Finding Strength

A Game of Tag And The Love of a Prince

***

She closes her eyes as the trees rustle from the breeze, hearing the fairies sing their songs. They sounded like gentle chimes, with their wings humming as they zipped here and there. The wind was soft and cool, pairing nicely with the mild temperature of the day. It smelt faintly of salt, being that they were so close to the sea and fought for dominance with the damp smell of the earth. Asmeiria always seemed to smell like rain, but that was because of how often it did so. For this reason, Asmeirain summer dresses were light and loose rather than heavy and tighter to body like those of Donagon.

Her skin was more of a creamy ivory from not being allowed to be outside all the time like her brother and Ritter, which contrasted starkly against her raven hair that she inherited from her mother. Pale blue eyes were adorned with thick, long, dark lashes on a gentle face. Her emerald green dress, as explained earlier, had a boat-neck shaped top which meant that a little of her shoulders were exposed as opposed to the v-necks many grown women wore. The seams were lined with a shimmering silver and had snake-like dragons along the bottom of her dress. The material was so light, made of silk and tulle to make it easy to create lift and cool her off. Her sleeves were more or less a 3 inch ruffle to taper off the otherwise strict neckline and make it more innocent feeling.

Screeeee...!

It was the cry of a young dragon, no larger than a timber wolf, as it landed near Ritter. She had wondered where Zeke was. Zeke had obsidian scales that gave a deep violet shade when the sun hit it just right, and a narrow face. Its amber eyes popped against so much darkness, and when Ritter made himself link with his dragon, his eyes would go from their emerald hue, to the amber shade and reptilian style pupils. The dragons were a reflection of their masters, like a second half of their being. Their strength and senses passed between the two, and the truly strong and connected could even manifest their dragon's features on their very bodies. Supposedly, Ritter's father could breathe fire because of this, but Jessica couldn't confirm nor deny this.

"I was wondering where he was.."

Jessica spoke as she opened her eyes to look over at the prince and his dragon while he scratched his scales.

"Oh, probably hunting. He always likes hunting when we come here because there's a few different species around here."

He noted as Zeke pranced around him and Jessica as well.

"So who's It?"

Nicholas asked as he tightened the straps on his boots.

"You, because you asked!"

Diane decided suddenly before sprinting off. It took a mere heartbeat of a glance between Ritter and Jessica before they, too, ran away from Nicholas.

"Wha- HEY!"

Caught off guard, he began to run. He decided to go after the one that would be the bigger challenge, as the girls would have a heard time keeping up with the boys who trained and worked hard whilst they learn embroidery and enchanting.

Jessica and Diane came to a tree that looked like it could be climbed, so Jessica reached for the lowest branch and strained to lift herself up.

"Nnnnnh!!"

Diane looked around before moving to support Jessica by letting her step on her back after kneeling.

"Hurry before they see us! we won't be able to out run them, princess!"

She spoke in an urgent whisper, but Jessica just couldn't get the proper footing and eventually had to lower herself back down. She frowned as she looked over.

"I can't, I'm scared I'll fall and get hurt... you go ahead, I'll help you! Maybe I can hide somewhere!"

"Right! Okay, may I step on your back?"

"Yeah, like this?"

Jessica asked as she got on her hands and knees like Diane did just moments ago, allowing her to hoist herself onto the lowest branch.

"Thanks! You should hurry and hide!"

She urged as Jessica got up and brushed herself off.

"Okay, don't fall! I would be sad if you got hurt!"

"I won't, promise! Go hide!"

Both girls giggled as Jessica trotted off, picking her way along the forest floor so she didn't trip in her heels. Falling hurts, you know!

***

Ritter was running full speed ahead, even using some of the dragon skills he managed to tap into! Nicholas was a freaking beast when it came to chasing someone and not because he was fast, but because he could make the earth tricky to run on. Who knew he'd get such exciting training while playing a game of tag?! He couldn't help his smile, even when the ground shifted ever so slightly and threw him off balance. A body he could only figure was Nicholas tackled him to the ground with a hard thud before he took off from Ritter yellling "YOU'RE IT!!" with a taunting laugh. Ritter started to prepare to chase after him, before remembering the girls were playing. He gave a heavy sigh as his excitement settled. After all, it would be rude to make it painfully obvious that they weren't as much fun to play tag with. Especially Jessica, he'd hate to upset her like that. He rolled his neck to crack it before taking off at an easy jog towards were he saw the girls run towards earlier.

It wasn't even all that hard to track them, either. Their shoes made ridiculously easy to follow tracks in the soft ground, and it didn't help that he's been training in tracking since he was even younger. His emerald green eyes scoped the ground until he saw a mess of their tracks around a tree. He looked up and saw Diane waving at him.

"You think I can't tag you if you're in a tree?"

"No, but it'll slow you down!"

"I don't know about that, because you're trapped up there."

"Yeah but-"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!! OWIEE!!!!"

Jessica's voice cut their banter short as Ritter's eyes snapped towards the direction the sound came from. Panicked that she might be seriously hurt, he broke into a full sprint with Zeke taking to the air to look for her. Diane was scrambling to quickly climb down the tree and even Nicholas was making his way over from where he'd been. They found Jessica on the ground, bawling her eyes out and gingerly covering her knee. He already knew where this was going, but knelt down beside her anyway and held her close to his chest.

"What happened?"

He asked calmly as he started to gently move wet strand of hair from her face.

"I f-fell!! It h-hurts!"

She answered between sobs, but he could already see that she fell and hurt herself.

"Let me see."

He demanded as he didn't even wait for an answer and started to pry her hand from her knee. When he saw the source of all this commotion, he had to fight very hard not to laugh. All she did was scrape her knee and it wasn't even that bad.

"Seriously? That's what she's crying over? It's just a scrape!"

Nicholas blurted, earning a glare from Ritter.

"She's a princess, Nikki, she has a very delicate dispo- disposition? That's the right word?"

She asked the older boys who looked like they were trying really hard not to lose their cool.

"Yes. That's the right word. Jessica is very fragile. I guess it's time for us to head back, thanks for the game of tag."

Ritter stated as he helped the weeping princess climb onto his back for a piggy-back ride.

"Don't mention it, my sister kind of threatened me. Father would have beaten my ass if he know i used foul language around the princess."

"You did it again!"

"Tell father and I won't ever play tag again, you're boring to chase."

"Your face is boring!"

Ritter couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter as he rose and started to walk. He would have said farewell if the siblings hadn't started to get into a very heated debate over who was more boring.

***

Jessica and Ritter had slipped from the party hours ago so, naturally, Generall Lovell was sent to find them since he always seemed to find Jessica no matter how unpredictable her hiding place was. Technically, Nathaniel was supposed to be looking for her as well; but with Lovell on the case, it was only a matter of time before she was found. Besides, he didn't have the bloodhound-like hunting skills for the princess that the general had. So, instead, he found himself wandering through the Asmeirian Botanical Garden. It was unlike any other place in the entire world, so tourists often braved the pass and into these dangerous lands from beyond the mountain range that separated them from the rest of the known world just to witness its beauty. Fairies, nymphs, and even some gnomes... they made a home within the expansive garden that many Asmeirans with the right skills tended to. It was usually women that worked the garden, as farming was considered a man's labor. One such woman worked within the mystical garden, Mia Bloodthorn. She had blonde hair so pale, that it was like moonlight. Her eyes were a unique, pale lavender color and her skin was a soft caramel color from being out in the sun.. as well as her mother being a little darker naturally. Some figured that one of her great grandparents were from the great desert kingdom in the south, Maez.

Nathaniel admired her from a distance at first, before making his approach. His heart hammered in his chest as butterflies fluttered in his gut, making him sweat a little as he opened his mouth to speak.

"Grood day- erm.. I-I mean-..."

Her laughter rang in his ears like a beautiful song as she faced him, shaking her head and giving a curtsy.

"Your highness, why do you always struggle with words when you're around me?"

She inquired, placing a chaste kiss on his blushing cheeks. He cleared his throat to answer.

"Because you're-"

Gods, his voice cracked all over that. Let's try again, shall we?

"Because you're so beautiful and I find myself under your spell..."

He admitted as they moved to sit down, taking each other's hands like it was second nature to them.

"Tonight... I'm telling my parents tonight."

Mia's eyes widened as she cupped his cheek, emotion swelling in her eyes.

"Are you sure...?"

He placed his hand over the one that was on his cheek and gave her palm a few kisses.

"I am. I want to marry you one day. I will tell my parents tonight that I wish to marry you when we're older so that they may stop trying to introduce me to noblewomen my age. I'm not interested in anyone but you, my heart."

Nathaniel's heart swelled with joy as they both leaned in for a tender kiss amongst the flowers, happy that he could potentially marry for love. He was the luckiest man alive!

***

He smelt of dirt and sweat, with his soft brown hair wildly out of place. She could feel the strength of his arms that held her at the back of the knees while her arms hugged him around his neck as loosely as possible so she didn't choke him. Ritter never made her try to tough it out, which she appreciated since her knees still hurt from falling. They were in the marketplace by now, making their long trek back to the palace with Zeke padding alongside them. His claws clicked along the road and Ritter bounced Jessica to scoot her back into place because she'd been slipping a little.

"Thank you, Ritty..."

She spoke suddenly, having been quiet for most of the trip due to being drained from crying so much.

"For what?"

He asked, a little out of breath from carrying her for so long.

"For carrying me..."

"Oh. Well, can you do me a favor?"

"What favor?"

"Try not to get so many snacks from the larder, you're getting heavy!"

He teased, earning a poke to his cheek because she too nice to be violent- even in a playful manner.

"Rude! Oh? Ritty, look! It's Lovell!"

"Thank the gods, now he can carry you."

She poked him again as the general approached with a knowing smile.

"You never could make her walk after scraping her knee..."

He greeted the kids as he moved to pull Jessica from Ritter's back.

"It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't and I'd have to reprimand you for not taking proper care of a lady."

He confirmed as he set Jessica down on a cart that looked like someone had been shopping.

"Get in, my wife won't mind as long as you don't trample her things."

General Lovell insisted, which earned a relieved look from Ritter. Right on cue, Amelia Lovell returned with a parcel in one hand and Mortis on her hip. She put the young sandy-blonde haired boy in the cart with the prince and princess while beaming at them.

"It looks like you both have been off having fun, anything interesting happen?"

She asked in a sweet voice as the cart started to move at the direction of the general and his wife.

"We played tag, but then I fell... so Ritty carried me."

"Tag! Tag! I wanna play!"

Mortis chanted, clearly liking the sound of something other than being dragged along to all these shops. Amelia chuckled and ruffled his hair.

"No, Mortis. Didn't you listen? The princess got hurt, she needs to go to the palace and get treated."

"Aawww... I never get to play."

He pouted, crossing his arms and looking away stubbornly as the Lovells laughed.

"Besides, these two mischievous royals need to get to the palace and cleaned up for a very important dinner. Ain't that right, princess?"

Envar Lovell explained as he looked over at the princess. Based on Ritter's quizzical look, it was clear she hadn't said anything... which was good.

"Oh, yeah! I had completely forgotten!"

Jessica exclaimed before giggling and blushing faintly. She looked over at Ritter, who only leaned back while looking even more confused.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Jess? Stop it, it's weird!"

He didn't want to admit that a part of him liked seeing her blushing at him, not when the other part was still going on about how weird it was to even remotely crush on a girl you grew up with.

"Nooooo reasoooon...."

Jessica drawled, making her reaction even more suspicious. Whatever was going on, he already didn't like it.