Lovino rode his horse behind the other three Heart Royals as they passed through the last city gate onto the open fields. It was a gorgeous sunny day to start the month of May, and the four of them had the spare time this afternoon to go for a ride through the farmlands bordering the capital city.
"Hey Lovino, let's race!" Alfred suddenly challenged, kicking at his horse to speed ahead, "First of us to the top of the second hill wins!"
"Not with that head start, you ass!" Lovino protested.
He urged his horse to dash around Basch's left and catch up to King Alfred, leaving the Jack behind to follow with Queen Erzsébet. It didn't take long for his horse to match the speed of the other, so Lovino was only a few paces behind as Alfred reached the first peak and started barreling down.
"Pay attention at the stream, Alfred," Lovino cautioned.
It was unclear whether Alfred listened to the warning as he continued riding full speed down towards the creek that lay between the two hills. They had convinced the horses to jump it before on previous outings, but it would only work out if the horses were ready to cooperate with such a demand. Lovino could see, at this moment with this particular attempt, that Alfred was struggling to keep the horse focused on it.
Sure enough, within the last couple paces before the stream, the horse suddenly neighed in disapproval and came to a startling halt. The momentum made Alfred fly out of his saddle, over the horse's head, and flat on his ass into the stream.
Lovino laughed as he slowed his own horse to cross the stream by gently walking through it, watching carefully as Alfred slowly rose back to his feet.
"You alright there?" Lovino checked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Alfred confirmed as he quickly shook off some of the water that had soaked his sleeves.
"Good," Lovino said as he passed with his horse, "Because you just gave me the win."
Without waiting for Alfred to mount his horse again, Lovino rode ahead up the second hill at a much more leisurely pace. He stopped at the top, where the viewpoint gave Lovino an excellent view in all directions. Directly in front of him was a field filled with young tomato plants, already starting to grow their leaves to collect the summer heat. To the south there was wheat being grown, while fields of corn extended to the north.
"A beautiful day, isn't it?" Alfred remarked as he finally caught up, "Looks like the tomatoes have had a strong start already."
"They sure have," Lovino answered, "If the weather cooperates, the harvest should be excellent this year."
"Let's hope so," Alfred agreed.
The King rode ahead down the hill, and Lovino could see that Alfred was heading towards a group of farmers near one of the patches of plants. Lovino turned around to look east, and saw Basch and Erzsébet reaching the stream below him. Beyond them past the other hill was the city of Oriasa, and the castle of the Heart Royals towering over the city behind it on a taller hill.
The view of the city caused a sudden wave of nostalgia to wash over Lovino, as he recalled a memory from his childhood. He was sitting on this hill, munching on tomatoes and looking at the city in the distance, while his brother rambled on about the farmer girl he had flirted with to get the tomatoes from.
Lovino turned back to look northwest, out towards where Nodiff would be in the far distance past the horizon. It had been a while since he had seen Feliciano, wasn't it? When was the last time they visited each other? Had he gone to Nodiff, or had Feliciano come here to Oriasa?
Lovino's mind could not recall the details, but he dropped the thought as Erzsébet and Basch reached his side.
"Lovino?" Erzsébet asked, "Do you see something?"
"Oh no, I was just thinking about my brother," Lovino replied, "It's been a while since I last saw him."
"It has been a while since we've seen the other Royals, hasn't it?" Basch acknowledged, "How was the ride, Erzsébet, any discomfort?"
"I'm fine, Basch, really," Erzsébet comforted, "It's refreshing to be riding horseback again, now that my stomach has stopped doing somersaults."
"Did you ever figure out what caused your ill health?" Lovino inquired, "It seems very strange that you were sick so sporadically the last four months."
"Why is Alfred soaking wet?" Erzsébet deflected, "Did he fall off his horse again?"
"His horse knocked him off," Lovino corrected, "Wasn't ready to jump over the stream."
"For fuck's sake," Erzsébet moaned, "I swear on the Deck, it's like keeping watch on a golden retriever puppy."
Erzsébet gave her horse a little signal to move, and rode down the hill towards where Alfred was now chatting with the farmers. Basch quickly followed her, leaving Lovino alone at the top of the hill with his thoughts once again.
With the uninterrupted moment of peace and quiet, Lovino looked northwest again and focused on recalling his last visit with Feliciano, only for his mind to draw a blank. He couldn't remember Feliciano's last visit to Oriasa, nor his own last visit to Nodiff. The more he tried to remember anything about their separation to different kingdoms, he found that even more memories seemed to be missing.
Including how they became Royals of different Suits in the first place. When did Feliciano leave him to become the Jack of Clubs?
Realizing where this strange train of thought had led him, Lovino shook his head and rolled his eyes skyward.
"For fucks sake, snap out of it," Lovino muttered to himself, "This is ridiculous, I'll remember it later for sure."
Lovino looked back down the hill, where Erzsébet and Basch had just reached Alfred's side to speak with the tomato farmers, and led his horse forward to go join them.