Hope Falls

“Mm, and what is that? Soothe my ego and in turn I’ll tell you you’ll find a woman as soon as you decide which one you actually want because of your dashing face and pleasing wit.”

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“Eden is my only friend. We are not - we are very different, her and I. But she is the sister I did not have.”

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“Me too!”

"Different?"

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"I don't think you understand how much my new sibling is going to change where I fit in here, how quickly this will no longer be my home. Or, even if you are right, you don't understand how deep the fear of if it all changing is."

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Rakesh smiled at the floor, knocking his shoulder against hers. "Have you ever played chase?"

“Running after each other?”

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“I think your dad loves you too much to take your home from you. Truly. I think he is a fool of a King, for allowing this to get as far as he has. But I think he loves you and Aesira no matter if others call you bastards or not.”

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“Eden would wear pretty clothes and dance and chat and party all day every day if you let her. She adores it. She is a social butterfly - and as beautiful as the real thing.” Aesira smiled as she spoke of her friend. “Give her a glass of champagne and she will be off all night wooing and laughing and putting the world to rights.”

"So that is where she has been over the past year then, that has made you feel so lonely? Partying, dancing and wooing?" He shook his head. "Friends do not let the other friend feel so lonely."

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"Time will tell. She is pregnant with the child the kingdom will celebrate over, and I will..." He pursed his lips. "I always believed I would end up crowned, always. Especially with how much my sister despises all of it but it won't happen now, and thus a existential crisis arrives.. what am I, who am I, what will I be?"

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"Uh huh, that's it."

“First son for the title, second son for the country, third son for the books, forth son for God.” Ira listed quietly, “This is how things usually go. Technically you are the first son but illegitimate so if you have a brother you are bumped to son number two. The wise thing to do? Command the armies. When your future brother rises to the throne you want him installing you as the leader of his armies. You will truly hold all the power.”

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“Eden is a Seer… she was away with the Guardians. She did not choose to leave. But she has lots of partying to make up for, and it makes her happy.”

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“You want me to be prey, to run?”

"Armies? Mm." Cassius shook his head. "Perhaps,  I'll need to train even more if I wanted to do that. Make more of impression."

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"A Seer. Ah, like the lady who came to calm Prince Zaretsky? The people you know are..." Marcus offered a bright smile. "My mother would be jumping for joy if she were here, at the opportunity to meet you all. My grandmother not so much."

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"No, I want you to chase me." He laughed, counting down from five in Baldurrian before launching himself forward. Fast on the drier, muddier parts of the path though struggling to maneuvere himself when the floor became slippy with mud and leaves, unused to the terrain.

(( Night night ))

“Your grandmother not a fan of people?”

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“You train well enough, it’s just honing skills at this point.”

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“Wait!” Mor laughed as she ran after him, looking over her shoulder to make sure Faolan could keep up.

"An old crone of a woman," Marcus laughed. "Picture the most story book, grumpy grandmother you have ever read and that is her. Grief for my mother made her give up with people, being saddled with me exhausted her."

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"Honing skills? You and I haven't faced off whilst training at all this year, what would you know about the skills I need to work on?"

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"Why would I do that and let you win?!"

(( Now night ))

“I’ve watched you train, I have seen.”

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“I have no grandparents… hopefully my brother makes my parents into grandparents one day.”

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“If I can’t at least see you we cannot play!”

"If you want keep up you'll have to find me instead! He laughed.

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"You don't? What happened to them?"

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"'If you know more than the staff, then, what skills must I work on?"

“You don’t know your history huh?” Aesira laughed weakly, “My father’s parents were the King and Queen killed during a coup by my grandfathers cousin who then took the crown and passed it through his line… Murdered in their beds by someone they loved. My uncles parents too, a handful of other family members who wouldn’t support the new King followed after. He wiped out half of his own family for the crown.”

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“You get too cocky when you get a hit in and your opponent seems downed. Three times in the last week Benson got the better of you by pretending he was wounded.”

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“But what if you get lost?” Mor frowned then, coming to a stop.

"My mother would tell me the history, I never particularly listened. Not in too much depth, I never thought it would effect me. I never thought I would be in the presence where it was more than just... history to them." He offered an apologetic smile. "It sounds like your dad and uncle had a shit time growing up."

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"Benson plays cruel tricks, pretending. It is sly, the man just proves why he is untrustworthy." Cassius scoffed, shaking his head. "That is nothing to do with me. I don't expect betrayal."

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Rakesh dug his heels into the mud as he noticed her stop, turning as he did so that he was facing her. "That is part of the fun, part of the point."

“They were helped out of the castle. They were only my age now… My father had a Witch glamour him so that nobody would recognise his face as the Prince, and Lucian was put onto a boat. He doesn’t remember anything, he had - well y’know, about his wings? He said it was weeks later when he woke up on the ocean. The crew had been paid in riches from the castle to keep quiet about who he was and to help him get better. We never did find out who it was that helped him, he’s still sad about it.”

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“We need to capture a wolf. Not - not a Wolf, but the animal. War will come again with the Adairs, and whilst they have sentient brains like ours a lot of them lose themselves to the animal when they fight. You need experience in fighting the animal.”

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“Forests can hide things, dangers, if you are so busy running you do not check around.”

"You are talking like a Seer. Hax your mother or sister seen anything of a future war?" Cassius asked with a frown. "I am not a fan of the idea of fighting, killing, a wild animal."

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"What dangers are here?" Rakesh questioned with a raised eyebrow, taking a step backwards. "'Don't your ancestors help you remain safe?"

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"His crew.. the red headed woman that washed up on the beach?" Marcus shook his head. "Was it the rich who helped him, or more likely to be the people? Was he well liked?"

“No, they haven’t. But the Adairs didn’t do all they did to just give up with their tails between their legs. They’ll be back for the Fae, for Magnus. We will be called to help them.”

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“They are not physically here. If a boar is disturbed and decides we are lunch and our guards are out of sight then we are done for!”

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“It was staff, he reckons. Probably one of the maids… His crew came later, from what I gather.”

"You have trees here. Do your boars know how to climb?" He raised an eyebrow, reaching out to grab Morfydd's hand and drag her gently as they continued to walk. "You should be less scared."

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"How many of the old staff are still around, or do they current staff still have links too? I imagine he could find answers, if he delved deep enough."

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"You talk about them like you know them, like we were involved. We were kids, we don't know what those wars were like... there have been blips where wolves have been crazy but our own people are just as likely to be. I think your being worried for no reason."

“I have studied. Whilst you were off romancing.”

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“You say it as if he has not been trying for over a decade.”

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“You should be more scared!”

“Princess, it’s time to come in.” Faolan beckoned quietly, “The sun is going down.”

"What exactly have you been studying?" Cassius questioned with a snort of amusment, "I have not been romancing. Interacting with women at parties doesn't mean it is all I do."

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"My grandmother's friends all whisper about their time in the palace, or their dogs or... whatever. I never listened to it. Your uncle has never come to my village searching though, so, he hasn't looked hard."

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"Lets stay out longer." He encouraged. "It will be fun. I read in a book that the stars are all the same, no matter where you are. I want to see if its true."

“No? It seemed like that was all you were doing last night, up to the point where you and Lord Accius’ daughter seemed to disappear off for a good hour or so.”

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“My mama will be very angry if I - “

“There is no staying out later, young Prince.” Faolan shook his head. “Come, both of you. Unless your guard is fine tackling the night creatures on his own whilst protecting you.”

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“He has sent people looking. He hasn’t gone himself because everyone just tells a Prince what they want to hear and he knew he’d get a thousand people claiming to either be or be relatives of the people who did it, to see what they could get.”

"It isn't staff's choice where royals go." Rakesh stated matter-of-factly, puffing his chest out as Faolan answered him. "I can look after the Princess. Your creatures don't scare me."

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"He thinks getting strangers to ask questions about if they committed treason will get results? He can't be too bright then."

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"Oh, you mean Esther? You have known her as long as I, you know the lung condition she has - someone blew smoke in her face, I accompanied her to the healers when her chest tightened. Devika will vouch for me. Why does it matter what I do at parties, Ira?"

“I never said it mattered.” Ira shook his head, closing his book.

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Aesira stopped in her tracks then, moving her arm from his. “I think I’m going to go lay down, perhaps I’m not well enough to ride after all. “Congratulations - for when Devika gets round to offering you the job. I can make my way back to my rooms just fine, thank you.”

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“I answer to Queen Isolde above all, and her orders are Princess Morfyyd is in the castle as it gets dark. If your guard wishes to keep you out here and risk your mothers wrath that’s entirely up to him.”

"I didn't mean to offend you." Marcus frowned, slowly to a stop as he turned to look at her. "I just mean, everyone was killed? You said that. If they did, why would those that survived admit involvement now?'

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"This is the part where we run," Rakesh whispered to Mor, moving himself in front of her so she could get a head start. "They won't be able to keep up. Go."

"Let them run, wear themselves out," Rakesh's guard, Tariq, finally spoke with a bored tone. "The boy always does this. He either runs and settles, falls asleep and is easy to scoop up or becomes scared by something and begs to be escorted home."

"No I don't!"

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Cassius laughed humourlessly then, reaching out to take the book from him. Inspecting the blurb curiously, "I want to know what you've been reading."

“You can do that with your charge, but the forest is not ours on a night, it belongs to the animals. There’s things in here that could chew through our armour and consider it nothing more than an inconvenience. My job is to protect my Princess.” Faolan shook his head, taking Mor’s hand as she extended it out to him. “She has her routine. If the boy wants to play there’s other children in the castle, though there’s a reason none of them are in here on a night.”

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“And again, you act as if he has not been doing this for over a decade. He has kept himself alive for centuries, but if you want to go call him stupid to his face and see if you can suggest something he hasn’t done go ahead, I’ll direct you to his rooms. But for now I’m going to mine.”

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“Texts on the Guardians, as usual.” Ira rolled his eyes as he handed the book over.

"So you refuse for us to work collaboratively, and continue to work solo? I could have told you before you started looking at this one that there is nothing useful in it."

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"Again, I didn't mean to offend."

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"Travel back safely. As I said, once the young Prince has worn himself out then we'll be back."

“And when your Lady is adding another urn of ashes to spread across the sea I’ll be making them well aware I informed you of the danger.” Faolan shook his head before escorting the Princess back inside.

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“I was reading before you even came in.”

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“It is fine.” Aesira shook her head, “I need to go rest. Congratulations on the job.”