Luna Felix

32| Time to ruin the sleep cycle

Back to REI'S POV

"No."

That was Felix's reply to the naive plans of my younger brother. Did I fist-bumped behind her back when she took my side? Yes. 

"But dudeeeeeee," Huxx whined over the call. 

"No means no Huxx, it won't turn into yes. Your brother and I are not taking a vacation in the middle of this mess. We are going to sort this and you will help us." Felix further emphasised her denial.

Huxx sighed unable to oppose the queen. He mumbled a meek okay and see you later and cut the call. 

"Why didn't you say no to him Rei?" Felix fired at me as she stuffed the new supplies she had brought into her bags. 

"I did. But the brat thinks he can convince. You have spoiled him by letting him wreak havoc." I replied hauling my own luggage out of the door.

"No, I have not, Huxx's...."

When I didn't hear her finish sentence I turned out to inquire. Felix stood there staring at me with her cheeks turning faint red. "What?" I asked but she was getting redder for some reason and was hiding what I am guessing was a big smile behind her hand. Like always she found my confusion comical.

"I just noticed," Felix voiced handing me her bags too, "we sounded like we were arguing about why our son is so spoiled."

Tracing back to our conversation I agreed to her too. "We must have picked it up from Acimer and Charlotte." I laughed at the thought too. "It's also that we both nag a lot too, and we both are the older sibling."

"I agree." She smiled back. "Why don't you take a look around before leaving, in case we are forgetting something? I will be downstairs with half our stuff, you bring the other half."

I nodded at her suggestion and unlocked the door of the room to do a quick sweep. However, when I returned an oh-so-smart Cookie had conveniently left only the heavier luggage behind. And the above-mentioned smart cookie was so smug that they kept snickering from time to time the entire journey back to the capital.

Once back to the castle we both were whisked away to the doctor to make sure we were okay and then were smothered with kisses and hugs by the very worried Mama Vadeus. To escape her we both pretend to be tired and snuck into our room to nap. An excuse that turned true for the exhausted smart cookie. After all, it was hard being a passenger princess and also changing songs every few minutes. 

I snuck out of the room so as not to disturb Felix and got to Acimers office knowing he would be there and also calling Huxx there too.

"So brief me on what happened while I was gone and catch me up on what the search team 1 and 2 found so far." 

Acimer sighed taking off his working glasses he swears are to protect his eyes but secretly wears them cause his wife likes them, "First off pray to the goddess that the castle is intact."

"I'm sorry, what?" 

"You should be sorry. If we suggested to Luna not to go with the search party one more time, she threatened to blow up the part of the castle to escape." He answered visibly scared. 

As he should be. Felix chooses to be kind and considerate towards therefore it is necessary to be careful not to take it for granted. A choice can be stopped when people don't deserve that effort from you. 

Acimer sensed my amusement, "Yes laugh at me now too. First, you go off the grid and then your mate puts the fear of god in every single council member and noble of the capital and then you both go and pick up a revered criminal too. Laugh for now but remember who has days worth of work and extra reports stacked in their office, yes my king you."

"Wait, revered criminal?" I question finding it really interesting because I did not recognise the face of the guy that attacked us. This is surprising because I remember every fugitive on the wanted lists of 7 nations. And not just current lists but all the uncaptured severe offenders from the past 20 years of records. 

Acimer pulled out some old records files from his drawer, "I was researching on the basis of the appearance of the prisoner. Luna had texted me a picture of him this morning before you both left today morning. I also got the report of the poison he was carrying. When I ran them together through the records, a syndicate from the 50s. So as I had your parents look at the pictures and information if they remember anything. Luckily Mama Vadeus remembered hearing about them. So all three of us rummaged through some older files around."

He handed me the files and motioned me to look through them. I flipped open the file and was greeted with a furious and young version of our attacker's picture. I skimmed through the files. 

Acimer continued, "DK was his operating name and on the surface, he and his 'group' took requests from people to find rare items and delicacies for their clients. However in reality they smuggle and auctioned drugs, animal skin, and weapons. They didn't have much influence in our territory but they were running rampant everywhere else. Around when Sir Vadeus was getting ready to take over the throne, DK and his group disappeared without any traces."

"That's suspicious, but their appearance here is not a coincidence. It actually makes the big picture clear." I proposed.

"Why so?" Acimer questioned as he was handing me another file.

I took the file from him and continued, "This is me working on the premise that this is all connected somehow. They know that either we are suspicious or aware of their shenanigans both with the Temple of Huiss and the Temple of Moon Goddess. Our visit to Drawf village must have tipped them off. The landslide and the attack both the results to create obstacles and also wiping out pieces of evidence. DK's appearance confirms two important aspects for us. One, they are looking for the dwarves as well. And since dwarves are considered beings capable of making anything if given the right materials which brings me to the next conclusion. Whatever was being made required items which DK might have been in possession of. He might have asked for a place to escape or reside in exchange for these items."

"I agree to it because the findings of team one suggest that there have been signs of visible destruction in the footage they gathered of the dwarf village. And not a soul was found on the surface neither in the village nor the forest around the hill. They are planning to trek up the hill tomorrow and will look for anything suspicious and survivors if any." Acimer said as I looked at the aforementioned images of the village and forest in the file. "Team 2 didn't have any luck on the attack scene. I believe somebody deliberately erased evidence."

"That's fine. Send team 2 to team 1 for extra support. So now we have a lead at least. However, we need to increase the area of our investigation. This is turning out to be something beyond the capabilities of the Delarges alone."

Acimer nodded in agreement. "Why don't we offer the giants our assistance as a move to improve relationships with other nations? Luna has a good relationship with them and helping them seems like something she would do. Being involved might open us to more information."

Before I could reply the rapidly running footsteps of my brother raised warning signals in my head. When he burst into the office and quickly bolted the door behind him. The look on his face told us that the news was bad. 

"Your Majesty, there has been a breach at the capital borders."

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Exam season brings out the writer in me more heheehhehehh.