"Hey!" Someone screamed from behind him. He started and turned around to see Buckle laughing hysterically. "I got you there, didn't I?" he asked.

Behind her, Bonnie walked up to them. Bonnie was a striking brunette who walked like the ground did not deserve to have her feet stepping on them, like someone that should be coming down from a wagon all the time. Like Tum, she resembled royalty and would often turn her nose up at the sign of any display she considered silly—and God, they were many, especially by her brother.

"You did not, you knuckle-headed fellow," Tum cried.

The three of them could not be more than seventeen, yet they were already alone in the world.

"I did," Buckle exclaimed.

"You did not!"

"I did!"

"No!"

"Did!"

"Not!"

"Did!"

"Not!"

"Did!"

"Can you two stop jabbering about what you did or did not do?" Bonnie shouted impatiently.

Buckle, some inches shorter than Bonnie, his sister, snorted. He was the one who looked more like a peasant among them. His tattered clothes were at one with his body, and he had the flat nose of a peasant, plus the muscles of one who worked at the farm all day. Tum knew for a fact that Buckle had never worked on any farm.

"Always the impatient one," Buckle said.

"There is time for everything," Bonnie rejoined.

"Always a time to be too damn serious. That is all the time you have."

"Tum knows that is a lie."

"Does he now?"

"Well, Tum, tell him," Bonnie said as they both turned to Tum. "Tell him that I am not always serious."

"Err…." Tum said, blanching under the two pairs of eyes that were trying to win him over.

"See?" Buckle said. "He cannot even remember the last time you smiled."

"You would not understand, Buckle," Bonnie said, then turned to Tum. "Seriously?"

"Hey, what are we going to go?" Tum asked, trying to divert the discussion. "With the peasants planning an uprising, we know that the crown is not going to keep quiet about this."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"The young king looks like he is better than his father," Bonnie said, taking the bait, then she frowned. "I see what you did there, Tum. Don't think you are off the hook."

"Hey, we are peasants. You know whose side we are on," Buckle declared.

"Shhhh, keep your voice down," Bonnie said, looking around fearfully.

"Why? What is the use?"

"You don't know the person walking on the street. Many have died for saying far less."

"I could die for the truth," Buckle said bravely, rearing up to his full height.

Bonnie shook her head exasperatedly. It looked like something borne out of habit than anything else. A stranger would get the impression that Buckle always made Bonnie shake her head.

"Come on, we have to sweep this place," Tum said suddenly, breaking up the discussion between the siblings. "We cannot set up people's ware in a dirty place. Who would want to buy?"

He rushed off to find a broom and the two followed. When they returned shortly, the argument in their conversation was gone. They chattered the way they always did, like people who had known each other for a long time.

"I am telling you there is nothing better than having money," Bonnie was saying. She had a dreamy expression in her eyes. Buckle did not seem to be moved by her assertion. "That would be the dream life," she continued. "To have money and many servants that would do my bidding. To wake up in the morning, knowing that I do not need to come out to the streets to survive." She sighed. "Why don't we always get what we want?"

"The world is not fair," Tum said. "That is why I would like to be a king. To set things right with the world. See? I will be rich as well, probably the richest king the world would ever know."

"Being a king requires that you have to be a royalty," Buckle said. "The last time I checked, you were not."

"What if I could be? Can't you imagine it? A magical life. One without all the stress of being the lowly and the cast asides, living on the streets."

"The responsibilities of being a king would make you wish you just chose riches," Bonnie said.

"Why would I choose riches over power?" Tum asked. "With power, I can get as much riches as I want."

"People would want that power too. And your riches as well," Bonnie told him. "See, when you are rich, people would come for your wealth alone. They would not be as much as the people that would come for both riches and power. You can fight them off. But when you are the king, you also have to protect the kingdom, and that makes you weak."

"I don't want all of that," Buckle said. "What is wrong with the life that we are living now?"

The two turned to Buckle, their faces incredulous. None of them could continue sweeping. They watched Buckle the way they would watch someone that has newly become mad.

"Seriously, Buckle, you don't see it?" Bonnie asked.

"There is nothing to see. The life we have now is a simple one. We eat, we laugh, we sleep."

"Don't you think laughing in a castle would be more comfortable, especially if the castle belongs to you?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't want a castle. I have my friends."

"Oh buckle, if ever there was a compassionate idiot, it would be you, my brother," Bonnie said, fondly.

"And you are my sister. What does that make you?"

"Buckle," Tum said. "I don't think the life we live is good enough. It is nice that we are friends, but there are some people enjoying wealth that they do not deserve."

"The royalties are enjoying wealth they do not deserve," Bonnie cried. "The peasants work themselves to stupor just so the lords and ladies of the land could be fed. Their portions must be cut out first for some stupid task."

"You do believe in the peasants after all," Buckle said.

"I don't," Bonnie quickly retorted.

"Hey, look," Tum said. "A knight is coming this way.

"A royal blood," Bonnie said with disgust. One could only become a knight if he was born into royalty. Bonnie was two realities away from being a knight if she wanted to become one. First of all, females were not allowed to be knights. Secondly, she had no royal blood in her. In fact, she felt Buckle was right. They were peasants. It was a sad truth to face because she liked to think of herself as being higher than a peasant.