{-Alfonse-}

He spent the night at the royal castle, and headed out in the morning. Although it took less time than he thought to get lost, since he remembered a bit too late that he actually had no idea where he was going.

"No, Feathers, we aren't going up!"

Alfonse stopped. That was coming from above him.

"FEATHERS, WE'RE GOING DOWN THIS INSTANT OR ELSE I'M NOT GIVING YOU A SUGAR CUBE WHEN WE GET BACK HOME!"

The only response was a whinny, followed by a girl seemingly falling out of the sky.

"I said WE not ME, Feathers!" She pulled a feather out of her hair. "'You'll be good with pegasi,' she says, 'you never like staying on the ground anyway.' WELL GUESS WHAT, ELLIE, ANIMALS HATE ME."

Alfonse walked over to her, reaching his hand out. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. It's not the first time I've been thrown off midair." She got up and brushed off her skirt.

Having a closer look at her, he realized her lack of modest clothing. From the short skirt to the shirt that just barely seemed to cover what it was supposed to, enough of her mocha-colored skin was showing to make him feel uncomfortable.

"It's black not blue," she stated. At his confused expression, she shrugged. "A lot of people ask me if my hair's black or blue. It's black. It just looks blue in certain lighting." She stepped back to observe him. Realization flashed across her face. "HEY, I KNOW YOU! You're Sharena's brother, right?"

Well, that was a new one. Alfonse had been called plenty of things in his lifetime, but "Sharena's brother" was never one of those. "What? I—I mean, yes, but—"

She gasped. "SHARENA NEVER TOLD YOU ABOUT ME?! We saw each other at the party my parents threw a few months back! Remember? I was sitting by Dad when you two came to talk to the Anna that had been listening to Dad's stories all night."

This felt exactly like when someone would walk up to him and start talking to him like they'd known each other for years, ask how they knew him, and to be answered with "I visited you and your mother all the time when you were little!" as if he was supposed to remember everything from the moment he was born to the current day. More often than not, though, Sharena seemed to know whoever they were and continued on the conversation on his behalf.

"I know what you're talking about but I'm sorry to say I don't know who you are."

"Not even Ellie? She's, like, three times better than me at everything. You can't tell me Sharena's never even mentioned us once?"

He shook his head.

"Damn. Really thought I'd made an impression on her. I mean, she smiled in my direction! She got along better with my own pegasus than I do!" She shook her head and put her hand out. "Anyways, I guess we need to introduce ourselves! It's not my real name and Mom hates it when I ask people to call me this, but you can call me Enn. You're, uh…let me guess…um… Alfredo?"

"Alfonse," he corrected. It only felt odder since he had the feeling that she honestly did not know his name and did not just say that to annoy him.

"Close enough!" Enn smiled warmly. "So, what brings you so close to our not-so-humble abode? Maybe I could help. I could also put on a coat if you want. I'm told my fashion choices make people uncomfortable, but most guys don't seem to mind though from the way you're focusing on my face I think I'm disturbing you."

"If you want to," Alfonse replied.

"Ooo, fancy." She looked around, walking over to a nearby tree and pulling down a satchel. Enn dug through it, taking out a crimson coat and putting it on. "Hey, if I was about to step in a mud puddle would you take off that dramatic cape of yours and put it on the ground so then I'd step on it instead?"

"Most likely not."

"You're part of the nobility, right?"

"The prince." It was a dull response, much more like a sigh than a proud statement.

"Most people I meet your age and status want to flirt with me. Hell, I've met guys thirty years older than me that Dad thinks I'll 'get along well' with. So I'm just super confused on why you're not like that. I've got another question—would you treat me any differently if I was a guy?"

"I don't think I would."

"I'm starting to like you. I can get why you're so close now. Well, I didn't think you were close at first because she doesn't really talk about you unless someone asks, but at the party I saw you two being cute and sibling-y and I realized you were close." Enn shrugged. "Back to our other line of conversation, what brings you here?"

Alfonse gave her a brief, general idea of what he needed. She looked like she was listening carefully but the way she started bouncing excitedly midway through told him only half of what he was saying was actually being processed.

"I can totally help with that! Kind of! Although I don't actually have an answer, I have this." Enn turned to the satchel, eventually pulling out a map and waving it. "The king came to Dad after a weird lady came to the castle. I dunno exactly what they talked about, but Dad was asked to find out more. He got stumped after a few days. When I turned nineteen a few weeks ago, he gave me the map he found. I've been waiting for a traveling companion for forever since Mom doesn't let me adventure on my own anymore ever since I nearly burned down a village."

He had a feeling he'd end up regretting this eventually. "Will your parents mind, though?" A part of him was still wrapping his head around the fact that she wasn't much younger than him.

She shrugged. "I'll just drop by, tell them I've got a tag-along, and we can go. We won't be gone very long—this map leads someplace that's only a couple days away from here. I guess the real question is if your people would care?"

"They know I'm going to be gone awhile; it's fine." Well, Sharena knew. And really she was the only one he was really concerned about. "Shall I wait here for you, then?"

"It shouldn't take me very long, and if it does I probably got grounded. So if I'm not back in thirty minutes, go to the castle and I'll meet you there."

(A/N: you know, you never find out how Enn almost burned a village... she didn't mean to, I swear.

Enn calling Alfonse "Alfredo" was actually something me and a friend came up with when we probably really needed to go to sleep. At least the first three letters are right? And there's an o and e in both..?)