Chapter 1 – It’s a trip
“Princess Ayra. Where has that mischievous child disappeared to? She is always so troublesome. I have no idea where her tomboyish nature even comes from.”
The maids of the Lily palace were all running about, searching for the young princess Ayra. In their rush, they had overlooked her hiding place behind the thick curtains. Occasionally, peeking out from behind her hiding place the young princess thought that the palace maids were so stupid, she would always hide in such easy-to-find places, but they were never able to find her.
Suddenly, the palace maids that had been rushing about, calmed down. Wondering what was going on Ayra peeked her head out from behind the curtain. There she a saw a young man in his early twenties with short blonde hair, standing in the hallway flanked by two royal knights talking with her personal maid Erika.
“What is with all the commotion about. Where is my sister anyways?”
“Reporting to your majesty, the young princess has gone on one of her adventures again and we have not been able to find her.”
Looking around the young king spotted a little head that was sticking out behind the curtains watching what was going on. Pretending that he had not seen her he continued to speak with the maid.
“Well, that’s a shame. I was thinking, I would take her out on a hunting trip around Beast Forest. Seeing as she missed out last time. I guess she just won’t be able to go this time as well.”
At those words, the young princess hopped out from behind her hiding place and ran into her brother’s arms. Feeling excited about the prospect of going out she pulled on her brother’s arm indicating that she was here.
“I’m here. Brother Claude I’m here. Can we go now. I’ve been staying inside the palace for so long and it’s so boring.”
“Oh, there you are. Now, where have you been hiding all this time.”
Completely clueless about the fact that her brother had long noticed her hiding behind the curtain. The young princess told the young king about what she had been doing recently, and about how the maids could never find her.
Feeling that given the opportunity the young princess would go off on a tangent, the young king quickly and wisely distracted her.
“Well, Ayra it's going to be late soon, if you want to go with me you have to start preparing now or I’ll leave you behind again.”
Not wanting to be left behind, the young princess pulled on her personal maid's arms, as she urged her to help her get ready to go out. Seeing how excited she was, the young king told her, he would go to the stables to pick a horse first and that she should take her time as he would wait for her, before leaving.
Erika, her personal maid quickly helped her change into her hunting gear which she received for her fifth birthday last year. While it looked like common cotton clothing, it was said to be a divine armour blessed by the gods and would grow along with her and will repair itself if ever damaged.
Having been fully dressed she headed towards the stable where her brother was with her entourage following her.
After arriving at the stables, she noticed her brother holding the reins to a get jet black horse with a small white patch in the shape of a diamond. Feeling excited she stroked the sides of the horse, as she was not tall enough to pat the head.
“Brother will we be riding Lady Noir today.”
“Yes, as you’re coming along today, we will be taking Lady Noir who is more docile. Now that you’re here hop on.”
Claude effortlessly lifted Ayra onto the horse and swiftly got on as well, as he looked well-practiced. Looking towards the entourage that had followed the young princess here, he dismissed them with a wave of his hand. Familiar with the young king’s personality they quickly dispersed themselves and returned to the Lily palace, leaving only Erika who got onto her own horse wordlessly. Soon along with the two royal knights that usually follow his majesty, they departed from the walls of the capital and head towards Beast Forest.
Chapter 2 – Beast forest
Within an hour of leaving the walls of the capital, the young princess Ayra had already grown bored of the endless fields with hard-working farmers, tending to their crop and had long run out of topics to talk about with her brother. So, when they reach the cabin by the entrance to Beast Forest, she could not wait to enter it.
With a hapless sigh, the young king Claude held on tightly to his sister in case she fell. He had no idea who she took after, their late parents were the calmest and most patient people he had ever seen, and as their firstborn, he also took after that. But it would seem that all the calm genes from the family had been used up by him, and his little sister while still young, was a complete tomboy with no patience at all.
Seeing that the princess wanted to get down, Erika hopped down from her horse, giving the reins to one of the royal knights and headed towards the princess to help her down. Immediately after getting off Lady Noir, Ayra patted her and thanked her for bringing them here.
“Ayra, we will take a short rest here then head into the forest by foot. Alec will stay back at the cabin to look after the horses. Erika and Gil will both be carrying our equipment, so, no one will carry you if you get tired later.”
“What about you brother can’t you carry me?”
Trying to act as cute as possible Ayra tried to persuade her brother to carry her later when she became tired. But sadly, it was all in vain as her brother just playfully messed up her silver hair and declined.
After their short rest, they headed into Beast Forest, that was a known habitat for the rare magical beasts. Like monsters they had magical cores or crystals inside them, but unlike monsters they were often not as aggressive and some were even kept as pets by nobles.
This time, Claude had brought Ayra to Beast Forest to see if there were any suitable beast that could become his sister's companion beast. While it was extremely rare for humans to possess the ability to contract beast, their mother, the late queen who was also a priestess of Karla, patron of their kingdom of Kar, had confirmed that Ayra had extremely high aptitude in magic relating to their patron. However, strangely enough, while Ayra could perform the contract magic perfectly she has never been able to successfully contract any of the beasts that had been brought, before her. Having tried countless times, Claude still believed that his mother was not wrong in her judgement. So, he had the idea to bring her on trips to the Beast Forest, in hopes that she will meet a beast that she would be capable of contracting.
Suddenly, Claude who had been leading the way stopped, causing Ayra who was walking close behind him to walk right into his back. Ayra questioned why he suddenly stopped, but was cut off by her brother. Feeling wronged she was about to ignore her brother, however, he quickly explained himself, in case his sister started to hate him.
After having walked into the forest for hours, he found it strange that they had not encountered any beast or animal. The forest was also strangely quiet as if it was holding its breath, there wasn’t even a slight rustle in the trees. Which was different from how the forest was in the past, where they would be able to find at least a few beasts going about their own business.
See that her brother was not intentionally being mean to her, she offered her ideas on why they haven’t seen any beasts or animals.
“Maybe they are all hiding at home because it’s going to start raining soon.”
“Ayra you’re joking right, it’s been sunny all day. I take that back. We better find shelter quickly.”
Knowing his sister and her uncanny ability to always forecast stage weather patterns, he decided to seek out shelter and avoid the rain.
“Gil your familiar with Beast Forest where is the nearest shelter?”
Dutifully Gil informed him of a nearby cave that was also the home of a lone Sky Wolf. Which was known for their ability to run into the sky as though they were run on land. They generally lived in large packs of around 50 wolves. To find a lone wolf was extremely rare.
Thinking that they would be able to complete two objectives at once, he couldn’t help but praise Gil for his attention to detail and great memory and had him lead the way.
Chapter 3 - orphans all the same after all
Having walked for hours Ayra, had started to feel tired from heading through the Forest. While Ayra was an active child that liked to move about and couldn’t sit still. She was still in the end a young child. Not wanting to walk anymore she pulled on her brother’s shirt indicating for him to carry her. Knowing that even though he said he wouldn’t, he could still carry her if she got tired.
The entrance to the cave, that Gil knew about, was deeper in the forest. Here the trees grew closer together making it more difficult to walk. Claude had to be extra careful as he was carrying his sister on his back, who at this point was too tired to even speak. The gathering clouds above their heads covering the sun was also not helping.
“Gil, how long is it until we reach the cave?”
“It just ahead your majesty. We will get there well before it rains.”
As they reached the cave entrance there were signs that a predatory beast lived there. There were bits of bones scattered around and a strong stench of blood could be smelled even in the open.
Knowing that a battle may occur, Ayra tapped her brother on the shoulder for him put her down so he could fight more easily. Demonstrating that she was vastly more intelligent than the average 6-year-old. Looking into the cave noticing that it was quite deep as she could not see the end.
“Brother, are we going into the cave?”
Ayra asked her brother as they were just standing in front of the cave entrance without going inside.
“We are going in. I was just getting ready.”
Drawing his sword, Claude decided to lead the way, followed by Erika that had summoned a ball of light with her magic. With Ayra in the middle and Gil taking up the rear.
Within a few minutes, they found the back of the cave and with that, they also found a giant wolf, wounded in multiple places. Having been so badly injured, it had not been able to move even though they were just metres away from it. All it could do was growl at them, which even then sounded more like a whimper.
Ayra feeling a bit adventurous, moved forward next to her brother to take a closer look. Noticed that it was injured and somehow feeling its pain, she wanted to help it but had no idea how.
Pulling on her brother’s sleeve she asked him to help the wolf.
“Brother, Mrs. wolf is in pain you have to help her.”
“I’ll do what I can, but I won’t be able to do much. It looks like Mrs. wolf has lost a lot of blood and won’t survive for much longer.”
“That so sad, Mrs. wolf still has to look after her two puppies.”
At her statement, Claude felt surprised, as he had no idea how his sister knew that there were pups. Think that she had just made it up, he just kept silent and went along with her. As he stood their and thought about his next step, now that the magic beast they had come looking for was injured.
At that moment as he was distracted, Ayra had moved right in front of the wolf. Both Erika and Gil were unable to stop her.
Seeing Ayra’s movement the wolf let out another growl, but strangely she didn’t feel scared and even brought her hand towards its head. She slowly stroked its head, trying to comfort it. Before long the wolf had calmed down, understanding that she meant no harm.
It was a completely surreal and magical sight to behold, and one that Claude, Erika and Gill would fondly remember.
It may have been that the mother wolf knew it was dying, because it moved its head from its paws to reveal two small puppies the size of Ayra’s small hands. Their size and the fact that their eyes hadn’t even opened yet, indicated how young they were.
The mother wolf stared into Ayra’s eyes. As if in deep communication, they continued to do so for a whole minute. Until finally the mother wolf removed her gaze from Ayra onto her two pups. Giving them a lick, she nudged the two pups forward towards Ayra. Before resting its head back down.
Understanding her intentions, Ayra slowly kneeled down and gently picked up the two pups into her arms. Looking at the mother wolf she firmly declared.
“Don’t worry Mrs. wolf I will look after these two puppies.”
As if giving her consent and understanding, the mother wolf gave a few blinked with her eyes and replied with a small whimper, before she closed her eyes one last time, never to open them again.
Seeing the mother wolf die before her eyes, Ayra started crying. Although they had only just met and it had not been more than a few minutes, it seemed as if they were greatly familiar with one another. Having the mother wolf, pass on her puppies to her to look after, she only felt that their connection had deepened.
Wanting to comfort his sister but not knowing how Claude just stood there as if frozen. But it seemed that his concern was unnecessary as his sister stood up on her own and turned towards Claude blinking the tears away.
Holding the puppies closely to her chest. Once again, as firmly as she declared to the mother wolf, she declared to Claude.
“I will look after these two puppies.”
Giving a nod, still stunned by what his sister had just done, but feeling that it may seem too casual for such an occasion he gave a few words.
“That you will. But if you are to raise these two pups, they will require names.”
Looking down at the two pups she instantly thought of their names. Skoll for the one with the grey fur and Hati for the one with the black fur. She had no idea how she came up with their names, but she thought it was highly appropriate. Being Sky Wolves that would be able to run across the sky as their name’s sake, chasing after the sun and moon.
“The grey one will be called Skoll and the black one will be called Hati.”
At that moment, as if recognising that an important moment had happened, the two puppies opened their eyes for the first time. Looking at Ayra. This sight made her smile again. As she smiled at them she informed them of something important.
“You guys just lost your mum, but don't worry, I’ll look after you. We’re orphans all the same, after all.”
