"So, what were you two doing back there?" Yuki couldn't help but ask, casting a glance over her shoulder at Yuri, following along behind her. She had yet to let go of his hand, but took in the sight of his dazed expression curiously.
She pushed a button to open the connecting doors to another car, where their things were stored. Likely to get Yuri into a cleaner change of pants, too. As they waited, Yuri finally responded. "Magic… I think."
"Magic?" Yuki's eyes grew to saucers, spinning around and staring up at her brother. "That- wow. I never thought I'd see magic!" Notos was very magic-dry, just as it was moisture-dry and warm all of the time. Yuri had told her stories of the magic he had experienced while he was away, but it always felt like fairy tales to keep a little girl sated. "What do you mean by you think, though?"
Pshhhhh. The door to the next car opened. Yuri nudged Yuki to continue through and not dawdle. Once the doors closed behind them, he shrugged, looking around. Compartments were filled with the trunks and belongings of his, Yuki's, and everyone else's. Yuki let go of Yuri to let him find his trunk to pull a change of pants from. "I think… because the magic I'm used to is not… orange." Yuki watched him unhook the trunk and dig around through it. "You would expect his magic, as he has it, would be more… cold."
Yuki could see the logic. She looked at her hands, turning to the side and pointedly away from Yuri as he began to change. Most would find it weird for her to be in the same area as him while he undressed from the bottom down, but they were siblings, so it was fairly normal. "I see. Ours would be warmer, huh?" She turned her hands over, wiggling her fingers. "If we had it…."
Click. Yuri was the master at being swift with his changing, and he was already putting his trunk back when Yuki turned to him. "Do you think we'll get magical when we get to Isklan?"
The twinge of a smile on Yuri's face told her no. "I doubt it. I didn't get magic before." He sighed, pushing his hand through his hair and messing up the style it had been in for the ride. He looked a little looser after doing so, and Yuki watched his shoulders slump. He seemed himself and not himself at the same time, and Yuki wondered for the first time (and not the last) if bringing him along was a good idea. She shook the thought from her head, closing her eyes and crossing her arms.
"A girl can believe!"
Pssssh. The doors opened again, and both Yuri and Yuki turned to see who else was coming into the storage area. Standing in the doorway, quite startled and not expecting company, was an older woman and a boy about Yuki's age. The boy immediately ducked behind the pink skirts of the woman with him, and she pushed her hair out of his way while he did so.
"Dresden, that is no way to greet royalty." Her voice was soft but warm, and with her free hand unoccupied by hair, she pulled her skirts out in a curtsy. "Your Highnesses." Although she was dressed in a normally warm color of pink, it was pale and nearly blended in with her skin and faded hair. Yuki wondered how pale brown hair was even natural, but she kept that to herself, dragging her eyes to the one who still hid behind her. Dresden was his name?
Dresden had even paler hair, was gray a natural hair color? He was just as pale as the woman, but he dressed in the blues and blacks of Isklan, standing out against his skin and nearly engulfing his frail frame. One cold blue eye met hers and he hid away again -- Yuki made a noise of protest behind her throat.
Yuri meanwhile handled speaking to the woman, and their voices were an annoying buzz in Yuki's ear as she leaned over on one foot to try and get a better peek at him. Dresden seemed to catch onto this and his rasped voice came out muffled from the pink cloth. "Aunt Annie…."
Annie -- "Annette," she corrected as Yuki peered up at her and decided she was a little too poised to be an "Annie" -- turned entirely to Dresden and clasped her hands onto his shoulders. "You're a strong boy. You have to be brave. Just because Her Highness is in charge of you means nothing -- you are the same age. Equals."
Yuki blinked several times at that, then she looked over to Yuri. Yuri shrugged and stepped over toward her. "I don't think the rules of age are like that," she whispered, none too softly, to him. The elder grinned and pat her atop her head.
"Forgive us." Annette sighed, maneuvering Dresden out in front of her. "This was Dresden's first strip away from Isklan… he unfortunately could not stand the heat and could not attend the wedding." Yuki watched him nervously twitch and play with his hands as he stumbled to the trunks and baggage. "I hope you will pardon him, Your Highness."
"Huh- oh." Yuki furrowed her brows, turning to look up at Annette with Yuri's hand still on her head. "Why wouldn't I? I mean, you just said we're equals because of our age. So why would I need to forgive him for being sick?"
"ACK-" THUMP.
"Dresden-"
Yuki wiggled away from Yuri's hand and dashed over to the fallen Dresden, who had attempted to pull a very heavy looking trunk out by himself and fell to the floor with it half tumbling onto him. "Whoa, you okay?" Yuki pressed her hands against the trunk, grunting as she pushed it back up onto the shelf just enough for Dresden to squirm away from it.
He clutched at his chest, heaving and flushed with embarrassment, carefully keeping his eyes away from Yuki's legs. She wore a shorter puffed skirt than usual today, but planned on changing into something warmer the more north toward Isklan they got. "Um… can you breathe?" Yuki looked at Annette as Yuri headed over to properly pull out the trunk. Even he grunted with effort as he pulled it out and placed it with a lot less noise on the floor of the car.
"Dresden." Annette knelt by the boy, her skirt billowing around her in a pale pink pool. "Are you having an episode?"
Yuki joined her, her own skirt blowing up like a lemon around her. She pat it down and tilted her head. "Episode?"
By the look on Dresden's face, pulled tight as he held his chest, this was clearly not something public… well, at least not to those from Notos. Annette did not seem to be worried about her blunder, if it was even a blunder, and instead held out her hands for Dresden to take. She helped him up to his feet and almost immediately, Dresden took in a deep, sharp breath… and bolted for the exit. Annette clicked her tongue and bobbed a curtsy with apologies, before she dashed off after Dresden, who slipped out just as the doors opened.
From the floor, Yuki looked up at Yuri. "Uhm… who were they? ...and what was that all about?"
Yuri answered as he had been for much of the trip already: he shrugged.