Doomed to failure

It's exactly a week after, after her toss and turn on the bed, her heart could not calm down. The dream came to visit her again. Repeating the exact same scenario as a broken memory. She contemplated a lot before bringing the issue to the table and asked her brothers to accompany her walking to the town in the pretext of sibling bonding.

The result was Indulf answered her call while another two had to wave them goodbye in solemn eyes because of prior work they had to attend.

She brought Emily, sir Derrick and other respected knights from Indulf's side as well to guard them. Walking in the small group was preferable by them as well as they wouldn't have to attract the crowd. She wasn't meant to brag but the duke family was treated like some sort of celebrity whenever they went, so they had to bring a minimal number of people and wear the cloak to cover their face.

It took them only 20 minutes to reach the capital town of the Shariz Kingdom namely Buela; a town full of life day and night. The town was a maze of narrow winding streets, as complex as her heart. The streets were busy with merchants selling their own items and filled by the flocks of people of different skin colors. The sound of various intonation of voices, the bustling street, showed them the town was never dead.

The buildings were an amazing jumble of different styles; rickety wooden shops, marble and brick houses, the labyrinth of roads, and some of the streets were colored like a children's toy. The town was what a village became with no city planning and great enthusiasm for architecture, and that's the charm.

To play safe, they were traveling by riding the horses rather than a carriage. It was her personal pick and sir Derrick knew it too well. Her brother knows too hence the idea to abandon the carriage right away.

"What do you want to do, Eliz?" Indulf asked while looking around in his shining eyes.

They were currently in the middle of the crowd trying to make sense of everything. Specifically Elizebeth. It was her idea to go out but she hadn't had a proper plan on how to search for someone.

"I think…" She breathed while thinking. "Do you want to visit your weapon shop first?"

'While I'm thinking of the next unplanned step.'

The words died on the tip of her tongue as she watched her brother stretch his lips bigger than ever, and the very instant the fingers of her right hand patted her brother's arm.

"You want to visit the weapon shop together with me? Are you okay with that? Won't you be bored?" He said in enthusiasm and grabbed her hand that held his arm.

"Yes, why not." She then hugged her brother's arm.

Indulf leaned back a little. Couldn't believe his own ears. Not even once his brothers wanted to accompany him in choosing his weapon. He never dared to ask their point of view as well as they were too occupied with other things. But Elizebeth as always put him first and visited all the weapon shops he wanted without a fast and beamed to him, even.

"Do you want to find anything after mine?"

Elizebeth considered her words, numbly she nodded. "Do you have a pen and white paper?" She raised her head to look at Indulf.

"Okay." He gave the pen that he cherished and brought everywhere to his dearest sister. The pen was the memento of his old teacher who died an old age years ago. In normal circumstances, he would never let anyone touch it, even his brothers, but it's always exceptional for his sister. She has every right to touch it.

She asked sir Derrick to squat down to borrow his back to write something on the same paper. Focusing on the detail of the traveler, he pointed out every unique character of the man that possibly changed her future or maybe her entire life as well.

"Who are you looking for, Elizebeth?" He peeked behind her back like a nosy kid.

"Someone important." Said her nonchalantly. "Emily." Called her.

"Yes, My Lord?" Emily was practically teleported to be in front of her when she was in fact at the far back looking for something.

My Lord? Indulf perplexed by the highest title Emily called his sister. Has she completed the oath? Well, to be frank, he saw how formal some of the knights towards her before. Also, called her by the same title. 'My Lord' was the reserved title for a noble that had received the highest respect from their servants. He was shocked Elizebeth had several of them already while he still had none. She was his brilliant sister. Only the best for her.

"Find this person. You may bring sir Ojas with you for your own safety."

Emily took the paper without hesitation and immediately read it. What she's searching for was someone that had never stepped inside the town before, with ginger hair, freckles, a fit body, tall and long hair. He was a man and also a traveler.

"I understand, My Lord." She bowed to her and Indulf respectively and turned her heels together with sir Ojas that gave his respect from afar before following Emily's back. Covering Emily and his head as well to not attract unnecessary attraction.

She sighed and gave the pen back to her brother. "Let's go, Didi." she grabbed his hand.

Indulf looked at her, vibrant and content, smelling the crowds unintentionally but still lived up to his mood. He had an outing with his sister. This was their little date. He thought about how all the scents had been mingling and mixing into confusing tinctures but he still picked her favorite fragrant rose.

"Let's go to your cafe after this."

Okay." She beamed.

&&

They decide to drop by at her favorite cafe, eating the waffle that she was drooling while remembering the crispy texture, the butter on top of it, and the honey. Sitting side by side with her brother while two knights sat in front of them, enjoying their treats too. Today's outing was nice. They enjoyed themselves; Indulf bought different weapons to test at home while she bought a lot of history books about the kingdoms and also the magical realm.

Everything was smooth until Emily came to them with a straight face together with sir Ojas behind her.

"My Lord," called Emily, tight.

Elizebeth put down the waffle, slowly raised her head as she sighed. She didn't expect Emily to find him this easily anyway. She had no exact plan to find the traveler. The only clue she had was the said traveler was supposed to arrive at this town 14 years before the kingdom's attack.

Means at any given moment right now. And she didn't have to rush Emily too, as the traveler would occasionally build the house to be a permanent resident. She has a lot of time to find him.

"It's okay, Emily. Order your food and take your seat." She patted Emily's elbow, her smile was so sweet but her bitter eyes betrayed her mask, unintendedly. She couldn't lie to Emily as she was her trusted subject and Emily weighed every responsibility inside her heart and carved the expression inside her mind.

Her master might not say anything but she knew she had disappointed the young lady.

"I apologize, My Lord. I failed my task given to me," she bowed.

Elizebeth waved at her, "this is impossible for the very beginning."

"My Lord," this time sir Ojas bowed to her, a pang of guilt-tripping inside him too.

"This is an impossible job. I assure you. Elizebeth doesn't know his real appearance too. You did well my servants." She assured her that got Sir Derrick's attention, who made an aborted, startling sound.

"This man is an essential informant for you, My Lord?" Sir Derrick questioned her.

"Yes. He is very important and dearest to me."

"Even when you'd never met?" Indulf that listened to the interaction was soon interrupted. He saw the bond between them. It's deep, even deeper than him and his knights. They knew what Elizebeth had wanted without she elaborated further.

"Even when we'd never met." Elizebeth agreed. She realized she's leaving a lot of words out that were probably important. "I'm planning to make him my teacher."

"Teacher?" Indulf freaked out. "What do you mean? We have a lot of qualified teachers at home."

Emily, sir Ojas, sir Derrick and Indulf looking at her with identical, disturbing faces. Indulf's knight that sat beside Derrick was already gone to pick another order to satisfy his stomach, surely didn't care about the issue that wasn't related to him.

"We do," Elizebeth opened her plush lips as if in slow motion. "We don't have a teacher about the magical realm, however." Said her nonchalantly. This time dived back into her eating and didn't look at Indulf's horrific face.

"Why do you need to know about the magical realm?" Indulf mustered his courage to ask the question. His sister wasn't an unreasonable person, he knew as much. She must have a reason to do such.

"Don't worry, brother. I already discussed the issue with His Majesty. He lets me do whatever I want because he loves it." She giggled innocently to cover up her discomfort. The perk of having a cute face, she could use it freely and evade the hard question.

Indulf slouched down on his seat. The king supported her? What was he thinking? Elizebeth was playing a dangerous game. A magical realm? It's hard for him to swallow the news happily.