The next day, we restock our supplies and first aid kits and get ready to leave both Sovar and Berk behind. The only ones that come to say goodbye to us are Rayla’s dad and uncle,

  Looking a bit dejected, Rayla's dad asks, “Do you have everything you need, Rayla?”

  “Yes…”

  “I’m sorry…About everything that happened.”

  “It wasn’t your fault dad. You and uncle were the only sane ones.”

  “No, if your brothers did something like that then it’s because I failed as a parent and I want to apologize both to you and Thoma for that.”

  He then goes down to his knees and places his hands and head to the ground, “I formally apologize for my horrible parenting and wish you the best life possible outside of these walls.”

  Rayla crouches down to him and kisses him on the forehead, “Thank you daddy, I love you too.”

  Rayla’s uncle approaches me with a smile and slams me on the shoulder, “Don’t worry too much about the scar, I promise you, girls like that sorta stuff and guys think it looks cool!”

  Trying to attempt cheerful, I answer, “Ah, that’s good, thank you!”

  Rayla gives her uncle a hug, “Goodbye uncle.”

  “Goodbye, Rayla. Live a good life.”

  “I will, thank you.”

  The town gates then open for us and we leave Sovar heading east towards Skar.

  Rayla looks very dejected and refuses to look at me or say anything so I ask,

  “How are you feeling ane?”

  “Not good…”

  “Can I do anything to cheer you up?”

  “No. Does your face still hurt?”

  “Ehm just a little but you don’t have to worry about it, apparently the scar makes me look really cool!”

  “Oki?”

  “Yes?”

  Looking at me with a serious expression, ane says, “Please be honest with me. I don’t want to hear another lie, are you in pain? And how do you really feel about the scar?”

  “...”

  I look at the floor of the wagon as I answer, “I…Yes, I’m still in pain. Healing takes a lot longer because John can only heal me with life transfer. I have a lot of bruises that hurt a lot but I’m not seriously injured. As for the scar…I hate it. I don’t think it looks cool. I hate how it makes me look even more shady than before and how ugly I am now. It makes me want to never take off the mask in public again and I feel bad about showing my face to you because I know it hurts you to look at it.”

  Somewhat relieved, Rayla gives me a hug, “Thank you for being honest with me. Please never lie to me again. It doesn’t make me feel better, it just makes me feel worse because I know you’re hurting either way but when you lie to me about it it feels like you can’t trust me on top of it.”

  Feeling desperate my teeth chatter a little as I answer, “Of course I trust you, ane! I just didn’t want to make you sad.”

  Putting her hand on my healthy cheek, she answers, “Please never worry about that again. The only way you make me sad is when you get hurt for me or you try to hide that you’re hurt. Please don’t do that again.”

  “Okay…I’m sorry.”

  “I forgive you.”

  After our conversation, there is a strong somber mood that follows us for the next two days. There isn’t much talking and I don’t even train because I still need to recover a bit more, so we end up more or less just sitting around and staring out into the wilderness.

  On the third day, at around noon, John suddenly breaks the silence, “Everyone, welcome to Skar!”

  Looking outside, a giant wall comes into view with a line of different carts in between the snowy hills waiting to be let inside.

  “Woah…This wall is huge! How far does it go?”

  John quickly answers, “From the sea to the northern mountains of Frieden. Even though the border reaches further out than this, you only really enter Skar once you have passed these walls.”

  Rayla looks at me with a cheeky smile, “It’s impressive, right oki? I’ve seen it once when I was just a small kit but now that I’m grown, it looks even more impressive…I wonder how long it took to build this wall.”

  John answers, “About two hundred years. I think they built it six hundred years ago when the king of Skar grew paranoid that the west is the only place they’re not surrounded by mountains and thus unprotected. It is said that two mountains vanished after being demolished to make the bricks of the western wall.”

  “Damn, to think that something like this was created in only two hundred years…That’s about twice the time it takes for an Elf to become an adult, right?”

  Sher Aka answers, “It depends on the species but generally speaking yes. This is why Humans are so scary, they multiply like weeds, create and destroy nations in the time it takes for one of us to grow…”

  “You said it’s different for each species, how do you guys differ in terms of aging?”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  “Hmm, speaking in terms of averages, Sea Elves take the least amount of time to grow into adults. They mature in the span of fifty years and live up to a thousand years. Woodelves take a hundred years to mature and can live up to a thousand years. Highelves like me become adults at 250 years. We can live up to 3500 years. The Mountainelves have about the same maturity rate but only live up to 2000 years. As for Spiritelves, they mature at around 500 years and from my knowledge do not die from old age.”

  Intrigued, Rayla says, “Five hundred years huh…It’s hard to imagine staying a kid for that long, are they actually like children or just like adults in small bodies?”

  “They’re like children. They might have a lot more knowledge or experience but they still act and think like children would. Think of it like a child prodigy, they’re very well learned, know a lot, you might even have deep discussions with them about certain topics but they will still think that their plushies come to life when you act like they’re speaking or get distracted by candy or butterflies in the middle of conversations. It’s very humbling for most Elves to meet a Spiritelf because it is essentially the same experience a human would have meeting an elf. It helps us to ground ourselves and feel how others see us.”

  “Are there many Spirit Elves in the south?”

  “Oh, not at all. There are very few that exist at all. If you think about the amount of people that exist in a semi big city like Rostock then you have about the same number of Spiritelves that exist around the world.”

  “Wow…No wonder I’ve never seen one. Do they like, have a magic grove where they all live or something?”

  “Haha, no. Most of them live in my home country. Our royal family is made up of Spiritelves and as such many Spiritelves are some form of nobility there. But even if they aren’t, there is a sort of unspoken law that whenever a Spiritelve decides to live in your village you should treat them well and help them out. So even if they’re not nobles they still have a sort of mythical or celebrity status.”

  “Do you think we’ll be able to meet one once we reach your home country?”

  “Probably. My grandfather's brother is a chef at the royal palace, so if you’re lucky, you could even see the royal family.”

  “Ooh! How exciting! Let’s go see the royals when we get there, oki!”

  —-----------------------------------------------

  Thoma Ahad answers bluntly, “I’m not interested.”

  “Aw come on, it will be fun! Aren’t you interested in how the royals live?”

  “I’m not interested.”

  “Hmm…Maybe you’ll change your mind until then. It’s still a long way there after all. I totally want to see it though.”

  “I don’t.”

  Getting a bit confused, Rayla asks, “Are you grumpy or something? I’ve never seen you so…so…John-like before.”

  “Hey! Don’t use me as a negative example.”

  Thoma Ahad answers once more in a monotone voice, “I’m not grumpy, I just do not want to see the Flower Kingdom’s royal family.”

  “Wait a second…Oki, why do you specifically not want to see that royal family?”

  “What do you mean why?”

  “I want you to think about it and tell me the reasons why you don’t want to meet them.”

  “No. I’m going to take a nap now.”

  Thoma Ahad then lies down and almost instantly falls asleep.

  A bit flabberhasted, Rayla looks at the others, “What was that about? I’ve got to write this down. Wait a second…Sher Aka?”

  “Yes?”

  “John wrote down that his brother worked in government. He also doesn’t want to meet the royal family. On the 4th of July I wrote down that he was often complimented but didn’t compliment other people back, which could mean that he was rich. I’m just throwing this out there knowing how unlikely it might be but have you heard about anyone in the royal family being kidnapped?”

  “I have not, though if they were I doubt it would be announced to the public…Can you give me that memory notebook for a second?”

  “Sure.”

  Reading through the notebook, Sher aka goes quiet before saying, “So…The King and Queen do not have four children but the King’s concubine has three children, a son and two daughters. Also, about a hundred years ago, a few years before I went on the trip that got me captured, the Queen birthed a daughter. I’m not implying that this is the case, especially since I don’t know the family relations between the royal family, but it is possible that the princess could have such a tight relationship with her half-siblings that she would see them as her siblings…”

  Visibly annoyed, John asks, “You two aren’t seriously contemplating this are you?”

  “Shut up John. Is there anything else that could fit, Sher Aka?”

  “Well…Like I said…I’m not suggesting this is the case but the name of the princess is Eithlynn Pradia Sol, which means ‘Beauty of the proud Sun’. Which, to a small child, could be seen as being constantly complimented…”

  “W-Would there be any reason for this princess’ uncle to try and get rid of her?”

  “Yes…It’s possible that it was done to avoid a fight over the succession. The queen was thought to be infertile for a long time, so the eldest son of the concubine had been prepared to become King. It’s possible that her uncle would want her gone for the stability of the government…”

  “So…What you’re saying is it’s possible that Thoma is…”

  A bit flustered, Sher Aka answers, “I-I wouldn’t go as far as to assume that it’s likely but…Yes it is possible…”

  John then shoots an exasperated look at the two, “Why don’t you just ask him? If this were to actually be the case he’ll just forget it and then we know, here let me wake him up-”

  Rayla then tackles John away from Thoma and puts her hand over his mouth, “Are you crazy!? That might kill him!”

  He pushes her hand away, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “The last time I confronted him with his past memories, I just told him he has two sisters and a brother and that caused him to have a fit and start seizing. If this is true and we tell him about it, he might die on the spot. He must never hear!”

  “Fine, fine. I’m sorry. So, what do you want to do now? You have a crackpot theory and you can’t confirm it without killing him. You also don’t have any proof so you can’t just talk to an embassy about it either.”

  “I-I don’t know what to do…I-Even if it’s true. It doesn’t really change our goal. So…I guess, we should just do what we have been doing and under no circumstances tell Thoma. We’ll know for sure when his curse is lifted and until then, he’ll just be my little brother. But still, if it is true…I’m not sure what I’d do. I just…I just hope he’ll keep his memories and not forget everything when he does…”

  “I do also believe that to be the best course of action for now…Yet I do have to admit it is bothering me a little. If it turned out that Thoma Ahad was her Highness all along…I’d feel guilty.”

  “Right!? I feel the same.”

  John interjects, “That’s a huge ‘If’ though. Look, I get it, at this point I’m a little invested in Thoma Ahad as well but we shouldn’t just keep the first out there theory and run with it. With the info we have right now we could also make the case that he’s some sort of Dragon noble.”

  “Really? How?”

  “Well, for starters Dragons speak the spirit language and if they have a parent from a different race they usually also learn that language. So Thoma might be the child of an Elf and a Dragon since he speaks both. It would also explain entry three in your notes about Thoma’s mother potentially having a tail. His discomfort with having his back touched could be because he had wings and now that he doesn’t anymore it makes him feel weird. And the reason why he wouldn’t want to meet the Royal family of Tera Flora might just be because his country is in a cold war with them. As for siblings, I’m sure we’d be able to find a dragon family with four kids.”

  “That’s a really good point John, I need to write that down too!”

  He then sighs loudly and rolls his eyes, “No, the point is that I can come up with a theory just as sound as yours using just a bit of imagination. It has the same amount of evidence for it as yours. Meaning, it has barely any evidence backing it. Look, I get it, we’re all exhausted and we’re all upset about what happened at Sovar, so it’s understandable you aren’t thinking rationally. But you won’t be any help to him by grasping at straws.”

  Dropping her ears and tails down, Rayla answers, “You might be right John…We might have gotten a bit carried away. Who would have thought that you could give good advice like this.”

  He sighs, massages his forehead and says, “Get your guild cards ready, we’re going through customs soon.”

  —---------------------------------------------------