"We're stopping."

Frioke looked with a blend of both curiosity and growing unease stemming from Gerson's rather-slow-and-hidden movements. While exposing as little of his head as possible he glanced through the forward-facing window to assess the situation of the slowing carriage he and Priestess Frioke had been traveling hurriedly with through Monster Country.

"We shouldn't be stopping."

His furrowed brow, deepened in thought, sat unwell with Frioke who began shifting in her seat. Her ears fell down onto her shoulders. "Is anything the matter?" she asked in a hushed whisper. "We were invited to Hjearta, weren't we? Why are we stopping?"

It took a few seconds for the question to be received an answer, and when it came it was delivered through slow, and gently spoken lips. "We shouldn't, but we are, that as much I know for certain. It is always a question of how to minimize uncertainties with humans, Priestess." His wrist began to tense up and Frioke felt Gerson's aura begin to build. With his loose wrist he opened the carriage door while holding his eyes narrowed and steeled as he met Frioke's. "Stay in the carriage, Priestess. The driver will swerve around as quickly as possible should he sense any danger. Be prepared for that. Don't hit your head."

He acted just he did when humans were visiting Jarasevo Castle. Frioke had never met any human outside of a formal setting. There was that time she traveled with King Asgore for his first mission as a Monster Prince in Xoff, and even then it was still in a formal setting, albeit at a human court instead of the monster one. There was the time she investigated the previous rumor of a human showing signs of magic. It was the current Queen of Hjearta. Now her son was showing signs of magic too.

"We are traveling to the Hjearta Royals per invitation regarding Prince Soulay. As to why you needn't know, however our arrival should have been notified to you human soldiers. It is of utmost importance that you let us pass as our mission is that of both the court at Fenkeep Castle as well as the court at Jarasevo Castle. We have been asked to and granted free passage through this border without stoppage, so I demand to know in the name of both your court and mine why you are hindering this joint delegation summoned by humans and answered by monsters?"

Hearing Gerson speaking had Frioke's back and neck straightening just out of sheer respect for him. Despite her many high-ranking duties and being the personal magical tutor to both King Asgore and Queen Toriel, both having been the Monster Prince and Monster Princess when she began tutoring them, she was still on the few first steps on the ladder being held at the top by Sir Gerson. The way he conducted himself even towards humans brought such incredible presence not only to his voice but to his words as well. Time and time again Frioke had seen humans, especially soldiers, cower underneath his scolding when arrangements hadn't been up to snuff. Never unfairly, but never easing either. He knew his duties.

And more so he knew what him failing his duties means.

"I shall speak to your commander in field!"

Frioke caught Gerson with both his hands clasped behind his shell walking with confidence and pushing out each and every pebble on the road as he took his slow and methodical steps towards what seems to be a whole row of humans upon horses if the shadows hadn't decided to play jests with Frioke's eyes. More so when one of the centaur-like shadows lost its head while its body convulsed with a disapproving neigh.

But no...talking?

Not any that Frioke could hear, and with her ears the number of conversations she had missed, both good and bad, weren't enough to be counted on her claws. Perhaps Sir Gerson had moved in closer towards the humans? Could be why. The driver of the carriage didn't seem to react any to it, and if he wasn't then Frioke shouldn't have been worrying about it. She had complete trust in Sir Gerson and his negotiating abilities. She would be safe and sound inside the carriage no matter what happened!

"Get out of the carriage, Priestess."

Nothing at–

Wait!

"What?"

The face of the dark-hooded driver pressed up against the glass of the forward-facing window, but there was no way she was able to discern any features of it even if it was the best, if not the only, chance she ever had of seeing what kind of monsters which were these elusive drivers throughout the ages. Every single time someone tried to remove their hood there was another hood underneath.

And now that hood was telling Frioke to get out of the carriage?

"Why?"

But the hood was already turning away. Impossible to talk to it then. Of all the monsters that might potentially have managed to get the hooded driver to talk it had to be Gerson, even if it was just one sentence.

It is enough to get Frioke to shimmy off her seat and climb out of the carriage, that was for sure. Like Gerson had instructed her before during her first travel outside Monster Country she kept the door open as a shield while peeking through the glass to assess the situation.

But she was unable to. Not with what she was seeing…

A metal glove held out for her to take reflected in the midday sun all the way up the arm and body it was attached too. In front of Frioke was a smiling face that stretched fair skin, and two deep-blue eyes pushed narrow by the lifted cheeks from the smile. "Have you ridden a horse before, Monster Priestess?" the human knight asked with both humor and curiosity in his gruff voice. "If not then let my steed carry us both. It is only fit that you be escorted by the General of Fenkeep Guard, is it not?"

Before Frioke could even begin to understand what it was that was happening to her, the reflection in the knight's armor turned from sky-blue, to wooden-brown from the carriage, to green, and finally to animal-brown. Another disapproving neigh greeted the Priestess' ears, and she lifted her chin up to see Sir Gerson looking down at the knight from atop a sprawl and tall horse. "You promised you'd learned from your mistake last time you were sent to escort monsters." With an accidental kick at the back of the knight's head, which upon second thought wasn't really accidental, Gerson leaned down to flip up the metal visor which he accidentally-yet-not kicked down. "General."

Grumbles echoed inside the helmet with a feathery top to it. "I'm not picking you up if you fall on your shell when in Hjearta," the knight, or apparently General, snarled towards Gerson as the turtle monster chuckled back towards the other human knights waiting respectfully on their own horses. "Have you ever been to Hjearta before, Monster Priestess?" The General's tone shifted back to the almost suave tone he had before Gerson kicked him in the head. Understandably so. "The trees have some beautiful color to them which should make the rest of the travel nothing but a gorgeous stroke of a paintbrush until we reach the castle."

Frioke couldn't deny that this Human General knew his words as well. He seemed to have some history with Gerson too. Since Gerson had been assigned to help better relations between Monster Country and the human ones by helping see to a new generational shift in both countries' armies it wouldn't come as a great surprise to Frioke if the-now General that was offering her a hand down the carriage steps was one of Gerson's former students.

The kick in the back of the head was quite the strong evidence for that.

"The General with Priestess Frioke will take lead with me," Gerson ordered the rest of the knights while Frioke was led towards what had to be the General's horse. It was the only one that was devoid of a rider and had the most ornate saddle to it. The Hjearta crest hung on both sides of the creature, with its symbols reflecting their shifting leaves as the heart of their country. "As our horses tire we should have arrived at the next outpost where we can trade for fresher ones. Divide our essential luggage between you and follow this tactic. You should arrive at Fenkeep Castle in four days, a maximum of five, if preparations have been properly made."

"You heard Sir Gerson of the Royal Guard of Jarasevo!" the General shouted to his men while lifting up Frioke in front of him on the ornate saddle. Her legs took some time to find comfortable positions between the Hjearta crest and the fastenings. "These monsters have been requested by the Queen and King personally to visit Prince Soulay, so this is considered a Royal Escort and should be treated as such. I picked you all personally, so any fault of you becomes a fault of mine. Do not make me regret my choices with you. Ride swift and true, men! For the glory of Hjearta!"

"For the glory of Hjearta!" the knights responded in a choir of pride and determination, and just as the last of the divided-up luggage was fastened on the last horse, a great cloud of gravely dust left the monster-driven carriage behind immediately.

"Not bad," responded Gerson a few seconds later as the Human General rode up to him. "You've retained some that I taught you. Perhaps your colander did have some of its holes plugged after all."

"Never thought you could be this expressive, Sir Gerson."

Frioke was very much not part of the conversation, but she enjoyed listening in to it regardless. It was what her large ears were good for, even if a pair of small ones would hear just as well.

"Can't teach you everything, human."

"Afraid of us attacking?"

"Not with the armies either of your countries have."

"But weren't you the one that trained us?"

Gerson was...smiling? Not only that, but he wa raising an eyebrow as well! It was...something Frioke never thought possible!

"Only took you ten or so years to muster up enough courage to talk back to me, General."

With a quick whip of the reins he went off with that first smile of his over the border into the human country Hjearta with its colorful trees in the nearby yonder.

"You're sitting comfortably?" Frioke heard the Human General behind her ask colloquially despite his previous statement that this was to be treated as a Royal Escort.

Although, even royals had to sit comfortable.

"I am," answered Frioke.

And off she went as well towards the colorful forests that never seem to end.

Like masterful strokes of paint on the biggest canvas there ever was.

No wonder that the country gave birth to the first human to display magical prowess. The percussion of the hooves became like wind to Frioke as she let her eyes take over the motions of her head which eagerly swiveled on her excited neck from side to side. Each rapid turn brought with it another streak of colors, each one widening the smile on Frioke's face until her ears were standing up straight.

"Your excitement for my homeland is admirable, Priestess."

A never-ending admiration that heightened with each new glade bringing views of distant houses marooned inside seas of swaying wheat ready for harvest any day now. The contrast against the clear sky dotted sparsely with fluffs of white was serene. Surrounding the fields of wheat were crowns of leafy gradients, and surrounding the crowns were more fields, both cultivated and wild. They then disappeared as a new veil of bark, dark and untreated brown, cast dancing shadows upon the ground. Such black and colorless silhouettes from such rich hue from above. Truly, it was–

"Ow!"

In her breathless excitement Frioke's ears accidentally lodged their tips into the General's metal visor. It only took a gentle turn of her head for her ears to pinch between the steel bars.

Maybe she got a bit too excited…

"Do accept my apologies, Priestess!"

"It wasn't your fault, General," Frioke assured while tucking her ears into her robe's hood. It was not the most comfortable bend to them, but it was more comfortable than having them be pinched. "It is better that I don't blind you."

"Maybe on a more leisurely ride, Priestess."

Frioke looked forward towards Gerson riding two or three horse-lengths in front of her and the General. "What kind of training did you prioritize, Gerson?" came an amused whisper underneath her breath. Maybe he spent all his teachings on courting with the humans and had nothing left to teach Asgore? It would explain a lot more than just the Human General's quite-unorthodox demeanor for a human of such high rank.

The Priestess remembered the way Sir Gerson acted when they talked with a fainted Asgore on route home from Xoff's court after Asgore's first foreign mission as a Monster Prince. Even then they knew that it was only a matter of time before the humans' auras would become potent enough to allow for magic. It was then when she witnessed firsthand how much the humans could overwhelm without them even meaning for it to happen. How Prince Asgore became as a husk of himself after spending just a few days at the court at Noitaidarr Castle.

But then it all changed. Oh how much it changed.

During the wedding at the summer solstice in Jarasevo Castle between Prince Asgore and Duchess Toriel. Where instead of collapsing like he did when visiting Xoff, Asgore stood tall and proud to welcome Toriel and his guests, both human and monster, to a new era of cooperation between the two races. Where from that day forwards there would be more effort than at any other point in history to work together with the humans. To build a future that no one could have seen coming, and one that will be splendid for each human and each monster a thousand times that of his wedding.

Humans and monsters.

Together.

How far that policy had come in just one or two human lifespans. Frioke's cousin twice removed was adopted by humans, and for that time it was almost unheard of. Had he been adopted at the same time Frioke and Sir Gerson set off for Hjearta it would have only raise a surprised eyebrow. A pleasant surprise. Vice versa the same. How much that could be done when strengths were lent. When magic helped humans and humans heled monsters. As if there had always been some limbs missing and the entire world had been blind to the other race being those missing limbs. With those now-attached limbs rumors had spread faster than they'd ever spread before.

Human villages came to know about the benefit of monster magic when it came to crop yield and husbandry. It had always been known, but never really realized. Never really been applicable to the common human. To the peasants working the fields, the history of human and monster cooperation had never really caught up until Asgore's Decree of Helping Hands to incentivize monsters to move into Xoff and Hjearta.

Where villages stood, towns had begun to sprout due to the decree. Where just houses existed there were villages.

And Toriel's Decree of Helping Souls was the vice versa for welcoming humans into Monster Country. Taking in craftsmen and farmers to begin anew with an opportunity to better tools and techniques with a fresh start. Again, towns had sprung up where before there were only villages.

Maybe it wasn't that strange that the Human General of a human nation's army welcomed guests with flirtations instead of formal greetings in the wake of those two decrees. They had been a long time coming with Asgore's parents and grandparents building trust and relationships with the human courts, and that it was him and Toriel that got to bring those seeds to fruition into this world. It bid oh so well for their reign to be long and peaceful.

Frioke would do everything in her power to bring that reign another prosperous success with the discovery of human magic. Frioke's title had become capitalized because of that potential. No longer a monster priestess, but the Monster Priestess when addressed by those that sought her audience!

Pride ws not something she should have indulged herself in because of that, but she couldn't deny that she didn't feel respected when she saw that capitalization for her title just above the purple stamp of the Delta Rune on those very important papers. She would get used to it in due time, like how the inhabitants of Hjearta, both human and monster, became used to the shifting colors of the leaves.

It was something one would become used to, but shouldn't really from an outside perspective.

"If you don't mind me asking, Monster Priestess."

The snugly tucked ears almost bent themselves out of the hoodie to quirk to the Human General's voice. "Yes?" answered Frioke while turning her head. "What is it, General?"

"I am keenly aware of the two Royal Decrees and how much good they've done, but humans wielding magic?"

Frioke's terrified gasp was halted by her remembering that the human she iwa speaking to aws the General for the Hjearta Royal Guards. He was one of the few humans who should know about Prince Soulay's possible magical potential.

"That is something that I can not wrap my heart around," the General continued while sounding as less insulting as he can. "I have felt magic strike me during Gerson's training and it is the most different sensation I have ever felt in my entire life. Magic both by his hammer and by his healing. Strange doesn't cover the difference I've felt. It is still as if it is radiating even to this day within my bones like flu. Not in a negative way, but in a different way. Like I have been bereft of not knowing. A most profound sensation that has followed me closer than my shadow during midday. A shadow is a good way of describing it, I feel. A shadow not of light, but of something deep inside me. As if I had a muscle I never knew of become sore for a day and then afterwards I've felt it move without having gotten used to it. It is not an everyday occurrence, but it blushes like a fever whenever I am close to monsters making a mound out of their magic. It is a glad feeling I have decided upon it, but it is something I know isn't a human one, at least to what I know is human. I have never spoken about this to anyone, yet I still know that others have sensed it too. They've had the same inwards distant gaze that I've had others point out when I've gotten lost in them."

That…Frioke didn't expect to hear. Not at all. She was not even sure how to respond to that. Had she been at home in the castle in her study she might've been able to say something, but on horseback riding fast through this wonderful nature?

Not a chance.

There was something in what the Human General said though. Human incidents with magic had been seldom, but in recent generations there has been more effect in the reports. More effective healing and more heat felt from the magical fires. There was even bread sold specifically labeled to be from magically enhanced wheat which supposedly gave it a different taste.

None of that was true when Frioke was on her pilgrimage to become a priestess. The Hjearta princess she visited that was said to possibly show magical prowess wasn't true then, but times did have a tendency to change. How long ago was that again?

A…long time ago.

Oh!

Which meant that the Hjearta princess wasn't Prince Soulay's mother! It couldn't be! It must have been a generation or two older!

These human royals naming themselves the same was so confusing!

Anyways, back to what the General talked about. How he felt when near monsters. Perhaps the unbased theory Frioke had about each new generations of humans coming closer and closer to a being able to utilize magic was true after all. That it was a young prince and not an adult king or queen did seem to support that theory.

"Forgive me if it came across as me doubting you and your kind, Priestess. It was not my intentions."

Frioke didn't answer the Human General as she was lost in thoughts...

"If what is said about Prince Soulay turns out to be true then I want to know if he will experience something similar to what I am. To help him understand and to cultivate. I have tried with mine but failed. It is not something that I can control. The Prince though. With him it might be possible to control. That is why I am telling you this, Monster Priestess. To help you help him."

It wasn't too big a stretch for Frioke to imagine Gerson saying the exact same thing had it been him sitting behind her in the same situation. A loyalty that was unmatched to the crown of his country and kingdom. A dedication that he would spill even his most deepest secret for a chance of bettering those he had pledged his service towards.

Frioke knew that, and she respected it.

She would think about what the General said.

As one Royal Councilor to another.

"I promise you, General."

And from another Royal Councilor to one.

"Thank you, Priestess."

But not before she upheld her promise to her own king and queen firstly.

A promise that set her off on her pilgrimage.

To find the nature of the human soul.