The Queen and the Hero

3

Hilda lay asleep on her bed, having gotten up and changed into her night clothing before immediately flopping back down onto her bed and falling asleep.

Her staff lay beside her on the ground, as it let off a flickering rainbow glow, dimmer than before, but there nonetheless.

The entire staff suddenly went dark, before glowing even brighter when a tendril of magic began spiraling from the tip, crackling with fire, as it wound up the bed towards Hilda's hand and began seeping into her skin, until her skin looked its normal pale color.

Hilda absentmindedly scratched the palm of her hand before turning over in her bed, away from the now teal glow of her staff.

                                          ~~~

Ravio soon arrived at the Servants' Quarters once again, and while the hallway was still empty, Ravio could hear snoring or low murmurs as the servants were settling down for the night.

While Hilda had decreed that all in the castle were free to leave as they please, all of the servants decided to stay behind and help around the castle, as they had never known anything else, and were still terrified about what lay outside the castle walls, and Ravio couldn't blame them.

While most of the monsters had been wiped out when the sun first showed its rays, vaporizing most of the monsters that could only live in darkness, there was still the problem of the criminals who were still living in Thieves' Town.

Ravio stopped outside of the door that led into his and his mother's room, and slowly raised his hand to knock on the door.

He knocked once, and his mother opened the door a few moments later, delighted to see her son standing outside the door.

"Ravio, I was wondering when you'd return, or if you were just going to spend the night with the Princess." Myra said, chuckling as her son's face turned red.

"Mom! You can't just say things like that so loudly!" Ravio said as Myra laughed while leading her son into the room.

"Oh, you know I'm just teasing, Ravio. Besides, everyone here knows what happened between you and her before you left." She said, closing the door behind while Ravio looked around the small room.

It looked exactly the same, except his bed had been neatly made, and his tunic lay folded on top of the pillow.

"You kept my tunic? I thought you would've thrown it away by now." Ravio asked, and Myra shook her head, smiling sadly.

"I couldn't throw away the last thing I had besides memories that belonged to my only son. I knew that one day, you would return home, and that if you wanted to throw it away, you would do it yourself." She said, and Ravio looked at the clothes that lay there, mocking him.

They were clothes that marked him as a servant, as the property of the Royal Family of Lorule, that wouldn't allow him to command any respect from anyone, except his fellow servants, and Hilda.

Hilda had seen him in that tunic and decided he had been the one that she could trust with her fears and worries, to fight by her side, and be there with her through it all.

Now, after he had betrayed her and left her behind, even if it was to save her, broke that trust that she held towards him, and he wondered if she would ever trust him again.

Ravio sat down on the bed and picked up the tunic, examining it, before looking down at his robes.

"Mom, would you mind if I made a few changes to Dad's robes?"

~~~

The next morning, Hilda awoke to sunlight hitting her face once again, and she knew that if she opened her eyes, they would hurt immensely, so she pulled her pillow out from under her head and covered her face before standing.