on unsuspecting travelers who walked by.

"Hey I got you something." Manny said and he dropped a dead mouse at her feet. Now humans didn't understand this but when a cat gave someone a dead animal it meant that they were glad you were friends or lovers. He was about to explain what it meant before she started screaming but she stopped him.

"Wait right here." She said leaving. A few minutes later she came back and dropped a dead bird at his feet. "Here, thank you for the gift and I'm glad we're friends too."

"You're not disgusted?"

"No, you felines give dead animals as gifts of friendship right?"

"Yeah, I'm surprised you know that."

"Well I do which is why I gave you one."

"Thanks no one's ever given me a gift before."

"You two give creepy gifts." Zebra Donkey said.

The two just laughed at his comment and continued on talking and laughing, having a good time. But all too soon they arrived at an area of land that was just a mile from Sergio's kingdom.

"Well here we are." Manny said sadly.

"That's the place?"

"Yep."

"It's so big."

"I know...Well we better be going."

"Yeah I guess but I'm...I'm concerned." Frida said.

"About what?"

"About... Zebra Donkey."

"What?"

"Well look at him he doesn't look so good."

"What are you talking about? I'm fine." Zebra Donkey said.

"Well that's what they all say and the next thing you know you're on your back. Dead!"

"Oh yeah." Manny said getting the idea. "You know she's right. You look awful. Do you want to sit down?"

"Well I didn't want say anything but I have this crick in my neck." Zebra Donkey said turning his neck. "See?"

"Who's hungry?" Manny asked. "I'll find us some dinner."

"I'll get the firewood." Frida said.

"Hey where are you going?" Zebra Donkey asked. "Oh man! I can't even feel my toes." He looked down. "I don't have any toes!"

They stopped by an old mill to rest. Manny had caught some rats and roasted them over a fire. To his surprise Frida actually liked it.

"This is good." She said. "This is really good. What is this?"

"Weed rat."

"No kidding? Well this is delicious."

"Thanks."

"Better than what I had to eat."

"What did you eat in that tower?"

"Just bread, slop." She said. "An occasional bird or mouse." She whispered.

"I also do squirrel, fish, and frog."

She giggled then looked at the kingdom.

"I guess I'll be dinning a little differently tomorrow night." She said.

"Maybe you can visit me some time."

"I'd like that and I gotta say you're a very good cook. Who taught you?"

"My..." He paused. "My mom."

"Oh...Well then she must've been a great cook."

"Yeah she was." He sighed.

"It's okay if you don't wanna talk about her and your dad I heard about what happened?"

"You did? Oh no did Zebra Donkey tell you?"

"No actually I heard you ranting about it the other night."

"Oh." He said blushing. "You heard that? Great."

"You don't have to be embarrassed I miss my parents too."

"Are they dead?"

"No they're alive but I can't be with them for awhile."

"I don't follow."

"They...They sent me to that tower when I was twelve years old."

"They what?!" He gasped.

"It's not what you think!"

"Who locks their kid in a dragon guarded tower?!"

"It wasn't like that! They didn't have a choice!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's...It's complicated." She wanted to tell him the reason why she was sent away but she couldn't risk exposing her secret. "So how old were you?"

"Excuse me?"

"When your parents died I mean."

"I was thirteen, for some species that's adulthood but I was still just a kid. My parents never bothered anyone and they were nice to people yet the world still saw them as a threat. After they died I was all alone, I had to look after myself and I couldn't trust anybody especially humans."

"So no human ever showed you any kindness? There was never anyone who wasn't afraid of you?"

"Only once. It was sometime after my parents died, I was walking alone trying to find a place to stay when this group of people walked by. With them was a little girl and she spotted me, I expected her to just start screaming and alerting the other people to kill me but she didn't. Instead she smiled and waved at me. Me, an ugly creature, and she smiled and waved at me."

"This little girl, was she...Was she riding a horse with a royal crest embroidered on the saddle?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"That was me. That was on the day my parents sent me away."

"That was you? Huh...Small world...Why didn't you scream when you saw me? Why did you smile and wave at me?"

"You looked sad. I thought a friendly face would make you feel better. We're not all paranoid killers you know."

"I know."

"You're more than just scary monster."

"And you're more than just a pretty princess."

They smiled at each other, then blushed nervously. Their hands accidentally touched and they looked up at each other.

"Man! Isn't this romantic?" Zebra Donkey interrupted. "Just look at that sunset."

"Sunset!" Frida gasped. "Oh no! It's late! I really should be getting to bed."

"What?" Manny said.

"Oh I see what's going on here. You're afraid of the dark." Zebra Donkey said.

"Yes! That's it! I'm terrified." She went to go inside but not before giving Manny one last smile. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." He said smiling back.

She went inside. Zebra Donkey looked at Manny suspiciously.

"Now I know what's going on here."

"What are you talking about?" Manny asked.

"Hey don't lie to me. I know you two are digging on each other."

"You're crazy! I'm just taking her back to Lord shorty."

"Oh come on just tell her how you feel."

"There's nothing to tell." Manny said. "Besides even I did- I'm not saying I do cause I don't. She's a human princess and I'm..."

"A tiger monster?"

"Yeah." He walked off.

"Hey where you goin?"

"To get...more firewood."

But that was clearly a lie considering there was a huge pile of firewood next to the mill.