After a long –and slightly dangerous- journey, the two finally reached Kinkan. Their hand holding one another's, their fingers locked. They looked slightly dirty, but that was to be expected. Their entire journey back was, well, hard. Fakir ended up forgetting his horse and supplies back at Saraocia. They had to sleep on the ground. And, well, for Ahiru to run a bit faster at times, they had to rip her dress a bit. So, torn clothes and covered in dirt from head to toe, the two walked back into town. A warm feeling had hit them. The smell of fresh baked foods wavered in the air.
Ahiru sighed, relieved. She may have loved Saraocia, her father and everyone else but…she loved Fakir more. And who was to keep her from true happiness? It didn't seem fair to do so, especially to her who had gone through so much as…as…the old Ahiru? No! She was still Ahiru, even if she was also still Tutu… She shook her head. Nothing seemed to make any sense! Then again, had anything made sense to begin with? Being a duck? The monster raven? Drosslemeyer? Nothing ever had seemed right. Her grip on Fakir's hand tightened slightly, but he seemed to notice.
"Ahiru? Are you alright?" he asked, concerned. He noticed Ahiru had some odd look on her face. It looked sad, angry and…confused all at the same time. He wondered how that was possible. But then again, possible? Impossible? In Kinkan, there was no difference. He smiled and leaned forward, kissing her on the forehead. She looked up and smiled back.
"Yeah. Just thinking," she said. No one was out and about on the streets. She wondered why. Maybe it was Sunday. She looked towards the Church. Nothing there. Maybe it wasn't Sunday. She shrugged and turned back to Fakir. "So…where to now?" she asked. To his house? To the academy? Where was going to live? Where? And what would she do now? She really didn't know what to do…
"I don't know, really. How about we go back to my place to get some better clothes before we do anything else," he said, nodding towards their clothes, ripped, stained, etc.
She nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good to me," she chimed with a bright smile. Fakir blushed and turned his head. Despite already telling her he loved her, some things would still probably get to him. This would still be one of them.
The two walked back to Fakir's place. The same small hut where Fakir, when Ahiru was a duck, lived and so on. They entered and Fakir went to his room, grabbed a large shirt and a pair of shorts and tossed it towards Ahiru.
"Well get you something else, but later. That should fit," he said as he walked off to change himself.
"And why wouldn't it!?" she called back, her face turning beet red. She could hear Fakir chuckle and her face returned to normal as she smiled shyly, looking down at the clothes. Grabbing the clothes, she walked into a spare room and changed, tossing the ripped dress aside. Hopefully they could burn it or something. She just kind of wanted to forget about her life as a "princess". It seemed too much like a fairy tale and Ahiru just wanted to live a true life. Not one with two (or three, depending on how you look at it) lives.
The two returning to the small main room. The two basically stood there in a awkward silence.
"Uh…what now?" Ahiru asked innocently.
"We could go out to the docks," Fakir said with a slight blush. Noticing the blush, Ahiru smiled as if for a cover up for a laugh.
"Fine," Ahiru chimed. "We can go," she said as she began to skip off towards the lake. Ah. Such pleasant memories living here as a duck. They were so…peaceful. So calm; relaxing. Arriving at the docks, Ahiru took a seat, letting her feet dangle just over the water's edge. Having skipped the way here, she arrived a bit faster than Fakir had. She turned her head to see Fakir taking his sweet time. Soon, he sat next to her. His hand slid towards her, locking his fingers with hers. She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. He sighed with a smile, resting his own head on hers. Her salmon hair felt soft against his cheek.
Then, without warning, a man ran up to the lovely couple. He seemed distressed, panicked. The two looked at him with concern. He huffed and puffed, obviously not used to long runs.
"I…*huff*…need to…*pant*…to tell you….*huff*…we're under attack. A neighboring kingdom is attacking!