The Courtship of a Queen & Her Knight

In the Cave of the Mountain King

"And... then Big Jo confirmed that this is actually a, uh... a scale of a dragon, and... yeah. Looks like I'm from Scaleton... originally I mean... maybe?"

Elfo, Luci, and Bean stared down at Pendergast, who was laying on Bean's bed. Silence filled the bedroom and the only noise to be heard was the crackling of the fire. They had been in the midst of their merrymaking when the trio had suddenly been taken by surprise when the bedroom door was flung open, only to reveal a few guards carrying in an unconscious Pendergast. Bean was the first to jump to her feet to ask what happened, which only earned her the confused explanations from the men that the Leader of the Dreamland Knights had just... fainted in the main hall. Just like that, with no further explanation available. Bean instructed that Pendergast be placed on her bed and just as the guards left did the knight begin to waken.

After some initial teasing from Elfo that Pendergast had fainted like a silly woman, which earned him a well-earned smack from Bean, did Pendergast begin to explain himself. He revealed how after the Council meeting, he had gone down to the dungeons and spoke with Big Jo. After Bean asked why, Pendergast hesitated before he slowly revealed his personal journey of finding out more about his past and the true nature of his mysterious pendant. The one-eyed man told them everything... well, almost everything. He decided to omit the very last bit that Big Jo had told him and, consequently, the true reason why he had fainted in the hall. Pendergast silently reasoned to himself that he didn't have enough evidence to share. Like, seriously? Sure, he had a strange name, but that didn't mean that he might possibly be a member of the seemingly eradicated Scaletonian Royal Family. That... that was outrageous!

Such a notion was too bizarre and too far-fetched to share even with his beloved queen. It also seemed too... convenient? Him? Pendergast?! A possible prince or something? Yeah... no. That was stupid. That was so stupid. The mere thought was so stupid that it had literally fried his mind and caused him, a living angel, to faint.

Which brings us back to an elf, a former demon, and magical queen staring down at the bedridden living angel knight as they individually processed his preposterous findings.

"Oh, and, umm... I promised Big Jo that he and his assistant, Porky, would be released since I proved that what he told me was... more or less true. So, if that could be arranged, Bean, then I would greatly appreciate that."

Bean blinked and sat down at his bedside.

"Oh, ah, yeah. Sure. I honestly didn't even know they were still down there."

Pendergast sat up and ran his fingers through his hair, his expression unsure and he avoided everyone's stares. In all honesty, he felt pretty silly for fainting. It had never happened to him before, and the fact that it happened with his new body made even less sense. His head actually hurt and it was hard to think, but he wasn't about to tell that to the group.

Clicking his tongue, Luci tapped his chin and said, "So? When are we leaving?"

Everyone looked over at Luci and Bean asked, "What are you talking about?"

Luci rolled his eyes.

"Bean. Don't play dumb and innocent with us, okay? You're better than that. We all know you and how you're already making plans to make this some big, blown-out-of-proportions adventure to go and find this Scaley place, or whatever the fuck it's called. So I ask again: when are we leaving?"

Eyes turned to Bean and she just blinked and glanced between Luci and Elfo before looking over at Pendergast.

"Bean-" Pendergast managed, before he was unsurprisingly cut off.

"I mean, if we leave today, then we have about..." -she paused to count on her fingers quickly- "sixteen days before we have to be back for my birthday. To be safe, let's say we have fourteen days to go out, find this place, and get back."