Maleficia was not entirely impressed with the girl who Malleus claimed to be his mate. While she had the right bearing for a queen, the mere fact she was a human meant that she would have to prove herself worthy.

Which in her mind meant the girl would have to survive her wrath. She was still rather angry with her grandson for his little stunt.

The pressure around the girl intensified to the point a lesser creature would have died from a heart attack at the very least. However Ichigo stood her ground.

Maleficia increased the pressure, to see how much the girl could withstand before she broke. Most humans wouldn't be able to survive even a fraction of her power, much less half.

For a tense few seconds, they were at a stalemate as Ichigo did her best not to get killed.

And then...it happened. Something between them seemed to snap, and her eyes began glowing an ominous golden color.

Maleficia's eyes widened, as she knew this feeling very well. It was that of a dragon's first shift.

Bone white material flowed over the girl's body, as she was enveloped with white wings. The pressure, which she had never stopped exerting was now being matched by something of almost equal power. However it was far less refined, and it was clear the girl was burning far too much magical energy for her to sustain it for very long. Not without dire consequences at any rate.

A loud, malevolent roar emanated from the mouth of the massive bone white dragon. In response, the queen felt herself shift as well, to take on the implied challenge the girl represented.

How interesting!

The white dragon was a respectable size, for one so young. However it was painfully clear this was the first time the girl had transformed, as she was bleeding power at a rate that couldn't possibly be healthy. Her eyes retained a golden color, but it was very clear she was fighting to retain control of her senses.

Maleficia took to the skies, and the girl clumsily followed her. It was time to put this girl-child through the paces to see if she was remotely worthy of her grandson.

Inside the castle...

Malleus' eyes were very wide, and Lilia had to hold back his amusement. It was clear that the girl's transformation was having a very...potent...effect on him.

"That idiot...since when can she pull that off?" said Tatsuki exasperated.

"She said her inner selves had to shunt off most of the excess into an 'egg', but she never mentioned it being a dragon egg," said Orihime. "Though this explains why she was bedridden for so long."

"Bedridden?" said Lilia sharply.

Seeing she had the full attention of everyone there, Orihime explained.

"Ichigo had to fast-track an incredibly advanced ability for shinigami. Instead of learning how to do it in the decades in normally takes, she did it in two and a half days. However after the major fight, she was bedridden for close to a week because her body hadn't built up the necessary tolerances for the amount of power she was using," said Orihime carefully. "Her inner selves also complained about her being a 'black hole' for energy whenever her own reserves aren't enough to handle the problem."

Meeting Shirosaki and Nyx had been incredibly enlightening.

"So you're saying she's using an untested ability, after coming off a major fight that she barely recovered from, all while bleeding out dangerous levels of magic just to prove her worth to the queen," deadpanned Lilia.

Orihime nodded.

"I think she's using this to bleed off the worst of the excess, actually."

Almost everyone flinched at yet another loud roar, followed by a massive blast of malevolent energy that came from Ichigo's end.

Lilia had to cringe at the abysmal control she was displaying. The amount of magic pouring off her was ridiculous, and if he didn't know any better he'd swear her size was shrinking just a bit.

After a long, tense three hours, the fight ended with Malficia's talon slamming a much smaller Ichigo down to the ground, pinning her in place. There was smoke pouring from the queen's mouth indicating she had lost her patience and was fully prepared to blast the girl if she didn't surrender.

Ichigo's demeanor went from 'defiant' to 'submissive'. Not complete submission, but enough to make it clear she was no longer in the mood to fight the older, more powerful female for dominance.

Maleficia reverted back to her human form, and had an expression of bemusement on her face as she turned to her grandson. Malleus was definitely affected by his mate's new ability, but was smart enough not to act on it.

"Your mate's control is abysmal," she said dryly. "Even for a first shift, she was expending far too much energy."

Orihime and Tatsuki were quick to cover up their friend, as her clothes had been utterly shredded.

Maleficia looked to the girl who had managed to almost match her, despite this being her first time transforming. The sheer potential the girl had was ridiculous, however that didn't mean she would give her approval just yet.

Malleus scooped up his mate, who was now wrapped up in a blanket.

"If you wish to keep her, grandson, then teach her control," said the queen. She teleported to her chambers to freshen up a bit, though she was in a much better mood.

Lilia looked at the girl, who was just exhausted.

"Well, that could have gone much worse," he commented. "I'll summon the healers once her power settles. Her muscles are going to need a lot of time to recover, especially after her first shift."

Orihime didn't even think twice on the matter.

"Soten Kisshun, I reject!" said Orihime firmly.

Lilia wasn't the only one startled when her hair pins let off a distinct feeling of magical power. The two formed a barrier around Malleus and Ichigo...but the energy was mostly focused on Ichigo.

Lilia was absolutely fascinated seeing the minor scrapes and wounds heal up in seconds, and could tell just by looking it was also reversing the damage done to Ichigo's muscles.

"Now that is an interesting power," he commented. Even more interesting was the fact he could sense it was faerie magic she was using, not human. Who knew one of Ichigo's comrades had faerie blood in them?

Orihime let the power drop, mostly from exhaustion. Ichigo had only barely recovered from learning (and using) bankai recently, and this new trick had caused a lot of internal damage. Her body wasn't used to that level of power, and would need time to refine it.

~*~*~*~*~

The Queen had yet to fully accept Ichigo as her grandson's mate, but was at least willing to tolerate her within his presence and in the castle. She planned to observe Ichigo for the next week to see if she was worthy of being the next Queen.

Ichigo did her best to put this out of mind, as there was little she could do without knowing what criteria the Queen was judging her on.

To that end the three girls found themselves on the training ground, where Lilia was supervising the two younger knights. Silver and Sebek, as Tatsuki quietly reminded her.

Spotting the girls, Lilia had a slight impish look on his face.

"Why don't we practice with Ichigo and Tatsuki today? Orihime can be on healer duty," said Lilia.

Ichigo and Tatsuki perked up at that.

"I'll take sleepy and you take the puppy?" said Ichigo. Tatsuki nodded enthusiastically.

Ichigo borrowed a sword, which she was pleased to see was a real one, not some cheap wooden one. Her grin was wide as she took a familiar stance...which had Lilia making unhappy noises to the side.

"Who or what taught you to use a sword?"

"No one. Someone basically showed up, told me that it was my problem to do their job because they lost their powers, and then did exactly jack when it came to training," said Ichigo honestly. "If not for Malleus my social life would have been shot because of it."

"Ugh, don't remind me!" said Tatsuki. "We had to ask him to kidnap you for a few days just to figure out what was going on, because your sleep schedule was completely thrown off!"

Orihime nodded in agreement on the sidelines, making a similar face.

Lilia twitched, though he could tell that she wasn't even telling half of that story. Without a word, he stalked up to Ichigo and immediately shifted her grip.

Ichigo said nothing, but found the new grip made it easier to hold the sword without dropping it.

Silver took a stance, and Ichigo did her best to copy him. To be fair, she was mostly trying to adjust her knowledge of martial arts to fit sword play. At least Lilia made no comment on her stance, though he did nudge her footing to be a bit more stable.

Tatsuki didn't even bother picking up a sword. She slid into a defensive stance and made a 'come at me' motion to Sebek.

Silver and Ichigo needed no signal. Once given the implied permission, they began to spar with ferocious intent. While her grip and stance were sloppy, Lilia could admit her speed and reaction time were more than acceptable.

When he cast a glance towards the other girl, he nearly burst out laughing. Tatsuki had pinned Sebek to the ground, his sword kicked away in the initial scuffle. Sebek looked beyond upset at this, mostly at being beaten so quickly by a mere human.

Ichigo, when she paused long enough to look at the scene, starts laughing.

"Did I forget to mention that Tatsuki is the second-best martial artist in Japan's under twenty division?"

"Hey! The only reason I didn't take top place is because I broke my arm on that damn gorilla in the semi-finals and you know it!" said Tatsuki, who heard that.

Lilia was downright snickering now.

"Get off me woman!" said Sebek in his usual loud tone.

"Best two out of three? If you win, I'll let you blather about Malleus all you want. Be interesting to hear more about Ichigo's boyfriend from someone who actually knows him," said Tatsuki.

Sebek paused...most people usually tried to avoid him when he went on and on about his Lord.

"...You actually want to hear me talk about Lord Malleus?" he said in confusion.

"He spent two years in Karakura, but we barely knew anything about him besides the fact he was dating my best friend," said Tatsuki. "And Ichigo rarely shared anything she did learn about him with us unless he was okay with it first."

Lilia had to hide a smile at that. He lost that particular battle seeing how Silver and Orihime interacted with one another.

He saw Ichigo taking a glass of water from nearby and had to comment.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" he said quietly.

"I saw how Orihime reacted to Silver...she's never expressed an interest in guys before, and we've had to chase off a few unwanted jerks who just saw her chest and nothing else," said Ichigo. "Tatsuki was a surprise though."

Lilia let out a low chuckle at that.

"She won him over when she expressed an interest in him talking about Malleus," said Lilia.

"Not my problem, but if he breaks her heart he'll have to deal with my six-foot sword up his ass," said Ichigo.

"Your sword?" said Lilia with open interest.

"The dragon thing is new, but I'm pretty sure I have a handle on the sword summoning bit," said Ichigo.

Before she could attempt it, Lilia held up a hand.

"Will this involve your spiritual powers?" he asked.

"I think so, why?"

"Because something tells me that attempting to summon your sword will end in a lot of people passing out," deadpanned Lilia.

"Good call, for a bat," said a voice.

Lilia would have jumped, but Ichigo didn't.

"Since when can you manifest outside my inner world?"

Shirosaki gave her a deadpan look .

"What the hell did you think all that stupid bankai training was for ?" she countered. She looked to a very wary Lilia. "And good call on the summoning bit. That's one of the powers we haven't decided what to do with yet."

"Who's 'we'?" asked Lilia.

"Hello!" chirped a voice, almost directly behind his left ear. Lilia didn't jump, but it was a near thing.

He stared at the mostly white and black fairy who sported a very mischievous look.

"Hey Nyx. So you can manifest outside too?" commented Ichigo.

"I still say it's freaking weird that you have a functioning multiple personality disorder," deadpanned Tatsuki.

Nyx waved at her, and to Orihime who cheerfully waved back.

"I keep telling you, they came with the powers," said Ichigo exasperated.

"Oh-ho...so you're the manifestation of her powers. That makes things slightly easier," said Lilia. "Which one of you represents her magic?"

Nyx grinned at him.

"Shiro is her actual zanpakuto, as well as the manifestation of her hollow powers. I'm her magical ability, and Tensa is the manifestation of her quincy powers that keep causing us so much grief."

"Tell me about it! We still haven't had any luck tracking down that stupid absorption ability that keeps giving us so many headaches!" complained Shiro.

"Absorption ability?" said Lilia with open interest.

"Queen here has a bad habit of taking in massive amounts of spiritual and more recently magical energies when her own reserves aren't enough, and it's a bitch and a half trying to find a place to dump the excess," complained Shiro. "We've been trying to find the source to put in a filter, but it's been slow going."

Lilia looked pensive.

"Well that explains why she was giving off so much magical energy during her spar with the queen," said Lilia. "Most people would be dead from that sort of control."

"Nah, that was her venting the worst of the excess she got from the fight in the Soul Society," said Shiro.

"We didn't have anywhere else to put it that wouldn't cause her to self destruct, so we dumped it into her dragon form," agreed Nyx.

Lilia looked to Ichigo.

"Remind me to give you the same control exercises Malleus had to learn as a child. Though his control was nowhere near as atrocious as yours currently is."

"I would appreciate it," said Ichigo.

Even she could acknowledge her control was piss-poor at best. She hated having to brute force everything, and really wanted to recreate some of her favorite series.