Vernon sends out a white dove , moments before his dad makes his way up and out of the house. He gently pushes his shoulder as to move him forward. “good job” the dad says as they start to make their way to the carriage that was waiting for them in front of their house, increasing in speed as they go. The dad gets in front, ready to lead the horses. Slowly the girls make their way up. Lara gripping her right shoulder with her left hand. Limping towards the front door, her sisters helping her forward. But they’re stopped in their tracks as their only way out is blocked.
“ oi!, Cor where are you going?!”, Shouts one villager at the dad, bringing the attention of everyone onto them , as they start to swarm around the carriage. “What is this all about, chief?!”, “ you can’t just leave in a time like this Cor!” . The villagers yell and shout in refusal and irritation to their chiefs sudden leave . “ there is an urgent matter I’ve got to attend to, I won’t be gone long. The spring harvest must continue as usual” , the dad shouts to the crowd . But to no avail , it only manages to rile the people more as their confusion and frustration only rises. He tries to calm them down to the best of his abilities.
Beyond the crowd ,Vernon notices the girls struggling to make their way through , “ excuse me” ,“excuse me” they’d say but nobody would listen. The shoving and the pushing was definitely their biggest obstacle , specifically Lara . Unable to sustain her balance between the crowds ,She falls onto the ground, her sisters help her up immediately . This is the second time now, her expressions change, the frustration is building up. Not wanting to waste any more time and unable to keep watching them like this , he jumps between the people, trying to get to them , but the crowd is no help. suddenly near the end the crowd, “ would you get the hell out of the way!, people are trying to pass here!”, Lara yells at the top of her lungs at some of the villagers blocking their path. The crowd stops to see who was that unfamiliar voice. Vernon takes this to his advantage and moves fast between them. It doesn’t take long for the villager to get out of his shocked state and respond back with even a worst irritated manner , “ who do you think you are child!, to talk to-” . “ Lara”, Vernon yells out her name, breaking the commotion and ushering for them to move. the path is clear now. they move forward. “Tsk” the villager says with a mockers tone that can be recognized even from such a minuscule sound.
they pay no mind to him and continue forward “ so you’re with him, huh no wonder you’re like this,” ,Lara stops, he continues with the same tone , “ well I guess rapid dogs only learn from each other righ-”, her left fist in his face in a blink of an eye.he falls to the ground , hand on his cheek, “you little!” He stands up . “You wanna see a dog ,I’ll show you a-” she responds before she’s cut off by him attacking her , trying to hit her back. He misses.
The crowd’s voice levels rise, they start to chant. Fights are no common sights in the village let alone ones with strangers. As she tries to attack, she’s held back by maya, “ no-no, Lara you can barely walk”, lyan: “ yeah go!, beat him up” she cheers “ don’t!” maya responds. “Enough!” ,The dad yells between the crowd breaking the commotion once more. “Ah, but chief-” the man tries to fight back but he’s ultimately shut down “I’ve said enough,”. The dad makes his way back with girls in front of him. And as he passes Vernon ,he holds his hand and makes him put whatever was in his palm back in his pocket. When at last all is seated in the carriage and ready to go, the dad turns and says ,“ as I’ve said, the work will continue as pre usual. I won’t be gone long ,although this may take awhile.and I apologize for the disturbance this-this thing may have caused”. The looks from the crowd don’t change, unpleasant as they are. “ uhh..alright then ,see you” he says before he rids off. As the crowd watch’s them go ,a weird cry for help like sound emerges out the outskirts of the village.
“Sit down, take some rest, you’ve already exhausted yourself enough” ,says the dad to Lara as she tries to stand up . She loses her balance and falls back onto the chair. “ ah,you’re right” she responds then starts to stretch while saying, “but don’t worry, I feel much better now”, “ looks like fighting that guy wasn’t too bad after all” she nudges lyan , who’s sitting right next her , with big cheeks full of water, and her chin dripping, she smiles back.
The atmosphere only gets heavier with that interaction.Lara cleans the water dripping from her chin. lyan hands her the bottle of water, as Lara takes a sip ,lyan crosses her arms on Lara’s lap and places her head on top, and says. “kant jamidat , mulhaqish hatana yashufuha” . She speaks in a different tongue, one that’s foreign to this world. Although Vernon’s and his dad curiosity is peaked , they remain silent , no question asked. Hearing what lyan said , a proud look wears Lara’s face. But before she could even respond , maya cuts through,“ma tashajueihash” , changing the mood immediately. Lara’s proud look falls and her expressions start to tighten. “ahnae mish huna natafasah, hanaa huna dayein, mish fi salihina nueidu naemal mashakil mae alnaas” she says to them, with a stern yet somewhat scared tone. Lara splashes her with little drops of water off her fingers. Breaking the tension in the air. “Chill”, she says. Maya doesn’t respond as she’s busy cleaning her face off. Lyan chuckling in the back. “Lara,” , the dad says with the firm tone.ending the chuckles and silly antics. They turn to him with their full attention. “ what you did there…I understand that man irritated you but acting irrationally like that , it’s not good for your situation,” and as those last words exit his mouth. She turns her head back with an annoyed expression. “All I’m saying is you’ve got to pick your battles right”.
“*sigh* we get it , I don’t have to hear it in two different languages”, she responds, her annoyed and tired tone shining through her voice. and a smug look falls upon mayas face as she was saying the same thing. “ well let’s just hope the news hadn’t gotten to the queen yet”, all moods shift.a tense look falls upon their faces, “you think it would get to her that fast?” Lara ask , with her voice no longer tired or annoyed , now tense and uncertain, “ maybe, its depending on how chatty the villagers feel today”.
The girls gave each another a worried glance, afraid of what this may mean of their future. As the dad picks up on why the air feels so heavy he says , “ but don’t worry I’m sure even if that were the case ill be able to talk to her”, trying to ease their minds , the girls let out a collective sigh , but not one of relief, one of fear and uncertainty, they all stare aimlessly into the ground before lyan lays her head on Lara’s lap not breaking eye contact with the ground and asking, “ Lara, what’s gonna happen to us”. to her responding , “ i-i don’t know” she turns slowly towards the small window behind her, “i mean where even are we” .
At that moment she sees many things , the hustle and bustle of a moving town, a market swarming with people , shops n’ bakeries, and most notably a castle that towers over the entire town, with its shining crystal windows and the beautiful flower road leading to it. Straight out of a fairytale. It’s like nothing she had ever seen before. and that, that’s what made it terrifying.
As they finally make it ,and they enter through the marvelous gates of the castle. The girls are in awe of their scenery. Vernon and his dad remain unfazed. And ounce they enter a sea of guards surrounds them , only seconds later making way for their queen. The mere sight of her is enough for the wide-eyed expression to only grow on the girl’s faces. She turns to gaze upon them directly, staring straight at the dad.
“ Chief Cor” she says in firm manner, her voice echoing through the chambers of the castle, and further cementing her high status in eyes of the girls. “ your majesty” the dad bows to her. “ I've received your letter, what may be so urgent?, that have to lea-” , without even waiting of her sentence to finish, the dad reaches in his pocket and reveals the dull shard of the gem . She suddenly stops. Her eyes widen. Her mouth is left open. What was once a firm and concentrated look turned into shock and disbelief.
“ shi-” she lets out barely a word before she runs straight to them . Covering his palm , which had the shard in it , with both her hands. Then moves his arm down. in effort to hide the shard. “ so this is what’s it about?” She asks, In a shocked and trembling manner. the façade falls from the girl’s eyes immediately. The person Who seemed like they know it all, might just be the most shaken by it all. “. Yes, your majesty” the dad answers. “ well we can’t talk about something of this level here!. Follow me” the queen says as she leads the way through the halls. The rest following behind. “ your highness, in the discussion of matters like this I think it would be better if king Frederic was present”;says the dad. “ not a bad thought” , the queen replies, her voice regaining some of its firm and reassured tone. She signals for a guard , and as one comes rushing to her , “ king Frederic’s presences is required immediately!” , she commands. The guard nods and slightly bows , leaving in even more of a rush then he came in.
Lara’s head follows the guard as he leaves, turning back and asking those around her, “ who are we calling?”. V: “ king Frederic , king of the crescent kingdom”. L:“ and of what importance..is he?”. V: “ the crescent kingdom were originally the ones in possession of the moon gem”. The girls eyebrows rise and gasp. L: “ so really important!” . When she says that a thought comes sprinting into maya’s mind , “ well when is he gone be arriving, we just called for him now?!”. Without even looking back at who she’s talking to ,the queen goes, “ oh don’t worry he’s probably already here. All we did was end his little annual tour around the kingdom a bit earlier. God he’d do anything to prolong the time leading up to the meeting” . The girls eyes lose attention off the queen as she finishes her sentence, straying back onto each other’s faces. Unsure what make of this , lyan blurs out the only thought that came to her , “ lucky us?” . A small chuckle escapes the queens mouth, “ you really are lucky this happened in spring” .
As she finishes those words, they find them selves in front of a large door with golden knobs, deep in the castle. The queen puts her hand on the knob ready to enter, as realization hits her , “ wait , who are you ?!” She looks back, finally facing the girls as she speaks to them , but not a second later she turns to cor , “ you know you can’t just bring anyone in here , right” , Lara steps forward to answer , cor fast steps in front her , blocking her way , he answers “ they’re part of this, a major part” , the concerned look that grew on his face as he said that , only worried the queen more of what this could be about. She looks back at the girls, “ fine they can stay here,” she says with he voice a bit shaken , the same it was moments ago , “ but they cannot enter!” .
She opens the door entering , ignoring the displeased and infuriated look on the girl’s faces, they step forward ,“but-” was all that came out their mouth before they were shut down immediately by cor, “ just stay here” he ushers for them still in calm manner. As Vernon goes to enter after his father, with smug look upon his face . “ no Vernon, you stay here as well” the queen says shutting him down as well , “ but ruby-!” He try’s to retaliate but to no avail , “ ay-ay no ruby here!, now you stay and you stay with them!” . She shuts the door. With an annoyed look on his face , he makes his way to the girls, crossers his arms , leans on a wall and looks away . The only thing he gets from this is up n’ down look. Time starts to pass , the minutes feel like hours and the hours feel like days. After a while of waiting , they here a sounds , far at the end of the halls , they get louder as they approach closer. eventually it gets to them , and there they see a tall man with long caps and a swarm of servants all around him, pampering him . Fixing what already seemed perfect. Two servants run up to the front to open the door and as they do, all the the servants make way , bowing down as he passes them . Lara see a chance to enter while the door is open. She runs up to it but the servants close the door the moment he passes though it . Unfortunately for her that was seconds before she made it. She leans her head on the door and hits it with her hand, “ damn it!” She says ,while ‘despair’ is eating her inside out . “ wow , that man had a hell of a cape”, maya says , breaking the ‘despair’ ,as Lara turns around, “ right, something straight out of broadway and that perfume” , she breathes in the sent from the trace of fragrance left by the king. “Whoa!, you really got a good taste ,and a strong nose” , she says to the maid standing near by while trying to hold in a sneeze. The maid smiles warmly and slowly leaves.
“ *sneeze*”, she couldn’t hold it in. “ *inhale*, alright we can’t wait here any longer we have to go inside” she says as she makes her way back, with much determination and little patience in her voice. “ we can’t, they said to wait here” Vernon responds back. L: “we’ve been waiting here for so long!” .V: “ it’s been like hour!” . L: “ an hour wasted from my life!”. As these two start to argue, maya places her hand on her chin and closes her eyes. L: “ you know, i bet they’re having tea right now” . Lyan chimes in , “ bialnaenae!”, L: “ exactly!, with the fancy kind too”. And as last words escape Lara’s mouth, maya opens her eyes, “ alright, it’s settled we’re going inside” she says and starts to make her way towards the door. Vernon eyes widen in shock “ not you too!”. “Yes!!,maya!” ,While her decision is celebrated by her sisters who follow her.
Vernon blocks their path before they can go any farther and asks , “ wait, what your course of action here ?!”, maya answers to his frantic and somewhat panicked demeanor , in the most stone-cold face and similar attitude in her voice and says , “ we’re gonna enter through the door.” . “ * eye twitch* . There are kings and queens In their!, and you’re just gonna enter?!” . Lara looks over mayas shoulder, where she rests her head , and replies “ yes” she smiles after she says it. Then begins to make way through both of them , “ now if you may” . “No!” He steps in the front again “ we can’t just go in their!” , “ well then genius, what do you propose?” Lara says in a condescending tone ,while rising one eyebrow . A big pout wears his face.
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