Each year the Kingdom of Khearia throws a festival in remembrance of one of their most beloved kings who had tragically perished along with his wife and second son. His first son, Prince Fabian, was the only one to survive. Witnesses claimed his cro...
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"Please, enjoy what this event has to offer! The Straton duchy behests it!"
ㅤThe speech went well thanks to Mererid's faux confidence. Alex watched from the fringes as she'd taken a place on the pedestal. Her voice carried, capturing the large crowd with that charming melodic accent, many becoming enamoured with her.
ㅤAfterwards, attendees approached Mererid continuously like a swollen stream, asking after the duke's health. She'd done well in waving away the concern whilst never quite providing a real answer. She'd handled it more naturally than Alex could've.
ㅤPeople swarmed the event in excessive numbers. Alex couldn't maintain his personal space under the sheer volume of the mob, constantly being pushed by warm bodies. It made the muggy heat more unbearable.
ㅤUnlike Alex, the attendees hardly seemed to notice their torrid bodies oiled with sweat. They were in good cheer, drinking themselves silly and tripping over nothing. The baked grass underneath them had been torn to shreds by the hundreds of feet that had passed over it. Nearby, some women were picking cherries from a tree, biting into the red flesh and using the fruit's wound to stain their lips and cheeks red.
ㅤCherry.
ㅤWary of scrutiny, Alex quickly slipped away to pursue his own goals, leaving Mererid and Riley with a few of the duke's guards.
ㅤAs Alex stood among the horde of people, he found it difficult to shuffle past their bodies smoothly. The kludged flow that others seemed to naturally navigate had never been something he'd learnt. He felt bulky and out of place, like a rocky stack bodying an otherwise sandy coastline. The waves' rhythm was disrupted by his very being, just as he felt the people around him were.
ㅤAlthough people looked twice at him as he passed by in his search for the widows, he'd mostly been spared their scrutiny. The excitement of the first jousting match had bloated among the crowd and stolen all their attention, providing him with an overcrowded anonymity.
ㅤHe'd searched assiduously but, unfortunately, he hadn't been lucky. He couldn't find them.
ㅤWhen he returned to Mererid and Riley later on, he was alarmed to find them also without company. The two stood alone under fabric shelter at the edges of the paddock, the duke's guards lingering nearby.
ㅤ"Lady Nora hasn't met here?" he asked.
ㅤMererid shook her head. "I haven't seen her at all. Not even in passing."
ㅤAnother person approached her then, asking after her father. Her smile returned as she chatted with them, her bravado ironclad. Alex and Riley shared a grim look.
ㅤ"I couldn't find any of the widows," Alex admitted after the stranger had left. "Do you think, perhaps, Lady Nora decided to skip this one? Perhaps she drank too much yesterday...?"
ㅤ"She'd never, nor does she drink excessively. She puts money on jousting. This event should be her favourite."
ㅤAlex hesitated, scanning the attendees as they cheered. "No sign of Prince Fabian either?"
