“Catch me, Phillip.”
One year later:
“What are you doing?” Rory was picking the petals off flowers as she watched Phillip take off his shoes. They were spending their afternoon by the palace pools. They were the coolest place to spend warm summer days without leaving the confines of the castle grounds. There was a hunt scheduled for that day and the children were forbidden to disappear off to their favourite forest haunts. Instead, Rory lay in the shade of a cherry tree, picking apart it’s flowers as they fell. Phillip was preoccupied with rolling his pant legs up by the deep, ornamental pools of water. Water bubbled up from the bottom of the pools to create cascading fountains of water that glittered in the sunlight. They had set up camp over at the deeper end of the pools where the fountain was far enough away that it wouldn't spray them with water.
“I learned that some mages could walk on water,” Phillip explained enthusiastically. Rory made a disbelieving noise in the back of her throat. “It’s true!” he insisted. “My teacher told me about it last week.”
“And so you are going to attempt it by yourself in a fountain?” Rory shifted to find a more comfortable position. It looked as if she was going to be provided with plenty of entertainment. “That sounds like a very good way to get wet.”
Phillip rolled his eyes, long used to Rory’s teasing. He moved to the edge of the deep pool and gingerly placed one foot on the surface of the water.
“Are you doing it yet?” Rory called out. Phillip pulled his foot back from the edge and glared at her. She held up her hands in surrender. “Sorry, I'm done distracting. Just wake me if something interesting happens.” She lay back in the shadow of the tree and threw one arm over her face. Phillip could see that she was peeking out of the corner of his eyes and rolled his eyes heavenward. It was just like Rory to pretend to be uninterested to take some pressure off him.
His tried again. The water felt cool against the bottom of his foot. For a second he held his foot on the surface of the water, hesitant to put any weight on it. Rory had risen from where she’d slumped onto the ground and was leaning forward in anticipation. She waited with baited breath as he shifted his weight gingerly and leaned out over the water.
He didn’t plunge foot first into the cool water, which Rory was mildly surprised at. It looked as if the thin skin that separated the water from air had congealed enough to hold the weight of the teenager. Rory had watched bugs skim across the surface of a pond in much the same way.
Phillip made a triumphant little noise and cautiously place his other foot beside the first. He wobbled slightly but the water held his weight. Rory clapped in delight, shifting closer to the water’s edge to get a closer look.
Phillip took another cautious step, looking carefully at his feet. He shouldn’t have looked down. His foot half stuck to the surface of the water, half sunk beneath it, twisting by the ankle. He staggered, panicked and plunged one foot knee deep into the water. He twisted and lunged for the edge of the pool. None too soon as his other foot was losing its grip and slipping off the top of the water.
Phillip pulled himself over the edge of the fountain, his pants half sodden. Rory giggled a little at the sight.
“You almost had it,” she said encouragingly. Phillip’s expression was a sour one. He attempted to wring out his pants while prodding the water experimentally with his toes. They broke through the surface immediately. Phillip drew back from the edge.
“You probably shouldn’t have looked down,” Rory suggested. She walked over and stood beside him, careful to avoid where he was dripping. “You just need to be a little more confident. You really did almost have it.”
“How do you propose I get more confident then, smarty?”
Rory tilted her head thoughtfully. “Try it with me.”
“You can't swim,” Phillip pointed out.
“That gives you a little more incentive to keep me above the water then, doesn't it?” Rory danced out of his reach, towards the pool.
“Rory…” There was a tone of warning in Phillip’s voice.
“Catch me, Phillip.” Rory threw her arms wide and stepped backward confidently, right out over the water. When she didn’t plummet into the water, she took another three steps back, out of Phillip’s reach. If he wanted her back on dry land, he would need to come out and get her himself.
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“Rory, come back here.” Phillip stood as close to the edge as he could without actually going into the water.
“Why?” Rory lifted her skirt so she could look at her bare feet. The water’s surface dimpled where she put her feet but refused to burst. It felt cool beneath her feet, like standing on a stone floor early in the morning, before the fires were lit.
“You could fall.” The water in the fountain was deep enough to be a worry if she fell.
“I trust you.” She did, explicitly. She didn’t entertain any thoughts of falling; she knew that Phillip could hold her up. He was very talented at magic, all of his teachers said so. It was a weakness being so good. It meant that when something didn’t go absolutely perfectly the first time, Phillip would overthink things and doubt himself. More often than not, when something didn’t come naturally to him, Phillip would avoid doing it.
“It’s a little lonely out here, Phillip,” Rory said as she walked towards the fountain at the other end of the pool.
“No.”
“Come on, spoil sport!” Rory stuck one of her hands under the spray, enjoying how the cool water bounced of her palm and sprinkled on her overheated face.
“No, I can’t do it.”
“You already are.” Rory bounced a little to make her point.
“It’s not the same thing, not with two people.” Rory rose a skeptical eyebrow. They stood there for a few minutes, just watching each other. Rory crossed her arms and suck out her hip stubbornly. Phillip copied her gesture. Eventually Phillip rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.
“Fine.” He moved to stand at the edge of the pool. “But the minute either one of us even so much as dips a toe in, we are both out.” Rory agreed, clapping her hands in excitement.
Zara went looking for the two teenagers a little while later. It was time for lunch. The cook had mentioned seeing them head towards the north gardens so that was the direction she started her search in.
Zara heard shouting and laughing as she neared the gardens. She frowned at the noise. Really, two children were much too disruptive for just the one castle. They would disturb everyone with all that carrying on. Zara much prefered it when it was just the boy prince under her care. The fact that there was no one about this part of the gardens to be disturbed didn’t stop Zara from scripting the lecture she was going to give the two children when she saw them.
She rounded a bend and Rory and Phillip came into view. The two were dripping with water and screaming inarticulately in delight. As she watched, Rory bent over and slapped a wave of water into Phillip’s face. He responded by redirecting one of the fountain’s stronger streams of water with his palm so it hit the girl.
Zara flushed angrily; they were almost grown, they should know better. It wasn’t until she got closer that she realised that they weren’t playing in the water; they were playing on it. She screamed in fright. She could do nothing else; it was too strange.
Rory and Phillip both started at the unexpected noise. Phillip was so shocked that began to sink before he caught himself and once again stood on the skin of the water.
This prompted another startled noise from Zara. For a moment she only stood, hands pressed to her mouth as she stared at the odd sight.
“Good afternoon, Miss Zara,” Phillip said, after a long pause.
“You’re late for lunch,” Zara squeaked. It was the only thing that occurred to her to say. She abruptly turned on her heel and stalked in the opposite direction, all thoughts of a lecture forgotten.
Rory and Phillip exchanged amused looks and followed the startled maid to lunch. They left soggy footprints the entire way back to the castle.
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Nice long one for you. I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter is one of my favs!