Zeravia's Five

seventeen

June 6th.

Gia hopped as the group walked. Her tied up hair swung from left to right, her sudden burst of energy made everyone look like they had just gone a week without sleep. The girl knew that they would be reaching Turham soon, what was left of it at least. She had always dreamed of seeing what everything looked like outside of Zeravia. So far, she had seen many things that had kept her blood pumping. Back in Zeravia the only animals they had were dead ones at the meat market or crows. Out here, in the very few days they had spent walking, she had seen so many animals, living ones. Rabbits, colourful and intriguing birds, squirrels, horses running freely, etc. She would've stopped to pet every single one of them if there had been time. In some ways, it pained her that she couldn't. For the first time they had been allowed to leave the kingdom, but they couldn't do any actual exploring. Everyone looked like they had reached the end of their lives, but at least Tate seemed to have reached a talking point. Him and Simon kept whispering and chuckling together in the back. While the energy between these two had changed, Izzie and Cassie seemed to be on anything but speaking terms. They wouldn't even look at each other.

Gia had always been perceived as someone that didn't pay much attention, but she paid lots of attention to everything. She couldn't tell if it was an insult or a gift that people pictured her as an idiot. Growing up, she was deprived of love. Without any parents and left with someone like William to be raised. At least with Izzie, Cassie and Tate she had people to talk to, people that made her feel loved and people that were there for her, always. That was something she truly believed in. At least for her and Tate. They didn't seem close, but they were. She had been his first friend. She could recall how him and Izzie hated one another when they were kids. The boy was rebellious and he did whatever crossed his mind. Whenever Izzie annoyed him too much, he would just smack her, without a warning. It happened so many times Gia had lost count. She spent every minute of everyday with Tate, when they weren't training. Recently, things had changed though. They were growing up and without necessarily growing apart, they had stopped being together every second of every day. She didn't mind it and neither did he, because they had made a promise way back when and they both intended to keep it.

Gia giggled as an eight years old version of her ran after a younger Tate through the castle. It was another one of their hide and seek games. They had put a twist to it to make it an even better game. They had mixed up tag and hide and seek together. They always pulled Cassie, Izzie and Simon in with them for this game even though not all three of them enjoyed it the way the other two did. Tate and Gia were looking for a place to hide and as they always did, they were planning to hide together. They knew every good hiding spot in the castle and no bribe was big enough for them to give any of them up.

For that one game, they had decided to hide on top of Gia's tall dresser. It was sturdy enough to handle both of their weight and with the wooden detailing raising up on the sides of the top of it, they were able to stay low and hide. Nobody would ever even think about looking up there. It would take someone insane to hide up there, which was exactly what they were. The two giggled quietly, looking into each other's eyes with a hand over their mouth. They stayed silent for around half an hour before Tate finally whispered something.

"Gia?" The girl smiled a bit and raised her small brows as an answer, "Let's make a pact..." the young boy said with a huge grin stuck to his face.

This subject intrigued the girl, "A pact?" She repeated needing more information and she got it.

"Let's make a promise to be friends forever, no matter what," he enriched sticking out his pinky in front of her face.

She laughed softly and nodded her head, "Forever!" She exclaimed keeping her voice just above a whisper.

The two kids linked their fingers together and the promise of forever was born. Nothing would ever come in-between them. Nothing and no one. Those were the fundamental rules of this pact.