"YOU ARE WHAT?!" Claudia screams, practically sending her dogs scurrying for cover. "THAT IS SO UNFAIR!"

"For the last time Claudes, I have no choice!" Soren says as he shoulders his travel bag over his shoulder. "Aric gave us orders and I have to carry them out."

"By going to war?! We already nearly lost our mom and cousin with what happened!" Claudia snaps angrily. "Does Aric think sending troops to Xadia is going to solve anything? No! It won't bring queen Ece and king Florian back, this is pointless!"

It had been two days since the assassination incident, Aric was crowned the morning after it had happened, and just now Claudia was finding out that the new king was sending troops to Katolis for aid with a war against Xadia. According to her mother, their father was apparently the regent of Katolis and had requested aid from the other four kingdoms to send troops to fight back against Xadia, but the rulers decided not to because it was rather pointless. It seemed rather strange that the dragon queen sent elves to kill all of the rulers, when only one of them actually did anything recently to invoke her wraith, unless they too have done something to warrant an assassination.

"I have no choice, Aric specifically requested for me to go with four other family members, I guess so dad could be happy or something." Soren says as he turns to face her. "Claude I understand why you are mad, but please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at stupid Aric!" Claudia huffs. "He's only sending you because mom and Sigird are injured."

Recently their mother and cousin had recently been discharged from the infirmary and now forced to rest in bed upon Aeson's orders. Sigrid was hating every minute of it, getting restless because she wasn't allowed to get up unless she needed to use the bathroom; and their mother couldn't even move her hands so much without her almost crying out in pain.

"Look, I want to stay home to help care for mom, but I can't disobey Aric right now." Soren groans and runs a hand through his hair. "But who knows, maybe there isn't a need for war. We're going to Katolis, maybe the council members there got dad to change his mind about waging war on Xadia."

"Dad is stubborn, you know he won't change his mind so easily." Claudia points out and frowns. "And what if he doesn't want to work with our kingdom because you and our family are among the soldier ranks? You know he has no love for mom's relatives anymore, and I'm sure after so many years he's started to hate us too for going with mom instead of staying with him."

While she did have a point, Claudia found it a bit hard to believe that her own father could hate her brother. After all, he wasted some pretty rare resources just to save Soren from the illness he had as a child, but that led their parents to start fighting more until their mother had enough. They hadn't even been in contact with their father since the day they left Katolis, and even now they hadn't bothered trying to get in contact with him, knowing he was probably too busy to even answer their letters.

"He asked our kingdom for support, it'd be pretty dumb of him if he decided to not accept our help just because there are a few soldiers he doesn't even like." Soren says with a shrug before placing a hand on her shoulder. "I promise I won't do anything stupid, okay? And I'm sure aunt Elda will make sure I don't get that deep into the battle, assuming we actually fight."

Claudia gives her brother a skeptical look before flinging herself at him and pulling him into a tight hug. "If you do something stupid, I will track you down with all of my dogs and hit you with the heaviest book I can find in the library."

"Okay, okay, I promise." She hears her brother say before feeling his arms wrap around her in a hug. "I'll try my best to stay out of trouble."

"You're going away?" The two look up to find Magnus and Gisli standing in the doorway of Soren's room.

"Why? Why are you going away Soren?" Gisli asks as she steps towards them.

"Stupid Aric, that's why." Claudia responds bluntly. "But he's gonna be with aunt Elda when he goes, so he'll be in good hands."

"Bjorn is coming along too." Magnus adds with a roll of his eyes. "But if his mother is coming along, I'm sure she'll make sure he doesn't goof something up during this...whatever it is."

"You have to promise to come back safely! You have to!" Gisli demands as she runs up to her cousins and hugs Soren's waist. "Or grandma Sigrid will haunt you!"

"Oh no, not that!" Soren groans mockingly before he laughs as Magnus joins the group hug. "We cannot disappoint our beloved and deceased grandma!"

"You'll be disappointing her if you don't come back alive and in one piece!" Claudia scolds. "And us too! So you better stay safe or we'll all come after you!"

---

"...Leif, it's about time you grew up."

Leif really wasn't liking that his older brother had barged into his room, unannounced and started rambling about responsibilities of a prince. Right now all he wanted to do was go hide in the blanket fort with Sprinkles and his stuffed dragon, not stand here listening to his brother. Why was Aric even here in the first place anyways?

"Why do I have to grow up now?" The younger prince asks. "Mama and papa said I should enjoy my childhood and -"

"Because I said so!" Leif flinches at the familiar harsh tone his older brother often used around him. "You are seven years old, you know what Cira and I were doing when we were seven? Learning how to spar against the best of our crownguard soldiers, battle strategies, learning to ride the same horses our parents would ride, things you should have been learning to do when you were six! Yet you have been spending your days locked in the library reading fairy tales, playing with kittens and wooden figures, and distracting our best soldiers with your stupidities!"

"Soren liked playing with me..." Leif mumbles, unsure what to do. Why did Aric get to be king? Why did this mean he got to boss him around now that their parents were gone? He really wished Lissa was here to scold his big brother, he at least would listen to her...but she wasn't here, she was home resting because she got hurt. Don't cry in front of Aric, don't cry in front of Aric, don't cry -

"Are you seriously crying right now?" Aric asks angrily as Leif tries wiping the tears away from his face. "I cannot believe I am related to you, how could my own brother be this weak?"

"Soren doesn't think I'm weak...he says I am strong in my own way!" Leif states angrily as he furiously wipes at his face. "Why can't you be nice like him and Sigrid? You and my sisters are always so mean! If they were here they wouldn't let you bully me like this!"

"Yeah well Soren can't be here because he has an important mission, which is going to Xadia and killing the stupid elves who killed our parents!"

"What?!" No, it couldn't be true, Aric would never send Soren away like that...right? He was supposed to be here to protect the royal family, he wasn't a normal soldier like that.

"You heard me. Maybe now that he's not here, you'll stop acting like a baby and start acting your age." Aric sneers before turning away and walking towards the door. "Oh and just a reminder Leif, you may be my little brother, but since you are last in line for the throne no one will care if anything happened to you. So watch what you do from now on."

It wasn't until he was very sure that his older brother was gone that Leif ran towards the blanket fort and buried himself inside of it to let himself cry. He was now very sure his older brother sent Soren away on purpose, just to upset him. Or...or maybe he was lying. Soren would never leave if his family was hurt, maybe he was at home with his sister tending to their mother and cousin.

I can't stay here, not after what Aric said. Leif thinks as he sits up to wipe his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his tunic. He's scary, and I don't like it when he's like that. I don't wanna stay here, my sisters don't even care about me. At least Claudia cares, and she's not even my sister at all! Maybe...maybe she and Soren could let me stay with them for a while, so I won't have to stay here and do everything Aric wants me to do. And I'm not leaving Sprinkles either!

With his mind already made up, the young prince got to work in gathering what he deemed necessary. Right now he was just going to pack some clothes, a small pouch of money he kept hidden under his bed, his cat, and the dragon doll Soren had given him as a birthday present when he was little. Today it wasn't even snowing at all, but it wouldn't hurt to still carry his fur cloak with him in case it did on his way to his destination.

Once he was sure he had everything, Leif made sure that no guards were standing in the hallway before he began to run. He felt like some sort of spy jumping to hide behind curtains and suits of armor if he heard someone coming his way, not wanting to risk getting caught. If any of those "boring fairy tales" had taught him anything, it was that you can't trust anyone in the castle when a new and evil ruler had just taken the throne.

I really feel like I am the escaping hero in those books Claudia likes to read to me! The young prince thought excitedly to himself. Too bad he really couldn't escape the palace walls on horseback like those heroes, or escape by scaling the castle walls with a magical rope or talisman, that would have made everything much easier.

It wasn't until he had managed to sneak past a pair of guards while keeping Sprinkles quiet and crossed the bridge that he really was free. Leif really couldn't believe that right now he had just managed to escape without his older brother noticing! Ha! Take that Aric!

"Okay Sprinkles, we have a very important task to do now!" Leif says as he puts his cat down on the ground. "First, locate Claudia and Soren's house and convince them to let me stay for a bit! And second, keep a low profile for as long as possible! Sounds good?"

The black and orange cat gave what sounded like an unamused meow before stretching himself out a bit.

"I like your enthusiasm! Now, onward!"