Their Adventure Together 14

 Chris

    The next day, the carriage - if you could call it a carriage - halted with a sharp jerk. I had just left the soldier (since black soldier is too long, I refer to him as 'soldier') at the reins. I wanted to get a hot drink. It was really cold outside. But as I took a sip of tea, the carriage jerked and tea spilt on me. I bit back a cry of frustration and surveyed my clothes. At least not everything was wet. I quickly dabbed at a spot on my shirt while walking out the cabin to the soldier. 

    " What happened?" I asked, still dabbing at my shirt.

    "What happened to you?" the soldier asked curiously instead on answering.

    " I spilt tea on me when you jerked us to a stop. " I replied, disposing the tissue in the garbage can. " So why did we stop?" 

    "Well.. uh.. " he stammered and nodded at something on the pathway. I sighed and leapt down to get a better look. I squinted my eyes and saw a few moving things. In front of me, a few ducks were crossing. There was about 7 ducks. 1 mama and the others were ducklings. They crossed and I climbed back up. 

    "All clear. Let's go!" I said, grabbing the reins of the horse. In a flash, the soldier snatched the reins out of my hands. I glared at him. Then he pointed to another thing on the pathway. "What now?" I asked impatiently. 

    He shone a torch on the pathway. (It was late evening, and it was getting dark.) There, on the pathway, was another duckling which had gotten left behind. Upon taking a closer look, I realized that the duckling had only one leg. We watched as the duckling - with great difficulty - tried to cross the pathway. 

    Before I could say anything, the soldier handed me the torch and went down. He walked to the duckling and picked it up. Amazed at his reaction, I stared at him as he cradled the unfortunate duckling and walked back to the carriage. 

    Meanwhile, Sirena and Aisha had came out from their cabin. "Why did we stop?" asked Aisha. 

    " The Black Soldier is down. He's holding something. " Sirena replied.

    "He's carrying a duckling with only one leg. " I informed them. We watched as the soldier climbed up and handed the duckling to Sirena. 

    " Why are you-" Sirena started, but he cut her off.

    " Clean the duckling and prepare a place for it to live. Its part of our crew now. " he stated, looking at me as if expecting me to object. Which I didn't. Instead, my mouth dropped open. 

    "Wow. I had no idea you were so caring! " Aisha said exactly what I was thinking. 

    The soldier just shrugged. " Close your mouth, Chris. Something's going to fly in. " Sirena laughed, walking away with the duckling. 

    I didn't move. Aisha swiftly closed my mouth and shoved the rein of a horse into my hands. " Let's get moving already" she said impatiently, walking back to her cabin. She paused and looked back at the soldier and me. " Try not to kill each other before we get there. " 

Sirena

        I bathed the duckling and held it whilst Aisha rubbed it dry with a small hand towel. It was about the size of my palms put together. "Its so cute!!" Aisha squealed with delight when I let her hold it. "Do you think its a girl or a boy? I think its a girl. " she said. 

    "I think so too. " I replied. We gently placed the duckling on a small pillow in her "house". The "house" was an old shoebox Aisha had found - it was rather big - and two tiny cups, one for water and one for food. Then we took a slightly larger bowl and filled it with water. It was to be a temporary mini-lake for Ari. Yes, the duckling's name was Ari. Aisha and I had announced it at dinner, and there were mixed reactions from the Black Soldier and Chris...

    "Ahem." Aisha started. Chris paused eating and looked up from his plate. I was eager to tell the boys the news. The Black Soldier however, didn't even look up.

    "Yes? Girl?" he asked, while neatly slicing a piece of chicken. 

    "My name is Aisha." Aisha huffed, to which he replied," Whatever." I grew impatient. They were always arguing with each other. 

    I rapped the table before the argument got more intense. " Can we get back to the subject?" I asked curtly. "Or would you like to continue your petty argument?" I added, when I received death glares from the both of them. I took their silence as a yes.

    "We named the duck. " Aisha said, avoiding the Black Soldier's eyes. This time, he actually looked up at her in surprise.

    "You did what?" he asked disbelievingly. Chris, on the other hand, was as cool as a cucumber. 

    "They obviously did. I expected them to do so." he said. " What's his name?" he asked, as if expecting this all along.

    Aisha opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off by the Black Soldier. "Woah, woah, woah. Let's all hold on a minute. Who said you could name my duckling??" he protested (although he didn't sound angry, more like amused).

    

    Aisha didn't answer him. " Sirena did it. And its a girl." she said. The Black Soldier visibly relaxed. 

    "So she did it huh?" he asked, looking at me. After I didn't answer, he reached for a cup of water. "Nevermind. Forget it. What's her name then?" 

    Aisha looked at me. I looked at her. We were silently debating on who should answer. Chris was utterly baffled. "None of you are answering. That's weird. You said you named the duckling, but there's no name yet? Strange. " he mused. 

    I sighed. "Her name is Ari." I said slowly, letting it sink in for a while. 

    "Pfftt! " the Black Soldier spit out water on the table. He seemed stunned. "Ari?? That's what you named her? What in the name of all things incredible made you name her that??" he burst out. 

    I shrugged. "It was the first name that came to mind. Why though?" I asked.

    "Do you know who she is? " he asked. After getting no answer, he explained. " Her Royal Majesty, Queen Ari of the Birds. She was the famous ruler of the birds - ducks included - and has assisted the King and Queen of the Balance Realm many, many times. She was an excellent spy, a mistress of disguise - she actually got that title - and has achieved by far the greatest compared to her subjects." " Which is quite incredible, I mean, for a duck. " he added. 

    Aisha stared at me. Chris's eyes widened. The Black Soldier grinned for the first time. "So you do remember your history lessons. " he said, in a more delighted tone, which is quite an improvement from his usual monotone voice.

    "History lessons? What do you mean?" Aisha asked, now staring at him. The silence that followed further confused her.

    "I feel like we're missing something. 'We' meaning Aisha and me." Chris remarked.

    I sighed. It was time to tell them. " Uh, its actually nothing complicated. It just turns out that my biological mother, was the Queen of Vivaria, Queen Aurora. She married my dad, Shawn, when she went to visit him in Earth. But then my mom disappeared from Vivaria after a sudden attack on the palace, and my father got killed in the process. So I was left in the hands of her stepsister, Queen Karuna of Miromar. My aunt left me as an orphan on Earth, where my foster mother, Ruby and her husband, James - who recently passed away due to an illness - adopted me, I grew up on Earth and never knew of this world until this happened." I gestured to our surroundings.

    "My mother had two children, twins. One boy and one girl. " I continued.

    "So you are the girl, and you have a twin right?" Aisha interrupted. I nodded and resumed. 

    "The tradition in this world, the Balance Realm, is that the girls are Hiddens and the boys are Black Soldiers. So my twin brother is a Black Soldier. " I paused. Chris and Aisha were hanging on to my every word. " And that Black Soldier happens to be.. him" I ended, pointing to my twin brother. 

    To my amusement, Chris and Aisha froze. Minutes ticked by. After a while, they suddenly 'unfroze' and stared at me in shock. "Your.. you.. his.." Chris stammered.
    Aisha seemed to recover slightly faster from the shock. " You two are twins?" she exclaimed, incredulous. 

    " You two are twins?!" Chris echoed. 

    I nodded. " We are. " the Black Soldier replied, his face solemn. Then he smirked, " But I'm still 5 minutes older than her. " 

    I rolled my eyes but didn't reply. Brothers.. such annoying creatures sometimes. Nevertheless, I was glad to finally return to my home and reunite with my twin. I finished eating and washed my plate. 

    My shoulders felt lighter after telling my friends, knowing that I wouldn't have to lie to them much longer. I skipped to my cabin happily as my friends still sat in shock. It was then I realized that I didn't know my twin's name. But I brushed it off. Overall, it was quite a good day. And my twin had just told me that we would reach the Hiddens' territory tomorrow. I couldn't wait. 

    After all, this was my realm, my home, my family. And everywhere I went, I knew they would respect me even though I came from Earth, thanks to the remarkable reputation my mother, Queen Aurora had. I just hoped that my mother would be alive, and proud of me. I made a silent vow that I would rescue her and stop this war - with a little help from my twin.

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