The elders let out small sighs of frustration. The meeting on how to handle the boy had been going on for three days, with the children constantly arguing, yelling, and going on tangents to prolong the discussions. At first, the elders didn't understand why they were doing this, but they became increasingly annoyed as time passed.

“Enough!” Cermin, usually the calmest of the elders, screamed, his eyes filled with anger and annoyance, “We are tired of this farce!”

“But Elder Cermin…”

“I said enough! This meeting is over for the day.”

“It only just began.” Cermin glared at the Guardian that just spoke.

"This meeting is over! All of you come to a decision today, as tomorrow will be the final meeting regardless of any outstanding issues."

Bran stood up after Cermin finished his rant smiling at Nesha and Sivie, who sat silently, “Seedlings, we leave the care of the child in your hand, but ensure that he is here tomorrow at any cost,” His eyes sparked, and glowed showing his anger and power, “Am I clear.”

“Yes, Elder Bran.”

In the last three days, the elders' opinions of the Seedling pair have drastically changed. Initially, they seemed to care little about their presence, but with every decision that needed to be made, this pair would offer their comments. Although the other Guardians found these comments infuriating, they were impressed with how efficiently the pair could shut down any rebuttal with logical reasoning, which is highly valued in Feyrishian culture. The elders wondered why a king would exile his daughter and why other races would overlook a prince with such intelligence. If this pair weren't Seedlings, these elders would do anything in their power to welcome them into their own families.

“The meeting will resume tomorrow at dawn, not a second later. For those that are late, your opinion will be counted as whatever we want it to be. Are we clear?” said Urther

A boy with icy-blue hair sat beside an open window; he watched as the people below him moved around, but the eyes glaring into his back made him very uncomfortable.

The ghost girl, at least that is what he called her. He doesn't know her name and doesn't think she likes him. She follows him everywhere, even into his own room. Whenever he tries to look at her, she disappears. At first, he thought she might be a ghost, but he saw the tail of her dress one day. Later, he saw the red lady talking to a girl wearing the same dress, so he realized she was not a real ghost.

“Princess Sara, if you want to play with him, just ask,” The little girl jumped at the sound of the voice behind her and ran off before the boy inside the room could see her.

Siro shook her head at the princess as she ran off. She had been coming here every day since she had spent time with Nesha. She could just talk to the boy; although she might not get an answer, it would never hurt.

Siro walked into the room. Seeing the boy looking outside the window, she silently walked over, kneeled beside the child, and looked out the window.

“Would you like to go out there to see them?” Siro asked

Carter shook his head before looking at the maid beside him and back at the door, where the little girl with squinting eyes stood again.

“Would you like to eat something? I know it has been a while since you ate?”

Carter nodded his head, took Siro’s hand, and pulled her to the door.

“Oh, are you wanting to eat outside your room today?”

Carter took a few steps only to feel his legs buckle and his hand that held the maid’s slip out of her grasp.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

“CARTER!” Siro screamed as she tried to catch the falling child, barely getting her hand under his head before it hit the ground.

“Sara, get one of the Guardians or your sister now!”

The boy’s eyes flutter open, and pain and exhaustion immediately pulse through his body. His eyes bulged from the pain, but he neither screamed nor hastened his breath. As his vision cleared, he saw a man standing at the foot of his bed, but he only looked down at the man and never bothered to move his head from his pillow, let alone sit up to speak to him.

The man sighed as he rubbed his forehead, pain in his eyes as he looked at the emotionless face of the boy lying in bed, “Glad to see you finally woke up.”

The man sighed again, unsurprised at the lack of response or movement. He looked around the barren room and then back at the boy, the pain and sadness leaving his eyes giving way to a more serious demeanor.

“The meeting started a couple of hours ago… They decided to start without you, considering the condition that you are in.” He paused, staring intently at the boy, waiting for a comment; when nothing came, he continued, “Nesha was feeling guilty for causing the earlier situation, so she is advocating for you as she has been for the last few days, although I don’t think it is going well.”

From here, the boy rose out of bed, walking to a nearby dresser. The man looked at the boy with shock, “What are you doing, Carter.”

“Clothes…meeting.” the boy said, opening an empty drawer and causing his eyebrows to raise, “Clothes?” the boy turned to the man pointing at the empty drawer.

“Don’t worry about that,” the man tried to stifle his laugh at the child's actions, “Just rest. Someone will bring you something to wear.”

The boy could only imagine the annoying woman who constantly pestered him, running in with some uncomfortable clothes. This thought caused his face to scrunch, not liking the idea.

The boy's actions finally made the man lose his serious demeanor breaking out into a laugh, knowing full well that he thought of Nesha pestering him like always.

“Just rest, Carter, it will be fine, I will inform them of your status, and I am sure a certain someone will come running to ensure that you are taken care of.” the man said, trying his best to calm down only to laugh again looking at the boy’s scrunched face.

Carter watched the man open the door and lightly close it behind him. Silence washed over the room and brought a sense of calm to the boy as he visibly relaxed.

The meeting room was silent until a fist slamming on the table echoed throughout the space. Everyone turned to see a young man with shoulder-length icy blue hair who looked around the room with a violent expression before crossing his arms and sitting back in his chair. The tense silence resumed until the man slammed his fist again and yelled, "Will someone please speak!"

“Calm down, Arc. The meeting only reconvened, so give everyone time to settle down before we start discussing again.” Another young man with dark blue hair said, a smile never leaving his face.

“CRI!” Arc screamed, to which Cri only smiled smugly.

“Arc, I know you are tired, and so are we, but you must be patient. We knew this would not be solved in a single day, so just sit back and enjoy spending quality time with your distant family,” Bran said as he sighed.

“Elder Bran, let them argue it’s fine. We are still waiting on that princess anyway… so until she arrives, we can discuss nothing,” said Urther.

A snort echoed from Arc as he crossed his arms and slumped in his chair.

A short time after the small outburst, the large door leading into the meeting room slowly opened, and a beautiful redheaded woman walked into the room and calmly made her way to one of the few empty seats.

“It is nice for you to finally join us, Princess Nesha, but I believe that the elders said that the meeting would be held at dawn, and here it is almost noon.” a voice echoed in the room, and Nesha found it difficult to pinpoint the voice’s origin.

“I am sorry, but an urgent matter that needed my utmost attention caused a short delay,” Nesha said, her emerald eyes blazing, looking for where the statement should be directed.

“That is fine. Do you mind if we ask what matter it is?” The voice echoes again

“Yes, I do.”

“Well, understood,” the voice paused, causing an eerie silence, “Then we will pick back up where it was left off before.”