“I want to hear what you just said to my baby sister.” Vanir said through clenched teeth. Enzo helped Miyuki off the ground as Riki walked to stand next to Vanir. The man that had pushed Miyuki was now the one on the ground. “Please, my king. I had no idea... Please, have mercy.” the man pleaded with a shaky voice. “So, you only feel regret for what you did because she’s related to you king.” Riki said inching closer to the man as he slid back with every step Riki took. “Even if she weren’t his Majesties sister you shouldn’t have treated her that way.” Enzo chimed in. “Since” Vanir started, still glowing red and gold, “You’ve brought it upon yourself to treat my sister that way I can only assume that you would do that to others.” “No, your majesty. I wouldn’t treat any person like that, please.” “So, just her then?” Riki said cocking his head to the side with a death stare on the man. “W-who are you? T-this is between his Majesty and me. You aren’t N-needed in this conversation.” Vanir’s voice rose as he got in the man's face. “Thats my brother you decided to talk to talk back to. You really have no self-restraint. The reason something got their attention in the first place is because you decided to try and hold your power and privilege over my maid’s heads. You’ve needed to be dealt with for a while, so I’m glad you finally gave me a good enough reason.” A bright light flashes around then making everyone cover their eyes or turn their heads. When Miyuki looked back the man and her brothers were gone, and there was only Lord Enzo for her to look to. “I can keep you company until they get back if you want me to.” Lord Enzo said holding his arm out gesturing towards the terrace. “Thank you.” Miyuki breathed unsure of what just happened and how to respond. They head outside and stand at the railing of the terrace. Miyuki just stares out into the forest trying to find something in her mind to calm her down. Lord Enzo places a hand on hers, “They were just trying to protect you and I’m sure they’re just talking to that man nothing else.” He said trying to set her mind at ease. “You know just as well as I do...” She didn’t want to finish her thought, so her mind trained off. She straightened up, turned to her new friend, and smiled, “Everything will be fine.” she said, “It seems like you’re trying to convince yourself and not me.” he smirks back at her smugly. She scoffs and turns back to the forest in front of them. “Lord Enzo,” she started, mainly trying to keep her mind busy, “What is your first name?” she asked staring at three baby birds in a nest at the top of one of the trees below. “It’s Arlo.” He said shortly coming to join her near the railing. “Arlo Enzo? Sounds familiar.” She pondered, “I doubt it my parents said it was a sound they heard and decided to name me.” She laughed, the thought of being named after a sound was preposterous. The sun was completely covered by the lining of their world and darkness crept in the background. “You want to see something amazing?” Arlo asked, studying Miyuki’s face as she thought about it. “I would like to, yes.” “It requires leaving the castle.” he said with one eyebrow raised. In a laughing tone Miyuki shot back, “Just don’t try anything. You’ve met my brothers.” He smiled a little nervously like he didn’t want his king to look at him the way he did to the other man. They secretly left the party and then the castle that she’d been staying in. They laughed as they tricked the guards into one direction so they could leave off to a trail. Once they got far enough, they stopped running and walked down the path slowly. Miyuki held her dress up slightly, so there was no evidence of dirt for her brothers to suspect anything. She ran barefoot, but only not to ruin her heals. Also, no one would look at the bottoms of her feet. “You know I could carry you.” Arlo says look at her dress. “That would be too much work for one person, I wouldn’t do that to you.” she huffs grabbing more of her dress to hold. She looks up at Arlo who looks offended and hurt, “Miyuki, I’m a wolf.” He said nonchalantly, like it was a normal thing to say. I guess for him that is normal, Miyuki thought. Before she could answer, Arlo swept her up into his arm and started jogging lightly. “Put me down!” She laughed as he wasted time with circles and zigzags down the path. “Not until you admit that I’m stronger than anyone you know.” he gleamed looked down at her. “I can’t lie, though. Have you met my brother?” He had a fake sad puppy look. “Don’t worry you’re a close third.” “Third?!” he scoffed as he ran faster towards their destination. “Well, yes. My bodyguard is second. He’s strong enough to protect me, so I'd say he is pretty strong.” Arlo stops and sets her down on a grass patch, “You know, that was your chance to give me a compliment. You ended up bringing another man into it.” He fakes fainting into Miyuki’s lap. “Here we are.” He gestures as they get up from the patch. Miyuki gasped as she saw the view before her. “How is this here?”
Standing tall and wide was a leafless willow tree, its thin branches flowing in the wind as the dead grass crunched under their feet. It was the tree from her dream, though, the river that surrounded the tree was dried up. That made the tree and grass die, in turn, there was nothing to float above it. “What do you mean ‘how is this here’?” Arlo asked as Miyuki walked towards the edge of what would have been the river. “I’ve been here before, I saw the tree healthy, and the water flowing and rose peddles floating it was all here.” she started to tear up as she turned back to him, “What happened here Arlo?” There was a small gust of wind as she asked this, which seemed to startle Arlo. “How could you have been here? It’s been dry for over 20 years.” He said with a confused look as he searched around for what caused the wind. Miyuki was speechless, how could she have seen something that wasn’t even here during her lifespan? She guessed it was the dream or the way the lady wanted to portray this place. “But I saw it.” she said quietly as she turned back to the tree eyeing the small branches that looked half broken. “I think you remember something else. Not even our king could bring back this place, and he’s very gifted.” Gifted, she thought. All her brothers were gifted, but that gift came from one person. She gasped as she thought, maybe they all must be here. She thought back to her dream of being here, it was beautiful. Surprisingly, she missed it, the dark water and the tall tree with floating flowers. It reminded her of her brothers, and how they were all still out here and one yet to be found. Miyuki closed her eyes and imagined her dream, and as she imagined it, it became more real. She could hear the water and smell the flowers. Then suddenly the lady was standing next to her slightly shorter than her, so she didn’t notice at first. “Your brothers may have gotten my gifts I blessed them with, but they’re your brothers.” She said slowly looking at the flowers beyond Miyuki. “What do you mean?” Miyuki asked as she watched the lady sit by the bank. “You don’t need your brothers to help this land. If you truly want to help it.” The surprise and confusion from the daydream woke her up. She lay on the ground now with Arlo sitting next to her asleep. Arlo! She thought she remembered something from one of the books she got from the first village they visited. It was a book about nature and the different remedies to help keep plants alive and nourished. It also spoke of the history of plant nourishment. It was said that the village mage would bless a dead or dying area with a chant. She fumbled around her brain trying to remember the words the book used. The story said they would sit by the edge of the dead land and picture the health it once had. She kicked herself for not remembering, then it hit her. She crawled her way to the edge of the dead grass and imagined her dream and what the tree looked like alive. Then, with a deep breath and calm placing of the hands on the grass, she spoke. “Osasuna Bueltatu Arlo.” She felt a shift under her hands, and she opened her eyes. The grass she looked down at started to turn a healthy green and it spread to the bank of the river. It started to rain, and she walked to the edge and saw the river was slowly filling up. She watched with excitement as the green grass spread to the roots of the trees and the bark of the trees darkened into a deep brown. As the brown swept up the tree, its branches started to bloom with light pink flowers and beautiful green leaves. She laughed in disbelief, as the water came up the bank and touched her bare feet. It was beautiful, lively even, and though it wasn’t instantly back to its former glory the more seconds that passed the more it seemed to age backwards. Like Miyuki herself had just turned back the clock. Miyuki’s mind quickly reverted back to reality as she remembered her friend asleep behind her. She spun around to see that Arlo was standing up now, mouth dropped and eyes staring at the tree. Behind him, though, was a pack of wolves and, embarrassingly, her brothers. Who were also all amazed at what Miyuki had just done. She backed up towards the water, unaware of how everyone would react. She had just done magic and without knowing she could do magic. She had just fixed that not even her brother, the literal King of magic, could fix. She raised her hands like an artist showing their final piece of artwork. “Would you look at that.” she said nervously as she studied their faces. Arlo covered his mouth, still unable to take his eyes off the still flourishing tree behind Miyuki. Vanir stepped forward with tears in his eyes, “How did you know that would work, Yuki?” She sighed, they watched the whole thing, so they knew it was because of the words she’d said. How can she even explain this?
She kept switching from looking at the tree and feeling happy to looking at the group of people staring and getting nervous. “I- uh. I read a book.” She sighed rubbing her hand on her forehead as she started towards the group. “It was the nourishment of plants and the history of plant nourishment.” She swung her hands around as she spoke to create emphasis and distract them. “I remembered the history part, and how they would use and elder or a mage to bring back dead or dying lands. They would say-” Vanir cut her off, “Osasuna Bueltatu Arlo.” he said, and grass started to grow around him. “Exactly,” Miyuki continued her nervous explanation, “Obviously, I didn’t expect it to work.” She threw her hands in the direction of the newly replenished tree. “I just thought it was worth a try, but I probably wouldn’t be able to do that again if I tried.” She stopped and caught her breath waiting for someone to say something. The wolves were now behind Arlo waiting for him to say something or do anything. “Is that why you said my name sounded familiar?” “Yes! That’s what led me to remember the book I read. Apart from the dream I had.” Riki’s face was clear now and he knew what dreams she was talking about; they’d talked about it. “So, you have magic?” “No.” she said which felt very involuntary. “I just felt in that moment I could save this place. I wanted to save this place. I don’t have a magic bone in my body.” Everyone looked at her with disbelief in their eyes, and she thought she felt a pain in her heart because of it. “I believe her.” Arlo said, walking up to the water bank. “I didn’t sense any magical abilities and I don’t know. Being a divine beast and all, it comes with the job description to sniff out threats. Pun intended.” he laughed, trying to make Miyuki smile. Could everyone see how stressed she was right now? Vanir told the guards to go back and guard the other guests at the castle and turned back around to face Miyuki. He walked up to her and hugged her, gently but protectively. “Thank you.” he whispered. Miyuki thought he might be crying from all of it. Miyuki hugged him back and soon Riki joined the hug. “Imagine wanting to save a tree.” Snorted Riki and Miyuki playfully buffed her chest out which made the wolved step back. Arlo gave them an eye, almost saying ‘chill your embarrassing me’ which made Miyuki giggle. Everyone relaxed at the sight of her smile, none of them meant to make her nervous. She was just simply amazing, and they all knew it. She looked around at the healthy grass, flowing river and the tall, beautiful tree. Tears filled her eyes as she realized she saved this place. She didn’t care that it was herself that did it, she was happy that it looked like her dream if not better. She started to shiver as a wind blew by, and her brothers guided her to the trees. “We should probably head back to the party.” Vanir said places his jacket over Miyuki’s shoulders. “The guests will start to wonder where their king and his siblings have gone.” He mocked the stuck-up behavior of some of the people at the party, making everyone laugh. Miyuki grabbed the bottom of her dress, so she didn’t get any dirt on it, like she’d done before. Arlo came up to her and placed a hand on her side to pick her up, but she stopped him, pointing at her brothers ahead of them. Then she did an impression of a knife stifling someone's neck. When they got back to the party, Vanir took his jacket before walking in to mingle some more. Riki guided his sister through the ballroom to sit down on a couch in one of the corners. “We leave tomorrow.” Miyuki reminded her brother, having both Riki and Arlo look up. Riki looks at Arlo, “Would you kindly give us a moment, Lord Enzo.” he nods as he gets up and walks to some men from his pack. Riki turns back to Miyuki, “You’re asking him.” he told her. “What? Why me?” She asked as a sibling scuffle brewed. “He may be my little brother, but he could lightning bolt me out of existence.” Miyuki could see Arlo choke down a laugh as he sipped his drink. She knew he could hear them and smiled a bit, “He won’t hurt you. Gentle giant.” Riki put on a sad face pretending to be hurt by her words. “I’m not asking him. You do it, Vanir won’t get mad at you.” Miyuki laughed at his scared tone, “Nope, you’re asking him.” “Asking me what?” Vanir appeared from around a pillar behind Riki. Miyuki pointed at the pillar, “Now that was creepy.” they all laughed but Vanir brought back the last topic. “What am I being asked?” Miyuki and Riki looked at each other before Miyuki took a deep breath. Not meaning to, Miyuki and Riki both asked him the question at the same time. “Will you come back with us?”
End of Chapter One
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