Aurora was stunned into a silence enforced by thoughts. How could a child— jump down a window with no head or tail of fear and consequences involved?!
Was he bold to an exaggerating degree or a fool through and through?
The ravenette gulps, pacing to the ledge and craning her neck down. She did not expect to find a bleeding corpse on the lush garden grass, obviously, nevertheless, it did not diminish the cloud of suspicion looming overhead. The last thing Aurora wanted was to witness a death, or else, be accused for the murder of Grand Duke's beloved grandson! The mere thought raced chills down her spine.
No amount of dramedy would take her out, alive, from that one.
Standing up to expectations, her sight is graced by green of the grassy garden, not sporting a bashed head or painted red in a friend's blood. Was Arcel a friend? Who cares— the ground looked expectionally ordinary.
"Arcel?! Where are you?!" Iris calls out, loud enough for her voice to echo in the empty hallway. The lumines had left her again, disappearing around the hallway's corner to find someone else. The ravenette wanted to scoff at that, but she was better than whining over childish magic spotlight. "I can't believe you don't consider me person enough. Must be awfully low standards!" she grumbles instead.
"Iris! Here I am!" A voice chirps.
Iris flung her head out of the window but spots no grinning brunette. "Where are you?!" She shouts an inquiry, standing on her tip toes and wondering if he got stuck to some gargoyle statute, spearhead or buttress.
"Up here!! Turn over!"
And Iris does, unprepared to witness Arcel's dazzling smile among the stars. Her jaw hangs in a gasp. The sky was brilliant behind Arcel's head, navy in colour, caressing each star until it twinkled with its unique individuality.
Maybe she had lived among the faux stars for too long, Iris realises. On Earth, she might have dazzled more brilliantly in a well lit theater with the right amount of sequins than a star burning itself for acknowledgement aeons away. Maybe it was because she was closer, more attainable, that she had replaced the value of the real ones. Whatever else would be the reason for people to skip gazing such ethereal stars at night and attend her performances instead?
They had all lost themselves to a materialistic sense of acknowledgement, just like her.
But, now that she was standing among the real ones again, the ravenette felt inconsequential in the grand scheme of the universe. Dying, reliving, being rich or poor didn't matter in the second for she was surrounded by something far more meaningful, superior, complex and important.
In that moment, Iris realised how much effort it must have taken the Gods to make the universe. How much heart went into it. How much soul went into it. How much care went into it.
And for once, after being reincarnated or her transmigration, Iris felt the burdensome regret lifting off of her. She was genuinely happy, in the moment.
Until a certain brunette opened his mouth.
"Iris! I'm right here! Not up in the stars, quite yet. Don't be starstruck without me!" the brunette whines, waving his hands to grasp the girl's attention.
That is when Iris spots Arcel leaning over a VERY STEEP CONE of the castle roof, with his hands and feet hugging it like a koala.
"Holy fucking shit— You absolute trainwreck of sanity, how did you end up there?! Didn't you jump down?! Are you okay?!" Iris exclaims, quite taken by surprise as her brown eyes threaten to bulge their way out of their sockets.
"It's a buoyancyspell. Grandpapa had it casted all over the balconies and windows of the castle because I used to jump off them a lot," the child grins sheepishly. And Iris raises an exaggerated eyebrow in concern.
Say what?!
"You used to jump off balconies as a child?! What is this questionable behaviour?! And rather asking you NOT TO JUMP off random places, they put a spell instead?! Ridiculous! You're spoilt rotten!" Iris scolds, raising her fists in a ready-to-knock-some-sense-into-you stance. The brunette shrugs, extending a hand out. An action that results his body to subtly slither down the cone, an inch or two, just enough to make Iris scream her guts out.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET OFF OF THERE YOU ABSOLUTE CHILD!"
"No, Iris! Come up! We need to find the thief! Don't you wanna have some fun?!" The brunette insists, holding the tip of the cone with one hand and extending the other to reach Iris. "If you don't hold it," he gestures his wiggling fingers waiting for her to take them in her hand, "I'll fall and die."
The ravenette scoffs. "Well that would be all on you!" She rolls her eyes.
The brunette sighs, looks around, then grins again. "I bet you a nose twitch that you'll come up!" Arcel announces, much to Iris' distaste.
"Fine, you'll lose and you'll come down," the ravenette agrees, knowing that she would surely win. But Iris was too new into the world and making bets, she would soon realise, was not her forte. For as soon as she agrees, Arcel takes it upon himself to chant, "nose twitch, nose twitch, your nose is going to twitch. Does it feels heavy? Don't look at it! I know it feels weird. I know you wanna twitch it. Do you wanna touch it? It twitched!"
And sure it did, for Iris could feel as if she was hanging a tree off of her nose tip. What in heaven's name was that?!
"Now just jump off the window and the spell will throw you up!" Arcel chirps, winning twice in a row against Iris'dead resolve. The whole spell mechanism sounded awfully unreliable to Iris.
The ravenette presses her lips in a thin line and shakes her head. There was no way she would be jumping off of here. She did not know magic and she did not trust it. The ravenette considered just walking away without a concern but the sad realisation of not knowing where else to go but be stuck to this demanding's child's whims was horrifying.
Begrudgingly, she perched herself over the ledge and turned to let her feet dangle out. Her fragile heart did a flip as the wind swayed her dangling feet with it, dancing a duet together, mocking her non-existent courage.
"I am NOT JUMPING OFF!" She screams a panicked scream.
"Bahahaha, what a scaredy cat!" Arcel mocks.
Iris turns to face him with a sharp glare, "It is called valuing your life!" She paraphrases his statement.
"Pssh, you don't live like that, come up! It's beautiful, I promise!" He grins, pretty convincingly, as Iris takes his hand. She balances herself on shaky feet, grabbing onto the upper ledge to thrust herself up.
After much gruelling pull-ups and shared grievances, Iris made it on top of the conical platform, leading up to a very steep rooftop.
"I did not die and was reborn for indulging in such godforsaken stakes!" Iris cries out, hugging the roof closely as Arcel laughed at her.
"What are you talking about?" The brunette grins.
Iris sighs a harsh sigh. "I meant, why are we here? Could we not have done it through the hallways?! And Mercy Bridge's roof looked much smaller in comparison to this—" her gaze accidentally fell on the ground and the distance made her hands tingle and go clammy. As if upon instinct, a voice in her head said 'leave it, don't hold on so fast, let go. Fall.' It was call of the void.
"Yeah well, it's not as much fun," Arcel shrugs, slipping off the cone with practiced smoothness and landing on the attached roof. He straddles it's epicenter as if sitting over a pillow on his bed! And grins at Iris! The audacity-?! "Come here," he gestures again.
"You fucking slave driver! This is cynical!" She cries out loud, but concedes nevertheless. Not that she had a choice or anything. Lord help her vocal cords with all that screaming she had been doing around.
"What's fucking?" Arcel suddenly questions, watching Iris slide off, shriek, silde off, repeat.
"It's-ah- um, an-adverb? To express pain, sadness, anguish, betray-eh-yyyal and sometimes even— aaaaah! Excitement!" The ravenette sobs out, landing over the steep edge of the roof and almost falling off if not for Arcel's hand holding her up.
"Well, then, i am having fucking fun!" The brunette suddenly exclaims, pulling her up and seating her beside him.
Iris took the opportunity to slide a palm over his mouth and frown, intimidatingly. "No, Arcel, you cannot use that now! Only older people can!" She whispers in conspiracy.
"AmBd YoUbr OLbd?" Arcel mouths under the constraints of Iris'hand. The ravenette nods.
"Yes, i am fairy Godmother, remember? They're always old," Aurora proclaims, rather boldly for the small form of Iris. Arcel stares her, up and down, before pulling her hand off of him.
"We should head orient!" Arcel suddenly points, much to Iris' confusion.
"What's orient?" Iris questions, tilting her head.
"It's orient," Arcel shrugs, pointing straight ahead.
"Is it a...direction?" Iris vaguely concludes.
"It's of course, Iris, don't tell me you don't know your directions?! How old are you even?" Arcel berates with mockery.
Iris scowled, "Hasn't anyone taught you to not ask a lady her age?" She grumbles, pushing Arcel to crawl forward.
"Lady? Who? Where?"
"I hate you, Arcel Maynard."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Iris rolls her eyes at that. Aurora had never even dreamt about crawling over the roof of a castle, but here she was, reborn at Maynard, crawling over a roof to find a thief?! That made as much sense as a six-year-old's plan of action could.
The moon was closer than she had ever seen it on Earth and though the wind was chilly, and she was practically crawling in the lap of death, the scenery was worth it. The Maynard Castle was huge and the navy towertops glimmered through their windows as lumines worked ever-so-hard. There was an odd serenity as people followed through their respective chores in harmony. Smoke rose from the kitchen quarters and fire was lit in some other place. Guards were laughing aloud during their rounds and it felt fantastical for Aurora to be a part of something so... peaceful.
It was liberating.
"We'll have to reach there," Arcel suddenly points at the rook tower along the foot of the roof they had been crawling on.
"Why?" Iris all but cries out, quite dramatically.
"So we can reach there," his finger directs her eyes. The rook tower was a considerable jump away from the roof of Mercy Bridge.
Iris thought Arcel had no dreams passionate enough to fuel a safe life.
"Are you a sociopath?" The ravenette suddenly questions, eyeing her kid-legs then the grinning face of Arcel. The wind fiddled with his brown hair gently and they looked awfully fluffy enough for Iris's hands itching to touch them.
"What's that, i don't know. But what i know is, if we reach the bridge's roof then we'll be able to, probably, retrace the path of the thief!" He grins, fist bumping the sky.
"I'm going back," Iris deadpans, very willing, but she had no idea how to turn herself on this steep edge without propelling to her demise.
"No!! You cannot do that to me! I bet you a blink you're coming with me!"
Iris' eyelids flutter on their own regard, quite unintentionally blinking, she groans.
"Ha! I won again! Let's go!" Arcel chirps, flipping his feet to one side and sliding off as if it were some kiddy park and he was not hanging in the air on an eight foot high tower.
"Come along!" Arcel gestures, jumping over to the flat ground of the rook tower. "It's much better here!"
Iris wouldn't dare deny. Flat ground was solace. Well, there was a first time for everything, right? Fuck it. She'll pretend it is a very important stunt. She had always liked doing her own stunts back on her Earth. She'll be fine here as well. So, she closes her eyes and lets herself fall, quite blindly, landing straight into the arms of a grinning Arcel.
"Caught ya," he whispers in her flushing ear, hands wrapped around her tiny waist. The flustered ravenette, in turn, pushes him away with haste and tumbles to the ground. The stone was cool and she lets herself pretend that it was a natural and intentional fall.
"That's grandmama Arabella's room," Arcel suddenly points under the roof they had been crawling on, all along. Aurora's simpery peaks as she jerks up, standing on the rook tower's edge to face the luminescent room. Not much was visible beyond the curtains, but the wind did bring words with it.
"You don't understand how important that stone is! Especially in this time! Do you think anybody would be trying to make that—" A strange voice was speaking.
"No, stop spouting nonsense. This was just a petty robbery. Some uncultured maid must have liked it too much and would have had picked it up." It was Arabella's voice.
Arcel and Iris paid attention, standing on their toes now.
"Nevertheless, you must send people to Lake Virae. If anybody wants to activate the stone, they would go there. As soon as a day comes to pass." Virae. That name again. Iris had been catching it all over the place, in this strange little world. She turns to Arcel, opening her mouth to question something, but is stopped by an intruding finger over her lips.
"I don't understand your haste! I'm telling you, it was just a petty theft!"
"The church shall not disregard the safety of millions of people just because you prioritise it with negligence, Arabella Millicent Maynard. Do not forget where you belong."
There is a span of silence which makes Iris scowl. How dare someone raise their voice at the sweetest, most beautiful woman ever?! No body was worthy enough of such a crime!
"We must go, Iris! To Lake Virae! We must find the thief before the guards do!" Arcel suddenly proclaims, giddy on his footsteps. His cyan eyes sparkle against the stars, hands flailing around in restrained excitement.
"What the hell dude, we are not going anywhere messing with matters that should not be meddled with!" Iris, ever the voice of she, berates.
"But— iT wILL bE FuN!" Arcel whines as childishly as possible.
Iris' jaw hangs. "No," was her cold and monotonous reply.
"Okay, I shall set a bounty on the stone and send my knights as soon as the Duke departs to bed. You mustn't worry, I shall not disappoint." Arabella promises to the man she had been talking with.
"The church shall help with the donations. I'll set up a sum of fifty thousand coins."
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Suddenly, Iris clutches Arcel's silk shirt and wrings it with all her might. "We must go, Arcel, we must go right this instant! Show me the way!" 262Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJOkk778ls
