Falyn Elway’s P.O.V

We tip-toed as we crouched through the castle kitchen. The princess moved unevenly, and her unpredictable stops almost caused me to run into her a few times already. At every slightly louder noise she heard in the already loud kitchen, she would stop and ‘Shh’ me, even though I was being quieter than her.

“Can you not be so anxious? If you don’t do anything stupid I promise the cooks won’t find you.” I whispered, my mood becoming stale.

“I'm sorry,” The princess looked around cautiously, “I just feel like everyone can see me and knows I'm not supposed to be here.”

“Well, you aren’t.” I shrugged, “But the first thing to stealth arts is to believe yourself invisible. Once you do that, you'll trick your mind to move your body more fluently.” I stepped forward passing the young princess without leaving a sound in my quake and began making my way forward.

I looked back and held a thumbs up, “See?”

“Did Mr. Zeph teach you that?”

I let out a quick breath with a little laughter seeping out, “I guess you could say that.”

I, of course, had no intention of telling the princess about my past life; but doing small things like this would no doubt help this little excursion go about more smoothly, so I just went along with her assumptions.

She gave one more cautious look over the cabinets, “Well, I’ll give it a try,”

She began trying to copy my movements, and surprisingly, she did quite well. Her footsteps grew lighter and the clear as day nervousness she wore on her face started to disappear.

We continued like this for about a minute. As the princess whispered me the directions we maneuvered through the kitchen around a variety of cabinets, sinks, and ovens.

“Turn left right here.” Selina whispered.

Doing so, it seemed she was leading me to a dimly lit hallway. I turned back, unsure if this was really the right way, but her assuredness didn't budge, so I continued on.

Once we made it into the hallway we were finally able to stop crouching and walk regularly.

“So what’s down here anyway?” I asked, squinting my eyes, trying to make out what was at the end of the hallway, which was a metal door.

The princess skipped in front of me and stopped at the door, “It's the freezer. It’s where they keep all the good stuff.”

I sighed, “Doesn't the stuff in here have to be cooked first, you know, before it's safe to eat?”

“Only some stuff. But some of the food in here is imported from way up north, and grown in super cold temperatures.”

“Interesting.” I had never thought about agriculture in this world, so this ‘joloce’ she spoke of earlier now piqued my interest.

She grabbed the freezer's door handle and began trying to open it. About a minute had passed of her struggling and I could see a bead of sweat line her face.

“Can you help me?” She stressed in-between breaths, still pulling on the door.

“Stand back,” I said, as I walked up to the door.

She stepped back a few steps, “Are you sure you can do it by yourself?”

I put my hand on the cold metal door and turned to the door handle. To my surprise, it opened with ease.

Is she that frail?

An air of frost blew from the inside of the freezer and I could suddenly see my breath float away in front of me.

Selina walked into the freezer, rubbing her arms to stay warm, “You got it open. You're pretty strong, Falyn.”

I shrugged and followed her into the freezer. “Now where is this thing you're looking for?”

There were over a hundred wooden crates in the freezer some stacked and some looked like they were scattered at random.

“They always keep the fruits separate from the meats.” She said as she tried to pry open a crate.

Walking over to help her, by which I mean open the crate myself, we saw it was filled with some type of meat.

“So, if the meats are over here,” She continued as she turned and pointed to the other side of the room, “that means the fruits are on this side.”

After opening a couple of crates of random and unusual-looking fruits we finally found the one she was looking for.

Selina grabbed one of the fruits in the crate and held it above her head as if she won a trophy, “This is a joloce!”

I grabbed one too. The fruit was a good enough size I had to hold it with both of my hands. It had a smooth texture to it and was cold to the touch, but nothing about it really stuck out aside from its color, which was a vibrant purple.

“Let's eat it at the same time,” Selina said, a showing smile on her face.

“Fine.”

She began to count down, “Three, two, one.”

We both took a generous bite of the fruit and its taste surprised me. It was sweet, juicy, and rich in flavor. Even cold smoke came from my mouth as I chewed. The texture of it was unlike anything I had ever eaten and I decided to go in for another bite.

“Isn’t it tasty?” the princess asked, a mouthful of the fruit.

I gulped down my second bite, “It really is, princess. I have to say, this little adventure was well worth it.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Cut it out with the princess crap.”

I sat down on a crate and bean eating more of the delicious fruit, “What do you want me to call you then? Anything else would be considered rude, wouldn't it?”

She sat down beside me, “Well, since your uncle is an important person I'm sure nobody would mind if you called me something else. I’ll call you something else as well. It would be like a fair trade.”

“I see. Well, if you’re sure no one will give me weird looks in public, I want to call you something other than your name. Like a nickname per se.”

Her silver eyes seemed to glow again and she scooted closer to me. We were face to face and I could see our breath in the cold room collide and float away together. “What do you suggest?”

I leaned my head back because I felt too close, “How about, Lina?”

It didn't even look like she thought about it, she just instantly said, “I love it.” She took another bite of her fruit, “But what should I call you?”

“Well, my family calls me Fal, you can too if you want.”

“Can I? Really?” She asked as if I was giving her the highest honor.

“Of course, Lina.” I winked. “But I think we should finish up the food and get out of here. It's getting a little chilly.”

She smiled, “Sounds good, Fal.”

After finishing our joloce’s we headed out of the freezer. I closed the door quietly behind us and we made our way back, maneuvering through the kitchen and out the first door we saw.

We jogged a bit down the atrium until Lina believed the coast was clear.

“Where to now?” I asked.

“Well, I could take you to the South Wing’s roof, but Verla wouldn't like that, I only agreed to show you around the East Wing.”

I looked around the castle, “There's still so much more here, though, we don’t need to go to the South Wing.”

It seemed her adventurous spirit had gotten to me, and I found myself wanting to explore the castle more.

“When you're here all the time it really doesn't seem like much, Fal. There are only a few places I’d call really interesting.” She said, following up behind me.

Lina began thinking of where to go next as I looked around. During my time traversing the castle with my eyes, I noticed the princess start to wave at someone.

“Apollo! Hanz!” She shouted.

Looking in her direction I saw two people making their way toward us. Ignoring my deja vu I studied the two.

One looked around Zeph’s age. He had a head of neatly cropped platinum blond hair and an all-white uniform on; the male version of Verla’s it seemed. The small medals on his uniform, though we're just as much in number as Zeph’s, maybe more.

The other person, or boy I should say, looked around to be around in mine and Lina's age group. He had the same blond hair and outfit as the tall man standing next to him. The only thing that really made him pop for me was the small winged lizard crawling around his shoulders.

When they made it to us the tall man peered directly at me and asked, “Who is this boy, Selina?”

Lina put an arm around my shoulders, “This is Fal, my new friend.”

“You can’t be friends with every kid who walks into the castle, Selina. You're a princess, you need to start acting like it.” After he was done telling off Lina, her wrap around my shoulders loosened, and her gaze fell to the ground.

The man looked back at me, “Where did you come from, boy?”

Whoever this was he obviously wasn’t a normal person. His calling the princess by just her given name was an obvious sign of his status in my opinion, and probably one of the people Zeph told me not to catch the attention of.

Even if his tone gave a tinge of rudeness, I gave a polite bow to both of them, “My name is Falyn Elway, I'm currently visiting the castle with my uncle. He hasn’t told me all the details and all I know is he’s visiting on behalf of the king.”

The man's expression completely changed. His glare turned to interest and I saw a slight smile make its way on his face. “Zephyrus’s nephew? I was expecting to meet you, but not so soon.”

“Sir?” I asked, slightly relieved, “You know of me?”

Although Zeph can be a handful, his name sure does come in handy.

“Of course I do. Zephyrus is my personal guard. I was actually on my way to his meeting as we speak.”

Personal guard?

“I'm sorry for my ignorance, sir. My uncle has never told me what his job actually is.” I said.

The man sighed, “That sounds like something he would do. His vacation has been long since over, but I'm sure my father will let it slide.” The man stuck out a gloved hand for me to shake, “My name is Apollo Stellar.”

Returning his handshake he gestured to the boy beside him, “This is my brother Hanz Stellar, and you have already met my sister, Selina.”

My eyes flickered to Selina and back to the two in front of me.

The princes.

Apollo patted Lina’s head in an attempt to cheer her up, “I take back what I said, Selina. It seems you've made a valuable friend this time.”

She crossed her arms and made a pouting face, “I already knew that, dummy.”

“I am curious though, Falyn. I’ve gotten word that you've started training, how far have you come along?” Apollo asked.

This guy sure knows a lot about me.

I didn’t get to answer, though, instead, Selina spoke for me, “He knows a lot about stealth. He even showed me some moves.” She then began doing a sloppy example of what I showed her in the kitchen.

This is embarrassing.

Apollo just tilted his head at the spectacle, but Hanz started laughing. “Selina you look silly.”

“Shut up, Hanz.” She shot back. “I forgot it exactly, but he did show me.”

Hanz began to pet the Lizard on his shoulder, “Yeah, yeah, Selina.”

The small reptile began to purr at his caresses.

I couldn't help but ask, now getting a look at the creature's wings up close. “Prince Hanz, if you don’t mind me asking, is that a baby dragon?”

“Oh, no. He’s a wyvern.” He responded, continuing to pet the creature, “He was just jumping all over the place like he usually does, but now he seems calm and he’s never like this.”

Just carrying around a wyvern like it's normal? Oh, he’s a prince alright.

“You have to give these things time, Hanz. He just hatched, it's only natural he's going be too eager to explore.” Apollo added.

Selina scoffed, “Cats are better than lizards.”

I had to hold back a laugh at her comment. She would love Rye.

Hanz picked up the wyvern with his hands and asked, “Would you like to pet him?”

I held out my hand to pet it. As soon as I was about to make contact the beast zipped up my arm and to my shoulder. It stretched out its wing and the tip of its claw lightly tapped my solar plexus. The area where my mana core was located.

“Ryrr.” The wyvern let out.

The children of the royal family looked at me dumbfounded. But my expression was no different from theirs.