A Court of Three Stars

3: The Mask

Eternal Palace, Pangera

Ruhn

"Get back here!"

When I was really young, all I ever wanted to do was run. I suppose there was never really a reason for it, nothing that made sense anyways, just the fantasy world of a young child who liked to go fast. I liked the feeling of the wind on my face, the world in a blur around me.

To the nannies and guards who watched and cared for me nearly every hour of the day, it was a pain. In retrospect, I must have been an absolute terror to deal with. Then again, I had never wanted anything to do with them either.

To a four year old child, it was hard to understand why my parents were always busy. I could understand my father, that he was the King. Fairytales had told me that Kings had important work to do, and so I knew that must be the reason I rarely saw my father.

But my mother, I could never understand why she didn't want me around. She wasn't cold or mean in any way, just seemed as if she was mildly disinterested in me. I was like a chore to her, and as young as I was- I could sense it.

With no siblings and not being allowed to speak to kids my own age, I found my own ways to entertain myself. I'd play with shadows and run away from the nannies until I was red in the face. Perhaps I was acting out in some way to get my parents attention, maybe I just wanted to be anywhere but where I was.

That was how I found Leur, or I suppose that she found me. Maybe she had been watching me long before that day, maybe it had all been manufactured.

But hanging in this dark, bloodstained cell, with nothing but pain and the sound of screams to keep me company, I could still see that vision clear as day in my head. I had been so young, and yet I could still see it. As if some part of my mind knew how important it would be, capturing the moment and storing it in my memories.

I had been running, same as always. Usually, we were within the castle walls, so I couldn't get lost. Except on this day, it had been one of the rare days where I was taken somewhere outside of the walls. I suppose I had been too young to understand, just how easy it was to get lost in Lunathion. I was supposed to be at the library or perhaps it was some kind of fitting? I couldn't remember. Only that I had slipped away, run, and gotten lost.

I could remember the blur of people around me, wandering too far into the inner city, towards the Old Square. I could remember feeling so small in comparison to all of the large people around me, the buildings towering over my head. I had backed myself into the corner of the entrance to a spell shop when she walked past.

Somehow, through the haze of faces and people, she had stuck out to me. Maybe some part of me had recognized that she didn't belong, long before I knew just how true that statement was. Maybe it was because she had looked like me.

Maybe I had just been a little boy who recognized his mother.

She had seemed tall then, even if she wasn't. I could still remember the purple sweater she had been wearing, tattoos peeking out over the sleeves. Her hair was short then, just barely touching her shoulders. I could remember thinking that she was pretty.

She had turned to walk into the shop, only to find me huddled by the door. I can still remember the look on her face, the kindness in her eyes as she knelt down to me. I remember the way her accented voice had sounded like a song, a lullaby.

"Are you alright, little one?"

I snapped back to reality like a shock had gone through me, only to find that it had. Pollux stood in front of me, a taser in hand, grinning wildly like some feral beast.