"It's that heart of gold & stardust soul that make you beautiful."
Emiko Amari was just a normal girl that lived in Tanbarun with her best friend Shirayuki. Well... as normal as a girl can get with beautiful purple hair. She owned a shop with...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
***
The cold air was stinging my skin. I had been sent out on a job somewhere in the cold, snowy mountains. Thankfully, Zen, Kiki, and Mitsuhide had business near where I was headed so they decided to take me with them and drop me off on the way to their destination. I was riding on Mitsuhide's horse while Kiki and Zen were riding on their own horses. I've never been somewhere this cold before. I didn't really like it since I was so used to it always being sunny and warm.
"It must be cold because we're so close to the mountains," I commented out loud. Even though we were riding through a desert during the day, it was still freezing out here. Don't get me wrong, I like the cold... But not this type of cold. It's the cold that makes your joints hurt when you've been out in it for too long.
"Yes, this place is a far cry from sunny Clarines." Kiki agreed.
"I wish we could take you all the way," I glanced back at Mitsuhide as he spoke, "We do feel guilty about that, but we need to get to Laxdo quickly."
He had been saying that for a while now. No matter how many times I told him that it was fine and he didn't have to worry, he still did. "You don't have to feel guilty. It's perfectly fine. I appreciate the fact that you guys are taking me as far as you can."
Mitsuhide smiled down at me, "I can't believe they sent you all the way to Laxdo. Seems like being a court herbalist is hard work."
I shrugged, "It's not that bad. I enjoy it a lot. It gives me an excuse to spend most of my time outside." I had wanted to be an herbalist for as long as I can remember. My mom was one and to see her work was always so fascinating to me. I loved to just sit there and watch her do everything. She was always helping people and that's what I decided I wanted to do.
"By the way," Kiki's voice was full of amusement, "We told Lord Haruka that you'd been granted a position inside the castle. He said 'congratulations', right?" That almost made me laugh. I loved that they shoved it in his face like that. He tried to keep me from the castle and now I have no choice but to come to the castle because I work there now.
"Yeah, but the sarcasm was palpable," Mitsuhide said.
"I didn't expect anything less." I laughed.
"He's interesting. He can't hide what he's thinking, so it's funny when he tries." Kiki was certainly having a field day when talking about this. I had heard that type of thing from a few people when they talked about Lord Haruka actually. It would just be things I overhear when some people come into the herbalist's office.
"Yeah, that's true," Mitsuhide said.
That's when a question arose within me. Why were the three of them going to Laxdo? They seemed to be in a really big hurry to leave the castle and get there. Something must have gone wrong... But what happened? I decided to ask, "Hey, Zen? Why are you in such a big hurry? Is there something wrong?"
