Cedric looked around at the townspeople milling about as he grew nearer to the center of the village, where Sofia and James had told him they had a shop. Most of the villagers would steer clear of him, fearing him for his association with the Queen. That was also the exact reason he had opted not to take a carriage, for concern of attracting more attention than necessary, and chose instead to walk.
He looked down at the basket under his arm as he walked. He told Amber that he was going into the village for potion ingredients, so he would have to find some to come back with, as to not make her suspicious.
He turned a corner and saw the shop down the road a bit. The building had a french door with the top half open, and he saw Sofia leaning out of it, talking to a dark haired boy on the other side. As Cedric walked closer, and got a better look at the boy's face, he abruptly stopped in his tracks. It was Prince Hugo. It had to be. But… he was dead. Well… he supposed that if James and Sofia were somehow alive, it would make sense if Hugo were too. But how…
He shook his head and began walking towards the shop again, as he attempted to clear his thoughts and focus on what he was here for. He watched as Sofia and Hugo waved goodbye to each other, Hugo walking down the road towards another shop.
Sofia noticed Cedric walking towards her and froze, at first looking panicked, before offering a nervous smile. "Good morning," she said as he reached the shop, "how can I help you, Sir?"
He stopped on the other side of the door, looking at her for a moment, and felt his heart soften as he thought about how nice it is to be able to talk to her again, even if she didn't know who he was.
"Would it be alright if I spoke with you and your brother for a bit?" Was his eventual reply.
She seemed to be taken by surprise, as her eyes widened in shock and she recoiled slightly. "I… Um, of course." She said, hesitating slightly. "But James is actually out at the market right now, I'm not really sure when he'll be back."
He thought about her words for a moment. Sure, he definitely wanted to talk to Sofia more, but seeing how she still looked pretty afraid of him, maybe being alone with her wasn't the best idea. He didn't want to frighten her too much.
"Well, then why don't we go find him, my dear? I need to go into the market, anyway."
He watched her carefully, and somehow it was possible for her to look even more surprised.
"Oh! Um, okay, yeah… let's go find him then." She said with a hesitant smile and a slight nervous chuckle. She opened the door and walked outside before shutting it behind her. Cedric gestured toward the road and they set off towards the market.
Cedric was trying to think of something to say, he wanted to talk to her about everything and anything, but now that she was here he didn't really know what to say. He thought back on how he was sure he had seen her talking to Prince Hugo before, so he thought he might as well ask. He turned to the girl quietly walking beside him.
"So…" He began. "Who was that boy you were talking to earlier?"
She seemed a little surprised that he was making conversation, and focused on the road in front of her as she responded. "Oh, that was Hugo. He's…" She hesitated for a moment. "Just a friend." She finished quickly, though Cedric swore he saw her blush slightly at the mention of him. He briefly wondered if there was something more going on between those two. He knew that they were friends before, often getting together to go ice dancing. He vaguely remembered the Prince coming to visit Sofia while she was sick, too.
They were walking in silence once again, until Sofia spoke up this time. "So… What do you need from the market?" She asked politely as she watched the ground in front of her.
"I need to get ingredients for some potions I'm working on." He replied.
She looked up at him for the first time. "Potions? Like real magic?"
"Yes," he said with a fond smile, "I'm currently working on one that will enchant a compass to lead you towards missing items."
"Wow." She said with awe. "I've never seen any sort of real magic, but it sounds amazing."
He looked down at her, coming up with an idea. "I could… teach you, if you would like."
"Really?" She uttered after a moment, eyes full of hope. "I would love to, Mr. Seedric." She said with a bashful smile.
He was taken aback slightly by the mispronunciation, something he hadn't heard in years. She seemed to notice, and her smile faded slightly. "Oh! I'm sorry, is it alright if I call you that? It is your name, right? Seedric?"
He had taken a moment to process her words before smiling softly and gave a small chuckle. "Yes, that's fine, but it's actually Cedric."
"Sorry about that, Mr. Cedric." She said, making sure to pronounce the name right, her bashful smile returning.
They had finally reached the market and had begun to look for James, when a loud crash caught their attention. They looked at each other before heading over to the source of the commotion, where a crowd was quickly gathering. At the center was a boy, no older than 16, on his knees with a knight standing over him. There was a cart tipped over next to them, leaving apples scattered over the ground. That must have been the source of the noise.
As they grew closer to the crowd, they could hear the knight talking. "Care to repeat what you said, boy?"
"N-no, no Sir." The boy said, clearly in fear of the knight before him.
The knight made a smug face before responding. "That's what I thought. You should learn some respect, or else I might not let you off so easy next time." He said as he walked off towards his carriage nearby.
The crowd quickly dispersed, and Sofia was able to spot James among them. "James!" She said as she quickly closed the distance between herself and her brother, Cedric following behind at a much slower pace. "What was that about?"
James eyed Cedric for a moment before answering his sister. "That knight almost hit a little kid with his carriage, but when that guy went to confront him about it, the knight got really mad, he tipped over that apple cart and pushed the guy down.
"At least he let him go." Sofia said, always looking on the bright side.
"Yeah, for now. Until he gets bored and decides he needs a reason to come arrest someone." James replied spitefully.
Sofia sighed and nodded slowly, before remembering why they were here in the first place. "Oh yeah, James, Mr. Cedric said that he wanted to talk to us."
"Talk to us? Why?" He said, looking up at the sorcerer, who was lost in his own thoughts.
"Um…" Was all he could manage to get out right now. Was that really how the knights treated the villagers? Do all the members of the royal court act like that? Is that why Sofia had seemed so afraid of upsetting him yesterday? "Does that happen often?" He asked the pair.
"Yep." James said flatly.
"Wait," started Sofia, "you didn't know? But you work for the Queen, right?"
"Well yes, but I don't leave the castle very often, and I don't deal with many royal affairs. I know that the Queen is… easily angered, but I had no idea that any of the royal court was the same."
There was a beat of silence between the group before James spoke up again. "Well, if you want to talk, we should go back to the shop where it's more private. We don't need any unwanted attention to get us in trouble."
Cedric nodded and they left to head back towards the shop. They walked mostly in silence, only saying a few things here and there.
He took a moment to admire the scene around him and smiled slightly. Being in the village always reminded him of Sofia, so he hadn't been in a while, it was nice to be here with her again.
"How do you like the village?" He heard Sofia say next to him.
"It is rather lovely. I like to come and see how it's doing every once in a while." He said, smiling down at her. "I used to visit all the time, but I stopped a few years ago."
"Why is that?" James asked from the other side of Sofia.
"Well, I would come down here with a friend of mine." He answered, carefully constructing what to say in his head. "She passed away a while back, and I haven't come as often since."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Cedric." Sofia said.
He smiled lightly, looking down at her. "It's quite alright, my dear." He said. After all, he is currently talking to the very person he was referring to.
They reached the shop and James opened the door for the other two, letting them in before following inside and closing the door behind him. The building was small, having just enough room for their small business to run. There was a staircase that led to a second level, where Cedric assumed the two of them lived. James gestured to a couple of benches in the corner and the three of them sat down.
"So…" James began. "What do you want to talk to us about? If this is about yesterday, we really don't have anything to give you. We… don't have a lot of money." He said, gesturing vaguely to the room around them.
"No, no, it's nothing like that." Cedric replied. "I simply wanted to ask you some questions about your lives."
The siblings shared a quick glance before looking back at Cedric.
James replied for the two of them. "Well, they're not the most interesting lives, but ask away."
Cedric thought for a moment about what he wanted to ask first. He had so many questions, but we didn't want to alarm them or anything by being too hasty. "How old are the two of you?"
"I'm 17, she's 15." James responded.
"What were your parents' names?"
"Roland and Miranda." Sofia replied this time.
"And what happened to them?"
"Plague." James said simply.
Strange, Cedric thought. They seemingly still had their same parents, but that wasn't how they had died. Another thought occurred to him.
"Sofia," he said in the girl's direction, "were you sick with the plague as well?"
"Um, no, we were lucky and neither of us caught it." She said.
"James," Cedric said, turning to him, "do you remember the brief war that Enchancia fought against the kingdom of Galanoth, a few years ago? Did you fight in it?"
"No, I was never called to the battlefield."
"Why not?"
He shrugged before responding. "I just assumed they didn't need any more fighters. Our friend Hugo wasn't called to fight, either." James finished.
Strange indeed, Cedric thought again. They had somehow avoided their own tragic fates, Prince Hugo included. But how? And why don't they remember?
"Have either of you ever met the Queen?" He said after a beat.
"No." They said together.
"And what of the rest of the royal family? Did you ever meet any of them?"
The siblings looked at each other in confusion before James turned back to Cedric.
"What do you mean, 'the rest of the royal family'? Isn't it just the Queen?" He asked.
Now Cedric was confused. "The Queen's siblings? The young Prince and Princess? They only passed away a few years ago. And the former King and Queen?" He said.
"Sorry," James said, "but I've never heard of them."
"Me either." Sofia added.
Cedric was at a loss. Very, very strange, he thought. It was like they had never even existed in their minds. It would seem that these false memories went even deeper than he had originally imagined.
He looked out the window and saw that the sun was setting. He should get back to the castle. He stood up and regretfully said his goodbyes, wishing he had more time to talk. As he walked out of the shop and down the road, he saw a patch of buttercups growing on the side of the path. Buttercups always reminded him of Sofia. He'll never forget the time she and the other buttercup scouts brought him to Mystic Meadows, where Sofia had helped Cedric prove to his father that he was worthy of having the family wand passed down to him.
Smiling at the fond memory, he picked some of the Buttercups and continued down the path to the castle. He wasn't able to find any potion ingredients, but maybe if he brought the flowers to Queen Amber, she would be less upset about him returning late.
He walked up the castle steps with the buttercups in hand, and entered into the throne room as the castle guards opened the door for him.
"There you are! What in the world were you doing out in the village for so long?" He heard the Queen say as soon as he walked into the room.
"Apologies, my Queen." He said, bowing. "I was simply out looking for potion ingredients all day, and though I was unable to find any, I did bring you these."
"Fine, what is it?" She asked impatiently.
He held out the flowers to her. "Buttercups, your majesty."
She hesitated for a moment before accepting them. She stared at them for a moment with a sad look in her eyes. They probably reminded her of Sofia, too, Cedric thought. He watched as the hand not holding the flowers went to the amulet around her neck. Sofia's amulet.
"That will be all, Cedric. You may go." She said, not taking her eyes off of the flowers.
Cedric bowed again and turned to leave.
"Thank you." He heard Amber say quietly from behind him.
He stopped and turned his head back in her direction. "You're welcome." He said softly before leaving the room.
Maybe there is some good left in her.