"You did not!" Shimi gasped.

"Oh, she did alright. She so did." Shimki said, trying to fight off another fit of laughter.

Shimki had narrated the entire incident from where she left Shinka attending to Silver. Shinka had sparingly let slip a few details of what happened right after she left.

The sisters could not help laughing at Shinja's expense but they felt her pain or joy, maybe both. The way Shinka said everything had them laughing more than they should have if Shinja was around. Their elder sister had a way of putting everything into a funny story even with the everlasting bored look she tried to put on every time she wanted her sisters to let a topic slide. They were not having it. They badgered her until she let it out.

"Poor doll! You're not good Shinka. Why would you do that?" Shimi asked this with mock anger. She was on the verge of laughing. Again.

"Pure evil." Shimi added.

"That's what she said." Sitting by the dresser, Shinka continued pampering her face before holding her hair up into a chignon.

She loved her sisters so much but there were moments when they needed a nudge into the right direction and that is what she gave Shinja today. It was her duty as their elder sister to do so—she believed.

Her sisters were going on and on about it. She rolled her eyes at them. Okay, maybe it had not been a nudge more like a shove in the right direction. Who cares? As long as it led to good things. Right? She jumped off her stool and her sisters' attention were directed to her immediately.

"Come on all of you. Let us get out of here. We have a match to watch."

"Yeah right." Shimi turned to follow her out of the room.

"Were you even listening to what we were saying?" Shimki asked quite exasperated. She was sure she had not been listening. "You owe us a story."

"Nope." She popped the 'p' and added, "It did not matter because it will lead to good things. I have only good intentions in mind."

That earned her a 'pshh' from two of the sisters.

Shinka shrugged and did not say another word now outside the door. Sometimes they wished they were as bold as she was but that would lose the essence of her being their elder sister. She meddled but they liked it sometimes. Only sometimes. None of them would trade places with Shinja right now.

***
The Arena***

Bolton sounded the gong making it clang all over the arena which brought the chattering crowd to a mesmerizing silence. The fight begun.

To joust is not like any other palace sport with swords. While jousting both princes held long strong sticks, these can be compared to javelins. They would come at each other while on their horses trying to get the other to fall off their horse.

Silver came at Brown from the right, his joust stick going through the bowl formed by his elbows. That nearly threw Brown off balance but he stabilized almost immediately. Brown came at him with one of his tricks, he thrust his joust stick up at Silver's face real fast.

He thought he was coming for his face armor though it was not Brown's plan. To prove his point, Brown pushed the stick at Silver's chest. He flew backward. If it weren't for the firm hold, he had on the horse's reins, Silver would have fallen back flat on the gravel road. They were both equally good. Silver and Brown jousted for a long time and came to no winner or loser.

~*~

Those who had put in their bets began calling them back. People in the arena were yawning and frothing with hunger and anger. The big ol' tuffs wiped their faces with the back of their sweaty palms. This was getting nowhere. Anxiety, hunger, anger, frustration... there was just too much that they were dealing with.

The descending sun heat was doing nothing to help the situation—only worsening it. Maybe the old couple that had collected their bets was right however the way things were going, this fight would end, 0 - 0. No winner. No loser. Nothing. People wanted their money back.

Time to find that couple.

It was like they had a set a timer for when they would get up to begin the search. At once, they stood up—men and women, old and young, weary and tired, sweaty and boisterous—searching out for the odd couple. The palace guards wondered what had come over the crowd. Murmurings. Movements. Not merry but wary. They would take out their frustration of dissatisfaction from the fight on the lot of them—the odd couple.

Where were they? The two old farts that had taken their money, where were they?

One voluptuous lady, collapsed in her husband's lap when she retraced the last trace she had seen of the odd couple and did not find anything. That money had been for her evening brew. She could not function without her evening brew. She would rather die. Her husband was not going to give her more money for brew and she had betted away that day's penance. She was done for.

Fainting was the only way of getting him to pity her. They had come up with a method—a means to an end—that each time one of them collapsed, a bottle of cold brew would be poured down their throat. That would be how she would get some brew in her system that evening. So, she kept up the act. Anything for the brew goddamnit, anything for the brew.

The rest of the crowd did not see the 'Lady Faint'. How could they? They were lost in the frenzy of who took the money and where they were. You would not want to be in the way of such a hungry angry mob. Hunger-anger? Hungry-angry? Angry-hunger? The name of the crowd did not matter whoever it was they were to meet was to be most pitied. That odd couple should hide in hell or somewhere further than that. The mob was seething.

By the time they looked around for those that had taken their bets, the two were not anywhere in sight. Getting up to search for the odd couple had come as a last resolution and too late it had been in its coming. Commotion began amongst the crowd. Loud outbursts, cussing, fury in all its rainbow colors. It was about to rain teeth and jaws despite a rainbow appearing, there was no mercy for the culprit.

A man fell down in a seizure.

If only the crowd knew that it had been to early in the fight when...

~*~

"Let's go woman. This way. Follow me." The old man directed his wife, pulling her hand through the dark alley that led to the entrance door of the arena.

He had planned that they walk through the entrance that way the unsuspecting crowd would not look there first and truly they did not. The crowd began its search at the exit. Some running even further down into the forest. Good.

"You're so wise my husband." She pulled their entwined hands and kissed his knuckles. Her eyes glinted with appreciation and love. Her husband smirked with a smug look on his face, pecking her lightly in a hurried kiss.

"Shhh... quiet! Let's go." He led her on till they were outside the barred frontier of the arena. Together they left the arena, continued to walk as a normal couple simply enjoying the evening sunset. You could not tell anything from the way the two smiled lovingly at themselves.

It had been easy money for the two of them. A beautiful evening! The stupid crowd should blame itself. Who would have believed them? Only a fool would. Damn! They would not have believed them if they were the crowd. Nobody knew the princes. How come the crowd believed them? What a brilliant idea that had been! By the time the crowd woke to the realization, they would be far gone. That is exactly what happened. They ran away with the money leaving behind an angry mob at discovering this.

Back at the arena, most of them especially the men, jumped over the pews to go search for the old crooks that had duped them of their money. Those that remained behind silently watched both the unprogressive match and the bothered crowd—multitasking both engagements.

The evening had taken an insufferable turn. A blistering twist.

~*~

Shinja was on the verge of breaking with frustration. Each time a move was made against Silver, she bit her nails hard and nearly went flying off her seat. Her father watched her from where he sat. He was getting fed up too. They kept going around in circles—taking turns on who was at the right and left respectively.

The fight was getting nowhere.

At dawn Pink-White rose from his seat, stretched out his hand which meant that he was calling for everyone's attention even the fighters. A few people remained sprinkled in the seats of the arena. He waved his hands to have them draw close to the bars of the fighting yard.

"Listen to me, people of Green kingdom and guests. The princes are both equal in skill and strength so it seems. Therefore, it is with utmost wisdom and understanding that I make this decision.

"I have thought it best that my daughter Shinja should choose which of the princes she loves, won fight or not. That will be the man she will get married to. My decision is made and its final." He said with finality and turned to leave.

His men paved way for him as one of them held a lantern in front of him to ward off the creeping night that was slipping in through the cloudy darkening dawn.

Not again! Come on, father. Why have the ball in her court? Again! Shinja worried her lower lip with her teeth not moving an inch from where she sat obviously bothered by the whole thing. It had come down to her decision again.

Not fair father.

Shinja did not like being the center of attention, above all putting her in charge of making such a DECISION. The fight was meant to make things easier for her. That is why we had organized the fight in the first place. Look. How. That. Turned. Out.

That was an unexpected turn of events.

Still none of the princes had won the fight. That left her in a dilemma. They were waiting on her decision.

How had it come down to her again?

~*~

The princes' ego was a little hurt because it did not matter how long they fought. They had been willing to fight for as long as it took to prove to each other who is better. Yes, even Brown. It was no longer a matter of love for him but ego. To win a fight over the Silver prince would mean for him a high ranking in the books of the court rulers of the Brown kingdom. It would win pride for his kingdom. That had been rubbished. Sad. It would have been another trophy added to his collection.

What was the princess thinking about now? Good thing none of us lost otherwise that would be such bad reputation for me—if I lost. I doubt if I would have though. I had this figured out. Maybe next time Silver. Brown smirked at the thoughts rotating in his mind.

Silver had not expected the turn of events either. They stood there in the arena, dressed in full armor, stunned. He wondered why Brown was smirking. This was no moment to be smug. If anything, he was seething.

What just happened?

Silver hung on the loose hope that the princess had confessed her love for him. He now wished she had not changed her mind. The fight had no loser nor winner. If he had won, it would be for sure that she chose him no matter what. Save for now, now he was not so sure. His little bird as he had come to know had a way of evading pressure by fleeing. How ironic! This time was no exception. She could easily choose what she had done before, flee. Nonetheless, he hoped for the best. He wanted her to choose. Not just choose but to choose him.

~*~

Shinja's sisters nursed crush for Silver since childhood. It had actually been their thing as sisters, Shinja too. Her knowledge of this drew out of her the need to provide a sort of soothing to them. She was sorry that she won the prince's heart and not her sisters.

"I am sorry for you have gone through all this because of me. The fight and now this. I had hesitated in choosing which prince I loved because I knew we all shared a mutual liking to the prince of Silver kingdom. It had been our thing since childhood.

When he first arrived in the Green kingdom, I did not know what to do when he confessed his love for me. Tell me please if that is still the case. I do not want to hurt any of you.

If anyone of you loves him, I will freely give him up." Even though it will cause me so much pain... She did not say this last part out loud but her sisters saw and knew. "There is nothing stronger than our sisterly bond." She added as an afterthought.

"Oh, little sister," Shinka started, "You do not know us that well if you think we would come in between you and the love of your life."

"Shinja we see the way Silver looks at you. Honey, that boy would never look at another woman the way he looks at you," Shimki smiled at her, heart pouring out the tone of her voice.

"Yeah, what we had was a silly crush that is all. You know how grandma told us about 'the boy with silver hair'. Our infatuation grew at a tender age with no hinged foundation as such. It was not written in stone." While Shimki spoke, she shook her head and form ridiculously, causing laughter to spill out of the others. She was about to go down memory lane and Shinka was sure there were details they were about to argue over and argue they did.

"It was 'silver eyes' Shimki." Shimpi corrected which earned her a nonchalant attitude from her relentless sister.

It was gray hair, in fact shiny gray hair as they had come to realize. His eyes were an honest silver, with dark rings of gray surrounding the irises. He was an intriguing specimen to behold. The gray thick hair fell over his brow and with cute small gestures he was always trying so hard to tuck them away out of his vision. The older siblings to Shinja kept laughing during the meal and dance too. It was like swatting at a bunch of flies from his face. Hilarious.

"Yeah right, you get my point," she rolled her eyes at Shimpi who had corrected her. "Anyways, like I was saying little sister before Corin Corrector interrupted me..."

"Corin-what? Pfft! That's not even a word."

"Whatever! Now be quiet you Idris Interrupter and let..."

"How are you even doing this?" Shimpi raised her hands in defeat.

"There's more where that came from if you don't keep quiet and let me finish you Dan..."

"Okay fine. Go on and say whatever. Yeesh. Idris... mfmmfmfm..." the rest of what she was saying became grumbling mumbles which gave audience to Shimki to complete what she had been saying.

"So, uh, Shinja honey, our little bambino, like I was saying... What we had about Silver is long gone. Enjoy your love. Choose him, he loves you." She shrugged, shoulders lifting upwards with hands in the air to express how easy she felt about the entire thing. Her little sister had nothing to worry about. Shinja's eyebrows that had been squeezed at the middle in tension eased as a release of pent up fear and frustration that had ceased her earlier oozed out of her.

"We will find other crushes if we must who I hope are loves this time. Nonetheless, if you're happy, we are happy." The other sisters laughed hard at Shimpi's remark. Their giggles spread out loud to the corners of the room.

"Okay sisters, now that we have the monster out of the room, can we go now? Pretty please..." Shimi's lashes fluttered up and down the bottom and top of her eyes. The urgency in her voice had their elder sister questioning her plea.

"And you Shimi, what's got your gutter in a twist love?" Shinka asked in mere concern and utter curiosity. Why would any of the other sisters be in such a rush? Of course, the only one who'd suspect anything had to be Shimki who had been with her as they cleaned up Brown's room earlier for the fight.

She was sure there had been more to their encounter than the shock of finding Shinja's charm book in his closet. If there were bones in that closet, they were now rattling—especially with the skittishness way Shimi was behaving.

"Shinka asked you a question Shimi?"

"Oh, nothing. I just want to get some air. The air out is refreshing at this time of the day," Shimi dismissed the query with a shrug.

"Riiighhttt..." Shimki responded who knew Shinka was not having any of that kahoot nonsense therefore, it cannot be left unsaid that her surprise was beyond measure when the elder sister did not chase the matter further. They each said a short 'see you later' to their youngest and left her room.

On their way out, the other sisters headed for their rooms expect Shimi. She went in to Brown hastily too caught up to notice Shimki on her track.

"I knew it," Shimki giggled. "So, Shimi and Brown, huh? I'll save this for later when we are all settled in nice. This should be fun."

Another giggle.

~*~

"Brown, I am sorry about how the fight turned out." Shimi blubbered once the door to Brown's room was shut behind her. "Well, uh, sorry not sorry, because I love you. And before you ask me when that happened let me tell you that I don't know, okay?

It just did. So, it would have broken my heart if you won the fight and had to marry my sister. There I said it. That's all of it. I'm sure. Yeah that's it. Umm... okay I'm done."

By the time she was done, she was fully flustered. Color was running up her neck, cheeks, bosom. Everywhere. Like a goddamn big fat red tomato. Flustered. Breathless.

"My little parrot," said Brown while smiling at her honesty. His pride had made him miss out on noticing her. Not anymore. Finally, he noticed her.

She was beautiful. He had been so engrossed in proving that their kingdom mattered too. He was fighting to prove that what Silver had he could also have. A pointless endeavor of stupid nonsensical ego.

"Heavens! I've had it all wrong this time. So stupid."

Thinking of it now, he had not actually loved Shinja. Not in the least, nope. Maybe he loved the idea of her not her. But the girl that stood in front of him at the moment? That girl right there had something in him churning that he knew if anyone ever sought out to take her from him, he would fight hell and its furnace to stop them.

She read his silence for reluctance on his part. Maybe pent uo anger he held because of the fight being brought to an end so she bubbled on not realizing that he was watching her intently. She had not seen the moment when he moved close to her. He was only a foot from where she stood.

"I-I know it must have broken your heart, you know, the fight ending like that. Just so you know, not to spite you or naything of the like, Shinja loves Silver. Best guaranteed she is not going to choose you. That is if you had any hope. Not like I wouldn't like that...or maybe I would...I will keep my mouth shut now."

It sounded like she was saying 'duh you have me and there's no going back'. He laughed.

"I do not care about that." His eyes were full of adoration as if he was staring at the rainbow and it was singing to him with each color uttering a chorus. Fascinating.

"Repeat what you just said?"

"What?"

"You know what. Say it."

"What? That the galaxies are extraordinarily sprinkled with color this evening?" He raised his eyebrows in question, prolonging the fun it brought to tease the outspoken teaser once in a while.

"What?! That's not it. Stop playing and spill," she punched him lightly in the stomach and he feigned hurt making her panic. "Sorry ar-are you okay?" She grimaced.

"Just so you know I am not apologizing for that. You brought it on yourself. I meant repeat what you said before that. Before the galaxies and their oscillation, rotations—whatever it is you said. Darn it! Just say what you know I want to hear. Please..."

He realized that she was impatient. The way her shoulders slacked after making that plea spoke volumes about that his observation. Frustration marked her features.

His hands went to her shoulders and began massaging the tension out of them from the blades outwards making a circular motion. She looked everywhere else but his eyes. The action did not serve to help her situation. Rotation one. Blush. Rotation two. Blush. Blush. Rotation three. Blush. Blush. Blush.

She would soon melt to the floor into a blushing messy puddle. If he did this any longer, she was going to die a bright red tomato from all the dip dish goodness of how gooey she felt inside. Scarlet.

"Look at me." What was that voice? He should be speaking more often. Or not. Definitely not. She shook herself mentally. Focus Shimi. Thank heavens the action did not translate to her physical body. Heavens! That would be a shame. He had said something. What was sher to say back? No. Oh yeah right.

"No." Folding her arms at her middle, she looked at the floor. There's no way she was going to look at him. He was having so much fun at her expense. Laughter was evident in his voice. Gah! Go Shimi!

"Shimi, look at me." He was now crooning gently, like coaxing a bunny to come out of its hole before he, the fox, struck. He had all the time in the world. He would wait her out.

"I am so confused," she said, still looking at the floor. No way Jose! I'm not looking at you so you can laugh at my bright scarlet tomato face. Nah uh.

He pulled her to himself and kissed her. Wait what? OH MY HORSES! Ahhhhhhh... Shut up dumbo and kiss him back. You look like a suffocated fish out on dry land with that gawking you're doing. What is wrong with you? Sorry, sorry. Now for the good part... Her inner voice giggled and on they went. This was so serving as a sweet memory for my grandkids someday. Or nieces and nephews. There's that too.

The two of them were consumed by the unbridled passion between them. It seemed so that someone had caught a lit match and thrown it over a pool of kerosene. Hot. Shimi slept in Brown's room that night held tightly in his arms.

I'm so telling my grandkids about this night. Nephews and nieces first dumbo, then grandkids. Got it? Yeah, yeah. Goodnight. Goodnight dumbo.

If Brown heard the conversations going on in her mind, he would have to rethink his choice. Probably not. He would have to take her whichever way she came.

~*~

The following day both of them were not guilt-faced when Shimi was seen walking out of Brown's room. She smiled when one of her sisters gasped loudly on noticing where she had spent the night.

"It had to be you Shinka," Shimi spoke to her sister, who simply smiled. Shimi bypassed her elder sister off into her room. Shimki must have ranted. Nosy. She was not mad though. She was up and about in their business just as much. Besides, last night had been too good to feel shame or remorse about anything.

Brown discovered he could not wipe off the satisfied grin on his face. His servants only shook their heads at him as he whistled, twirled around his room. You heard that right. Twirled.

Shimi made him happy. She was beautiful, witty and brutally honest. Her honesty was so plain, but the way she said it is what made him fall for her even more. Intriguing.

The night they had together played on in his mind the entire day.

A/N: Don't forget to hit that star 🌟 below, show me you like it!😉💕

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