Justice for the Forest-Beasts

Chapter One - In Which the Aristocrats Meet a Beast

The bustling city was lit dimly by the morning sun peeking between gray clouds. Snow gracefully drifted from the sky, landing softly on the ground, roofs, and roads. This was Estelle's favorite time of year—the Zaliow Festival. During the festival's four days of celebration, the city was decorated with colorful banners and flags, shops and games were set up along the cobblestone streets, and people would dress up in bright, extravagant outfits. Children spent the majority of the festival playing games with each other, since they would get the whole week off from school. Among the children playing in the courtyard beside the castle's great enceinte, there were four young adults, dressed from head to toe in colorful jewels, thick fur, exotic fabrics, and shimmering gold. The city children were no match for these four in a game of Hurray. After all, three of them had been trained to play against the Royal Guards—the best soldiers in the whole country of Branalum.

On team one was Estelle and Lucian, while Aravis had ended up on the second team with Petra. Estelle and Lucian were twins who hardly ever left each other's sides, so there was no way the city children would manage to convince them to split up into separate teams. The city children knew this without even needing to try.

Estelle always went for speed when she played Hurray, while Lucian was left to defend their team's base. As soon as the game began, Estelle began racing towards the goal, while the other team tried to reach for her and push her out of bounds. Estelle didn't even pause to use the safe zones, although the members of the other team did, camping out in them to ambush Estelle while she was speeding by. Estelle dodged them and managed to get into the other team's base without any trouble. From their own team's base, Lucian watched Estelle in anticipation.

"Where are you going?" Aravis teased Estelle. He'd been left to protect his base, which was probably for the best. Estelle had no doubt that he had convinced the children to let him take defense.

Estelle didn't respond. Her eyes were trained at Aravis, focused on finding the best time to pounce. Aravis grinned and furrowed his brows in concentration.

"Well, come on," Aravis coaxed her, "Reach the goal, it's right here. You scared?"

A smile forced its way onto Estelle's face as she finally gave in, lunging towards the goal as Aravis attempted to push her away.

"Hurray!" Estelle cried out, landing on the goal on her stomach. She hurried to stand up and dusted her tunic off with a somewhat irked expression. Estelle's parents would surely kill her and Lucian if they saw what they were doing. Lucian hurried to Estelle's side, as the game had ended and he no longer needed to be in position. The city children who'd been playing with the aristocrats all congregated together, laughing and talking amongst themselves. They teased and pushed each other around, unafraid of being reprimanded by the aristocrats.

"You two always win," Petra said to the twins, "I'm going to start getting suspicious."

"You're the one who decided to be on my team," Aravis retorted, "So don't be whiny."

Petra didn't bother to respond, simply putting her hands on her hips. She gave Aravis an exaggerated unamused expression, her whole head tilting a bit as her eyebrows lifted and she gave a slight frown. Aravis smiled cheekily and stuck his tongue out at Petra.

"Come on, let's play another round," Estelle said, trying to get the attention of both her friends and the city children, "I'll go easy on you this time around—you have my word."

A fearful expression suddenly appeared on two of the city children's faces as they turned towards Estelle, eyes wide and bodies rigid. One of them began to speak in a rather timid voice, "Uhm, excuse me, Your Royal Highness."

"Yes?" Estelle said, although the title also got Aravis and Lucian's attention.

"Behind you," the child said.