Gossip in small villages have the bad habit of spreading fast.
"Did you hear? Penélope left."
"She did? How cruel! She is a mother! Who is going to take care of them?"
"I am sure she had her reasons to do so...Did you know the youngest son is a Green one?"
"No way! Scary! Haha."
So fast, they leave behind details, context and privacy.
The morning Penélope, whose face he did not remember, packed her things and never looked back, Jatty was five and cried until his eyes burnt.
"Don't worry, Jatty, I am here. We are together."
His big sister, Lizbeth, and their old brother, Kailo, did not blame Jatty when there was not food to eat, or when they had to work 12 hours under the sun, or when they got sick for lack of nutrients. Liz and Kailo were gentle souls, and also, they were Green as Jatty.
The three siblings lived on the countryside of Oltremare with the basics: a roof, a floor, a small bathroom and a kitchen. They were poor, but at least they managed to be comfortable enough. Even when everyone felt sorry for them, they did not have time for that, "Leave proud of what you achieve with your effort, not matter how much or how little. Especially, when it is little, because it will make you realise how lucky you are when you have much", Kailo said one day. Jatty did not understand at first, but his brother's voice sounded in his head from time to time.
Winter was coming, so Jatty had to cover the windows with wooden planks; he was home alone.
"What are you doing?", two curios eyes were peeking over the glassless window from the outside. If it had been the first time it happened, he would probamy had thrown at them the hammer. It was not.
"What are You doing?", he asked, "Do you not have your own house? Leave."
"You are so mean, Chatty!"
"It's Jatty! Like the 'ja' in 'jam'!"
She smiled, showing the gap between her teeth, she was missing several. They had met one day when she was lost in the woods and Jatty brought her back. Since that day, Arne had visited him at any chance she got.
"I heart the rumors concerning...", she pointed at his face, "You are full of suprises, Chat!"
Rumors, rumors, rumors...Nothing annoyed him more than the stupid rumors.
"Yeah, yeah...Go home", he did not understand her. She always came back no matter how mean he was, and now she had heard about him and she still tried to make him mad, < They said nothing for a couple of minutes in which his thoughts started to overflow his head. He was scared. He was angry. He did not want to be taken away. The air he was breathing seemed not to be the correct amount, but he was not sure if he was inhaling too much or too little. The hammer slipped from his hands, making a hole in the ground. Jatty dropped to the ground, legs tucked to his chest. "Jatty!", Arne jumped into the house through the window, "Jatty, are you alright?" "Go home!", he shouted. "I wish!", Arne said. With her very restricted medical knowledge, the girl thought the young man was having a heart attack, "Do not die on me, Chat!" "I am not dying, you twat!" "I will stop coming over, and I will never talk to you again...and I really like talking to you! So please, don't die, Jatty!" "I am not-", her face was covered in wrinkles from the effort of holding back tears. Her lips were pressed together, trying to hold up a pout. The boy sighed; the panic attack was coming to and end faster than it usually did. Arne, who was kneeling next to him, was slurping up the snot while wiped it with her sleeve. That scene was the beggining of Jatty's soft spot for Arne. However, he did not know yet that she was the princess. He placed his hand gently on her head, "See? I am not dying." "You are not?" "I am not." "Can I still come over?" "Yeah, you can even follow me around as much as you want", he said smiling. "Stop following me around!" They had not gone more than twenty paces from the castle gates. Caudata and Lope on their horses and Jatty on foot. "Do you plan to walk through the forest? Do you know how many days it will take you? Besides, you are wounded. Allow this gentleman, who is handsome and kind, to short your journey", Caudata pointed proud at himself with a smirk on his lips. "No", Jatty said. He dropped the formalities, "I am gratful for your kidness, but I can go by myself". Lope leaned towards the prince, "I told you so..." Caudata ignored her and, from the superiority of both being riding a horse and being crown prince of Alcora, said, "That's an order". "What the...?", his squire rode away, she was embarrassed once more by his words, and signalled to the soldiers to open the gates; they would not go with Jatty after that. The two men looked at each other creating a tension that could be cut with a knife. "With all due respect, I owe obedience only to Queen Arne." Caudata tightened her grip on the reins, "Then you owe respect to her future husband as well." "What is he saying?!", Lope exclaimed from the distance. "Yes, of course, I will owe respect to him too," Jatty replied without understanding the double meaning. The prince smiled once more. "So, let's go find my fiancée, shall we?" "What."