Daughter of Regal and Renegade

Chapter 4

It had taken them longer than usual to get to the little village but thankfully they still had a few more hours until the guard changed over and were able to give out the stuff.

They had followed Varian's plans, and so far there had been no hiccups besides the extra long journey. So now they awaited to be given the roles of the missions. Yet Star supposed it had been a good thing of the extra long journey instead of the usual route seeing as the normal route would guarantee an unwanted meet up with the kingsmen.

"Okay so Mylo, you're on watch out, Star and Kayela are handing out stuff and Dahlia you find any people who want to leave to Ivory crest and help them" said Varian as he handed out the bags with supplies.

So began the usual duties, Star saw some familiar faces while handing out supplies and some new ones, whom she guessed were from the Quartz house, who normally travelled from town to town selling all their artworks from place to place.

She noticed how many people were still roaming around, which was odd, coinciding how most would either be in their homes or waiting for supplies. The one thing that stood out to her was a whole row of homes looked to have burnt down recently and in front of them sat a small girl.

As she walked closer she noticed the small girl was crying , she crouched down to be eye level with her as she asked in a concerned tone, "Are you okay?"

The small girl broke down into tears, Star put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "Shhh it's okay"

She mumbles into her tiny hands , "Mama and papa are gone"

She pulls the small girl into a hug trying to console her, as she patted her back. "shh, it's going to be ok, I'm here, I'll protect you" she murmurs, trying to calm her down.

"Would you like to stay with me until we find a family to take you in" she asked in a hushed tone trying to be as gentle as possible.

The girl hesitantly gave me her hand, "Maybe" she said, calming down but still had a twinge fear in her baby blue eyes.

"That's okay, but I promise to keep you safe" Star continued, "So what's your name?" she asked, trying to find out more about this small girl.

"My -my name is Daisy" she answered, "and what's your name?"

"Well Daisy is a nice name, and my name is Star," she added with a warm smile.

Daisy paused as if hesitating to say something before she asked "Umm Star is it okay if I could go with you, I don't have anywhere else to go" she stated with such sadness in her voice it was enough to break Star's heart.

"Yes, of course," she replied. Taking her hand and leading her to where the others were. They were almost done with handing stuff out and had begun to get ready to leave.

Dahlia was the first to notice them, "Hey , who's this little one?"

"Oh hey guys, this is Daisy" she said gesturing to the small girl now hiding behind her legs, "She'll be staying with us for a while"

"Aww , hii Daisy my name is Dahlia" she said introducing herself and everyone all of whom followed by warm welcomes.

They all got saddled onto their horses and left to return to camp, the night sky was already painted a dark maroon, she was thankful for the week to be finally over even if by the minute the dread of leaving edges even closer.

.....

They had returned to the camp, and after getting everyone settled the girls decided to let Daisy bunk with them seeing as they had extra space in their cabin.

Daisy and Dahlia were now fast asleep and Kayela went to check on Mylo who wound up in the medic bay courtesy of a deep scratch from a new wolf pup he was looking after. So Star had finally decided to go over the letter which was still folded and tucked into her satchel.

Why now, why me? She questioned internally looking at the letter. It still had the king's wax seal on it, it looked at her almost as if mocking her.

The only thing that drew her out of her thoughts was the creak of the cabin door. "You're still awake?" asked Kayela as she put down her stuff heading towards Star's side.

"Hmm? Oh uhh yeah just thinking.."

"About the trials?" she asked cautiously.

She'd been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had completely forgotten about the trials, which was ironic really considering she never considered that now she might not even be able to participate in it. Something she never thought possible especially considering all the effort she had put in.

"Star?"

"Oh uhm... yea the trials" she responded with a sigh flopping backward on her bed staring at the ceiling.

"You know when we were small, that day when we were out by the creek but your mom called you away and after you looked so sad, do you remember what I said?"

"That you would always be there for me, even if you had to go to the farthest corners of the kingdom... even if there was no chocolate there" she added with a smile remembering that day where Kayela found her crying in the forest , how even with her two pigtails she knew she could always trust her..

She didn't realise it but she slowly handed the letter to Kayela to read. She wanted to say something, maybe a warning, maybe an excuse but yet she couldn't find the words so she waited with baited breath as she read the letter.

She didn't expect what happened next as her oldest friend simply hugged her, no words, no shouting at her for lying, which made something in her heart break and the following that so did the flood of tears.

"I don't even know what to do, and now I have to leave to the palace of all places which is a guaranteed death zone but at least I'm fulfilling a duty ,hey" she rambles on as the tears flow nonstop.

"It's gonna be okay and besides you don't have to go there alone"

"...What do you mean.. Surely you're not thinking to like somehow travel along with me to the palace"

"Now that you say that I think I have an idea"

"No!"

"Yes"

She gets up from the bed as she walks up and down, if there were two of them wouldn't it be worse... Already her life is at risk she couldn't possibly risk Kayela's life to.

"Listen here bud, I know what you're thinking, how it is stupid and risky but if we don't try then you're shipped away across the kingdom alone and I'm here stuck with a camp with very few people I actually even like" Kayela says pointing a finger at her. She paused catching her breath before continuing , "So don't even think about leaving me here"

She sighed, there was no bargaining, was there... "Fine.. if you can somehow convince my mother to cover you and me leaving during arguably the most important time then fine but if you come to regret this you can come back here okay?"

"Deal"