Eira was only halfway through her pastry when she felt the gaze of someone on her. She looked up sharply, meeting eyes with the boy who she had pretended was a knight. It was hard to tell what he thought of her making a fool of herself with the treat, as his face was partially obscured by his hood. Eira frowned and looked back at her food, trying to ignore him, but she hated the feeling of being watched.
Every day of her life she was watched, expected to be the perfect daughter in Elisa’s place. A cold, heavy sadness settled into her limbs, both from her loss and her own petty anger. She shouldn’t care what this random man thought of her. What was wrong with her?
The woman seemed to have felt his gaze and looked up at him. Her previous smile vanished, and she looked annoyed, frowning as she looked back down.
Javaid also frowned, although it was hidden by his hood. She looked, for a better choice of words, exactly how he felt, all of the time. Suffocated. As if she knew what it was like to be pressured every moment of every day. But that was silly, right? Common people didn’t know what it was like to be a prince. They thought that it was just fun and games, being able to do whatever you want and get whatever you want and be happy.
But that’s not what it was really like.
Not that they would understand.
Javaid gave a small bow of apology to the woman, even if she hadn’t seen it, and looked away, pretending that none of that had happened.
Eira felt awkward now, noticing the bow. Her cheeks warmed at her own embarrassment. It was almost laughable how she could handle the nobles with grace and charm, but the moment she set foot outside, a common interaction was so difficult. And they hadn’t even exchanged a word! She went back to her pastry, mood slightly improved.
She finished the delicious fare, eyes closed to savor every last bite, but still couldn’t help smiling at the botched interaction. It was amusing, to her at least. Maybe she needed to sneak out more often.
Finally, Javaid got to the front of the line, and he ordered some sweets. Sure, he could have ordered something healthier, but he didn’t feel like it. He was handed a bag, and he paid and started to head out the door.
He was so engrossed in the smell of the pastries pm drifting from his up bag, that he wasn’t looking where he was going and almost ran into someone.
Eira startled, glad that she’d already finished the pastry as she’d begun to walk around. She’d barely moved a few feet before nearly getting ran into. She stumbled back to avoid body slamming the person and looked up. “Oh, it’s you,” she said aloud, recognizing him from earlier. He had been watching her. What a day. “Sorry! Where are my manners today? Are you okay, sir?” She was flustered. Did this kind of thing happen a lot to real commoners, or was it just her luck?
"I should be the one apologizing to you, my lady" Javaid said, backing away and giving a little bow, his face flushed with embarrassment. The woman's voice had a faint accent to it, undetectable to all but the most talented of ears. "I'm a klutz at the best of times. I wasn't looking." He smiled at her, although it was barely visible through his hood. "Are you okay?"
Eira nodded. “I’m fine, thank you,” she replied formally, before remembering that she was supposed to be a commoner. They probably were friendlier and more casual with each other from what little she’d seen. “I can be a klutz too, sometimes.” She laughed lightly.
"Good." Javaid gave a small sigh of relief. "I'm Jav, by the way." He thought that it was better to give himself a name that was close to his own, so that he wouldn't give himself away by not reacting to his fake name.
It took Eira a moment to figure out a fake name in response, but luckily her maid’s name came to mind before most people would even notice her hesitation. “My name is Kira,” she responded. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, Miss Kira,” Javaid said with another bow. “I should let you go back to your business, then,” he said. “I don’t want you to have to talk to boring old me forever.”
Eira suddenly didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t have to go for another few minutes. She had time. “I don’t have much business to attend to,” she admitted. “And I don’t think you’re boring. Though, granted, we did just meet and all.”
“That’s true. Well, you’re the most interesting person I’ve met today, to say the least.” Jav cursed for a moment, and then realized that she wouldn’t have associated him with someone who had never been to the town before. “Well then, shall we walk together for now?” He offered his arm to her.
Eira smiled, taking his proffered arm gracefully. “We shall, thank you,” she responded. “It is refreshing to talk to someone who thinks I’m interesting. And you seem like quite the character yourself, if you don’t mind the observation.”
Javaid laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment. I’m always being told that I’m interesting…. although it meant something very different to those who said that to me.” He snorted.
“Have you ever been here before?” He asked. “I want to know beforehand if you’ll have heard of any of the places I want to show you.”
“Just in passing,” Eira admitted, telling the truth. “I’ve never spent much time here. I’m assuming you come here often, then?”
“I do.” While this wasn’t 100% true, it was true enough that it could be considered that. Javaid and Damen, his twin brother, had been here often enough, with their younger sister, Kainda. They had explored the town, although always under guard, but it had been fun.
He sighed slightly. He missed the old days.
“There are many beautiful places here,” he said, trying not to think about it. “But since it’s the winter, I should show you the Golden Leaf Bridge, first. It’s beautiful in the snow.”
Eira nodded, wondering what the sigh had been about. Probably nothing. She had to stop overthinking things so much. She’s heard of the Golden Leaf Bridge before, but had never seen it in the winter before. Of course, even the summers in Lumi were chilly, with the snow never quite leaving the mountains.
“I’ve heard that the Golden Leaf Bridge looks beautiful this time of year,” she admitted. “I’ve only seen it in the warmer months, though.”
“It’s one of the coolest places in the country. Or, this area, at least.” Jav laughed. “It’s the prettiest when at night, but I don’t think you want to stay up just to see it.”
He led her through the streets, until they arrived at a golden bridge. It was more brass than gold, and the snow covering it sparkled.
Eira took in a small gasp of awe when she saw it, having not been there in a while. Usually when her family was going somewhere, they just passed through this town in their gilded carriages. She hardly ever took the time to just explore the town, though it was said to have some interesting places.
“It is beautiful,” she exclaimed softly, with a smile.
"Isn't it?" Javaid smiled. A gust of wind tugged back his hood slightly, so his smile was shown for the slightest moment. "I have good memories of this place."
He motioned to the bridge. "When it's cold enough, sometimes my brother and I would try and skate down the stream. It never worked, we always got caught, but it was so much fun to try."
“It sounds fun,” Eira said wistfully, gazing out at the semi-frozen stream under the bridge. She could hear the soft burble of the parts that weren’t quite frozen as the water pushed downhill. “My sister and I would play games like that, too. One of our favorites was racing down a hill, when it was cold enough to have snow, of course, on baking sheets that we had stolen.”
“That sounds fun,” Javaid said. “I wish I could have done something like that. Unfortunately, I’m too big to do such a thing, and I’ve always been. I don’t think I could have gotten away with that.”
He laughed. ”Everyone knew what kind of tricks I play, so they knew to keep anything and everything out of my reach.”
Eira smiled. “Following the rules does come in handy, believe it or not,” she remarked teasingly. “Or at least, mostly following the rules. I’ve managed to get away with almost anything because I usually keep in line.”
“Well, following the rules is so boring” Javaid commented with a snort. “Why go to bed early when you could stay up and watch the Dancing Lights from your rooftop? Why eat healthy food when you could snack?”
“Why do all of that when people are watching inside after they’ve gone to sleep?” Eira retorted lightly, raising an eyebrow. “Then you can get what you want and no one is the wiser.” Of course, this was probably much more difficult than Jav’s strategy and required a lot of planning and discipline, but it was what Eira did (when she could get away, that was).
