After two days of riding to the northwest, they arrived at the city of Windmire. They rode through the late morning streets to where servants were waiting to take their horses to the royal stables. Once they were there, Garon dismounted before helping his son down. He gave the horse to the stable boy for him to take care of it before turning to check on Princess Kairi. She had been roused before sunrise each day they rode, including the day they rescued her. Suffice to say, she was tired. He made a mental note to suggest that she go to bed early that night. Gunter had just passed his horse over to the stable boy, so Garon walked up to him.
"Thank you, Gunter. You can go now." The former general bowed in respect, then left. After all, he had his own family to think of. Now that they were alone, he had some children to deal with. "Well, Xander, why don't we show Princess Kairi around. I don't know how long it will take for me to receive a response from her father once I send the letter, so I think she should know where things are and can get around." Kairi looked up at him, which was an improvement. She was getting used to them. Xander nodded excitedly, grabbing her hand to lead her around. The three of them were about halfway down the first hall when they saw a certain violet-haired, seven-year-old child. Her eyes lit up when she saw them.
"Father! You're back!" She ran up and embraced Garon tightly. He laughed a bit and returned the gesture warmly.
"It's good to see you again, Camilla." He pulled away a bit to look at her. "Have you styled your hair a bit differently this morning?"
"Father, I have my hair this way every day!" she laughed.
"You could have fooled me." He brushed her bangs to the side and planted a gentle kiss on her forehead. "It looks beautiful as always." She giggled a bit before smoothing her hair back. Then she turned to her brother and hugged him as well.
"I'm glad you're back, Xander. How was the raid?" Xander stiffened and tried to get out of the embrace.
"Camilla, it was fine. Now get off!" He finally broke out of her arms, much to her annoyance. Before she could start arguing with him, he noticed the little girl next to them. She had let go of Xander's hand when he was trying to get free and was standing back from the welcome. Not knowing who this was, Camilla bent down to get a good look at her.
"Hello. What's your name?" she asked. Kairi shrunk back nervously, but Garon walked behind his daughter and gestured to the new child.
"This is Kairi, a princess of Hoshido. She is going to be staying with us for a time." He looked at the young girl expectantly. As she stood there, staring at Camilla, he wished he could just push her forward and say, 'Why don't you say 'hello'?' After a moment, she stepped forward a little and gave a stiff bow.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Camilla." She seemed to be a bit awkward with her, but Camilla wrapped her arms around the smaller girl, ignoring her stiffening at the contact.
"Oh, you are so cute!" she exclaimed. Then she turned to her father with an excited smile. "Father, may I show her around? Please?" He was about to tell her to let Kairi go, but then a thought crossed his mind. This would give him more time to get his work done so he could draft the letter to Sumeragi.
"Of course, Camilla. You and Xander may show her around. If you need me, I'll be taking care of some paperwork after I check up on Leo and Elise." Camilla let Kairi go so she could jump in excitement. Before she could wrap the poor girl up again, Garon interrupted her celebration. "However, you should show a little more restraint with physical contact. It doesn't seem like she is very comfortable with a full hug." Camilla stopped for a moment, looking at the girl. She was standing there awkwardly, not sure how to deal with the behavior.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Kairi. Here. Let's start the tour." she apologized before taking her left hand. Xander had gathered her right hand again and started leading her down the hall. Kairi had to walk a little faster to keep from being dragged by the two enthusiastic children through the busy early-morning hallways.
The first room they took her to ended up being the dining room. They always enjoyed being there. Sitting at the oaken tables and chairs always made them feel grown up. A crystal chandelier hung above it, glittering in the torchlight. The paintings and gold trimming on the walls gave it a regal look. It was much more decorated than the mess hall that the soldiers ate in. Xander looked down at Kairi, curious to see her reaction and saw a look of confusion on her face. He decided to explain a little.
"This is where we eat our meals with our Father. A maid or butler tells us when the meal is ready, and we come here to eat. We'll come back around noon for lunch." Kairi just looked around the room for a minute.
"Why is everything so high up?" she asked. Xander and Camilla looked at her with just as much confusion as she had. "Back home, the table is much lower to the ground, and we often kneel on cushions." That answered the unasked question. Things in Hoshido were probably so different from Nohr that everything was unfamiliar. It would also explain why she was so quiet.
"I don't know. It's always been this way." Xander shrugged. There wasn't much else to talk about in the dining room, so the three of them left.
The next room the showed her was the library. They hoped that the slightly darker room wouldn't turn her off too much. They couldn't risk torches burning the books. Still, there were lamps around that could be lit for late night reading. The room was lined on all sides with bookshelves, which were stacked with tomes of history, religion, magic; some of the books were even written in Nohr's ancient language! Only nobles read those, however, because those books took many years of dedicated study of the language to understand. Kairi's eyes widened at the sight of all the books. It seemed that they found the place she would be spending a lot of her time.
"Hey, Kairi," Camilla started to ask, "what kind of books to you like?" That seemed like a good thing to find out. That way, they could show her where those kinds of books were. Kairi seemed to blush a little, but she mumbled a little reply.
"I like fairy tales and legends. Mother often tells me a lot of old stories about the dragons." Well, that was easy to find. They had plenty of book with fairy tales to start with, and the dragons had a small section of the library to themselves.
"Well, what's your favorite fairy tale? I don't read them much, but I like Rumpelstiltskin." Camilla asked as she started looking through the books for a good story for her.
"My favorite is 'Issun Boshi'. My big sister Hinoka doesn't really like those kinds of stories." Looking back at Kairi, she quickly decided on a story to show her.
"Well, I'm fairly certain that we don't have that story here, but I can let you read a popular Nohrian story." She found the book that she was looking for; a thick, well-read book compiling many of Nohr's favorite tales. "Here we are." After flipping over to the story she was looking for, Camilla handed the book to Kairi. "It's called 'Schneewittchen', which is often translated 'The Snow-White Princess'. Maybe later I can show you some other stories, but this should be a good start."
"Camilla," Xander broke in, clearly unhappy with the way things were going. "Shouldn't we continue the tour? We can come back later to read. The library isn't going anywhere."
"Oh, Xander, we have time. Surely, we can spend some of it relaxing." she said, taking Kairi's hand and pulling her over to a large, comfy chair. "Now, let's start."
With a roll of his eyes, Xander pulled a history book off the shelf and sat down to wait for the girls to be done. With that story, it wouldn't take too long. None of those fairy tales did.
About thirty minutes later, Camilla and Kairi were finishing up yet another story. It seemed like every time they finished one, Kairi would ask to read the next one that she noticed on the next page. She was very interested in the tales, since she had never heard them before. After a while, Camilla decided that they should save some stories for another time. As Kairi thanked Camilla cheerily, Xander looked over at them. Maybe it was a good idea to spend some time relaxing. She did seem a bit happier. If she wasn't constantly worrying about her family, things would probably be easier for the Hoshidan princess.
"Well, since that's done, shall we continue? Perhaps we can show you the garden." He put his book down and stood up as he suggested that. Kairi turned to him with an excited grin. Yes, she was definitely feeling better. She jumped down from the chair, ready to go. While they were walking to the garden, he noticed that she had a bit of a skip in her step. Forcing back a bit of a chuckle, he focused on making sure Kairi didn't stray too far from them on their way.
At the garden, Kairi looked around at all the greenery. The carefully sculpted bushes and flowers were intricately arranged, and the leafy green trees gave perfect shade on a hot day. It was a good place to go if you wanted to be alone. Still, Xander couldn't help but think that Kairi had been expecting something different. She walked over to one of the trees and gazed up into the branches like she was looking for something.
"Is something wrong, Kairi?" She looked back at them with an unreadable expression.
"It's fine. I was just thinking of the garden back home. Around this time of year, the sakura trees would be full of pink flowers." she explained as she looked up at the tree. Camilla noticed the sense of longing in her eyes before it was replaced with another bright smile. "You know, my little sister is named after the sakura trees because she was born in their blooming season. She also has pink hair, like the flowers."
"I'm sure you'll see them before the flowers are gone. That will be a nice 'welcome home', won't it." Kairi looked Camilla in the eye, nodding. She was sure that it would only be a matter of time until she was home. Still, she would miss a good portion of the season, as well as her little sister's birthday, and that was especially hard for her to think about.
"So… is it just you two and King Garon living here?" she asked. At that, Xander and Camilla laughed a little.
"No, Kairi. If you'll remember, our father said he would be checking on Leo and Elise. Those are our younger siblings. Leo is almost three years old while Elise just turned a year old less than a month ago." Xander explained. The conversation was becoming quite lively, talking about their families. The three children hardly realized how much time was passing.
"Prince Xander, Princess Camilla, Princess Kairi, lunch is ready and King Garon is waiting for you." a maid spoke to them from the entrance to the garden. All three young heads turned in her direction. Taking the initiative, Xander straightened up and addressed her.
"Thank you. We'll be there soon." She bowed, then left. As soon as they were alone, Xander turned to Kairi, took her hand, and started leading her to the dining room. As they were going, he started planning the next stop on their tour. Chances were that she would ask to go back to the library at some point that day to read more fairy tales. He chuckled a little, wondering if she was like that with stories at home. When they got to the dining room and opened the door, they saw Garon seated at the head of the table, waiting expectantly for them.
"Ah. There you are." he greeted as they walked in. Xander and Camilla smiled at him and quickly took their seats on either side of him. After a little bit of trepidation, Kairi decided to sit next to Camilla.
When the food was brought in and the others started eating, Kairi just looked at the confusing array of silverware in front of her. She wasn't used to forks, knives, and spoons. They didn't use those in Hoshido. She had no idea how to eat the way they did in Nohr. Noticing her confusion, Camilla leaned over.
"I'll help you learn how to use those." she whispered before quietly instructing her on using the silverware. It took a bit, but eventually, Kairi was able to use them decently enough to eat.
"So, how was the tour you gave Princess Kairi?" Garon asked once said girl was eating.
"It was certainly interesting. I think she's just experiencing culture shock right now." Xander finished his bite and responded. "We read a bit in the library and took her out to the garden." When he mentioned the library, Camilla chuckled quietly. Garon raised an eyebrow at that. He would have to ask her about that later. In the meantime, he turned to the princess that was kneeling on the chair and trying to figure out how much she should cut off the sausage before eating it. She was also forgetting to hold it in place with the fork while she cut with the knife.
"Princess Kairi, are my children treating you well?" She looked up from her food and nodded. "I'm glad. I do want you to be comfortable while you're here." They ate in silence for a little bit longer, then Garon spoke again. "The letter to King Sumeragi will be sent by the end of the day. Then it will be a matter of time until you are back with your family." He kept his eyes on her face to see her reaction. When she looked back up, there was a bright smile on her face. That seemed to be the most they would get out of her for the moment, so he finished his meal and waited for the children to finish theirs.
That afternoon, Garon was looking over the letter as he waited for the messenger to come to his office. It was time to send it with him, and he was waiting for him to arrive.
12 of March
From King Garon,
Blessed by the Dusk Dragon
Son of Maximilian the Just
Sovereign of the Kingdom of Nohr
"To King Sumeragi of Hoshido.
It has come to my attention that bandits from Nohr have recently abducted your daughter in your presence. You have my condolences and regrets. I am currently working to ensure that this does not happen again.
Nevertheless, in a raid on those very bandits, we found your daughter, Princess Kairi. She was unharmed and has briefly explained the situation to me. Hearing that, I wish to return her to you. Let my diplomat, Sir Hagan, know at what time and place would be the most convenient for you to reunite with her.
I am looking forward to speaking with you.
King Garon of Nohr."
"You sent for me, Your Majesty?" Garon turned to the voice at the door to his office.
"Yes, I did, Vale. Come in. I am ready for you." He picked up the letter and sealed it with wax. "I want you to take this letter King Sumeragi. Inform Sir Hagan that he will oversee organizing the reunion between him and his daughter." Handing over the letter, the messenger put it away.
"I won't let you down, Your Majesty."
As the man left, Garon stood up and walked into the hallway. He wanted to make sure their guest was doing well. Xander had said he wanted to introduce Princess Kairi to Azura, Arete's daughter. It was a good thought, since they were near the same age. 'They must be in the playroom.' he thought.
When he approached the door, he saw that it was cracked slightly. And he heard giggling inside. Peeking in showed him the two girls sitting across from each other with a bit of play makeup between them. It was also smeared all over their faces as if they had put it on with their eyes closed, which they likely did. After a minute of uncontrollable laughing at how ridiculous they looked, Azura suggested that they wash up and play with some other toys. Before they left, however, Kairi looked down.
"How long do you think it will take for me to get home?" Azura looked over at the other girl, then shrugged.
"Hopefully not too long. Didn't King Garon say he was sending a letter today or something? Anyway, did you see your guest room?" Kairi looked at her with a question evident on her face.
"Yes, but why is the… bed so high up? And how do you put it away when you're not sleeping on it?" she asked, confused. The thought of what she was asking caused him to laugh heartily in his head as he heard Azura trying to explain Nohrian furniture to someone who was so unused to their ways.
At least she wasn't so scared anymore.
So, Kairi is brought to Windmire. She will take a while to get over the culture shock, but it's only natural. I also wanted to make Garon feel a bit like a doting father, so there's those small moments with his kids. What do you think?
Hope you guys are dealing well with the coronavirus panic and not getting sick. College for me has gone online, like most other colleges that I heard about, so I'm at home after dragging all my stuff back.