They traveled around to the closest cities and the plan was to go from the inside out. It took them about two weeks of straight travelling with no free days to finish the searches there. They didn’t find anything in any of them, but Miyuki heard a rumor of a magician that has recently showed up over the past years. She overheard some of the ladies in the town speaking of him and his young appearance. She heard them say he was performing in Balidor in four days. It’ll take us three days to get there, maybe the guys will want to take the ride. As she thought to herself Albie overheard a fight festival was also supposed to be held in Balidor the same day. “Your Highness?” Albie started, “Yes, Albie?” she turned to face him. “Do you think we could go to Balidor? There's a fight festival in three days, and I would like to participate.” Miyuki stared at him surprised about the coincidence. She thought to herself, this way the soldiers would be away from me while I check out the magician and after the fact, I can ask the boys if there was anyone that was exceedingly good at everything, but I can ask in a way that makes it seem like I'm not trying to be specific. She looked back up at Albie who was patiently waiting for her answer, “I think that would be a very good stress reliever, you four can have some fun and there's a magic show in that town during the same time so we’ll all be pleased. Just one problem, though.” She looked at her other escorts “It takes three days to get to there. Are you okay with travelling with only stopping for the horses to rest?” The soldiers looked at each other than back at Albie, who also looked very confused. “Your majesty, our opinions aren't important if you want to go then we shall go.” “Yes,” she replied, “But right now we are just five friends traveling, are we not? I don’t see why being royal makes your opinions invalid.” Albie argued, “You can’t throw away your royal status just because you want us to feel included, that’s irresponsible.” Miyuki looked down and pressed her index finger to her forehead. “I do not need my status when I am looking for my brothers all that will do, Mr. Albie, is make it harder for anyone to be honest with me. So, if I can’t use my status on the people of this kingdom then I shouldn’t use it against the people I am traveling with. The only time my royalty should come into play is if my life is in danger. Not when making silly choices like this, do I make my-self clear?” Albie nodded, “Yes ma’am.” he knew he had made her mad because she called him ‘Mr. Albie’. The soldiers smile nervously while trying to change the subject, “Thank you for being so considerate, your Highness.” said the soldiers. They didn’t want to waste any more time with that argument, so they set off. With that they began the journey, after getting some muffins from the town bakery. They travelled for as long as the horses would let them, only stopping for the horses to rest. When they did and the horses needed a longer rest, they camped out, but they stopped late at night and left early in the morning. This time they stopped after being on the road for almost a full day. They stopped by a clutter of trees for shelter and set up camp there. No matter how many times Miyuki slept in her tent, she never had a dream like the one in god’s forest. Miyuki still thinks about the dream with the old lady, she seemed oddly familiar to her. She knew she had never met her before, but it was as if she was connected to her somehow. She thought back on what the lady said, ‘Don’t stop looking for them’ and something about stepping out of my comfort zone. As she lay down her mind drifted off into another dream, she assumed it to be a normal one.
She woke up in her palace garden, with a book in her lap. The book read a guide to polite conversation. She had to read it before she was allowed to go to balls or any public event, but she didn’t know why she was here. “Hello again, dearie.” a voice next to Miyuki said. She jumped up and stood in front of the figure, it was the lady again. For some reason, Miyuki sighed in relief. She had many questions as well as ideas about finding her brother she wanted to talk about with her. “You have a different look in your eye today, Yuki” “What did you call me?” she turned to the lady, “I call you Yuki, I hope you don’t mind. I found it quite a cute nickname.” Miyuki didn’t mind it was strange to her that she was getting personal and friendly with her, I mean she's just a figment of my imagination. “Thats not true, my child.” Miyuki stared in amazement, “You can read my mind too?” “Only when you're in the realm.” the lady answered. “There's something I must tell you, Yuki.” The lady patted the ground next to her, signaling Miyuki to sit next to her. Miyuki obeyed and sat down next to the old lady. “Now, the next town you’re headed for, one of your brothers is there.” Miyuki’s heart started racing. Ones there, that’s incredible. “However, Yuki, depending on how you handle certain situations is whether or not you meet him and convince him that you’re his sister.” Miyuki listened in silence; “Be sure to not let anyone know you know who they are.” the woman said, “They might prevent you from speaking to him, or getting to him in general.” Miyuki had already heard all of this before from her parents, but this time it felt like if she didn’t listen, she would lose the chance to unite with her brother. “Which brother will be there?” She asked hesitantly. The lady looked up into the sky and said, “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that. However, I can tell you which one won’t be there.” She said one meaning singular, Miyuki thought. “Does that mean more than one of them will be there at the same time?” The lady smiled and said, “No, actually, it’s just that I can’t let you know who will be. I can only tell you one that won’t be there, but there won’t be more than one there.” Miyuki felt relieved, she didn’t want to have to choose between her brothers. “So, which one will not be there?” she asked as she fiddled with her fingers in her lap. The lady turned to her right to look at the flower bed next to her and picked a white rose with a healthy green stem and leaves. She handed the rose to Miyuki and looked at her, waiting for her to guess. “What is this for?” she asked as she took the rose. When she did the peddles flew up into the air and flew around her lifting her hair up and flying into the trees. “It is Cato dear, that will not be there.” “You say only one will be there, but you can only tell me that Cato won’t be there because telling me the other brother that’s there would be cheating?” The lady nodded her head with a gentle smile. “You will make the right decision; I trust I've led you into battle with the right weapons. I think it's time for you to wake up now, Yuki” Miyuki looked up, but the lady was gone, she could still here her, though. “Wake up, Miyuki.” what, she thought. “Wake up, your Highness, we need to leave.” She opened her eyes to find Albie trying to get her up so they could start their travels again. “I’m sorry, Albie. I’m up now, we can leave.” The time she spent in the carriage was time she spent thinking about her dreams. One of her brothers was in the town she was headed to. She was even more excited to go to Balidor, she was going to meet one of her brothers. Finally, was the thought that was running through her head, she’d get one of her brothers back and be one step closer to completing her family. The dream she had kept coming up in her thoughts throughout the journey. She sat smiling out the window of her carriage, eyeing the road that would lead her to Balidor in a day and a half.
Miyuki watched as the trees and bushes of every plant passed by the window of the carriage; it was peaceful to her. So peacefully, she almost fell asleep. “You’ve been taking many naps lately, Miyuki.” She wakes up and looks up at Albie, “I’ve just been dreaming about my brothers.” She looks at her hands. “I know you can’t talk about them until we find them, but anything you can let out without breaking your promise, I’m here.” tears fill up in Miyuki’s eyes, she tries to hide it by closing her eyes and leaning her head up against the wall of the carriage. “I can’t tell you exactly.” she started, “All I can say is I miss them, and I don’t want to fail, for my parents and me.” She slightly opened her eyes to look at him, “My brothers are important to my parents and though I never met them, they are to me too.” “I see, Princess. I think it’s only natural to miss family. So, it doesn’t matter if you’ve never met them, you have a right to feel for them.” No one's talked to her like that about her brothers. They always told her that she couldn’t miss someone she never met. They said she was saying it for attention and that she shouldn’t use her missing brother to get her parents to notice her. She smiled, “I’m glad you see it my way, Albie.” She closed her eyes again, not to fall asleep but to clear her head. Albie laughs at her face, “You look so serious, this was supposed to be a detour so we could let go of all this stress.” that was the story she told the men, but it’s actually just another quest to find her brothers. She’s so close this time she can’t act calm and collected right now. Obviously, she can’t tell Albie that. She stared, “I’ve just never seen a magic show before. At that moment, there was a sharp pain in Miyuki’s head, and she heard a faint “No” within her head. What? She thought, what said no? And why did it say no? “Your highness?” Albie’s word snapped her out of her panic, “Are you alright?” He looked very concerned; he must have seen her face when she was frightened of the voice in her head. “I’m fine, Albie. I just had a thought I might've forgotten something.” “Anything of importance?” Albie asked, Miyuki shook her head “No it’s fine. I can easily find it somewhere.” One of the escorts rode up to the window and said, “Your majesty, we were closer than we originally assumed.” “So, how close are we?” She asked in replied. “We’re approaching now, Princess.” Miyuki laughed a little and looked at Albie, “At least we were told before we got there.” she said to him. They arrived in Balidor after ten minutes of having that conversation.
They pull the carriage to the side of the square, and one of the soldiers leads the horses to the stables near the fields where the fighting festival was going to be held. “The fighting festival starts in thirty minutes boys. Everyone, get ready!” A gleam appeared in Miyuki’s soldier’s eyes, and it made her smile. “You boys get ready. I’m going to the bakery for some snacks.” She could hear Albie laugh, “You and your sweets.” She smiled as she walked away. After asking for directions, she easily found the bakery. She walked in and was looking at all the sweets on display. She was trying to decide what she wanted when she heard two more people walk in, though she didn’t care. She kept looking, as the men spoke to the baker. “Why’d you want to go here?” one asked, “I just had a sudden craving for sweets, man.” the other said. At that moment, Miyuki could feel the stare of one of the men’s eyes. “Hey, little lady. No wonder something so sweet is in a baker.” She was too scared to turn around. “Hey, don’t talk to her like that.” his friend said. “Why not? You never cared before. Why does it bother you now? You want her yourself?” “No!” The man answered, “I just don’t like you talking to her like that, show some respect.” Did he know who she was? She still didn’t turn around, but she was thankful. When she heard them leave, she sighed a heavy sigh of relief and brought her sweets up to the counter. The baker apologized for the men's behavior, and she assured him it was fine as long as he doesn’t let anyone speak to any other ladies like that, and he agreed. She headed back to the field to watch her men. When she bumped into a man. She looked up to see tall a man with deep blue eyes and a young face and strong build, his hair was covered by his helmet. He must be here for the fighting festival, she thought. “My apologies.” she said. “All my fault, sorry about my mate in the bakery earlier. That was you right?” She pressed her index finger on her forehead. “Unfortunately, but it’s fine.” “You see it’s not. I don’t know why he acts that way, and honestly, I don’t know why it angered me so much.” She furrowed her brow, “It’s wrong either way, good sir.” He looked at her and smiled awkwardly, “Yes, but normally I wouldn’t want to punch my mate in the face. I would just ask him to stop and pull him away.” He put his hands up to defend himself. Miyuki laughed at his pose, “Aye, what a fighter.” She spoke. “Ever since I was born the fight was in me madame.” In that moment, three thoughts ran through her mind. One, He says he was born with the will to fight which many soldiers have. Two, He was overly protective of her for no reason. Finally, three, He has deep blue eyes, and when Miyuki looks at them, she sees the river that surrounded that tree in her dream. She decided not to jump to conclusions and wanted to leave to go watch the boys at the festival. “Thank you but I have to go now, my friends are in the festival.” She started to walk away and felt a sharp pain in her chest, but she kept walking. She wasn’t going to miss being there for them over a possibility. “Never stop looking” “Into battle... right weapons” “Not Cato”. She turned around to see the man she walked away from her staring at her in amazement. “You can hear it too?” They both said in unison. “How can you hear it too?” The man asked. Miyuki knew the answer but didn’t know how to tell the man. “Why don’t you walk to the festival with me?” The man smiled and nodded, catching up with her. On the way there, she explained how she was looking for her brothers and that she thought one of them would be here. She had just finished explaining when they got to the field and the man stopped. He took off his helmet to wipe off sweat and revealed midnight black hair that made his eyes even bluer. She knew then this was her brother and her heart started racing. “What do they call you?” she asked, “Everyone just calls me chaser, because I don’t have parents and never got a name.” Miyuki smiled and something changed about him. “How do you feel about the name Riki?” His eyes widened and he started to back away, then he turned away and walked as fast as he could with his hand over his mouth. “Wait!” Miyuki yelled, but she couldn’t see where he went. Her heart sank and she didn’t know what to do. Tears in her eyes she decided to watch the festival. To get her mind off the brother she just found and lost.
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