Forgotten Magic

Chapter 54

"So and then, we followed them to this whole village!" Raps explains, arms spread wide as she tells us the tale of her day. How do her days always end up so eventful and exciting while I end up getting a sunburn from spending all day with a stuck up guard? Anyways, I should probably explain.

Raps and Cass ended up winning the shelter contest. They, along with Max and Pascal, had managed to build a whole condo in the span of, guessing by how she'd just started telling a story of the rest of her day, less than a few hours. Lance, Eugene, Hookfoot, and Shorty refused to tell us what happened to their shelter, so we all ended up gathering what little belongings we had from the caravan wreck and moving into the princess's shelter.

After we'd finished that, the guys moved the caravan remains to our new shelter and Raps and Cass went to find food for the evening. When all had been said and done, we all gathered around a campfire outside and that leads us to now, Raps regaling us with her adventure of a day.

"It was amazing!" Rapunzel continues. "Right, Cass? All those lorbs! Oh, and the lanterns! Eugene, the lanterns! All the lanterns from my birthday, they're all here! It was amazing!"

"You ever find one from Varian?" I start to say, before stopping myself so it just sounds like I said 'You ever fi-....'. Lame. I clear my throat awkwardly and try to laugh. "I-I mean..."

"Oh, I'm sure we can find one when we visit," Raps assures me. I wasn't sure if she knew what I was going to say or just didn't care. "Anyways, remember, guys, they thought Pascal was their king, so they start holding feasts and-"

"And making us do their labor," Cass adds.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," the princess laughs. "And besides, Pascal enjoyed it!" All eyes turn to the little chameleon, who nods and squeaks in agreement. 

I tried to laugh, but started feeling...odd.

"Anyways, after that, the Lorbs ask Pascal for help with a 'firefly' which we soon find out to be a giant, fire breathing-"

"Firefly, yeah, we saw," Eugene finishes. "Speaking of which, how in the world did you guys survive that thing?"

"Oh, well, Pascal-"

That's when I zoned out of the conversation, my gaze drifting in the direction Rapunzel said the lorbs' village was. I wanted to go there. To find one of the lanterns Varian and I set off together. But that was stupid, why did I care? He hadn't answered my letter, so he clearly didn't care about me, so why did I care about him? Why should I care? He certainly didn'-

Nickolas tapped me on the shoulder. "You wanna head to bed early? You look dead inside."

I rubbed at my eyes, realizing I'd been staring blankly into the fire for who knows how long. "What?"

"You alright?" The soldier's eyebrows creased in...concern? Was that possible, coming from him? I decided not to find out.

"Yeah, I'm good,' I shrug, trying to figure out what Rapunzel and Cassandra were talking about. 

He nodded and went back to his seat around the fire. 

I tried to focus back on Raps's story-She was talking about how Pascal had jumped into the firefly's mouth in order to feed it a weed-but, I couldn't really focus. I just couldn't get my mind off those stupid lanterns. Why did I care if Varian's was amongst them? Why should I care? 

Trying to divert my attention away from the lanterns, I found myself thinking about the gang. They'd finally started acting normal around me. Sharing stories and jokes, and just acting like I was one of them. It was an amazing feeling, but felt kinda weird. Like I was betraying someone by accepting their friendship. But that was stupid, I wasn't on Varian's side either. I hated the things he'd done, and I was all out against him back at the battle in Old Corona. So why did I care?

Come to think of it, who's side was I on? It certainly wasn't Varian's, but I wasn't sure if it was Corona's either. If being on Corona's side meant being like Eugene or Nickolas, I definitely didn't fit there either. I wasn't for Corona subduing the low-life and boasting a perfect reputation, but I wouldn't start a war against them either.

"And then, the firefly burps out Pascal!" Rapunzel exclaims, jumping into the air. Pascal raises his little arms in triumph and Raps laughs like she was right back in the moment. Everyone's buzzing about how a fruit could do something like that, laughing, cheering, and talking like they didn't have a worry in the world.

I smile and shake off the feeling. Why was I thinking too deep into it anyways? Everyone else was happy, so I could be too.

They all continue to chatter, discussing the lorbs or the fruit or what they were planning to do the next day. A wave of exhaustion hit me and I stood to head to the small circle of sleeping bags and mattresses we'd salvaged from the caravan. For once, I didn't hear the footsteps of anyone following to keep an eye on me. They probably figured I couldn't do anything on a deserted island like this. Figures.

Then again, maybe they were actually starting to trust me. Maybe it went further than being friendly with me? That couldn't be right, could it? There was no way they'd trust a traitor and a thief. Right? They were just faking it so I'd cooperate. But why hadn't they tried that before, then? They'd tried force at the beginning. Maybe they'd realized that didn't work the way they'd hoped, so they turned to befriending me. 

Nah, Raps had started doing that much earlier. But she was friendly with everyone. Did Raps even know? Were the rest of them hiding this from her?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I flinched, realizing I was standing at the balcony, gazing at the ocean. "Do what? I wasn't about to do anything."

Nickolas leaned against the railing next to me. "Looked like you were about to jump off or something. Swim back to the mainland, perhaps."

"What?" I narrowed my eyes incredulously. "Of course not."

He shrugged. "I don't blame you. The princess's group is insufferable."

This surprised me. Sure, I didn't like them much either, but insufferable? Coming from a guard? 

He laughed. "What, you thought I was like them? All sunshine and rainbows? No integrity, that group."

"What...do you mean?" I mumbled. "Rapunzel-"

"She doesn't care for either of us."

"But she's the princess, she cares for everyone," I say incredulously.

"Now that's not true. She doesn't care for Varian, now does she?"

Okay, hit right to the chest. "Well, that's because he turned on her."

"Because she didn't care for him."

Oh. Right. "Wait, but why do you care? Don't you hate Varian?"

"Yep. But, that doesn't excuse the princess. Don't you remember what happened in the forest? When you got turned into a bird? She didn't even bother to thank you. She doesn't care for you. She doesn't care for anyone."

Right, the bird thing. "What, and you do care?"

"Not really," he shrugged. "I'm getting paid to make sure the princess doesn't die by your hands, but you're not gonna kill anyone, so I don't really need to please her highness."

"Right..."

"Well." He straightened. "The group should be here any second and I don't want to look all sensitive and stuff, so why don't you go to sleep."

I nodded.