"Are you okay?" the boys asked in unison. Then, they both laughed to relieve the tension.
The two guys finally recompose from their fall. They knew something was wrong with each other, but no one got the courage to say what was bothering them. So, they looked at each other, waiting for something.
There was a silence for some minutes, but Inigo broke it.
"You first" he suggested, making a gesture with his hand to encourage Morgan.
Morgan shook his head and answered "No, please. You first. I still need time to process what I just heard."
"Okay" Inigo said, trying to get the courage to talk.
Inigo breathed in and closed his eyes. When he finally reunited the necessary courage, he opened his eyes and let the air go.
"The love of my life is with the love of her life, who happens to be my cousin" Inigo confessed, his eyes watered a bit.
Morgan got shocked. "The love of your life is your cousin!?"
"What? No, idiot! The love of my life is Severa, and she is in love with Owain" Inigo corrected him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm just… well, I don't know where my mind is right now" Morgan tried to justify the misunderstanding, but then came back to the main topic by saying "But that's rough, man. I didn't know that you had feelings for Severa. I'm sorry that they are not reciprocate."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. But what about you? What did Aversa tell you?" Inigo asked.
"Well, she told me that my mother was the one who reawake Grima. Did you know that?"
"No way. That's impossible"
"Did your parents ever mention who revived Grima?" Morgan asked Inigo.
"No, I thought it was implicit that was the Grimleals' fault."
"Apparently, Validar was my grandfather, and he had control over my mother. Aversa told me that my mother didn't resurrect Grima on purpose."
"I can't believe all of this. Why did my father keep her so close if she was that dangerous?" Inigo wondered.
"I think… he trusted her? I mean, at the end they both defeated Grima" Morgan answered.
"Well, yes. But I don't know. I can't trust anything that Aversa says. What if she is trying to confuse you?"
"What would she win with that?"
"I don't know… Ugh, I can't think anymore. This is too much" Inigo complained.
"We should go to sleep. This has been a long day" Morgan suggested.
But then, Inigo got an idea that made him smile. "No, we need something else."
"What?" Morgan asked, a little scared of his friend's idea.
"Follow me!" Inigo indicated.
The two boys started to walk. Inigo seemed to know where they were going, but at the end, they ended checking almost every room in the palace. Morgan just followed him, not having any idea about Inigo's plan. Though, they crossed path with different people, Inigo didn't bother to ask for directions.
The pair of friends ended in the palace's kitchen. Morgan was surprised to see people working so late at night.
An old lady saw them and approached them.
"Hi, do you need something?" the woman asked.
"Yes, do you happen to have some alcohol in here?" Inigo asked directly, his eyes were full of desire. Morgan got surprised for the question and didn't know if he should stop his friend.
The woman glanced a curious look. After thinking for some seconds, she said "Yes, we may have some bottles of rum, but… aren't you too young for alcohol?"
"Mmm… no, on Ylisse it is normal for people of our age to drink alcohol. It's like a tradition that we do for a safe trip" Inigo explained.
"That has no sense" the woman complained in a suspicious tone,
"Are you going to question my culture?" Inigo questioned, pretending to be offended.
Trying not to get in trouble, the woman softened her gesture and said with a kind tone "of course not, let me serve two goblets of rum for you."
"Goblets? Haven't you seen how many we are? We need at least one bottle" Inigo complained.
The woman was staring to get tired of Inigo's attitude. She just sighed and accepted. "Okay, I'll give you two bottles of rum" she said.
Inigo saw with a smile how the woman went to get the alcohol. As soon as she was gone, a worried Morgan whispered to Inigo "this is a terrible idea."
"Of course not, trust me" Inigo whispered back.
The woman got back with two bottles, one in each hand. She extended the bottles and Inigo took both.
"Thank you, ma'am, your kindness won't be forgotten" Inigo thanked.
"Whatever" said the woman, then she got back to her chores.
Inigo and Morgan left the kitchen. Outside the kitchen, Inigo handed a bottle to Morgan.
"Take it" he told him. Hesitant, Morgan took to bottle and then examined it.
Inigo started to walk; he was going fast, almost leaping. Behind him, was Morgan, that reluctantly followed him.
"I don't think the guys will be happy with this" Morgan commented, trying to catch Inigo.
"They don't have to know it" Inigo said.
"Wait, aren't we sharing with them?"
"Why would we? They are okay. They don't need this" Inigo justified. Then, he stopped in an intersection, he was deciding which hallway to take.
Morgan stopped behind him. "Inigo, I have never drunk alcohol before. I can't finish one bottle" he complained.
"Don't worry, I can finish it for you" after saying that, Inigo found his path and lead Morgan to a gazebo.
Morgan and Inigo took some minutes to appreciate the landscape. The view was breathtaking. The empty desert was just a reflex of their hearts. A single tear fell from Inigo´s eye. He immediately cleaned the tear with his sleeve, and then he looked at Morgan with a smile.
"Okay, now it's time" Inigo said while opening the bottle. A funny noise sounded when the cork was finally removed from the bottle.
Inigo glanced at Morgan, inviting him to do the same. Reluctantly again, Morgan imitated Inigo's moves and opened the bottle.
"Cheers!" Inigo exclaimed while lifting the bottle. Then he started to drink like if he was thirsty. Slowly, Morgan led the bottle to his mouth and gave it a sip. It was a strong flavor, kind of sweet. When he swallowed, his throat felt dry, so he started to cough a bit.
Inigo giggled at Morgan's reaction. That made him remember the first time that he drank rum. "You'll get use to it" he told Morgan.
"Now let's play" Inigo ordered.
"Play?" Morgan questioned.
"Yeah, there is no fun in alcohol if you don't play games" Inigo assured.
"Which game are we going to play?" Morgan asked with curiosity.
"One that I just made up. Listen, I will tell something that I think about you. If what I said is true, you will drink, but if is not, I will drink. You get it?" Inigo explained.
"Seems easy. Okay. Go on" Morgan accepted.
"Right. Okay, I bet that you don't…" Inigo made a pause to think what he can say about Morgan, then he ended his idea by saying "I bet that you don't know how to swing an axe."
Morgan didn't seem affected by Inigo's words, he didn't move and just say "actually, I know how to swing an axe. Back in my home, I used to help mother to chop wood."
"Damn it!" Inigo exclaimed and then he drank from his bottle. "Your turn" he indicated to Morgan.
"Okay. I bet that you… that you have never made your bed" Morgan declared.
"Actually, yes. I once made my bed, because my mother wanted me to learn how to make a bed, in case that I ever stop being a prince" Inigo said, very proud of himself.
"Dang" Morgan muttered in frustration and then drank from his bottle.
"But, why would you ever stop being a prince?" Morgan asked Inigo.
"I don't know. My mom says that anything can happen in this life" Inigo answered.
"Well, that's true" Morgan commented.
"Now it's my turn" Inigo said with excitement.
They played that game for an hour. Sometimes they guessed things from each other, but most of the times they said wrong things. There was no winner because they forgot to count how many points each other had. They were surprised of the things that they were learning. Like, Morgan didn't know that Inigo had many pets from different species during his childhood. And Inigo didn't know that Morgan have never been in love with anyone.
Then, they went back inside the castle. They started to run in the hallways, taking some decoration and playing with them. They ended breaking a pair of things but hid them. They even got to swim in a pond.
At some point, they got bored of the palace and tried to escape. As if they were two thieves, they tried to abandon the palace in a stealthy way. But they were not as stealthy as they thought. They ended falling in the floor many times and laughing. All the guards that were doing vigilance saw them but didn't want to deal with them.
Morgan didn't know in what moment, but they ended at the outskirts of the city. The empty two bottles of rum were lying on the sand. They were facing the empty desert that was just illuminated by the light of the moon. There was nothing, just the sound of the wind and the sand being dragged by it. If Morgan closed his eyes, he would feel that the world was moving around him, so he focused on the moon. That made him remember of those times where he and his mother would gaze at the sky before going to sleep.
He felt nostalgic.
"I don't understand why she lied to me" Morgan said, feeling the sadness take over him.
He was heard by Inigo, who was dancing behind him. Inigo stopped dancing and approached Morgan.
"I'll tell you why. It's because PARENTS SUCK!" Inigo assured.
Morgan turned to face Inigo, he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Why would you say so?" Morgan demanded to know.
Inigo crossed his arms and answered, "because it's true, take for example my dad."
"Your dad?" Morgan was getting more amazed with each sentence. For him, to be ranting about parents was something he thought he would never do.
"Yes! My dad was great when I was a kid. He would give me anything I wanted. He would play with me. He would teach me how to use a sword and to ride a horse. But then, when I grew up, he started to be like 'why don't you do something with your life, Inigo? Why can't you be like your sister, Inigo? I don't know what I did to deserve a lazy son like you, Inigo' " Inigo tried to emulate his father's deep voice.
"Did he really tell you all those things?" Morgan asked with astonishment.
Inigo just nodded and continued his rant "and the worst part, he said 'our son needs discipline, Olivia. And I know what to do. I'll leave him on charge of a small brigade. We can recruit other children to train with him. Don't worry, I'll make sure that he won't face any danger, and he will learn about responsibility and diligence,' can you believe that!?"
"Are you telling me that the Shepherds started as a punishment to you for your bad behavior?"
"That's right. That's why I'm the captain and all the Shepherds are the children of the previous Shepherds. At first it started like that, we would just train and do small patrols. But then, we ended being useful and now we have more important tasks, like this"
"But this task isn't official. Nobody knows that we came here. Your father wouldn't have let you do this"
"I know. Father is going to be so angry when he learns about this" Inigo almost sounded happy of causing distress to his father.
"That is not right, Inigo. You can't live your life being against your father" Morgan tried to reason with the prince.
"I'm not against him. I just want to teach him. I want him to realize that he misjudged me" Inigo answered.
Inigo overstepped Morgan and faced the desert. Then he screamed with pain "I'M NOT A FUCKING LOSER!"
After that shout, Inigo kneeled, his foot sank into the sand.
"I'm a good prince, I know that I am" Inigo muttered and he started to sob in the lowest way possible.
Morgan noticed that and he hurried. He kneeled beside Inigo and hugged him. Inigo rested his face on Morgan's chest.
"Parents are bad, Morgan. They lie and do whatever they think is correct without considering their children's feelings" Inigo said between sobs.
And, in that moment, Morgan realized that his half-brother was right. Maybe his mother wasn't as perfect as he thought…
Thanks for reading!
Special thanks to:
Mysterious guest: You made me laugh with the mend part. Yes, my poor Inigo is suffering, but at the end he will be happy, I promise. Thanks for your comment!
Duke: Thanks so much for your comment! And yes, actually we are getting close to the part where we are going to see Falchion.
YellowHellow: Robin was a good mother, but she hid a lot of things to Morgan xD In the next chapter will see other things. Thanks for your comment, I hope you liked this chapter as well.