The World of Rhune

Kari shoved in the things at random; she was never one for organized packs. They’d be dug through soon enough anyways. She multi-tasked as she listened to Trei while shoving her brother’s items into his bag. It felt kind of sinful, seeing how his bag was so neat and folded, but Karillian didn’t have the time nor the real effort and patience that her brother had so easily mastered. “Of course you can have your bow back. You really could’ve had it back at anytime, to tell you the truth I kind of forgot about it,” The prince’s words sent a small flash of burn through her. What was he trying to say? He forgot some girls knew how to use weapons? She debated about giving a sour reply about him being sexist before she realized there had been a smile at the end of his words, which sent a slight flash of heat to her cheeks this time; Kari was thankful she was too dark to blush. “Anyways, we need to think. I think our best bet is to still get you on the boat. I don’t really know that hiding anywhere else will be safer. At least you’ll have my protection,” Kari tried to memorize all this so she could relay it back to Zayde once they found the to-be-miserable prince. “I’m not saying you can’t protect yourselves. I’m just saying here, at the castle, Sunste has no power. He can’t go through my quarters uninvited. Whereas if he finds you in the forest, he could have you in a boat and sailing away before I even got word. I say we just think for a moment before we make any hasty decisions.” Kari shoved the last of the soaps she’d stolen from the bathroom into her brother’s bag and started to buckle all the straps. His earlier statement sort of wanted to make her smile, though. How he knew that would normally offend her, even in the short span of a couple days that she’d stayed in his protection. But Karillian realized she’d have probably been shipped back to Xirra by now if not for Trei’s help, and she needed all she could get, so the princess let that one slide. “And we’ll need your brother for that. It probably isn’t anything, but if he happened to wander off and is now sick, we could have a problem.” Kari waited for a millisecond to see if the prince was just having one of his pause-and-think-for-a-second moments, and was proven right. “You didn’t say he was still sick, before. I could’ve helped.” His tone was a mix of annoyance and the tone of when someone is let down because you didn’t trust him or her. At least, that was the vibe Kari was receiving. “Just saying my brother can get seasick if you’re not careful, and of course I agree about my twin slash best friend slash only family member I can trust right now being found first. And lastly, no offense, I’m sure you are having fun being a fairy-tale prince who saves everyone, I know I would,” She smiled, showing she didn't completely mean it offensive. But she still remembered his act the first time she’d met him, so that did have a little effect on her reply. “But I didn’t tell you because numero uno, we were both practically zombies from either no sleep or just not awake yet. Number two, I technically told you with the whole wasps thingy, just not the extent, and number three, only Caryi has the antidote to the poison, because only Caryi needs it. So if you had asked with Sunste in the castle, probably gaining spies or paying for information, then you’d be on his hit list, not to mention interrogation list. And not choosing to allow interrogation would be an instant clue, and I know nobody’s that good of a liar to get past a professional detector that I’m sure Sunste has along with him. Sorry about not telling you though. He was puking all night, raging with fever, and somewhat hallucinating in his dreams. Oh yeah, and his leg started oozing. It was nasty and I don’t even think that was the extent of it. So again, it won’t be that hard to find Zayde. Looking for the probably puking idiot.” Kari sucked in a breath, and let a ghost of a grin come upon her face. She never spoke so surely, so…confidentially without a stutter or performance practice. She wondered what was making her feel that way…because never in her earlier sixteen years of life had she been able to do that.