Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: TwinkieTUTUS actually suggested the pants thing, so thanks. I hope that this is good. It was a lot, and I hope that it worked with it.

The News Is Broken

The Kingdom of Amihan

Tori came out of the stable. She had just finished another amazing ride. She smiled as she closed the door and began heading back out of the building only to be stopped by someone who was standing in front of her. He was taller than her with black hair and he had his arms folded while shaking his head.

"What?" The girl asked quietly.

"You took my pants?"

Tori looked down at the brown pants that were in place on her instead of the usual dress and then looked back at her older brother and nodded with a grin, "I can't ride the right way with a dress now can I?"

A sigh came from the older boy. "Where's Kelly?"

"Sleeping."

"Which is why you're here? Look, you can fight really well in a dress, right?"

"Yes. I've been doing it for a while."

"You've been at it for a year. So if you can fight in a dress, than you can ride in a dress."

"But…but that's not fair."

"Tori, get my pants washed and then I need them."

"Why these? Are they special?" He rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'm going back to the castle. See you later."

With that Tori took off before Cam could realize that she hadn't agreed to not wear his pants again. As she snuck back upstairs to her room she thought about how much easier it was to move in pants. It was then that another idea struck her. Instead of fighting in a dress, she would fight in pants. It would work a whole lot easier. She smiled as she thought about her and Cam's private sparring lesson later that day.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that she had passed by Kelly until, "Tori!"

She turned back around and saw the red haired girl with her mouth open. "What are you wearing?"

"I'm wearing Cam's pants." The blonde-haired girl replied matter of factly.

"I can see that. What are you thinking? You shouldn't be walking around in that."

"Why not? Why can't I? I mean dresses are fine, but have you ever worn pants?"

"No." Kelly said grabbing Tori's hand and dragging her as quickly as possible to the princess' room.

"You should try them. I can get another pair of Cam's pants."

"No, I don't need to try. Thanks though. Now why don't you go and get changed."

Tori frowned as Kelly began to help her get dressed.

The Kingdom of Brontë

Two swords clanged against each other.

"So are you planning on sweeping Leanne off her feet and away from that 'prince' she's betrothed too?"

"I told you I don't like her." The swords hit in the air.

"Really?" The older boy knocked the younger boy back a bit.

The shorter boy retaliated and moved the taller one back a few feet. "Being nice doesn't mean you like them." He more yelled as the sweat dripped off their faces. They had been working out for a few hours already as the sun burned down on the two males. The older one laughed and the dark haired younger boy swept his foot under his brother's feet and knocked him to the ground. Unfortunately for the younger one he jumped right back up and using the same move knocked his brother to the ground.

He held him there and looked at him. "Fine."

They both got up. "I don't see what's so wrong in being nice."

Hunter looked at Blake, "I'm nice. I'm nice to you."

Blake sighed, "I meant other people."

"Right." Hunter was quiet and picked up the swords and put them away. "I say we go for a ride."

"Fine."

After riding for a good half an hour the two boys slowed down and Blake spoke up, "Do you think she'll be happy with him?"

The blonde boy frowned, "I don't know."

"Are you going to…move up there when you're married?"

Hunter looked at his younger brother who had fear in his eyes. "Hey, don't worry. I'll never leave you. You need me, I'll be there."

"Really?"

"Always."

"Thanks."

They sat together in the silence that followed. Hunter and Blake had both been brought up by parents that weren't their own. Hunter had taken it on himself to protect Blake. Even though they weren't his real parents he still considered them his parents. He loved them more than anything and knew they felt the same. But than one day they had come home with another little boy. He was different than Hunter, dark skinned, dark hair, and yet Hunter knew he was needed.

The first time Hunter saw the boy on his own was when he had gone to see if Blake would play with him. He ended up having to search for the small boy finding him under the bed. Blake had a dream about his parents' death and so Hunter comforted him and had promised the three year old boy that he was always going to be there for him. And that promise would hold even today, five years from now, when they were married, until the day Hunter could no longer protect him, and that's the thought that scared him the most.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. You know Mother and Father have something to tell you when they get back from King Eric's kingdom."

"Yes. But I don't understand why they wouldn't want to talk to you. I mean you're the one marrying his daughter."

"What else is there to say? I'm going to marry her and that's that."

"What do you think it's about then?"

"I don't know. Nothing big I'm sure."

"Right." Hunter kept the other thought to himself, the thought about what the talk really was going to be about.

The Kingdom of Amihan

Tori was about to head out to her sparring lessons when Kelly came in the door. "Tori," she said in an exasperated tone, "no pants. Now look you need to get changed."

"Come on, I'm just sparring with Cam. Why can't I do that in pants?"

Kelly headed over to the closet and took out a floor length blue dress, "There's a change of activities. Your father wishes to see you."

"Oh. I was unaware that he was back."

"Come on, you know his visits with his brother never last long."

"Who can blame him? It's horrible there."

Kelly let out a small laugh. "You've never been there."

"I've heard about it."

"Alright. That's fine." Kelly buttoned up the rest of the buttons in the back. "There you go. Now you should head over to him. He's in his study."

"Thanks. I'll see you later."

Tori slowly walked to her Father's study. She was the odd one in her family; she didn't look like her Father or her brother. Her parents had been killed when she was younger and her, well, Father took her in as his own. That's how she saw him, it was her Father. And Cam, Cam was her older brother. He was very sweet, and he let her get away with everything. They both had tan skin and black hair with dark eyes. On the other hand Tori was light skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes. No one mentioned anything about it to her and she was fine with that. It didn't hurt that her parents had died, she didn't remember them.

She got to the door and a guard opened it. Going in she found her Father writing at his desk. She smiled and walked up and sat in the chair. "Father," He looked up immediately and smiled at her as he set down what he had been working on. "Kelly said you wanted to see me."

"Yes. I have something to tell you, and you may or may not like it."

Tori folded her hands in her lap just as she had been taught in class, "I'm ready."

"Alright. Do you know what betrothed is?"

The young girl couldn't resist a small giggle, "Yes. We talked about this when you betrothed Cam to that girl Leanne." Her Father nodded and waited for Tori to explain it. "It means they'll get married when they're older."

"Yes." He stood up and walked over to the window and looked out, hands clasped behind his back. "The night your parents died there was a big war. The war was between our land and the land just north of us."

"I remember learning about that. It was the two lands above that used to be together."

Tori could hear his smile, "I see you have been paying attention in class."

"Yes."

"I'm glad." He turned around and sat back in his chair across from Tori who sat up a bit straighter and brushed her hair back off of her shoulders only for it to fall back down. "We made an agreement that night."

"What kind of agreement?" Tori asked slowly already thinking she knew what he was going to say.

"The agreement of a marriage."

"A marriage with me?"

"You and one of their sons. He's a year older than you."

Tori spoke getting louder as she went on. "You're going to make me get married?! That's not fair."

"Tori, please lower your voice."

"But I don't want to."

"We made a binding contract, there's nothing I can do."

"Fine." She stood up and left much quicker than she came in.

The little girl ran back to her room ignoring everyone around her. 'How is that fair? I have to marry a complete stranger just because they don't know how to get along?' She sat on her bed and pulled her blue blanket around her. She didn't want to be a princess anymore; she didn't want to be betrothed; she didn't want to be here if it meant marrying someone from the north.

"What did he tell you?" Asked a quiet voice from the foot of her bed.

Tori turned around to see Kelly standing there looking worried. "I'm betrothed."

"Oh." Kelly came and sat next to Tori on the bed. "To whom?"

"Some guy from Brontë."

"The neighboring kingdom to the girl Cam's marrying?"

"Yes. I don't want to marry him. He's horrible."

The older girl suppressed a laugh, "Have you met him?"

"No. But they have weird ideas. Their men ignore the women. The love war and hate peace. They're blood thirsty. And—"

Kelly interrupted, "And you've been listening to Nelsa again. I told you that she's never been up there. She doesn't know about that place. She's just telling you those things because her husband died in that same war that your parents did."

"Well maybe she's right."

"I don't believe her. How can you believe someone's story about a place if they've never been there?"

Tori sighed and looked at Kelly. "Well then, how do you know?"

"Know what?"

"What Brontë's like?"

Kelly looked at her incredulously, "How should I know?"

"You talk as though you know."

"No. I don't. Now, you should really get going. Cam will be wondering where you are."

"But I was…"

"Going to change? Wait until later."

Tori gave her a look. "If I have to be married then I get to wear pants. And no one is going to stop me." Tori stood and went to change.

Cam stood on the field with a couple of swords going over some movements when he heard someone coming up behind him. He turned around only to see his little sister wearing his pants. "Tori. I told you to put those back."

"But if I put them back how could I fight?"

"What did we talk about?"

"Look I can ride better with pants, I can move better in pants, so I can fight better in pants."

Tori picked up her sword and took her stance. Cam shook his head and the two began sparring. Tori found it a lot easier to fight in pants and decided that she was going to keep those pants.

The Kingdom of Brontë, a week later.

Hunter and Blake sat outside their Father's study. "I don't know why you want me here."

"Because…"

Hunter sighed. "Don't be scared. They're not going to give you away."

"I'm not scared."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, if you say so."

Blake hit Hunter on the shoulder just as their Father's study door opened. They hadn't seen their parents because they had come back after they were asleep. Their Father looked upset, but he smiled at his two boys. "Blake, come in please."

The dark haired boy looked at his older brother before following his Father into the room. He sat down across from him and looked at him. "There is no easy way to put this Blake, so I'll just say it. You are betrothed."

"What?"

"You will be married to someone from The Kingdom of Amihan."

"Why would I be married to someone from up there?"

"Remember how the fighting stopped?"

"Yes."

"It was because of the betrothal between you and King Kanoi's daughter."

Blake's jaw hardened, "Can I go?"

"Yes."

Blake walked out past Hunter and continued with his brother following him. Hunter didn't say anything as they walked out to the stables. The two got on horses and started riding. They rode all afternoon taking breaks every now and then. Hunter didn't bring up anything until they were stopped on their hillside. The one they always talked on. "So let me guess, arranged marriage."

"Yeah. But you'll never guess with who?"

"Who?"

"The Kingdom of Amihan"

"What? Mother and Father put you with one of them?"

"I know. I don't get it. They're horrible people."

"I can't believe it."

They got off the horses and sat down on the ground. "At least you got someone way better."

"I'd take her over whoever it is that they put you with."

"I'm sorry bro. The good news? You'll still be close to me."

"At least I don't have to be with her all the time."

"That's true." Hunter put his hand on Blake's back. They sat there silent just looking out at the grounds all night.