Rosetta's Journey

Chapter 5: Nate & Rosetta

Nate

    Nate finds himself looking for Marcus.  After his encounter with Rosetta he needs to let off some steam.  He smiles when he sees Marcus walking over to him. 

    "Why do you look so happy to see me?" Marcus says when they are standing in front of each other. 

    "Why can't I be happy to see my best friend?" Nate says. 

    "I know I'm extremely handsome, but let's be real here we both know you’re never that happy to see. So spill."

    "Fine, just know i'm happy to see you, but you’re right something did happen." Nate says and then just looks off into the distance remembering his earlier conversation with Rosetta. 

    "Okay, so are you going to tell me what happened or are we going to continue this game where I ask you questions until you finally give in?" 

     "Marcus, you know you can be a pain in the ass right?" 

    "I know now tell me."    

    "Okay, so earlier I ran into Rosetta when I was walking" Nate begins to say before interrupting. 

    "Wait hold up. You mean the woman from the forest? Why is she here?" 

    Nate forgot that he has not talked to Marcus since they arrived yesterday.  He has been too busy processing Fredrick's death and Rosetta being here that he has not even had a chance to update Marcus on everything.  Nate knowing he can trust Marcus with everything going on signals for Marcus to follow him.  Marcus follows him in silence for a while until they reach a clearing far enough away from nosy people that live in the palace.  Nate stops when he realizes no one is in earshot of them. Marcus looks at him impatiently.  He glances around one more time before telling Marcus about Rosetta being there last night for dinner.  He explains about Fredrick being murdered and how she was sent here to investigate it.  Then goes on to tell him how Rosetta does not want his help even though he was instructed by his mother to help her. Marcus goes silent for a while. Nate can tell he is trying to process the fact that their friend is no longer here anymore. 

    "Wow that was not what I was expecting at all.  I can't believe he is dead. We have to find out who murdered Fredrick. He deserves that at least." Marcus said. 

    "I know" Nate responds.     

    They both stand in silence for a few more minutes looking off in the distance before Marcus is the first one to speak again. 

    "Alright, so we need to get her to cooperate with us." Marcus says. 

    "Yeah well it's hard enough to get her to stay in the same room as me.  I do not even understand why." 

    "Maybe she doesn't like guys who flirt around." Marcus says with a smile. 

    "Don't even start Marcus.  Come on just help me out.  She said she would talk with me about everything later." Nate says a little bit frustrated because Marcus is not being serious.  He knows Marcus needs time to cope too. Now Nate just needs to get his mind off of Rosetta and try to focus as well. "I need your help. Can you try to find out why Fredrick was here? That way we have a starting point for this. No one else can find out about us investigating his death. The only people that know about it are my parents, Rosetta, and us. We need to keep it that way." 

    "Okay I will start with his usual hang out places. When are we meeting up with Rosetta?" 

    "We didn't make plans, but we will look for her tonight." 

    "Okay well i'm going to go get started. I will see you later on." 

    "See you" 

    Nate watches as Marcus walks away from him. Leaving him alone with his thoughts.  He finds himself looking out at the sky.  When he hears his name being called from the distance he sees his father looking for him.  He suddenly feels like this day is about to get a whole lot worse knowing that his father is about to start grilling him on growing up.  Ever since he turned eighteen all he hears when he is home is how he needs to focus more on learning to run a kingdom.  Nate understands, but he is still young.  He does not want to keep being forced into a role that he is not ready for.  He shrugs before walking over to see his father. 

Rosetta 

    Rosetta has been around the palace for hours learning the layout of the castle.  She has overheard the maids gossiping a few times.  Each time it is either about Fredrick's death which is a well known event because he was a royal guest and used to visit frequently or they were talking about Nate.  She was shocked to find out that Fredrick slept around a lot.  This surprised her since when they would spend time together he would never try to flirt with any girls.  He had a few girlfriends who were daughters of noblemen, but she never saw much of them.  Fredrick used to act like spending time with her was more important than anyone else. As she continues to think about him Rosetta walks into the canteen and sits down at one of the long tables in the back of the room. A few minutes later Rosetta hears footsteps coming closer to her. When she hears the person sit down across from her she looks up to find a young girl.  The girl is of petite stature. Her hair is curly brown. Rosetta stares at the girl trying to find out why she is sitting there when she could sit anywhere else. 

    "Hello, I saw you walking around the castle and thought I would introduce myself. My name is Ariana. What is your name?" the girl says tearing Rosetta away from her thoughts. 

    "Hi, my name is Rosetta." 

    "I haven't seen you around here before, Rosetta. When did you arrive?" 

    "Um..I arrived yesterday afternoon. i'm from the neighboring kingdom." Rosetta responds a bit hesitantly. She notices the girl is staring at her now most likely waiting for her to continue the conversation.  Rosetta is not sure what she should say since she has never been good at talking with other girls because she can't relate to them. The girl must have noticed Rosetta was not going to answer because she begins to talk again. 

    "If you want Rosetta I can show you around. It is great to have someone new here. Most of the other girls are rude to me. All they want to do is gossip about the prince. I don't see what all the fuss is about really." Ariana says and continues to talk about all the people around the palace. Rosetta is shocked at how much the girl can talk, but finds her refreshing to talk to at the same time. "Sorry Rosetta, I didn't even notice I was talking so much." Ariana finishes saying with a slight blush rising to her cheeks showing her embarrassment. 

    "It is all right.  I enjoyed listening to you." she responds with a smile.    

    "Well, look at this. Nate was right, Rosetta you’re here." says a deep voice who she recognizes as Marcus whom she met the other day. She looks to the right of Ariana to see him standing a slight distance from them. 

    "Yes, that he is. Hello, Marcus long time no see."     

    "I see that Ariana has already ambushed you." he says with a laugh.    

     "If by ambushed you mean introducing myself then yes. I have already introduced myself." Ariana says

    "Okay Ariana no need to get upset. You know I love you." Marcus responds.

    "You’re lucky you’re my brother." Ariana mutters then looks over to Rosetta. "Anyway, I'm going to go read in the garden. If you want to go look around Rosetta just come get me." Ariana then begins standing up from the table.

    "See you later" she says before walking away. 

    "She didn't have to leave, but now that she has. I was wondering if we could talk for a moment."Marcus says as he takes a seat. Rosetta shrugs in response. "Nate told me that you agreed to talk with him later about our friend, Fredrick's death.  I want to know if you intend to meet up with him?" 

    "Yes, I'm. Not that it is any of your business. He wasn't even supposed to tell anyone about my investigation." she says slightly frustrated that he already is going around ruining her investigation. 

    "Now hold up, don't get all upset. He told me one because I'm a part of his royal guard and two because I'm his best friend.  We want to find out who killed Fredrick just as much as you do. "

    "Okay" 

    "Why do you not want our help?"

    "I don't want to ruin my chances of finding the killer because someone was off telling people about what i'm investigating and not actually trying to help. No offense, but you two seem more interested in girls than actually helping me." 

    "That isn't true. Just because we like to joke around doesn't mean we don't care. Like I said we cared about him too. Give us a chance to prove it to you." 

    "Okay, I will." 

    "Good, now that that's settled we can all go discuss things in Nate's room. Come on." he said. She had to almost jog to keep up with his pace as she followed him through the castle toward Nate's room.