Apollo rushed to Leonidas to help him up. His hand lightly brushed on Princess Candula's hand by mistake and he felt a surge of energy go from the tip of his finger to the top of his shoulder and it wrapped around his head like it just wrapped around him. Apollo moved his hand away and apologized. He had never felt something like that before and it took him by surprise. Then Leonidas blinked a few times to get a good look at who was in front of him. He realized that was not the Queen he knew, but a younger version of her. He got up, still in his beast form and looked around to get a covering. Then he found something on a chair to cover himself with.
Princess Candula, not initially knowing what Leonidas was looking for, then turned red from embarrassment once he transformed. She forgot that they had to be unclothed in order for them to be in beast form. She looked away and got up from her place and walked back to her seat that was placed where she could see the entire room. Then she waited patiently for Leonidas to finish wrapping himself.
Apollo was still stunned by the touch, but realized his mentor was awake and up. He rushed to his side and asked him, "Are you feeling better, mentor?" Leonidas replied, "of course I am. I'm breathing still. No thanks to that treacherous bear, Zodiac." Apollo looked down and said, "he left when he noticed that I wasn't going to give him the reaction he was seeking?" "To cause a war for me, against the wolf and tiger clan? He has been at that for many years, but leaders like us have always refused to do a full scale attack. And when he saw I no longer served his plans, he tried to eliminate me," answered Leonidas, annoyed. Then Apollo said reluctantly. "He said something else."There was a pause. Then Leonidas said," go on and say it, we all want to hear what he said." Apollo took in a deep breath and said, "That you were the reason he was here and that you betrayed the royals." Leonidas growled, but then remembered he wasn't in his own hut. He looked up at Godric who had been listening in. Then he was about to explain that Zodiac was lying, but Godric cut him off. "Save it, I know better than anyone else that you would be the last person to betray the royals. You would almost die from a broken heart. You would end yourself before you betrayed your Queen. Besides, Zodiac would say anything to get his way. He must have a feeling that the Princess has returned to undergo full maturity and take her throne. That is why he sought to destroy the two sworn protectors." Leonidas' eyes widened at the word, princess. He looked at Princess Candula, who was sitting down. He then kneeled and bowed his head.
Princess Candula said, "you may rise." Then Leonidas got up from the floor and addressed Princess Condula to say, "princess, it is my pleasure to meet you. I am so glad that my eyes can finally lay on you once again." Before he could say more, Godric cut in and said, "we have to fill her in on all matters of the kingdom and what recently happened. But first, why did Zodiac decide you weren't useful anymore?" Leonidas cleared his throat and took a deep breath to say, "Zodiac decided that I was no longer useful for him once he noticed that he was not getting any information from me and that his attempts to manipulate Apollo were not working because I was standing in his way. From the time that Apollo was a young Cub he has always stuck around close to try and feed him ideas and question authority, but I was always there to correct the situation and bring some light into things. I would always redirect Apollo's attention to what was more important, which was the prosperity of the Kingdom and that one day the Royals will return to stabilize it once more. up until now zodiac would attempt to gain favor with me so that we may work with him and create an alliance. Although we were still investigating him I didn't want to alert him. and so I pretended to go along with some of his plans but I always had a backup plan. he would visit my Hut when his plants weren't going accordingly and I would always pretend I didn't know what was happening but clearly I was the one who was pulling the strings so that his plants weren't working. I discovered that zodiac is not originally from here but I don't have any proof where he's from just that I caught him drinking a vial of blood. When I inquired about his vial of blood he said I was seeing things and showed me a piece of old red bark. I don't know where that old red bark came from but I was sure I saw a vial of blood in his hands before I approached him. Then I just went ahead and agreed with him so that he may not be suspicious that I was already investigating him. What happened at the hut, is that he attacked me and I was able to drink the poison Godric provided for me earlier. Then I maneuvered my body where he didn't hit any vital areas in my body. Not knowing whether he was going to finish the job once I was unconscious on the floor, I put my trust in the clan to hear my roars and come to see what was happening."
Princess Candula stayed silent for a moment and then asked, "Do you know what his intention is?" Alpha Kane answered, "we believe he is here for the royals. He has not shown interest in any clans. We think that he orchestrated the war just to get the royals to return and reclaim their throne. It is still unclear what he will do to you Princess, but our instinct is to protect your life at all cost." Princess Candula placed her chin in her index finger and thumb to think. She thought to herself, "someone from a different place that wants to get a hold of the royals. He was seen drinking blood, can live exceptionally long and has no background here. There's only one species that crosses my mind, but he's walking under the sun. So it can't be a vampire. Then again, what other being drinks blood and conceals it." Her thought was interrupted by Alpha Kane who said, "we must prepare for war Princess."