Things were never easy.

It was now peaceful at the moment, but Rhine wasn’t sure what she could give for an entirely uneventful transit from their home to the Zourian Kingdom. She drew back the drapes just a bit, a sliver of the sky opening up to her. If only airborne travel was available in their kingdom, then it would have been much safer and perhaps swifter to arrive in their desired destination. The empires in the Estrad continent up north boasted of sky riders, perched on wyverns and other foul winged beasts, which were a torment to smaller kingdoms that lacked funds and knowledge to tame the creatures. In some other place, there were rumours of something as big as a “whale” that soared through the blue sky as if it was vast ocean itself. She sighed to herself and pulled back the curtains. They were things that she would never witness.

The young woman eyed her brother that was seated right across her. He was nursing some scratches and light bruises he got from the scuffle in the woods, she clicked her tongue. Somehow, it may seem illogical but she can’t help but pin the recent troubles to the male.

“How clumsy can you be?”

Hyde curled up in the couch and ignored her, and Rhine felt some guilt trickle to her chest. Was she being too harsh again? Her gaze flitted to the butler, but his face was impassive as ever. He was glancing at the window on his side, perhaps wary of any attacks. She frowned and grabbed her pouch, digging her hand into it. If they had been airborne? There’d be no thieves, bandits or brigands would have been able to catch up to them. Her fingers finally grasped the cool and smooth object in her hand and pulled it out.

A potion.

The liquid had no glow or glimmer of any sort, that boasted of magical properties but it had a lush yellow hue.

“Hey, Hyde catch.”

She tossed the potion at him, and he caught it mid-air, looking at her with befuddled brows. Her brother had good hand reflexes at least, she would have fumbled a bit to catch something thrown in surprise. The young woman exhaled loudly and returned her gaze to her own window, flinging the curtains open. Her eyes narrowed at the bright glare but kept her gaze focused on the outside.

“It’d be awful to meet the Royal Court of Zourian looking battered and bruised, plus saliva doesn’t help wounds so stop licking like a dog.”

“Hey! Who you calling a dog?!”

She tuned out the protests leaving her brother’s mouth, until he was finally done with grumbling and uncorked the bottle open. The young man placed it underneath his nose, taking in the whiff.

“Ugh, it smells weird.”

“Hmm… sir Hyde it’s only a brew of medicinal herbs? It’s not that weird.”

“A bunch of vegetables? That makes it worse.”

The young woman tried not to chuck her shoes at her sibling’s face and induce more scratches. The infantile who couldn’t appreciate carefully brewed herbs. She wanted to pinch the bridge of her nose, it was a concoction that she was proud of. One of the ingredients had recently been discovered to be useful in treating wounded and bleeding soldiers during the past war. She had managed to combine it with other useful plants that increased its potency.

“It’s not vegetables, sir Hyde, if you could allow me to decipher it.”

The young woman kept her gaze glued to the outside, soldiers and cart drivers were travelling at their side. In the small crowd, the familiar lock of brown hair stood out. It belonged to Hyde’s friend, Tom. The boy who saved her brother’s life. He was talking with Frank Kelton...until he glanced her way. Their gazes met for a moment, and a grin etched on the young man’s lips. Rhine tsked and looked away. He was annoying in a way that was different from Hyde. It was bothersome. She turned to the two men in front of her; the potion was no longer in Hyde’s hands but in the butler’s. She bit back a quirk from her lips, it was amusing to see the older man sniff the potion, he could certainly try but she added other ingredients to make the potion more palatable and to mask the smell.

“Let’s see… um, there’s definitely yarrow, a hint of calendula… and goldenrod?”

She blinked.

“What?”

Those words didn’t leave her mouth, but Hyde’s. His tone didn’t express any awe or respect at all that the butler managed to identify what the main ingredients were, but instead couldn’t grasp what exactly the ingredients were. She shook her head and waved a hand.

“Those are flowering plants Hyde, I collected them and brewed them into this tincture. Yarrow is the common tern for Achillea I presume?”

She glanced sideways at the butler. The man for the record looked a bit confused but nodded his head.

“Um, I believe so Lady Rhine, this stuff grows a lot on my parents’ farms and my mother always uses it to clean my wound when I was younger.”

“I see… thank you for the explanation sir Gus.”

The young woman leaned back on the furniture. Of course, it was only natural that other people beyond the soldiers knew of its properties. So it wasn’t all that impressive as she’d like to think. Perhaps tincture like the one she made was already available in the market or some local healers in the villages utilized it already. Even if doctors weren’t all impressed with brewed herbs and thought them feeble while alchemists preferred creating magical concoctions…potions like this were certainly more useful and less expensive.

“It’s quite impressive that you’ve managed to make yarrows as a tolerable drinking herb, Lady Rhine. My mother tried to boil them once, but all it led to was upset stomachs.”

She looked at the butler, and for once, he had a clear and pure expression on his face. It was rather breathtaking to say the least. He must have had a good relationship with his family. Her lips curled up into a smile.

“Thank you.”

And she meant it.

. . .

The sun was coming down.

“Are we there yet? Tell me that we’re there now.”

Her brother asked the butler for nth time today, once again drawing the drapes open. The glimmer of the sun was now disappearing over the horizon. The trees they were travelling through were becoming sparser at each moment. It seemed that they were leaving the forest at last, open plains and road finally revealing themselves. Their butler nodded at last, the same professional look he seemed to bore around them. Their carriage ride was slowing down to a halt.

“Yes sir Hyde, our first stop is the village under Marquess Falcon’s domain, the village of Wren.”

“Are you sure that it’s true? You’re not telling me that because I told you to say so right?”

“Yes sir Hyde.”

Rhine wondered if that was the reason why butlers were usually seen as older men, it was quite trying to be at the beck and call of someone that could potentially be bothersome and aggravating like her brother. It seems to her that one needed an older man with more patience or the younger butlers started growing grey hairs after months of serving for their masters. Rhine hoped it wasn’t the case with their current butler.

“Sir Gus!”

A voice behind Rhine had her nearly jumping out of her seat, she craned her head back a little to see the small window connecting the inside of the carriage to their driver, the man’s eyes bulging as he looked at them. A shudder ran down her spine, if she slept inside the carriage—the man could be possibly looking down at her through that small window.

“Yes?”

“There are folks escaping the village—”

Rhine blinked, why would villagers escape their village? She turned to Hyde who opened the window and peered outside. His body was already half-way out the window before she grabbed the man’s shirt and pulled him back. It was tougher than it looked; her brother certainly had more weight than his frame showed. Her sibling looked at her with frenzied eyes, the same look he had given them when he sprung out of the woods. Scolding words left in her throat, she cleared it instead and frowned.

“What did you see?”

“I’m sure it’s with the same group as before! They’re pillaging the village!”

Rhine would like to question how on earth he managed to decipher it at the distance they were, but Hyde returned to the window and even before she could reach for him—Gus was already pulling him back into the seat with much ease that she knew that he was quite strong. The years he had been working on his parent’s farm put to good use.

“Sir Hyde, you must not make yourself a target by showing yourself at the window.”

“Gus! Have the soldiers go out and capture the thieves!”

“Sir Hyde please calm down.”

“No! The village needs our help right?! Plus it’s our domain! We ought to capture the thieves!”

Hyde squirmed out of the butler’s grasps and went for the door, the butler allowed him to do so, but only to catch his breath and massage his temples. He shared a look with Rhine, that made her want to flush red despite the situation on hand. Only her brother’s incessant yelling ruined the moment.

“Captain! Capture those brigands at once!”

“My apologies sir Hyde, we’re tasked to protect you and your sister.”

“Does that mean you’ll allow those crooks to just do whatever they want?!”

The butler once again moved to grasp the young man, by the shirt’s collar this time, and pulled him to his seat. Rhine moved towards the door and grasped the handle, she could feel heat rising up her cheeks at the look the captain gave her before she closed the door. Now the soldiers would think their masters were an unruly bunch. She glanced at the small window, their driver had already closed it for privacy. She frowned at her brother as she resumed her seat.

“Heavens Hyde, you’re embarrassing us.”

Hyde glared at the butler and her, and she could feel the contempt blaring in his eyes. She was positive that Hyde at least managed to inherit their father’s piercing gaze. It was a sobering thought. Now what to say to her sibling? She wished their butler said something but he chose to be silent this time and allowed Hyde to practically fume in his seat.

“Hyde…”

“We could have done something! But you and everybody else here is content to just sit back and act like nothing happened! Like it’s alright if the village is pillaged as long as we’re ‘safe’—because that’s what matter more!”

Rhine froze a bit as she stared at her twin; he never raised his voice at her before. In mock arguments, when they were kidding around, debates, and banter… he sometimes yelled but never in anger. She was sure that he noticed it too, the young man’s gaze still hurt but looked pained as well. Her brother slowly settled down back into his seat. The proverbial wind knocked out of his lungs. Their carriage resumed its pace, slowly to the village.

“What are they going to say when they see us?”

Hyde spoke up not too long after, he was once again huddling in the corner of their seat—turned away from her and the butler. Rhine wanted to point out that perhaps the village didn’t noticed their presence at all…the situation with the thieves surely having their full attention that time but she knew it was a lousy point. Her head throbbed as she weighed their decisions; her brother had a point that they should have done something to deliver justice to those thieves… but their soldiers sole task was to escort them safely to Zourian Kingdom. What would have happened if the men that pillaged the village were not the only ones present? An ambush would have delivered their goods and gifts into the hands of stealers, not to mention the capture of her and her brother would be a hefty price—

The sound of shouts ceased her train of thoughts.

She looked around the carriage in alarm, but of course nothing was out of place. She thought herself silly and went for the curtains. Someone grabbed for her wrist before she could open the curtains, and she knew she should have screamed but the presence of the man behind her was assuring in ways that she could not explain at all.

“Gus?”

When did she become as informal as Hyde? It was something she could brush off as part of surprise though. His fingers pried off from their contact with her skin, slowly and gently. It felt like she was being treated like a treasure. It was a nice change.

“Please allow me to check Lady Rhine.”

“Oh alright…”

Rhine returned to her seat, their butler moving to the door and grasping the handle. He stood still for a moment, back stiff towards them. He exhaled and pushed open the door—the shouts now becoming comprehensible.

“Long Live The King! Long Live The Falcon!”

They… were cheering? Rhine glanced at her sibling who seemed to have roused from the shouting. His face was all scrunched up, and she knew that he was perplexed like she was. What exactly did they do to deserve the praise? Gus glanced at them with a reverential nod.

“Sir Hyde, Lady Rhine? I believe it is safe to traverse through the village, or if you prefer to stay and wait within the comforts of the carriage. I shall be conversing with the village head for accommodations tonight.”

Rhine tilted her head, village head? So they were the ones in charge of the place, her gaze flitted out to the people gathered around, their cheering became louder than she could think possible.

“Long Live The Falcon!”

“Long Live The Marquess!”

“Long Live The House of Falcon!”

She winced a little, it was quite odd to be praised so openly and loudly… balls, galas and parties were milder. They announced the noble family and everybody politely clapped in return before returning to their businesses, it was all pleasantries and doing what was expected of them. She let out a soft sigh before glancing at her sibling who seemed slinking like a cat, hesitant to move out of their small space. It was silly; she should be the one wanting to stay inside here.

“Well come on, Hyde. It’d be a shame if we didn’t greet them.”

“B-but…”

His lips were tugged down in a frown, rightly still bothered by the recent pillaging. It didn’t add up for the villagers to praise the king and their family, the hand of the king that let them down. Yet they still did greet them joyously, and so her brother softened up as he looked out.

“Alright, let’s go.”