They had all thought she was hopeless, that she was naive, that she was too pathetic to manage a single day trip by herself. Feferi was distraught to admit they were right. The heavy rain crashed down on her head, the puddles splashed around her feet and the thunder boomed in the sky. All of it ignored as her lungs burned and her heart pumped furiously. She wasn't sure if those men were still following her, but she didn't even want to look back.

She had approached the Carapace's asking for directions. She didn't know if they hated the Troll usurpers, or if they were just thugs, or if they even knew who she was, but they turned aggressive fast. One of them tried to grab Feferi's hair. She had driven her foot sharply into his shin. Another grabbed at her shoulder. She had turned to run and the dress began to rip, scarcely held up by the fabric, as she attempted to escape through the deserted Dersite streets.

Hope flowed through her. An alley way. Maybe she could lose them on the other side. She skidded around to the right and dived through it, only to come to a wall. Who the hell builds walls in alley ways? She finally glanced over her shoulder, and the three jeering Carapaces began to walk towards her. Feferi charged the wall, jumping up as high as her lanky legs would allow and grabbing the top of it. She tried to find purchase with her shoes on the brick work as her legs flailed.

She failed as she was reminded that 'staying in shape' was never added to the girl's royal schedule. Her arms quickly grew tired and the grip from her fingers loosened. She plumetted to the ground and cried out. The seering pain shot through her arm as she landed on it, nothing appeared to be broken but the agony was undeniable. However as she saw her aggressors getting closer she quickly crawled into the corner. The panic grew to uncontrollable proportions and fuschia tears began to flow down her face. The Carapaces laughed at her.

Feferi was cold, and covered with mud and filthy water. Her hair was plastered down her back, her dress was only being held up proper by being hooked on her right shoulder , and she had no idea where she was, but she was not going to be bullied by these terrible people. She quickly began to fish through the contents of the small bag slung across her chest urgently.

"What ya got there girlie?" The first Carapace asked, as the others chuckled. "You gonna touch up ya lipstick for us? I think I speak for all of us when I say we real appreciate it"

Feferi tried not to listen, to avoid letting the meaning of their words sink in. She just needed a few more seconds...

"Hey, bitch. Look at us when we're talking to you!" The thug grabbed Feferi's arm and yanked it, pulling it out of her handbag. He recoiled and gasped, letting go of her as he now stared down the barrel of a small revolver. The princess quickly moved her other hand to the firearm and held it as steady as anyone could whilst crying.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" She screeched. She never would have intentionally pulled the trigger, but they didn't know that. They ran away as fast as they had chased her, their footsteps quickly beginning to quieten as the distance between them and her grew.

Then silence.

The adrenaline ebbed away and the strength to hold the gun left her. Her grip loosened on the firearm and it clattered to the ground, echoing loudly throughout the night. She wrapped her arms around herself and curled up into her little alley corner and shut her eyes. Her coloured tear drops mingling with the rainwater on her face.

Through the cold and pouring rain, an indescribable shape was slowly moving in the middle of the soaked street. Nothing was alive nor moving except for this, no sound was loud enough to pierce through the sound of the large water droplets obstreperously hitting the ground. Two lightly glowing white spots were coming out from the shape, powerful enough to be seen but not enough to emit any real light.

It was the eyes of a dersite... Those of the Draconian Dignitary, to be precise. Wrapped in a large black cloak, his spear attached to his back with the tip visible, the agent was finishing his guard duty around the dark streets of the moon. It is probably the most untroubled guard duty ever. Nobody want to commit crime in such horrible temperature nor any guard want to walk around. Agents don't abscond from such lame reason such as unfavorable weather conditions that easily.

The guard duty was uneventful at least until he heard a high-pitch yell. It apparently came from a nearby street; Nobody could have shouted loud enough to overcome the rain's loud concert on the moon's streets.

Running up to the closest intersection, he peeked at the transversal street to noticed few fellow carapace gathered around something few meters away. They burst out laughing at whatever they were looking at. Considering what he heard, it was most likely that these black carapace were not the good guys, the agent turned back only to rush into the nearest back street. He had no time to waste, somebody's life was in danger.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!", the agent heard shortly after turning toward the alley's exit. He nimbly took out his spear, dashed toward the nearest wall and ran along it up to the street. The aggressors started running in the opposite direction, the agent quickly grabbed one of them and tackled him on the wall. His shocked face was satisfying, the Dignitary could not hold the pleasure and evilly grinned at him. He asked at the runaway about what was happening.

"The purple girl troll has a gun! We didn't know that. Spare me!", he cried back.

"What do you mean by purple troll girl?", the agent asked back while approaching the tip of his spear.

"She was crying purple tears! The agents are coming for her, I'm sure!", the nervous carapace answered.

The incognito agent let a little silent laugh before unleashing his spear into the captive's airway, leaving a neat hole in the chitin-looking surface. As a preventative procedure, he kicked the dying body out on the street and waited few seconds for a possible reaction. The Draconian Dignitary then came out of the dark alley, hidden in his wet cloak, using his spear as some sort of walking stick. He then turned toward the troll.

"What was wrong in your head? What were you thinking?", he bluntly asked to the visibly terrified princess.

The cloaked figure came from nowhere, and snatched up one of her aggressors like some sort of predator. Feferi watched on, horrified. She tried to push herself further into her corner, as if maybe she could shrink away into nothingness. Then, like lightning, the new figure speared the Carapace through the neck.

Feferi screamed like a banshee.

The world vanished for her, until it was just her and the spear-wielding murderous figure in the black cloak. Even her revolver had now vanished from her memory. She covered her head with her arms, still crying, fully expecting to be skewered as he walked towards her.

What was wrong in your head? What were you thinking?"

She sniffled. Did she really have an answer for that? Not a sensible one at least. Nonetheless she tried to respond, although all that left her mouth was just garbled sounds. She promptly gave up trying to communicate and hid her face beneath her hands. The feeling of simultaneously wanting desperately to live and wanting to die was taxing. She tried to speak again.

“I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, I just want to go home.” She gasped quietly between sobs, not aware that she was trying to place her life in the stranger’s hands, the same trusting nature that lead her to being attacked a few seconds prior.

She tried to rub her eyes before looking up at the newcomer, her fins drooping sadly. It was hard to imagine she had the same body as Derse’s ruler in her sad state, that Her Imperious Condescension ever could have looked like this.

“P-please take me home.” She whimpered. Her mind flashed back to her old house, the one she had grown up in with her Carapace mother. How she’d love to go back, it’d be better than facing the castle staff after the embarrassment she had just gone through.

The cloaked agent approached the visibly traumatized imploring troll with caution, fearing she could take the gun if she hasn't recognized him. He then kneeled and, noticing she hasn't even move, took the gun in the puddle next to her and hid it away. She doesn't need it for now, considering she has an agent to fulfill the same role.

"It's okay, Princess. You are now safe and we will come back to the palace without delay.", he confidently answered back to her demands.

The Dignitary wasn't even moved by the poor situation the princess was in. In fact, it would be an actual surprise for him considering the colorful palette of situation he had to deal with so far. Bringing her back was his job, nothing more. He doesn't cherish the trolls that much anyway. If it wasn't of his duty to "Protect the VIPs", he would just have left her here.

He quickly glanced around him to make sure that no more assailant was present, thing that would have enraged him yet he would have liked. He would have had one last brawl, but he has more important things to take care of right now. The Dignitary then moved to the side of the troll and took her in his arms somewhat like in these children fairytales. It's not the best way to transport someone, but since she looked weary from her nocturnal adventure, it wouldn't be a good idea to have her on his back.

There's also his spear attached back there, but that's just a minor detail.

Through the cold and pouring rain, an indescribable shape was slowly moving in the middle of the soaked street. It was actually an agent called the Draconian Dignitary and he was transporting the cold body of a young troll princess that he swore to protect in front of the current figure in power.

"What happened to you?", the agent inquired to the princess.

After hearing the Carapace's reassurances through the rain, and feeling his arms around her as he scooped her up, she began to feel safer. She knew she was being childish, that this man could be anyone. He had her gun and now he had her. Still, she needed this, to feel comfort. Her rain-coated hands gripped tightly at the man's black cover, scrunching up the fabric in her fingers, and allowing her to pull herself closer. She buried her face in his chest and began to shake, as the adrenaline ebbed away. Not from the cold, the ocean she was built to live in would've been worse, but because her body was beginning to recoil from shock. Her sobbing had quietened down to a whimper.

When he asked her what happened, she didn't respond, at least not for a while, as she gathered her wits again. She sniffed, and pulled the goggles from her face to around her neck so she could rub her eyes.

"I got lost." She muttered. "Very very lost.."

She thought back to how she had decided this was going to be the day she'd see the moon proper. A long walk, peering in at shop windows, and ocassionally avoiding people wanting to ask her questions. One avoidance of the latter involved a small group of bluebloods scaring off some over-enthusiastic Carapaces. She didn't like the Hemospectrum but it ocassionally had benefits.

Then...well it got dark, and navigating around somewhere you don't know in the dark is never sensible. Her grip on her saviour tightened.

"Thank you..." She coughed out between a whimper, just loud enough to be heard over the rain.

"Thank you", she said. It was a surprise for him to hear someone thanking him. In such hazardous world where he is feared by many, there was one living being that was nice (or unaware) enough to render any form of thanks to him. They usually run away from wathever he did. The troll was probably too weary from her adventure to do anything. The Dignitary did open one "fellow" carapace in front of her like a tin can! He sharply looked down to the troll, wich had her head trenched in the agent's dark cloak again. The Carapace stared down at the whimpering troll for a bit, pensive about what his ears just witnessed.

He let a mechanical "It is merely my duty, Princess."

The few lighted lamps that lit the dim streets were shining little sparkly points on the soaked pavement. It wasn't enough for both of them to properly see in front of them. The large droplets of cold water wasn't helping either, visibility-wise. Instead, the Dignitary looked up frequently to locate the large and high towers of the imperial palace. At night, they merely were some more little lights in the sky, some light sources coming out of the windows.

Minutes later, the guiding "stars" were high above their sight and the palace entrance was hardly visible in front of them. It was enough for the agent to feel any sentiments that coming back from a hard day could procure. Even if he hardly had any encounter (Only one), he felt like he had fought in a small-scaled skirmish. In front of the doors, having both hands busy at transporting a young royal figure, the carapace banged at the door with his foot. A guard of short stature ran to the door and opened it a little to take a glimpse of who could arrive at such time. Noticing a superior holding the troll, the enlisted promptly opened the door, standing back at the same time to let the worn out being in.

Without hesitation, the Draconian Dignitary directly faced toward the door leading to the princess's quarters. The multitude of little flames that enlightened the large room quickly chased the cold away, the water was next. The dersite agent also hadn't let a single word out of his brain for a while; He couldn't even know what to say with the amount of activity that was going on in his chitinous head.

Feferi had remained quiet throughout the whole journey, excluding the occasional whimper from the shock of it all, and the gentle crying that flared up now and again. There wasn’t much for her to say and a lot to process. She was terrified of the ramifications of her actions, having to get an agent out to save her could mean punishment for wasting time. She had risked a glance at her saviour’s face, and he didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. She clutched at his coat little bit harder.

When they arrived at the palace, she noticeably perked up, allowing herself to look around. She also stopped shivering, the warm familiarity of the palace apparently doing her some good. By the time they got to the entrance of her extragent quarters she seemed only a little tense. She wormed her way softly out of his grasp and stood in front of him, her back to the doors. She was still sodden, looking like a drowned rat.

”I…” she spluttered, now blushing. "I’m very thankful…for being rescued and…” She tried to finish, though after words failed her she threw her arms tightly around the agent’s chest and squeezed him tight, before quickly fleeing into her room and locking the door.

Around her mid sentence, the agent went for a regular military salute. "You are lucky I was nearb-" he began declaring before being cut off by the princess pouncing in his direction. The collision of the youngster made the agent's last words come out like an unintelligible stream of wind. The hand, swiftly going for the salute, misses completely its intended destination to find itself pulling the rest of the body behind a few steps.

The Dignitary dazedly stared at the troll taking a fancy of hugging the chitinous being for the second time tonight. He could only silently debate with himself about why she would express acts of benevolence toward an elite man–at–arms tainted with fear. She finally unloosed her grapple, leaving the Dignitary gazing at the purpleblooded princess going back in her quarters, as puzzled as before.

He stayed in place for an handful of minute, then decided to finally conclude his day of work with some overdue paperwork.