Her hair was braided behind her head. Golden silk weaving into itself to keep the locks under control as the young girl zipped and zoomed through her mother's palace. Her brilliant blue eyes shone with excitement as her outstretched arms spread to either side of her. She'd move them up and down from time to time, attempting to mimic the motions of the birds she oh so loved to watch through the windows and whenever she went out.
At eight years old and with the energy of a hundred young pups ready to play, she was the bane of the maid staff. She'd leap over any obstacle, ducking any attempt to catch her, all whilst giggling and laughing the whole time. She wasn't a bad sport about her impromptu games of tag or hide and seek either, in fact she'd help the staff clean any mess she made from her antics during these moments. Yes, she may be the cause of them, and yes she knew that she was quite the nuisance, but that wouldn't ever stop her. Well, unless she heard the voices of her mother or, and arguably worse, misses Rocksalt, the mother of the boy who always seems to run off into the fields before the girl gets a chance to speak to him.
And how rude of him to do so! Does he not want to play with her? They're the same age after all, and it isn't as though her mother cared about status. If anything, her mother likely wanted to try and make the boy her brother! All speculations in the young child's mind, oblivious to the fact that the young boy actually had nothing against her, and would likely play with her if she'd ever ventured as far out as the fields.
The problem was those fields. It wasn't as though she wasn't allowed in them, no, it was that old crypt near the edge of one specific field. It was creepy and gross to begin with, and if she got close to it, a voice from inside would scold her for going near it! An uncanny voice that did not sound like a natural voice. Making it even scarier. She was sure that a monster or ghost lived in there! She had told her mother so many times even.
"Now dear, that old crypt has nothing of importance in it." Her mother, truly ignorant of the treasure within would tell her whenever the little one brought it up. "Certainly nothing a monster or spirit would wish to guard."
"But mother, I heard it!" The girl would always protest before being shooed away by her mother. She was a high noble after all, she was usually busy with some affair or another.
But to the young girl, it felt like her concerns were being pushed aside so her mother could go have fun tea parties or play dress up with other girls her age. It wasn't fair! Not one bit! Why would her mother never play games like that with her? And why could she not join in? She knew the tea they'd drink was more bitter than the tea that she'd normally be served. It even left a burning sensation in her throat and belly after she snuck a drink once while she was younger. That didn't make her think she shouldn't be able to join in these adult tea parties! It would only take some getting used to. Yes! That was all she needed! Time to get used to the adult tea!.. While misses Rocksalt isn't looking so she doesn't get in trouble for drinking "alcohol" again.
It was quite clear that if the little girl was the child of misses Rocksalt that day, the punishment would not have ended at a mere scolding. A loud scolding, don't be mistaken, the whole palace knew what the wobbly child had done. Her thoughts were clear to all those around though, if the Rocksalt boy had done what the young lady had, he would refuse to sit on his ass for the next month by the time she was done with him. Of course, the young girl was not exactly in her right mind at the moment, instead hugging the maid and telling her how much she loved her, before covering her dress and shoes in vomit. Much to the disgust of the Rocksalt woman and the humor of the girl's mother.
But, that was not the event that got her in trouble this time. No, today, it was her curiosity over the conversation about the Rocksalt boy that would be her instrument of doom. Eavesdropping was always, according to misses Rocksalt, very unbecoming of a lady. Yet the other maid staff would do it all the time, even spread the secrets around to the other staff at times. It cannot be that bad if done so openly by the adults, surely ?
Words were spoken. Some she didn't quite understand, stipulations on laws, talk of tutoring for… the Rocksalt boy? Was mother finally adopting him? She could have sworn she heard something about that in the few moments she listened to her politics tutor. She was more a fan of mathematics, after all, puzzles were so much fun to her and math problems were like little puzzles! Enough of that, though, she heard something about the boy becoming a noble. This definitely had to be wrong. Men were not allowed to be nobles in the kingdom. Only women! Even the men that married noble women weren't considered true nobles. More members of rich family than anything else. Some people refuse to even acknowledge the husbands of nobility when announcing noble families. Just the Lady and her daughter, if she had one yet.
It was during this contemplation when her eyes met the boy's. His eyes were so… green. She'd never actually gotten a good look at him, but she immediately noticed his eyes. Vibrant green, reminding her of her favorite tree during the springtime. He'd suddenly ended up looking into her eyes, making her yelp in confusion, and the whole room snap their heads in her direction. She'd been had, time to run!
And run she did! Down the hall and towards the stairs. She was running quickly to avoid the ire of the maid she knew would be the most mad at her. Daring not look back to see who was chasing her, she stamped her feet quickly in the direction of the staircase, not stopping for a single second before feeling her foot slip from under her. Barely stopping herself from tumbling down the stairs, and giving the woman chasing her time to grab her hand and pull her away. The grip was only tight for a moment, loosening immediately after they realized that she was safe from falling before… calmly walking her back towards the room? This wasn't right, misses Rocksalt was supposed to be lecturing her over eavesdropping right now! Not… whatever she's doing right now…
Upon entering the room where Cain and the adults were speaking, the girl's mother looked at her. Giving the child a soft smile, which was returned with a look of confusion, before looking down at the boy. Tilting her head as though signaling the boy to go with her.
"You should go spend time with her. Let me speak with your mother and figure out your new living situation." The girl, looking between her mother and the boy she'd never spoken to before, wasn't sure what was going on. Not unsurprising, as this was an unprecedented situation to begin with. The noble woman had decided that the boy's time was better spent creating connections with her daughter, for several reasons she would rather not say aloud.
The boy nodded and walked towards the girl, giving her a smile and bowing. The girl could tell he was quite uncomfortable speaking to her, but she said nothing. After all, this was the first time they'd interacted beyond seeing one another in passing. She, admittedly, also wasn't quite sure how to feel about this, friends were few and far between.
"I'm Cain, Cain Rocksalt. My father was a smith, my mother is a maid who works for your mother." He stood straight after the short introduction. His smile, though a bit forced in the admittedly uncomfortable situation, stayed on his face. In contrast, however, the excitable girl's face began to fill with glee. A silly amount that was only capable within the naive mind of a decently sheltered child. She grasps his dirt covered hands in her own and begins jumping up and down.
"I'm Alyssa!" She shouts as she begins pulling her new playmate out of the room, Cain nearly falling over from the unexpected tugging of his hands. "Alyssa Charlotte Agria of Agria! Daughter of high noble lady Charlotte Sophia Agria of Agria! It's so nice to meet you! Do you like tea, or are you more of a coffee person? I admittedly am more of a sweet tea kind of person myself. But coffee can be good too!"
She'd pulled her newly acquired friend into the hall, away from the giggling and chuckling of the adults in the room. Alyssa had been so excited that she didn't even notice the dirt covered hands she was holding in her own. Not that she minded, mind you, she arguably didn't even care about her own hands cleanliness and didn't particularly care about playing in the dirt. In fact, she loved to play in the unplanted plots out in the garden when they were available.
Cain was being barraged by facts about the girl all the way to the tea room. Her favorite color, her birthday, how many toys she had, which one was her favorite, and so much more that he'd not asked about. Not that he'd interrupt her. She seemed to be very happy just speaking to him. He'd wondered how many friends she'd had in the past, if any? High nobles tended to only interact with serving staff, body guards, and on rare occasions, their personal group of hidden corps guards. Not that Cain would know about the last group. Not yet at least.
"Oh! And I love the tea from that caravan from the Imperium of the Dragon's caravan! It was bitter, but still smooth to drink. It was so nice and left a warm feeling in my belly. It didn't have a color though, and from what I understand, it was made from some grain they're known for!" The boy furrows his eyebrows, tea from a grain? That's not right. "But misses Rocksalt said that that was adult only tea. Said that it's bad for children, full of something called 'alcohol' I think?" Ah, that makes more sense. It was the grain based wine his mother had told him about. Rice wine he thinks it was called? He couldn't be too sure. It was a luxury in Agria, though, other parts of the Kingdom of Heroes weren't so starved for it. Specifically, Akashia, being right next to the border of the Imperium of the Dragon, tended to trade more with one of their territories than Agria could. "I was also told not to drink the fancy grape juice that the maids seem to enjoy so much. I feel it's quite unfair!" Grape wine. A common export from Agria, actually. It was abundant in the region, tending to replace beer and ale in local pubs and taverns. Cain wasn't privy to most of this, but he knew the difference between rice wine and grape wine and that rice wine was harder for them to get. He laughed a bit, causing the girl to pout,
"What's so funny?"
"Ah! Nothing, my lady." He spoke to her the way his mother always told him to speak to her, as politely as possible for a child his age. "I'm guessing you must have felt very dizzy after drinking that tea?"
"I did!" She replies quickly. "Do you know why?"
"Mother told me that there's a little bit of poison in those drinks." This causes the little girl to gasp, "nothing dangerous, she assures me! Just enough to make you feel funny. But it's much more dangerous for kids like us since we aren't grown up yet."
"Oh, no wonder she seemed so worried when she caught me drinking that stuff! If I had known I'd have never drank it, not one bit!" She responds, perhaps a bit louder than necessary.
A moment of silence follows after her statement, Cain not knowing what to say to the girl as she stared intently into his eyes. He wasn't sure what to do in this moment. This was the longest that someone had stared at him for. Did he have something on his face? He wasn't sure but was concerned by the act, even more so when the young girl placed her chin in her hands and smiled. Though his concerns went away quickly with her next statement:
"Your eyes are weird." She said, a smug look on her face. Cain was significantly less impressed by her statement.
"Well that's rude." He says before continuing, "plan on making a million friends with that comment?"