Messenger

Chapter 13

    "I'm serious. This is a bad idea." Mikoto stated to their sibling that looked ready to chase after Flower the second she left the room.

"No, it's not. We're moral support!" They reasoned back.

Mikoto sighed. "We're not going to be that great of moral support if we're distracting them."

"Well, if that's the case, then why would people be holding this sort of thing in a public area? It's not against the rules to just go to the entrance."

"Of course it's at the main entrance. A king is visiting, where's he supposed to enter? The stables?" They shouldn't have needed to discuss this. It's common sense that when someone important is visiting and Flower needs to do the whole "model royalty" thing, three kids shouldn't be hanging around there and potentially get everyone in trouble. Sadly, Hime rarely cares about common sense when it comes to these things. It's practically in their nature to want to know everything about anything they find interesting in the palace and royal drama is high up there. Only problem is that they have a tendency to drag Mikoto into it leaving them to get the crazy one out of messes.

"I agree with Mikoto. This is too important for us to get involved." Oliver piped in. Even though he hadn't been here all that long, Oliver had warmed up to the twins very quickly. Usually, people get overwhelmed by Hime first, then they find Mikoto to be cold and they generally avoid the duo despite their skill in their job. Ollie couldn't avoid them even if he wanted to, but he looked to be doing well with his placement.

"This is too important for us to not get involved." Hime countered. "We could help a lot if we knew how things were going and this seems like a time when a quick message might need to get out. In that likely case, we'd be right there."

Oliver thought for a second. "That could happen, I guess..."

"I'm outnumbered, aren't I." They said in more of a statement than a question.

"Yep!"

This can only end so well. "Fine, but when we're down there, you need to promise to be 100 percent quiet no matter what happens and out of sight. We have no clue what could set this ruler off, but we do know that he's temperamental and we don't want that to be direct at any of our peoples."

Oliver nodded and Hime gave a mock salute. "Yes sir."

Creeping out of they're wing, something was clearly off. The sounds of daily chatting and footsteps were noticeably absent within the sprawling halls as if the castle was holding its breath. The three sounded too loud just from their walking.

"Are you sure there wasn't a notice to stay in today?" Oliver whispered.

"If there was, we would have been the first to be told." Staff always tells the younger ones first if there's anything that involves them so they would be ready and more importantly, not forget.

Faint voices started to come into earshot, the speakers also keeping quiet."...any moment now. Try to start using that patience we talked about."

Huh, seems like the group was moving quicker than they thought. The combined sounds of Yohio, Maika, and who Mikoto assumed to be Flower and Piko shifted with nerves at the oncoming wave of standards. Mikoto could never guess what it was like to get this many expectations dumped on you. They had their own responsibilities, but that mostly consisted of doing their job and watching after their more rambunctious family member and plenty of people already helped with that. Having to deal with the fate of an entire kingdom was something they couldn't even imagine without wanting to find the nearest bathroom.

"We'll try." Piko responded, cutting off Flower's oncoming remark.

"We want to start this on the right note." Maika added.

The welcome party was now in view for the small messengers revealing a few servants ready to help the guest when he arrived and typically laid back people trying to appear as aloof as possible. "Of course." Blankness covered Flower's voice and Mikoto could easily recognize it as how she sounds when she wants to keep her cool while she's very salty.

"King Howard's carriage is coming down the road." A lookout announced. The atmosphere stiffened further which was something the twin didn't even think was possible. The two main pairs within the familiar people shared a glance that ranged from supportive to "This should be interesting."

Mikoto could hear the carriage before they saw it and that stampede of hooves couldn't prepare anyone for how extravagant it would be. They could almost feel the gold and jewels crevices filling with dirt from the road and pity was deeply felt for the poor person that would have to clean it out. A flag in deep purple with a tin-toned gold symbol fluttered alongside the windows. Flower had told the twins early on that this king had changed the flag the moment he came into power. Didn't sound like a good sign personality.

Hime pulled on Mikoto's sleeve, bringing their attention to the fact the horses had stopped as two of the attendants opened the front doors. A collective breath drew in and it just hit Mikoto that this was most likely the first time that any of them had seen this person. Not gonna lie, the disappointment was real. The first thing anyone would have noticed wasn't the decadent fabric that made up his garments, or how ceremonial jewels that were normally for special occasions were on full display, or even how this guy's outfit was color coordinated to the carriage, but that he was... old. Mikoto would have guessed at least over 50.

Obviously, it wasn't too weird for a ruler to live long and all, but wasn't this person only on the throne for a few years now? His dark hair was cropped close to his head causing what streaks of gray he had to stand out jarringly and his spine didn't look to be the straightest crayon in the box, though his demeanor made it seem as though he couldn't care less about it. He radiated confidence like he knew full and well that he was the most decked out person there and no one would stop him. Granted, no one would.

The other people reacted and regained composure quickly, needing to make it look like it wasn't lost in the first place and moved forward for greetings. Flower was at the head with Piko close to her side, her pace noticeably fast fueled by the want to get this over with. The runners couldn't fully hear what was being said with the others now being outside, but they could see the two royals exchanging what (Mikoto hope for her sake) was polite conversation. So far so good.

Ok, Mikoto thought too soon. Panic shot through their veins as the visiting king himself shot an annoyed look right at the gang's position. They locked eyes and he said something to the group near him.

Well, looks like it's time to use those stellar getting out of messes skills. At least this time it was directly Hime's fault.

I know that this is two short chapters in a row, but crap kinda went sideways this weekend. We started with a funeral and then moved to my mom get hospitalized, then me getting misgendered by a Canadian teen over Xbox live. It's been a little crazy. Either way, I wrote the thing. Whether that thing is particularly good is up for you to decide. Remember to drink water and wash your hands and do all that good self-care stuff.

-TheLavenderNarwhal