"It's early. Why is it so early? Do you know how early it is, Takayoshi?" Estia asked, for perhaps the third time since they had left their inn that morning.
"I am aware of the time. Yes." Takayoshi felt the distinctive urge to sigh in his annoyance, but he did not. Instead he held his breath for one, two, three counts and then let it out normally.
"Did you wake up this early when you traveled with the prince of Lunette?"
The question nearly stopped Takayoshi in his tracks. He had known that at some point Estia would put two and two together. He had known that Estia's questions would not be stymied by his silence. And he had known that Estia would begin to search for gossip, sniffing around wherever it could be found.
"What? Is it supposed to be a secret that you spent an entire summer trailing behind Prince Cricket as he tried to solve his problems?" Estia sat up straighter in zir saddle, zir lips turning up at the corners in what could only be described as smug satisfaction.
"Not a secret. I was just unaware that it was common knowledge." Takayoshi looked at Claudia out of the corner of his eye. She did not meet his gaze, but he could see her give a faint little shrug.
"Well, maybe not common knowledge, per say," Estia said, pushing zir horse to ride alongside Lily through the trees. "But Cricket hasn't exactly been quiet about the whole affair."
"I see."
"What's he been saying?" Claudia asked, her curiosity seeming to get the better of her.
"Just that Prince Takayoshi was a big help while he worked to solve the curses his uncle had cast and save the people of Lunette." Estia's smile said there was more to it than that, but ze let that sit with them for a moment. It was the truth of what had happened. Although, at least with the first case, Takayoshi had been more a hindrance than a help.
"Is that all?" Claudia turned to look at Estia, her dark brows raised.
Takayoshi did not think he wanted to know what else Cricket had said, especially after the fight they had had. Surely there would have been some unkind things said. Things that would leave Takayoshi feeling raw. It would be easier not to think of Cricket, or their fight.
"He said that you were valiant in your effort to save the people of Lunette." Estia had pinned Takayoshi with zir eyes. Takayoshi felt zir watching every shift in emotion that may have flitted across his face, so he swallowed them down. Hid them away behind the mask of impassivity. "He said he appreciated your help."
Estia took a breath, letting those words sit, and sink into Takayoshi. There was more coming, though. More that would maybe be harder to hear. Takayoshi could feel it in the way that Estia's eyes traced every line of his face. Takayoshi kept his eyes forward, not allowing himself to turn his questioning gaze on Estia. He would not ask. He did not want to know. He would not give Estia the satisfaction. It seemed Estia did not need any such permissions.
"He seems quite taken with you, I'd say."
The words settled like misshapen steel around Takayoshi's shoulders. Heavy, and ill-fitting armor that would do nothing to protect him in the battle to come.
"Are you friends?" Takayoshi managed from beneath the weight somehow.
"We were, when we were younger. We used to spend summers together." Estia looked back to the path through the forest, which had become tighter. They would have to move to riding one at a time soon enough. Takayoshi was not sure whether that would be better or worse for this conversation. Perhaps if he were at the head of the group he could simply pretend he did not hear Estia. "We have since renewed our acquaintance, under my brother's advisement."
"Why would the king suggest such a thing?" Claudia asked, her eyes squinting to look at Estia in the dappled sunlight of the forest. She looked as if she were trying to put puzzle pieces together, and they were not fitting. If they were alone, Takayoshi would ask what about Estia's words had bothered her, but they were not alone.
"Oh you know how monarchs are," Estia said, flapping one elegant wrist carelessly through the air.
"No, I'm afraid I don't." Claudia was very near sneering, Takayoshi cut her a warning look, and she rolled her eyes. "Please, enlighten me, oh great one."
Sarcasm, it seemed, was lost on Estia for ze looked as delighted as ever to continue down this route of conversation. Takayoshi wondered how much longer before they reached the manor, the sun was already beginning to stretch his fingers towards his peak. Soon it would be lunch time, and they would have to stop to eat if nothing else.
"Well they all want to be friends with each other in case a war breaks out. Keep your allies close..."
"Keep your enemies closer," Claudia added.
"Not that Lunette and Cytherea are enemies," Estia rushed to tack on.
"Of course." Claudia nodded sagely. "Did you tell the prince that you would be traveling with Yoshi?"
Takayoshi did not hear the answer, his mind was spinning. In case a war breaks out. Was that where this whole thing was headed? Yue Sunil had been banished, but would that be enough? Cricket had not wanted to execute his own uncle, and Takayoshi could understand that. But there was always the threat that Sunil would rally for his cause. That he would tell others that he was the rightful heir to the throne. There was the possibility that he could gather an army behind him. What if he turned to other monarchs for help?
They moved down to single file, making their way through the trees. Claudia and Estia's chatter became background noise to the sounds of the forest. Birds tweeting. Insects buzzing. And the soft rustling of the breeze through the leaves. Takayoshi focused on these things, and did his best to narrow his mind. To let the worries of what could be or could have been fade away, and instead focus on what was. To listen to the soft sound of one inhale-exhale, into the next.
And then he heard it, or rather he did not hear it. The insects fell quiet, the birds ceased their songs, and even the wind seemed to have held its breath.
Takayoshi tugged on Lily's reins, pulling her to a stop, and holding up his hand to stop Estia and Claudia as well. "We are almost there."
"How can you tell?" Estia asked, sounding dubious.
"Can you not hear it?"
"Hear what?"
"Exactly." Takayoshi slid down off Lily, and began to lead her quietly through the undergrowth of the forest. The path that they had been following had narrowed to not more than a thin line, and Lily was struggling to pick her way through with a rider.
"Well that was cryptic. Is that it?" Estia asked. Takayoshi heard zir slide off zir own horse and begin to follow behind him. "Are you not going to say anything else?"
"Shh," Claudia hissed from the back of their little party.
"You shhh."
"Quiet," Takayoshi held up his hand again to silence them both. His feet braced on the dirt, he closed his eyes, and reached out with his magic, feeling for that low hum of power that all living things put off. There was nothing. No signs of life for at least a mile although the forest remained as green as ever. Was it an illusion? Or was something keeping it alive?
"Is that the manor?" Estia asked with no small amount of disgust in zir tone.
Takayoshi opened his eyes, leaning a little so he could peer past a tree the path had curved around. There, on the other side, in the distance he could see a wall of stone covered in ivy. Crumbling bits had fallen to the ground, and those too had green growing over them.
"Where's the door?" Claudia came to stand beside him. She adjusted her spectacles on her nose.
"We will follow the wall to find it." Takayoshi headed up the path, clicking his tongue at Lily, who neighed softly.
"What about the ghosts?" Estia's voice had risen in what may have been fear, but Takayoshi could hear the soft crunch of zir boots behind him through the brush.
"You don't believe in ghosts, do you, Your Highness?" Claudia laughed.
"No. Of course not." Estia squeaked.
"Of course not." Claudia nodded.
"Do you think it wise to mock royalty?" Takayoshi saw Estia straighten zir waistcoat out of the corner of his eye. Zir posture going from artfully relaxed to arrogantly puffed.
"You aren't my ruler."
"You—"
"Quiet." Takayoshi moved to press his palm to the wall. The stone should have been warmed by the sun, but it was cold to the touch. Nothing lingered beneath the surface, not even death. All was silent. Even the plants did not hum with life.
"It's like it's died." Claudia breathed from where she had moved to press her hand to the wall as well.
Not dead, Takayoshi wanted to say. It was as if it had never existed at all.
"But it's green." Estia frowned, zir keen dark eyes flicking over the ivy crawling up the wall next to where Takayoshi stood. "If it was dead, it shouldn't be green."
"We should proceed with caution." Takayoshi turned to lead them toward the door, picking his way through fallen limbs and creeping roots. Lily pressed her muzzle in close to his neck.
"What about the horses?"
"We will tie them up outside of the door, once we reach it. I do not wish to take them into this place."
Lily was not appreciative of being tied to a tree in the small clearing before the front door, but Takayoshi was taking no chances with her safety.
The small party moved to stand in front of the heavy wood. In spite of everything, it had not rotted away. It looked as fresh and new as it had the day it had likely been installed. This, too, struck Takayoshi as odd.
"Should we just... knock?" Claudia asked, shifting from one foot to the other.
"It would only be polite." Estia reached for the knocker.
"Maybe the ghost will answer."
Estia yelped, and pulled zir hand away as if burned. Claudia chortled. Takayoshi did not roll his eyes, but it was a near thing, and reached for the knocker to bang it loudly against the door. They waited in the silence, listening for any hint of movement.
"If no one answers, should we just break the door down?" Claudia leaned in closer, her weight on her toes so she could inspect the wood more closely. "It doesn't look like it's got any magic keeping people out."
"Let's just try again," Estia said, reaching for the knocker once more.
The door creaked open.
Estia screamed, flinging zirself behind Takayoshi as if he would protect zir from whatever theoretical beastie had opened the door.
The light from outside settled onto the smiling features of a middle-aged woman with dark hair, and crows feet around her eyes. Her dark eyes flicked from Estia to Claudia before landing on Takayoshi. She seemed to take a moment, inspecting them in turn, and then her smile widened further, crinkling up her eyes more.
"Oh look, honey, we have visitors!" She called over her shoulder into the house, and a man around the same age came to take the door from her hand. He pulled it open further so he could smile at them as well. His smile was much the same, just as wide, and crinkling.
"Hello. Hello. What can we help you with?" His eyes were lighter, and they glittered with untold amounts of mischief.
"We are here in search of a piece of a map," Takayoshi said before he could think over the words that were leaving his lips. He likely should have prepared what he was going to say ahead of time, but there it was.
The couple blinked for a moment, looked at one another, and then turned their blinding grins back to Takayoshi.
"I'm not sure that we have anything like that here, but you're welcome to check," the man said. "The wife and I moved in here a couple months back, and we haven't really had time to fix up all the rooms yet."
"I'll make some tea," the woman said, already turning her back to them to go deeper into the manor.
"If you wouldn't mind," Claudia said, her eyes shifting uncertainly from the man's face to the darkness of the house beyond.
"Oh, we don't mind at all. We so rarely have visitors." The man laughed, and stepped away from the door to give them all space to enter.
Estia was the first to break ranks, and head inside. Takayoshi gave one last lingering look to Lily.
"Don't worry about your mounts, there are no wolves in this part of the forest," the man assured, gesturing for Takayoshi to head inside.
"No wolves?" Takayoshi felt his lips turn down into the ghost of a frown.
"No wolves," the man agreed, patting Takayoshi's shoulder as he guided him inside. The door shut behind him softly.
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