Cedric was taking a walk through the village to clear his head. Being stuck in the palace all day with Queen Amber and her insufferable rudeness was getting to be too much for today. He was just about lost in his thoughts when he had quite literally run into someone, accidentally knocking both of them over. The girl had already gotten up and began to apologize. That's when he saw her. It was her. Sofia. Looking almost just as she had when she died, and staring at him with a confused expression. There was no way she was real. He rubbed at his eyes, trying to clear away whatever was plaguing his mind, but when he opened them, she was still standing there.
To say he was shocked was an understatement. He was at a complete and utter loss for words. The grief and guilt all flooding back at once. It couldn't be her, there was no way. He had tried to find a way to bring her back too many times to count. But yet, there she was, now looking just about as shocked as he was, but more than that, he finally realized, she looked frightened, almost terrified.
"I'm so, so, sorry!" She began, almost pleading as she knelt down back onto the ground. "Please forgive me. I meant no harm."
He was still in a state of shock. He tried to reach out to her, but she only moved further back.
"Please. We don't have much money. There's nothing we can give you, I swear." she exclaimed, clearly terrified.
Confusion, grief, unbelief. That was all he could focus on right now. She was dead. She had to be. He had seen it with his own eyes. He had mourned for her. Was she a ghost? Unlikely, she seemed too afraid of him. A hallucination created by his own guilt, perhaps? Even if so, he had never met her when she was a peasant in the village, so why would she appear to him as such?
He was getting lost in his thoughts again, when a blonde young man ran up to where Sofia was and began to plead as well. It was James.
"Please Sir, we don't have anything to offer you. We are truly sorry." He said, as Sofia also continued her apologies.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sofia being a hallucination he could possibly understand, but James too? There was no way. They were real. What else could it be?
"You're alive." Was all Cedric had managed to croak out. He was close to tears at this point.
The siblings glanced at each other quickly in confusion and then sputtered out more apologies.
"It's fine." Cedric said. "J-just a bit of dirt, is all." Like he cared about the dirt right now.
The two just looked up at him, a disbelieving look in their eyes, before James began to stand up. He helped Sofia up, and then tried to reach out to Cedric. He just stared at the hand for a moment, before finally accepting the help and standing up. He realized that he had grabbed his hand. That he was really there.
"You're really alive. I don't understand." He said again, completely astonished.
The siblings shared a glance before James spoke up.
"I'm sorry?" He said, but much more confused this time.
"You… died." Cedric spoke softly, looking at the two with sad and confused eyes.
Sofia finally spoke up, still seeming a little wary. "You must be confused, Sir. We are very much alive.
Cedric was even more confused. They must have been brought back somehow, he had seen them both die with his own eyes after all. But how would they have no memories of such events? Come to think of it, it didn't seem like they knew who he was, either.
A thought occurred to him. "What are your names?" He said.
A beat of silence seemed to pass between them. "I'm James, and this is my sister, Sofia." James said, gesturing to himself and Sofia.
"And do you know who I am?" Cedric asked.
It was Sofia who spoke up this time. "You're the royal sorcerer, Sir. You work for Queen Amber."
"Have we ever met before?" He asked her, becoming hopeful.
"No, Sir." She replied. He deflated a little.
After a moment, Cedric spoke again, another thought occurred to him. "And who is Amber, to the two of you?"
The siblings looked at each other again, worry evident on both of their faces. "Well," Sofia said, "she's the Queen of Enchancia."
Cedric thought about this for a moment, before saying, "and what about you two? What are you doing here in the village?"
"Um, we're cobblers. We own a small shop near the center of the village." James stated.
"We're only peasants, Sir." Sofia added.
"What of the rest of your family?" Cedric asked.
Sofia's expression turned sad. James spoke for them. "We're orphans, Sir. We lost our parents a few years back."
Interesting, Cedric thought. Did they really not know who they were, either? Did they have no memory of who they used to be? No memory of being royals? Living in the castle? No memory of him, of their sister, or even their parents?
He would have to think about it more, but he had already been gone too long, Amber would be upset.
"I must leave." He said, regretfully. "But I will come visit your shop sometime soon, I would like to talk to the two of you more."
The siblings still seemed confused, but agreed. They left, and on his way back Cedric turned to look back at them more than a few times, still having a hard time believing what had happened.
As he was just reaching the palace, he was finally realizing just how afraid of the Queen the villagers were. James and Sofia had seemed terrified at just making him upset. He knew that a number of peasants in the dungeon were simply there for accidentally upsetting the Queen, but he never truly realized how bad it was.
He would dwell on that later. Right now, he wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery. How is it possible that they're alive? It didn't make sense.
Though first, he had to deal with the queen. He had already decided not to tell her about James and Sofia yet. He worried she would think that he was lying and have him locked up or killed.
"Where have you been!?" Amber almost immediately snapped at him as he walked into the throne room.
"Just out for a walk in the village, your majesty." He said as he bowed to the queen.
"Why were you gone for so long!?" She retorted.
"I had just gone to clear my head and lost track of time, your majesty."
"Fine. Just get out of my sight. And make sure you didn't bring any of that village filth with you,"
"Of course, my queen." He said, bowing again before exiting the room and heading to his tower.
He opened the door and stepped inside. Wormwood paying almost no attention to him.
"Back so soon?" The raven started. "I barely even had time to get a good nap in."
"I saw Sofia in the village today. And James." Cedric said immediately, not really paying attention to Wormwood, either.
This seemed to get the bird's attention. "What do you mean you 'saw' them?" He questioned.
Cedric turned to him. "As in I saw them. Talked to them. I could touch them. They were in the village, alive."
"That can't be possible." Wormwood stated simply. "No one can bring back the dead."
"They were real, I'm sure of it, but you're right, they couldn't have been brought back from the dead, it isn't possible."
The two seemed to think on this for a moment, before Wormwood spoke up again. "What if… they were never dead? He said, almost hesitantly.
"That can't be it." Cedric stated. "I saw them both die. I did everything I could to save them and they died anyway. We buried them. There's no way"
"Yes but…" The bird started once more. "What if we were only led to believe they were dead?"
Cedric looked thoughtful for a moment. "What are you implying, exactly?" He asked.
"I'm not quite sure." He replied. "Perhaps an enemy of the kingdom wanted the royal family out of the way? Or possibly a curse, perchance, have we done anything curse-worthy recently?"
"Not that I can remember." Was Cedric's response. "I'll go and talk to them more tomorrow, and see what else I can learn, see if they remember anything."