"Again with this nonsense!?"

There was an abrupt smack and the clattering of the wooden hairbrush as it skittered across the floor tiles. The young princess gasped and recoiled from the sudden sound, feeling the hand gripping her dark auburn hair release it in favor of cuddling her shoulders close in comfort. Her wide eyes searched the room for the reason why her mommy had tossed the pretty hairbrush aside. She wasn't sure, but maybe Uncle had something to do with it.

He was glowering over them, arm raised, his long curly beard making him look very much like a bear. But not in a cute teddy bear kind of way.

She felt her mom gently squeeze her shoulders once more, before leaning in to whisper her soft, singing voice in her ear.

"Kairi, sweetheart, Uncle and I have something to discuss now. Would you please go out to the tulip garden and check on your grandmother? She must be getting lonely."

Ever wanting to please her mother, the little princess chirped in affirmation and jumped to her feet, giving a small curtsy to her uncle on the way out. Kairi really did want to obey, but there was something very scary about Uncle today. Pretending to shut the door on her way out, she snuggled down onto the hall floor, and peeked through the very small crack she had left ajar. She wanted to be there to help, just in case Uncle was having another one of his 'bad days' again. He had been having a lot of those lately. He was so much like mommy, and yet so much unlike her at the same time.

She had been told they were born at the same time, so that's why they look so similar. But her mommy definitely didn't have a beard, so she wasn't sure why they said that. And while her mother always encouraged her to think outside the rules, her uncle had been the one to rap the ruler back down over her knuckles.

"You know you aren't to be doing things like this! You know if you so much as-"

"I will not sit here and be lectured about my own daughter! Here I am wearing these dreadful gloves, as ordered, but that's just suddenly not good enough, now!? I must be forced to watch my beautiful child grow up at arms length!?"

Kairi saw her mother rip off her long silk gloves, scrunch them up into an angry ball and hurl them against the floor where the joined the discarded hairbrush. She trembled against the cold floor of the hall, realizing all too late that this wasn't something she was meant to hear.

But she couldn't move.

"You are flirting with disaster, sister. You know mother's health is...waning. Kairielis is-"

"Kairi. Her name is Kairi." Her mother hissed, like a coiled snake.

From the other side of the door, Kairi did her best not to gasp.

There was a silence, and she saw Uncle scoop the limp gloves from the floor and stare down at them angrily before shoving them back in her mother's direction.

Her mother refused to take them, and she was looking so sad that Kairi wanted nothing more than to burst back in the room and sing songs with her again. But she doubted her uncle would be too happy with her eavesdropping, and would yell at mommy again.

"You of all people should understand." The queen spoke coldly. "You can hold your daughter. Kiss her. Cuddle her fears away. How would you feel if Namine could perform Light Refraction as well?"

Her uncle seemed uncomfortable, and he folded his arms across his chest.

"That doesn't change the fact that Kairi is the last hope of this kingdom to survive. We can't risk her losing the Ability. After mother passes..." His voice choked to a stop, and he took a moment to clear his throat.

"I will be candid. Mother will not be around forever. Neither of us can complete the ritual, so eventually Kairi will be the only one who can."

Her knees hurt very badly now in the cramped position she had been holding to try and get the best view. She tried to ignore it to keep her eyes on her family, not wanting to miss anything important.

"You know how vital that ritual is. If we don't perform it, the darkness will return...the very earth itself will destroy us. We need your daughter."

"Your niece." Her mother corrected him.

"Don't be pedantic."

"Pedantic? Me? I simply can't believe you've lost so much of your humanity."

"You shouldn't be moralizing to me, when you are the one letting your emotions put the entire kingdom in jeopardy!"

Her uncle was shouting again, while her mother sat quite rigidly in her chair. But that didn't mean she looked any less upset because the fury wasn't painted across her delicate features.

"I don't want her to have a childhood like ours. We know the pain of wanting nothing more than to hug our own mother and being constantly rebuked for it. It's a horrible tragedy neither of us should perpetuate. Or have you forgotten?"

Kairi heard Uncle sigh heavily.

"No. No, I haven't. I admit that she has a heavy burden to bear, especially for one so young, but bear it she must. For the good of her people."

"And what about what is good for her?"

"It is simply too risky. We can talk around and around in circles about this countless times, but you know just as well as I do that we cannot afford the risks. If anyone without the Ability touches her she could lose it completely. It is a superstition, of course, but those are the words of the legend and now isn't the time to test it. Even with gloves on it is far too serious to be acting so leisurely!"

Her mother said nothing in return, only continued picking at a loose thread on the arm of the large floral patterned chair. After a moment, she finally reached back out and took the gloves from her twin brother.

Kairi thought she could see her hands shaking heavily, but it was so very hard to see.

"I...if only I had been given..."

Her uncle, in a very gentle motion, patted her mother on the arm. "I know."

"Why did it find us unworthy? Why would it forsake me? Forsake you? Out of spite? I'd suffer the pain of a thousand knives if it would mean I could hug my daughter, even just once. If I had the Ability I could..."

"Perhaps we can both only hope that the darkness that ever looms beneath us is only legend and not fact."

Kairi didn't really know what was going on. There were so many big words; scary words. They weren't shouting any more, which made her happy at least, but neither of them looked very happy. She couldn't help but feel like it maybe was her fault somehow. She had heard her name an awful lot. All she understood was what she already knew- that she had a very important job, same as her grandma. Feeling guilty about eavesdropping, and because the pain in her knees was growing, she teetered up to her feet and gathered up the skirt of her dress so she could more easily scamper her way out to the garden.

Picking them each some nice flowers might help! And she was sure her grandmother would enjoy that, too. Her grandmother did always like flowers, especially when she was feeling a bit sick.

Merrily skipping on her way, the young princess had no idea the tragedy that was soon to befall her. For within a month from that moment, she would lose her family, and be forced to live among her loneliness as the days stretched to weeks, to months, to years.

First the queen mother would pass away from illness, leaving behind her bereft family, and the almost unbearable weight of responsibility. A responsibility resting entirely on the shoulders of a young, four year old girl who wasn't old enough to handle it.

Thus, the dark seed full of hatred and malice buried deep within the earth, having nothing to trim it back, sprouted wild. It sought out to corrupt and destroy anything the light touched, to bring it all back to the darkness whence it came.

For it was more than just a fairy tale monster; it was real. It would be the start of the two long weeks of Darkfall.

While those tendrils full of hatred were eventually brought to justice, it cost a heavy price, and the losses among everyone were nearly immeasurable. Homes, livelihoods, and precious lives were forfeited. That sweet young princess, so full of light, now playing and laughing among the tulips with her grandma would be no exception to the toll.

Her mother would not survive the first night.

The fallen queen would be forever branded as a tainted heathen, a failure to her people, and her memory spat upon by those seeking someone to blame. 'She was the oldest child by a minute,' they would say 'so it was her responsibility to stop this. But what did she do instead? Break every rule she could.'

The king, though he had not lost his life, began to live like the dead- unemotional, detached, coldly pushing his daughter away lest either of them befall the same fate as his queen. He would also henceforth begin an even stricter adherence to every rule in the books, clinging to old faith to save him and his kingdom.

And so the princess would be alone, her personal tragedy unresolved.

For a piece of her was lost somewhere, forever missing and empty.

The name that her mother had so lovingly called her felt sour being spoken by anyone else, and she would staunchly refuse to use it until she felt whole again.

And so she would no longer be Kairi.

Kairielis shook her head and sighed, staring at the glass beaker as the light slowly faded from it, leaving the water now plain and unchanged in front of her.

"I'm afraid it's no good. I'm sorry I couldn't make it stick..."

Ienzo jotted a few notes down into one of his many scratch books and nodded with solemn understanding.

"I see. However, there's no need to take any blame Your Highness, it is an experiment after all. All results, even ones less than ideal provide data that will have use eventually."

Even, the castle's head scientist, squinted one large eye into the beaker, just to double check, swirling its contents briefly before acquiescing defeat.

"A few more experiments, then. Off to the lab!"

The scientist and the records keeper departed from the room, taking their various samples with them. Even seemed completely wrapped up in his thoughts, cradling his beaker like a small infant in his arms while Ienzo offered a cursory nod in Riku's direction. He briefly cast his eyes off towards Sora, but said nothing, then closed the door behind himself with a soft clack.

Sora, she noticed, barely even registered the scrutiny because he was still ogling her, eyes wide, like she had just done some impressive feat of magic. But surely he must have known all about her powers? It wasn't exactly insider information. That, and...it was just some bubbles.

"That's so amazing! You put...sparkles in the water just by touching it."

Um...had he missed the part where it didn't work? Clearly.

"She didn't put 'sparkles' in it, Sora. It's called Light Refraction. She's literally injecting it with light. That's what purifies the water of the kingdom and keeps the darkness out. She'll be doing that ritual at the temple every morning and starting tomorrow we'll be joining her." Riku rapped his knuckles against his friend's noggin. "Or is that another thing you forgot?"

Sora waved him off. "Of course not!"

She propped her head up by her elbows on the table and smiled over at the knight standing across from her. "Tomorrow you'll be able to see the real thing."

"Can't wait!"

"I-it won't really be that..."

He looked so dang excited that she felt a twinge of anxiety ripple through her body. Hopefully he wasn't expecting some grand display; she would hate to disappoint a face like that.

"It's...not that impressive..."

"Of course it's impressive! It's magic. Actual, real magic!"

Despite her stuttered hesitations, he was still carrying on with unbridled enthusiasm. Maybe she really had stopped appreciating the sheer unique charm of her powers, a charm that he was completely enraptured by. But at the same time it was hard to stay so enthused about something she did every day, rain or shine, even with a fever, half-asleep or awake. She was about to mention this, but Riku countered her point before she could make it.

"Don't underestimate his ability to enjoy the most mundane things. Years into his training and he is still humming his way through our morning stretches."

"Nothing wrong with thinking positive." Sora interjected with a shrug, plopping himself down on the windowsill behind him.

Pressure's off, then, she supposed. If he could get excited about warm-ups there's no doubt she could hold his attention with some...'sparkly' water.

Feeling a bit more relaxed now, she eyed the boy on the other side of the table. Sora still looked happy, but was itching at the side of his face with a lone finger, almost like he actually had been a bit embarrassed with Riku's assessment.

She decided she wanted to try this whole teasing thing herself.

"And here I was told you like to sleep all the time. Anywhere and everywhere. That's not out of boredom, then?" She gave him a coy little smile of her own.

"Hey, naps can be fun! Besides, it doesn't really matter what you are doing—what's more important is the company you are doing it with."

"Mm-hmm...does that mean you are often falling asleep on other people?"

He balked, and it looked like the embarrassment on his face was spreading slightly.

"N-no..." Sora's denial fell silent as he caught sight of the slight smirk forming on Riku's face. He likely realized that there was no way he could hide from whatever dirt his friend had on him.

"Well okay, maybe I did a few times, but not on purpose..."

"Sure you didn't." Riku gave him a light punch on the arm and he sighed.

"It's just because I feel comfortable around my friends. Because, if anything bad happens while I'm asleep I know Riku would help m-"

She saw her opportunity and pounced.

"Sounds to me like you're a lazy bum who is happy to let your friend be first in line to take care of trouble."

Riku exhaled sharply, almost like half a scoff. "Pretty much."

"Aw, come on..."

Sora was pouting now, ever so slightly.

Kairielis had dipped her toe just slightly into the stream of friendly banter, but really liked how nice and refreshing it was. She had never really gotten much chance to peck out little jabs at anyone other than the castle cat, or the stuffy people in the hallway paintings, and there was something so much more special and wholesome actually being able to do it with a willing partner. It also helped that Sora was being so adorable about it.

She saw his usual carefree demeanor returning and he bounced his heels lightly against the wall.

"Well...no matter what happens tomorrow morning I wanted to at least say thanks for all the effort you put in to do something like that every day." He pointed to the now empty place on the table where the beaker once sat. "That was just a small cup, and I bet doing the whole water supply is extra challenging. It's a lot of effort to help a lot of people. So...yeah. Thank you."

Now it was her turn to feel slightly flushed.

"It's...I...you're welcome."

She fumbled her words out, not sure why such a simple statement could affect her so strongly. But maybe because no one had ever thanked her. Not as far as she could ever remember. It was simply...expected that she would do the ritual, so she did. She knew everyone was grateful, but to hear the words actually being said out loud was something else entirely. Various thoughts tumbled around in her head but she couldn't seem to find anything to cling to.

It was only a thank you. Why was she getting mixed up?

"Out of curiosity, what was the purpose of the water experiment they brought in here?" Riku's question snapped her out of her dizzy reverie.

"Um...researching Light Refraction, mostly." She answered, still feeling a bit dizzy. "We don't really know how it works. I inherited it from my grandmother, who inherited it from her father, and so on, up the family line. It seems to only appear in the first born child, so some say it skipped my mother and her brother because they were twins. But other than that...nothing much. Right now I'm the only one who can use it, so there isn't anyone else to ask or run tests on."

"You said they were only 'mostly' studying Refraction?" Riku pressed.

"They are also working on developing artificial rain, to help solve the issue of the drought. But if the rain created in the lab can't hold my blessing it won't do any good. So far nothing has stuck. And...if it doesn't rain soon..."

"Resource allocation begins?"

Riku certainly was quick on the uptake.

She nodded, quite grimly. "I hope it won't come to that. I know in my heart that the water we have left will need to go to our people and crops first and foremost, which means letting several gardens run dry. But...to actually have to give the orders to divert the supply lines? To do something I know will result in death? Even...even if its just the death of a plant..."

She chewed at her lower lip. It was a bad habit, unbecoming, childish, and whatever else the ever graceful Miss Trepe had labeled it, but she couldn't help it.

"I'm glad." Riku nodded at her, prompting a hesitant glance by Sora in his direction.

"Uh...you're...glad?" Sora prodded his friend in the shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just what I said. I'm glad that she is taking her duties and responsibilities seriously. Far too many royalty simply sit back and take in the luxury without accepting the burdens it comes with."

She noticed Sora breathe out a sigh of relief and laugh a bit to himself. Most likely happy that his friend wasn't actually relishing in plant homicide, or just finding his own misunderstanding amusing. Riku didn't even address the misunderstanding at all, just mumbled something to him that she couldn't hear and chuckled a bit himself.

Sora met her gaze and his smile broadened. "Well if that's case, I'm glad too. It's great that you care about all life, even the little plants and flowers. I hope it rains soon so you don't have to worry any more, but I think being worried in the first place means you are a good princess and a good person, too."

It was a childishly simple way to think about things, for even a thoughtful ruler could be misguided, but was comforting nonetheless. And part of her wished more people in the castle could be as earnest and open as him.

Her mother had always encouraged her to do the same, from what she could remember.

"You are my beautiful Kairi, not a cookie-cutter princess. They might tell you who you are but they're wrong. And the question I want to know is...what kind of cookie is my sweet little girl going to be? Chocolate? Plain sugar? Sour cream? Maybe even...raisin!?"

She remembered the giggles, her begging her mother not to let her be a yucky raisin cookie, but at the end of it all, looking back, she knew her mother just wanted her to follow her own heart.

Her father might not be very approving of this knight, but something told her that her mother would have absolutely loved him.

Maybe it is good that there wasn't any rain. If he is this sweet he would probably melt straight away in the slightest downpour.

"You know, Sora...I wish you could have met my mother."

"Huh?"

He was clearly confused by the non sequitur. In his eyes, they had just been discussing rain and flowers and it took him for a minute to adjust his thoughts to what she had said.

"O-oh. Yeah, she seemed like a real great lady to me. Or at least from what I know."

A markedly unusual response, like always.

"I'm surprised to hear you say that. Most people look down on her memory. They say she was selfish, recklessly flaunted the rules, nearly destroyed the entire kingdom, and that I should do everything in my power to never grow up to be like her, but..."

"Who would say something awful like that!?" Sora looked horrified, glancing between the other two in the room as if he couldn't believe such a thing was possible and was waiting for the reveal that it was a terrible joke.

Riku grimly confirmed her words with a nod.

"Lots of people do, unfortunately. It seems no one ever told them it never does any good to talk poorly of those who have already passed. Attributing blame to the deceased is often used as a way for people to feel better about themselves without having to change their own actions but it doesn't fix anything, and can even impede future progress."

He was sharply accurate yet again.

But that didn't bring her much comfort.

Kairielis leaned back in her chair to listen, turning her eyes up at the large painting of several water birds wading in shallow waves looking for clams that was hanging up next to her.

"What is important is learning from the past and building upon it, not heaping blame onto others and refusing to accept any personal responsibility."

Kairielis could tell that this was something Riku took very seriously, maybe even personally. She wished she could know more about his family or back story. It felt like he had a lot to share.

If only he could.

"Thank you, Riku. It's good to hear that not everyone is against her. I'm usually not able to talk about her because people will just tell me to hush and forget her."

"That's the last thing you should do!" Sora sat up, his hands gripping the edge of the window sill firmly.

She had never seen Sora look this serious before. But even when serious, his aura wasn't a dark, dim cloud. More like he was a burst of sun breaking through a storm, vibrant and inspiring.

"Please...please don't do that. In fact, if you ever want to talk about her, I'm sure both of us would be more than happy to listen. I'm sorry you didn't get to spend a lot of time with her, but thinking about those few memories that you share now and again is a great way to keep a part of her around with you forever."

She knew this was the same carefree boy as before, his passionate plea was so positive she definitely couldn't hear it coming from anyone else, but something felt...different about him. He almost reminded her of something she could barely see in her minds eye, like an imaginary friend she had long forgotten. Someone nostalgic and warm…

And a song, lingering deep in the back of her memory suddenly popped back into place.

"I...remember her music the most. She had this beautiful blue harp that she would play for us. I remember sitting in the gardens with her, making up nursery rhymes to new melodies she came up with."

"Still remember any?" Sora asked.

She nodded without a moment of hesitation, but noticed the attention focused intently on her from the two of them and she blanched a little. What, did they expect her to sing it? Here?

Waving his hands in front of him in small panicked circles, Sora tried to avert his eyes from her.

"You don't have to sing it if you don't want to!"

"It's not that I don't want to sing in front of you—I've hummed a lot around my guards before. I've just never had to sing while actually knowing someone was listening. I'm...not sure if that makes sense."

Riku shrugged. "Seems reasonable to me."

She had the feeling that Riku wasn't a big fan of being the center of attention either.

"Oh! I got it!" Sora jumped off the sill and dropped himself backwards down on a chair, now facing the corner of the room. "If I sit like this, does it help?"

He glanced over his shoulder and gave his friend a hurried wave. "Riku, go stare out the window or...pretend you are guarding something."

"Oh? We are just pretending to guard now, are we? So what are you guarding over there? Wallpaper?"

"Uh..." He searched the area around his feet for an object or two but was coming up short.

Kairielis giggled, feeling strangely like a lot of shimmery bubbles were filling her up, lifting her up to her feet, each one containing a little gasp of laughter and joy.

And she started feeling a little mischievous again.

"Oh, I'll sing. But only if Riku sings first."

He was still facing the window but she saw Riku's shoulders wince and could only imagine the horrified look on his face. Sora, however, whipped back around in his chair to face her.

"Aw...if you're going to do that, at least pick something that isn't impossible..."

"Oh my...are you questioning my orders? I wasn't aware you could do thaaat..." She twirled a piece of hair around her finger, loving the teasing game they had been slowly accustoming her to.

Riku breathed out very slowly and crossed his arms. "Well, as far as I could tell, your orders were quite conditional."

That was true. She had said 'if'. Darn his solid attention to detail.

"Can I sing with him at least?" Sora seemed genuinely hopeful.

Of course this one would like singing.

Kairielis waved her hand regally, playing up the drama as much as she could. "I suppose I shall allow such a thing, my knight."

Accepting the role-play immediately, Sora put his hand on his chest and bumped his heels together. "Your gracious charity is most appreciated!"

She heard Riku click his tongue. "Yeah, well, I never said I was going to sing. You'll just be wasti-"

Pushing forward unimpeded, Sora burst into a song. It was a cute little nursery rhyme about an acorn rolling down a hill into the sea and befriending a grumpy catfish. Kairielis couldn't help but marvel at how well it fit the two of them. A little acorn Sora, on a grand adventure through the unknown ocean while trying to get Riku the catfish to dance with him.

Sora made sure to include extra hand motions as he sang. But soon he seemed to be coming to the end and Riku still hadn't participated in a single note. She wanted to give him credit for the effort, but if his friend didn't at least join in a bit she would probably have to mark it a failure. Rules were rules, after all.

Undaunted, Sora kept at it, almost as if he was sure Riku would join in eventually.

Our little happy acorn, he kept dancing in the bay.

Dancing with his new best friend, with not a lot to say.

Sora tapped Riku on the shoulder but he rolled his eyes with a groan, still refusing.

When the catfish opened up his great big mouth to speak…

The only sound that came out was a...

Sora held out the last word grandly, prodding his friend in the stomach, before repeating the last words again, with extra emphasis.

"Was a..."

Groaning into the hand covering his face, Riku barely managed to half mumble half sing the last line, reluctance dripping from every word.

"Squeaky. Squeak. Squeak..."

Well, what do you know? He actually managed to get something out of him.

She offered enthusiastic applause, feeling like they definitely deserved it for their trouble. Sora gave an exaggerated bow and dropped back into his chair. Riku kept glaring out the window, properly embarrassed.

"I suppose I'll have to sing now to hold up my end of the bargain."

"Only if you want to."

She watched the spikes of his hair bounce around again. It was almost hypnotic. "Mm...well...I feel like it wouldn't be too fair on Riku to have him sing for no reason, so..."

Here goes nothing.

The tune came to her surprisingly easy, despite never having thought about the song in years, let alone sing it. But something about Sora just made that memory rise to the top of her consciousness.

Cheer up my little rain cloud, what are you crying for?

We are both together now, within in this big downpour.

Even though the rain is cold, and darkness looms around-

She made the mistake of looking at him.

The way his eyes focused on her, and only her, with that bright beaming smile on his face suddenly gave her the most trembling, fluttering anxious shiver she ever had in the pit of her stomach.

Her voice faltered and she stumbled through the next few lines. Was she really this scared of a boy? A boy that friendly?

Impossible.

...right?

Just as she was about to stutter the song to a halt, unable to continue, she heard his cheery voice join in with her recitation to help her out, somehow managing to not miss a single word.

So remember little cloud, if all the light has gone,

I am always here with you, let's make a rainbow dawn.

Before she could react, Sora gave a triumphant cheer.

"Wow, that was a really nice one! Sorry for jumping in at the end there, I just got a little worried you maybe forgot the..."

He noticed her glaring at him, and his voice trailed off cold.

"W-was my singing that bad? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"How did you know the words." She said this tersely, not even asking it as a question.

None of it made any sense.

She definitely remembered coming up with the words to that song with her mother. That exact song. Her mother had told her it was their special song, a good luck charm in case she ever was lonely or sad. No one else should know it. Or should have even heard it.

No one but her and her mother.

How could he know something that private?

She felt like she had been splashed with cold water, like this whole thing was some nasty joke. He wasn't even offering up an excuse, just gaping at her like he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. There were only a few possible reasons that she could come up with in her mind, and all of them meant that he was hiding something profoundly important from her.

The idea that he could be hiding something possibly about her mother, sent fury shaking down her spine.

"How did you know!" The volume of her shout startled him and he shrank back away from her like a scolded animal cowering from a newspaper.

"I j-just...I just remembered it..."

The confusion and hurt twisted on his face was really hard to look at but she tried to fight through the sinking feeling in her stomach because she needed this answer. She had to know.

"The only way for you to know that song is if you knew her! Or knew me? What are you hiding!?"

Tears swelled up at the edges of her eyelids and she struggled not to let it fall down her cheeks.

Why, why, why.

Her struggle was futile, and she felt cold streaks against her burning face.

"I'm sorry...I can't..." He apologized, and while she knew it was him speaking, it was completely different. For once, his voice had completely lost its cheer. It was lackluster. Almost like the resigned voice of a caged bird staring out an open window, longing to be free but utterly barred from doing so.

Kairielis wiped at her eyes in despair, refusing to look up, lest his crestfallen face make her feel worse than she already did. She knew, at the end of it all, he really couldn't be hiding something too nefarious behind that face of his. He was too kind, too innocent.

Seeing the hurt on his face was enough for her to regret shouting at him. All he had wanted was to try to make her happy and remind her about her mother.

And even if he was hiding something, it wasn't his fault. Those were the orders he had to live by every day. The same rules that she had to accept. The rules that resulted in the inescapable solitude of her life. As upset as she had just been, she realized that all three of them were all victims of these accursed rules forced upon them, and there was not much that could be done about it.

It certainly wouldn't do to take her frustrations out on them, or Sora in particular.

All this had made her realize how little she could trust her memories. How little she had left of her mother. And despite feeling like she had gotten closer to these two over the course of the day, she understood she didn't really know them or their pasts at all. She likely never would.

"Your Highness..." Riku cautiously entered himself into the conversation, having finally peeled himself away from the window.

She didn't rebuke him, feeling too low to do so, so he continued.

"I don't know if this is the reason or not, but my father used to serve as a castle knight during the time your mother was queen. It's possible he overheard that song and sang it to us as children. I wouldn't have been too interested in those things, but Sora would have paid attention and kept it in the back of his head, I'd imagine."

She noticed he had slipped back into more formal language again. I guess he also was made starkly aware of the chains that bound them all. But his words were also overall a flimsy excuse that she didn't quite believe. But believe it or not, she understood perfectly what was going on.

They knew more than they were telling her. But no matter what they wanted to do, they couldn't tell her the truth. When faced with revealing their secret, or simply lying, her little earnest Sora just couldn't bring himself to do either, so Riku interjected instead.

He had made up something to help out his friend, even if it meant giving away some personal information, and breaking a rule by doing so. Riku wouldn't do that lightly.

It meant their secret, whatever it was, was something important.

Her eyes finally decided to seek Sora out. He was staring intently at his gloves, picking at them with somber resignation. She called out his name gently and he winced. A horrible twinge of guilt socked her in her core.

"Sora, I'm so sorry for snapping at you like that, it was uncalled for."

She chanced another look, and was surprised at how calmly he was sitting now, like she hadn't just completely chewed him out a moment ago. Before she could open her mouth to say anything more, she saw the smallest spark of light ignite in his eyes, and that wonderful, clumsy, beaming smile of his was back.

Thank goodness. He didn't seem broken.

"So...uh...I'm not fired, then?"

Yep, judging from that face he was definitely okay.

She wanted nothing more than to gently bop him on the head.

"Of course I'm not going to dismiss you that easily, silly. This whole thing was my fault for getting so worked up. I should know that you two can't tell me everything."

His smile faltered a little and he jabbed his finger into the side of the chair a few times. "I would tell you everything if I could. But...truthfully I don't even remember a few things myself."

"It's not your fault." She felt like she needed to emphasize this again. "It's just a frustrating situation. I can never really get to know anyone or learn anything about them. I'm not able to get close to anyone and sometimes I get so...I get so sick of it. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it! It's actually a good thing that you snapped at me."

She blinked back at him. Add 'baffling' to his growing list of personality traits right up there next to 'endlessly optimistic'.

"Um...why is it a good thing, exactly?"

"Sometimes when we get angry it helps clear up a lot of things we try to keep bottled up inside here." He patted his chest with an open hand. "So...now I know what is making you sad. And now I know what I can do to fix it!"

Still speechless, she watched him leap up to his feet and practically bounce over to the door of the room, throwing it open.

"Fix...it?"

Unless he was planning on drafting up a new addendum or two to the national rule charter it was unlikely that he would be able to fix the case of her seclusion, or that the two of them weren't allowed to discuss personal information with her.

"We're going to go on an adventure!" He stretched his hand out towards her, thought better of it, shook his head, and withdrew it with a nervous laugh. "Oops! Nearly forgot about that."

Kairielis was still confused, but intrigued. She slowly got up to follow, not sure what to make of the whole situation.

"Where are we going?"

More of those cute hair-bobbing head tips as he considered her question.

"I'm sure you've been all over the seven Gardens, right?"

"Yes, of course. I've been on diplomatic-"

"And so I'm sure you know the town here pretty well, too?"

Where was he going with this? She narrowed her eyes.

"Yes..."

"Then for the rest of today we are going to take you out to the Gardens, where you can not see them for the first time!"

Riku finally decided to break his silence. "We? I hope you don't mean me because I'm completely lost."

Raising her hand in agreement, she bobbed her head. "And me. How can I not see something I've already-"

Another genuine laugh and he gestured excitedly for both of them follow. "I guess you'll just have to come see what you'll not see and then you'll...uh...see..." He paused, his mouth clearly getting ahead of himself.

And none of that winding sentence told her anything.

"Oh! One quick question before we go- you are allowed to ride on wyverns and stuff, right?"

"Yes. Animals, especially wyverns aren't restric-"

"Great!"

One glance at Riku let her know that he was equally in the dark about this whole thing, so it was definitely something spontaneous. It seemed they were both going to have to navigate this maze together.

What exactly was this chaotic whirlwind of a boy planning?

She expected Riku to rattle off some reasons why it was a bad idea, but to her surprise he just turned to her and shrugged.

"Sometimes it's best just to go along for the ride. There's generally a method to his madness."

And, like always, she figured Riku was probably right.

She decided to let go, stop fighting it, and let the breeze carry her away to places unknown.