On the twenty first day of the fifth month, when Iris was playing inside the Heart of the Tree of Beginning, the Shiny Shinx suddenly let out an excited cry before he rushed towards a tunnel.
She chased after him with her Pokémon, curious about why he was so excited, and when she finally saw him again, she found him in the arms of a girl who was unmistakably Aizen's sister, and around twelve or thirteen years old.
By her side was another girl, brown haired, who was the same age as the Princess.
The two curiously looked her way, and the Princess even tilted her head a little.
This was not a place any normal person could come to, at least not alone, and Anira could see the Aura inside the girl's body.
"Who are you?" she lightly asked, and Iris beamed a smile at her.
"Hi! I am Iris. Aizen's Apprentice." She happily told them who she was, and watched the two girls look at her in surprise.
"Brother's Apprentice?"
"Yes," she nodded her head. "You must be Anira, and…"
"May Birch." The brown haired girl happily stepped forward and shook hands with her. "Where are you from?"
"Unova. I grew up in the Village of Dragons."
"Village of Dragons?" May's eyes widened in surprise. "Are there Dragons there?" she excitedly asked, and Iris happily nodded her head.
"A lot! Lots and lots of Axew, Fraxure, Haxorus, and even Deino…"
As she was telling them about her village, three little Axew rushed into the tunnel, playing around with each other and rolling at their tackles as they fell over.
"Hey…" Anira lovingly sat down, and all three of them walked to her, curiously inspecting her and feeling excited in her presence.
"Are these your Axew?" May asked as she sat down and lovingly petted the shy one, who was the smallest of the three.
"The big one is. The one you are petting is Aizen's Axew, and the other belongs to Sabrina."
"Yip!" Shinx then excitedly started telling the Princess all about his new friends, and Anira happily listened to his words.
It did not take long for the girls to become friends, and they spent quite a lot of time in the Heart, where they met Aizen's other Pokémon, as well as Sabrina's Pokémon.
Eventually, they came out of the Tree, and the Princess raised her hand and made it shine, using her Aura.
Soon, a large Corviknight flew from its nest and landed on the cliff, ready to take them to the Palace. However, at the same time, Diancie, Aerius, Atlas, and Sky landed next to them as well.
"Anira!"
The Diamond Fairy happily hugged her dearest friend and May, and the Princess hugged her Mega Garchomp, whom she had not seen in months.
She climbed onto Atlas' back, Diancie sat down on Sky's back, and May and Iris, knowing well that Aerius would not let them ride on him, stood up on Corviknight's back as they headed to the Palace.
"Ilene is going to give birth today." The Fairy excitedly told the girls when they landed on the platform, and all three looked at her in surprise.
Anira then quickly rushed towards her brother's room and frowned when she sensed Diancie and Iris tense up behind her.
Her heart skipped a beat when she opened the door and rushed in, but seeing her brother peacefully asleep, she relaxed and beamed a smile.
Walking up to him, she first planted a kiss on his cheek, and then one on his nose.
"Brother." She softly called out to him, but he did not open his eyes or even furrow his brows like he usually did.
She was about to kiss him again when Diancie stopped her and shook her head.
"Let him rest."
At her words, her heart skipped a beat again.
"What happened?" she frowned, feeling a little light headed now.
"There was a battle in Orre, and he was exhausted. He has been resting for the last nine days."
Diancie did not hide things from her and told her all that she knew, and the Orayen Princess held back her tears as she took off the Promise Ball from around her brother's neck and rushed to her own room.
Shadow, who was hiding under Aizen's bed, quietly merged with her shadow, but she knew he was there.
She closed the door behind her, locked it, and then called out Dexter, who immediately apologised to her and informed her that he could not take part in the battle at the Citadark Isle.
"Shadow." She then called out to the Gengar who was hiding in her shadow.
When the Mega Gengar revealed itself, she looked at him in surprise and managed to smile at him.
"Can you show me what happened?" she gently asked.
Anira frowned when Shadow shook his head.
"Gengar…" He told her that Aizen would not want her to look at those memories, and even though she was a little upset, she did not force the Pokémon.
The Orayen Princess then searched inside the Promise Ball, and she immediately froze when she saw Mewtwo, who was sleeping next to Tesseract and a chest.
She also saw a dark Lugia, who was mesmerisingly beautiful, and by its side, she saw a beautiful pair of Cosmog, who were sound asleep, snuggling together.
And then there was a pair of Audino, who sensed her and immediately came out of the Promise Ball to greet her.
"Audinoo…" they spoke in unison, and her heart melted at their sweet voices.
"Gengar…"
Shadow informed her that they belonged to Aizen, and she smiled at the cute pair and scratched their heads, making them moan under her ministrations.
The next moment, she sensed Rinko at the door, and when she opened it, the Shiny Eevee rushed inside with a Riolu and a pair of Zorua.
Anira merrily laughed when the little Eevee started licking her all over the face, and then laughed some more when the two Zorua used their illusion and took her form.
She happily grabbed the hands of her images and started dancing with them, and then sat down as she chatted with the Pokémon.
A while later, her grandmother entered the room, and she quickly jumped off the bed and rushed into her arms, hugging her tightly.
The two stayed silent, holding each other in their arms, and when they separated, the Queen and the Princess looked into each other's eyes and smiled.
"How's Ilene?"
"She's fine," Grisha assured her, and then caught the playful Eevee who had jumped at her, trying to tackle her, but ended up being caged mid air. "Behave."
"Yip!" Rinko cutely called out to her, and the Queen's heart melted as she accepted her in her arms and allowed her to give her lovable licks all over her face.
The mischievous Eevee then rushed out, with the two Zorua in tow. However, Riolu deeply bowed to Grisha and Anira before chasing after them.
"Awww…"
"He's very respectful, but just as playful," the Queen said, and the Princess giggled at her words.
"Do you know that Brother gave me two Pokémon on my birthday?"
Grisha shook her head and curiously watched as her granddaughter plucked two Poké Balls from her belt and called out two cute little Charcadet.
She was genuinely surprised at the sight of them and then sat down to greet the pair.
"I will order Gareth to prepare Auspicious and Malicious Armours for them. They will take a couple of years, enough for these little fellows to get ready for their evolution."
"Thank you!" Anira happily hugged her grandmother, who smiled at her and then gave some love to the cute little Pokémon as well, who were very respectful.
"How's your research going?"
"It's been very productive…" The Princess then told her about all of their findings so far, and the two chatted until a maid came to inform them that Ilene had entered labour.
Grisha was quite solemn at those words, but Anira, who did not know the pain of childbirth, was very excited to meet the baby and hold it in her arms.
When the Princess rushed out, she met Sabrina in the hallway, and she grabbed the Moonheart's hand as she led her away.
Their Family Doctor, Elizabeth, was already at the Palace, and there was a group of four nurses and their Blissey inside Ilene's room.
The Old Maid of Cameran Palace, Jenny, was quite anxious about the safety of her Queen, but she quickly bowed to Anira and Sabrina when they arrived in the hallway and rushed to them.
Thankfully, there were not many people here, and after Grisha arrived, the Princess nervously held her hand but failed to hide her smile from time to time.
"Is it going to be a little Prince or a Princess?" she asked, and her grandmother chuckled at her words.
"We will know in a couple of hours."
Anira pouted at her words, but then jumped and sat on the railing, swinging her legs.
Iris and May soon arrived at the scene too, and then, to everyone's shock, they saw Aizen enter the hallway, having just taken a shower.
He yawned and smiled in their direction, and Anira's heart thumped against her chest, but her grandmother beat her to it as she teleported next to the Prince and tightly hugged him.
"Inform Ilene that Aizen is awake," she ordered a maid, who immediately bowed to her and entered the room.
"The Queen wishes to see the Prince," the old maid happily informed them after she came out, and as much as Aizen did not wish to enter the room, he steeled his heart and went to see his wife.
His heart melted when he saw the tears in her eyes, and he smiled at her before he went over and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Stay…"
Aizen conflictedly looked towards the Doctor, but resigned his fate when she said that it was fine for him to stay.
He really did not wish to hear Ilene's painful cries and watch her in agony, but now he had no other choice.
The two hours he spent in the room had him praying every minute for Ilene and the child's health, feeling his energy leave his body as he kept growing more and more nervous.
He had never felt as nervous as he did today, not even when he was facing death, but when the sweet cry of the child resonated in the room, he felt his strength return to his body.
"Congratulations, My Queen, My Prince. You have a healthy little Prince in your family now."
And Aizen felt happier at the news than he had on the day he won the Indigo Conference.
He slowly walked over to the bed when Blissey handed the little Prince to Ilene after cleaning the babe, and he smiled when he saw the golden tuft of hair on his son's head.
The babe briefly opened his eyes when Ilene started feeding him, and Aizen smiled even more when he saw those dark eyes, which would reveal their true colour in a few months.
"May we have the name of the young Prince?" the old doctor asked as she held a tablet in her hand, and Ilene smiled at her.
"Alexis Emilian Cameran."
The Orayen Prince smiled when he saw that his wife had named their child after her late parents, and he found the name truly beautiful.