Chapter Seven – Sunlight Princess

*** Eleanor Cazador ***

“Mommy where is Leo?” I asked finding mother in the room used for private dining when not entertaining guests in the greater banquet hall. She had set about working on concocting a midday lunch, something she only ever did when Leo was still within the castle walls and would be so for most of the day.

“He’s in the library,” mother replied. I knew she wasn’t my mother, I had been told since early on but I still considered her my mother and didn’t love her any less than that. “Your brother asked me to send some tea to him about now, do you want to take it to him for mommy?”

I eagerly nodded my head as mommy gave me a warm smile as she pointed to a tray with a clay cup. I took hold of the tray and started making my way towards the library careful not to spill Leo’s drink. I considered Leo my brother just as much as I considered him my fiancé, while I don’t understand all that being a fiancé entails I can much more easily comprehend what a brother is, blood or not. He would always be there for me, love me, and cherish me. I would always feel safe and protected around him, much of what a fiancé is a brother is as well, I still don’t understand the difference between the two title words very well but I don’t really care, he is my brother and fiancé meaning he has to doubly love me and that is all I want from him.

I found brother in the library engrossed in a pile of books and parchment, some of the books he had with him were written by him while others were sent to him. The library was largely composed of books not open to the public, the doors to the library were made of what Leo called iron wood, they would seal with an iron lock of intricate design and were protected by seals designed by him as well.

Leo’s skill was at a level that even grandfather Edwards would boast about to others and show him off, but as he was like the wind, coming and going as he pleased, he was never around when the chance to show him off presented itself. His works and changes in the country were the only testaments to his abilities, many of which were accredited to other individuals.

“Mmmm…tea time,” I heard brother say after he audibly sniffed the air. He placed the parchments in his hands down on the table before him and placed his quill back in its ink pot. I had his undivided attention as I set the plate down and carefully handed him his cup of steaming tea. After cooling it slightly with a frost spell he sipped from the warm jug relishing in the taste, I smiled proudly that the product I had brought to him gave him such satisfaction even though not concocted by my own hands.

He went back to studying a certain book as he carelessly held onto the still very hot mug of tea, I automatically came to his side and took the mug from his hands. It is a ritual we repeat often, I enjoy watching him work on his research as I hold his mug, he would often describe his work in muttered phrases and draw many designs and explanatory images on his parchments which would give me an idea of the world his mind dwells within. I asked many teachers about the things brother described but they had no clue and often thought I spoke about fantastical things instead of reality. I know for a fact brother doesn’t invent fantasy, he discovers reality at a level the elders cannot fathom.

Every once in a while he would take the mug from my hands and take a sip, the magic he had taught me allows me to keep his drink warm through his many hours of research. Normally anyone would lose interest in looking at someone sift through dozens of books and jot down notes, but not me. He was always working on something new and different, I was actually afraid of missing a single session as I might miss something important.

Some of the things he would work on he’d teach to me in a more in-depth manner like he had done so long ago with the detection ability to discern certain particles in the air. There was the pure form of water, hydrogen, and very reactive elements such as nitrogen and oxygen in the air. Oxygen, he taught me, was a very important element, without it we wouldn’t be able to function nor breathe. There were skills that he taught me that would allow me to deprive someone of the element, it was a cruel methodical skill but I learned it nonetheless as it was brother who was willing to teach it and it was a skill no one else but he and I would share.

After brother was done with his research he set about with my aide to returning the books to their rightful spaces. He developed an organizational method that made it simple to locate a book’s specific spot. The library has three floors, so the code is written to include the floor number, the quadrant of its place, the shelf, and row on that shelf. It didn’t take long to return the books, which meant that brother was free to pay his full attention to me.

After the final book was placed in its spot I took brother by his arm and lead him out of the library, the seals on the doors closed the library and locked it tight. We headed for the central gardens where we would play, he mostly humored me by playing my games, it was a little frustrating that he acted far too mature for his age but there were games even he enjoyed. There was a game he called hide-and-go-seek that he enjoyed quite a bit, it was more of a challenge than a game for me. He is great at hiding, he is almost invisible even when you might be looking directly at him, making him a shadow among the darkness. In other words he was hard to find, he would always reveal himself after five minutes, though he always promised to greatly reward me if I ever found him. I got that chance once or twice, the reward was always one free pass that would allow me to order him to do one thing. It would be any one thing I wanted.

Of the precious few passes I own I have used only one, the one that had allowed me to go to the market fair a while back. Brother had been particularly busy and had no time to play around with me so I had decided to force him to. That event led to something unexpected, even now my cheeks redden thinking of the moment his lips had touched mine. I was sure it had not left as great an impression on him as it had left on me. The day has been burned into my mind since then, I mean in whose mind wouldn’t it have left such a huge impression if the one you adore the most suddenly did something so…intimate as meet your lips with their own?

As usual I did not win the game of hide-and-go-seek but he played other games with me that were fairer and more fun for me. I liked the challenge of our private game but there were other games we played including what he called playing house, he would tell me the many things a wife and a mother was required to do and through our games we would experiment the creation of a home. He would even play the child sometimes which was rather fun and funny since I could act the doting or harsh mother.

After our usual games we headed in for a warm bath.

***

“Are you in?” I asked as I entered the hot bath pool, this was a new building designed by Leo. The bath pool constantly maintains a clear water quality and warm temperature, no matter how soapy we got and how dirty we got the water, it would always be clear the next day and just as warm as the first day the bath was opened.

“Yes,” the clear reply came.

I entered the bath in what Leo calls a bikini, it is a clothing style made for swimming and could be used for bathing in, and made my way towards the pool of warm water. The water felt perfect as I slipped in coming to sit on the purposely molded rocks near the center where Leo was also sitting. He was leaning back with his eyes closed, his natural power caused the mist to revolve around him causing a visible but gentle tornado to swirl around him.

After several minutes of soaking in the warm water I heard Leo move around, I had closed my eyes to soak in full relax mode, now that I opened them I could see him washing his body with soap and a scrubber. He wore only a pair of thin trousers which let him wash every part of himself while still maintaining his privates private.

Leo is bulky, even among other boys his age he is more robust, his frame is wide and thick, but he is not fat. Though there is a layer of fat that hides the tones of his muscles the smoothness and roundness of his skin belies great strength. He trains regularly with the castle pages working his body and studying the sword, but that really doesn’t account for his stoutness. It makes me wonder sometimes what he does beyond the walls that has shaped him so.

Deciding not to think further on the subject I grabbed one of the sponge scrubbers floating in the pool and helped him scrub his back, afterwards he helped me scrub mine and wash my long hair. After we finished washing up we headed out to a room next door where our clothes waited. We didn’t have to towel off as we simply generated a high energy field that evaporated the water off our skin. The room had curtained off areas so that we could each change in the privacy of makeshift changing rooms. I put on a simple sundress as I would be heading off to bed soon, Leo on the other hand dressed in his casual clothes meaning that he was heading out tonight.

He waved goodbye and like a ghost he disappeared once out of sight.

I’ve tried following him before but he is impossible to keep up with much less track, even catching him coming back is impossible. He’s taught me various skills that make me faster than all my peers and even among the best knights of the castle. There’s gravitational levitation skating, using a mixture of strong push and pull forces I can glide across the earth at a blurring pace. There’s static reflex, using electrical magic I can buff my reaction time to inhuman levels. There’s Lightning Rush that lets me flash in any direction for more than twenty meters, though it does tire me out quickly. Yet, even with all these skills, I have no chance of following him.

Knowing he was already far beyond the walls I went back to my room.