The ten year old ran down the halls of the castle of Dun Kilty enthusiastically, the occasional servant going about their early morning chores, moving out of her way as she passed, laughing at her excitement.

She stopped at a certain door and quietly and slowly opened the door. Inside was dark, no light shining through the curtains, as it was too early in the morning to have any light.

The girl crept over to a bed on the other side of the room and climbed on top of it, then put her face right up to her older brother's.

'Get up,' she said simply.

'No. Go away,' Halt answered without opening his eyes. He moved his arms from out of the covers to push Caitlyn away and then moved under them, burying himself in the blankets and warmth.

'Come on you have you have to get up nooow,' Caitlyn whined like a five year old. 'We have to get ready for the ride.'

'That's hours away!' Halt replied, moving the covers to glare at his sister. Caitlyn just grinned back. 'It's too early. Get out.'

'No.' Caitlyn replied stubbornly. Then she fell back as Halt hit her with a pillow to the face. 'Ow!' Caitlyn exclaimed. 'Pillows aren't supposed to hurt like that! What do you have in them? Rocks?'

'Yes. Now get out.'

'You're boring. Don't you want to get up now so we can get our horses ready?'

'Not really,' Halt's voice was muffled as he pressed his face in his pillows.

'You know I'm going to keep annoying you when you get up right?' Caitlyn said, looking serious but really grinning on the inside as her brother groaned. She grabbed Halt's shoulder and started shaking him back and forth. 'Get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get up, get -'

'Fine!' Halt shouted pushing Caitlyn off him again. 'Just stop doing that!'

Caitlyn smiled. 'Great! I'll leave you to get changed. Meet me by the stables.' She walked over to the door to leave when she stopped and turned around again. 'And by the way if you're not out in ten minutes then I'm going to drag you out.'

'What if it takes me eleven minutes to get changed?' Halt said with tired sarcasm.

'It won't' Caitlyn said grinning again and then walked out the door, closing it behind her, and leaving her brother to painfully drag himself out of bed.

After Halt had met up with Caitlyn at the stables, they quickly got their horses ready and then had nothing else to do but wait for the rest of their family to get up.

They had been planning this ride for a couple of weeks now. Their mother, Queen Niamh, had decided that they all needed a break and has organised a day for the family to all go on a ride with their horses. What was surprising was that she had asked their father, King Brian, to join them. The children knew that their relationship was strained, and that they could barely spend more than five minutes in the same room with each other without fighting. And sometimes that was not an understatement. But what was even more surprising was that Brian had actually agreed, and had managed to be available that day to do it. The King's job was really busy after all, and it was not that often when they got free time.

'Are you excited?' Caitlyn asked Halt from where he was sitting against the stable wall, trying to get at least a little more sleep before the rest of their family came.

'Mmm,' Halt replied, not really paying any attention. Caitlyn noticed this and frowned. She moved from where she was grooming her horses main, taking the horse brush with her as she moved towards her brother. Then she threw the brush at his chest.

'Ow! What the hell was that for?' Halt said angrily.

'Wake up doofus,' Caitlyn said.

'Leave me alone,' Halt replied, picking up the brush and throwing it back at Caitlyn, hitting her in her shins.

'Ow! God damnit!' She yelled, rubbing her shin where she was sure it was going to start bruising soon.

'Language, Caitlyn,' Halt said sarcastically. Caitlyn glared back at him.

'You're the one to talk,' she muttered.

Halt just rolled his eyes and then closed them again, waiting for the rest of their family to come.

It wasn't until an hour later when everyone else turned up. Caitlyn was bouncing up and down in anticipation and basically leapt right onto her horse and galloped right out of the castle gates. The king and queen smiled at their daughters' eagerness and rode after her, leaving their sons to catch up.

Halt leaned against the stables wall waiting for Ferris to finish saddling up his horse, Finley.

'Hurry up,' Halt said impatiently.

Ferris glared at him. 'You know you don't have to wait around right? I don't need you to babysit me.'

'Alright then,' Halt said swinging up into Declan's saddle, 'you can catch up on your own.' Then he put Declan into a gallop and rode after his parents and sister, leaving Ferris behind.

Once Ferris caught up they stopped just outside the castle gates contemplating on where they would go. They decided they would ride down to the river, where they could then run up and down it, and maybe even lead their horses into it a little.

They kept their horses to a walk as they passed through the village, people waving to them as they went. It was quite unusual for the entire royal family to go riding past in casual riding clothes. Not unusual for Caitlyn and Halt as they always went on rides, but for the entire family to be seen was quite rare.

Once they were nearing the end of the main part of the village, and away from other people, they set their horses into a gallop, no longer in fear of banging right into some poor villager.

Caitlyn shot her horse far ahead of everyone else and Niamh laughed as her daughter rode forward screeching like a confused chicken the whole time. Halt winced at the high pitched noise, questioning how it didn't hurt his sister when the sound tore from her throat.

Ferris sped up his horse to try and catch up to the princess, but did this without the screeching. When they got to the river, Caitlyn had already led her horse into the water with Ferris and was kicking water on to him, getting her horse, Caffar, to help her. Ferris splashed water back at her sister, getting Finley to assist him.

Niamh led her horse down into the river and joined in on the water fight, being completely ruthless with her children. Brian leapt off his horse and started rummaging through his saddle packs to find the food he had bought for their breakfast. Halt walked Declan over to a stray apple tree near the river bank.

'Halt come in!' Niamh called out to her eldest son. 'It's fun!'

'I'm fine,' Halt called back, not looking at her as he started to stand up on Declan's saddle to reach up to an apple on a high branch.

'He's scared of the water,' Caitlyn teased.

'Shut up!' Halt said angrily, turning around to glare at Caitlyn. She just grinned back evilly at him.

'If you're not scared then come into the water.' Cailtyn challenged. Halt turned back to the apple.

'I'm doing something.'

Niamh watched with concern as Halt fully straightened his knees on top of the horse. 'Be careful! I don't want you breaking your arm again!'

'I won't.'

'What are you even doing?' Brian asked, one eyebrow raised, not looking that concerned.

'Trying to get an apple for Declan,' Halt said, not looking back once as he answered.

'Why not get one of the lower ones?' Brian questioned.

'This one's better.'

'And you like making your life more difficult than it already is?' That was more of a statement than a question.

'Yup.'

Brian just shook his head, realising he would never understand teenagers. The family watched as Halt grabbed the apple and leapt off of Declan. He split the apple in half in his hands, something that only he and Brian could do, and something that made Ferris jealous. He threw one half to Declan and kept the other half for himself.

'Now will you come in the water?' Cailtyn asked.

'Nope,' Brian answered for Halt, 'everyone's getting out for food.'

Just as everyone predicted, Caitlyn scampered out of the water first, practically springing off of Caffar.

The rest of the family joined and for the first time in forever they actually had a nice time, without a fight breaking out between the twins, between Halt and their father, or between their father and their mother. Cailtyn liked it. She wished it could last forever.

And then the next day Ferris pushed roof tiles on to Halt.

'Oh Caitlyn. Nothing lasts forever.'

That's a very subtle Good Omens quote for ya.

Don't know why this took so bloody long to write. I actually made their dad seem nice in this. I headcanon, just like heaps of other people, that the king is a bitch, and a shitty and horrible father.

Tumblr: that-one-enby-ranger.

Pinterest: That One Enby Ranger.

I actually also have other blogs on Tumblr:

fuck-shit-up-poems: I post stupid poems on there. Haven't done it in ages though.

the-fratellis-lover: Post about a very underrated band called The Fratellis, trying to give them the recognition they deserve. They are so bloody. They are a rock band.

whatsupmykentuckyfriedfuckers: Post random ass things. Reblog random ass things.

fuck-shit-up-polls: I post polls for people to vote in.

the-frog-draws: Shitty drawings. Like seriously, they're shit.

Song listening to when published: Give A Little Bit by Supertramp