Varian of the Northern Isles

Stargazing and secrets

It was almost dawn when we reached our campsite and I crawled into the tent. My body ached and I was exhausted but I couldn't fall asleep. My mind was still going a hundred miles an hour after what we had just been through. Needless to say, I was glad to have Terrin with us, but I wasn't sure to go from here. "Tomorrow," I thought to myself,"Tomorrow I'll call us to a meeting. All...three of us." I sighed heavily and quietly crept out of our tent. The night was still very dark and the moon was growing larger in the sky. I lay down and rested my back against a tree. The cool breeze reminded me of the mountain peaks I'd left behind so long ago. It had been three long years in exile, but intended to return and to reclaim my home with my sister.
"Can't sleep?"
I spun around to see Varian standing behind me. He held a glowing potion in his hands that illuminated the ground in front of him.
"Shouldn't you be resting? You got hit pretty hard back there, and when did you get around to making that?" I questioned, nodding towards the glowing vile.
"This? Oh I made it just now. Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've pulled an all nighter."
I didn't say anything but beckoned him to take a seat next to me. We sat in comfortable silence for a while, just watching the glimmering starlight of distant worlds shine down on us. I chanced a look at Varian and my eyes landed on the white streak in his hair. It seemed to glow ever so faintly, but when I blinked, it was gone.
"Um... Is there something on my face, your highness?"
"What?! Oh, no nothing!" I said quickly turning my face away. Had I really just been blatantly staring at him?! "And you don't need to keep referring to me as 'your Highness' either. I know it's informal and all but I'm not one for being formal when I'm just talking with one person."
"Ok, Your- um... Hypatia" Varian turned his face away and back up to the sky.
"By the way, what caused your sudden change of heart towards me?" I asked.
"W-what?" Varian stumbled over the word.
"I mean one day you almost kill me, and the next you break me out of prison. What made you change your mind about me?" I reiterated. Varian went silent, but eventually sighed, running a nervous hand through his hair.
"My dad and I.... Well we haven't always seen eye to eye on what I do. The alchemy, I mean. I've messed up before, a LOT of times and my dad he doesn't really approve of it. I kept hoping that someone, anyone, but most of all him, would see that I'm trying to do good things. I'm trying to make inventions that can change people's lived for the better and when you came along and offered me a job... When you said that you believed in alchemy and what I could do... I wanted to believe that."
"Varian," I was speachless. The fact that he held such faith in me came as a strangely comforting pride.
"Then, right before I broke you out, one of my machines accidentally almost killed Rapunzel and my dad forbid me from using alchemy. I stored off and decided to break you out." Varian finished and I quietly nodded my head.
"Well, I can't say you if you made the right choice. Only you can tell that, but I am glad you're here with me. Although it's true that I have allies... It's been years since I've ever touched my home's soil. I don't know how many people are still loyal to me aside from you and Terrin or how I could even begin to think about contacting Helen when we're back in the north.
"Helen?" Varian asked,"Is that the sister that you bought that knife for?"
I nodded," She and I were very close but now, I don't know. We ruled a kingdom as children, you know? We were only twelve but somehow we were able to make it work. Looking back on it, we were probably totally inexperienced but none the less, we still gained a following."
"You were children when you and your sister ruled a kingdom?!" Varian gawked," How?! What about your parents?!"
I didn't meet his eyes, the secret, dark and ugly coiling deep within me. Blood, both real and metaphorical, on my hands and my sister's.
     "What would you think of me if," I gulped,"I-If my sister and I murdered our parents?"
I couldn't describe Varian's reaction. It was a mix between fear, shock, and the question of why. Varian didn't say anything, the internal workings of his mind debating if he should run from me.
"Our parents were not the kindest people. I mean, that surly doesn't excuse what we did but we were young and thought we could get away with it," I continued, hurrying to quell the visible rising panic in him,"They dreamed of conquest and for the entire world to become part of the Northern Isles. They were ruthless and when Helen and I saw the horror of their conquest, we stepped in. It was probably the worst possible decision but we snuck poison into their food and paid off their food testers to pretend there was nothing wrong with he food. Our parents were dead two days later. We kept the knowledge of their deaths a secret and we ruled in their placeI I think that was when I learned how to really use money to my advantage. Helen was excellent at mimicking signatures and handwriting and wrote most of their official letters. I couldn't do much but I was good at strategy and easily came up with reason upon reason why people couldn't see their "rulers" face to face. Sometimes, one of us would dress up and Terrin would pretend to be the King while one of would play the part of the Queen. We couldn't keep this up forever so we revealed our secret to other Nobles of power in the Northern Isles in hopes that they would understand and could work with us."
"That didn't happen of course," Terrin stepped out from the shadows.
     "How long have you been there?!" I exclaimed. He shrugged but continued the story. " The officials were mortified that they had been fooled by children and the only reason any of us were not exiled on the spot was because the public still though our parents were still alive. The only thing it took was a single slip up and we knew we would be gone before the next sunrise."
     "There was a Duke,"I muttered," I think his name was Lorenzen. Anyways, he was getting on my nerves and I couldn't take it. I lashed out at him and that was just the excuse he was looking for. The other nobles had been itching to get me, Terrin, or my sister out of the country. I was subsequently exciled and Terrin shortly after me."
     Varian seemed to relax and I held out my hand to him. He hesitated a little, but finally shook my palm. The distant hooting of an owl marked what none of us had said out loud. We were a team now and we would never turn our backs on eachother.
     "Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm going to sleep," Terrin said," Don't stay out stay out here too long. We'll have to leave around noon if we have any chance of getting to the Cliffs of the Falling Sky by night fall tomorrow. "
     I nodded my head and laid back against a tree,"You should sleep too,Varian, I don't want my alchemist to-"
     "Oh, so I'm your alchemist now?" He teased, I laughed and attributed the slight heat in my cheeks to the weather. We talked well into the dawn, our conversations fueled partially by half asleep delirium and the new found trust in eachother. When we finally left that campsite I felt lighter than I had in a long while.