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"Lady Kerri and I are taking Sophie to Barona tomorrow," Cheria said, her shadow falling over Asbel.
He'd only just finished the sparring session with Richard, and Asbel was hot and sticky with sweat, shirt clinging to his skin uncomfortably. He'd been resting (not hiding from Captain Mirelle, honest) under the hydrangea bush. The words went through one ear and out of the other without a twinkle of comprehension. His mother and Sophie? Barona? "Huh?" he said.
Cheria put her hands on her hips and her shadow shifted, Asbel's eyes watering in the sudden bright sunlight.
"Are you listening, Asbel? Lady Kerri and I are taking her to see my doctor."
And Asbel was suddenly scrabbling to his feet. "A doctor? What happened? Where is she?"
"Nothing's happened, Asbel, and that's kind of the point." When Asbel continued to look perplexed, she elaborated: "She's not growing. All the adults are worried. They think she might have a growth problem."
Asbel thought about this for a moment. It was true that while his friends had all shot up and matured, Sophie hadn't changed much. In fact, she didn't look a day different from the day he and Hubert found on her on Lhant hill, three years ago.
"Maybe she's just a late bloomer?" he tried.
"Maybe," Cheria said, without confidence. "But that's why we're taking her to see Dr Adelaide, to find out."
"Then I'm coming too," Asbel declared.
"You're not," said Cheria. She looked like she was trying hard not to be embarrassed, but the flush was creeping up her neck regardless.
"What? Why not? And why is Mum going with you?"
He waited as Cheria hesitated, moving the words around in her mouth, the flush creeping further. "Look, because of girl reasons, okay?" she exhaled at last. "By Sophie's age, she should have started her... oh, why am I telling you of all people this, anyway?"
"I'm very confused right now."
"Of course you are, Asbel," Cheria said, and she muttered something about boys, something something un-believable.
"What?" Asbel said defensively.
"Forget it," said Cheria. "Look, you can come to Barona if you want, but you can't come to the doctors' with us. Richard's going home to see his father so he can show you around the castle or something." With that, she stomped away, still muttering darkly.
Asbel yelled after her, "What did I do?"
Under strict instructions from Lady Kerri, they were to meet back at 3pm, sharp. Until then, Barona was an open jewel box and they were free to try on anything they liked. Hubert had been with them, too, until Richard pointed out: "Asbel... I fear we've lost your brother."
There was no sign of Hubert. Asbel shrugged this off. "I thought he was acting kinda weird earlier."
"Shouldn't we go look for him?"
"Nah, he's a big boy now. He can look after himself," Asbel said. In truth, he'd been hoping to spend some time alone with Richard. Not that they were technically alone. Every so often he'd turn his head and catch sight of one of the royal guard, plain clothes hiding their armour, sword ready at their hips. Just one of the pitfalls of dating the crown prince.
Barona was incredible. Trailed unobtrusively by the guard, Richard showed him the city, taking him up to look together at Gloandi.
"There are some... interesting people here in the capital," Asbel said, as two of the knights dragged a teenage girl with red highlights in her hair away from the valkines, her legs flailing.
"Young lady, the valkines is a national treasure of Windor. You cannot just hit it with a hammer," a furious looking knight said.
"Whoa, whoa, you got it all totally wrong! I was just trying to make it go faster," the girl protested.
As she was hauled away, Richard said, "No, I think that was definitely just a special case."
Next they visited the royal sanctuary. The knight school. The market place. The plaza below the castle was packed with people in costume, there for a signing for some popular comic book for kids.
"There's one last place I want to show you," Richard said, pulling Asbel forward by his hand. Asbel looked up, and towering above them was the majesty of Barona castle. "They... they'll really let me in?" asked Asbel, jaw hanging open.
"Hm, I don't know," Richard said, a finger resting on his chin, eyes sparkling. "We might have to sneak you in in disguise."
"What were you thinking?" Asbel asked eagerly.
"I'm sure I could get one of the maids to lend me a spare uniform..."
Asbel blanched. "Y-you're kidding, right?"
Richard's perfect composure cracked open into a wicked smile. "Yes, Asbel, I'm kidding. I wouldn't really let you meet my father in a dress."
"The King?" Asbel gasped.
"I have been told that's his title," Richard said.
Asbel tried very hard not to roll his eyes. His boyfriend was awful sometimes.
He was still trying to let it sink in: he was going to meet the King of Windor!
Sophie sat on the bed in Dr Adelaide's clinic, swinging her legs. Dr Adelaide had told her to get comfortable, but the bed wasn't very comfortable at all. She prodded it with a finger. Uncomfortable, she thought. Sophie wasn't always very good at identifying her feelings, but she understood the heavy feeling lying in her gut. She swung her legs in an arc. Dr Adelaide told her to get comfortable, but she couldn't. She felt the opposite: uncomfortable. Awkward. Nervous.
Stood out of the way against the wall, Cheria squeezed a reassuring smile. Although she didn't mean it, Sophie smiled back. It seemed like the right thing to do.
Dr Adelaide was speaking with Lady Kerri. She was young for a doctor, just shy of her thirties, with dark skin, glasses and a warm open face. She approached Sophie now with a clipboard in her hands. "It's good to meet you, Sophie. I just need to ask you a few questions for our records. Your surname is Lhant, right? How is that spelled?" Her pen paused above the paper, and when the room went silent, quizzical eyes glanced up over her glasses.
Yes, thought Sophie, as she analysed the emotion she was feeling. It was definitely uncomfortable.
Dr Adelaide looked over at Lady Kerri, and sensing she'd made some kind of faux pas, said, "I'm sorry Lady Kerri. I just assumed..."
It looked like Lady Kerri was feeling the same way, Sophie thought. Awkward.
"Sophie is Lord Aston and my... ward," she settled on. "My sons found her three years ago, with no memories of who she is. My husband and I tried contacting her parents or family, but it seems likely she's an orphan."
"Amnesia?" said Dr Adelaide in surprise. "Have you remembered anything since then, Sophie?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing at all? Not even a feeling?"
"Well.. sometimes I feel like there's something I'm supposed to do, but I can't remember it." Frustrating, that was the word that summed up that feeling. It would come over her suddenly. She'd be playing with her friends and suddenly she'd be wrenched away by the feeling that she was supposed to be somewhere else.
She noticed the doctor and Cheria exchanging a look.
"I... see," was the doctor's conclusion.
They moved on to Sophie's physical. Dr Adelaide listened to her heartbeat using a little metal device, took lots of measurements and asked her lots of questions. The tight feeling began to build up steadily in Sophie's chest.
"If you don't remember anything, I'm guessing you don't know when your birthday is, Sophie?" Dr Adelaide asked.
"Oh! It's the 1st of December."
"So you do remember something?" the doctor said in surprise.
"Oh... that's the birthday Asbel gave me, when I told him I didn't have one. He said the 1st of December was a good day for a birthday."
Honestly, it kind of wasn't. It was cold, and the daylight was short. But she didn't want to hurt Asbel's feelings.
She'd thought at first, too, that with all her friends' help they would find her family and her memories. But the years had passed, and nothing had turned up. All their ideas became dead ends. All the circuses they contacted had never heard of her. She used to have too much fun with everyone to worry about it, but now everyone was growing up. They were growing up and leaving her behind, because alone she stayed the same.
Just who was she?
Dr Adelaide's face grew more perplexed as she continued the tests. Cheria's grew worried. And that feeling in Sophie's chest tightened. The bud of worry that had been planted some years ago began to sprout.
Not who. Just what was she?
Richard's homecoming was always tempered with a bitter-sweetness. Rather than the grandeur of Barona castle most saw, Richard saw the high walls, the locked doors.
Yet when he saw the wonder reflected back in Asbel's eyes, he began to get a glimpse of why the castle might be considered beautiful.
"Some more tea, Master Asbel?" asked one of the maids, teapot poised.
"Uh. No thanks." Asbel drummed his fingers on the table. He was being amusingly agitated. Suddenly he burst out: "The King! What on earth am I supposed to say to a king?"
"I myself am a prince, and you seem to have no issues talking to me, Asbel," Richard said, mouth hooked up in amusement.
"Yeah, but I didn't realise you were a prince when we first met. I mean, isn't there some kind of etiquette I'm supposed to know? Like not looking him in the eye, or not speaking when spoken to?"
"You're asking for my advice?"
"Yes!"
Richad pondered laboriously. Asbel leant forward, gripping hard to the edges of the table with its lacy tablecloth. "I would recommend... saying hello," Richard said at last. Asbel leant back in his chair, groaning.
"Has anyone ever told you that you are the most unhelpful person who ever existed, Richard?"
"Well, I suppose you could try bursting in through his window and demand that he comes out to play with you," Richard said. "That worked fairly well for you before."
"You're just proving my point now."
"You're over thinking this. You're not meeting the king as a supplicant or a foreign dignitary. You're meeting my father as my friend," Richard said.
"...As your friend?" Asbel said, after a moment.
Richard bit at his soft underlip. He felt as uncertain as Asbel looked. In truth, he had no idea what to say about him and Asbel, either. Their relationship was no secret in Lhant. But then, only a select group of people in Lhant knew that in fact that Richard was Prince Richard, sole heir to the throne.
One day he'd be expected to marry and create his own heirs, and what would happen to Asbel and him, then? Were their feelings for one another just a ephemeral part of youth, like the spring petals of the cherry trees, beautiful while they lasted but gone in a season?
There was a knock at the door. The maid, again. "Prince Richard, his Majesty has finished with the delegation from Strahta. He'll receive you and Master Asbel in the downstairs drawing room."
"Asbel Lhant, Sir. Your Highness. Ur, I mean, your Majesty. It's an, um, honour to meet you."
Richard had no idea how he managed it, but Asbel managed to perform a rigid bow at an exact 90 degree angle. King Ferdinand glanced over at his son, raising his eyebrows in amusement. Richard smiled as if to say: Yeah, I know.
Ferdinand had his son's own head of blond hair, if thinning. There was a tiredness around his eyes and mouth that hadn't been there before the assassination attempt three years ago. But it vanished now as he smiled to see his son again.
"You look very much like your father, Asbel. Did Aston tell you how we met, by any chance?"
Asbel blinked, caught off-guard. "Ah, no. I don't think he has."
Ferdinand took a seat in the comfortable chaise lounge, Asbel quickly following suit in the settee opposite. Richard perched by his side, more sedately, watching the interchange with quiet amusement.
"I met Aston at the gala held for my brother's 18th birthday. I caught him pouring some very suspicious looking liquid into the punch bowl." Asbel's mouth was hanging open. Richard tried very hard not to grin. "What a night! By the end of it Duke Dalen's trousers had to be knocked off the chandelier with a broom and the Marquess's daughters went swimming in my great-grandfather's memorial fountain. I went to congratulate the rogue who'd pulled the prank off so marvellously, only to discover him whispering sweet nothings to the Marquess herself in the pantry!"
Asbel was making several noises that sounded remarkably like a fish out of water, flopping about.
"Father, put him out of his misery," Richard said at last. "Asbel, he made the whole thing up."
"What?"
"Well, most of it," said the King. "One part is true, though Aston would kill me if I told you which."
"...Suddenly, I understand Richard so much better," Asbel said.
But it worked, and Asbel relaxed, after that.
A maid brought more drinks and they chatted about unimportant things, his father inquiring after his progress with Captain Mirelle, who'd taken over his training from Bryce.
"Mirelle tells me you're been very helpful on that front, Asbel. She tells me you'd make a fine knight, if you were so inclined."
Asbel's biscuit fell out of his mouth. "It's something I've always thought about, but... my father plans for me to inherit his title."
"Well, a lordship is nothing to be scoffed at, either," said Ferdinand kindly. Asbel poked at his teacup.
Soon it was time for them to meet back with everyone else, and they made their goodbyes. The King shook Asbel's hand, and clasped Richard, before pulling him in for an embrace.
"Don't stay away so long next time, Richard," he said. "I like to see you're alright. Though I fear I'm worrying for nothing. It's good to see you smile again so freely. Lhant seems to agree with you," he said, glancing over at Asbel.
"It does," Richard agreed. "I'll visit again soon, Father."
As they left, he felt the knot of worry in his shoulders melt away. His father hadn't asked him to come home.
"You know," Asbel said, as they walked to the battlements outside the castle, "I normally forget, but today really drove home that you're a prince. And you're going to be king someday."
"Not for a long time, I hope."
"Do you worry about it... being king?"
"Naturally." And I know that this can't continue forever. That one day I'll have to return to Barona, but...
"Do you miss it here?" Asbel asked.
Richard leant his elbows on the battlements. "Sometimes I think I do," he admitted. "But whenever I'm here, all I can think about is returning to Lhant."
But I'll just have to enjoy what we have, for as long as it lasts.
He leant closer to Asbel, fingers ghosting the soft skin on the inside of his wrist. Asbel glanced back at the guard standing by the castle walls, and leant in closer anyway.
They fell into silence. Down below in the plaza the signing was still going on. Asbel's face turned serious and contemplative.
"You're thinking. This is bad," Richard chided him.
And Asbel blurted it all of a sudden: "I don't want my father's title," he said. He turned to him, eyes bright with his fiery determination. "Richard, my place is by your side. I want to be your knight."
But what if... it didn't have to end?
"I mean," Asbel said with fervour, "even Captain Mirelle says I could do it! I bet it'll take me no time at all to pass the knight exams." Eyes shined bright. "I've decided. When you return to Barona, I'll come with you. Let me be your sword, Richard. I'll dedicate my life to protecting you. That is..." Asbel began to hesitate now, adding almost shyly, "...if you want me to, that is."
How could Asbel even imagine that he might say no?
Richard squeezed his hand, tight, heart bright enough to burst. "Yes," he said. "Yes, I'd like that very much."
"You would?" said Asbel, and he laughed. "Great! That's... that's great, Richard!"
Though, one last lingering question remained: "How are you going to tell your parents?" Richard asked.
Down on the plaza, Hubert gripped his autograph book tighter. He'd stood in line all morning with the sun beating down on his neck, but now he was three obnoxious seven year olds away from meeting Sunscreen Ranger Red. He wore a custom painted shellion shell he'd bought at a stall. It was so heavy that it hurt his back, but it was limited edition and there were only another 9,999 like it. Fingers trembled with excitement. Sweating under the sun, his spectacles slipped down his nose. He pushed them back up. Two obnoxious seven year olds to go. One.
Hubert handed the attendant a sweaty five gald piece and heart pounding, approached the table where Sunscreen Ranger Red was signing autographs. Considering he was a starfish with points instead of hands, this was moderately impressive.
Hubert performed the impeccable seven-stroke sun-screen salute he'd been practicing for weeks. "In the name of the Beach Brigade and underwater alliance, greetings!" he said breathlessly.
"Hey, kid," Sunscreen Ranger Red said gruffly, his voice muffled in the suit.
Hubert slammed his autograph book down on the table, glasses glittering in the sun. "I'm a member of the sunscreen ranger red fanclub and the editor, writer, illustrator of the SRB fanzine, Lhant chapter. My favourite edition of the Sunscreen Rangers is 117, where the Shellions try to use the death ray to destroy the coral reef. But what I really need to know is, how did their shell phones work to activate the death ray when they should have been jammed by the cosmic spallation rays created by the-"
"Name, kid?" Sunscreen Ranger Red asked.
"-universal underwater planetary alignment- uhh, Hubert."
Red scrawled in his book with his point and thrust it back at him. "Have a shell-tastic day, Hubert."
Staring at the sunscreen ranger, Hubert felt a gentle but firm push as the attendant moved him along to make way for a group of small boys and their fed up looking father.
Hubert stood amidst the jostling crowd, feeling shell-shocked, holding onto his autograph book with tingling fingers. Then slowly he started to grin.
"I... met Sunscreen Ranger Red," he whispered to himself, grinning from ear to ear. The material I'll have for issue 17 of the fanzine!
A flash of purple pigtail, and Hubert quickly but ineffectively hid his autograph book behind his shellion shell as Sophie dashed past. But she didn't stop, Hubert watching in confusion as she ran like a purple-tailed rocket towards the gate to the northern high road.
"Hubert!"
Hubert whirled round to see, panting breathlessly: "Che-cheria!" His voice broke in two pieces, and he was so startled he dropped his merch. He scrabbled to pick it up, and then his glasses slipped from his sweaty nose. He scrabbled for those too, before-
-She'll think I'm a little kid if she finds out. And she'll tell Asbel, and, ugh, I'll never live it down-
Hubert then noticed that Cheria wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to him at all. Instead, she was searching the crowd frantically. "Hubert, have you seen Sophie?" she asked, sounding panicked.
"Well, actually-"
Richard and Asbel jostled their way through he crowd from the steps to the castle, and something in Hubert curled up and died.
"Hi, guys," said Asbel. "You've come to meet the Beach Brigade?" He then fixated on Hubert with a smirk. "Nice shell, Hubert."
If there was a hole that he could just crawl into-
"Look, this is an emergency!" said Cheria. "Have any of you seen Sophie?"
Richard and Asbel looked at one another. Asbel shrugged. "No, why? I thought she was with you."
Asbel was side-eyeing his shell again. Oh, his brother was never, ever going to let him forget about this.
"She was, but she ran away," said Cheria.
-And Hubert had gone to so many lengths to protect his hobby, only to fail because of his passion for custom painted limited edition-
"Ran away?" he exclaimed.
"What?" said Asbel. "Where is she?"
"That's exactly what I was asking you," Cheria huffed, before she went quiet. "We were at Dr Adelaide's. She wanted to talk to Lady Kerri and me. It was my fault. I never should never have left her alone.."
"Cheria, please tell us what happened," Richard said, mouth set in concern.
"Dr Adelaide, she... I don't really know how to say this, really, but she thinks that Sophie might not be... human. By the time we got back to the examination room, she was gone. I think she must have overheard us..."
Stares from all round. It was true, Hubert thought, that he didn't remember Sophie growing, but-
"That's nonsense," Asbel said with force. "Of course she's human. And- and even if she's not, she's still Sophie!"
"I don't think any of us are disputing that, Asbel. But if Sophie isn't human... what did Dr Adelaide think she is?" Richard asked.
"That's the thing. She has no idea. She said the researchers in a place called Sable Izolle in Strahta might be able to tell us more, but..."
"She doesn't need researchers, or any more doctors," Asbel said hotly. "She's just fine the way she is."
Cheria raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you think any of us are disagreeing with you? Un-believable..."
"Oh," said Asbel.
"We need to begin the search for her immediately, before she gets too far. I'll alert the guards," Richard said.
"I actually saw-" Hubert began, before his brother spoke over the top of him.
"Good idea, Richard," Asbel said, clapping his hand on the prince's shoulder. "We should split up, too, to cover more ground."
"I'll go check the flower shops," said Cheria.
"I-" said Hubert.
"Hubert, you go to Dr Adelaide's clinic and let Mum know what's happening," Asbel said.
"But-"
But, as usual, his brother didn't even bother to wait for his answer. His friends scattered in different directions, and, as usual, because he was the youngest, left him behind.
Hubert huffed, and pushed his glasses back up his nose. Fine. Asbel could run around Barona like an idiot for all he cared.
He was going to find Sophie.
Sophie laid on the grassy knoll on the northern high-road, overlooking the green valleys and hills of Windor. The wind blew, stirring the fluff of a dandelion clock up into the air. The sun was shining, and there were flowers. It was all she used to need to feel happy. But inside Sophie, she only felt a deep, heavy sadness.
I'm... not human.
The seed that had always laid dormant in her had sprouted into her worst fear. I always knew I as different from Asbel and the others, but...
What was she?
Asbel and Hubert found me in a bed of flowers. Maybe I'm a flower, she thought. That's it. I'm a flower. I'll just stay here on this hill, where I'm supposed to be. I'll never have to bother Asbel and everyone ever again.
Sophie let her eyes slip closed, drinking in the scent of dirt and grass and sadness.
"Sophie... what are you doing?" she heard Hubert say.
She didn't open her eyes. "I'm being a flower," she replied.
"Oh... may I ask why?"
"Because flowers don't feel anything. I used to worry about that, and felt bad when I cut them. But Lord Aston said they're not like people. They don't feel pain, or loneliness. They don't feel anything at all."
"I... see," said Hubert. She heard the crunch of grass beside her as he sat down. "How is it going?" he asked.
"Not very well," she admitted. "But maybe I just need more practice."
"Would it be okay if I practiced with you, too?" Hubert asked.
"Sure," Sophie said.
Neither of them said anything for a long time. Sophie could hear the soft sound of Hubert breathing. She concentrated on being a flower, and feeling nothing at all. A thought came to her: "Hubert?" she whispered.
"Hm?"
"Do you think flowers can think?"
"Probably not," said Hubert.
"Okay," she said.
She tried her best not to think about anything, and found it surprisingly difficult. She found she kept thinking things like, it's working, I'm not thinking anything, and then, oh wait-
Not thinking anything was turning out to be just as hard as not feeling anything.
Secretively, Sophie peeked one eye open. Hubert was lying on his stomach, wearing what looked like a turtlez shell on his back. His chin was resting on folded arms and he was fiddling with a couple of bits of grass.
"Hubert. What kind of flower are you?" she asked.
"Silene tomentosa," Hubert said, plucking a blade of grass. "Commonly known as the sleeping crocus."
"The kind that only grows at high altitudes on the top of mountains?" Sophie asked with enthusiasm.
"It only blooms for one day in the whole year, and is used to make a sleeping powder so powerful it could knock you out for a week. Isn't that fascinating?"
"Yes," agreed Sophie, and then she hesitated, staring down at her hands. She asked: "Would you still like me, Hubert, if I was really a flower? If... I wasn't human?"
"You are a flower. You're a sopheria, and I'm a silene tomentosa," said Hubert, with the smallest hint of a smile.
Sophie began to smile, too. She sat up, hair dragging along the ground. "I'm... not so sure I make a very good flower, after all. Do you think... it would okay if I was just Sophie?"
"I like your shell by the way, Hubert."
"Thanks, Sophie. It's... kind of heavy, though."
At Jenkins' ice cream parlour, Jenkins brought out five of his famous triple ice cream sundaes. Lady Kerri watched as the kids all gnoshed into them as though she'd been starving them. Asbel was still teasing Hubert about his shellion shell, Hubert blushing red. "Asbel, do leave your brother alone and eat your ice cream," she sighed.
Cheria was helping comb Sophie's new do. A quick stop at Anthony the hairdresser and Sophie's hair was cut short into a fashionable bob.
"There. Perfect," Cheria sighed.
Sophie felt the short edges of her hair. "How... does it look?"
"Very grown up," said Lady Kerri. Sophie beamed. The other kids rushed in with their compliments, Asbel mumbling with a mouthful of ice cream that she looked very nice. Richard complimented the cut. Hubert said that it looked good.
If she was honest, she still wasn't sure what to make of what Dr Adelaide said. But Sophie was a part of their family now, and this strange girl their sons brought home one day had brought them closer than she would have ever thought possible.
She just wished they didn't all feel the need to try to grow up so fast.