Zarad's Little Star (Part 2)
Big Sister Constance was fun. Not in the sense of Sina’s usual usage of the word, but fun nonetheless. She was beautiful, kind, pleasant, and… other words synonymous with “nice”. Sina had known her for as long as she could remember and could easily tell that of all the ladies of Corval, Constance just didn’t fit. She was meek where others were coy, unsure where others had at least some clue, and quiet where others were talkative. Forget turning insults around to favor her, she couldn’t even take insults well or even brush them off. Everything made sense when Constance told a younger Sina that she was formerly a princess of Arland before marrying her Eldest Brother Aamir.
Misery seemed to swirl in the air around Constance. It didn’t matter how much she smiled or how nice or polite she was. In a place where everyone wore masks, hers was transparent even to a seven year old girl. Sina took it upon herself to make her big sister laugh at least once a day. If Big Brother Zarad could do it for numerous people everyday, then why would she not be able to do so for Constance at the very least? Then again, every time Zarad was near, Constance looked as if she wanted to run away. That, however, made Sina want to try even more. If she could accomplish something that Brother Zarad could not, wouldn’t that automatically make her better at something than he was? Sina loved him but hated how he could be so perfect at things she struggled with.
While thinking all of this to herself, Sina snickered aloud at her plans. Constance, somewhat used to the ways of the members of Corval’s Imperial family, paled at the sound. She was reading “One Thousand and One Nights” and was only in the beginning where the bitter king married a new wife only to kill her the next day. The heroine of the story hadn’t even been introduced yet. To hear a young girl laugh at the current setting was somewhat… chilling. “Um…”
Sensing her nervous hesitation, Sina smiled. “Sorry Constance I wasn’t paying attention just now. Can you tell that part again?” Before the young princess’s request could be granted though, a knock sounded at Sina’s bedroom door. Before either princess could respond to it, in popped the head of Prince Zarad. “Big Brother!” Sina gasped in delight while Constance did the same but instead with some degree of horror.
“Yes it is I, here to bask in the glows of two stars that seem to have fallen from the night sky.” He gave a lavish bow only to quickly straighten up in order to receive the hug of a three foot tall demon bounding toward him. “How are you little star?”
“Absolutely upset! I even fear that my glow has dimmed as a result.” She pouted and Zarad tried his best not to laugh. His sister could be so cute but she hated being laughed at more than anything. Instead he leaned back so that she could see his face, then gave an exaggerated expression of shock and horror.
“How could this be? Tell me what has caused your glow to dim and I shall immediately set about remedying the situation so that you may shine brightly once more!”
“Well you see, I spend time with a certain favored man of mine everyday but have not as of late. His absence is what has caused the dim of my glow.” Sina spun her tale with all the dramatic flair of the heartbroken maiden she pretended to be.
This, of course, elicited a gasp from the so far quiet Princess Constance. “Sina! You are far too young for such behavior!” Her admonishing only brought out snickers from the girl.
The Prince, on the other hand, saw through her words only after a brief flair of brotherly protectiveness. He opened his mouth to continue the fun of wordplay with his little Sina and messing with Constance only to shut it again.
Sina, sensing her brother’s change in mood, felt her smile slip away as she stared at him in curiosity and watched him take a deep breath as if steeling himself for something. “W-what is it?” Sina hated stuttering, it was a sign of perturbation and therefore weakness. It was nice to see it in others, but not herself.
The room was in pure silence as Zarad got down on one knee to speak with Sina at her eye level. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been spending time with you as of late little star. I have been selected to be one of the members of the Corvali delegation for the upcoming Summit of the Seven Kingdoms. In fact you may see less of me in the these next few weeks as I must prepare for it.”
Sina noted the lack of mischievousness in his expression, replaced by something else. She knew something of the Summit from her lessons and from when Big Sister Constance was telling her the story of Princes Katyia. Constance even mentioned how she married Eldest Brother due to the Summit. “Will you be going far away then?” At seven years of age, Sina had not only never been outside the royal palace, she had never been outside of its Inner Court. The Inner Court was big but she could see the royal city span out past many horse rides and even the lands and sands beyond that whenever she ventured up to the top of the tallest towers. If the Summit was beyond all of that, it must be a very far away place.
“Yes.” In love with the sound of his own voice. That was a constant description little Sina heard about her brother from the ladies of the court who were less infatuated with him. He almost never said just one word.
“Will you be coming back?” Sina asked in an uncharacteristically timid voice. All she could think of was Constance talking about leaving Arland after attending the last Summit. The faraway look on her face and the chilling sadness in her voice made Sina fear the same thing happening to him. She had no doubt that Zarad would thrive in whatever environment he was in, but a different environment in general would mean that he was leaving the palace.
Her brother laughed at her question, but quickly stifled it when he saw his sister’s expression. He knew how she hated people thinking she was being ridiculous even when she was. “Why of course my star! Do you think I could ever leave the one place in the world with the best view of the night sky and all of its brightly shining stars?” When she shook her head he continued. “I only came to tell you that I will not be able to visit you as often as I have in the past due to needing to prepare for my upcoming journey.”
“Hmph! Why didn’t you say all this before then?” Sina admonished in a tone she learned from Constance when she was being particularly naughty. “I will simply just have to come and visit you then.”
“It may not be that simple little star.”
“I will make it that simple.” She replied with a determined glint in her eye. Zarad found himself holding in his laughter once more. He could not love this girl any more if he tried.
Cupping her cheek, he realized that this was probably the time were one said that they would miss the other. “Now I know that you will miss me but try not cry so much that you create a river with your tears. They may end up flowing out into the gardens and aid to flowers to grow.” Once he saw that his star was enraptured by his words he quickly rose to his full height with her trapped in his arms, tiny feet dangling from the ground and her shrieking in laughter. “Once they reach to gargantuan heights, they would allow a pirate of Hise to come and kidnap you for ransom.”
Setting her down with a kiss on the cheek, he told her to be good for Constance to which she replied, “I’m always good!” with an expression that screamed the opposite. And with that he was off.
After a moment of staring at her closed bedroom door Sina turned around and marched towards Constance. To keep herself from feeling down, Sina focused on her earlier plan at making Constance happier. “Hey, hey Big Sis listen to this! Earlier I saw Blain making kissy faces at himself in front of a fountain…”
EDIT: Finally I have my new charger! Here are the links to the other parts~
