Chapter 2: How They Lied
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“So, Mister Elliot,” the little girl broke the tempo of footsteps walking over twigs and grass, “Why were you in that meadow with me?” Aurora questioned, looking at me.

“Well, you see,” I swallowed, stalling for time to think, “this is something I wanted to tell you later…”

Think, Elliot, think!

“I’m actually your brother,” I said in my panic; who knows if it was the right decision? But there is no choice except going with it now; I already took her on a ride.

“You are? But we look nothing alike!” Aurora exclaimed In disbelief, still holding my hand.

“THAT’s what bothers you!? My cute little sister says we look nothing alike, ah, it hurts, mom!” I yelled at the skies as dramatically as I could.

Aurora gasped, “N-no! That’s not what I mean!”

She is very naïve… I feel wrong about this… NO! I like living.

“We are siblings; I’m your brother, so you better listen to me!” The little girl shyly nodded at my desperate announcement. I continued, “to be honest with you, I don’t remember much either, but it is coming back to me the more I spend time with you…” I rubbed my chin and stared at the trees above us. “We were playing at the lake by the house- you know, the one with the pretty flowers you like. We found a cave, and the next thing I remember is that we woke up here- How much do you remember?”

The blonde girl stared at her feet and walked silently alongside me. She mumbled, “I don’t remember anything besides my name and that I am 10.”

Oh. So she is ten years old. Cute.

“From what I understand, this isn’t our home, so we need to be very careful when we meet others, alright?” Aurora eagerly nodded at my words.

She exclaimed, “okay, Mister Ellio-“

I cut her off, “No-no-no, call me Elliot, okay?” I can’t have her calling me Mister making me look like a kidnapper… Then again, people wouldn’t be wrong to think that.

“Alright,... Then can I call you Elly?”

You have GOT to be kidding me.

I sighed heavily and facepalmed. Aurora laughed loudly. “What will you call me?”

That’s right. I don’t want to call you Aurora. I can’t believe I’m going to call the crown princess a nickname; this is insane.

“Roro. That’s how I normally call you!” I grinned at the girl smiling at me.

Hand to hand, we walked by the side of the dirt road for hours.


Aurora’s moves became much more unbalanced, and I started carrying the girl on my back. Her tiny bare feet must be hurting.

Now that I think, aren’t nobility supposed to be very well-fed? How is she so tiny at ten years old? Was she fed very little as a child- Or- OH MY GOD DID I BREAK THE PRINCESS

My spiralling thoughts got cut off when Aurora pulled on my shirt, “Elly, there is something over there.” The finger extended over my shoulder, pointed at the peak of a roof in the distance. It looked like it was by the side of the road.

A tavern?

I quickened my pace towards the building. But there are many problems to solve, aren’t there? I need to mimic an accent if this is Moravia. Can I mimic any accents Moravian people won’t hate? And even if I do, Aurora can't.

The feet by my sides twitched, “Elly, you’re hurting me,” Aurora whimpered behind me. I immediately loosened my grip

“I’m sorry, I got distracted.”

“Are you scared of the basilisk too?” she questioned

“What basilisk?”

“It will come for you if you’ve been bad. It is so scary that you will die when you look at it,” she explained kind of in a daze, which creeped me out.

“That’s just an old tale to make kids good. Basilisks don’t exist,” I wonder why anyone would tell this story to a princess.

I guess the imperial family has bad nannies. I should let them know before they kill me…

I smirked at the thought.

 Dim lights lit in the building by the time we were close enough to make out what it is. As I hoped, it was a tavern. The faded sign blowing at each breeze read “The Stone Corner,” which is a horrible name since the building is made entirely out of wood. Except for a large chimney that ran up the corner of the building… oh, now I get it.

Loud laughter boomed inside the building; many carriages pulled near the side of the tavern. It looked crowded.

“Roro, I need you to be silent now. There is a lot of people here who have never seen your hair color, so try to wear your robe over your head.” I felt shuffling on my back as soon as I finished talking.

I opened the door, which felt like I took off a pair of earplugs. The noises that I thought were loud became much louder. Warm air smelling of alcohol brushed over me as I stepped inside. Most people didn’t even realize I entered. However, the old man at the desk frowned.

A boy in jester’s garbs with a girl hiding under robes on his back, I can’t really blame him.

“I would like to get a room for my sister and me,” I said in the most outlandish way possible, making sure my speech comes off muffled.

“Been a while since I had folks from Amarril. You’re very south from home, kid.” He pondered, leaning over the wooden desk to face me closer.

“I have been traveling with my sister- but we got mugged-“ he lifted his hand and cut me off. “I ain’t no charity, kid. No money, no room.”

“Well, I assumed you would say that, so I have these,” I lifted the set of spotless embroidered shoes that I stole from the princess.

Add that to my tab, Emperor.

The old man snatched the shoes from my hand and lifted them; he hissed, “where did you get these? You know, you’re very suspicious,” he paused for a while, “pay double. I want her clothes.” He pointed towards Aurora on my back with his eyebrows.

I gasped loudly, “Well, you see, that is very valuable, and it belongs to my mom, just like what my sister is wearing right now. I will give you these, but I want you to get my sister and me proper clothes and bags. Do you have anything with a hood?”

“You’re a fussy kid,” the man groaned. “My wife will bring you those to your room when she comes to take the clothes.” He handed me a rusty key, so rusty it was almost entirely brown.


“Ah, you poor things,” the lady muttered, entering the room carrying a set of clothes. “Where are your parents?”  she questioned.

“We were traveling as a family, and we got attacked by bandits. I barely pulled my sister out. We are trying to get to the capital so we can communicate with them,” I lamented, looking at the clothes in her hand.

Pity me, will you?

She put the clothes down and walked towards Aurora. She stopped once she uncovered her. She stared at her hair for a long time as Aurora stared at her cluelessly.

“You… Wait here.” She rushed outside.

You’re kidding me. She didn’t realize, did she? There is no way the news traveled that fast, unless …  

“What is the date today?” I asked casually once the lady hurried back inside, carrying a bag and a bucket. She completely ignored the weight of my question. “It is the 15th of the third moon.”

A week passed since that night?

The lady grabbed a bottle from a bag she carried inside. She opened a bottle from it and poured the black liquid into her hands. “You need to dye her hair. You guys will be in even more danger when she is looking like this.” I carried over the bucket she brought closer to the bed and nodded Aurora to put her head in it. “There are all sorts of rumors flying about in Moravia. She will be in danger.”

“Are they about the basilisk?” Aurora chimed innocently with her head in the bucket.

After a moment’s silence, the woman spoke, “You’re not from Eltia, are you?”

“We spent the last few months there; she is at that age she likes to imitate what she likes,” I announced, scratching the back of my head.

“My husband said you are going to the capital. Do you even have enough money to go there?”

“No..” I sighed. “I was planning to do some jobs here and there and get the money as we go.”

“Tellton has a mercenary office. Maybe you can find something there.” the woman mumbled, completely indulged in the hair-washing.

I watched her dyed Aurora’s golden strands. It looked like she was splattering coal dust on a golden painting.

“Thank you; we will go there first thing tomorrow.” I nodded at the old lady. “Could you dye my hair too?” I asked kind of out of nowhere. The lady smiled at me.

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