Reunion
The soldiers lined up for their food and then ate together peacefully. Maki and Chiharu had now been working for two days, but as they were very good with their hands, they were put in charge of serving the soup.
It was very easy. While it had been years ago, they had done it many times when serving their school lunch. Children would often complain if their portions had too many vegetables or too little meat. Edwy watch from afar as Maki and Chiharu excitedly served the soup. He felt that his eagerness to take them back with him was weakening.
It had been fifteen days since Maki and Chiharu had left the castle. And while Grudo had sent guards, and while the birdfolk watched over them, they probably would have fared just as well if they had been alone. Perhaps both of them never wanted to be protected or treated as if they were special.
When the line was almost finished, Edwy entered at the end.
"You"re the last one, so you get a big scoop!"
Chiharu said as she poured it into his bowl. Just then, Edwy grabbed her wrist.
"Huh?"
Her dark eyes looked up at him quizzically. Yes, it really was Chiharu.
"Edwy…"
"Chiharu. I found you. And Maki."
Chiharu"s eyes widened as she froze. Maki looked surprised as well. Yes. I was stupid for not being able to see it, but they weren"t so smart either. There is no way people wouldn"t notice if you started flying in the sky.
How dumb were they to be surprised at this, when they had not been cautious at all?
His worry, his anger. All of it began to crumble.
"Chiharu. You"re so dumb!"
"Hey, Edwy. That"s no way to speak to a lady."
"Lady? Where?"
"Uh, um, shut up!"
"Hahaha!"
Edwy burst into laughter. Maki frantically called to him.
"Hey, Edwy. Be quiet. We don"t want to draw attention!"
"Nothing will draw more attention then flying with the birdfolk."
"Ahhh. Sauro!"
The people around them now recognized the prince and began to talk amongst themselves.
"Hey, you. Take your dinner plates and move to that corner! You"re in the way!"
Paulo said to all three of them after seeing the scene they were creating.
"Fine. Edwy, sit over there!"
"Wait!"
"We won"t run away. Hold this for me."
Edwy was handed three bowls of soup and then left alone. Maki picked up three plates and went over to the grills in order to get the meat. Chiharu took three cups to where the barrels were. Edwy felt very uncomfortable allowing the girls to do this for him, but he waited quietly.
"Alright, we can talk while we eat. Anyway, good work today!"
"Yes."
They clinked their cups together. They were drinking ale. That was strange. He had meant to find Maki and Chiharu and cause an uproar.
"Ahh, it"s good!"
"Ahh, it"s good!"
"Yes."
While Edwy was used to dining in the mayor"s mansion, it was not exactly enjoyable. The only thing he liked about it was seeing how uncomfortable Kaider and Nyran were as well. I don"t like them. Edwy thought with a sigh. They treated him like a child.
"Edwy. This is what we cooked today. It"s boiled potatoes that have been cooked on a grill with cheese on top. You should eat it while it"s still hot. See. Hah-hhot."
"Ffff, hah, quickly, quickly."
"Ah, ahh."
There were lots of potatoes with strips of meat on top.
"Ah, hot. It"s good."
"Right? It"s delicious. We got this cheese in Lapondo."
"They say it"s really famous."
They ate in silence after that. At the castle, Maki and Chiharu had eaten like the n.o.bles. And they had acted as ladies in front of the amba.s.sadors. But now they were sitting on the ground crossed legged and opening their mouths wide to be filled with potatoes.
"Ah, the meat is so good too!"
"This is the meat that Paulo was marinating in sauce last night."
"I see. It"s so good."
They finished off the mugs of ale with their food. It was fun. This dinner was much more fun than most meals.
"Edwy."
Maki began. Chiharu also sat up straight and looked at him.
"We"re sorry."
"We"re sorry."
"Yes. Everyone was so worried about you two."
The two of them looked like they were going to cry.
"Why did you leave the castle without saying anything? If you told us, we could have helped you enter the dwarf country in disguise."
"We couldn"t tell you. And you say disguise, but we would have still had guards around us, wouldn"t we? Besides, Arthur, Aeris, Grudo and Zynis all have their own important roles. Even you Edwy. You had enough to worry about in dealing with the other countries."
"I was so busy then. If I had even a little free time, I went with you two to the town. It was just so fun. But I never stopped to think about how you two felt."
And that was why he couldn"t stop the inlanders from saying such things. Edwy remembered this and clenched his fist.
"Are you thinking about the inlanders?"
Chiharu asked quietly.
"I"m sorry. I"m sure that was the main reason why you wanted to leave."
"No-no."
Maki shook her head and laughed.
"Yes, it annoyed us a little. But it"s really nothing. We had decided way before that."
"Way before that?"
"We"ve always worked for entire days and made a living for ourselves. It was hard being taken care of so well just because we were Saintesses."
"Maki…"
"It might be hard for you to understand, Edwy. But hard work and the struggle to live can be very rewarding if it is a decision that you made on your own. But as a prince, you are not free with how you can work."
Edwy felt a little hurt by this. He had not been born a prince as a choice. He didn"t like that she said he wouldn"t be able to understand them because he didn"t know what it was like to be free.
However, Maki and Chiharu had not wanted to be Saintesses either. Perhaps that was something that he needed to understand.
"I do not want to be treated as a prince or eat fine meals with the mayor. However, it was still my decision to remain a prince. Is that it?"
"As Saintesses, we will purify the miasma. But we wanted freedom in our actions until then. No. That"s just me trying to sound cool. We really just wanted to run away from it all."
Maki said with a sad smile.
"And Chiharu just got pulled along with me."
"We decided on this together, Maki-chan."
The two of them looked at each other and laughed. Right now, their boy clothes seemed to suit them.
"Hey, Edwy. You should come back soon."
"Apparently, we"re not sufficient company."
It was Kaider and Nyran. Maki and Chiharu looked stunned and quickly faced the ground.
"Ah, you are playing with the other children then. How nice."
Edwy looked very annoyed at Kaider"s remark. But he then grabbed Maki"s shoulder and answered.
"Yes, I"m happier with friends close to my own age. You two can deal with the adults."
Kaider, Nyran. It"s because you two always run away that I end having to talk to them. Edwy thought.
"It"s too much trouble. I prefer to be swinging my sword."
Kaider scratched his head. It was no use. Edwy sighed and was just about to stand up.
"Edwy would also prefer to swing his sword or fly with bird people."
"Who are you?"
Chiharu stood up and shouted at Kaider.
"It doesn"t matter if you find it troublesome. You should do it. Edwy is still a child, isn"t he? How can an adult like you push your work onto a kid?"
"What! This has nothing to do with you."
"I"m the one who is now enjoying being with my friend. It does have something to do with me. If you want to call him a child, let him be free during the night, at least. Edwy, let"s go. Sauro"s waiting."
"Ah, uh, sorry. I"ll show up later."
Edwy said, and the three of them left. They looked very small from the back. And since it was night, the fact that they could not see colors sometimes made the truth more visible.
"Norfe? Chouze?"
Nyran muttered. But neither of the two children stopped. Kaider said lazily.
"I made the little ones angry. Oh, well. I guess we better go then."
"Hey, you should stop treating Edwy like a child. Humans are adults at 18."
"You did it too."
Nyran turned around again and watched the three as they left. Maybe he had only seen what he wanted. Well, it was time to go back to work.