Chapter 14: Home is...

Lune was already saddling the horses when Baron arrived at the barn, carrying two steaming hot cups of tea.

"Are you really so eager to leave this corner of the world?" he asked, passing one cup to the prince.

Lune accepted the tea graciously. "What makes you think I'm eager to leave?"

Baron gave him a look that clearly said that he wasn't being fooled. "You've just finished saddling the horses, and the sun hasn't even risen."

"It's February," Lune replied shortly. "The sun is later than usual."

"Still..."

"Alright Baron, what do you want?" he suddenly snapped, turning to his friend.

"I'm afraid I don't quite catch your meaning."

"Yes you do. You've come down to talk to me about something. Get it out of the way now. And none of your 'pearls of wisdom' please."

Baron sighed, seeing he would have to cut to the chase here. "I'm worried for you. You've not been quite yourself ever since we left the castle."

"How very perceptive."

"I'm serious, Lune! What is it? Is it what I said yesterday, or Yuki, or your father?"

The prince rounded on him. "It's a mixture. Why didn't you tell me you hated travelling?"

"Because you always said how much you needed me to come along. I do enjoy travelling, but the extreme you take it to; never staying at the palace for more than a few weeks drives me mad. Just because you feel like you haven't got anything worth staying for doesn't mean the rest of us don't!" Baron stopped himself, suddenly feeling like he'd hit a tender point.

Lune winced. "I don't feel like that."

Baron tried a softer tone. "If you felt that there was anything worth staying for, you wouldn't travel at the frequency you do now. Look, I'm sorry for yesterday. I shouldn't have said what I did."

"No, I needed you to tell me that. I was still angry over the impossible situation between Yuki and me; I needed someone to remind me it wasn't always about me."

"We all have our moments."

"We won't tell Muta or Toto about our quarrel, will we?"

"No chance. Let's just leave them thinking that they're the bickering duo."

Lune smiled. "I promise I won't drag us all off on another adventure for the next month. Happy?"

"Delirious."

"Good."

"What's Baron delirious about?" Muta walked in, carrying a large piece of cake that he'd raided from the pantry. "This I gotta hear."

Baron ignored the last comment's implications. "That we're going to have a rest when we get back to the palace," he replied coolly. "Muta, did you ask before you took that slice?"

His mouth full, Muta shrugged. "I was told I could help myself."

"I'm sure the people we're staying with have no idea of your appetite. In the future, you will ask before you invade the kitchen."

"They said I could help myself!"

Baron fixed him with a glare. "This isn't the palace. These people worked hard for their food."

"And I don't?"

Toto cackled as he entered the barn. "No, you don't, lard ball."

"Take that back!"

Lune rolled his eyes at Baron. "To think I even missed this when we were at the castle."

"I didn't," Baron replied.

"Well, at least I'm not a bird brain!" Muta retorted, ignoring Baron and Lune's comments.

"Guys, guys," Lune interrupted. "We're meant to be leaving soon if we want to be back home at a reasonable hour."

"It's early though," Muta groaned.

"You'll live."

"We haven't even had breakfast yet."

"Lune and I have. Muta, you've probably been eating from the moment you woke up, so I don't know what you're complaining about. Toto, if you're hungry, you should probably go and get breakfast now. Oh, and I forgot to ask, how did the villagers take the news?"

"They understood as far as the fact that the threat was gone," Muta grunted, "but they started giving us funny looks when we went into detail about the castle and the curse and everything else. I think they think you two are loonies now."

"Oh well, they'll find out about it sooner or later. I doubt Queen Naoko is going to keep the castle's existence quiet for long."

"You don't seem particularly bothered by the fact that half the village thinks you've lost it."

Baron grinned."I've had worse judgements."

Lune opened his mouth, then shut it. "No, I won't ask."

ooOoo

Hiromi came and sat beside the princess, who was still staring out of the window. "Well, I don't know when we'll next be seeing them."

Haru gave a long sigh, and sank her elbows down onto the window ledge. "I hope it'll be soon."

"Your mother is very active, re-organising the castle after a hundred years. I don't know when we'll have the time."

"I know."

"Your mother was wondering, however, if after dinner, you'd like to perform a song. It is so long since we heard your voice."

"I don't think I'll be coming down to dinner."

Hiromi gave her friend a sharp look. "What do you mean? You came down to lunch yesterday. We thought–"

"I will not be coming down to dinner," Haru repeated.

Hiromi had been going to finish with, 'We thought you were recovering,' but Haru's swift interruption suggested she already knew how the sentence was going to end. She frowned, and said instead, "Is there a reason for that?"

"I just do not wish for company tonight," Haru replied briskly. She got up. "Excuse me,I'm going out for a walk now."

The fairy watched the princess leave, a sorrowful expression on her face, but didn't attempt to stop her friend. "And I thought we were getting somewhere," she sighed.

ooOoo

Baron knocked on the door after a moment's hesitation. It was early evening, and he'd now made it back to the palace, and after stabling his horse and showering, he had come here.

"Hang on, I'm coming," a pleasant voice called from inside. "Wait a moment."

The door opened and after the occupant of the room saw their visitor, Baron found himself in a sudden embrace. "Baron!" squealed Louise, flinging her arms around him. "I heard that you were back, but I thought that it was just a rumour!"

He chuckled as his favourite blonde fussed over him. "I came as soon as I could."

"Well, how'd it go?"

"Hang on; I want to hear how it went for you first."

Louise smiled shyly and shook her head. "Nothing much happened. King Shirou – Lune's father – is still looking for Lune's perfect bride."

Baron raised an eyebrow. "How did he expect to do that if Lune wasn't here?"

"Don't ask me, I kept out of that business."

"Hm, I may think you are the wiser of the two of us."

Louise hugged Baron again. "I'm just glad you're back. Anyway, you haven't told me what happened."

He shrugged casually. "Nothing much," he said echoing Louise's words. "Enchanted castle, meddlesome fairy, cursed sleeping princess, nothing we couldn't handle."

"Pfft, and you said it was going to be a boring trip."

"I merely suggested..."

"Liar." She poked him in the ribs. "You know something always happens on these trips of yours. Did you solve the problem?"

"Yes. There's now one less cursed princess in the world."

The blonde fluttered her eyes teasingly. "Was she pretty?"

Baron hesitated, unsure how he was expected to answer. He decided the truth. Well, part of it. He didn't have to give the intimate details of how pretty she was, like the way her chocolate eyes caught him whenever she looked his way... "Yeah, she was blessed on her christening with beauty," he said finally."That's what they used to do in the days she was born."

Louise picked up on the phrasing in the last sentence. "When was she born then?"

"About... a hundred and eighteen years ago."

Louise giggled. "A hundred and eighteen years ago?" she echoed.

"Yes. But she's been asleep for a hundred of those years."

"Ah, okay." Louise paused to take this in. She then added, as if she'd just mentally done the maths, "She's old enough to be your great-grandmother."

Baron grinned. "I suppose you could look at it in that way."

"All wrinkly and crinkly and shrivelled," said Louise playfully."Like a prune."

He laughed and ruffled the blonde's hair good-humouredly. "You should respect your elders."

"She may be my elder, but you're not," she replied teasingly, pushing herself away and trying to bring her hair back under some sort of order after Baron had mussed it up. "Not really anyway. You're only five months older than me. And don't do that, it makes me feel like your sister."

"That's because you're the closest I've got to family."

Something sorrowful flittered across Louise's face, but she expelled it with a bright grin. She grabbed his hand and dragged him out. "Shall we go for a ride? It's been ages and you promised..."

"I can't remember exactly promising..." He trailed away when Louise's sky blue eyes widened. "No, please, not the puppy eyes..." He gave a resigned sigh as the look purposely intensified. "Okay, you win."

"Thanks!"

"But remember I have just ridden all day."

"I don't know when I'll next get the chance, remember? You're always disappearing onto another one of your adventures."

Baron shook his head. "Lune's promised that we're going to stay here for a month."

"And you believed him?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm giving him two weeks before he breaks."

"Is there a reason for that?"

Louise moved closer. "Well, let's just put it that King Shirou is desperate to gain a daughter-in-law. Ranting on about how he'll never become a grandfather at this rate, and all that."

Baron laughed. "But that's ridiculous! Lune is only nineteen; he's still young."

"All the same, I get the impression Lune's going to be swamped in 'eligible ladies' the moment he steps inside the court."

"Then I don't envy him."

"But my point is I don't know how long I'll have you here," said Louise. "For all we know Lune could suddenly decide he can't handle his father's antics and find some other mystery that needs to be solved, dragging you with him."

Baron sighed. "I know. He's got to stop running away whenever anything gets awkward. Dragons and ghosts he can handle, but get him near a domestic squabble and he's off like a shot."

"If it wasn't for Lune, would you stay here?"

He paused and looked down at the blonde, perhaps picking up something hidden in the young woman's voice. "I don't know. I wouldn't leave as often as I do now, that's for certain, but the others are right in some ways when they say I enjoy our travels. I like the adventure."

"But if you found someone to settle down with?" pressed Louise.

Baron's mind drifted back over to a certain brunette. He wasn't entirely sure where he stood with his views anymore, but there was something about the princess... "I don't know," he repeated. "Maybe... if I found the right person... then I would be content with staying home."

"Perhaps you already know her," suggested the girl. "Perhaps you're looking too hard."

He took this in. "Perhaps."

She smiled dolefully before turning away. "You were always overthinking things," she said quietly. "Could never see what was right before you."