"Enough, we're here on a different business matter, Afzal", Tukare clarifies.
"Of course, of course. Let me help you with that", Afzal says as he grabs my sister and my cousin's belongings and tosses them over to the three of us. "You hurry up and bring those bags", he orders the three of us as he drags Laris and Tukare by the arm inside the moss-covered cave.
"Afzal, wait, they're not—"
We watch 'Afzal' drag Laris and Tukare inside, leaving the three of us with two people's worth more baggage.
"Come on, fellow servants." Raguk mumbles as he grabs Laris' bundle. As if there was a tacit understanding between them, Raguk tosses the bundle to Obrecht, and he picks up Tukare's just when I am about to take it.
"..." Am I not reliable enough to carry those?
I glance at the two men beside me for a moment. Well, whatever. It's just two people's baggage.
Two more green-haired Faerie men come to guide us in. The caveway isn't like the labyrinth of Lumea. There's only one path. It doesn't take long until we reach a small gate guarded by a lot of Faerie guards. One bizarre thing I've noticed is that, like Afzal, none of them carry weapons.
"Hey servant, that's a fairly good-looking sword", the guards marvel at the heavy sword strapped on Obrecht's back, alongside with his baggage.
Obrecht flashes a polite smile, "Thank you."
At the corner of my eye, I observe the well-practiced smile that didn't seem to have any flaws. I cast my gaze at the Faerie-kind surrounding us. Seeing a hint of ridicule in their eyes, a realization regarding that sentence surfaced in my mind; we didn't deny being servants. Or maybe it's the way the sentence was formed that made us redirect our attention? Either way, my dislike of this place is growing, not just from the service, but because my gut tells me so. I glance at Raguk and sure enough, his frown slowly getting deeper and deeper.
"This way."
The caveway isn't long. We arrived at a deep valley surrounded by steep mountain walls covered in multitudes of green. Not only were the Faerie-kind's home painted in the same color, but their hair as well. If there's any color that's out of place, it was the varying shades of skin tone and the colorful rainbow eyes of this race. There are varying ages of people here.
Besides the green hair and rainbow eyes, another unique trait of the Faerie-kind are their drooping ears. A rumor among the other races say that it's made like that by God so the Faerie-kind can more easily detect the lies of others.
For a moment, the tall mountain walls remind me of the city of Lumea and its many bridges and cave houses.
"Don't you miss home", I ask Obrecht out of the blue as we head to the visitor's hall, right beside the beautiful home of the Faerie-kind's Queen.
Having read my thoughts in one glance, Obrecht responds, "I do, but I don't mind."
"..." Why?
He smiles and answers my silent question, "Even if I go back right now, you're not there. How's that 'home' if the one person that's essential in making it a 'home' is missing?"
Turning my head away, I try not to show how warm that makes my insides. At the same time, our comfortable silence is interrupted by the same person earlier.
"Hey, hey, is that sword for sale?" The young-looking guard innocently points Obrecht's sword.
"No, it's not", I coldly answer.
"Oh, but you're not the owner?" The person smiles sarcastically.
"He's my owner", Obrecht readily claims, giving pause to the words me and the guard were about to say.
"...I'm—?" I stutter. Are we still talking about your sword?
The young Faerie-kind laughs good-naturedly, "Forgive me, so you are the owner after all. Then, if you'll excuse me, I'll go since the sword isn't for sale. What a shame." He smiles much friendlier than before.
"Hm", I give a brief noncommittal hum for an answer. I don't blink as I watch him turn around and go.
Raguk walks to my side, also staring at the young man's retreating back. The other guards also bid their friendly farewells, following after him.
"You don't trust him?" Raguk casts me a glance, and unknowingly, at my and Obrecht's joined hands.
"...I don't trust his age." Besides, aren't they too friendly to strangers?
From the very beginning, Afzal and that young man had been subtle about their aura, but you can't really hide the reactions of the people around you all the time. The other groups of guards have been following their moods all throughout our interaction with them. I've also expected it, but truly seeing weaponless guards makes me feel much more alert rather than being at ease. I feel like I'll be taken off-guard at any time, and that just tends to wind up my nerves until their especially taut.
"What took you so long?"
We turn our attention to Afzal coming out of the two-storey cob cottage, arms crossed. Laris isn't far behind and easily surpassed him, a relieved expression blooming on his face at the sight of us—well, me in particular.
My eyes habitually look away from such a face from Laris, accidentally witnessing the short displeased eyes of Afzal's face. It's gone just as fast as it appeared.
"Afzal, I forgot to introduce you earlier", Laris says while pulling me by the arm to showcase closeness. "This is my little brother, Videre."
"You have a brother? He's also royal blooded?" Afzal makes an astounded expression. "Why didn't I know this before?" His smile had no flaw. "So just these two are your servants!" Laris opened his mouth to correct him again but Afzal walked closer to display an apologetic look at me, his palms pressed together in front of him. "Forgive me. I have done you a great disrespect earlier and have mistaken you for a servant. You stick so close to them that I mistook you for one as well." He laughs amicably.
"..." So basically it's my fault for looking like a servant, is that what you mean?
I glance at Obrecht and Raguk who both have black hair and eyes, before looking at Tukare who has white hair and amber eyes, and the redheaded Laris with yellow and green eyes. I clutch a bit of my black hair, knowing fully well I must have black eyes at the moment.
Oh, so it is my fault.
"My name is Afzal, I'm one of the senior guards at our valley's mountain gate." He offered his hand. I pause for a two seconds, glancing at his face, before reaching out to shake it.
"...Videre."
"He's my cousin", Laris takes over, knowing that's most probably all that I have to say. Afzal willingly leaves me behind and walks with Laris as they enter the house and discuss my 'origins'.
"Where's Tukare?" Looking around, I can't help but ask.
"Ah, she's at our priestess' house. How can a maiden live in the same house as burly men?" He says in an 'it's so obvious' manner. "She'll be staying there so you guys can stay at this house. I hope you don't mind our prior arrangements. I also didn't know that there'll be more people coming this time."
Laris timely chuckles as if joking with a close friend, "Again with that? I already apologized for that! If you say it again, I'll get angry!"
Afzal laughs, and pats Laris' shoulder before bidding farewell to let us settle down. Laris had a smile on his face, waving at Afzal's back, until he closed the cottage's door. The previous smile immediately wilted as the door and the frame align. Noticing my gaze on him, his emotionless face starts to look apologetic.
"Videre", he calls like a wronged child. I'm well-aware that if it's Obrecht doing the same expression, I would've caved in. Unfortunately, it's not, so I don't answer; busy with rearranging the contents of my baggage. "Videre", he calls again.
"I, your servant, am here, your highness", I answer him, deadpan and slightly irritated.
The words get stuck on his throat, sporting another thunder-struck expression.
"Rest assured, your highness, we, your servants, shall immediately comply and do our best in meeting your wishes. Please don't hesitate to demand anything of your servants", I say dryly, as if I'm talking about today's menu plan.
"This isn't what I wanted", Laris argues deflatedly. A bit later, he adds an afterthought, "But this is the first time you're teasing me hehe", he trails off, red-faced but happy.
The mood among is lightens and even the frown on Obrecht and Raguk's face has turned into a smirk, although, it really wasn't my intention. Looking at that blushing face of Laris, I wish I hadn't said anything at all and kept my temper to myself.
"That guy didn't seem like a mere guard", Obrecht says. "He's a bit like Raguk."
"Me?" Raguk confusedly asks at him, looking a bit offended to be lumped in with Afzal. His expression almost yelling — 'I'm not as disrespectful as that guy... Am I?'
"Yeah, you're both working as guards but you have that 'I'm a young master' dignified aura around you."
"What dignified aura, ridiculous!" Raguk storms off, saying that he'll check the second floor sleeping quarters. Although he does storm off, the cob cottage is so small that you still each other from the first and second floor even if one doesn't shout. The ceiling's low enough for me to touch. The guest houses here are all the same, and most of the Faerie-kind's residencies are underground, with houses tops covered with grass and door protruding from hills in various places in the valley.
"Afzal's indeed a senior guard at the gate, but he's also linked to the Faerie-kind's royalty. He's the Queen's only son." Laris takes a seat on a low wooden armchair.
"He's an only son too?" Obrecht pulls at my hand so we can sit down too.
"No, the Queen has other daughters who'll take the throne. The Faerie-kind is a matriarchal race." Laris glares at our hands as we pass by. The more he stares, the more I don't let go. Seeing him unhappy soothes my earlier bad mood. This can also be called low-key revenge, maybe.
"So he's not in line for the throne", Raguk says, coming down from the second floor and taking seat with us. "If he's an important person, then why is he doing guard duty?"
"Because his older lover is a guard doing gate duty."
"Lover? Wasn't he interested in you?" I frown. Wasn't Afzal just flirting with Laris a while ago?
"No way, that's not it", Laris strongly denies. "I don't even have the courage to get close to him if he really was interested. Otherwise, I might never get out of this valley and have Letitia lead instead. Imagine how chaotic that might become", he laughs. "Afzal's just friendly and curious about me since we share similar standings because of our birthright. Though I know someone Lycans who'd strongly oppose that", he says the last sentence to himself, implicating the Lycan-kind's ruling family.
"...Afzal talked about a priestess? Is that where my sister's staying?"
"For that, you don't need to worry", Laris replies, smiling brightly. "About the second floor? How was it?" He asks Raguk, who takes a subtle glance at me before conversing with Laris.
The topic I wanted to discuss got deflected. Laris doesn't seem to want to talk about it.
"There're two rooms upstairs. I'll just sleep down here downstairs", Raguk declares.
"Then we'll take one of the room upstairs", I boldly say, a part of trying to irritate Laris back for dodging the topic. "We're going to take a look."
I stand up, pulling Obrecht away to check upstairs. There were only two small rooms, but the windows are wide and circular. The door creaks close, and soon a pair of arms circle my waist. Obrecht stuffs his nose at the nook of my neck.
Ah. This is the first time we're left alone in a room. Did this servant just screw up?