Varian and the Seven Kingdoms (Varian's Seven Trials)

Team Radical

That morning, Varian awoke to the smell of smoke and sat up in a panic. The caravan window was open and he could hear Yong's voice.
Varian climbed out of bed, tripping over the blanket which had been twisted around his ankles while he slept. The boy pulled himself to his feet, kicked the blanket aside and grabbed his goggles, putting them on his head. Upon looking out of the window, Varian saw that Yong was cooking up some food on a fire. Relieved no one was in danger, he left the caravan and walked over to the young boy.
"Morning." He yawned.
"Good morning!" Yong said with a bit too much enthusiasm, "Do you wanna hear about the dream I had last night?" Yong asked then continued before Varian could answer, "I was back home- and you and Hugo were there but you were a mermaid-"
"Merman." Varian corrected, his cheeks flushing red.
"and Hugo was a magician- he kept vanishing into thin air and we never knew where he was gonna pop up. It was really hard for you to move cause we had to push you around in a big bowl of water! It was so crazy. At the end, we weren't even in Vlamudia anymore but we never even left. We went to this big underground chamber with-"
"Yong, that's great and I'd really love to hear about it later...Where's Hugo?"
"Why'd you ask?" Hugo walked up behind the boys and placed a pile of wood by the caravan.
"Just like my dream!" Yong pointed at Hugo who raised an eyebrow.
"I ask cause we should head to Zephaeli as soon as possible." Varian said.
"Really? I like it here; can't we stay a little longer?" Yong asked.
"Well...aren't you excited to see the other Kingdoms too?" Varian asked and Yong rubbed his chin, clearly deep in thought.
"Uh, Sparkles- fire." Hugo pointed to the fire which had caught Yong's sleeve alight. The boy patted it frantically and stepped closer to the fire unknowingly. Varian pulled him away but his pant leg had already set alight too. Hugo grabbed a blue orb from Varian's belt,
"Hey, don't touch-" Varian started and Hugo threw the orb at Yong, covering him head to toe in bubbles. Varian stifled a laugh as he looked at the pile of bubbles with eyes.
"You're welcome." Hugo grinned but Yong crossed his arms, unimpressed.
"It's fine, this'll get you cleaned up." Varian smiled, taking a yellow orb from his pocket and dropping it on Yong's head. With an explosion of green light, the bubbles disappeared and Yong was squeaky clean, "Woahh, instant bath!" Yong laughed.
"Let's eat, and quick. Zephaeli is three days from here and it's gonna be a long trip." Varian checked on the food.
"Ooh- do you think we'll meet a mermaid on the way there? Are there any oceans nearby?"
"What is your obsession with meeting a mermaid?" Hugo asked.
"I've never met one before." Yong said simply, "Unless we count dream Varian....Merian!" Yong's eyes sparkled with joy and Hugo laughed. "Merian, huh? Is he any less annoying?"
"We had to push him around in a big bowl of water which was super annoying."
"Hear that, Goggles? You were super annoying." Hugo grinned.
"Yeah- well- you kept disappearing and we didn't know where you went...so, you were annoying too." Varian responded defensively, leaving Hugo very confused.

The boys ate the slightly overcooked food prepared by Yong and traveled West, as confirmed by a nice young woman in the town. Varian was occupied, writing about the water trial in his journal on his bed. Hugo was working on something or other at the desk with Varian's permission, which the blonde had made abundantly clear he didn't care about. Meanwhile, Yong was 'teaching himself' to play the lute; a lute he had packed. No one seemed bothered about the young boys bad playing, however.
"So you packed a lute you can't play?" Hugo asked finally.
"Yeah. Who knows how long we're gonna be travelling; I thought I might as well learn some new skills on the way. I got this for my birthday and I haven't learnt to play it yet." Yong puffed out his cheeks and strummed.
Hugo spun around in his chair to look at Yong, "What's your most impressive talent?" He pointed a wrench at the boy.
"Oo- I can make my whole face go bright red! Wanna see?" Yong breathed in deeply and held his breath. Varian looked over at him in concern and Hugo watched him intently. The boy's face did, in fact, go bright red. Yong gasped for air and panted before looking up at Hugo, "How was that? Was it really red?" He asked with a smile.
"Oh, yeah. I couldn't tell you apart from your clothes." Hugo smirked and Yong laughed.
"What about you? What's your talent?" Yong asked Hugo.
"As you know, I have many talents. One  being I can roll a coin across my knuckles. Which is a lot harder than you'd think."
"That's not a talent." Varian commented.
"Can you do it?" Hugo asked.
"I probably could." Varian lowered his journal and Hugo threw a coin to him. The coin landed in the boy's lap and he picked it up, placing it between two of his knuckles.