The Archer's Legacy

★彡02|04 - "Thanks, Arthur."彡★

Three weeks and six days after Y/n left Auradon, Thomas arrived with the second batch of deliveries. The girl, however, did not care for the moment, as she tucked under Arthur's blade before jumping over a plastic dart that Ewan threw at her as a part of her training.

Seeing an opening, as Arthur was for the shortest part of a second distracted by Thomas' arrival, she swiped her legs at the man, who fell for the decoy, and as he jumped, Y/n disarmed him.

"Ha!" Y/n exclaimed in victory, throwing her hands up. "Might've taken me almost a month but I got you now, Arthur!"

"Indeed you did, Your Highness," Arthur nodded, bearing a proud look on his face. "Impressive."

Thomas chuckled, hopping off of his horse. "I see that you have no trouble entertaining yourselves in my absence."

"Why should we ever have such a problem?" Arthur challenged. "I doubt there'll ever be a dim day in our lives with Her Highness' presence."

Y/n rolled her eyes fondly, shaking her head at the banter of the only people she'd ever dare to call older brothers as she took the letter from the top of the pile on the cottage's porch. "I'm glad my shine has brought some light into your lives, dear sirs, but I shall now take my leave."

"No, don't go," Ewan frowned, standing up from his place on the steps of the cottage and clinging onto the girl's leg. "I want you here."

Y/n smiled fondly. "I'll be back." She then looked around for a solution. "Why don't you go help Thomas? I know you like Misty."

Ewan's eyes lit up at the horse's name and he immediately brightened, yelling, "Misty! Misty, Misty, Misty!"

As the boy ran off, Arthur picked up the pile of schoolwork that was so generously sent for the girl.

"I've been wondering, Your Highness," he began. "What did you like at Auradon so much, if I may be so bold as to ask?"

"I made some really good friends," Y/n said, waving the letter. "And the lessons are quite interesting, too, and I can't say I complain about nature, but..." She smiled at the letter. "It's mostly the people. They're far less closed off over there, less cautious about every word they say around me. I guess I just feel more like a person when I'm there. Here I feel like a princess."

"You are a princess, it's an occupational hazard," Arthur pointed out. "And someday you'll be a magnificent queen." He smiled, glancing at the letter in her hands. "But for now, enjoy your youth and the company of your friends, whether it be near or in your heart."

The girl smiled. "Thanks, Arthur."

Arthur nodded and Y/n took it as her que to turn around and close herself into the small writing room before opening the letter.

Hi, Y/n!

We do miss you over here, I'll be honest. Carlos wanted to make extra sure I'd mention that before he and Jay left for practice. They've been practising a lot recently, to be honest. I think both of them also took up fencing? I've heard that Jay's running for team captain at tourney soon so I'll keep you updated on that.

As for Mal and I, we've been busy, too. Mal is preparing to go touring around the country along with Ben to deepen relations (as she is to become queen) and I have had many-many orders after the coronation and I've made clothes for almost everyone in our grade by now. I'm thinking I could actually make a business out of it.

Now about the thunderstorm you mentioned: although it didn't rain here, it was all over the news. It took down quite a lot of trees in the southern North so I'm really glad to hear you got out of it unharmed.

Last but not least — how could we ever forget about you? Especially when (under the cover of secrecy) Jay keeps insisting Carlos sometimes murmurs your name in his sleep. I think he misses you the most, even when the rest of us miss you a lot, too. I can see that he's most affected by your absence, at least. He's been busying himself a lot — going on runs with Dude, tourney, fencing... And I'm also pretty sure I've seen him in the archery range once or twice. I can't help but think he might want to distract himself from his thoughts, which may or may not be about you for all we know.

Alas, he's alright. We all are safe and sound here in Auradon. I hope it'll stay that way and that you can be safe again soon, too.

Now, before this gets too long, here is a message from Fairy Godmother (I'll try to repeat what she said): "Please make sure she is safe. King Ben has been insisting that I keep sending her studying materials but if studying ever gets in the way of her safety, I'll stop it at once." So, I guess, don't study too hard.

Well, that's all about us. We hope you're safe, keep us updated!

Hugs,

Evie

Y/n smiled at the letter, trying to ignore her fluttering heart. With the amount of free time she had and the amount of romance novels she'd been reading due to that, she began to think she might've had a crush on Carlos. But love was dangerous, she knew that. It was the most powerful weapon. She'd been reminded of that for more than one time in her childhood and, scarily enough, she'd never thought up until the war that it might be used against her.

But now that she was cooped up in a cottage along with Ewan so they'd be hidden from anyone who'd like to use them against their mother she knew how dangerous loving could be. So she tried to restrain her feelings, at least for the time being.

Y/n sighed, folding the letter and placing it on top of the pile of study materials as she left the room, going to face the next week of which she was to write to her friends.