The vast and boundless prairie was caressed by the gentle breeze, which rippled through the swaying green grass like waves upon the water.

It was still early spring, when the biting chill of winter had just thawed, and the accumulated snows had melted away.

All living things were coming back to life, and the hearts of the youths fluttered with the spring wind.

In the distance, the clear ringing of bells accompanied by the clip-clop of hooves drifted closer.

Two young boys rode side by side on horseback, their laughter mingling melodiously with the sounds.

The two boys called each other brothers, though not of blood. The younger was not yet ten, his skin dark, his round face ending in a pointed chin. His slightly upturned nose wrinkled as he smiled, clearly a carefree child without a worry in the world.

The elder was fourteen at most, pale and slender, with a high bridge to his nose and deeply set eyes that spoke of his highland origins.

His hair was an odd silvery grey threaded with white strands, wispy like dried grass in the wind.

The elder brother's face lacked the artless joy of youth. He seemed mature beyond his years, a hint of ineffable sadness in his brows.

From their garb, it was clear they came from the nomadic tribes of the prairies beyond the empire's borders.

The arrogant empire dismissed all outside its domains as "barbarians", no matter how far-flung the mountains or seas.

In their haughty disdain, they scarcely bothered to distinguish between the tribes.

That they called them "men" at all was an imperial benevolence.

The barbarian tribes dwelled together on the prairie, each with their own language and traditions, simple glyphs to tell one tribe apart from the next.

These two brothers clearly came from the same tribe. Otherwise they would not be so familiar.

They wore double-breasted dalmatic robes, the fitted sleeves allowing ease of riding and shooting, the fine pleats at the waist giving a broad-shouldered martial air.

Yet their clothing marked the difference in status, for the younger's robes were clearly new. Peacock green silk brocade patterned with soaring dragons and phoenixes.

A bright saffron yellow sash circled his waist, vivid against the green grass.

At the boy's waist hung a short dagger set with red coral and green turquoise.

Why would so small a child carry a blade? With his innocent, delicate features, he seemed incapable of harming man or beast.

His elder brother's garb was far plainer, even shabby. The original color was no longer discernible, perhaps it had been mustard or slate, now dirtied to drabness. The frayed edges were mended here and there with patches, neatly sewn with a delicate hand.

The younger brother, ever playful, galloped every which way atop his horse, nearly falling off in his carelessness.

"Saji! Take care!" his brother cried out.

"Hee hee, no worries! Look, a grasshopper! Haha, I caught one!"

The elder smiled indulgently and shook his head. A thought struck him and he added, "I shouldn't keep calling you by your childhood name. You'll come of age soon, the future leader of our tribe. I should call you by your full name, Prince Sazad."

"Noooo!" the younger vehemently shook his head. "Keep calling me Saji! That's what you've always called me since we were small."

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"But you'll be grown up soon, and married. It's not the same as before."

"You're different! You're my brother, my dearest elder brother, Garlande! I just want to hear you call me by my nickname forever!"

Let's not speak of this.

Saji suddenly pointed ahead, "Look, a rabbit!"

He snatched up his short bow, nocked an arrow, and took aim at the far distance.

At such a range, an ordinary person would see nothing. But the children of the prairie had eyes as sharp as eagles. They could spot a needle leagues away.

Thwap- the arrow flew from the string, a streak of light lancing through the air. The rabbit tumbled over where it stood.

"Brother! I got it!" Saji spurred his pony forward eagerly.

"Wait for me, Saji!" Garlande raced to catch up.

"Hee hee!" The young prince circled around gleefully, pointing at his prize. "What do you think, am I a master archer now?"

"You've improved remarkably fast," his brother conceded with an indulgent smile.

Garlande quickly dismounted to retrieve the still flailing wild rabbit. He pulled out the arrow and held it out to Saji, head first. Several rabbits and foxes already hung from his mount's hindquarters. Clearly the outing had been fruitful.

The gentle spring breeze caressed their faces. Saji spurred his pony and whooped joyously, galloping with the wind. Garlande followed close behind, chuckling merrily.

Saji shouted as he rode, “When I’m chieftain, I’ll make you grand general! We'll be chieftain and grand general, invincible across the prairie, ahahaha!"

The boy laughed artlessly, still such a child! Inwardly Garlande thought, it was just endless grass as far as the eye could see, yet he played with such delight.

"Brother!" Saji suddenly put on a serious mien incongruous with his young features. "You don't know how much I envy you!"

The elder was taken aback. "Envy me?"

"I envy your life!" Saji squinted dreamily. "You're already living like a grown-up, with no parents to order you around. And you have two cute sisters at home..."

Saji made kissing and hugging gestures mischievously. "When you go home it's kiss kiss on the left, hug hug on the right. You all sleep together at night, so fun!"

"Hahahaha!" Garlande threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "You'll be the death of me! What are you imagining?"

"You just admitted it with your laughter!" Saji pointed accusingly. "Don't try to deny it!"

"Saji, Wawu and Jiaojiao are like family to me. We rely on each other and care for one another, it's not as sordid as you imagine. Besides..."

"Besides what?"

"Ah..." The elder heaved a sigh. "Children, you don't know blessing while in its midst. It is I who should envy your life!"

The younger did not understand.

"Saji," the elder said solemnly, "each day you return home to caring parents. That is the greatest joy in this world. As for me, my mother the Imperial Princess died when I was too young to remember her face. My father, I do not even know his name. I have no parents, just two girls I cling to for survival. Is that not a pitiable existence?"

"But with no parents, you can do whatever you want! How fun!"

"Saji, many of the things you call 'doing whatever I want', are what life forces me to do, not what I truly desire. Do you understand?"

"I don't get what you're saying at all." Saji's clear eyes looked to his brother, then to the distant sky. His thoughts had returned to play.

It turned out the prince's elder brother was not a blood relation, but a cousin. No wonder the prince had a brother!

"Say, do you think the Princess of the Ke'erdan tribe is pretty?"

"She's a princess, she surely can't be ugly."

"But my three brothers keep laughing that Ke'erdan women are so dark, they're hairy like men!"

"Pay them no mind. They malign the grapes as sour because they cannot have them. A beauty like marrying a princess is not meant for the likes of them."

"Hee hee..." Saji giggled foolishly. "I'm going to get a wife too! After marrying I can kiss and hug every day, such a sweet life!"

As they chatted while walking, a sudden fancy took Garlande.

"Hey, you want to see what the Ke'erdan Princess looks like? I can take you to see for yourself!"

"Really?!" The younger's eyes lit up in delight.

"Mm-hmm." Garlande nodded.

"Wow..." Happiness washed over Saji's face as he lost himself in fantasy. He grabbed his brother urgently by the arm, "You have to take me!"

"Don't worry, leave it to me. I want to visit the Ke'erdan tribe too." The elder reassured him. "But not today. Ke'erdan is the other way, we'll have to go another time."

"What?!" Saji's excitement collapsed in disappointment. Crestfallen, he considered, "Oh, alright...another time, but don't you dare go back on your word!"

"I promise, we'll go."

"I don't want to go back yet today!" Saji stated firmly. "We hardly ever get out to play, today we're definitely camping out, absolutely not going home!"

The younger brother was stubborn in his playfulness, refusing to return no matter what.

The spring wind brought a susurration in the distance. The prairie youths' sharp eyes suddenly spotted faint glints of light.

"Brother, there seem to be people over there..."

Garlande immediately tensed, drawing his bow and arrow, aiming for the distant figure he now spotted moving.

Caught up in their reckless galloping this day, they had not paid attention to where they were headed. By now they had likely drawn very near the northern castle.

For years their tribe and that castle had faced off as mortal enemies. The glimpsed figure could well be a soldier from the castle!