//And here comes the introduction of a character who gives everyone a mini heart attack! Pity, it's in a flashback. Please ready yourselves and buckle up for another chapter, you're welcome. Don't forget to comment/powerstone vote/subscribe if you enjoyed the chapter.
**Update 10.7.19: Fixed some typos.
The castle was a fury of boots and skirts as its occupants got their once-every-few-months dose of exercise. Sonata made herself deaf to the sirens of voices calling out, increasingly worried as minutes upon minutes went by. Usually, she would have stopped caring who saw her by now. Spending hours cooped up inside a wooden chest wasn't really worth it. She was mischievous, but she wasn't stupid.
Sonata!
Princess Sonata!
Princess, where are you?
Sonata hurried up the steps of a tower, hiding herself in a closet, holding her sister close. She was so small, she was smaller than if she stretched out her arm. Sonata wondered if she'd ever been that tiny, herself. She thought not. There was no way that could be.
Sonata watched the tiny being breathe as she listened for the servants downstairs to move on. She was as gentle with her as seven year old dragon princesses could go. When the coast was clear she began again, going up stairs and going down halls, hiding in closets, cabinets, behind curtains, under tables. All those years of sneaking away had paid off.
Princess!
Sonata!
Your highnesses!
Where has she run off to this time?
...The voices grew more and more alarmed, as time went on. The tiny humanoid being had somehow fallen asleep despite the ruckus, and she held her breath when someone got too close to where she hid.
Close the gates, search for intruders!
Have you seen the princesses?
Someone has taken them! Someone has taken the princesses!
...The claims escalated. It was at that point that Sonata decided leaving the wall before they closed all the gates was probably her best course of actionx
Search the castle! Quickly! Quickly!
Sonata gasped for breath as she raced down the stairs in an obsolete corner of the palace, in an awkward corner barely anyone ever visited. When she turned left and then out into the light, she was in the garden. She raced forwards with all her might. She could feel the baby begin to stir.
Princess! Princess, are you here!
Curse it, one of them was in the garden! Sonata dashed behind the closest viny wall in the maze, pressing her back against its shadow as she listened intently for the court lady to pass her by. The voice got smaller and smaller. Sonata sighed, looking down to check in the little baby in her arms, who was still just beginning to stir. She turned to go, but was startled to a stop by the prescience of long legs before her, a looming figure standing mere feet away, casting her in shadow. She was caught.
Sonata hugged her sister tighter. She glared up at the figure in front of her and stood her ground, even though she was intimidated.
Emerald green eyes that sent shivers down her neck, dark green eyes. He stood there so casually, one hand resting on his hip, a small frown as his unblinking eyes made contact with her. She could feel his prescience in the air, the same prescience her parents had. Sonata could feel her arms tremble, she barely took a step back. In that moment, she was the mouse, scared.
His lip twitched, and the corners of his eyes creased. His hand reached up to cover his face, his expression contorted into a terrifying grin, and he burst out laughing.
"Heh...haha...hahahahaha!"
Sonata stood there dumbstruck, holding her sister carefully, trying to look as confident as a terrified child could in enemy eyes.
"Haha! Hahahahaa!"
He could barely stop laughing to talk to her, all the while he held out a hand for her to wait. It wasn't like she had the gall to turn her back to a fully grown dragon. But what did he find funny about all this? If he kept laughing that hard, he was going to draw attention to her, and then there was no way she'd be able to slip free again.
"My my- haha! —Little Princess, are you taking your sister out for a stroll in the garden?" He wiped his mouth from laughing so hard, but just ended up laughing again.
It felt like he was belittling her. It made her stomach churn.
"All the while" he laughed, "you had my brother panicking, telling me you'd been kidnapped? Haha, oh, that's precious." The spikes of his hair, just borderline messy and tempted to take the shape of his scales and horns, rocked up and down in reaction to his laughter.
She didn't like the way he said that. She held her sister a little closer, who was now beginning to wiggle and fidget a little in her arms.
Her uncle straightened up, one hand resting on his forehead. "All's well, so long as you're not hurt, I have no complaints."
Did that mean she could go now? She contemplated taking a step back, but she had no reassurance he actually planned to let her go. If a dragon decided to drag her back to her parents, she was most definitely trapped.
"Don't tell Papa!" This was a matter of life and death.
Her uncle grinned. "Why shouldn't I?" Be tilted his head playfully. "Has something happened between the two of you that i should know?" Sonata's toes curled upwards into the soft ground. One may have compared the way he was speaking to a...well, dragon, playing with a prey they already had at their mercy.
A faint wind began to blow, ruffling his cape. He was dressed as though he'd just come from outside. She'd never seen him lounging around inside. He left the castle a lot, and he was only ever here when he was long overdue to be.
"I'm hurt," he feigned, "don't you know you could tell me anything? I'm your fathers elder brother, you know? I'm the only competent one in this entire castle who's not required to tell him anything"
He tilted his head, that soft, self-important smirk she didn't trust still on his face, "...Or could it be found out about your sister being a sprite?"
Sonata pressed her lips tightly together. She could feel her eyes go hot.
"I'm right, aren't I?" He feigned concern.
"You knew?"
"I'm always right. It's not like I hadn't told them, it was your mother who insisted on being hopeful."
"How did you know?" Sonata snarled, her voice betraying her.
He met her eyes. The baby was wiggling around a lot more. He slowly tilted his head, the wind playing with his hair. "You live long enough, and you come to know things. It's as simple as that."
Mh..mwa..waa waa!
Her baby sister wiggled and tugged at her clothes, catching a few strands of painful hair between her sticky fingers, beginning to cry.
"Ah! You're slipping! No no no. Please don't cry, you're going to give us away" Sonata shushed, crouching down time get a better hold on her sister. "Shh! Shh!"
The man in front of her tilted his head. "Sonata, you need to take her back to the castle." From the corner of her eye, she could see him finger the tilt of the sheathed sword on his hip.
"No."
"You're not even holding her right, you need to support her head." He gripped the handle of the sword.
She took a step back. "No!" Sonata nonetheless moved her elbow so she was holding her sister's head up, looking down at her worriedly.
"You can't take care of her, she isn't like you. She's human-like and fragile and weak. You weren't ever that vulnerable."
"I was an egg." Sonata intervened.
"And then you were a ferocious, fire breathing hatchling." He plainly replied. "But she isn't. And as much as you wish you could take care of her, she isn't yours to keep." He unsheathes the sword, pressing it against the ground like it were a cane.
She didn't dare move any further back. "No!" Sonata stubbornly denied.
"Sonata. Where do you expect to go with her? If it's about your father, I'll walk with you and talk with him for you."
"No!"
"Sonata!" He let go of the sword, buried into the ground.
"No!"
"Why are you being so stubborn?"
"Because I'm a dragon!"
"You are, are you?" He raised a brow as though it was up for debate. "Show me your best dragon roar."
"Tsssshhhhhhhhtttttt!"
"A hiss? Isn't that the sound your nurse makes when she learns you've snuck off again?"
"Roooooaaaaar!"
Egetris smirked. "Close. At least now we know there's still something in you dragon-like, whatever it is. I have a hunch that you may still be my niece, but you're going to have to prove or it to me another way."
"....I'm sorry." Sonata habitually added.
"...We'll work in that later. What I had in mind was a more traditional resolution to our problems."
There it was, the instinctual sensation of danger.
"Do you know how adults solve their problems in this family, little dragon who is far removed from my niece?"
Sonata's feet began to back away before she even heard of it. Like a frightened animal come too far into the garden, wanted to backtrack and get away from this man. Even if she had to fight a couple of servants without the use of her hands, it was better than this. Grown up dragons were scary. Grown up dragons were really, really scary.
"We battle."
Nope, not today. She was leaving, she was getting far away from here! She turned around to run, her legs readied to propel her to full speed in a matter of seconds...but it wasn't enough. Without even taking a single step forwards, a long arm reached out and held her back from the back of her collar.
"Oh, no, no, no. You're not getting away from me that easily." He let go of her, but the message was clear: she wasn't going to be able to get away unless he decided he was going to let her go.
"Wherever are you off to, in such a hurry? I'm hurt, Princess, if you honestly think I'd harm you ...Do you?"
Sonata game him her most contemptful glare. He smiled bitterly.
"I'll take that face as a yes." He turned towards the flowers blooming on the wall of shrubbery, plucking at leaves and thorns until he found the stem of a mixed rose, colored light blue and buttercup yellow. "...I'll tell you what. If you can take this Rose from me in the next minute, I shan't take you back to your father, I shan't ask you any questions, and I shan't hurt you. Is that fair enough for you, little one?"
Sonata glanced between him and the flower. You mean that if I don't, you're going to take me back to my father, pester me with questions, and you might even hurt me doing it, was what she accused without words.
"Don't give me that face. You're the one who snatched it...her."
Sonata stared.
"—Sonata, please. Or your sister. I shan't harm you not your sister. You have my word. You're children, child. I don't know why you doubt me so much."
Tiny Sonata forcefully cocked her head towards the sword buried in the ground. Egetris pretended not to notice.
He smiled softly, holding up the rose. "One," Sonata stiffened, "two.."
She looked around, and then quickly set her little sister down next to the edge of the wall of roses, out of the way and in the shade.
"Seven."
Her heart was throbbing quickly, but she tried not to let her fear show.
"Eight, nine..."
At once, her scales solidified and came free of the cocoon they'd made to make the illusion of skin, her hands deformed to flaws, within moments, a small dragon about half the size of her human form was running towards the man on all fours.
He grinned. Why was it her that felt more like an adult in this situation?
He raised his arms as though to block an attack, but the moment her claws touched his arms they were hands instead. It was trickery, but her uncle's defenses went down for just a small enough period of time that she was able to slip past the barrier while he hesitated. She didn't entirely succeed in maneuvering herself though, and ended up flopping down ungracefully with her stomach bent over her uncle's shoulder. He grabbed her minimally before she fell off.
No.
Sonata opened up her small hands to push him away, but felt something small and quickly closed her palms around it before it could slip down to the floor. She pulled her hand into view. Her heart dropped a little. She was holding the rose.
She met eyes with her uncle.
"....I hope you know you cheated." He plainly informed her, though his voice was a little gentler than before.
Sonata nodded determinedly, already looking back to check if her baby sister was okay.
Egetris picked her up and placed her down on the ground again, her small fingers still coiled tightly around the flower, it's stem utterly bruised and squished dry.
He sighed. "I can give you a rematch."
Sonata turned back to him and shook her head fiercely. "I won." She argued, holding out the battered flower. "I won by your rules. You didn't say I couldn't."
He stared at her with a small frown on his face. Something about it was a lot gentler than when he'd been toying with her form before, though. It was moments like these that confused her.
"I can't argue with that... There will be no more questions, and I shan't take you anywhere against your will. Does that keep you content, little one?"
Sonata quickly dropped the flower, and ran back to her sister, who'd been crying in the background.
"Shh, I'm back, okay? I'm here now, you're safe." Sonata tried to reassure her, to limited avail.
Egetris cringed a little at the way her small arms inexperiencedly picked up the wiggly baby, but he didn't say anything if it bothered him.
"No...please? Please stop crying? Someone's going to hear you. I need to hide you." Sonata whispered, her small voice beginning to panic despite the recency of her small victory. Egetris has come to loom over her without her even noticing. She was started, a little, when he reached out his hand towards the baby, his palm resting just barely atop her tiny forehead.
Nothing happened for a moment, and then the the pause between the wailing grew a little longer, and then it softened, and then it stopped. As though she'd forgotten whatever she'd been crying about. Small, pale yellow scales stood out a little against her forehead, when he pulled his arm away. Sonata didn't know what he'd done, but her eyes were open, albeit droopy, and she seemed okay. She just wasn't crying.
She looked up in confusion. "What did you do?"
Egetris placed a finger on his lips. Sonata pressed her lips shut, looking around, reminded once more that she was trying to hide. Faintly in the distance, she could vaguely hear the murmur of voices.
"I just soothed her a bit." He whispered.
Sonata looked towards the voices, towards her sister, and then held the baby out towards Egetris. This meant he was on her side, right? I mean, so long as she was following right behind him, if it meant the baby wasn't crying, the less likely they were to be found.
To her surprise, Egetris avoided the child like some wild feral creature she'd just held out to her maid. She looked at him in confusion, and he sighed again, like he had truly been given a scare.
"Hold it. When you run away with your sister, it's a child being innocent. When I do it's it's an attempted kidnapping," he hissed.
She couldn't say she completely understood what he was saying, but the voices were getting closer.
He held out the corner of his cloak, as though for her to hide under. "Hurry."
Sonata glanced at the sword still buried in the ground, hurrying under his cloak as she whispered back, "you left your sword."
She was already making many tiny steps to catch up with his hurried bigger ones. "Exactly, lets go find it."