Lady raised her eyebrow when the crocodile introduced herself. She had seen a few queens - once there was some sort of fancy noble event in the capital, lots of foreign guests arrived and few of them were royalties. None of them animals though, let alone gigantic crocodiles. Maybe it’s different across the sea? Animals rule and humans serve them?

--[i]That sounds like the right way to run society.[/i]--

Anyway, it was up to Victoria how she introduces herself. If she claimed she was a queen, she was a queen. Lady herself often claimed she was an ancient goddess suffering from a curse to fool dumb humans, so… who was she to object?

--[i]When someone gives you free food, you indulge their weirdness.[/i]--

Yes, plus there was the abundance of free food. [b]“Thank you, Your Majesty,”[/b] she said between the bites.

When Lady heard Victoria sniffing, she raised her head and tasted the air as well. It was strange. Whoever was coming smelled almost like a human. Almost, but not quite. She couldn’t place the scent and was fairly certain she had never come across it before. One thing was for sure, it was not another crocodile.

Just in case, she quickly eyed the escape routes. Humans could actually climb trees, which was unfortunate, so her previous hideout was not really safe. She could try to run into the woods, hide under a log, or maybe jump into a river?

--[i]Yea. Forget that.[/i]--

No, that was probably not a good idea. After all, humans could swim too.

When Anthony arrived at the clearing, Lady bristled up a bit. A human boy. Not a child anymore, but not a man quite yet. Those were the worst. Small children often tried to ‘play’ with Lady, using their dirty hands to grab her tail and put it into their snotty drooling mouths. But you could easily outrun them. The older ones were much more malicious and dangerous. Lady had a friend back in Grada, a ginger cat named Scratchy. A group of bored kids kept chasing her around the streets with sticks and even tried to put her into a bag and throw it into the river! She would have to be careful around this one.

Then she got a good look at the ‘prince’ and noticed the tail. And horns. What kind of a weird animal-human hybrid was he? Those features didn’t look like any beast she knew of.

--[i]It’s a baby Devil![/i]--

Her old landlady often spoke of the Devil, describing him with such horns and tail. But he was also supposed to have hooves. And a sleazy beard. The Church of the Pure had a lot of crazy ideas.

--[i]He doesn’t like evil incarnate.[/i]--

No, the boy didn’t look evil at all. He watched Lady looking just as confused as she was. She decided that having a tail and horns was not a crime. And, at the risk of repeating myself…

--[i]FREE FOOD.[/i]--

… they offered her free food. You don’t say no to that, horns or not.

[b]“Your mother was kind enough to offer me a part of your lunch, Your Royal Highness,”[/b] she bowed her head in front of him. [b]“I hope that is alright. I will not bother you much longer, I will just finish the fish and head back to the town. Surprisingly, I’m in the mood for an adventure, plus I want to see what this town has to offer before deciding if it’s worth settling here for some time.”[/b] Lady lazily sniffed the almost entirely eaten fish, deciding which parts are still worth eating. [b]“I have seen a noticeboard on the town square, so I will head there to see if anyone in the town needs help.”[/b]

--[i]Not work.[/i]--

[b]“Not with work, of course, but maybe with some simple… tasks that don’t require too much effort.”[/b] No, Lady was definitely not in the mood for working. More like a stroll before a long nap.

[@WolfredWolf]