9 The trip logistics

"Sister?"

It was the sound of a soft, frail voice followed by two quiet knocks on her door that stirred Calluna awake. She sat up in her bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, struggling to center her thoughts. When the crown prince turned her eyes toward the windows, she noticed that it was still dark out and that the moon was high.

"You can come in, Lukas."

The wooden door opened just a crack, which allowed in some faint torchlight from the outer hall, that turned to black once more after the small boy had slid into the room and shut it behind him. He approached Calluna apprehensively, his gaze cast downward. "Um… sister?"

"Yes?"

"I- I know you never would have said yes before but I… I was really missing m-m-" Lukas ended up being interrupted by his own sniffle. Tears began to pool in his soft brown eyes and it seemed all self restraint that he had slipped away. He let himself cry, but pleaded at Calluna with his watery gaze, "I miss mom."

She held out her arms in invitation, and gave him a pitiable smile. "Of course you do, that's only natural, Lukas."

The blond boy clambered onto the bed weakly, taking a hand from Calluna to help pull him up all the way. She winced as the feeling of electricity shot through her ribcage – lifting things was quite painful with her injuries, but her desire to comfort the young prince overruled reason. Once he was on the bed he slowly laid down, resting his head on the girl's lap and continuing to sob. "I- I was… can I sleep in your room tonight?"

"Sure," she replied quietly, resting a hand on his soft wavy hair, "is missing mother the only reason you want to stay? Or is something else bothering you as well?"

"Oh," he wiped some of his tears away, "I forgot you don't remember. I have an illness, and sometimes I have breathing attacks where it makes it so that I can't breathe. I had one earlier and after I got treated by the physician, Yosef said I'm not allowed to sleep alone… but I don't want to stay in the clinic or have him stay with me all night."

"I… see. Well, I am happy to watch over you."

He remained silent and instead of saying anything further, buried his face into the blankets. Calluna stroked his head gently, biting her lip as concerned thoughts flooded her mind.

'Breathing attacks..? Maybe he has asthma or something?' She contemplated to herself, frowning as she watched the arrhythmic rise and fall of his body in her lap. 'Are there even home remedies for that?'

Calluna ended up falling asleep that way; sat up in bed as Lukas snored softly in her lap, one of her hands tangled in the messy golden locks of his hair and the other rubbing his back absent-mindedly.

Though she was sore and hurting the next morning, she didn't regret a thing.

-

Fyodor sat with Calluna in her study with a map spread before them; leaning against the wall behind them was a quiet and disinterested Vincenzo. Fyodor had been describing to her the places that she would stop on her tour around Killia and discussing the details of her travelling arrangements.

"Lukas must remain here," the older man informed.

"He is well guarded and I'd rather he didn't push himself," Calluna confirmed with a nod, then glanced at the military captain just in time to catch his overconfident smirk. She rolled her eye and turned back to her attendant to listen to the last bit of his explanation.

"You will depart in four days. The trip will take three weeks, which gives you two weeks to prepare for the coronation upon your return. Though it is not very much time, judging by what I've seen of your work I am sure you will pull through."

"Thank you, Fyodor."

He nodded in acknowledgement of her thanks and stood from his seat. "I will leave the map with you in case you wish to study it. I implore that you read up on the cities and even the noble families that you'll be meeting, Crown Prince."

"I will."

The tall blond man then exited the chamber, shutting the door softly behind him. Calluna sighed as she looked down at the large map of the country. "I'm really not sure how I'm going to do this, V."

"Why? I'm sure you'll do great, so don't think so hard."

"Of course you think that way, you aren't scared of anything!"

"What gave you that idea? Obviously I'm scared of a couple things just like everyone else," he replied indignantly.

"Is that so? Like what?"

"My biggest fear…" Vincenzo trailed off, looking down with a sad expression. He brought a leathered hand to his face and covered his eyes, then took a shaky breath.

"I'm sorry, you don't need to tell me if it's difficult for you-"

The man walked over to the desk and placed a hand on the surface to steady himself, leaning forward as though he were about to whisper a great secret into her ear. His warm brown hair spilled over his shoulder from his ponytail and pooled lazily on top of the map of Killia. Calluna couldn't help but wait anxiously for what he was going to say, and met his passionate green stare with an intense, amber one of her own.

"I'm so scared," he muttered under his breath, putting a large hand to his chest and grasping it dramatically, "of having... my heart broken... by a beautiful woman."

"Oh my, God," Calluna groaned, shoving his shoulder to move him off the desk. "Why are you like this?"

"But I can't help it! I'm a hopeless romantic, Luna, you'd never understand..." Vincenzo couldn't speak with a straight face any longer, and his amused laughter soon filled the study, creating a pleasant and lively atmosphere that eased the tension Fyodor had left.

The crown prince felt a small smile pull at the edges of her cheeks, and even let out a quiet laugh. She took a deep breath and released it, the negative feelings that had begun to build in her chest leaving her body along with the trapped air. The brief moment of relaxation allowed Calluna to think calmly, and brought her back to the situation at hand.

"So, it will be you, myself, one of my hand-maids, and three other members of the Royal Guard. Correct?"

"Yup."

"Do you have any members chosen already?"

"Mhm, all three."

"Really?"

"Really really."

"Alright, then. I can do this." Calluna said quietly, mostly to herself.

"You absolutely can, future King. I promise I'll bring you back home to your little brother, safe and sound." Vincenzo casually moved the hair that had fallen over his shoulder back behind his head once more and served the blonde a wide grin.

"If you say so. I guess I will decide which maid to bring along, as well."

"Good idea," he replied, "I guess I should be off to prepare for the tour as well."

"Oh- before you go, would you mind meeting me this evening and helping me read these documents that Fyodor gave me? I can get the gist of them, but it's not enough…"

"Of course. I will see you after supper in the library, then." Vincenzo gave a respectful bow and a gentle smile before leaving the room.

As soon as she was alone, she crossed her arms over her desk and rested her head on top of her arms. It was extremely overwhelming to think that she had to try and win over the hearts of people who most likely had preconceived notions about her… ones that weren't even her doing in the first place.

After staying that way for several minutes in an attempt to straighten her thoughts, the young woman sat up in her chair once more. "I wonder which of the girls I should bring…"

In her head she considered the pros and cons of each, and in the end reasoned that although she trusted Eleanore the most – the head maid should most certainly remain at the castle. Then, as much as she loved the younger ones, they probably wouldn't be much help with her in social situations, which was unfortunate.

"That leaves me with Guinevere," Calluna announced to herself. "I will have to inform her immediately… hopefully she can make sure that I dress appropriately and look well in front of all of these important people I'll be meeting. I really have no clue about the culture here still."

All of the thoughts racing through her head were giving her a headache, which in turn reminded her that it was about time to head to the clinic for treatment. Her ribs and chest had begun to ache again, which made it difficult to think about anything... let alone a trip of nationwide importance that she needed to spearhead.

"I'm really in for it, aren't I?"

Calluna carefully stood from the table and rolled up the map to take with her for studying purposes. With a renewed sense of duty, she set out with every intention of preparing well for the trip.