Vanya held in her gasp. Her heart was beating faster than she could keep up with and her hands sweating profusely.

She could not digest the words that Chief Han had spoken only minutes ago. She in fact refused to believe any of them, thinking that Chief Han was only regurgitating baseless rumors. She had been crowned the next heir to the throne only a couple of years prior. She knew the whole ordeal. Organizing the event took months with invitations sent out and rehearsals upon rehearsals being scheduled for her grand day. It was a very involved event. An event only organized with the permission of the King.

The more she sat with the words she overheard the more she felt the looming fear she may have been abandoned by her father sink in. The crowning of the next crown prince meant her stepbrother was to take her position. She never thought of her stepbrother as a threat before, it had never even crossed her mind. But now she felt her previous thoughts were of a naive girl thinking she was safe from it all.

“Jade, Jade,” Taru snapped his fingers trying to grab Vanya’s attention.

She shook herself to focus on Taru, her worried face forcing a smile.

“Is everything alright?” It was Rhohaz, he had heard Taru calling for Vanya. His eyes picked it up faster than Taru, that Vanya was deep in a dark corner of trouble brewing in her mind.

She nodded and replied, “My stomach. I may have eaten a tad too fast.”

She lied realizing that Rhohaz may not buy it if she said she was doing all fine. And to have him off her scent, she lied. He remained silent while observing her holding a hand over her stomach and going back to speaking with Taru. Yet he quickly looked away, not wanting to be in the way of Vanya and Taru’s conversation.

It wasn't long before the rest of the villagers of Shalom joined them for dinner. Chief Han and Taru kept everyone company while engaging in joyful and reminiscent conversation. Timmie found himself a seat next to Vanya, and started to annoy her.

“You see those birds there, Jadie,” Timmie spoke pointing to a flock of grey birds in a cage by the staircase leading to the upper floors of the inn.

“You mean the pigeons?” she asked slightly annoyed that Timmie assumed she did not know what a pigeon was.

“Correct! Well, done. I’ll be taking over the duties of using them as our messengers for the next year. They’ll be coming home with me after our time here. And I’ll be assuming my position as the correspondent between Shalom and Elioth, and then, hopefully, all of the Northern Kingdom,” he said proudly, adjusting his shirt with a radiant smile crossing his face.

“I wonder whoever trusted you with that position,” Vanya burst his happy bubble. Yet she took it back laughing at his reaction, withering away into his seat, annoyed.

“You could say I’m simply taking over for my father’s duties. He used to be the messenger when everyone used to live in the East. I forget the name of that town, Cloving, I think–”

“Clevin,” Kev, who was seated opposite Vanya, corrected Timmie.

Vanya’s brows furrowed in confusion, “What do you mean when everyone used to live in the East? I thought you all grew up in Shalom, here in the West?”

“Well, most of us younger folk, anyone under twenty, were born and raised in Shalom,” Timmie answered.

“Everybody else moved from Clevin. That was our original home. It was also by the seaside, although much more happening than Shalom, no question. Then again, I was only a child when I left Clevin so I might be remembering wrong,” Kev finished with a nostalgic smile taking over his face.

“Why did everyone move? All the way from the coasts of the East?” Vanya asked although she already had a hunch about it.

Kev and Timmie went silent. They waited almost wanting the other to speak for them. But unable to leave Vanya hanging, Timmie pushed through, “Apparently, the politics at the time had the council deciding that we had to find a new home.”

She knew it then, quite firmly, that her father’s law of banning magic was the reason they had to move, the reason that an entire tribe uprooted their lives and moved across the kingdom to a lonely barren land where no one could bother them or threaten them any longer.

She felt her heart ache in pain. It was just like the day when she first saw the most trusted knight of her father, Sir Reven, show up at the castle in the East where she grew up, to take her to Esmeth to finally start living with her father. She remembered that day, her beautiful castle by the edge of a mountain with its marvelous structure glistening in the bright sunlight, and its tall ceilings towering over her making her feel so little. She remembered turning to look at the place she grew up in for the last time before never seeing it again. She missed it, she missed being apart from the days she played running through the hallways and the marvelous gardens, not a care in the world. But that was all she remembered of it before she was torn away from her home to establish herself in a new home with no choice. And she was only thirteen.

“I used to live in the East,” she said, out of character. She would never have mentioned such a specific detail but she somehow wanted a common link to Timmie and Kev.

They both raised their brows in curiosity.

“You did? Where about?” Kev asked, his shoulders opening up to conversation.

Just then Rhohaz, who was busy greeting Chief Han and sending the Elioth officials away, joined them to sit beside Kev.

Vanya thought on Kev’s question. But the more she thought the more she felt like the name of the place where her castle was kept slipping her mind.

“Umm, I’m not sure, actually. I don’t remember,” she concluded while still baffled that even after living there for thirteen years she had not once really heard the name of the area.

“That is alright! You must have been very young when you moved to Esmeth,” Kev replied cheerfully.

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“I didn’t think you would have lived elsewhere before Esmeth,” Rhohaz said, jumping into conversation interested to know more about Vanya.

“Why? Is it that surprising?” she asked, not wanting to let it go. Her mood was uplifted and ready to go.

“It is, very much. You don’t seem like someone who would have grown up in a small village,” Rhohaz retorted.

“In a small village?”

“Yes, there’s nothing more than a couple of small villages down in the East.”

“And you say this because you’ve been there? The East?”

Kev chuckled seeing them bicker, “The East is very rural. Much more rural than Elioth but very much like Shalom.”

Vanya was puzzled. She remembered her castle as one of the most popular sightings that people from all over the world came to admire its beauty, a popular tourist destination. She always thought the East was more like Esmeth, just less busy.

“What about…” she took a risk, “...What about the castle in the East?”

She watched as both Kev and Rhohaz drew a blank at her question. Just then, Timmie spilled his drink all over the both of them. Vanya sprung up looking down her dress drenched in red wine.

“I thought I told you to keep off the wine, Timmie,” Rhohaz spoke in a low voice making Timmie scramble for something to help Vanya wipe off the red liquid.

Vanya tried repeatedly to tell Timmie that it was alright but he kept apologizing and trying to look for something to help her cover up her stained clothes. She finally gave up and stood up to retire for the day so that Timmie could settle down and finish his meal without worrying.

She excused herself and made her way to the staircase when she found Rhohaz coming after her.

A part of her felt a slight ray of excitement pass through. She did not want to admit it but seeing him coming after her made her want to walk up the stairs as slowly as she could almost letting him tag along.

“Timmie, that clumsy fool,” Rhohaz said handing over a clean rag he had picked up from the ladies at the serving nook.

She politely accepted it to try and get as much liquid off of her dress before she had to settle with the staining that was making the passbys look at her most oddly.

Rhohaz led her up the stairs while she hung on to the completely useless rag.

“Timmie is sweet. So please don’t go back and scold him for this,” Vanya said, hoping Rhohaz would take her words seriously. She did not want perhaps one of the few people engaging with her authentically to hide himself away because he spilled something on her dress.

“I won’t,” he replied, slowing down to walk side by side looking ahead with a smirk crossing his face, “I promise.”

Vanya rolled her eyes at his sudden change in tone, “I suppose this is how you woo ladies then, promising them things.”

Rhohaz looked at her cocking his brow, “Why would that matter to you? I’m not wooing you.”

Vanya bit back, “Of course not!”

Rhohaz chuckled, “And you made it perfectly clear earlier that you will never be anyone’s bride from Esmeth, especially mine.”

Vanya huffed, “Did that make you sad?”

Rhohaz bit the insides of his cheeks. He looked at her a bit longer and she noticed it, that vague expression of playfulness mixed with a much stronger feeling of something Vanya couldn’t quite put her finger on.

They rounded the corner and started on the next set of creaky stairs.

She looked ahead and asked, “I suppose everyone is going to start bright and early tomorrow.”

Rhohaz cleared his throat to finally tear his gaze away from her, “Yes, that’s correct. I’m hoping my sister won’t have you missing it. I’m guessing you don’t even know where she’s at, do you? I expected her to miss dinner, alright.”

Vanya nodded, “She wasn’t there when I went to the room. Maybe she’s meeting friends, her friends in Elioth.” She tried her best to cover up for Roza but Rhohaz only let out a half-hearted laugh.

“Well, if you see her tonight, let her know I’m looking for her. And that she should meet us in the morning or else she’s going to be in serious trouble when we get back to Shalom.”

“I’ll try my best,” Vanya only agreed making the step underneath her feet creak louder as they started climbing the next set.

“You still have that seashell with you?...” Rhohaz’s question made Vanya look towards him tilting her head, “...The one you stole from me.”

Vanya rolled her eyes, “What if I told you I threw it away?”

Rhohaz halted to a stop, baffled. Vanya too stopped realizing her words had taken him by surprise.

“You threw it?”

“Why? Was it that special?” Vanya poked the bear seeing him so disgusted at her.

“N…No, it’s only a seashell,” Rhohaz looked ahead. Vanya thought she even saw him pout a little before he switched back to his usual demeanor.

He caught up to her before she dug into her pocket and opened her palm to show the little orange seashell resting there. His eyes lit in happiness. It may have been one of the first times Vanya had seen him so happy like a child finding his special toy.

“So you kept it,” Rhohaz spoke with a smile crossing his lips.

“Of course, I stole it from you after all,” Vanya closed her palm to safely have it back in her pocket.

“I should say, you are the first to steal something of mine, especially something so close to my heart,” he said, hoping his longing gazes that he could not help went unnoticed by Vanya.

“Is that so? Well, it sounded like anyone could easily steal anything of yours, especially your heart. Taru’s sister did it, did she not?” Vanya huffed back.

Rhohaz crossed his arms and looked towards Vanya with a smirk growing across his face. His pale gray eyes landed on hers with the empty candle-lit hallway casting a glow on him.

“You can’t seem to let go of it, can you?” he asked with his voice deep almost trailing off to a whisper.

Vanya’s heart started pounding. It was all fun and play bickering with him but she could not deny it any longer. Something was pulling her, attracting her to him, that everything seemed so amplified as if she could feel the smallest vibration in the floor and the faintest sound of the world outside.

“I’m only curious,” she barely sounded it out seeing him taking a step towards her.

She naturally took a step back but halted feeling the wall against her back. Her hands gripped the wine-drenched rag as she saw his tall frame take over her view. She never really thought about it till then. He was as equally tall and presentable as Taru. His brown hair complimented his pale eyes catching her off guard. And he smelled of something sweet. She never realized he had always smelled this way until this very moment when he was merely a step away from her.

“Well then, let’s hope you find out tomorrow,” he whispered to take a step back releasing Vanya from holding her breath any longer.

He glanced at her once more, that annoying smirk still plastered across his face, before he greeted her a good night and headed back down the stairs and out of her view.

She finally relaxed her grip on the rag to take a deeper breath realizing that they had made it to the fourth floor and was right in front of the door to her room. She looked back once more at the empty staircase, her heart still thumping louder than she had ever heard it before.