The first hour of travel had been, well, boring. Alyssa had traveled easily into the city, the royal pass given to all candidates moving her through the checkpoints with ease. As a matter of fact, she had moved through the city so quickly that she'd barely had time to observe her surroundings. Then, the royal and city guard had requested that all the candidates remain in their lodgings unless accompanied by one of their members.
She had only taken them up on that offer once, to go to several bookstores to find the necessary texts that she had wanted for a long time. She'd felt so bad about how exhausted the guard had looked that she refused to make one accompany her for something as frivolous as sightseeing. It had left her cooped up and bored, but she had her new texts to keep her company, so she had managed reasonably well. And her parents had been right, traveling had been fun, so she wouldn't be opposed to an annual trip to the capital. Since she wouldn't be the prince's mate, she could take as much time as she wanted to explore the capital itself when the whole mate hunt madness was over.
She had to laugh a little bit internally over how that had turned out. Well, now she had a chance to explore the capital in much greater detail, although it would still be accompanied by the royal guard. Well, that was a problem for future Alyssa. Current Alyssa was stuck going through checkpoint after checkpoint, both carriages being searched repeatedly. They had tightened security since the assassination attempt and not even royalty were exempt.
After the second checkpoint, she had caved and dug out one of the spice books and started idly paging through it since the sun had risen enough to read. She felt a tiny bit bad about ignoring Rowan, but he was busy navigating the checkpoints and examining the checkpoints' efficacy himself, so she left him to it.
At the fourth checkpoint, she'd pulled out the breakfast basket from inside the seat and firmly handed him a carefully crafted sandwich with ham, cheese, and egg, indicating that he should eat as he listened to the reports. He'd sighed but obediently did as she'd wanted. She hastily returned to the carriage so that no one could see her tiny smile. After all, she didn't want to get a reputation for being soft, the horror.
It was nearly two hours after they'd departed the palace when they finally cleared the seventh and final checkpoint, leaving the capital behind them. Rowan slouched into the carriage seat and Alyssa offered him a commiserating grimace. He grumbled, "I know that this is the best since we still don't know how he got into the palace. But I had no idea that it would take so long."
She shrugged, offering him a muffin which he took with a sigh. "Right now, they're learning the protocols. As they adjust to it, it'll go faster. It's better that they be thorough and do it right rather than get flustered by royalty and try to rush the process. The city guard appears to be well-trained from what I've seen so far, so that's really good for the capital."
He sat a little bit straighter at her praise, the tension in his shoulders easing. "They were a mess up until about eight years ago. There had been talk of reforms but there was never enough time to get enough done. However, when my mother passed away, it became obvious that there were many small broken components in our system that were allowing court members to abuse their position. Kiran and I started with patching things at first with an eye on long-term reform. The city guards have proven to be one of our most successful reforms to date, but there's still so much work left to do."
Alyssa nodded, having discussed how things were in Anaria when her father first took over many times. "Change takes time. Not only that, but you most likely had people working actively against you, even if they were trying to be discreet about it. Some nobles are so entitled and think that money can solve anything. Truthfully, money can solve and excuse a whole lot of things. But should it be able to? No, it should not." She looked down at her lap, debating the wisdom of her next question before her curiosity overwhelmed her and she asked anyway. "Tell me about how you reworked the city guard?"
He studied her for several long seconds, a muffin crumb resting on the corner of his mouth. "Are you sure you want to hear something so boring?"
She tapped the corner of her mouth, trying not to laugh, "You've got a bit of muffin, right there. And yeah, restructuring a police or military unit is a lot more complex subject than many people realize. It takes great dedication and energy to enact changes, not to mention finding and/or training the right people to lead the endeavor. So I'd love to hear, if you're willing to share." Hesitation colored the last few words and she sighed inwardly.
He nodded quickly, his expression lighting up. "You see, when Kiran first came to the capital, the first thing that he insisted upon seeing was the budget..."
X
It had been an hour since they'd left the city and Alyssa was finding that Rowan was a good conversation partner. His stories were told in a solid, logical fashion. Laid out in a linear sequence of events rather than jumping from event to event and only tying them together at the very end like she tended to do.
However, even though they'd moved on from the guard reform to the literacy program that he was working on creating, she couldn't stand it anymore. The subject was fascinating, but she just couldn't ignore the itching any longer. She shifted uneasily, tucking her hands underneath her legs so that she could resist the urge to scratch madly at her healing arm. She hated it when wounds reached this stage of healing.
However, she must've been making some sort of horrible face, because Rowan fell silent with confusion on his face. "You don't like, literacy classes? Even though you seem to enjoy reading?"
She felt her face heat as embarrassment flooded her. She managed to stammer out, "Um, no, no, that's not it. I think the literacy program sounds amazing and I'd love to help with it. It's just, it's my, um, arm."
He looked alarmed and she sighed, why was she just making this worse?
He reached for her arm before pausing, staring at it as if he could see through the bandages to the wound below. "I thought that the doctor said that it was healing well, shouldn't even scar. Risa should've checked and bandaged it this morning and sent me a report if there was anything wrong."
Seeing that he was working himself up into what her mother would call 'a state', she reached over and took his hand, holding it gently between both of hers. "Rowan, it's fine. It's healing well, I promise. And Risa put the salve on and checked it thoroughly this morning, it's fine."
He carefully turned his hand so that he could grasp one of hers, using it to ground himself, "Then what's wrong with it?"
She couldn't keep the whine from her voice as she finally admitted, "It itches, so bad! I just want to scratch it raw. At this point in healing, it drives me crazy. Usually, I can keep my mind off it by checking the boundaries or some other sort of physical exercise to distract myself. That or I go and thrash Claude. And while your reforms are fascinating, my arm won't stop itching!"
He stared at her for several long seconds without blinking before grinning and pounding on the roof of the carriage with his free hand. She started to panic, trying to pull her hand from his as the carriage slowed, "Rowan, no, I'm fine! There's no need to stop the carriages after it took so long to get going this morning. We can keep going, I'll be fine."
The carriage came to a halt and he stood, using the hand that he still held to gently pull her to her feet and outside. A guard came running up and she looked at the ground, trying to hide her undoubtedly flaming face. She internally cursed her naturally fair skin from both her parents, it showed even the least little bit of embarrassment or anger, it just wasn't fair.
The guard asked, "Is there a problem, Your Highness?"
He shook his head, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "I need my sword please."
The guard saluted and ran off. She gaped up at him, trying to figure out what he was up to. The words slipped out before she could stop them, a teasing lilt filling them, "You don't have to go so far as to chop it off, it doesn't itch that bad."
He laughed at that, his smile lighting up his face. She didn't realize how stressed he'd been the past few days until the small lines around his eyes and mouth had eased with his laughter. "I'm not going to chop your arm off, that would cause too much of a delay." He winked at her. "No, I have a much simpler solution in mind."
The guard returned, carrying a large hand-and-a-half broadsword and sheath. Rowan reluctantly released her hand, taking the sword and strapping it on so that it rested along his spine between his wings. "Lyssa, this is Allen. He's the head guard of this trip since Eric is busy. Allen, this is my mate, Lady Alyssa of Anaria. Her safety is first priority above all else."
The guard nodded, bowing low. However, before he could speak, Rowan continued, "However, the lady and I shall continue for the next bit on wing. Keep the carriages moving and we'll meet up with you down the road. We won't require any guards."
Allen nodded, "Very well, Your Highness. Clear skies and swift winds."
Rowan nodded, "Clear skies and swift winds."
And with that, Allan was off, gesturing for the carriages to continue as he swung back up into the saddle.
Alyssa gaped up at him, this having been the last possible thing that she'd expected. "We're going to fly."
He said mildly, "You said that physical exercise would help distract you." He gestured at the empty grassland surrounding them. "This is considered a kind of neutral zone, only a few herdmasters and their herds out this far. So, it'll be safe enough for us to spread our wings and enjoy the warm air currents that rise from the grasslands. Besides, after all the checkpoints and the carriage ride, I really could use some exercise myself. If that's all right with you?"
She nodded vigorously, "I haven't had the chance for a decent flight in ages!"
He asked, "Do you need a boost?"
Her competitive spirit rose to the fore and she grinned wildly at him before shooting into the air. The takeoff had taken her the better part of three months to master, but the look on Claude's face and now Rowan's made every scrape, bruise, sweat, and tear completely worth it.
She let out a joyful whoop before calling to him, "What are you waiting for, Ro? The sky is calling!"
He spread his wings to their full width, a wild grin that matched hers on his face as he threw his head back and screamed a trilling war cry before launching himself into the sky after her. Joyous laughter spilled from her as she darted away, surfing on the warm currents as he chased after her. Yes, this was exactly what she needed.
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