James rounded the same loop. Around the hall, down the stairs, through the sitting room, up the stairs, around the hall. Every window he passed, he stared out at the mountains. Somewhere in his mind he knew that he wouldn’t be able to see travelers coming through the pass. That didn’t stop him from searching the mountains when he passed the windows.

"Sir, if I could interrupt your pacing?" Bailey jogged along beside him. "A letter has arrived," James stopped short; Bailey skidded to a stop. Displacing the rug in the hall. They held out the starch stiff white envelope. James took it, rolling his eyes at the wax seal keeping it closed. James opened the letter and read over his mother's handwriting.

The letter was stern. She still hadn't forgiven him for the souring relationship between Sjodyr and Aderyntan. James wasn't worried, Sjodyr was always barely cordial with Aderyntan. Which is how he was able to convince his mother to let him pursue nothing but a rumor. The fallout of being exiled from Aderyntan was still in its infancy. James was not in any way surprised to hear that the Queen was denying Seren existed. He also expected for his mother to start questioning whether Seren existed as well. James felt the apple in his pocket. He hadn't wanted to reveal it, but he didn't have any other proof he was telling the truth.

"Will there be a response?" Bailey asked, shifting the carpet back into place.

"No," James said and handed the letter back to Bailey.

"Permit me," Bailey folded up the letter and tucked it back into their side bag. They didn't wait for permission before speaking. "You seem really invested in this. Just wondering if this is the hill you want to die on." James stared out the window. The muscles in his jaw tightened.

"I think it's worth it," he said finally. "I think they're worth it." Bailey nodded, watching his face.

"Sir," Bailey smiled with a relaxed but respectable nod. They walked down the hall, leaving James on his own in front of the window. He leaned on the window, looking at the road. He could see his mother's face in his reflection. It was the only way he'd seen her since he left. The main castle of Sjodyr settled in the deepest parts of the kingdom. But there were other castles, estates, and manors built around the kingdom as well. He hadn’t returned to the main castle for almost a year.

James' attention was drawn from his thoughts. On the road was a group that were moving in a circle. Drawing in the dirt in a design that James didn't recognize. The group stood in the center and it lit up. He pressed up against the glass, cupping his hands on either side of his eyes. The party of four vanished in a flash of light and was replaced with only two. Looking up at the manor. It was dark, and James couldn’t tell where the two were facing.

They started towards the manor and he stepped back. His first thought was of his mother. But who would she send? Certainly not only two people and not by magic. His mother wasn’t the biggest fan of magic. Ruling her out left James at a loss about who would be approaching his door so late at night dressed in all black. He left the window and walked down the halls. Assassination wouldn’t be unheard of. From political rivals, enemies, and even his own family. There was no end to people who for one reason or another would want him dead. His hand was still on the golden apple in his pocket. Especially since his recent dispute with a Queen. Aderyntan’s main export was magical goods.

James ducked into his study, unnerved by the open window. He kept the door wide open, not entering the room.

“Hi, please don’t panic,”

James turned to see a person dressed all in black with bright pink hair step out from behind the window’s curtain. He started to back out of the room but was paused by the ‘please’.

“My name’s Kyi. We, uh- he’ll get up here eventually. We have a letter for you!” The pink haired person looked out the open window. “He has it, so… So I’ll explain the urgency part.”

“Okay,” James nodded. Still hiding behind the door.

“See,” Kyi stopped, puffing out their cheeks as they tried to think of a quick way to explain. “Seren, we’ve adopted them. We got the letter to prove it, he’s…” Kyi paused to look out the window. “He’s (it’s only two stories, dude.) he’s coming. Seren! Uh, might be dying?” James stood straight, he jumped back when a hand grabbed onto the windowsill.

“Took you long enough,” Kyi snapped at the man hauling himself up. They dove in and started grabbing at his pockets.

“Hey! Hey! Be patient, I'm- Whoa!” The man nearly fell out the window as Kyi produced a paper.

“I got the letter, it doesn’t explain what happened but it is our show of credibility.” Kyi took a step forward and held the letter out for James. Against his better judgement he entered the room and took the letter. He kept an eye out as he sped through the words. Kyi helped the man into the room.

“This is Eoin by the way,” Kyi pointed. James looked up and nodded. Going right back to the letter. He reread it multiple times.

"Wait, what happened? You said Seren was dying." James asked, putting the letter down.

"Yeah, it's a long story and we don't have a lot of time so we'll explain on the way." Eoin said and held up a small coin token.

"Way to where?" James asked.

"A magic shop in Aderyntan, they can make the gold apple into an antidote for the poison."

"Poison?" James’ hand went to the golden apple in his pocket. He was more skeptical than ever.

“Yes, see. The Queen put a hit out on Seren around the time you got kicked out. Eoin was actually the original assassin,” Kyi pointed; Eoin smiled and waved. “But we kept them instead. However the Queen figured out where we were and took Seren out with poison and a crossbow. If we hurry we can make an antidote so let’s hurry!” James stared, his incredulous stare passing between Kyi and Eoin.

“I know we’re asking for an incredible amount of trust as complete strangers-”

“Who’ve broken into your home,”

“Not helping Kyi, but we need the apple to help them and if you won’t come with us or give it willingly. We will take it by force.” Eoin said sternly. James turned the apple over in his pocket.

“Okay,” James agreed. He held out his hand, Eoin flipped the coin into it. Kyi and Eoin produced their own.

“The word is houseplant,” Eoin said. Popping out of existence the second the word fell from his mouth. Kyi watched James.

"You first," they said. James nodded. He cleared his throat and said the word and vanished. Kyi shut the window and turned out the lights of the study and then said the word and vanished.

-----

Seren placed the doll on their bed. It wasn't exactly the way they remembered it. There wasn't a dresser or wardrobe. The bed hadn't collapsed on the chest yet.

Seren stared at the chest, trying to remember what they put in there. Once they had to use it to fix their bed, Seren had forgotten all the things in it. They grabbed the lid and tried to open it. But the lid didn't budge no matter how hard they pulled. They sat back and huffed. The chest didn’t have a keyhole, so there was no lock or key that would open it. Seren glared at it as if that would make it open. They heard footsteps coming down the hall. Directing their attention away from the chest.

There was a harsh whispering alongside the rapid footsteps approaching. Seren drifted back against the wall where the wardrobe should have been. The door flew open and the child Seren was tossed into the room.

“You wait until your mother hears about this!” A faceless voice shouted. The door slammed shut and Seren and their older self were left in the same room. Seren walked to the door, but stopped to look over their shoulder at the child. The small child stood up and kicked their bare feet against the floor. Then backed up into the wall and sighed.

"I didn't do anything," the child said. They slid down against the wall and curled up. Seren pushed up their sleeves, hardly able to believe the clothes they wore as a child. They were greying and worn through. Seren didn’t remember what their clothes had been made of, but it looked like an old horse blanket. With mismatched patches and oversized pants that were also ripped up.

It drew attention to the oversized sleeves Seren was trying to push up. The pants that were so big they had to wear suspenders to hold them up. Seren held their arms and shrunk inward.

"I didn't do anything to make Mom mad at me," their child reflection said. "I wish she wasn't mad at me so much."

"Yeah, I know." Seren said, even though they knew their younger self couldn't hear them. "I wish she wasn't always mad at us too. Hell, I can't even tell if she ever loved us."

"Maybe I can figure it out," the child said. "What do I do that makes mom mad? What did I get caught doing?"

"Caught," Seren chuckled. "Doesn't matter if I was doing something wrong so long as I didn't get caught."

"She couldn't have known I was in the labyrinth, could she?" The child hugged their knees to their chest.

"Sure can," Seren nodded. "That woman is so possessive over those stupid apples. She counts the blossoms, she calculates how many apples she should get. When she doesn't get the amount she wants. She blames us… me. Even when she stopped us from entering the labyrinth." The child hunched up tighter into a ball. Resting their head against their knees. Seren took a shaky breath, but it was drowned out by their younger self also taking a shaky breath. The child sniffed and looked up from their knees.

They wiped their nose and rested their chin on their knees instead. Seren felt sick to their stomach. They heard heels clicking against the stones of the dungeons. It made their upset stomach turn and bile rise into the back of their throat. The small version of them heard it too, their face paled and then steeled with a sigh. The child stood up and brushed themself off. Seren moved to the side as the clicking got closer to the door. The heavy door flew open and banged against the wall behind it.

The Queen with her robe and layers was the dark shadow that loomed not only in the doorway but over the whole castle. Her glare at the small child made the churning nausea in Seren’s stomach suddenly calm.

“Seren.” The Queen said, her voice echoed in Seren’s head like a gut punch. It made them gag. The child twiddled their fingers and hung their head as they headed toward the Queen.

“Seren,” The Queen’s voice came out as a low growl that crept right under Seren’s skin and made their skin prickle. “Why have you been avoiding me? Are you feeling guilty?”

“No ma’am,” The young Seren shook their head. “I just noticed you were in a bad mood so I thought I’d give you space.”

“I believe you’re feeling guilty about something.” The Queen told them, not suggesting or insinuating. “And I think it’s about that boy.” The elder Seren felt their cheeks flush, not a blush at the mention of James but instead in anger.

“What boy?” The young Seren shrugged. An inappropriate laugh escaped the older Seren unexpectedly. Seeing the younger version of them lie made their tell obvious. But in the heat of the Queen’s glare, playing dumb was the only option.

“You know which boy.” The Queen said through grit teeth. Her oval face had gone completely square. Her usually pale cheeks were cherry red. Seren could see how much they had in common. It came with an uncontrollable urge to claw out their eyes and destroy every feature on their face.

“I’m afraid I don’t,” The young child shrugged again. They moved around and twisted. Unable to sit still for any amount of time. They couldn’t make eye contact either. Even behind their back the child was still fiddling with their fingers.

“If you have no idea what I’m talking about,” The Queen impatiently sighed. Her voice had a waiver of annoyance in it. “Then why do I keep getting letters from our neighbors about meeting a mysterious heir?”

“I don’t know,” the child shrugged again. Seren wondered if they still were so obvious when they lied.

“I’ve had more than enough of your lying,” The Queen snapped. “And you can stay down here for the rest of the fall until you’ve learned to be honest!” The woman turned so abruptly her heavy skirts and coats knocked a brick from the wall. It broke into pieces against the ground. The Queen stormed away with the rapid clicking of her heels.

“I’m sure that lying is why you don’t want me out of the dungeons.” Seren stormed forward until they were right behind the child. “It has nothing to do with fall being the time when the apples grow!”

“Wait!” The child ran out of the room and Seren followed. “Mom! Wait!” The door to the dungeons slammed shut in the child’s face. Seren felt the seed of rage and resentment that had always been there, starting to sprout.

-----

“How much longer?” James asked, he was panic-chewing on a wooden stick and hanging over Nitya’s shoulder. Kyi was sitting at the table and carving a picture into it with a knife. Eoin was sitting across from them and watching every slight movement that Nitya did. Nitya sighed and tried to keep steady as they worked at the alchemy lab. Careful not to let any piece of the apple touch anything natural.

“If I rush, I could make a mistake. Which could ruin the entire antidote.” Nitya said. “Please don’t rush me.”

“James,” Eoin said. Breaking a long silence. “Are there more of those?”

“More what? Gold apples?” James asked. Eoin nodded. “Yeah, They were growing on this tree in the garden. It’s got this huge labyrinth around it. I wouldn’t be able to get through it, if Seren hadn’t led me I would never have found it.”

“Who else would know? The groundskeeper?” Eoin jumped to his feet.

“Probably not,” Kyi sat up and put the knife down. “The apples are magic in some way. Obviously since they’re golden. So it’s unlikely the Queen has anyone knowing about them. At least none who'll come forward about it."

"How confident are you that this will cure them?" Eoin asked. Nitya looked over their shoulder.

"I don't know, I haven't seen them." Nitya snapped and went back to their alchemy. Their hands stilled. "If I had a better sample or more apples. I could be more sure. The poison was multifaceted, the flesh of the apples might not be enough.”

"What does that mean?" James snapped the wooden stick he'd been chewing in half.

"Means we take this antidote and some guidelines for a more effective antidote back to Seren. If it doesn't bring them back, we find that tree." Eoin said grabbing the knife Kyi had dropped and plunged it into the table.

"Hey! That's my table!" Nitya yelled at him.

"Sorry, got carried away." Eoin cleared his throat and yanked the knife out of the table. "Kyi, you stay here and bring the antidote and suggested items back. I'll take James back to see Seren." Kyi nodded, they looked at James.

"They aren't… you won't…" Kyi tried to warn him but couldn't find the words. "Don't expect much." Tears lined James' eyes as he nodded.

"Ight, we have to go out the back way," Eoin sighed and headed for the door. "The castle guards are on the lookout for us. Or me. The Queen has proclaimed that I kidnapped Seren. Which I didn't." James followed, watching Nitya working excruciatingly slow on juicing the apple.

“I trust you’ll explain the entire story on the way,” James said absently.

“Are you going to ask?” Eoin opened the door to the underground storage.

“Well the premise has a lot of gaps,” James tore his eyes away from the alchemy room and to the dark tunnel down. “You were supposed to murder Seren, but you didn’t kidnap them. You just kept them?”

“Yeah that’s a very fair point,” Eoin tried to laugh but it sounded more like a breathless cough. “So it starts the day you were kicked out.”