Who's the real monster?

Adventure

          Talen decided they had gone far enough for the day, so they set up camp a safe distance from the road and Isabel helped him start a fire. She was surprisingly good at it for a princess. As they nibbled on their respective foods they talked about their plans.

          Isabel, as he was figuring out, was very clever. She had packed enough to last her for at least two weeks. Apparently she was going to build a cottage deep in the woods, far away from any bachelor princes, and practice her true passion, sword making.

           Talen told her of his favorite book and the brave princesses; the tips of her ears turned pink when he told her she reminded him of them. Pixie had fallen asleep long ago, tuckered out from all the excitement and lulled to sleep by them talking. It turned out that Isabel knew what he was as she was a bit of a history book lover.

          She had read through the history of exclusion, killings, and eventual banishing of their species. She told him how all of their history books had been destroyed in a fire a few years back, it was said to be an accident, but certain people were too happy about it to just be a coincidence.

            In turn, he told her of how he got her locket. She was amazed with his apparent friendship with the birds and told him how she thought the eggs got there. Apparently it was a sport to gather bird eggs and throw them in the water, as their buoyancy and colors made them easy to spot. Whoever threw it farther than someone could swim won, meaning many eggs made their way to streams, and eventually down to him.

           As the evening progressed, she confessed how when her father had promised her to be wed to a prince, Prince Edward, she had thrown the locket out a window in a fit of rage. She had thought it to be gone forever. She had seen her chance to run as the wedding date came closer, the flurry of activity to prepare for the gigantic party had helped her disappear.

          They eventually went to sleep after agreeing that they would join each other, and Talen would accompany her to help protect her if they came upon anything malicious, while she could help him with her survival skills. Their drowsy minds unaware of the owl camouflaged in darkness hiding in the trees above them, its wide dark eyes taking in the scene.

           Hours later Pixie awoke confused. Something wasn't right. They flew up, scanning their surroundings carefully. There! An owl, sleeping on a branch. Pixie had seen this coloration before during their time in the treasure room, it was one of the king's pets, they were specially bred to be stealthy and were very loyal.

          Evidently it was one of the lazier ones as it was still sat on the branch high above. Pixie was glad they had caught it before it could report back to the king. Pixie silently hovered up behind it, than extended their fangs; this owl wasn't going to spy anymore, they would make sure of it.

           Talen yawned and sat up to see Pixie cleaning their fangs with their tiny nails, "Did you have breakfast already?" He asked, getting a silent nod as a response. Isabel had woken up too and was digging through her bag for something.

           "Ah ha!" She produced a map and pointed to a wooded area saying, "This where I'm heading, the knights are wary of this place, apparently there are some very defensive druas defending the outskirts of the forest. Luckily in my studies I learned that druas love precious things." She paused, looking down, "I was going to give them a bag of rubies but.. I dropped them when I was being chased."

         Resignedly she said, "Now.. all I have is this locket." She clutched the locket hanging around her neck, looking at it dismayed.

          Seeing her distress, Pixie flew over and whispered in his ear quietly, "Give her my eggshell, I have no use for it and she needs it more than us."

           Talen thought about it, it would the perfect thing to give to the druas, and it would help the princess. He had only brought it on a whim. He made up his mind, pulling it carefully out of the bag. He held it gently in cradled hands, the light revealing the intricate fractal patterns. Isabel gasped when she saw it, "What is that, it's beautiful!"

           Talen responded, holding it out to her, "This is Sunny's eggshell, it is what she hatched from only three days ago. I want to give it to you so you can use it for the druas."

           Isabel gasped, eyes filled with wonder as she carefully took the shell pieces. "They are so heavy, they feel like almost feel like metal, these will be perfect! Thank you so much!" Her eyes got teary and she looked towards Pixie, "I don't have to use the locket, thank you for letting me use these Sunny!"

            Pixie flew over and fluttered her wings against her cheek, a gesture of friendliness. Isabel smiled, petting Pixie again, "We should get going, we are only halfway there. I misled the knights to think I was going south so we have a couple days before they realize I tricked them."

          Talen nodded and started packing their stuff while Pixie moved towards their bag to climb in the pocket. They set off, finally with a plan.