There he is.

Abel walked onto the old training ground, and saw his brother hacking at a wooden dummy.

His form is as good as ever...and the way he moves his feet. He really should be a match for Sion. It's a wonder that I ever beat him at all.

Of course, Abel had beaten him four years ago, and every time they faced each other since.

Abel announced himself, "So, you want to train?"

"Yes, train...and talk. That's what we are here for."

Abel lined up at the training dummy next to Gain's. The older brother marveled at his younger brother.

"First position? Still?"

"It's where I start." Abel smiled,"nobody does it better."

"That's true. But, with all of the training that you do with the Genius Prince, I would have thought you would have picked up something a little more... sophisticated."

"Oh, I've learned a few tricks. But, I am still a child of Remno; there is a reason why this is the first style we learn—it is in our blood."

"Ha! You almost seem to take pride in being his son."

"Skill with a sword is the only thing of his that I seek claim to." Abel took a big hack at his dummy. Chips of wood went flying.

"Well, that explains why we never see you in Remno anymore."

"I have been busy—school and..."

"Yes, adventures with the Princess. I know."

"Well, you were here. There wasn't much need for Remno's Second Prince."

"What about Mother... and Clarissa—she was sort of lost without you..."

Is he trying to make me feel guilty?

"She seems to be doing fine now..."

"Yes, now that she's under the Princess's spell."

"Spell? The Princess..."

"You know, she asks about you every day. How long has it been since you sent her a letter? She lives for your letters...and books..."

Books! Abel used to always bring books back for his sister. She could never request them for herself—the King wouldn't allow it. Abel just hadn't thought about it lately. Clarissa without new books? How could I...

Gain stopped and watched as the guilt took over the Good Prince's face.

"Don't worry. Apparently, I've become quite the avid reader, not that I understand half of it—anyway, Clarissa has not had to go without her precious books."

Abel looked at his brother.

"Thank you Gain."

"Don't thank me. She's my sister, too. Though, sometimes it's hard to believe that we are all related."

We are all related. The words sounded strange coming from Gain. Growing up, Abel grew up thinking of Gain as this hulking monster. But, over time, the two brothers really began to resemble one another. And, they were not just bound by appearance—Gain had been looking after Clarissa while Able had been avoiding going home.

The brothers moved from striking the training dummies, to informally sparring with each other—the swords were really just an excuse to get close enough to have an extended conversation.

Abel took a light swing at his brother, "So, how's the arm?"

Gain easily parried the attack, "You mean the shoulder, sometimes it hurts before a rain, but I manage well enough."

"Sorry about that."

"Don't be. I wouldn't. We're brothers, we aren't friends."

"No, we aren't friends—and, why is that?"

"Only one of us can be heir to the throne. The other one is a loser. I guess that's me."

"I don't want it. I hate this place."

"You're an idiot. If you don't like it, change it."

Abel took a step back and stopped swinging his sword. "Mia is the one that changes things, that's not me..."

This claim of weakness—inferiority to the Princess—caused anger to fill Gain's eyes, "Again, you're an idiot! You don't need her..."

Gain swung at the sword in Abel's hand. Abel defended.

"What? She's everything to me. I was nothing before I met her!"

"No, that's not true.

"Yeah, I was your punching bag!"

"Mother and sisters loved you."

"The love of a woman doesn't count much here."

"Maybe it should..."

Abel shot Gain a wry smile, "And, who am I talking to?"

"Yeah, right. Like I said, you don't need her."

"I never beat you until I met her."

"And, I am supposed to be the stupid one!" Gain stopped swinging his sword and rested it on his shoulder. "How old were you when I first beat you with the sword?"

Abel returned his sword to its scabbard

"I was six. I remember because you broke my arm."

"Yeah, I was eight, and I was as big as a ten-year-old then. I had been practicing for two years—of course, I was going to kick your butt! And when you were ten, I was twelve... this is not a hard one to figure out. You always had talent, I was just bigger and older. Even I knew that you would catch up eventually—well you would catch up if I couldn't get in here." Gain pointed to his head.

"There is not much difference in people; Father taught me that. That's why you have to get into people's heads to really beat them—dominate them. That's what father does. That's what I did to you. Hell, I tried to do that to the Princess the first day we met. But, she's good! She got in my head first, and now I am just another loser. Don't let her do that to you. You can be a great King! You don't need her!"

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"Ha! I expected that you would want to break Mia and me apart, but I thought you would go about it in a different way. You actually sounded sincere. "

Abel regretted his words as soon as he spoke them. He's wrong—but, I have no doubt he believes what he is saying. Still, he's wrong—he has to be. I can't stay in Remno... I need Mia! Great Lobo...

"... you are right... well, a little bit." Abel sat down on the ground, his arms resting on his knees. "About me, not Mia."

Gain did not sit. He didn't understand, and that made him angrier, "What do you mean... You have all this strength, all this talent—and she has you convinced that it is all because of her! She's got in your head!"

Abel looked up at his brother, "You are right —my head is a mess, but that is not what Mia wants. She loves me—and she just wants me to love her back—but how can I? She's a saint and a sage, and I am the son of an evil King. She builds schools and hospitals for the poor, and I can't even make sure my sister and mother are treated like human beings in my own kingdom—even in my own home! How can she love me? How can I love her?"

The anger faded from Gain's face, "But, that's not your fault—this place..."

Abel shifted his eyes downward, ignoring his brother's words, "You know, she kisses me all the time—on the cheek—but, still, I haven't even tried to kiss her back —not once. Her lips are so soft..."

"So soft...Yeah, I know..."

Gain's tone was weirdly wistful.

Abel popped his neck back, and suddenly gave his brother his full attention, "What?"

"Never mind—what's your point."

"I don't think I am worthy of her. I know she loves me, but she is still out of reach..."

Abel dropped his sword, and then sat down next to his brother, "Damn! I thought you were stupid before, but...damn!"

It would be an understatement to say that Gain did not get along well with Abel, and the fact that he was in a secret war with Mia pretty much spoke for itself. But, the idea that his little brother had found a girl that he loved—a girl that desperately wanted to be kissed by him—but, he still refused to kiss her—well, that was just too much! Gain's inner big brother had to step up.

"You gotta kiss her!"

It should be noted at this point that what Gain said about getting books for Clarissa was completely true. He brought in every book that his sister wanted and even a few more that he thought she might like. He even made an honest attempt to read almost every one himself. But, Gain wasn't as sharp as Clarissa, so the part about not understanding half of what he read was also true (advanced calculus, for example, went completely over his head). But, among the books he did (sort of) understand was a gentle romance, The Good Prince and the Beautiful Princess written by a Miss Elise Littstein (of course Gain had no idea that Elise was Anne's sister—just acknowledging that Anne had a name was a recent development). His favorite part of the story occurs just after the Good Prince defeats his Evil Brother in a sword fight—the Beautiful Princess agrees to be kissed by the Good Prince, and then he gently kisses her on the lips.

His brother had found his Princess. She had agreed to kiss him—so where was the gentle kiss? For Gain, who at age eighteen had only just received his first kiss...on the cheek...by accident—it was just too much!

"What?"

"She loves you. You have to kiss her."

"You hate her!"

"Yeah, but you don't."

"You want her dead."

"What!" Gain was shocked, "Who told you that?"

"You gave her a Death Glare at Family Breakfast!"

"You think I am going to kill her because I looked at her funny?"

"Well . . . yeah!"

"I mean, I did want her out of the picture—but kill her? That's pretty dark!"

"But, you are dark. You are a killer!"

"Just many people do you think I've killed?"

"I don't know. Ten? Twenty?"

"None."

"Nine? That's still a lot!"

"I said none, you idiot!"

"But, how—you are father's protege!"

"When would I kill someone? We've had one revolution, and you and the Princess took care of that. I am a warrior, not a murderer."

"You hit me— all the time."

"We were supposed to be warriors. I thought you were weak..." Gain's voice faded, "I thought that was what I was supposed to do. I thought..."

Abel could hear the regret in Gain's voice, but it didn't matter.

"I hate you."

Abel couldn't believe he said the words out loud. For the first time in ten years, he needed to say the words out loud. The words were true. They had to be true. He had to hate his brother. How could he not? Gain made growing up a living hell. He remembered getting hit, being told he was weak, that he was nothing. But, then Mia came into my life—now I am strong.

Gain answered, without a hint of anger in his voice, "I know you hate me. It is what he wants. He doesn't want a second heir."

"What?"

"I expect Father will have you kill me at some point—and if he doesn't, your Princess will. Leaders like them know what it takes to win. —Can't have folks like me around, messing things up."

"What? The Princess would never..." Abel knew that Mia would never want to hurt Gain—it made his own hatred of his brother that much more painful.

"You will want a fair fight, I hope. Not a knife to the back, or poison..." Gain drifted, "Anyway, when the time comes, I won't run away."

Abel jumped up and stared down at his brother, "Are you insane? One moment giving me advice about love and the next you casually talk about me killing you!"

Gain looked up, "I don't make the rules of the game, and don't tell me you weren't thinking about it. I mean, you thought I wanted to kill your Princess."

Abel's eyes turned glassy, his face blank. He knew his brother's words were true.

But, that only lasted a moment before the courtyard gate caught Abel's attention. He offered his brother his hand and helped pull him to his feet.

"She's here."

Gain turned and saw his sister standing at the courtyard gate. When she saw that she had been spotted she walked up to the brothers, pink with happiness.

"It is so nice to see you boys actually talking," Clarissa giggled, "It's just so wonderful! "

"Yes, just like old times," Gain mocked.

"Well, it's been a while, but I remember when you two were inseparable."

Abel gave his sister a blank look, "I don't remember that at all."

"That was a long time ago." Gain said, dismissively.

She held both of her brothers' hands. "Well, we are all together now!"

Gain thought back to those happy years. Back when they were really together—with Valentina. But gain could not think about the past without bringing back the pain.

Gain pulled his hand away from Clarissa, "We aren't 'all together now.'—and we can never be all together again. She's gone. And, if she was here, she wouldn't want to hold my hand."

Gain walked away from Abel and Clarissa, not bothering to pick up his sword from the ground.

As Gain left through the courtyard gate, Clarissa cast Abel a sad smile, "So, your talk with Gain didn't go so well."

"No, better than expected, actually. I didn't know that he cared about anyone. But, he really does seem to love you, and maybe Mother, too."

"Goodness, what did you think Gain was?"

"Father, only smaller."

Clarissa's smile brightened, "You still see him through the eyes of a child."

"Yes, he's as big as Father now." Abel laughed.

"Gain didn't choose to be his protege. Have you ever thought about why he is such a poor imitation of the King?"

Gain thought back to his brother's flawless footwork—he has all the skills, but...

"It is not who Gain is." Clarissa finished Abel's thought.

"Then why..."

"You grew up here. You know why. This place is poison. It eats at the soul. Men, women. Oppressor, oppressed. Gain couldn't escape this place anymore than I could."

"Then there's no hope."

"Ask your girlfriend if there's no hope."

"Ha! I don't think it would make a difference to Mia. Even if she knew that defeat was guaranteed, she would still fight until the end."

"Then that's what we will do!"

"We should catch up to Gain..."

"Yea...oh shoot!" Clarissa pulled out a letter, "I almost forgot to give you this!"

Abel broke the seal and read the letter. He looked up to Clarissa,

"They found him."

*****

Deep in the Eastern Newlands, a neatly dressed young woman with chestnut-colored hair walked into a tiny tavern. She spotted a very large bearded man at the end of the bar. She walked up and tapped the man on the shoulder.

The big man's face lit up, "Take a seat sweetie!"and he pulled out the stool next to him.

The woman grunted and took the seat.

"So, it looks like they took the bait."

"Well, I've been telling anyone that would listen that I am a hunter named Muzic, They had to notice eventually."

"Well, it's not over. Don't drink too much, and keep your mouth shut."

She slid a Remno full gold to the man. He put his hand on hers and noticed a bit of silver peaking through her sleeve.

The man, whose name was definitely not Muzic remarked, "Nice tat! I ain't seen nothing like it."

"It's special."

"Well, I got a few myself." The big man unbuttoned his shirt showing a big heart tattoo on his chest with the word 'Mother' written across it."

The young lady smiled, "Well, a man should remember his mother."

"If you like that, I got more. We could get a room and..."

"I am flattered, but we have a mission, and, besides, you aren't exactly my type."

"Not into big men," the man who was not Muzic grumbled.

The woman ignored the remark. "We are after the Prince, but he will be traveling with the Princess from Tearmoon. She should be easy to spot," the young woman sighed, "they say she is the Beauty of the Empire," the sudden wistfulness in the young woman's voice had not-Muzic giving up any hope of hooking up with his co-conspirator.

Having snapped out of her self-induced distraction, the young woman continued, "We will grab them both—if we get her, he will be much more willing to cooperate."

"And what of the guards?"

"My people will take care of the guards. you just do your part."

The big man took his gold and left the bar.