"Brother!!!!!"
Freyjadour awoke startled and was immediately hit by the strong beam of light shining in through his bedroom window. Climbing out of bed he stumbled and fell with a crash, hard onto the cold floor. He lay there for a few moments, waiting. Everything had fallen deathly silent as if time had stopped and he found himself wondering if he was actually dreaming. Then with a piercing shriek it came again: "Brother!!!!!" Freyjadour sighed deeply and climbed to his feet, quickly pulling on a simple robe to cover his modesty and barely having time to tie it before Lymsleia came bursting in.
"Brother! How long do you intend to keep your queen waiting?" Lym gasped, her face bright red with annoyance. "Sorry Lym, I was just about to answer the door but you barely gave me time to put on any clothes" Freyjadour said with a beaming smile. Lym tried to hide her embarrassment "W-well, that's alright, I guess, but you should know by now that Sundays are when we go out to town together, after all the queen should be accompanied by a knight at all times, and you are the commander after all"
"I know, I know" Said Freyjadour softly, not entirely comfortable with the situation despite his smile. It had been 2 years since the war had ended and he was now the commander of the queen's knights, he had grown taller and the constant training with Lyon and Miakis had made him noticeably more muscular, yet he still maintained his piercing blue eyes and friendly character reminiscent of his mother and father. Apart from Lym, Lyon, Miakis and Haswar, he felt many people had begun comparing him to Ferid and it slightly unnerved him. Lymsleia, however, hadn't grown at all despite 2 years passing. Her hair however had changed colour, turning silver-grey like her brother's.
"Where's Miakis? She coming with us?" Freyjadour asked. Miakis was the only remaining queen's knight from the war. Kyle had retired and moved abroad, Galleon had also left despite overwhelming support from the public for him to stay on. Alenia and Zahhak were killed by the prince himself, and Georg had left for the north. Freyjadour had felt out of place for a while but Lyon had stood firmly by him, believing in him, and sure enough he was now a striking leader, loved by the people and idolised by the other knights that had joined the royal Falenan army.
"Miakis is preparing to come with us of course!" replied Lym quickly catching the tired prince off-guard. She stopped just as quickly and a sudden silence fell. "…….Why not ask Lyon to come with us too?"
"Lyon?……" He thought to himself for a moment. Lyon had been on assignment for 3 months and had just got back, but before she had left on that assignment the prince had gotten angry at her and the two had an explosive argument- something Freyjadour never thought could happen, but it had and now something else was on his mind, something that had been on his mind for the past year. A young swordsman, Hector, had joined their ranks and he couldn't help but notice how close the new knight and Lyon had been getting since that time. To add to this the two of them together had been selected for a mission by the queen herself- without Freyjadour, who had protested it in secret but Lymsleia had thought it would allow her to spend more time with her brother if the commander stayed at the palace and so sent Hector in his place. In a fit of jealously, the prince had stormed over to Lyon's room and forbid her to go, but Lyon argued that it was by order of the queen, and therefore could not be refused. That had been the last time they had spoke before she left and Freyjadour found himself wondering why exactly he was having these feelings for his former bodyguard turned second-in-command.
"I haven't spoken to Lyon since she got back, I haven't seen her and I don't know where she is right now". Freyjadour said grudgingly. Lymsleia instantly picked up on his brooding tone. "Y-you know, Frey, I really think you should go find her, I'll wait right here so hurry up!"
"There's no need!!" he rebuked sharply, his teeth clenched, surprising Lym. "…I'm…… we're fine without her. Miakis is coming and it's not like I can't defend myself, I am the commander of the queen's knights right? You said so yourself. I don't need a damn bodyguard!……" Lym stood quiet for a few seconds, her face no longer red with anger but instead saddened. She stared at the floor as an air of awkwardness floated over the two.
"We'll be fine" Freyjadour said quietly, trying to comfort her. He placed his hand on her shoulder "Everything's fine".
"Heeeeeyyyy! There you are princess" Miakis came bounding into the room as bubbly as ever. "I'm not your little princess anymore Miakis! I'm the queen of Falena! Your queen!" said Lym, her face turning red again. "Oops, sorry your majesty, I keep forgetting" laughed the purple-haired knight. "But it's been two years! There's no way you need reminding anymore, how can you not remember when everyone else in the palace does?! Plus, I'm wearing the crown!" Lym was getting more worked up by the second.
"There you go with that pug-nosed expression again, you'll get wrinkles your highness"
Freyjadour tried quickly changing the subject before Lym demoted Miakis from knight to janitor. "So, uh…… which shops do you want to check out today Lym?" he interrupted.
"I don't really mind Frey, as long as we get to spend time together". Freyjadour changed into his knights' gear and the trio set off from the palace. As they left the sun palace, he noticed the newly built queen's knights building where the group had been moved to after the war, and as he passed it he felt an uneasiness, was Lyon in there, with 'him'? She hadn't been to see him since she had gotten back. Freyjadour had received a report saying she and Hector had returned almost two days ago. He felt an urge to rush into the barracks and cut the new knight in half, however, he knew doing something like that was impossible. For the queen's knight commander to randomly kill a subordinate without reason or proof of having done anything wrong was just as much of a heinous crime as any common murder. How close had Lyon become with this guy during the three months they were gone? The fact the prince had argued with her for the first time in their lives before she left would have only pushed her closer to Hector if there were any feelings there in the first place. Freyjadour looked away and walked on.
Sol-falena was as bright as always, the sun always seemed to shine regardless of the season and today was no exception. The cool breeze from the sea gently grazed the princes' face and he suddenly felt an urge to run, to get away from Falena. He wondered why he hadn't taken up Georg's offer to travel with him, maybe it would have done him some good. Since the final battle in the Ashtwal mountains, all he had done was perform ceremonial duties: welcoming knights into the royal guard, helping Lym with restoring Falena and just looking pretty for the public. There hadn't been any action, any adventure, just boring, menial tasks unworthy of his talents. What was Georg doing right now?
He couldn't guess, but he knew it was probably more exciting than what was happening in Falena.
"Brother! Look at this, it's amazing! Come see! It's Revan!" Lym was scurrying around like a holly-elf. Grabbing him by the arm, she pulled Freyjadour towards a crowd of people where Miakis was already standing. Pushing through he spotted him- Revan, One of the new queen's knights, he was around the same age as the prince, had dark brown hair and blue eyes and was of average height. He had failed the entrance exam for the knight's but was put through by sheer artistry and skill with a blade, and today was his day off, he was dressed in casual clothes and was entertaining people with a rune.
Using a mother earth rune he dumped a huge chunk of rock into the sea, then with his flowing rune he froze the water from the resulting splash, and finally, fast as lightning, he carved a sculpture into the ice with his blade. It was in the shape of Ulse, and upon snapping his fingers it shattered, much to the amazement and applause of the public.
"You're as sharp as ever, Revan. Even on your days off your never just doing nothing do you?" Laughed Freyjadour as he approached.
"Your commandership!! Good to see you sir, just serving the people as I'm suppose to, no problems to report as usual around here!" Revan's expression was cheerful but the prince had learned to read people well during his battles and he could tell something was off.
"Oooohhhhhh, I know that face, when you look like that something is really wrong or something really bad is about to happen…….. so? Spill it" Freyjadour grimaced.
"I knew if you found me today this would happen, I can't hide anything from you your highness. I was told to keep it quiet, that the queen herself had told him not to let you know" Revan said quietly
"Who are you talking about? I never keep anything from brother" Lym interrupted.
"I should have known he was lying. Maya you bastard!" Revan was boiling up.
"What are you talking about?!! I already said spill it Revan!"
"It was Maya, your highness, he said that by order of the queen you weren't to know, that I couldn't tell you"
"For the last time Revan" The prince frowned "tell me what?!"
"That Lyon and Hector haven't returned your highness! The report you received was a fake. The truth is they are missing in action".