Come morning, Sienna woke up in Elias’s room. After cleaning up, she went in search of the children. They were with Elias at the hotel play park. Ali was on the swings and Eli was shooting small balls through a hoop. The play park which should have been bustling with life was quiet.

"Where are the rest of the children who should be playing in here?" She asked Elias, noting his expression that was as frosty as ever.

He rose, putting aside the newspaper he had been reading. "I asked for privacy. Let’s go and have breakfast." He declared, voice clipped as though he was announcing a decree rather than leading her away for a friendly family outing he had planned.

His hand lingered on her elbow longer than necessary, a subtle warmth beneath the early morning chill. Ali and Eli fell into step with them, and Ali immediately requested to be carried by Sienna.

"No." Elias said firmly to the little girl. "Your mama had a long night. You have two legs in human form and four in fox form. Use them."

Ali’s smile fell for a second. "Okay."

Sienna thought the girl would sulk for a few minutes but a moment later, her eyes lit up and she was bounced with excitement. Her tail was flicking wildly. Even Eli, who was trying to mask his excitement and keep his composure was failing.

It was her first time in the capital, and Sienna wanted to soak up everything. It was more modern that she expected! It reminded her of New York city, just better and cleaner. There were many beast men and women--most dressed in official wear and walking in a hurry.

"This place is amazing, architecture wise. Why isn’t every city like this?" Sienna asked curiously.

Elias was about to reply, but Timothy beat him to it. The rabbit beast man turned around, walking backwards with his face to Sienna. "Because we are beast men and we can’t be far from nature. This city was designed by humans like you. Most of the vegetation was diminished to make room for fancy tall glass and weirdly shaped buildings to push for development. Cykress is beautiful, no doubt, but it is suffocating."

As a human, Sienna could not pretend to understand it. "Why doesn’t the royal family live here? Is it for the same reason. The love of nature."

Timothy nodded. The rabbit beast man bumped into Liman’s back, jumped once and righted himself. "Lions hate elevators. This city is all skyscrapers and elevators. Like I said, it is wonderful to look at but difficult to swallow."

"Actually the reason why the royal family did not move their palace here is more practical." Eli chimed in loudly. "If they lived in the capital, every beast lord would also want to live here. Every powerful beast would also desire the same thing.

All beast men and humans would would squeeze in here. Then it would be overcrowded in a bad way.

What then would happen to other cities? Their development would be stalled. The economy of this empire would be ruined. It is why different beast lords were given different cities to develop.

The decision of the royal family was a calculated one which paid off in the long run."

Elias grinned, proud of his son for his logical explanations. They were better explanations than ’lions hate elevators.’

They stopped at a famed eatery near the central square, where steaming cups of tea were served with beautiful pastries. It was next door to another eatery which served broth, meat buns and dumplings. Ali immediately squealed at the sight of small candied fruit cakes shaped like miniature beasts on sticks.

She tugged at Sienna’s sleeves until she relented, making an order for her.

Elias however, raised a brow. "All that sugar in the morning is not healthy."

Sienna leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear. "You got a taste of sugar from me last night, let the kids enjoy their own sweetness."

His ears reddened faintly, though his face remained the same, as if it was carved from ice. The children, oblivious to their parents, stuffed their mouths until their cheeks puffed like dumplings.

After breakfast, the tour Elias had planned began. He led them through the bustling capital, his stride slow but commanding, his guards keeping the crowd at bay.

They visited the Grand Beast Arena, the biggest in the kingdom. It was where vanguard hopefuls went to prove their strength against seasoned fighters. It held fighting competitions of different kinds for entertainment. Roars in this arena did not sleep.

The children took pictures on the steps leading up to the dome, mimicking different fighting stances. Timothy and Sienna joined them. Elias rolled his eyes. The picture session ended when Ali nearly tripped over her own tail.

Next came the Thousand Skies Pavilion, a towering structure whose glass floors overlooked the entire city. It was the tallest building in Cykress. A tour guide took them to the last floor and the cubs pressed their faces to the transparent wide windows, shrieking at the dizzying view.

Sienna stayed away, keeping to the safety of the walls.

"Mama, mama, I am jumping." Ali screamed, lifting her feet up and down.

Every movement made Sienna’s stomach lurch, and her face paled. Elias left the cubs with Liman, Linera, Timothy, his brothers and the guards. He walked to Sienna, brushing his hand against her cheek. His other hand held her waist, steadying her until the vertigo melted into something warmer.

"Are you okay?" he finally asked, concern pouring from his eyes.

She nodded, "As okay as a woman that is afraid of plunging from heaven to earth is. Glass floors!!! Please tell me there are nets down there or something to catch us if it breaks."

He smiled. "There is an light net shield. You can’t see it with your eyes. It has a pulse that can pull the glass and debris from the air while the people fall onto the net, in case of an accident. The structure would not be here if it had not passed every safety measure."

Sienna shuddered. She could swear that her ears were picking up sound of glass creaking even as they talked. Nothing he said could convince her it was safe. Not even the arrival of the architects who constructed the glass tower of death!

Not one single person in the viewing area was a lion beast man. To her anxious mind, that spoke volumes.

"Get me out of here," Elias. "Please."