"Now," King Byron said, "Chris, take Rio's hand in one of yours and Thomas's in the other-"
"I don't need Chris to hold my hand!" Thomas snapped.
His father sighed. It was evident that he was used to this type of behavior from his middle child. "Thomas, after losing Michael, I'm not going to take any more chances. This market is a big place and I don't want you to end up wandering around by yourself. Now, please be sensible and hold onto your brother so we don't have any more incidents today." Scowling, Prince Thomas did as he was told. "Rio, you can look after your sister, right?"
"Yes… um, your highness," Rio said hesitantly. She wasn't sure of the protocol in addressing Arclightian royalty. Luckily, the title of respect she gave him seemed to be sufficient.
"Okay, so with Thomas holding onto Chris and Chris holding onto Rio and Rio holding onto… Iris, wasn't it?" Shyly, the smaller girl nodded. "- We shouldn't lose anyone else." King Byron still had not put Michael down, and it was evident that he intended to carry him all the way to wherever they we're going.
"Are Rio and Iris coming to live with us, Daddy?" the youngest of the three brothers asked.
"Yes," his father said, leading the way through the market. Rio noticed that people always hastened to get out of the way and give nods of respect as he passed, even though there was no crier going ahead of them to announce his arrival, as there would have been in Baria.
"Yay!" Wriggling around in his father's arms to look back at his brothers and the two sisters, Michael beamed at them. "You'll love living with us," he said. "We have gardens and fountains to play in as well as all sorts of cool toys that used to belong to Chris and Thomas before they gave them to me. I'll show you all of them when we get there. We'll have so much fun! There aren't a lot of people my age around the palace that I get to play with."
"How old are you, Prince Michael?" Rio asked.
"I'm six! I just turned six in March."
March? Rio wondered what that was.
"Then that means you're right in between Rio and me!" Iris piped up. "Rio is eight and I'm four."
"That's awesome!" Michael cheered.
"Well I'm nine," Thomas said smugly. "That makes me older than all three of you."
"But you're forgetting that I'm 14," Chris added. "That makes me the oldest."
"Actually, I'm so old that it's forbidden to tell anyone my actual age, which makes me the oldest," King Byron said good-naturedly. Rio wondered what he had meant by that. It was no shameful thing to have many years of living behind you.
"Tell us, Rio," Chris said after a few minutes of silence. "What were you and your sister doing drifting around the ocean when the Sybil found you?" Quickly Rio gave the Arclight royal family the same story she had given both Tombo and Cody when they had asked about her past.
"We're not trained slaves or anything," Rio said slowly, "But we'll do our best, your majesty."
"What? Oh, that's alright, Rio. I don't intend to keep you as slaves. You can stay on at the palace as our guests until you decide to move on. Then we will do all we can to help you achieve a better future."
"But we can't do that, your majesty," Rio said firmly. Barians had a strict, unwritten rule about charity: Nothing shall be taken that is not paid back at some point. It was shameful to be beholden to any man or woman. "If you will shelter us and give us food to eat and clothes to wear, then we will count ourselves as servants in your household. We will not accept things for free. To do so would be detrimental to our honor."
It was evident that King Byron wanted to protest this statement, but when he saw the firm, unrelenting look in Rio's eyes, he decided against it. "Alright, if that's what you girls would like, I'm sure Mrs. Millis - our housekeeper- will be able to find work for you to do."
"Thank you, your majesty."
Prince Thomas had never met a girl like this Rio Kastle ever before. She had a strength about her- an independence that Heartlandish girls did not. She asked to be put to work, she held her head up high even though she had been labeled a slave, and she carried herself as though equal with them, the royal family of Arclight. He was fascinated.
By this time, the family had reached their royal carriage, the one that had brought them the day before to Herald's Crest. It was stationed outside the hotel they had slept at last night, complete with a small café where the footman and driver were now waiting for them.
"Did you have a good visit, your majesty?" The driver asked as he began to harness up the horses. The footman was checking the wheels to make sure they ran properly.
"Most eventful, if anything else," King Byron sighed. He had brought his boys to the slave market to show them that even though slaves in Arclight were treated humanely, the practice of owning other human beings was a crime against humanity. It had affected Chris deeply- the 14-year old had been very quiet throughout the whole thing. It had also upset Thomas, though he showed it in a different way. He had started lashing out, insulting and yelling at anything that came into his line of vision. It had been during one of these outbursts that Michael had disappeared. Both Byron and Chris had been trying to calm Thomas down, and when they had succeeded and turned to go they had suddenly realized that the youngest member of their party was missing. Poor Michael was a sensitive child and had probably gotten upset at his brother's anger, which must have been his motive to run. Their father decided he would have to talk to them about it later.
He was a little bit shocked at himself, purchasing two young girls at a slave market, but what else could he have done? He had outlawed child slavery; it didn't seem right to just leave them to their fate because of the strange circumstances surrounding their arrival. Besides, perhaps being in contact with two Barian girls would help teach his sons a thing or too.
Heartland and Baria had been a war for what felt like forever. Barians would lead raids on Heartland, stealing away men, women, and children for their slave markets, and then the Heartlandish countries would retaliate by attacking Baria. However, in the most recent decades, attacks from both continents had slowed down considerably. Emperor Kazuma had proposed the radical idea of making peace with Baria. Both Lord Faker of Tenjo and King Byron had though he was crazy. However, after getting to know his fellow monarch, Byron had come to respect him and see his point of view. However, despite all their talk of reform and peace, neither of them had ever met a Barian personally. That is, not until today.
Byron knew that his sons held prejudices about the "Barian heathens" in their hearts and minds, and he knew that he himself was not entirely free of these thoughts. Perhaps, getting to know Rio and Iris Kastle- who were undoubtedly Barians despite their Heartlandish names- would help to erase some of those prejudices that currently infected his family.
The carriage ride back to the royal palace took about half the day, and each boy had brought along books to read to keep themselves occupies on the journey to Herald's Crest, but on the return journey, the boys were far more interested in questioning the foreigners riding with them. They hadn't realized how different their two cultures were until Iris had asked them a rather odd question.
"Why do you ride around in a box on wheels?"
"It's called a carriage," Chris had answered. "How to you get around in Baria?"
"We use wagons, the same as the rest of the common folk," Rio answered quickly, before Iris could blurt out the truth. "But none of them are covered like this."
"Well then, if it rains, you get all wet," Thomas smirked. Rio narrowed her eyes at him. She had no doubt in her mind that he was Quattro. Quattro was a common nickname in Baria for middle children who had siblings of all the same gender. The middle brother in a group of three or the middle sister in a group of three was the most likely to cause trouble of the siblings. Quattro had since adopted a double meaning of 'middle' and 'troublemaker' as a result.
"If it rains," she said coolly, "We wear our cloaks and make the best of it. We are not afraid to travel in a storm." Thomas's face turned red at the underlying insult. Chris laughed at the look on his younger brother's face.
"She got you there, Thomas."
Thomas turned his rage in his older brother. "Why you-"
"Chris! Thomas! Please don't fight. I hate it when you do."
Rio smiled at the youngest of the siblings, lying down on the seat with his head in his father's lap. Trey, she thought. Youngest children were often nicknamed Trey because of their tendency to be peacemakers. "Trey" was an older, obsolete word for peace in the Barian language.
The older two brothers, unable to resist the request of their smallest brother, turned away from one another to stare out their windows, until Quinto turned back to Rio with another question.
"You said common folk use wagons," he said. "What do the members of the dignitary use?"
Rio stared at him blankly.
"He means," Thomas said, "How do the royals get around?"
"Oh! They use litters. There are strong servants who are given the great privilege of carrying the members of the royal family on their shoulders."
Thomas was incredulous. "Privilege? They call treating human beings as pack animals a privilege? That's barbaric!"
"More barbaric than riding around in a closed-up box so that no one can see you and you might very well die of lack of oxygen?" Rio shot back.
"That's enough!" King Byron said, and the absolute authority in his voice was enough to startle Rio into sitting up straighter. "There will be no talk of whose culture is more barbaric. You may discuss differences, but completely neutrally. I will not have a war breaking out in my own home. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, sure Dad," Thomas muttered, sitting back in his seat.
"Yes, your majesty," Rio said meekly. She had not imagined that such power could be portrayed by the Arclight King. He seemed to her at first a gentle old man, but hardly a ruler. However, she had been proven wrong. And in the days to come, she would find that the name she had given him in her head- the name that meant, as best as she could describe it in Heartlandish, not looking like much, unassuming; but holding great power underneath the surface- was extremely accurate when it came to King Byron. He truly was Vetrix.
Next time on A Tale of Two Slaves: Representatives from five out of the Seven Barian Regions meet at Drachelm to discuss what should be done about Domitian's betrayal.