Brisca entered the house with overflowing shopping bags. She placed the bag with the groceries on the table and the bags with new clothing on the ground. While she was busy with placing the groceries in the right place, when Bruno entered the kitchen.

"Hey Brisca, you took your time." He said, and she gave him a smile. 

"I bumped into Tybaut on my way to the center. One of the Unicorn Knights insulted me, and he felt obligated to make it up to me." Brisca said while placing a loaf of bread inside the fridge.

"Really?" Bruno said and smiled. "He is always nearby when you need someone..."

"I told you over and over, Tybuat and I are just friends. Besides that, he is a little too old for me." Brisca snapped at him, while snatching the bag of apples out of his hands and laid them on the bowl. Bruno started to chuckle.

"Isotta is also much too old for me, if you are looking at it from our world's point of view." Bruno said, and he looked at Brisca. "But as Isotta always says, we are not in our world." Brisca sighed. 

"I know that. But I am not ready to think about such things. I still need to get used to see myself in the mirror every day. I do not who I am, or if I belong here. I know that there is no way back to our world, and even if there was. I am not sure if I belong there either. Nobody wanted me there, and you took me in because I was Isotta's responsibility." Brisca felt the tears sting behind her eyes. This was the first time she had said this out loud. "And please do not say that it is not true." Bruno sighed, she could see that he was not about to. "I know this is not fair to you, and your family. You have always being kind to me, giving me food, clothing, a roof above mine head. Isotta has not turned me in, one of the human servants I hear so much about. But still..." She was about to break, she turned away from him.

"Brisca Dandolo, you are a force of nature. And if I was your father, I would have being proud of you. You do belong in this world, because you are more part of it than I am. After I came here, I stayed mostly indoors. I still do, because I am afraid for the world outside the front door. I am afraid that I bring shame to my wife, and I am one of those human servants you hear s much about." Bruno said, Brisca whipped her tears from her cheeks. 

"I am sorry, I didn't mean to..." Brisca started. But Bruno raised his hand.

"I know, Brisca. I know this all too well. And I wanted you when you showed up on our doorstep." He said, and he took her in his arms. This was the first time that he had done that, but still Brisca felt safe in his arms.

"Thank you." She whispered. 

"What is going on here?" Gino entered the kitchen and grabbed one of the apples from the fruit bowl. "I have never seen you hug her, padre." He said before he took a bite.

"Brisca needed to vent her emotions. And to be honest, I needed to vent mine too." Bruno said, and he smiled. Gino nodded, and took another bite. "How were your lessons, figlio?" Gino sighed and swallowed his bit.

"It went." He replied, Brisca hissed.

"Was it that bad?" She asked and he shook his head. Gino studied under one of the local wizards, master Ozax Bluestone.

"No, it was not bad. It is only mine magic isn't, normal." Gino said and Brisca nodded, she knew what he was talking about. Brisca was the first that had seen his magic, he had trusted her. At first, she taught that the strange blue color that his magic had was normal. But when she told his parents about his magic, they were shocked. Normal magic was invisible to others, and when it was visible, then it wasn't blue.

"What those master Bluestone say about it?" She asked, and Gino sighed. 

"You know master Bluestone, he will only say something when I am about to fail. Which happens not often, at least not anymore. And all the students are at an edge, because of those war rumors." Gino said, and he trowed what was left of the apple to the compost pile. 

"Please say nothing about those, against your mother, figlio." Bruno pleaded. Brisca nodded and bite softly her lip. She knew that the rumors about the war were not rumors at all. But she doubted that Tybaut would have trusted her with this type of information if she would share it with anyone else.

"I know better than to that, padre." Gino said, with a renewed grin and sense of humor. "And Brisca, do you have a new dress?" He asked and Brisca narrowed her eyes. 

"I have, Captain Tybaut del Oeste helped me pick one." She replied, she placed a can of milk inside the fridge and then ripped the paperback apart.

"The captain of the Unicorn Knights helped you? Well then you are safe, wait what those he knows about clothing? The Unicorn Knights are always wearing their armor." Gino said with a smirk. "Please show use your dress." Brisca sighed and rolled with her eyes.

"Gino please?" Brisca whimpered. She looked towards Bruno for support, but she would find non. 

"Sorry Brisca, but I am curious about it too." He said, and Brisca sighed. 

"Fine." She groaned and she picked up the bag with her new clothing. She moved the tanker tops and shorts aside, until she found the silver chiffon dress. Slowly she lifted it up until it was out of the bag. Bruno's eyes grew and Gino's mouth fall open. "It would only be a shame that I am never going to wear it."

"Why not?" Gino asked.

"Because we will never be invited to the town's ball. And there will never be another opportunity for me to wear it." Brisca said, and the man nodded slowly. 

"You are right about that." Said Bruno with a sigh. "And you will never wear it without a good cause." it almost sounded like an equation, and he was right about that. 

*******

The night started to fall, but Brisca was a bit restless. She didn't know why, but it was as if the walls of her room and the inter house closed in on her. This wasn't the first time that this happened, she needed to get out of the house and fast before she had another break down. She left her room and reached out for the doorknob. 

"Where are you going?" Isotta's voice snapped. 

"I am going for a walk." Brisca said. She turned the knob and stepped outside. "I have a key, so you do not have to wait for me."

"Be careful, Brisca." Isotta said.

"I will." Brisca said, and she inhaled the fresh air. She closed the door behind her and strolled down the street. The cool night air produced a soft breeze that played with her burgundy brown hair. She smiled, and kept on walking towards the Dialberi foresta. She didn't know why it was, but she always felt safe inside the forest. Brisca kept on walking until she passed the first tree line. She closed her eyes, and inhaled the sharp forest air. The scent of the leafs and needles, calmed her nerves. The same can be said for the distant moldy scent from the forest floor, it almost felt like home. Which was strange, although maybe not. It was inside this forest that she stepped into this world. She opened her eyes and started to press on. The trees seemed to welcome her, and the animals that called this forest their home came with her. She smiled when a couple of bats flew right past her head and started to circle in front of her. A fox cub started to chase her feet and passed between her legs every time she stepped. Brisca knew better than to keep on walking after a few times almost tripping over the cub. She lowered herself to the cub and started petting him. "Go back to your family, little one." The fox let out a yelp and then run back from where it came from.

"You have a gentle thatch, Brisca." An all too familiar voice said. Brisca got up and looked straight into Stardust's eyes. "That cub is the runt of his litter, and you are treating him as if he was the most important creature in this world." Brisca smiled. 

"He is a creature of this world, of course he is important." She said with a smile, and Stardust nodded.

"You are no longer the small girl that I have found in the forest, you have grown into a young woman." Stardust said. Brisca rolled with her eyes, she had visited Stardust many times after she had grown into an adult overnight.

"Stardust, finally I have found you." An unknown man entered the conversation. Brisca stepped a bit closer to Stardust, she didn't know why she did it. 

"I was not hiding, young prince. I was here all along." Stardust replied, Brisca's mouth fall open. Was this the dragon prince? He didn't look like a dragon at all, but she knew that dragons could shift between their dragon-form and their human-form. The man stopped right in front of Stardust, he was tall. Taller than any other man she had ever seen, maybe even taller than any centaur she had come accros.

"Do not mess with me, Stardust. I am not in the mood." The Dragon prince growled. "I am here to urged you to pick a knight. You are the only unicorn who has not picked a knight, and the army of Fantasaria is closing in." Brisca looked at Stardust is surprise, but the unicorn those not looked faced by this.

"I am well aware of this, young prince. But I am not going to pick a knight, because an army is at our door." Stardust said. The Dragon prince looked like he could explode.

"Stardust is right about this." She said, and she stepped towards the tall man. "The bond between a unicorn and its knight is almost as intimate as the bond between husband and wife. So it is not a light decision to make." The Dragon prince looked at her in shock, maybe had not noticed that she was there, or he wasn't used to a human talking directly to him. It didn't matter, she had spoken and she couldn't take her words back.

"Who are you?" The Dragon prince asked. This question shocked her a little, she had expected a scolding, not a question.

"Allow me to introduce you to, Brisca Dandolo. She is a dear friend of mine." Stardust said. "Brisca, may I present you Dragon prince Nikero Taghwisk." Brisca bowed slightly. 

"You are human." Nikero said, and Brisca nodded.

"I am, my lord. I am the ward of Isotta and Bruno Accora. I accidantly stepped inside this world with them, seven years ago." Brisca said. Nikero nodded and sighed. He turned his attention towards Stardust.

"Please Stardust, your land needs you." Nikero said and Stardust nodded.

"I will concider it, young prince. But I will never promise..." Stardust said and in Brisca's ears this sounded reasoneble. 

"You know I need more then that." Nikero growled.

"But that is all he can give right now." Brisca snapped at him, surprised that she deared to speak to him in that way. He was the prince, and not a normal prince like Bruno once was. No, he was a Dragon prince, one that could shift into a beast that could kill her. She didn't know how because that depanded on his bloodline, but no matter how he would do it, he could it. Again his gaze snapped towards her, and again there was suprise in his gaze. Was he suprised at her tone, or had he forgotten that she was still here?

"You know what I cant believe that I am still talking to you." Nikero growled, towards Stardust ignoring her. "I warned you and that has to be enough. I have heard that a unicorn horn sells well." 

"That is a lie." Brisca snapped, she really couldn't help herself. "Even under the current rule of Cesal the trade in unicorn horns and other magical objects are forbidden." Brisca contineud. "Even at the black market they wouldn't dare to do it. Because the punishment is described as worse then death." Again Nikero was shocked that she had spoken.

"Brisca is a smart girl, young prince. From what I have heard she has read all the books about the history inside the local library. The old and wise wizard who runs it is now feeding her information out of his own collection and he is also barrowing books out the library of Novapolis." Stardust said, his chest rose up with a gleam of pride. 

"I heard about you." Nikero said. "The libirian of the palace speaks about a disgrace, a human that knows to much about our world." Brisca shrugged.

"I am not a servant off the Accora family, or slave to this world. I live here, it seemd to me that I needed to understand this world before I can call it mine home." She said.

"And can you?" Nikero asked. "Can you call this world your home?" Brisca looked around the forest that surrounded her and nodded. 

"It feels more mine home with every breath I take." She replied, this seemed to please him a little. 

"Well Stardust, I will leave you to it. Miss Dandolo, it was a pleasure meeting you. But I hope that we do not cross paths again." Nikero said, before Brisca could ask why he said such a thing. He turned away from her and run away. A few seconds later she saw a creature larger then a citybus floating through the air like it was nothing. 

"That was very brave of you." Stardust said, pulling her gaze away from the sky. "You just told a firebreathing dragon that he was laying." Brisca nodded.

"He was." She said.

"And I know that, but still Brisca it was very dangerous. If he hadn't a kind heart like your, he would have burned you to a crisp. And there was nothing I could have done to stop it." Stardust said, and Brisca knew that he was right about that.

"I am..." Brisca started.

"Do not dare to apoligise for that, again you showed your bravery and with a clear mind. It has being a long time when I saw this for the last time. I saw it in mine last knight." He said while looking, somewhere in the distance. "Maria was a fierce, but she had a heart that was true. I lost her to soon." Brisca laid her hand on his white fur. "But she is gone, and now I see the same fire burning in you." Brisca did a step back she didn't know why but she did it. 

"Stardust are you alright?" She asked, the Unicorn stepped towards her.

"The Dragon prince is right, I am the last Unicorn that has to pick its knight. And there is a war coming." Stardust said, he didn't blink.

"You don't have to pick a knight if you do not want to, Stardust." She said, her heart was speeding inside her chest.

"I know that Brisca, but tonight you showcased everything that I would value in a knight." Stardust said. 

"But I am human, I have no magic." Brisca said, was he really concidering her as his knight.

"That those not matter, I have magic." Stardust said lowering his head until his horn thatched her head. A bright light surrounded her, and it almost blinded her. "You do not have to worry, I will always be here, I will help you to overcome the limits of your species. I will protect you, and you will protect me." The light faded and Stardust was gone. 

"Stardust?" She asked and she started to turn, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Stardust." Panic stared to get hold of her. What was happening here?  Something around neck started to heat up. Her hand shot towards it, to her suprise there hung a neckless. She looked down, it was not much, it was a thin silver chain with a unicorn charm on it. She gasped. "Stardust?" The charm started to glow softly. Somehow he had transformed himself into a charm. He had chosen her as his knigt, her a human. "I will do my best." The charm glowed again, softly this time. At least she will try.