Hi guys! Here with a brand, spanking new chapter!

You know the drill, read, review, moo, yodelayheehoo. I own nothing here. Thanks to A_Strange_Twist_of_Fate and Titosch for helping with this!

"Stop fiddling with that."

Albaz lowered his arms reluctantly, but not before shooting one nasty glare at the sleeves attached to his new shirt. "But it's itchy. And it's too thin."

Ecclesia sighed and took a look at her dress, a gown with sleeves that stopped at her shoulders, white frills at the dress's hems, and silk the color of seawater. "I know, but these are nice clothes. And our old ones stunk, we needed to give them an actual wash, not a soak in a lake." She looked back up and gently touched his shoulder. "You'll get your coat and I'll get Ferrijit's clothes back, all nice and clean. Besides, it looks nice on you."

He blinked with his open eye, then looked at the shirt. "Really?" While the sleeves might have been a bit long, the white-haired boy couldn't help but agree; he liked the red and the gold on the seams.

"Mm-hmm. And…I think it will help Corlys and his wife to get used to you," she scratched her bare arm and chuckled with a tinge of embarrassment. "You did kind of scare them when you turned back into a human."

"I think one of the people behind him fainted." Even though he knew he should feel a little bad for it, he couldn't help but let out a quick laugh. "But they still offered us food, right?"

Ecclesia nodded and looked towards the door. "They said the food would be ready soon after we changed, so I think one of them is coming now."

Albaz idly shuffled his rear on the bed. It felt strange, soft yet firm. He had never slept or even sat on a bed before. In the desert, they had a mat and a pillow each - which were still in Ecclesia's bag - and when they were onboard the Spriggan's ship with Kitt, they had hammocks. Before that…nothing.

Though to be fair, he didn't recall anything about himself since he met Ecclesia on that burning field, much less if he ever had a bed.

"Albaz?" He turned to his friend, who had shifted her gaze toward the window. The open sea was in full view, the lapping of the waves gently sounding into the room, illuminated only by candles and the night sky.

"Yes?"

She went and took a seat next to him on the bed. "I think…we might be farther away from home than we thought."

He tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

She frowned and fiddled with the tips of her golden hair. "I don't know for sure…but there's something different in the air here. I didn't feel it back in those ruins, but here? I feel like something is missing."

The boy opened his mouth to ask further when a knock came from the door, making both children look up. "Who is it?"

"It is I, Lady Laena. Are you and your companion ready?"

"Ah, yes." The door opened and in stepped the girl who had greeted them when they landed on the beach. A rather tall woman with tanned skin, her hair was white with many curls and ringlets that went behind and below her shoulders. She wore a gold-and-blue dress with exposed shoulders that shined against the candlelight. If Albaz remembered right, she was Corlys'...daughter.

She looked over them for a few moments and nodded approvingly. "I am glad to see my old dress fits you well, Lady Ecclesia. Is it comfortable?"

Ecclesia looked at the dress and ran her fingers along it. "It is, thank you very much. But it does feel like it touches the ground too much."

"You are four-and-ten, correct?" At her confirmation, Laena smiled. "I believe I was a tad taller than you at that age. I'll ask the seamstresses later to modify it for your measurements." Albaz had to agree; he guessed that Laena was older than Ecclesia, considering that she had children, but it didn't take a lot of imagination to picture her being taller than his friend at her age. Laena then turned to him and her smile seemed to waver. "And are you satisfied with your clothing…?'' The last part sounded strange. "I was told it was one of the Prince of Pentos's tunics from his youth."

Prince of Pentos? Who was that? "Uh, yes. It feels fine."

The smile on her face returned. "All right then, shall we go? We have a most exciting feast tonight."

The youths looked at each other and nodded. "Lead the way," said Ecclesia.

With that, Laena turned and led them down the halls. The stone walls were colored a brownish-red, carved with swirling patterns. Decorated arches hung over them every few steps, casting shadows on the walls and floor thanks to the torches. After walking for a bit, they came to an open courtyard, where a gathering of silver-haired people and a few others sat around a large table. There were Corlys and Rhaenys, and next to them was one of said silver-haired men, with sharp features. On another end were two girls, whom he had briefly seen trying to peek into his room before being shooed off. They looked like they were about to jump from their seats.

As they stepped into the courtyard, the assembled crowd turned, seemingly as one, to look at them. The open curiosity on their faces was so apparent that Albaz thought it would appear as magic writing above their heads. Laena said something to the crowd in that strange language he had heard since they arrived and turned to face them, gesturing at two empty seats. "Albaz, Lady Ecclesia, we invite you to sit and partake in this feast with us."

The dragon boy blinked at the…stiffness of her voice. What happened? But before he could ask her, he felt a light tap on his hand. He looked to the side and saw Ecclesia give a short bow and say "Thank you for your hospitality." Not knowing what else to do, he did the same thing.

They sat in the chairs and, as if right on cue, a line of people streamed in from the surrounding archways, each holding a plate or pitcher. One by one, they placed them on the table, and Albaz's nose twitched at the onslaught of smells invading his nostrils. Heaps of roasted meat and fish, lots of greens and pitchers filled with that purple liquid… 'wine'. He saw a barrel of it once aboard the Springans' ship, but Kitt shoved him out of the cellar, saying that he shouldn't drink it. Luckily, there was some water in a silver pitcher.

The man at the head of the table said something and as one everyone began to dig in. Albaz reached over and piled chunks of a roasted animal with a deep brown hide and an orange sauce, some red peppers stuffed with breadcrumbs and a slice of a great silver-colored fish. It smelled amazing, far better than the roasted fire-snakes on that bleak island or the bread they often ate on their journey and when he took his first bite, the taste proved to match the smell.

As Albaz rapidly consumed the food before him, he idly noticed that Ecclesia had stacked her own plate with just as much, perhaps even more food, and was going through it like Kitt on one of her building frenzies. With far more grace of course; he was sure he was simply stuffing the food into his mouth and chewing it at lightning speed, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

It was only on his third (maybe fourth) plate that the dragon boy felt a touch on his arm. Turning sideways, he saw his friend wiping her mouth clean with a napkin. Taking a moment to do the same with the one next to his plate, when he looked up, he noticed how the other people seated were staring at him and Ecclesia with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment. Had they done something wrong?

The man at the head of the table - the Prince - then asked something of him. Once again, he didn't understand what the man was saying. Thankfully, Laena was to his left to help. "The Prince asks whether you and the Lady are enjoying the meal."

Albaz looked down at his plate. It was licked clean…as well as two or three larger plates next to him. "Y-yes, it's very good. Is something wrong? Why are they looking at us like that?"

Laena chuckled. "Ah, well, you two have been eating with such fervor that we wished to ensure you haven't swallowed anything wrongly."

Albaz turned to his friend. She looked at him, her plate, then Laena. "We're fine," she said. "It's just…it's been a while since we ate real food."

Laena blinked before comprehension dawned on her features. "Oh yes, I suppose the ruins of Valyria did not have much in the way of a good meal." She said something to the prince before returning her gaze to them. "But if you don't mind me asking, how did you survive those ruined lands? All voyages there have ended up in failure and death."

How did they survive? He tilted his head in thought. It was…hard, especially with how bleak the whole place was and the constant fire-snakes, but it wasn't as challenging as walking through Golgonda. Fewer serpents, but the quicksand and heat would kill you if you lost your focus. "We found a good place to sleep and killed anything that tried to kill us."

Laena leaned forward, clearly intrigued. "Truly? You have faced the monsters that killed Princess Aerea? The ones that are said to -"

"I think," Corlys suddenly interjected from across the table, drawing her attention. "That it would be rude to…talk like this…while our guests are…eating." His speech was slow and halting like he didn't know exactly what to say. "Their tales shall have a time and place, but …not now."

The older woman bit her lip before nodding. "I understand, father." She gave him and Ecclesia a short apology before returning her attention to her plate. Weird.

The rest of the meal passed by without any interruptions. People kept delivering food on large plates, this time strangely-shaped fruits, glass statues that people would bite off pieces and eat, and soft, sweet things with deep red and purple jams - cakes, he remembered - slathered on top. Albaz had never tasted anything so sweet in his life, so much so that he nearly choked for a moment at the onslaught of flavor. But only for a moment, and he soon devoured a whole plate of them. As he happily ate, his ears picked up the unintelligible low mutterings and words of the people around him. He held back a wince - talking with different people wasn't nearly as hard back home. This… 'language' thing was weird. Especially how some of them were saying sounded familiar, but the words were all jumbled up. But Ecclesia had told him it was a normal thing, so he accepted it. Didn't mean he had to like it though.

Did he know other languages once? Before the Abyss spat him out and wiped his mind clean?

Eventually, people stopped bringing food. When he noticed this, the Prince rose from his seat, and then everyone else. After seeing Ecclesia do the same and and following her example, the older man said more words and gave a little bow, to which everyone nodded.

"The feast is done. Did you enjoy it?" asked Laena.

"Everything was delicious, thank you!" replied his friend. The older woman gave them a warm smile. "I will be sure to pass that on to the Prince. Would you like to be escorted back to your rooms?"

Albaz went to respond, then paused. "Um…actually, can I take a look around? I want to see more of this place. It's very nice."

Laena blinked, then nodded. "Of course. The Prince's αρχοντικό is one of the most beautiful in Pentos. The gardens have been recently trimmed, so if you want to start somewhere, mayhap you would like to start there?"

Gardens? Those places where people grow plants? "I think I will. I saw a place with lots of grass and trees on the way, was that it?"

"Yes, though you will have to take the entrance over there," she gestured to a door obscured by more arches. "To get there."

Ecclesia stood up and interjected. "I'm coming too." Laena nodded again and her lips flickered upwards. "Very well. If you need to return, simply retread the hallway we took to the courtyard."

As Ecclesia thanked the older woman, Albaz glanced at the other diners from the corner of his eye. While they all went into their conversations, their eyes occasionally flickered toward him and his friend. Yet no one actually called out to them or approached them.

Albaz walked toward the entrance with his friend right behind him, and soon they came upon the garden. The first thing he noticed was just how…green everything was. A large patch of grass, like an island in a sea of red and gray bricks. Leaves upon trees that he had never seen before. But not just green caught his eye; flowers of seemingly every color sprouted from bushes and hedges arranged in rows.

A far cry from the fiery wasteland or the desert.

"Albaz, look" Ecclesia called out to him as she pointed at a tree. He looked up and saw purple fruit hanging from its branches. "Plums! I used to grow a small tree back in my garden."

He tilted his head at the tree. "Was your garden this big?"

She chuckled. "No, it was barely half a room, but it was mine. I planted everything there, and Fleur sometimes snuck in some seeds from the greenhouses. If anything, this one resembles them more. It's still a nice garden." His confusion must have shown because she soon explained. "It's a house made of glass where you can grow all kinds of different plants, even if they're not meant to grow there."

"That…sounds useful."

She nodded and they resumed looking at the garden in silence. He idly touched the trunk of one of the trees, feeling its smooth bark.

"...what do you think of these people?"

Ecclesia blinked and turn her golden eyes at him. "The…Velaryons? Laena seems nice and Corlys and his wife were pleasant but…" she bit her lip. "They were all staring at us really weird, especially since you turned into a human."

"I saw. Is that bad?"

"I don't know," she replied. "Sometimes, when Fleur and I attended prayers, some of the…important people looked at us like that. She just glared at them and that was enough to send them away. I think I asked her once why did they do that, and she just said they were mean people." She sent a glance toward the entrance from where they came. "Looking back at it, I know she wasn't telling me something."

Albaz scratched his chin. "So what does that mean?"

The girl gently hugged her arms as she stared at the night sky, her expression growing pensive. "I think…we need to be careful. The way they reacted when you transformed…I don't think they've seen anything like it before."

"Didn't you tell me once that you've never seen a dragon turn into a human before?"

"No, but I've heard of spellcasters being able to turn into animals. But if one of them fainted when they saw it…it might be more than that."

Albaz didn't know what to say to that, so he said nothing, instead watching his friend. They stayed like that for a few good beats before she let out a tired sigh. "Do you want to go back?"

"...yeah." She looked very bothered. Was she homesick? This place looked much more alive than that Valyria wasteland, so maybe the reminder of her home was more…prominent? Pronounced?

Trying to comfort her, the white-haired boy took his friend's hand. She looked at him in surprise but then gave him a gentle smile. "Thank you, Albaz."

He smiled back at her and they headed back for their rooms. But he must have taken a wrong turn because they found themselves in an unfamiliar part of the palace. The walls were dotted with torches and various statues were scattered around. After wandering for a bit, they soon arrived upon a large wooden door, where two voices could be heard talking loudly. Recognizing one of them, Albaz carefully peeked inside and saw Corlys speaking to the silver-haired man who was with them at dinner, now holding a book. They were both walking back and forth and Corlys held a cup in his hand. What exactly they were saying, he didn't know but judging by the tight look on Corlys's face, it didn't look good.

He glanced behind him and Ecclesia was leaning forward, having recognized the older man's voice as well. Her expression was one of worry, and he didn't like that. Whatever they were talking about in there, it could probably wait. Ecclesia was more important.

He raised his fist and gently knocked on the door. The silver-haired man shouted a word, to which Albaz poked his head inside in response. The silver-haired man's eyes widened in surprise, but whatever he was about to do was cut off when Corlys stepped in front of him.

"Ah, Albaz, yes? Is there a…problem?"

From how he spoke, he didn't sound like someone who was interrupted. "We want to go to our room, but we forgot where they are."

Corlys tapped his cup for a second before he nodded. "I see. Did you not ask one of the servants?"

He scratched his chin again. "Well…we didn't know how?"

The older man's features flickered with embarrassment for a moment. "Right, of course. I will help you." He turned to the other man and gave a short bow. "Daemon." He then moved to the door and Albaz stepped back, allowing him to exit. After greeting Ecclesia the same way he did for him, Albaz followed him through more hallways and up a staircase or two, until they reached the rooms.

"We will leave in a few days. Did Laena tell you this?"

The boy shook his head. "To your home? What did you call it?"

"Driftmark. It is the…old…home of the Velaryons. Did I not tell you this-" he paused. "Ah, never mind."

"...what were you talking about with that man? You sounded angry."

Corlys paused again, but this time he stopped and turned to look at him. His expression was inscrutable for a moment before a reassuring smile appeared on his face. "It is not…important. He wanted to talk to you, but I saw that you and Lady Ecclesia were tired. I told him…to let you rest."

That was nice of him, though something tickled at the back of Albaz's neck. "Who is he?"

The older man tilted his head. "Did Laena not say? He is her husband, and a πρίγκιπας of Westeros."

Prinkipas? What was that? He moved to ask, but he then felt a quick squeeze on his wrist. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ecclesia shake her head.

"...oh."

Corlys inclined his head. "Someone will wake you tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed the food and…good night." With those words, he walked away.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ecclesia pulled him inside and closed the door. "Is something wrong?"

"Maybe. A πρίγκιπας is a prince - a son of a ruler. And…remember what I said about those looks people gave me? He was giving us a lot of them at the feast. Didn't you see?"

Albaz shook his head. "No, I was…hungry." He fought down the blush rising to his cheeks. That meat was so good!

His friend giggled. "I know. But that means he's important and…if he's anything like those people, it can't be good."

"So we avoid him?"

She sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down. "I think so." She ran a hand through her golden hair, brushing over her Stigmata. "But Laena's married to him, and she's nice…" a heavy sigh escaped her lips. "I don't know…maybe I'm just overthinking things."

Wordlessly, Albaz sat down beside her and touched her shoulder. Leaning into his touch, he felt her muscles slowly tense and slacken. She was more exhausted than he thought.

"Maybe we should sleep on it?"

Ecclesia slowly nodded. He was about to get up when she spoke up. "Can you…stay tonight?"

…was she blushing? No, she was just tired. "Okay."

They would figure everything out, Albaz told himself. Ecclesia would meet Fleur, that much he swore to her. And honestly, after running from a land of fanatics and getting bombarded by machines and lightning bolts, what could this place do to them?

Guess who? That's right, it's me! Yeesh, this chapter was a pain to get out. Exams, stress, life...it's a killer.

Now, I realize that the writing in the chapter might be a bit off, but part of that is on purpose. Albaz is an amnesiac, and at times it makes it difficult for him to process things. The rest is me just wanting to release something.

If you're feeling helpful, go to my page at pat . reon/ user?u=47732921 and donate a bit! Patrons will also get previews of future chapters!

I'm a member of the Shiro's Gaming Omniverse Discord (discord . gg/wd3tUYWVCd.) server and the Emerald Library (discord . gg/elibrary). If you want to hop over and chat, either about this story or anything else, feel free! I also have my own server Drake's Lair, at (discord . gg/2bD4UgyyPA).

If you enjoyed this story, check out my other ones and look at my profile for challenges!

Most importantly...

Read and Review! REVIEW!