Eastar woke up with a slight backache, looked to the side and saw that Sindar was lying on one of his arms. He stood there thinking about how much he had learned so soon on this planet, it was interesting how fast things happened there. Maybe that's why his workouts yielded so much. His mind drifted to the issues of his training as the princess opened her eyes and smiled at him.
— Good Morning. Long awake?
— Good Morning. Not much. — He smiled back. — I was thinking; why don't you have dust bows? Better, why do you only have one?
She sighed.
— It had to be about something like that. Soldier. — She leaned on her elbows and shook her head. — Because there's no point in having the strength to shoot a bow made of stardust if you can't see the target properly.
— You don't see?
— Not like you. The storage allows earthlings' strength and endurance to compare with most stellars, until speed and perception are sharpened, but the senses don't change.
She looked away a little before looking back at him, but disguised looking at the sky and continued:
— The only earthling to use a stardust bow was my grandfather. — He had incredible sight and so he asked Garret to make the first dust bow on the planet, which is stored in the castle
— Ah! That explains a lot. — He smiled.
— By the way, feel proud, yours is second. For some reason, stellars have never used them before.
— It's no big deal, is not common to us. No star learns to fight at a distance, our struggles in space are all melee. We have dust armor, but they are to protect us from fists, not weapons. Using a bow... well, would be seen as dishonorable.
— You're all excited to have one. — She raised an eyebrow.
— Yes, but it is not the weapon I would choose in battle. Besides — He ran a hand through her hair. —, it's not that hard to dodge arrows.
— For you I don't doubt. — She laughed at that new exhibitionism. — Well, we better get going soon. Belron is already clearing it here — said, while start to rise. — I just don't know how we'll make it back without being seen.
— I still don't understand why all of that, but we can jump over the wall.
Sindar was searching for her dress and looked surprised at the young star.
— Are you serious?
— Actually, I'm not sure, but it's still the best idea I have.
— On second thought, I think I have a slightly better idea. — She took the dress that was near the oak tree. — I'll go ahead, the soldiers have become accustomed to my exits. After a while you show up and make up an excuse.
— For example?
— Don't know. Tell that you was running through the woods while admiring the beautiful animals and wept with emotion to see them in their simple and happy life.
— This doesn't make any sense. — He turned to her as he pulled on his pants.
Sindar finished dressing, shrugged and face him.
— I don't care, that's your part of the job, Mr. Firefly.
— Firefly? — Eastar stopped before putting on his shirt, staring at her.
— Yes, insects that glow in the dark. Suits you.
— Please don't.
She laughed out loud and approached him, lightly slapped his face and showed a mischievous smile.
— Are you teasing me again?
She stared at him, not saying a word.
— Great. — He grabbed and kissed her.
The clothes returned to the floor.
***
— It's time. Wait a while and go.
— If you say. I still prefer to try to jump the wall.
— You can try. I just don't want to participate in it and risk crashing my face into a pile of rocks.
He crossed his arms, looked sideways and snorted. Now he will try to do that, just to rub his deed on her face later. Waited a few minutes lying in the old oak tree and finally got up. Made his way slowly through the path. Spent all his time wondering what there was for breakfast.
When he was near the river, decided to make its first test. Instead of crossing the bridge, he stopped near the river bank and stared straight ahead. He ran, grounded his feet, and jumped to reach the other shore.
Crossing the distance was easy, the river was not very wide in that area. However, his jump was not even half as high as the wall.
He looked at that immensity of stone doubtfully, but would not give up now, not after the princess's provocation.
Took off and ran, ran as fast as he could and, when he reached a few meters of the wall, jumped. It began to rise very fast, the top of the wall approaching rapidly.
And stopped approaching when he stopped going up.
The star widened his eyes when realized he had no turning back and began to struggle, screaming. A guard, who heard the noise, looked over the wall and his eyes widened. An "Oh no" came out of his mouth.
Eastar did not hear, in that moment he hit the wall with a thud that shook his body. As he peeled off the stone, began to fall on his back.
— Shit! No, no. Shit!
He saw the ground approach and braced for impact. Hit his back on the ground and lost his breath. Stayed lying, trying to breathe, until an idea crossed his mind.
— She... she teased me on purpose. — He started to get up with his dirty clothes, staggered a little and steadied himself. — More important. I need to stop falling.
— All right, Mr. Eastar?
The young star looked up. It was the guard last night, he was leaning against the wall.
— Yes, I'm fine. — Eastar rubbed his head. — Just testing if the wall was sturdy. Thank you for your attention! — He nodded, a yellow smile on his face.
He decided to follow the princess's advice and enter the gates, but without the animal watching or weeping emotion, he didn't believe it was really necessary. When finally passed through the doors of the castle's hall, saw that everyone was already eating. Seeing him soiled with dirt and grass in his hair, Sindar, who had already changed and dressed, did not hold back her laughter.
Aros began to laugh and punch the table. The king looked surprised and was the only one with the decency to ask if he was all right and what had happened. Eastar pondered about telling the truth or invent something, realized that his father and the princess could not laugh even more, then shrugged and explained.
— I was wondering if I could jump over the city walls. As you can see, it didn't work out very well.
The king widened his eyes and began to laugh with the other two, the boy stared at them, tried to control himself, but could not resist, began to laugh too.