3 Princess Daniella

"So, this is Qaplurg?" Tyler asks Moko again. His hands are still trembling as he stares out of a bay window overlooking a massive town.

An industrial skyline stretches as far as Tyler can see. Smoke of assorted colors wafts out of hundreds of chimneys before disappearing into an amber sky. Large golems seem to be erecting a building, and several factories are scattered about.

"Just the capital city," Moko corrects him, grabbing a large green slab of meat from the table between them. "I think the Princess can fill you in on the rest."

"Right, Dani, where is she anyway?" Tyler glances around the room nervously. He has been waiting for roughly an hour. Half of that time was needed to recover from the shock of being transported to another world; the rest of that time gave his imagination a chance to create new fears of what the future might hold for him.

Moko slams a fist on in the table, sending a bowl of green scrambled-egg mixture flying. "How dare you speak of her so casually! I will not tolerate your disrespect of Her Highness!"

"No, I... err," Tyler stutters.

"It's okay, Moko, I told him to call me Dani," a woman's voice booms from behind Tyler.

He turns to see Dani standing in the doorway, elegantly dressed in a green dress, crimson hair pulled up in a bun, eyes sparking like golden rings, smiling from ear to ear. She claps her hands and runs over to Tyler with an excited squeal, and embraces him with an awkward hug around the neck before he can stand up.

"Hi..." Tyler squeaks, trying to decide between hugging her back and prying open her arms to breathe.

"Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting, I never put my hair up so it took some time," Dani yells into his ear.

"You look splendid, My Lady," Moko says. Scrambling to bow, he drops what looks like a spiky grape on the floor.

"Thanks!" the Princess responds, releasing Tyler's neck to strike a pose. "I wanted to do something special since it is my first time meeting my fiancé!"

"Fiancé?" Tyler and Moko gasp in unison.

"Yes, yes," Dani says as if no explanation is required. "Now, let's eat before Moko takes all of the good stuff!"

"Of course, Your Highness, but don't you think you are rushing this a bit?" Moko asks from his knees. Tyler stands up and notes that Moko is the same height as him without standing. "I mean, the Royal Council has to approve of an engagement before—"

"They will approve. You are interrupting my breakfast, Moko."

"Actually, he has a point," Tyler says, earning a glare from the red-haired princess. "Not about the Council, I have no idea what you are talking about there, but you might be moving quickly calling us fiancés."

"Oh, I don't think so: we are destined to be together," Dani asserts.

Tyler is silent for a moment before responding, "Do you really believe the tag-line of that app?"

"You don't?" Dani's face darkens.

"Destiny, fate, they aren't real. People make choices, and everything that happens to them is a result of those choices," Tyler explains.

"Well, then I CHOOSE to be engaged to you. Problem solved!" Dani says in her usual voice, which Tyler still perceives as yelling. Her face lights up again as she hums and spreads an electric-pink paste on purple bread.

"What about my choice?" Tyler asks with a nervous glance towards Moko.

"Wait, are you saying you don't want to be with me?" Dani scoffs.

"We just met..."

"That is why I designed the app to show only the top two most compatible psyches to your own. We don't have time for a long courtship!" Dani's voice gets louder with each word.

"Wait, you made this app?"

"Who else do you know that can use charm magic to enchant a sniffer so that it can determine love-compatibility based on the human psyche?"

Understanding nothing that the Princess is saying, Tyler is at a loss for words. A smug smile spreads across Dani's face as she stuffs a piece of bread into her mouth. Confidence radiates from her like heat from the sun; Tyler can't help but be mesmerized.

"I thought so," Dani adds after she finishes chewing. "Did you try the Ivilery bread?" She offers Tyler the other half of her purple bread with pink slime.

"I'm... not hungry..." Tyler responds, looking over the table laden with strange foods.

"More for me!" She cheers, devouring the morsel. "Okay, lets go!"

"I'm not going to marry you right now!"

"Ha! There is way too much to do for that to happen today!" Dani says before bursting with laughter. "Besides, you seem unconvinced about our destiny. No, no, today we are going to show you around the capitol city!"

"Are you sure that is a good idea?" Tyler and Moko ask at the same time.

"Of course it is a good idea!" Dani responds while heading towards the door. When she realizes that Tyler is not following her, she grabs his hand and pulls him towards the door with a giggle.

"Hold on," Tyler shouts as he rips his hand away from the bubbly girl. "You weren't kidding. I'm in a different realm, nothing like this exists in my planet. Also, you really are a princess. Still, there is so much I don't get. I'm not going anywhere without a few answers."

"Hmm, I guess that's fair... but if I answer your questions you have to walk around the capitol with me," Dani insists. "Deal?"

"Fine," Tyler sighs. "First, what the hell is a sniffer?"

"He doesn't know what a sniffer is?" Moko asks in utter shock.

"Moko, you can leave us alone for now. Wait for us in the courtyard." Dani sits down at the table and smiles at Tyler. "A sniffer is a basic artificial intelligence that can read a persons psyche. Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Read a persons psyche? You mean to say that a sniffer can read a persons mind, soul, and spirt?"

"Yes, all three at once. Any form of magic can power them and tap into another's psychic energy."

"Magic is real here then?"

"Magic is real everywhere but the forbidden realm. Psychic energy is present in everyone. Just like everyone has physical strengths and talents, they also have spiritual ones. Magic is just the manifestation of this spiritual energy."

"So, how do you use magic? What are magical affinities? Why is my realm called the forbidden one?" Tyler asks in rapid succession. After a breath, he opens his mouth to ask more questions.

"I think that is enough for now," Dani says, hopping out of her chair. "Explaining everything about our world and magic would take too long. There is so much I want to show you before the council meeting!"

"Council meeting?" Tyler echos.

"Yes, I want you to see some of my country before you meet the people ruling it; otherwise, you might believe in my fathers jaded opinion of my home..."

"Why would the king have a jaded opinion of his own country?"

"Qaplurg is not his country! My mom married him to cement our alliance with Owhela, the merchant country to the south. They all think that their people are so much better than everyone else."

"You mean to say that the ruler of this country hates his own territory?"

"Ruler? You are joking right? My mother runs this country."

"Qaplurg is a matriarchy?"

"... The forbidden realm doesn't even use a matriarchy?" Dani is forced to pause as she bursts into laughter. "What, are you all barbarians over there?"

"I am not a barbarian..."

"No, sorry, there just hasn't been a patriarchy around here since we banished Atlantis to the forbidden realm!"

"Okay, I get it. At least answer one more question for me, and we can go see the capitol immediately."

"Deal! Only one though!"

"Why is my realm called the forbidden realm?" Tyler asks, sure that the answer will not become obvious on a walking tour of the city.

"Yes! An easy one! When leaders from all seven of the realms first decided to met, two were incapable of inter-dimensional travel. We built them each gateways they could use to teleport to the summit meeting, but only one showed up. The other sealed the portal on their world. Legends say that the forbidden realm lost its connection to magic, but obviously that isn't true." Dani gestures toward Tyler as she says this. "Well, lets get going!"

"Wait! Why is that obvious? I've never seen magic in my world..."

"Ah, ah, no! You promised only one question!"

"But I still don't—"

Tyler can't even finish speaking before Dani grasps his hand and pulls him through the doorway. Like it or not, he prepares himself to walk around in an unfamiliar world with his self-proclaimed fiancé.