Elizabeth had never seen anything quite like Deejay's ship before. Even the suggestion of a flying ship seemed incredible; seeing it in person was mind-boggling. From the outside, it looked to her more like an enormous egg than a ship. As it opened, the entire spherical craft split in half, revealing four chairs in rows of two nestled into the bottom half. Everything about the ship was alien to her, from the fabric of its seat cushions to the metals and plastics on the console, to the array of screens and buttons laid out across it. Deejay mentioned proudly that he had dubbed the ship the Scyphozoan. Even its name seemed impossibly complicated and foreign.

At his suggestion, Elizabeth kept her eyes closed for the entire journey, which by her reckoning couldn't have been more than an hour. They didn't speak much during that time, rocking and shuddering sounds from the ship filling the silence, but the sense of quiet anticipation made her all the more excited to see what their destination would be like. Still, she obligingly kept her eyes shut even after he informed her that they had landed back at the Tower, wherever that was. As the ship opened, Deejay carefully led her by the hand out of the cockpit and down a few steps. To get the full effect of the reveal, he led her a few more steps toward the guard railing at the edge of the platform where they had landed.

“Okay, open your eyes,” he said.

She did, and gasped in awe at the view. To her right, rolling desert sands stretched as far as the eye could see. As her gaze scanned left across the landscape, the sand was gradually broken up by large stone outcroppings, growing into a long mountain range on the horizon.

When she moved closer and leaned over the railing, she could just make out Esperanza, a tightly-packed group of buildings arranged in a semi-circular pattern, to the south-west. The town looked like a tiny city of ants from the top of the Tower, tens of thousands of feet above the ground. Deejay held his arm out proudly like a game show host introducing a showcase of fabulous prizes.

“Welcome to my world.”

“Amazing...”

He laughed. “Not bad, right? I know, it’s a little on the barren side right now...”

“It’s beautiful. The view from here is astonishing.”

“Yeah, I like it well enough. I'd still like to see some more greenery instead of endless sand and rocks, but that's me. Anyway, come on. Let’s go inside. I have a lot more to show you.”

Deejay took her hand again and led her to the elevator. She followed his lead and stepped inside. He tapped the button for his room, and Elizabeth barely had time to register the sensation of movement before the doors opened moments later. She peered through the door, her mind swirling with equal parts awe, confusion, and curiosity.

Not that Elizabeth would have realized, but Deejay's room bore an uncanny resemblance to a college dorm room, only a bit more spacious. There was a twin-size bed to their left, a simple wooden desk and chair to the right, the bathroom door just beyond that, dresser at the end of the bed, mini fridge beside that, and some beanbag chairs and open floor space in front of a large closet at the opposite end of the room. There was a laptop, some books and miscellaneous junk on the desk, and the plain eggshell walls were covered with various posters torn out of old magazines. Most of them featured classic rock bands, but there were a few anime wall scrolls mixed in for color. Deejay stepped inside and presented the room.

“Please come in, Your Highness. Welcome to my humble abode. I know, it’s nothing special, but it suits me well enough.”

She stepped forward slowly, the door silently closing behind her. She turned around in place, still trying to take it all in.

“Yes, I suppose it does,” she said with a playful smile. “It has a sort of simple charm. Not unlike yourself.”

“Hah. Don't flatter me too much. If my ego gets any bigger it's going to start leaking out of my ears.”

She giggled. “You say the strangest things. But I believe I understand your meaning.”

“Good thing somebody does. Please, have a seat.”

He gestured to the bed. The two of them sat down beside each other.

“Now, we’ll need to keep pretty quiet for a bit. At least until my brother goes out. He hates it when I bring people home like this without telling him. But I figure what he doesn't know can't hurt him.”

“Is that so?”

The elevator door opened suddenly, and Ty stepped out.

“Gah!” Deejay jumped in place, and wound up perching on the edge of the bed like a gargoyle. “Ty? Dammit, how do you do that?”

“Plot convenience. Also, I get an alert in the boardroom whenever the ship returns. I'm pretty sure you helped me set that up.”

Deejay nodded sheepishly. “That I did. Dammit, past me, why must you always screw over present me?”

Elizabeth frowned. “You shouldn't barge into someone's room unannounced like that. It's terribly rude.”

She looked at Ty disapprovingly. He returned the look, although that is kind of just how he always looks. Finally, he shrugged.

“Alright, I'm sorry. For the sake of our royal guest, I'll make an attempt to be more polite.” He made a show of clearing his throat and adjusted his tie, which was royal blue in this case. “It's so nice to see you again, Your Highness. I don’t think we were properly introduced last time. I’m Tyler, co-owner of the Tower and older brother of this troublemaker here.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Sir Tyler.”

She stood and curtsied before sitting again. Deejay rolled his eyes and settled back into his seat.

“Tch. Older brother. You're seven minutes older. Are you gonna hold that over me our whole lives?”

“Of course I am,” Ty said. “It's older brother tradition at this point. So, why don't you tell me why you’re going behind my back and bringing Princess Elizabeth to the Tower? And let me tell you, if this story doesn’t involve slaying a dragon or winning some kind of jousting competition, I will be seriously disappointed.”

“Well… I just wanted to see her again, and I knew there was no way I could just walk right into the castle and visit her, so…”

Ty rolled his eyes, which I'm sure is a phrase I'm going to be saying a lot.

“So, as long as you were already ignoring our rules about getting involved with prominent political figures and exposing them to technology that won't exist in their world for hundreds of years, you thought, ‘what the hell? I might as well make a day of it and kidnap a princess.’”

“I'm not being kidnapped,” Elizabeth protested. “I wanted to leave with Sir Deejay. My father is the one who was being stubborn and refusing to let me leave the castle.”

“Does your father know where you are now?”

“No… not as such.”

“And have you ever run away before?”

“Well, no... Unless abandoning my royal guard in the market for a few minutes counts.”

“So the day after his daughter is attacked by enemies of the crown who want her dead, the king now finds that the same daughter has mysteriously disappeared from the castle. He has no reason to believe she ran away on her own, and no idea where she could have gone. What conclusion does that reasonably lead him to? Kidnapping.”

Ty started clapping sarcastically.

“Congratulations, Deejay. You’ve just pissed in the afternoon tea of the King of Zalaria. What are you going to do next?”

“Ty, you’re making too much of this. She hasn’t been gone that long. I doubt anybody there has even realized she's missing yet. And even if they do, how big of a deal could it be? As long as I bring her home safe-”

“Butterfly effect, Deejay. Have you ever seen a parent when their child is missing, even for a little while? It's bad enough when that parent isn't in command of a country's military. When they are...”

“What, you think I'm going to start a war or something? Her father's not that crazy overprotective. Right?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “...Actually, the words 'crazy overprotective' seem quite apt for him. He was already very upset over yesterday. If he found out I was missing again...”

“Alright, I kind of see your point.”

“Good.” Ty folded his arms (speaking of things I'm going to be saying a lot). “Now, you’re going to return her to the castle right away and make damn sure they have no idea she was ever missing. Is that clear?”

Deejay sighed. “Yeah, okay...”

He looked at her for a beat, searching for something to say, when suddenly his eyes lit up.

“Oh, wait! I just remembered, the ship's fuel cells are still drained from all the travel I did this week. They’re recharging now, but it probably won’t be ready to go until tomorrow morning.” Deejay pumped his fist victoriously in the air. “Hah! Looks like Elizabeth is gonna have to spend the night with me after all!”

“Hold on, how can it be drained? Didn't you just use it to pick her up a few minutes ago?”

“Yeah, in hindsight that was a terrible idea. I had it in power saving mode and the ride back was pretty rocky.”

“I thought it was quite comfortable,” Elizabeth offered.

“But your main point of reference is the back of a wooden-wheeled vehicle on a cobblestone road. The ship's not supposed to feel like that.”

“It's not?”

Ty adjusted his glasses. “Wow. Okay yeah, if it's that bad we can't risk taking another trip right now. Damn... I’m sorry for the bother, Your Highness, but it looks like you’ll have to stay here until tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “Oh, it’s no bother at all. I would be happy to stay with Sir Deejay for the night.”

Deejay smirked and put his arm around her. Ty smirked back at him.

“Oh, Your Highness,” Ty said, “I wouldn’t dream of making a distinguished guest such as yourself share such a small room. We have a much larger, fully-furnished guest room a few floors below us for these kinds of occasions. You can stay there for the night. I think you'll find it much more comfortable.”

“Oh. Well thank you, Sir Tyler. That sounds wonderful.”

“Ty…” Deejay looked like a kid who'd just been told there's no Santa Claus. “You’re as cold as ice, man.”

Ty stepped back. “Well, now that that's settled, please allow me to show you to your room, Your Highness. If you’ll just follow me…”

He walked Elizabeth back to the elevator and they headed down, leaving Deejay sitting alone on his bed. He frowned and shook his head.

“Cold as ice...” He picked up a comic book off of his desk and started to flip through it, humming unconsciously. “...willing to sacrifice our love... You never take advice, someday- Aw great, now I've got Foreigner stuck in my head.”