A shadow appeared in the doorway of the dark room. Riki pulls Miyuki behind him prepared for another interrogation, “We haven’t done anything, so if you don’t let us go, I'll make my own way out. “Wow!” The voice of the shadow rang through the room; it was a candied voice. It seemed cheerful but stern and strong. The figure started to walk into the room which made Riki step back. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m actually making sure everyone that was involved in knocking you out is taken care of.” “What do you mean” Miyuki said, the figure seemed to lean over to look at Miyuki from the shadows. “I only asked them to bring you here, I never wanted them to harm you. I figured people trying to hurt me wouldn’t think of me as a human, so they wouldn’t hurt me.” Just then, Miyuki’s eyes widened. Was this really her brother? Was it actually Vanir? She didn’t want to get her hopes up only to find out it was an imposter. “I won’t repeat myself.” Riki said in a low voice as he clenched his fists, Miyuki was worried. She would’ve thought her brother would be more excited to find out if it was him or not. “You really are something,” the voice proclaimed in a humorous manner, “Though stories told about you don’t do justice to your true nature.” Miyuki hid behind her brother; how would someone know any of the stories? Only she was told. “Who are you?” Miyuki asked still hiding behind Riki. The man took a few steps forward, two inches away from a good viewpoint for Miyuki to decide if it was him. “I am hurt you do not know. Afterall, Yuki, you’re the only one that has dreamt of us correctly.” Riki put his hands up in a fighting stance. “For one,” Riki growled, “Stop pretending to be my brother. Secondly, don’t call her that.” “You really think I’m lying to you?” the voice sounded irritated. In milliseconds, the room was filled with flickering spheres of light that lined the walls. Miyuki and Riki both looked at the man standing before them, standing now in the middle of the room. He had one hand in his pocket and the other behind his head as he sighed in aggravation. He looked Riki age but he didn’t at the same time. He seemed to slightly float above the floor but it was barely noticeable. Miyuki was in disbelief when she saw his face, as was Riki. Sunset orange hair with small strand of blue in the front that had grown out slightly past his ears. His eyes were like the burning lava in a volcano with a small glistening circle of gold that sat around the edges as is seemed to seep into the center. His face pale but glowing, like looking at him would kill any evil part of any being. Miyuki notice the two blue strands and how it matched the blue in Riki eyes, then she saw the silver highlights in Riki’s hair. What if Riki’s silver strands match the hair color of her oldest brother, Cato? “Don’t just stand there, say something.” Vanir said breaking each of their thoughts. “Apologies, it took me a while to process that it was you. I never thought I would find another one of my brothers so early on after finding the first.” Miyuki said, slightly bowing in front of him. “Must a sister bow to her brother, Yuki.” Riki said walking towards Vanir. Miyuki thought Riki didn’t believe it was him and she started to say, “Riki wait-” Before she could finish, she saw Riki bear hug Vanir and pick him high off the ground. Even though, he was already floating, it took Vanir by surprise. “It’s nice to finally put a face to a name. So, this is what my little brother looks like. Very magical.” Riki laughed as Vanir obviously got upset when called his little brother. “You are only older by seconds you big bag of muscles. Maybe if you had marinated more, you would have got my magic.” “Yeah, but then what would you have had? Charisma?” Riki laughed harder and Vanir hid his laughter as he took swings at Riki that missed. Miyuki watched as her brothers bonding for the moment. She was content, this had felt more like family then anytime she spent in the castle. “I bet you’re excited to hear about our parents aren’t you.” Riki teased. “Actually,” Vanir turned to Miyuki, “I sort of already know.” Both Riki and Miyuki looked dumbfounded, “I have magic, or did you both forget already. It was very simply I would connect through the elements and through our blood and watch them.” Miyuki got a pit in her stomach, “But you never thought to come home?” she fumed. “It’s not like that.” Vanir said as he through his hands up “I was able to see you but not your location, I only knew the room they spent time with you.” “So, you don’t know father and mother are the King and Queen?” Vanir’s mouth dropped, “Royals? We’re THE royals?” He said turning back to Riki who just smiled and nodded his head. “That is amazing!” Miyuki smiled, “Next time you see them it won’t be through your magic.” Vanir smiled softly and they all hugged in the small room that just minutes ago they were held captive in.
Vanir led them out of the room and into a castle like hallway that showed them the way to a big open room. There were many tables in the room, so Miyuki thought it to be the dining hall. At one of the tables, though, sat Albie and her three soldiers. Miyuki had to hold back tears; she was so happy everyone was alright. This whole time she thought Albie and the others had suffered the same outcome as they did but worse. Riki placed his hand on her shoulder, “Would you look at that? They’re all alright.” Vanir looked a bit confused, but he shrugged it off and walked them to the table. When the men saw both Riki and Miyuki they stood up from their chairs and bowed. “Albie, I’m very pleased to see you and the others unharmed. It worried me splitting up.” Miyuki said. “Your highness, it was your idea.” Albie laughed as he shook Riki’s hand and nodded at him. “These soldiers found us in the woods and said that they were informants and we could stay here until dawn. I didn’t think that included you two as well, Your majesties.” “Please, Albie. There is no one here that I need to impress with my social status.” Albie eyes Vanir that was standing behind them. “Gentlemen.” Vanir nodded to the others and went to walk away. Miyuki grabbed his arm, “Wait!” She said pulling him back to the group. “Now, I know this may sound hard to believe seeing as we just found Riki-” “You speak of me as if I'm a puppy.” Riki interrupted, “Sometimes that title fits.” Miyuki laughs, but she sees the soldiers eyeing each other. “I assure you, this will make more sense the more you let me explain.” She continued. “This is Vanir, the third born of the triplet brothers. He is in fact my brother and as always this is a matter of trust from you, my soldiers.” Albie looks up at the ceiling, “How can we trust you, your highness.” he said, “Captain Albie.” one of the soldiers said but Miyuki lifted her hand to stop him. “Albie” she said softly, which surprised Albie and Riki. “I know it must be hard to trust me when you have nothing to go off of. However, you know nothing of my brothers, only I was told. Therefore, shouldn’t my judgement be the most important when coming to finding them?” Albie looked down, “Yes, your Majesty, but what if you’re wrong” Miyuki smiled and placed a hand on Vanir’s and Riki’s shoulders. “Thats why I've been very diligent. There have been many who were similar to my brothers but not them, had I not been as careful as I am now, I would be surrounded by fakes.” Albie’s face went red, but he quickly looked away, “I never said I didn’t trust, your Majesty. I only wanted to make it clear that some might find it difficult.” Miyuki looked at the other soldiers, “You trust me right, friends?” she smiled. “Yes, your Highness” they said in unison, like always. “Great, then I would like to introduce Vanir. You will find his capabilities to be most intriguing.” The rest night the group danced, ate, and talked through it all. Vanir wanted to show the soldiers some magic, but Miyuki thought that would be too much too fast. They laughed about their travels and how much they had been through before finding Vanir. “So, little brother.” Riki started, “Are you going to be traveling back with us?” Miyuki almost choked on her drink. She wasn’t going to bring that up just yet. She wanted to have a fun night and talk about it when everything had settled down. Vanir sat still for a moment then said, “I don’t know my answer yet. However, the subjects of the forest are having a ball of sorts tomorrow. If you wish to stay for that I'll have my answer by then, there's only a few things I need to think about. To think over if it’s really a good idea to go.” Miyuki could see someone's shadow poking out from the corner of the hallway, but it quickly disappeared after she saw it. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” She said turning her attention back on her brothers, “That would be a great break from all the traveling, don’t you think so, boys?” She asked turning her head towards the soldiers who all turned bright red. “I believe that would be a great idea, Miyuki.” Albie said, the others cheered as another said, “That’s one hell of a day off.” “Then it’s decided.” She said as she turned to her brothers. She smiled and said, “Even if you boys didn’t want to go, you are outnumbered.” Vanir and Riki laugh, Riki shot back, “Why wouldn’t we enjoy a little ball?” “If you think it’ll be a small ball, you’re in for a surprise.” Vanir informed, He smiled at them humorously. “Someone's excited.” Miyuki said as she saw his smile. “I’ve just dreamed about finally meeting you guys. Soon it’ll be all of us, but, for now, this at least provides some happiness.” “Still nothing without Cato.” Riki said slumped, “We’ll find him too.” Miyuki said raising her drink to her brothers, “You’ve got me, there's no way we won’t find him.”
Vanir showed each of them to their rooms, there were enough that no one had to share. Miyuki didn’t realize this before, but where they were staying had to be a palace of sum sorts. It could be a type of ruin but Miyuki couldn’t be sure from seeing the inside. “This can be your room for the stay, Yuki.” Vanir gestured his hands towards a door on her left, she turned around and said goodnight to her brothers and went inside. The room was very clean for the old-fashioned build. There was a wood canopy bed against the back wall with candles lit on the sides of the room. There was a mirror that sat at the desk, when Miyuki passed it, she saw the dirt on her face and clothes. “Don’t tell me I walked around like this all night.” She sighed to herself and picked a cloth from the bathroom to wash her face. After she changed her clothes with the spares in the closet. She sat back down at the desk, she thought she looked more tired than she usually did, and her hair didn’t look as kept. “Well, I haven’t exactly had time to keep together.” She laughed, talking to her reflection. She checked the desk for anything to help her clean up her appearance, she found a hair brush and skin ointment. It took her a few to brush her hair out, with there being many knots. When she was done, she stared at her reflection, like it was the first time she was seeing herself. Her hair had gotten longer and she didn’t know how she felt about it, it already stood out by being so brightly blonde. It’s nothing like my brothers though, she thought. She smiled; she was so close to having the family she wanted. She was happy she had gotten this far, and she couldn’t wait to finish the quest. She finally laid down to try getting some rest before tomorrow's event, and slowly, she fell asleep. Miyuki next found herself laying on very comfortable grass almost like a cloud. She was back under the tree from the garden at the palace. She looked around, it seemed so real, but she remembered finding her brothers, so she knew it was a dream. She climbed out of the bushes surrounding the tree when she saw a couple of men standing near a fountain. One of them turned around, it was Riki, he was in royal attire and seemed to recognize her. “Yuki, why are you covered in leaves? Your dress is ruined, thoughtless princess.” Miyuki covered her mouth in surprise, were they here together? The ground spun around and suddenly she was in room in the tower of the palace. She saw drawings of animals and different potion recipes laid out on a table. She looked up to see Vanir sitting on the window with a bunny on his lap. He looked to be wearing a royal mage outfit, and he was looking out the window at the forest. He suddenly turned to her and said, “Are you ready for the lesson today, young ~~~~~?” the last word he said was incoherent. “What did you say?” Everything started to blur, and she was in a different room again. This time, she was in the palace library, “Please let this be Cato.” She whispered to herself. Behind her in another isle of the library, she hears someone rummaging through the books. She goes through each isle and every time she turns to a new one, she would hear more rustling coming from the next. This kept happening till the last isle, she turned to see a shadow at the end of the isle. As she walked towards it, books flew off the shelves, pages ripped out of books, and shelves rattled on the floor. At one point, a book flew out that was the only one with a cover on it that said, “Made of Magic”. She picked it up and read a few pages, it was about the god Deluix, and the creation of humanity. She sat the book back on the shelf and sighed. “If I can’t see him clearly it must mean he doesn’t want to be seen yet.” she said out loud. All of a sudden, smoke started to swirl around her as she was lifted into the air. She could no longer see anything around her and couldn’t even tell which way was up or down. She reached out to the smoke around her, suddenly, she started to fall down and she desperately tried to find something to grab to save her. When she finally hit the ground, it felt like she had landed on her bed as she woke up. She sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes, sun rays shot through the window of the room casting a very beautiful glow to everything inside the room at the moment. She remembered where she was and all the worry from her dream had melted away in seconds. I am going to have fun tonight, she thought. “There’s no way I'm letting anything ruin today.” She chanted getting out of bed. It wasn’t that she was giving up on Cato, after all he was a part of her family that she dreamed of for so long. It was only that she couldn’t find him in a day, and there's no use looking if her mental stability wasn’t it’s best. "So, tonight is purely for fun and entertainment with my friends. I cant worry about the rest tomorrow, at the very least." She started humming as she brushed her hair, when someone knocked on the door of her room. “My lady?” a voice called out, “Are you awake? We’ve come to help you get ready for the ball tonight, if you'll allow us.” and so it began, she smiled to herself.
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