Aristia massaged her slightly sore fingers after she had completed the history assignment. It was the least she could do for Aristia after occupying her body, even if it was just for a day.
"You owe me, Aristia." She said into the air. "I just did your homework for you."
She glanced around her, making sure there was no chance of anyone listening. She didn't want anyone to think she was crazy.
She stood up and stretched her limbs, before turning to check on Alaric. She smiled at his little form as he had fallen asleep sprawled out on her bed, the almost empty bowl of snacks sitting beside him.
She looked outside the window at the sun which was already setting, painting the sky orange.
"I'm sure Alaric didn't drink any water after he ate the snacks. I don't want him to have dry coughs at night." She muttered.
She walked towards the bed and picked up the glass of water from the tray on the bedside table. The full glasses confirmed her words.
She shook Alaric lightly and he stirred. "Alaric," she called out. "Al, drink some water."
"Huh?" Alaric answered groggily as Aristia held him up. He opened his mouth as Aristia fed him some water.
Because of the tilt of the glass, water dripped from the gap in his lips onto his clothes, creating a small trail down his chin and a small pool on his shirt.
"Oops!" Aristia quickly readjusted him. It wasn't very easy. The kid was more than half her size!
After she felt he had drunk enough, Aristia let him lie back down on the bed. She made a wall with pillows on the other edge of the bed so that Alaric would not fall off, in case he was the type to roll in his sleep.
She picked up the bowl of snacks and ate up its remaining contents, drank her glass of water and placed the bowl and the glass back into the tray so that the maids would pick it up whenever they came back.
She went to climb into bed, but stopped and glanced at the door.
[I wonder why Adeline and Cassandra are not back yet. I just remembered that after today, I'll probably return to my world. This might just be a case of lucid dreaming, and I probably pinched myself in real life which is why I felt the pain in my dream. Probably. This could be the last time I'll see Alaric.] She thought as she climbed into the bed.
"I'll miss you, Al. At least now I know what it feels like to have a younger sibling to take care of." She whispered and yawned tiredly, giving Alaric one last kiss on his forehead. She was after all, in the body of a child and was already feeling exhausted after a whole day awake and active. She got into the bed beside Alaric, and drifted off to sleep almost immediately.
But a thought poked its head through the sleepiness. Since they both had drunk from half a glass to a full glass of water...
[Does Alaric or Aristia wet the bed at night?]
***
Some few minutes after Aristia had fallen asleep, a knock sounded on the bedroom door.
After the person on the other side received no reply even after a series of knocking, the door opened and in came Adeline and Cassandra.
Their faces morphed into an expression of surprise on sighting the prince sleeping on the princess's bed and they exchanged glances.
After they were done with packing up the writing materials in the library, which took quite some time due to the mess caused by Alaric and Aristia, Cassandra went to check on the young prince since he was supposed to be asleep at the time.
But, on reaching his room, there was no sign of him anywhere. She was about to worry but relaxed when Adeline who was with her, reminded her that the young prince was probably still with the princess.
They immediately headed to her room and that was how they witnessed the strange but sweet scene before them.
They walked further into the room, Adeline going to pick up the tray containing the snacks and the glasses of water. She was about to open the door when the door opened from the outside.
She bowed quickly when she recognized the people standing in front of her, and greeted them while stepping out of the way, "Greetings, Master and Madam."
Her voice was not high as she didn't want to awaken the sleeping children.
When Cassandra heard her words, she turned around and bowed towards the entrance, "Greetings, Master and Madam."
Wilson and Catherine nodded before waving their hands to dismiss the maids.
They turned to face their sleeping children. They had gone to check on their children as they usually did but were stunned when they didn't find Alaric in his room, so they decided to check if he was in Aristia's.
Surprisingly, both children were asleep on the bed. Catherine was surprised for a moment, but the feeling of surprise soon faded and a smile formed on her face watching her children snore lightly. She leaned down and gave them both kisses on the cheek.
She glanced at the stack of pillows on Alaric's left side in confusion, but she was able to guess the intention behind it and even who put it there. Her smile widened with joy at the newfound care her daughter was showing for her little brother. She took a few pillows and did the same to Aristia's side where she lay beside the edge of the bed.
Wilson leaned down, about to pick up Alaric to take him to his room, but Catherine held his arm to get his attention and shook her head.
"Let them be, dear. We should leave, lest we disturb their rest and they wake up." She told him.
Wilson nodded and they left the room as quickly and silently as they came with one last glance at the children, closing the door quietly.