"Why must I keep up this stupid training? I've been the age of a man since a winter ago. Shouldn't I be spending more time learning how to rule my future kingdom in my mother's stead than training with a sword?" Arrius said to Ser Ferick.

"My prince, if you do not learn to swing the sword, then you'll never truly know what it means to rule. A man's heart comes from his blade, and his knowledge comes from his experience with that blade," said Ser Ferick.

Arrius thought this was quite dumb. That makes no sense, he thought to himself. Why should my experience with a blade shape my knowledge on being able to rule?"Whatever you say, Ser, but just know in the next winter, when my queen mother gives me more authority within court, I'll make sure to return to you and let you know if my blade had helped shape my thoughts," Arrius spoke.

I'm the crown prince. I have so many duties, so much I need to live up to, but yet I feel as if everything I'm learning now is doing nothing but hurting that knowledge I need, Arrius thought to himself.

"Oh, shut it, you always complain, Arrius. It's all you ever do. Just enjoy yourself. Stop trying to avoid training as if we all don't need to do it," said Prince Loyce.

Arrius looked down at his shorter brother with his chunky cheeks, his flowing straight but thin hair, and those beady brown eyes. How could my brother be such a douche? he thought.

"You know nothing of it, Loyce. you care for nothing but doing what makes you happy that's why Tyrus is half as good as you with a sword and half the age," Loyce charged at Arrius in an instant, swinging the wooden sword straight at Arrius's stomach. A sudden loud thud was heard louder than any sound around.

"I may not enjoy training every day when I know I have a lot more important responsibilities, but that doesn't mean you'll catch me off guard so easily, Loy," said Arrius with a smirk at his brother. Arrius pushed up with his sword and swung below, taking Loyce's legs with him. In an instant, Arrius was standing over his brother with his sword at his face, implying for him to yield.

Loyce, with a smile, said, "Give me a couple more winter passes, and I'll be the best fighter in all of the north. You just watch." Arrius smiled back and helped his brother up. As they got up, they looked over to see Prince Tyrus, their youngest brother, fighting two other sons of lords."You know, if he put his mind to it, he could be better than both of us," said Arrius, still looking at Tyrus across the training ground.

"Yeah, yeah. Don't boost the kid's ego more than it already is. Our father does that enough as is. All we hear is that one day he'll be your greatest knight and bannerman," said Loyce with an annoyed look on his face.

Arrius felt bad when Loyce would think of how his father spoke of Tyrus. It was the same way he used to speak of Loyce himself before Loyce injured his arm and lost a lot of his ambition to do the things he once wished he could have.

Looking over at Tyrus, Arrius noticed how skillful the young boy was. He had a different love for all of his siblings and valued them differently. For Tyrus, he wished to see him succeed and go on with his dreams of becoming a knight for House Caine. Arrius promised he'd do everything in his heart to achieve this for him.

But that did not mean he didn't care for Loyce either. Loyce is the one person closest to Arrius Loyce will one day help me rule and i know he'll live a wonderful life here in cardinalshold with me Tyrus and Alara, Arrius thought to himself.

"Don't be so down, Loyce. You're my brother, my right-hand man. You'll one day marry a beautiful daughter of some powerful lord, and I'll make sure you're there wherever I may be, without your outrageous opinions. What would I do?" Arrius said to Loyce as he brought his shorter brother's head to his shoulder."I know, I promise. We'll make sure you have a wonderful rule. I couldn't possibly let you do something dumb without me being involved," smiled Loyce.

Still looking over at Tyrus, he swung down his sword on one boy's arm, knocking the sword to the ground. He jabbed the boy in the stomach and then spun to deflect the other boy's attack and kicked his leg under him to knock him on the floor. Tyrus made them submit and yield to him.

Arrius, looking at some of the northerners faces he could see it which made arrius get lost in thought, Arrius didn't care for it much, but everyone around them sure did. Him and his three siblings looked nothing like siblings. It didn't bother him He tho he was the only one with brown curly hair while his two brothers had thin and thick straight brown hair. Though his older sister, Alara, had brown curly hair, it had straightened over time. Arrius had hazel eyes while his three other siblings had dark brown eyes. He was also the only one with snow-white skin while the rest of his siblings had olive skin similar but lighter than their father's. Even though Arrius didn't make much of a deal out of this, it still deep down affected him. He was the odd one out, the only one who had any resemblance of his mother's family. He knew they were all siblings, but it still made him feel weird that he was similar yet different from them at the same time.

Arrius knew the people of the north may have loved them but still had their opinions on the siblings because they weren't full-blooded Northerners. Their father was from Tundro, where the people had darker skin and weird customs compared to the north. The people of the north loved his father, but he noticed the stares from the people. He knew what they were truly thinking. Sometimes Arrius wondered why his mother didn't just marry another Northerner. Then she would have never had to deal with the backlash of what the other lords and smallfolk thought, even though over time they grew to accept and love his mother's relationship with his father. It was something he knew would never truly go away. Arrius wondered that if maybe, just maybe, he had gotten more than just his mother's curly hair, if he had gotten the blonde and green eyes from his mother, if maybe they would have accepted him more, but he was doubtful that would change anything.

"Hey, Arrius, did you hear any of that?" asked little Tyrus with his armor on and his wooden sword still in his hand."I'm sorry, just lost in thought. What was it you said, Tyrus?" said Arrius, still shaking his head, trying to focus once again on what his brother was saying.

"I was saying, did you see that? How I was moving out there, taking down both Darien and Morick? I may even be better than both of you already," Tyrus said with a huge smirk on his face, still practicing his moves.Tyrus's new confidence was quite a lot, Arrius thought. "You wish. We could spar one hundred times, and I'd beat you every time with an arm strapped behind my back," said Loyce.

"Oh, yeah? Let's try it right now, you and me, a duel," Tyrus clapped back in an instant. Arrius would have loved to see these two go at it, but from above, they heard their mother, Queen Caryn, calling for them. "Boys, do you ever learn not to fight every five seconds? It's never going to get you anywhere, my loves. You must work together. You're brothers, and that will never change ever." Queen Caryn was accompanied by her handmaidens as well as the princess Alara.

"But Mom, please, one duel. Loyce keeps nagging me," begged the little one Tyrus."I'm sorry, my son, but training is done for the day. It's time for my sweet little boys to get inside and take a bath and clean up," says Queen Caryn as she squeezes Tyrus's cheeks."Fine, mother," says Tyrus with a roll in his eyes.

Arrius helped lead his brothers to both of their baths before handing them off to the maids. He can't help but keep thinking about what could be the reason everyone is called to the throne. "Ars, what did you think of my fighting today? I think I'm looking better than how you looked like as a kid," Tyrus says with his big glowing eyes, trying to gain his brother's approval.

"You did amazing. You're still young, but you fought off two other boys the same age as you. It'll take time, but you'll be getting even better soon. Not enough to beat me and Loyce yet, though," Arrius says with a smile on his face. "Now go and follow Mrs. Rabeca to your bath. I'll meet you in the throne room soon enough."