Shin claps twice to capture the attention of the siblings
"Come now! Dine, lest you desire a fragile body."
He states.
Solaire slowly gets up as his sweat flows down his forehead, his foot crunching a leaf.
He tilts his head down to look at the leaf and thinks to himself.
That leaf was green one day, now it's fragile, and died. Plus i stepped on it.
He turns to Sirella and offers a helping hand.
"Come on. Dinnertime."
Sirella huffs turning her back to him and getting up on her own.
Solaire blinks, quite bewildered.
What did he do wrong?
"Hey Zerox!" Sirella calls.
"Yes?" He heeds, his expression blank, or professional, or blank grief, who knows at this point?
"Can i keep the diamond or not?" She asks, holding the diamond she retrieved alongside Solaire.
Shin steps forwards with his hands clasped behind his back.
"And why do you deserve to keep it?" He asks bluntly.
Shin challenges Sirella, maybe challenging her identity, or philosophy, perhaps something else entirely?
"And why not, huh? Me and Solaire worked ourselves to the bone. We almost died from that boulder!" She shouts as she slammed her foot onto the ground, the impact whipping her hair forward. Ew it's greasy.
Shin narrows his eyes, utterly unaffected by her intensity.
"Solaire carried you. Twice."
He states. factually.
Sirella opens her mouth to counter but pauses, her mouth drawing a thin line.
There is no counter, she truly didn't provide Solaire with much assistance.
He told her when to duck, he carried her up the mountain and down.
What did she do?
Solaire steps between the two of the them, raising both hands in a calming gesture as he laughs awkwardly.
"Hey now, let's calm down..." Says Solaire.
"I concur." States Zerox from the sidelines.
Shin glances at Solaire before his gaze goes back to Sirella.
"Solaire. You're not giving your sister any room to grow."
He states bluntly. As if Solaire is a constraining parent.
Solaire blinks. Because what's that supposed to mean?
"Uh...i don't get it.." He tilts his head, perplexed by the statement.
"Let her be independent. You help her all the time, who helped you in your time of need?" Says Shin, criticizing.
"Uhh..." Solaire scratches his hair, trying to come up with a response that saves Sirella's image and answers Shin's question.
Is this how grownups feel when cornered in politics?!
Solaire thinks to himself, slightly nervous by Shin's quietly intimidating, expectant stare.
Solaire clears his throat, trying to speak professionally but his voice comes out, slightly shaky. "She helped me fight a Tilin! If not for her we'd both be dust!" He crosses his arms, proud of his sister. "Isn't that right, Sis?"
Sirella steps forward, now standing beside Solaire. "That's right! We fought together! We complement each other!" She states as she glares sharply at Shin, as if he attacked her entire being by insinuating she's useless.
"Keep the diamond then." Shin states. "It's time for dinner." He adds.
Shin glances at Zerox, his hands still clasped at his back.
"Prepare the dining table for those two, and eat with them. Do not prepare a plate for me."
Zerox nods, professional. "Right away."
Zerox motions for the siblings to follow him to the dining table.
The siblings obey, Sirella still glaring at Shin's retreating figure while Solaire ponders what Shin was getting at.
Zerox opens the door and holds it for the siblings, once they pass through he closes it with a soft click.
Sirella pads softly towards her seat and sits down gracefully, table etiquette doesn't leave a princess no matter her fatigue.
Solaire treads towards his seat and sits down as well, elegantly that is.
Zerox sets the table, placing a plate of hearty, steaming hot food in front of each one of them and he gets into his seat, robotic.
The siblings never saw such food before, it's probably a special dish from Nitsilvania. Maybe it's the national dish?
The scent of the dishes fill the air, engulfing everyone's senses of smell.
All three of them eat in silence, no dinner talk because what is there to converse about?
Solaire pokes his food with his fork absentmindedly, his brain working extra time just to satisfy his thinking process.
The crimson organization still runs rampant somewhere, they might decimate other kingdoms, eliminating more and more innocent people and ending bloodlines.
However, how can he find them? What lead does he have? Is he supposed to go back to Halia and investigate? Can Sirella even go back with him or will she freeze from trauma once she sees the eradicated kingdom? Are there other survivors?
Numerous questions flood his mind, he is the prince of Halia and his father is most likely dead. Isn't he now responsible for the citizens of Halia? What if there are actually survivors out there? Maybe children like him who grieve over their families' deaths.
His chest tightens with guilt. He ran away alongside Sirella, and not once did he think of his kingdom.
CLINK!
The fork stabs into a piece of meat, rattling his plate.
"Solaire..?" Sirella looks up from her plate, her eyes full of concern.
She knows the expression Solaire wears right now, and it's not a good one.
Solaire blinks, getting out of his trace of immense thought.
"Yes? What is it, Sirella?" He says gently, not wanting to worry her with his grim thoughts.
"Are you alright?" She asks softly, voice full of worry.
Zerox has already finished eating and is now sipping his tea.
"If your thoughts spiral, your mind plummets."
Zerox states calmly, offering....advice.
Solaire turns his head to him. "...I...really don't get it." he says honestly, confused.
"When you overthink, you make mistakes. Your mind makes wrong decisions and you may even lose valued things, or people, along the way. It's a dark path, don't walk it, young man."
"...Okay..." Solaire finally starts eating, not letting his mind wander anymore.
"I have an idea!" Sirella states excitedly. "Why don't we go out somewhere? Zerox, can you be our guide?"
Zerox glances at her. "Sure." He states. detached like always. He continues sipping his tea slowly and calmly as he savors every single sip.
"Yeah! And you'd finally be able to wear the sundress and sunhat i got you!" Solaire adds to Sirella's idea.
Shin glances up from his book reading in the corner of the room. "You can have the day off tomorrow, i suppose." He states. Lenient for once, how kind.
Where will the outing be tomorrow?
It'd be July 1st, 1542 tomorrow.
Nitsilvania is a kingdom that brims with everything imaginable.
What will the siblings choose to explore from the abundance of choices Nitsilvania offers?