“Your mother is busy”

“She is?”

Ryla gave a frown. Mother was always busy with the crowd of men surrounding her. She would pluck one to spend the night and then toss them away. Yet, the next day they still kept coming.

“Come, the children’s place is over there”

“I want to see my mother.”

The guard who was watching Ryla gave a light smile. The kind of gentle smile an adult gives a child who doesn’t understand the world yet.

“That can’t be done. Please come with me” he said as he lightly shepherded Ryla with his arm.

Ryla stopped for a moment looking behind her. Those golden doors which led to the queen’s throne room never feeling emptier than she remembered.

The children’s place was a warm place filled with caretakers. Ryla’s memories were filled with the place. She felt a closer connection to the old woman who once changed her diapers to her own mother. There were other children in there, the kids of the servants and other retainers who lived in the castle, but they always gave Ryla a wide berth.

A small figure was crawling across the tile floor. A little baby with a mischievous smile and dark hair with a cowlick on his head. She saw the baby walk over to a small block that had been left on the ground, grabbing it and started to suck on it.

In a rush, Ryla ran over to the boy and preventing him from sucking further in fear that he might choke on the small block.

“Fawks you can’t be doing that!” Ryla said scolding the baby while picked it up and pulling the block out of it’s hand.

Fawks who was too young to understand words yet, only gave a toothy smile in response to his sister.

“Rwyla!” He said cheerfully. Ryla gently stroked his head while he cooed.

“Hmm, Should’ve let him choke on it. Would’ve made everything easier.” A voice interjected.

Ryla looked in the direction and saw a long-nosed boy standing in the corner. Since she was a girl, they were around the same height due to her faster development, but the boy in front of her was in fact, a year older than her.

“Zacariah! How can you say that? He’s your bother” Ryla bit back, still holding Fawks in her arms

The boy shrugged his shoulders.

“He’ll only be a problem down the line. Might as well get rid of problems when they are still easy to deal with”

“Besides I heard mother’s pregnant again.” He said,

He clicked his tongue looking away with a sour expression on his face.

“More problems to deal with…”

Ryla only glared at Zacariah.

“We’re still siblings you know.” She said protesting him.

The boy only looked at her the same way one would look at a bird dropping on their car.

“It’s not very complicated. Family relations means nothing when we’re going to be forced to fight anyway.” Zacariah said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Who said you had to fight” Ryla said setting Fawks down and turning to Zachariah.

“I mean unless you plan on leaving the country and going into hiding, but let it be known” Zacariah looked her straight in the face and Ryla faltered slightly at the intense gaze.

“I will hunt you. And I will protect my right to succession if I win the trials.”

Ryla grit her teeth at the statement. She wanted to scream internally.

[Why does it have to be this way!]

Zacariah seemed to have completely bought into the idea. That they would have to fight to the death.

She clenched her fist.

“I will win.”’

Zacariah only shrugged his shoulders again.

“A cry baby like you? You’re too soft.” He said.

To that Ryla had no words. Zacariah was right that she was soft. Unlike him she viewed her siblings as family members, and yet despite knowing this she didn’t feel like there was anything wrong.

Why did she have to fight at all? It’s was completely ridiculous, an outdated tradition. Ryla cursed the fact she had to be born a girl. Unlike her brothers, she was forced to compete from the beginning.

She looked towards the boy that was crawling around on the floor. The little baby was blissfully unaware of the interaction that had just gone on.

She took one look at the boy and then stormed off.

Kitsura

Time for some character development~