Reunion II

After Owen left to go back to the palace, the trip resumed without him. But he had a new trip of his own; he navigated on a horse through the woods, a shortcut to reach the palace faster. As he galloped through the woods till he reached the center, he heard a cry of a bird; that bird was a raven. He stopped the horse and raised his head, put his thumb and middle finger in his mouth, and whistled while raising his other hand.

The raven did a swirl in the sky and landed slowly on Owen’s hand. On the bird's leg was a message. Owen untangled the letter, reached for his pocket, and took out a treat, then patted the raven on its head, “Good job, little girl.” The bird flapped its wings and flew away.

Owen opened the letter, and it read as follows: “Owen returns to the trip as an underdog; you need to protect Seren as a knight and investigate her homeland; it has come to our knowledge that Seren has a serious enemy under her heel.”

Owen wasted no time; he washed off his jester makeup and changed into the underdog outfit, which consists of armour made of a combination of Damascus steel and titanium, that was black with a half mask that appeared to look like a fox.

Before he got on his horse, he reached out to his jester's clothes and he searched his pockets, then took out Seren's hairpin and put it into his armour. Then he got on his horse and he galloped back to the trip, and as he followed them, it took him a whole day to reach them without sleep, but they had already been gone, so he decided to take a nap.

Dawn cracked and he woke up, watered and fed the horse, and resumed his trip till he finally reached the city that Seren's homeland was supposed to be at. After a while of searching, he noticed an ebony-haired woman, her hair blowing in the wind. He kicked his horse till he reached her.

His eyes softened. He exhaled, resting his shoulders. Finally, he found them.

“Ahm,” he coughed, putting his hand on his mouth.

Seren turned her head to the side.

“The king has sent –”

Seren's pupil increased, and with a yelling smile, she interrupted him.

“HATTER!”

“Welcome! To my homeland!”

Owen noticed the line of hostages in front of them; however, he didn't know what had happened earlier, so the words slipping out of his mouth broke his character for a bit.

“Oh, so you are a tyrant now?”

Seren puffed out a laugh and shook her head.

“Hostages, around dawn, we were attacked, and so I took everyone hostage, including the dead ones.”

“But why the dead? Sounds inconvenient,”

“Well, it is only inconvenient to the sender; they don't seem to be from around here. From this kingdom, I mean,”

She went on to explain how the knights, Hatter, and she all share similar armour, they all have Damascus steel or at least a small proportion of it, and have different values of silver color while also having a specific crest being the imperial crest while seren had an extra one and that being her family's.

But the hostages had armour different in color and style so they were no an ordinary thieves, they came from an outside order, they have a leader, and so by keeping everyone, including the dead as hostages will cause chaos in their country because their family will demand to know the whereabouts of their sons and that will push the one who ordered them to get Seren; to step forward and do something, anything because if they don't, their people will out through them.

“The dead are precious too,”

Hatter's eyes got bigger under the mask, but a smile remained on his mouth

He thought, “Just how capable is she?”

“Say, um, how do you know this?”

“I should put myself in the shoes of who orchestrated this and see what the worst outcome of my actions is,” then something clicked in Seren's mind, realising what he meant. He meant, how did she gain this leadership skill?

“Oh! Wait! My father is an only child, and I am the eldest, so I am next in line to hold the title of the Marquis.”

She further explained that in her homeland, the line of ruling goes horizontally, not vertically.

“Of Course,” Hatter replied with a half-cracked smile.

Hatter was confounded by her, unsure if he was impressed or amused, or something else, something that made butterflies to nest in his stomach, maybe it was just fear, “she was truly a strong noble, capable on her own, if she was the next in line, then why would she need to marry someone? To save the country? Aren't there diplomatic trades? Then why would her fate be so shallowly consumed by shadow?” Thoughts and questions filled his mind. He wanted to know more about her, that sun that always shines regardless of the weather.

Seren's horse galloped just in front of Hatter but still behind the hostages.

Owen watched the sun hit Seren's face, there it was again, those butterflies, his shoulders rested, eyebrows raised, and the scent of the jasmine flowers filled his head while his horse slowed down.

“What would happen if I get near the sun?” he thought.

The rest of what remained of the trip remained silent.

Seren focused on her horse and the hostages.

Finally, they reached Seren's home. Everyone naturally noticed that, other than the bordering town, the homeland is generally great with few exceptions, being the towns that the fire devoured. They finally reached her palace. Outside the gates, a small row of maids was waiting, and at the head was a tall man with salt and pepper silk hair, wearing a well-tailored suit. Alongside him, a young boy with hair dropping just to his shoulder, wearing hexagon-shaped eyeglasses, leaning on a stick.

Seren raised her head, her eyebrows raised, face flushed, and pulse rapidly raising, eyes shimmering, shoulders rising, palms sweating, and a smile carved on her face so naturally big, she hoped from her moving horse and gracefully landed on the ground, followed by a run and a jump into her father's and brother's arms.

“BABA!” She yelled, holding her tears, but failing to do so, hiccups and scribbled words were the only thing coming out of her mouth. “Karim!” She yelled her brother's name.

Her father held his daughter with icy tenderness that could only be seen from a distance. As for Karim, he was glad his sister was okay and was happy to meet her again. Karim can't walk properly due to a hit he took some time ago on his leg, back when his father took him to the war, where an enemy tried to kill him, but thankfully Thad saved him; however, that enemy had already hit Karim on the leg, leaving him with a scar and a physical disability. But Karim threw his stick to take his older sister into a hug.