not so far to go [Charles]

[Adelle Silver]

Adelle poured her sister a glass of milk and brushed her hair out of her face, then braided it for her. “Go take care of your room.” she said when she finished, she was used to playing mommy, and it was tiresome, but she couldn’t rely on her father to make her do it all. Mirabelle grabbed a poppet their mother had made for her when she was pregnant and took it off to her room to go ‘clean’.

Finally when Adelle had finished cleaning the kitchen it was just after lunch, she wasn’t hungry yet so she decided to slip out while the boys would still be working for a while. Putting her slightly tattered coat on over her shoulders, boots and poorly knitted mittens she headed outside. Walking down the road she smiled, it smelt like winter, like old wood on a fire pit. And the sky hung, pale blue and wonderful in the air.

She didn’t have a destination exactly, there wasn’t much to do around here except make your own fun. “Oof!” she said, sliding on a small patch of ice she hadn’t expected. Laughing a little at her own clumsiness she continued walking, and poked her head out of her coat, “Charles?” she said, with a small wave. The Constable and Silver farm were very close to each other, but she was still surprised to see him on a cold day like this. She debated walking through the snow to come over to him, but frowned at the cold.

[Charles Constable]

The day was cold, too cold to do much on the farm, it was the off season for most people. They could do a little though. They had a green house, and every winter, her mother would sue her power over fire to keep the place heated and warm enough for things to grown. His father, power over earth, would try and keep the plants alive. And Charles, water, would pull the water out of the air to give the plants. It tired them all out, but it worked and that was enough. His brother Terrence had the power over the earth, like their father, but he ran away years ago to be a business man, not even using his powers for them at all. He could have been a farmer, helped them save more... It was Isabel that gained power over fire like their mother. Charles felt alone in his gift, but he didn't mind.

He was out in the snow practicing when he heard a familiar voice call. It was Adelle. their families had been close for many years, the two of them basically growing up side by side. It never felt like Charles was two years older than her, they were equals, and very close friends. "Hey Adelle." He called back with a little wave.

[Adelle Silver]

Adelle, with a certain amount of determination, hopped over a small bank of snow and treaded over towards Charles with an eager sort of smile. “I thought it was you I saw, and here I‘m not the only crazy one out today.” she smiled, her boots leaving tracks in the snow. She watched what he was doing for a moment, she was always curious, or nosey, depends how ‘people friendly’ you were. “So what are you doing out here today?” she asked with a smile, she liked the way their families worked, all helping together to keep things going. It was a lot like hers.

She tugged on the sleeves of her coat still, she didn’t have such great magic like him, she could do a bunch of different things, but sometimes it was too strong and ended up causing to many troubles. She’d never found her ‘strong point’ exactly. Mirabelle was already a promising earth manipulator, and she still hadn’t gotten the hang of doing it right. She thought it had something to do with the marks on her wrists that she tried to not let anyone see.

[Charles Constable]

Charles smiled as she crossed the way to him. His face was flushed from the chill, but he didn't mind. he could not afford to get anymore schooling--but he'd already had more than most of his family. And he couldn't afford new books, so he had to try to teach himself somethings about his powers. the thrill of discovery and the feeling that he had earned it was plenty for him, no matter how little he found out. "I'm practicing." He explained to her with a smile. He remembered times when he'd make a little sprinkler for them in the summers, days when they were kids....

Right now, he was still working with snow. Ice was a different power, and he could easily make the ice and snow melt in some places, he could draw some water out, warming it a little, but he had more trouble refreezing it, maybe it was beyond him, but he was trying both, not with too much success, but a few times it had worked. "What about you?"

[Adelle Silver]

Nodding she watched the water change little by little, she marvelled at it. “I can see, your getting much better from the days you used to get my braids wet.” she said with a small pout, but she didn’t really mind. It was strange thinking about how long they’d known each other, could you feel old at 17? She certainly felt past her prime most days, but things would get easier some day, she hoped.

“I‘m just getting some air, it‘s really boring inside.” she said with a small shrug. “So coming out into the cold somehow seemed to be a better option.” she smiled again. It wasn’t that she hated winter… She just couldn’t wait until she didn’t have to be seen in the potato bag sort of look of her jacket. “How have you been Charlie?” she asked. Charles was too official, to old sounding, so she decided to pull out the nick names. “I haven’t seen you all around much, though I haven’t been out a lot, it‘s still considered polite to drop by every now and then.” she teased.

[Charles Constable]

Charles laughed lightly, "Well, I go to the marketplace a lot for my parents selling what we can manage to grow, and what we've saved. Sometimes I'm inside taking care of Isabel, she's trying to learn and she keeps setting things on fire, so i have to put them out." He laughed brightly. He loved being outside, even for someone who would rather read. he liked the sun on his face.

"And well, yesterday.... " Then he stopped, shaking his head. "You'll never guess who I met." Charles grinned lightly, shaking his head as if he ddin't believe it either. He'd met the youngest princess and helped her escape the guards, something he'd never expected. He was so poor---he figured he'd never meet them ever, they were just names in the paper.

[Adelle Silver]

Adelle chuckled, “Oh my, well I guess it's a good things she's got you sticking around to put out the fires.” Really, she could imagine how that was, she was always needing people to help her when she broke something or ended up sending pots and pans all over the place, tricky business that whole magic thing. It came in handy with small things, but more often then not it was a lot of practice with a lot of clean up at the end.

Charles had met somebody? This interested her, a lot, who was there to meet around here? She could think of a few names, but none that she would imagine him or herself running into. “Who did you meet? The king and queen?” she said, obviously sounding silly with her petty attempt at a royal accent.

[Charles Constable]

"Yeah really, otherwise I think the house would have burned down at least three times by now." he laughed with a smile. Isabel, the ever careless six year old.

"I met the princess, the youngest one." Charles told her in a hushed tone. She might not believe him, but he had never been one to lie to her. They pretty much trusted each other with everything. Like two halves of a whole. their parents used to joke that they should have been twins. "Aarya, the one as old as you." he prompted her.

"I can't believe I had no idea the first time I met her... you think I'd know her face...." Charles shook his head in disbelief at himself. He figured she'd want to know the story. Probably, if she even believed him, but it sounded far fetched even to him, especially after her joke about the king and queen, but it was the truth, he had met her.

[Adelle Silver]

For a moment she stared at him, before laughing. “Oh your such a comedian! Reall,y the princess?” she laughed again, but realized she was the only one doing so. “Huh?” she said a short second later, before her eyes widened in shock. “A princess!” she said in an excited hushed tone. This was way better than the king and queen, who wanted to meet stuffy old people, he'd met the princess for crying out loud!

Surely enough this news was getting Adelle excited, her fingers were either shaking in shock or cold. “Holly cow how did you manage that one?” she asked, frowning at her 'holly cow' reference for a moment. “The youngest? I saw her once when I was maybe 4 and it was only for a moment before she was taken away, it caused a lot of trouble then, I don't think she was supposed to be out. But it was so long ago it's hard to remember.” She was pretty sure it was the youngest who had slipped away for a moment, she always thought that was pretty normal, but for royalty she supposed they had different rules.

Besides, in the current times it wouldn't be wise for a royal girl to be running off during wars and all. That got her thinking. “How did you say you met her? What was she like?” she asked, it was sort of like meeting a celebrity, even though she hadn't been there herself to do the actual meeting.

[Charles Constable]

Chalres smiled at her reaction. "The youngest, that sounds like her. She was sneaking out this time too. The first time I emt her it was in passing, but yesterday..." He said pausing for dramatic effect. 'Yesterday we're arguing when she starts to pull me away as a few guards start to get together in the street. "She was pretty after all, so i go with her, showing a better route to escape. And then, i ask her why she's running and she tells me who she is." Charles explained to Adelle, using his hands for emphasis. he explained about taking her up to teh tree house that his older brother had built and her fear of heights and how she hated that he had bowed to her.

"She's rather stubborn, she thinks i mope too much and she hates living in the palace and being watched over all the time. She' quite comical actually."

[Adelle Silver]

Alright, whatever, so the poor girl was amazed, flaber gasted, at a loss for words! Okay, except one. “Wow.” she said in wide eyed entertainment. How unreal was that? He just happened to be out, and just happened to run into the princess for crying out loud! And she was sneaking out, it sounded like her. “And you didn't recognize her when you saw her?” she thought the royal faces would be familiar, or at least by their clothes, because she couldn't pick a face out if it nearly killed her, like needles in a hay stack with this one. Maybe a magic sight charm. No, no way was she going to test that one out!

Adelle pushed his shoulder playfully, “I can't believe you got to meet her! And took her to a tree house, very smooth.” she hadn't imagined the girl would want out of the castle, like living as a farmer was some walk in the park? But then, maybe the grass always did look greener on the other side. “It all sounds so... exciting. Are you going to see her again?” Adelle asked, she hoped he would.

[Charles Constable]

"No I didn't, i mean she had her hair down and she was in brown. I just thought she was wone of those nobles who think they look common but they dont realize they are wearing fine fabrics in dull colors." he said with a laugh at himself. He would ahve thought that the face would be obvious, but he had been wrong about that as it turned out.

"Oh very smooth, but she wanted to get away from the guards and didn't mind being with me, it seemed natural." He explained as she teased him about being smooth with the princess. They fought too much for it to mean anything though, the princess and himself. "I don't know, i hope so. I'll look for her this time." he said with a smile. "maybe I can get her to come back and meet you."