It had been almost ten years since Princess last visited Grundairia. Back then the trade road wasn't quite finished. Shopping stalls would pop up along the dry grass and trickles of sand, threatening to tip over on top of the people who browsed their goods. Now a smooth flat stone path ran straight through the border of the two kingdoms. A mix of smells and colors danced together down the path, each stall different from the last.
"We're nearing the grass field of Grundairia, we'll be stopping shortly to change the wheels." The coachman called from outside.
"Halfway way there…" Princess smiled at Brick. His eyes stayed glued to the burning sands outside the carriage. The collar to his shirt stuck to his neck from sweat and his hair sat in a tangled mess on the top of his head.
Princess cleared her throat and tilted her chin up glancing at her husband from the side. "Seeing as we're stopping on the trade road, perhaps we should find a gift for Hector and Vivian." She suggested, fiddling with her coin purse.
"I read that a gift from the visiting kingdom is the formal exchange when meeting a royal family for the first time." Brick raised an eyebrow in question. "I thought that was why I was told to bring the cactus wine?"
Princess giggled, "what? I mean you're correct but Hector and Vivan are practically family. The Grilbend and Grundairia Kingdoms have always been close. Formalities are tossed to the wind when we're together. The cactus wine is because it's Hector's favorite."
The last time she had been there, her father and Hector had started hallucinating after drinking through six bottles of Cactus wine. Vivan and her mother had spent the night drunkenly dancing until all four adults had passed out in the dining hall. The few days they had been there had been a never ending party inside the castle, and a day off for everyone outside.
"Maybe a separate gift for them both will leave a good first impression." Brick spoke to himself.
Princess took Brick's hand and gave him a reassuring smile. "Vivan and Hector will love you no matter what. They love me and I love you! No need to worry about making a good first impression. You can just relax for the next few days. Lord knows we both need it…"
Brick gave her hand a light squeeze. "I'm sorry about your father. He was a kind man."
"We can't change what happened. It's important that we keep looking forward…" She pulled away from Brick and looked out the window as the carriage hit the lip of the road's entrance. She couldn't afford to sulk like her mother.
After the funeral her mother locked herself in her room. She refused to eat or speak. No one has even seen her face since she closed the doors to her room. With her father dead, her mother was the one looking after the kingdom. But Grilbend can't be ruled by someone who can't look after themselves.
Brick rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Anyways… How about you tell me more about Vivan and Hector. What do they like?" His eyes skipped from stall to stall briefly looking over the goods for sale as their carriage scrapped across the road.
"Vivans favorite flowers are blue slippers. They're only found at the base of Tamiliu. Most stall keepers won't show them if they have them. So we'll have to ask around. As for Hector there used to be a stall that sold odd looking instruments and music boxes, I know he'd love something from there."
Brick looked back at the sun. "We're a little ahead of schedule, but it might be faster if we split up."
Princess shook her head. "We're not splitting up. Everything you know about these lands you read in a book. We split up and you're going to get scammed or get lost. Besides, a walk together might be nice. This is the longest we've been alone." A blush crept from her shoulders to her cheeks.
"We're alone every night we sleep." Brick rolled his eyes, pushing open the door.
"That doesn't count." Princess huffed, taking his hand for support out of the carriage. "Can I be honest with you?"
"Please do."
"It feels like since we got married, you've been avoiding me. Like just because we're married I'm not important." Princess whispered. She hooked her arm through Brick's and snuggled closer to his chest, avoiding eye contact with him.
"I never meant to make you feel like that. You're still important to me, you're my wife." He lied, looking straight ahead. "Until I had met you I was half of who I was. The moment I laid eyes on you I knew I had found the missing piece to my life." His words came out rough and robotic as if he were reading it off a note. It didn't seem as though Princess had noticed as she smiled and melted closer to him, her heart a flutter.
The couple continued down the road, weaving between busy people and rushing carts. The trade road had become more organized than the last time Princess was there. Stalls full of unique spices from around the land were set up near the entrance to Grilbend. Wooden figures, cotton dolls and other hand crafted gifts were next on their path.
"PUFFLINGS!" Princess cheered, picking up her skirt and running towards a sweet smelling stall.
Trays of steaming golden and round puffed pastries sat out on display. An elder lady behind the stall sprinkled powdered sugar over top some while garnishing others with exotic berries and mint leaves.
"Welcome to Pam's Pufflings. Freshly made in front of your eyes." The woman gestured to a small clay oven with a bright burning flame under it.
Princess beamed. "Two tins please!"
She turned to her husband, grabbing his hand and pulling him closer to the stall. "Oh Brick you have to try one! They're amazing! The best baked goods in all the land!" She smiled watching as the lady gently placed a mix of pastries in each tin.
The elder woman blushed at Princess's words. "Please dear, you're making this old bag feel young again. You know this stall was King Morbucks favorite. Everytime he passed this border he would buy enough to feed an entire army." She pocketed the coins and handed two tins tied together with a dark silk ribbon to Brick. "I brought extra ingredients after hearing royals from Grilbend would be traveling through. I was hoping to see the king by now. My bones are getting older and I grow tired faster than I used to. It would be a shame to pack up forever without saying goodbye to my favorite customer." The woman shielded her eyes from the sun, looking past Princess.
"The king passed recently. I'm afraid he won't be showing." Princess looked down.
"That's terrible. My heart and prayers go to his wife and child. Such sweethearts they were. Never met a more happy family. Maybe I'll have some delivered to the castle…" The woman mumbled, shuffling around in a crate behind her.
"We're traveling to Grundairia for the next day or so. Why don't we grab some more to bring back to Grilbend with us?" Brick asked, taking out his own coin purse. "I'll take three crates worth. That should be enough for the staff as well as some citizens. Wouldn't you agree Princess?"
Princess glowed and bit her lip to keep from squealing. "That would be more than enough! Oh what a wonderful idea!" She wrapped her arms around Brick jumping into his embrace and nearly making him drop the two tins they had just purchased.
The woman tapped on her head for a moment before nodding. "Three crates. I can do that. It will take roughly an hour to complete."
Brick snaked his free arm around Princess's hip. "We'll be back. That gives us enough time to look for a present for Hector and Vivan."
The two continued their walk down the trade road, until they came across an expensive travelers stall. A glass case full of coins from each kingdom sat in the middle of the stall for all to view. Vines full of pointed fruits wrapped around the side bars and glowing stones dangled from the roof. Behind it all was a cloaked figure hunched over in their seat. Thick dark curly hair hid most of their face with only a pair of thin lips and a dark eye patch that could be seen. And behind them a heavy black curtain to keep onlookers from seeing his more secret goods.
"My… Look at your eyes. You seem like the kind who hunts for a higher prize." The man whispered.
Although the man didn't move to look at anyone specifically Brick knew it was him he was talking about. A chill shot up his spine and his legs began to move on their own. Beckoned by the man's voice.
"I've been everywhere. From the frozen wall of Tamiliu to the underwater home of the Alatas. Anything you could desire I can get. For a price of course." He smirked.
"You've been all the way to the Tamiliu walls!" Princess eyes grew wide. "What was it like? Could you breath? I heard the reason it was sealed off was because the air was so thin people just died from going there!"
The man chuckled, digging in his cloak for a long tattered map. "Believe it or not, people roam in that snow. Living day to day like us. Although the wall is thick the people are loud." He leaned in closer. "Here I hold a map to a hole in the wall. Where the ice is just clear enough to peer inside. With the right tools one could even break through the wall. I even acquired a traditional Tamiliu outfit from a passing friend…" He grinned, rolling out the map to show the couple.
The map itself looked as though someone had given an old piece of paper for a child to scribble across. None of the written legible and the dots that mark the path covered most of the page without any landmark distinctions.
"Not interested. But we are looking for a special flower. One found near Tamiliu." Brick snarled, pushing the map away from him.
"Oh I see. You haven't a taste for adventure." The man paused, licking his lips. "No. Your heart is closer to home." He shook his head letting out a breathy chuckle. "No not heart. You don't have a heart."
"Stop wasting our time. Come on Prinny, this man is nothing but a scam." Brick grumbled, tugging his wife's hand. His feet refused to move, still drawn to the mysterious trader in front of him.
"Wait!" The man hissed. "I have blue slippers. I'll even give you the friends and family discount. 936 Grilbend coins." He smiled, tucking the map back into his cloak.
Brick snarled his lip. "Hardly a deal."
"It is not an easy task to climb the Tamiliu mountains. Even if the flower blooms at the bottom, there are still many dangerous creatures and harsh winds to fight through."
Princess placed a hand on Brick's chest and gave him a reassuring smile. "I can cover it. Besides with the flowers I'm sure you'll make an impressive first impression with Vivian."
"Fine." He mumbled.
The man chuckled disappearing behind a dark curtain for a moment before reappearing with a beautiful crystal vase full of glowing blue slipper flowers.
"Smells like winter. They're perfect!" Princess said, taking in a deep breath. "How did you get them to stay so perfect. Almost as if they're untouched by everything around them!"
"All in the vase my dear. Blessed by a mage to keep whatever is inside thriving and full of life. Almost as if their roots are still planted in the frozen soil. But be careful. Touch a petal while the flower is thriving and you'll be frozen forever.
Princess dug around in her purse for a moment before removing a sparkling black jewel. "The fetch price for a reapers tear is roughly 1000 Grilbend coins. That should be enough to cover it, yes?" She smirked.
The man quickly snatched the jewel and gave it a slow long lick. "Salty. Like tears. Taste like people grieving." He quickly pocketed the jewel and handed the vase to Princess. "Enjoy, my queen."
"Why don't I hold those?" Brick asked, quickly taking the vase from Princess and giving her the tins before guiding her away from the stall.
"Now we have to find something for Hector. We can't just bring Vivian a present and not him."
Brick looked back up at the sun and sighed. They had already wasted enough time to put them behind schedule. Perhaps he could convince Princess to just buy one of those dolls or glass paintings back where they left the carriage.
Looking back at Princess he was caught off guard for a moment. She had a shining smile on her face as she spoke. The sun beamed down on her in such a way she quite literally glowed. She seemed so happy walking beside him. He was mildly impressed by how easily she continued on with her life after her father had passed. After speaking with Boomer and MJ, he was happy she didn't crawl in a ball like her mother had.
The more time he spent with her the more he learned about her. From their first meeting Princess was just a spoiled brat who would bat her eyelashes to get anything she wanted. Rumors in the city spoke crudely about her, the way she slept around with someone new every night. But those rumours had been started by jealous citizens. Princess never showed it at first but she was as kind as she was beautiful.
She remembered the small things about the people around her. After every meal she stacked the dishes in the same manner Gabriella would when gathering them, to make it easier for her. She remembered every staff member's birthday and would stay up late crafting a card and gathering ingredients for their favorite dish.
Each morning she asked the gardener to bring her a bouquet of the biggest bloomed sandroses so she could hand them out to the early workers in the city. She never had a problem with paying any price they asked for what she wanted and although she wasn't the most patient person she never acted rude to others while waiting. She may have gotten snippy and whined to her father, but she never dared to act that way in front of others. She understood each job was important and tried her best to treat everyone on an equal level.
She was a lot like her mother in that way.
She was soft and softer things crumbled the easiest.
"There! It's a different man than I remember but the sign is the same. You'll never find a more beautiful song than the ones played from his boxes."
Brick gaze followed where Princess was pointing, over to a rickety old wooden table. A coloured sign painted with children's handprints and sloppy flowers wiggled out of place with each passing breeze.
"Looks like they don't sell instruments anymore. My father bought a guitar from here once. He was awful at it. But that never stopped him. He would play with all his heart and sing until dawn. My mother on the other hand is a very skilled musician. But she doesn't play very often. My father would tell me stories of when they were younger. He would sneak into the gardens every time he heard her play."
A faint blush crept to her cheeks. "That's how they met you know? My mother was out in the garden playing her song. And my father who was just some village boy at that time had heard and wanted to see who was playing. So he climbed the gates and snuck onto castle grounds. They both claimed it was love at first sight. Kind of like us. Love at first sight." She tucked closer to Brick her heart racing.
"Your father was a village boy?"
"Apparently. His parents both died when he was young. He would help out at different shops in return for food and shelter. After he started sneaking around with my mother a counselor man took him in. Taught him all the formalities and raised him to be a proper young gentleman. All so one day if he wanted, he could marry the queen."
Brick raised an eyebrow. "So a simple villager could never marry a royal?"
Princess shook her head. "Not formally no. Royals are given the highest of education so that no matter what situation they have the knowledge on how to weigh so that they may make the best possible choice. That's not to say you can't love a villager if you're a royal. Queen Darcy and King Grant were never in love even though they were married. The two actually had lovers on the side and it was never a secret. They had separate rooms and separate families. Their titles and marriage was simply for the kingdom. The two together raised the kingdom out of a period of depression and starvation. And because they both held a title of power even though their children were bastard children they were both granted the opportunity to study and work within the kingdom."
"So how come you and I were able to wed?"
"That's a silly question. Even though you're from a far off land you're still royalty. The youngest brother. Last in line to the throne of Lleh. But still royal none the less."
"Right…" Brick gritted his teeth. MJ had done most of the work in writing his 'past'. MJ had just skimmed through the story with him. So a lot was still unknown. If anyone asked a question he wasn't sure how to answer he usually found some way out of it.
"I could see you two eyeing my stand from back there." A chubby man smiled as the two finally arrived at the music table. "Business has been slow since my parents passed, and unfortunately none of my siblings nor I know how to craft instruments or music boxes quite like they did. Because of that all sales are finally, and this is all the stock we have left."
The man waved his hands above three simplistic looking boxes. The one to the left was a pale brown colour with a perfectly symmetrical heart burned on the center of the lid. The box on the right was painted completely white, stars and flowers were carved out all over the box itself, just deep enough to be seen if you focus hard enough. The one in the middle stood out the most. It was made of a dark wood and glistened with a varnish finish.
"May I hear them?" Princess asked, reaching out to pick one up.
The man slapped her hand away and smacked his lips. "No touching until the purchase has been made. These are the very last ones to ever be made, so I cannot risk anyone breaking it."
"I don't care if these were made out of angels glass. Don't you dare ever lay hands on the princess like that again." Brick growled.
"We're on Grundairia's border. A second hand title from the neighboring kingdom means nothing."
"It's fine Brick. We'll talk to the king and queen about how this man has treated us today." Princess grumbled. "Now, could you open the boxes for us. So that way we can hear." Princess asked.
The man chuckled and nodded, opening the first box. As the lid lifted the sweet sound of a bird singing began to play as two birds flying to each other spun in place.
"A perfect gift for any beautiful woman. The song is the exact song that a blue hearted bird sings after finding its soulmate. It's rumored that if you hear this song on your wedding day your love will never perish. Not even after death."
"It's very beautiful. But it's not the right fit for Hector."
The man nodded opening the middle box. An intense drum beat began to play followed by a dancing flute melody. Inside a Grundairian warrior danced around a wooden flame, slowly rising and falling to the beat. The warrior began to dance faster as a soft voice started singing a song of sorrow.
"My father crafted this one after losing his great grandmother. She was a warrior when she was younger, and lived to be almost 200 years old. The song that plays is actually her singing. It was a song sung for those who passed, to help give them the strength they needed to find their way to the after life."
Princess tapped her chin. "Maybe… Hector does like history and the beat of the song seems like something he'd enjoy. Let's hear the last one!"
Nodding the man opened the last box. A cheerful melody played, sounding as if each instrument were talking to each other. On the inside two figures held onto each other, dancing and clinking the glasses in their hand together. It looked as if someone had began to carve a face into the wooden people as they had a thin line for a mouth and one figure had what someone could assume was the beginning of an eye.
"My mother didn't get the chance to finish this one. Although the song is wonderful it's rather dull to look at. She had a hard time finishing something properly. The least she could have done is finish painting the outside before she began carving the people. The paint job is even sloppy. To be fair to her, she was dying at the time. She just didn't know it."
The way the man spoke made Princess uneasy. She forced herself to shake away the feeling. "Are they all priced the same?" Princess asked, digging out some coins from her purse.
"Let us say… 100 coins each?" The man grinned.
"Alright. Could you wrap up the last one there for me?"
"Certainly."
"Is Hector crafty? Why the unfinished one?" Brick questioned.
"The song is fun, and the two people drinking and dancing remind me of Hector and my father. Hector probably knows of someone who could paint the two together. That way he will always have something that reminds him of my father."
"That's very kind of you."
"My father was a kind man. He was important to many people and the loss of his life will leave a ripple in all of our hearts. Having his statue has been a comfort. He's still there for me. I can feel his energy and his memory every time I see it. My father and Hector were best friends. I'm sure he'll want something that has part of his energy and memory too to remember him by."
Brick rubbed the back and his neck and sighed. "If we can find some paint, I could paint the two on the figures…" He whispered.
Princess blinked back at him, surprised by his words. "You? Paint?"
Brick blushed and nodded. "Back in… lleh? While my father was busy with my other brothers."
Flashes of memories of MJ dragging his brothers out of the cell flooded his mind.
"I wouldn't have anything better to do. So one day I found some paint."
Tears streamed down a young boys cheeks. He laid curled in a ball looking at a wall while his brothers painted screams from another room hit him like a dagger.
"It was a way to keep busy. Keep myself distracted…"
The boy dipped his finger in the pool of blood that poured from him onto the stone below. And began tracing a messy picture of a family. Four people all holding hands and smiling.
"After awhile I got really good at it. Decorated my room's walls with detailed paintings of life outside the castle. Eventually my youn… older brother would join me while painting on his days… off…"
The young boy clutched to his brother, holding his head tightly against him and covering his ears. The screams and cries of his other brother continously banging on the cell door.
"I just hope you don't mind if I don't use the color red. Orange is fine. But nothing too bright and crimson. It was never my favorite…"
Soon the walls were covered in stained pictures of a happy family, blooming flowers, sunny skies and baby animals. All done in red.
"Well Hector has dark hair and we'll just put them in basic clothing! We can avoid red. I always preferred the colour purple anyways!" Princess chimed.
She took the paper wrapped box and walked with Brick back to the carriage, stopping on the way to grab a small container of bold coloured paints and a small paint brush. They loaded the gifts into the small compartment on the back of the carriage and tied the three crates to the roof before climbing back in and continued down the road before entering the path to Grundairia's capital.
Grundairia lands and Grilbend lands were similar in many ways. Grilbend was an empty space full of nothing but hot sand with the expectation of a few sparse flowers and stone cities. Grundairia too had very few wildlife and plants to be seen other than green grass that flowed over the hills like water. Instead of stone cities Grundairia was the home to hundreds of farm lands. With the capital city in the middle of it all.
The energy in the city seemed different from the last time Princess had visited. The citizens refused to look as they passed by, and children ran to hide in alleys and their homes. Shop windows were boarded up and closed signs were nailed to every second door.
The gates to the castle were heavily guarded, and the steel bars were now replaced by thick metal sheets, keeping outsiders from seeing in. Blood splatters and ashes speckled the streets around.
Growing more and more uncomfortable with what she was seeing Princess tied the curtains closed so she could no longer see the outside and demanded Brick to do the same.
A muffled argument started as the coachman explained the reason for their visit to one of the guards by the main gates. A hard smack followed by a ruffle of papers echoed down the now empty street before finally the gates opened.
Inside the castle grounds were no better. All plant life laid dried and dead on the ground. Beaten and bruised staff scrubbed the stone paths from blood that dripped from pained heads on stakes.
As they rolled by, the staff threw what clothing they could spare over the heads to hide from their visitors. Once the coast was cleared a group of guards escorted the two to the castle's entrance.
"From how you spoke I imagined this place much different." Brick whispered, gripping Princess's hand with a bone crushing force so they two could not be separated.
"No talking." A guard spoke, jabbing Brick in the back with the butt end of his spear.
Brick growled and Princess placed her hand on top of the hand holding hers. Fear swirled in her eyes but she continued to walk with her head held high and gave him a reassuring smile.
The doors swung open with a loud creak, revealing a smug looking blonde man and a very pregnant brunette.
"Ah! My cousin Kingdom! So nice to finally meet you!" The blonde spoke, raising his arms wide for a hug. "My apologies for the less than presentable scenery. No one mentioned your visiting. I'm still learning things as we go, my parents didn't exactly leave me any instructions before they died."
"Hector and Vivian are dead?" Princess squeaked.
"Only a year or so ago. We had a… disagreement. We didn't see eye to eye on a matter. So I thought maybe if we switched their eyes for another pair perhaps they would finally agree with me. Of course stabbing a rusted blade into one's eye is terribly dangerous. Vivian bledel out and Hector soon passed from the infection. It was long overdue. Their passing wasn't much of a loss." The man laughed, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.
Princess looked the man over. He was practically a Male version of Vivan. Same flowing blonde hair and wide green eyes. His nose pointed out and crooked to the right just as hers had. The way he carried himself was very different from both Vivan and Hector. He looked to be a little older than Princess, although she had never met or even heard about this man.
"Vivan never spoke about any children. You look a lot like your mother." Princess voice waved.
"Unfortunately…" The man frowned. "Please join me for dinner. Let us use this time to get to know one another better…" he stepped to the side enough to make room for the two to walk by, guards still to their back.