"Lizzie, Humphrey, what's so important that you need to drag me along? Raven will be back any minute!" Apple complained as she was dragged into the News Club room.
"It's important because it involves raven." Lizzie defended pointing to the computer screen that Humphrey had turned on and pulled up several documents.
Apple spent a moment reading over what was on the screen her expression morphing into one of absolute bewilderment.
"Impossible." Apple shook her head. "I mean… she's evil. She… but everyone saw… this can't be right can it?"
"So far all of the sources and evidence that I've been able to find online have checked out." Humphrey informed. "And Lizzie called her mom who did some research of her own and all of those checked out too."
"Where did you get this information?" Apple demanded after a moment of stunned silence.
"Briar found a secret compartment in her dorm with a folder of coded documents inside, as it turned out her dorm used to be the Evil Queen's when she attended school here." Lizzie spoke her tone serious. "Humphrey hasn't translated all of those documents yet but so far all of this evidence is pretty damning."
Apple silently deliberated before coming to a decision. "How much more needs to be decoded?"
Humphrey adjusted his glasses. "W-well whoever hid these papers were pretty thorough about including as much credible information as possible to help clear her name, no doubt in case of any problems that might arise in the course of this secret plan that she keeps referencing to in her notes. There's still dozens of pages to go through."
"I'll help you translate a few more, in an hour or two all three of us need to head back to my dorm, Raven should have had enough time to settle in by then and she needs to know as much information that we can give her." The princess declared in determination.
"I'll help too." Lizzie volunteered. "It worries me that there was something out there so terrifying that Raven's mother was willing to turn herself into the worst Evil Queen in history and fool all of those powerful realms just to scare them away, and something tells me that Raven knows exactly what that thing is."
"You're right she does know." Apple confessed. "But she's got her mind set on not telling anybody or asking for help from most of her friends, you know how she is when she's in one of her stubborn moods. Hopefully she'll be mollified by all of this enough to tell me something."
XXX
"A letter from Elenore Queen to my brother?" Giles asked Maddie when the girl handed him an envelope. Maddie had apparently returned with the rest of Raven Queen's secret entourage from the secret trip that they had all taken for business reasons.
"She said that she wanted to apologize for causing any trouble with those old love letters she and Raven's grandfather had written to each other." Maddie hummed as she watched a butterfly flutter in the air out of the corner of her eye.
"How was your trip Madeline?" Giles asked. "Raven did not have to get more piercings I hope."
"The time difference makes inside clock all wonky-woo but the land is pretty and Raven only got more Henna to mark her dedication to the contract." Maddie grinned up at him. "Nothing to worry about. She's doing fine and she's got people who she can count on."
"I'm glad to hear that." Giles smiled back.
XXX
"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice." Raven stood awkwardly in the middle of Daring and Dexter's room, hugging her mirrorpad to her chest as she met gazes with the two boys in question.
"You cut your hair short…" Was the first thing out of Dexter's mouth. "And what are you wearing? It's pink!"
Raven looked down to her bridal outfit, she didn't have time to do more than put on a sleeveless white and pink blouse that covered her midsection and matched the rest of her outfit that she wore for the marriage ceremony, her hands were still caked with flaking bits of dried henna, absently she picked away at a few designs revealing the newly stained skin underneath.
"Y-yes." Raven cleared her throat. "This outfit is actually part of what I'm here to talk to you about. Um, so I talked to some people and they agreed that I can inform you two as to what's going on with my kingdom and what I've made you apart of."
"Does this include the reason why those lords that were just arrested had a recipe for a super soldier potion hidden on a flower website?" Daring crossed his arms, one well-groomed brow raised.
Raven sighed. "Your suspicions about them wanting to start a war are true, we don't know the exact reasons why or what long term goals that they have but we do know for a fact that they seem to want to wipe out my maternal kingdom, the sea kingdom that borders my land's waters, and… my paternal kingdom, they want to go after the kingdom my birth father rules over as well."
"Your birth father is a king?" Both Daring's eyebrows shot up in surprise, Dexter mirrored him.
"My father is the Good King actually." Raven coughed awkwardly.
"How in… any sort of reality would someone like the Good King want to marry your mother?" Dexter blurted out earning him a kick in the shin from Daring. "Ow! I'm just asking the obvious!"
"Oh they were never married." Raven assured nonchalantly, as if such facts were normal to everybody. "Before she went crazy, Mom told me that I had been conceived on a bet that went sideways."
"Side…ways…" Daring grimaced trying to shove unwanted thoughts out of his mind.
"Mom said that it's very important to make sure that you carry around protection that is not past it's expiration date and to always remember to take the morning after pill if there is any potential for accidental pregnancy." Raven shrugged.
"Wait… the Evil Queen was imprisoned when we were all like nine and ten. How old were you when she told you this?" Dexter demanded.
"Six?" Raven blinked at the two boys in confusion.
"Why don't you tell us why you're being covered head to toe in those tattoo things." Daring squinted his eyes shut as if pained, almost desperately changing the subject.
"Right." Raven nodded getting back on track. "That's actually a bit more complicated. You see… well you know how every kingdom where the monarchy has a family that has direct fairytale ancestry is protected under certain acts and laws?"
"Yes- oh." Dexter bit his lip as he came to a realization.
"What is it?" Daring asked his brother.
"Under universal law kingdoms in Ever After with fairytale origin cannot be conquered or conquer others… but the same does not apply to witch territories." Dexter informed. "Witch territories used to be protected just as equally but the current Headmaster's grandfather… did away with that."
"And because of all the blatant racism the other human kingdoms had towards witches at the time, no one stopped the laws from being repealed." Raven sighed. "Ever since then the Queen territories and our allies have been in a cold war with several smaller human kingdoms and the minor lords who neighbor us. We've been able to strive off war or any kind of serious damage towards us for a while now but unfortunately they have gotten some lucky hits against my family."
Daring stepped forward slightly looking the most serious that the witch had ever seen him. "Lucky hits?" He asked.
"The general public does not know this but… my great grandparents had been murdered by a man hoped up on dessenti drugs, he was suspected to have been hired by one of the lords but since the dosage of the drugs in his system had been too much the assassin's heart just gave out and his lungs stopped working as soon as the initial high was over. To keep war from erupting my grandmother kept the entire thing a secret, telling the populace that they had stumbled upon a long forgotten magical land trap dating back to the time where everybody was at war, only the prime leader of the sea kingdom was privy to what really happened so that he could ban dessenti from being placed into the hands of all human kingdoms."
Raven nervously scratched a little more dried paste off her hand. "Their failed attempt to start a war only led to even more failed attempts for several years until they had stopped completely and we had thought that they had lost interest… however several years ago they tried a more direct attack against us. I don't know if you've heard or remember hearing about that meteorite that crashed into the land neighboring the Queen territory several years ago… but apparently it wasn't just a freak accident and… it was apparently originally supposed to land on one of the Queen land's biggest cities."
"You're telling us that these people have figured out how to weaponize space rocks?" Dexter asked appalled.
Raven nodded grimly. "Our air radar system detected a strong stream of foreign magic directed at the atmosphere directly above us before the swamp troll sized meteorite had been detected, my grandmother had been hosting an unofficial meeting with some of our government's parliament members at the time and together they had been able to erect a series of intensely strong magical shields to bounce the rock away from our lands. While it did save hundreds if not thousands of lives it came at a cost; you see a shield that powerful takes up a lot of energy, so much so that my grandmother along with the parliament members had been knocked out and lost temporary use of their legs… and that's when my grandmother had been poisoned."
"They killed your grandmother too?" Daring winced sounding appalled.
"Thankfully no." Raven shook her head. "Remember those tiny cursed talismans that they had to strain from my blood? Well my grandmother had them too, only her curses were that she couldn't set foot on her homeland or be within a certain distance of me without becoming ill, in order to protect her lands though, my grandmother preformed some kind of spell that feeds magic to our new defense systems from her own body, the side effect of this is that she has lost the ability to use her legs very well… and in the weeks before this incident took place was when my mother had rescued me from a man… who had tried to kill me." The witch breathed.
Raven turned and lifted her blouse up just enough to show the old raised lines of healed skin on her side; she was pleased that the henna seemed to help mask the scars.
"I was drugged. Can't remember anything for the time since I had been kidnapped from elementary school to weeks later, long after mom poisoned everything. It wasn't until recently that we were able to get a name on the guy that did this, Kline, and for some reason he seemed to have it out for me in particular. Oddly enough mom's psychotic break actually made these people too terrified to go on with whatever plan they had, and they've reduced their attacks on us down to petty annoyances, but as a downside my family name had been dishonored and the High Council has refused to protect us if things get bad and since the Grand Coven isn't allowed to grant fairytale kingdoms protection… we were kind of in a bind."
"The Rebel cause makes a lot more sense now." Dexter hummed in the ensuing silence.
"Oh the High Council never wanted me to actually go through my fairytale, they wanted me to take a bite out of the poison apple before I even got near my princess. That had been their plan for me, however I had originally intended to go through with the story and then disappear, sneak away right after I poisoned Apple, change my appearance, lay low for a while, and then appear as the Good King's long lost daughter and rule over both of my kingdoms and convince everybody that I am a human. Then I figured out that I didn't have to sign the Book at all which opened up even more opportunities seeing as how if I never sign or take on the title of Evil Queen the Grand Coven can protect us… but…" Raven bit her lip when Daring's lips thinned and he crossed his arms.
"That would have taken far too long and the battle of keeping free of destiny was too much of a distraction from the real issues that need to be addressed… so when an opportunity came I… jumped at it." The witch fidgeted in her spot. "The deal is simple and convenient for both sides, I get my honor back, my lands get back their protection, we get a new powerful ally, trade agreements… they- she only asked for one thing in return."
"I don't like how that sounds." Dexter turned to his brother. "Do you like how that sounds?"
"No I do not like how that sounds." Daring agreed, reaching out and gently grabbing the witch's arm to examine. "What is the nature of these tattoos Raven?"
"Have you guys ever heard of the practice of a family legally marrying a living relative off to a deceased one from another family to form a contract or merger between the two families? And no Daring I'm not referencing to any form of necrophilia." The witch added making the blond prince breathe out a sigh of relief. "Well my contract is legally of the same sort of deal; there is none of the same commitments expected from actual marriage and after the purpose of it is all done the vows can be dissolved with little difficulty… only my contract, or token marriage, is more of an exchange, my honor is restored in return for me giving up the title of Evil Queen to a different family."
Raven bit her lip as she watched the two boy's freeze at her words.
Daring shook his head. "Raven that is your birthright. You can't just give it up!"
The witch looked at the boy in the eye. "I have no choice. My people's lives depend on it. And it is already too late; as of this weekend enough of the rituals have been completed to transfer the title over, I only have two more rituals to go before my full honor is restored. As of this moment, my lands no longer abide by the laws of fairytales and we have both the protection of the Grand Coven, the various kingdoms that members of my extended family currently rule over, and the aid we need from my spouse's family and lands. It may not be the most ideal decision but it was necessary. My people are in danger and too many members of my family have died or are suffering because of all this. This has to end, at any cost necessary." Raven spoke, her eyes misting over, as she seemed to silently plead for the older boy to try to understand.
Daring's fingers absently started to pick away at the dried henna on the witch's hands; he looked shaken by the news. "Who?" He whispered hoarsely.
"Faybelle." Raven sighed.
The blonde's eyes widened comically. "Faybelle? As in Faybelle Thorn? You're marrying her? She's- she's crazy! Psychotic at times! Way too evil and- and she's just not a good choice as a spouse for you!"
"I'm sensing that you don't approve." Raven observed flatly.
"Of course I don't approve!" Daring screeched grasping onto the witch's shoulders and shaking her slightly. "Out of all the villains in the school you had to marry her? Why didn't you ask someone like Ginger? Ginger is both kind and sane! She'd be perfect for you since she'd be the least likely to pull some horrible prank or poison you!"
"Well for one, Ginger doesn't want her own title let alone mine, and her family doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of resources that the Thorn Clan does, their kingdom is massive by the way. And besides, Faybelle is honor-bound to treat me with the same respect that I treat her." Raven assured, nonplussed to the way the boy was gently shaking her (Apple was way more enthusiastic when she shook Raven so Daring's movements were like nothing).
"We're not saying that you can't take care of yourself Raven." Dexter placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, stilling the older boy. "It's just that we're concerned that… well that Faybelle might take advantage of you in some way."
Daring nodded his head, making Raven roll her eyes. "She's already getting my title and bragging rights that she has proof that I'm more of a maiden witch than a villain. How much more could she want?"
"You said that she's already gained the title and that you have two more rituals to go! What if she leaves you at the alter?" Daring stressed his eyes bugging out slightly.
"It would be dishonoring her family name if she tried, and even if she did all that I would have to do is find someone who is willing to be token married to me for as long as a day, after that the vows could be dissolved and we wouldn't have to worry about it anymore." Raven shrugged.
"Actually I was more concerned with Faybelle taking advantage of you in another way…" Dexter coughed embarrassed. "I don't mean to sound… um… like I'm labeling her based on race but Faybelle seems to be the type of person who would try to claim you as her wife… in a more intimate way…"
Daring shook his head in denial. "Oh come now Dexter, where are your thoughts going? We're in high school, there is no way that even Faybelle would stoop so low, right Raven?"
Raven winced looking away.
"Raven?" Daring squeaked his eyes getting very round.
XXX
"And that's about the gist of what's going on. Raven and I ended up agreeing that since she has to tell several key people in her life about all this then I had the right to do the same, and even though I normally don't care about these things; let's just say that I get the distinct impression that it would be far less stressful on my wife and I's life if we had several friends who were at least level headed and sane when they found out about us and what was going on with Raven's kingdom." Faybelle finished to her attentive audience.
There was a long moment of silence.
"Apple is going to kill you." Briar spoke at last. "Like seriously, she's going to draw blood when she finds out and hunts you down."
"If that happens then I'll either suspend her in the air with my magic until she tires herself out or call Raven over to subdue her own roommate." Faybelle rolled her eyes. "Seriously? That's the first thing you say?"
"Because it's true." Briar insisted. "Apple can get really scary when she wants to be."
Several people in the room nodded in agreement.
"Congratulations on landing Raven though." Tiffany piped up. "Lots of maidens who swing that way think that she's a total babe."
Faybelle smirked fondly (she had found that the little morbid girl had grown on her some in the weeks that Tiffany had befriended Duchess). "I haven't managed to snag her in a romantic capacity yet… but I am working on it. She has proven to be quite the capable wife, it would benefit me greatly to have a bride like her close by in more capacities than just as an ally."
"Oh my." Ginger covered her mouth in shock because that was a pretty dedicated statement coming from the fairy, because in Faybelle's language that essentially meant that she wanted Raven to become her chief wife or something of that sort.
"Oh for the love of- seriously Faybelle?" Sparrow grimaced. "Do you have any idea as to how much chaos you'd cause if you just went ahead and pounced Ever After's most talked about- wait. Never mind, you know exactly how much chaos it'll cause."
"Forget using magic and Raven as your shields, Apple is going to try to claw your face off while you sleep!" Briar griped. "Then drag Raven from your bed and lock her in a tower!"
"Feh, I say go for it, I can't believe that I'm saying this but it sounds like Raven might need someone to help her relax after all of that insanity, she's already been nothing but bearable ever since you got your claws into her so making her your bed buddy might just improve her personality even more." Duchess twirled a lock of her hair around her finger enjoying the silky smoothness of it (thanks in part to some new homemade superior quality hair care products that she had borrowed from Faybelle). "At least it'll help distract her from all the scandal this will cause once the school finds out."
Faybelle scratched her ear. "Yeah… about that, you see there's a rule in the school handbook that forbids any marriages to take place between two students of this school… I was just as happy to let it go and see if anybody was willing to challenge that a token marriage was the same as a real marriage and watch my mother eat them alive by pointing out that they were being culturally insensitive. But the other day Raven actually said that she was thinking about transferring to Hathor Witch Academy and learning skills better suited for a witch. You know since she is no longer a fairytale character."
"Apple is going to kill you~." Briar sang.
"I do admit that Ever After is lacking in the proper lessons that a witch should be able to take." Ginger hummed. "And it doesn't help that there is so much stigma surrounding our race here."
"I don't see many Rebels standing in the way of her leaving if things were put to them in those terms." Tiffany hummed. "A lot of people already think that she deserves a break from the Rebel vs. Royal drama."
"And Hathor Academy offers magical cooking classes that are rumored to be just off the page." Ginger sighed dreamily. " And I bet Raven wouldn't mind having some magic classes that weren't based on poisoning people."
"Ashlynn?" Faybelle peered at the mentioned princess in concern. "You've been frozen with that startled look on your face for a while now…"
"Am I the only one who is shocked that you and Raven got married?" The princess demanded whipping her head around wildly. "Why is everyone acting so calm about this?"
"It's a token marriage." Duchess snorted. "It's not like Faybelle is trying to get Raven pregnant or anything."
Sparrow released a long-suffering sigh. "Witch and fairy politics have always been odd and wonky, it's better to just take these things in stride instead of getting caught up on the details."
Briar placed a hand on Ashlynn's shoulder. "Trust me honey, a token marriage is not nearly as special as the real thing, so don't worry about it much okay?"
"And this whole thing about Faybelle wanting to take things further with Raven?" Ashlynn demanded.
"Well I gotta at least try to keep such a profitable asset around as long as I can don't I?" Faybelle shrugged while smiling innocently. "Having a closer emotional connection to someone as dedicated as Raven would be nothing but beneficial to me since she's turned out to have all the skills and qualities to make an excellent wife."
"So… are you saying that you have feelings for Raven…?" Ashlynn asked unsurely.
"Far too early for anything that serious." Faybelle scoffed. "However I have come to enjoy her company to a certain extent and I'd like to be in the position to take better care of her seeing as she is currently my territory. I certainly don't see many other rival suitors who are in the position to offer her with nearly as much decent stability as I can. She'll come around and see things my way, I'm sure of it."
Ashlynn exchanged a panicked look with Briar.
XXX
"If you two practically hit the roof at the news how is Apple going to react?" Raven grumbled as she walked back to her dorm with the Charming brothers flanking her on both sides. She had her arm hooked around Daring's elbow since the older boy had been nice enough to offer it to her.
"War breaks out between your wife and roommate?" Dexter predicted. "Apple's not going to like any of this one single bit."
Raven sighed. "So much for a few weeks of peace. Thanks by the way, for all the help you're giving me on this."
"We're glad that you came to us in the first place." Daring spoke placing his other hand over the witch's. "Though please consider my offer. If Faybelle treats you badly in any way, I can take her on and marry you if need be."
Raven smiled complacently. "I don't think that'll be necessary but thank you for the option anyway."
"Are you really going to transfer to Hathor Witch Academy?" Dexter asked.
"I just might have to, my kingdom is no longer a part of a fairytale so I'll need to take classes that involve normal everyday witch subjects, classes that Ever After does not offer." Raven informed. "And truthfully it is awfully tempting to escape a second colossal fallout with the entire school over my life choices."
"The Headmaster is going to have kittens when he hears about this." Dexter grimaced.
"I'm terrified that one of these days I'm going to accidently send him to his early grave." Raven mumbled miserably. "He gets so worked up every single time that it just can't be healthy for him."
"I'm sure that a grown man like the Headmaster can learn to eventually live with it, and if he can't then it's his fault not yours." Daring assured as he accepted the key that Raven gave him to unlock her dorm room door. "In the mean time get some rest and know that Dexter and I are on the case with this website thing alright? And may I say that you make a most radiant bride."
The witch chuckled. "Thanks again you two." Raven smiled at the boys as she took back her key and quietly closed the door behind her.
The first thing she did after greeting an ecstatic and chatty Nevermore in the hall was to make her way over to her full length mirror and look herself over. Taking off the blouse Raven stared at herself in her wedding dress, She never really had the chance to just stand around and simply look at herself while she was wearing the dress and all the jewelry. She admitted to herself that she'd never looked prettier, the henna tattoos adorning her skin just adding to the entire look as a whole, making her feel… special. She kind of felt like dancing, just for a little bit until Apple came back and she had to deal with the princess's questions.
"Hey Nevermore? Do you happen to remember how that one dance went? You know the one that dance tutor I once had taught me, you remember the lady who nearly made you fat with treats?" Raven cooed to her pet dragon.
"Querrrp!" Nevermore chirped.
XXX
"Raven are you in here?" Apple looked around the dorm room, spying the closed balcony doors and the silhouetted figure moving behind the white curtains. "Oh she must be dancing again, let me go get her."
"Rave-…" Apple froze when she opened one of the balcony doors.
The witch in question had her headphones on and music blasting in her ears and was too busy keeping an eye on Nevermore as the tiny dragon's snake-like body flew around her as she moved and twirled to the beat of the music, so she did not hear the quiet exclamations of her unintentional audience nor see them as they watched her dance for a stunned moment.
Apple snapped back into reality when she heard Lizzie make a low wolf whistle and Humphrey drop his mirror pad, the princess grabbing the fallen computer before grabbing the collars of her companions and dragging them brusquely out of the room.
"Fairytales…" Apple groaned, handing Humphrey back his mirrorpad and leaning back against her closed dorm door.
"Hey guys have you seen Ashlynn-… what happened? You guys all look beat red!" Hunter, who had been innocently looking for his girlfriend after Ashlynn had gotten a hext earlier from persons unknown and had to rush off, stared at the trio in perplexed confusion.
Mira walked up and stopped beside Hunter. "What's going on here?" The witch demanded.
"I think that I've just found myself a future harem wife." Lizzie murmured with a wolfish smirk that made the Huntsman incredibly uneasy.
"You will be doing no such thing!" Apple hissed, her teeth bared in aggression.
"Well if you're not going after that, then I definitely am." Lizzie sniffed nonplussed.
"That's the problem I want to go after that but I can't until I figure out what I should do about my destiny being a lie and whether or not I can offer Raven any kind of stability to start a relationship!" Apple spat, making Lizzie and Hunter raise their brows; Humphrey just stared at the blonde princess in surprise.
"Humphrey… why does your mirrorpad sport a photograph of my dau- homeland's sovereign future lady monarch half naked and in that particular provocative pose?" Mira's voice came out slightly chilled as she looked over the blond boy's shoulder to his mirrorpad screen.
Raven had her arms held up over her head, her skirt and sash flying out in all directions, Nevermore was flying around the witch's bare middle, Raven's chest was pushed forward thanks to her arched back, her hip was swiveled off to one side, and her neck was bared in a rather seductive way.
Immediately everyone moved to look over said boy's shoulder as well.
"I'll pay you for a copy of that." Lizzie promised Humphrey.
"Oh so he's planning on selling this is he?" Mira's voice turned frosty, the witch crossing her arms.
"No!" a wide-eyed Humphrey cried out. "I swear she doesn't know that I accidentally took it!"
"Not the best way to defend yourself buddy." Hunter commented crossing his arms as well, he looked just as irritated as Mira.
Apple snatched the mirrorpad away from the stuttering blond boy. "He means that we walked in and accidentally got an eyeful of Raven doing one of her private dances that she does sometimes when she thinks that she is alone, Humphrey dropped the pad and it accidentally took a picture, and no one is selling this, in fact, I do believe that I'll remove this picture and give this back to him tomorrow." The princess proclaimed glaring at Lizzie for a second before opening her dorm door and slamming it closed behind her.
As an afterthought Apple locked the door as well. Just to be certain that no enthusiastic Wonderlandian tried to sneak back in.
"Just how long have all of you been watching?" Raven's slightly shrill voice floated into the princess's ears.
The witch's head swiveled between the balcony directly beside hers and the equally wide eyed flying Cupid who was hovering above the balcony Raven was standing in.
"Oooh I'd say that we've been here just long enough to enjoy the show." Briar drawled, a surprised Cerise and a stunned Ashlynn standing on either side of her. "Congratulations on another successful ritual in your contract by the way. You-know-who told us all about it so naturally you should expect us to come over in a few hours to discuss that."
"This is so embarrassing…" Raven covered her blushing face with her stained hands.
"Sorry about that… um, nice tattoos, and you look good in short hair." Cerise coughed awkwardly.
"You look as pretty as a bride." Cupid agreed. "Now I see the need for secrecy."
Raven massaged her temples with her fingers. "Yeah well we highly doubted that it would be a secret for much longer so we've sped up the time table so that my kingdom could be assured it's safety in political allies and legalities, but right now I need to go find Apple before she hears about all this from an uninformed source and gets all the wrong ideas and gets hurt feelings as a result."
"Then use this opportunity to explain away." Apple appeared on the balcony wrapping Raven up in a throw blanket and hugging the witch from behind. "Though preferably without an audience. Come along Nevermore, we are going back inside." The princess commanded as she began moving indoors, dragging the witch behind her.
"You do look pretty." Apple commented calmly after she closed the balcony doors, her eyes hidden in shadows. "I'd suggest that you start from the beginning, and please sit down, something tells me that you have much to say."
"That I do." Raven sighed. "But just… please keep in mind that I am mostly doing this for both the sake of my kingdom and my family…"