Gold

Preparation

"So how'd it go?" Aurelia asked as Lucas returned from speaking with Letholdus. Lucas had just opened the door to the room Aurelia was supposed to be staying in and Aurelia had been making a list of supplies that would be important to pack.

"It went well." Lucas had to admit he was surprised. He hadn't expected Letholdus to get on board so quickly. "He's demanded that a ship be prepared immediately and that we can leave tomorrow."

"Fantastic!" Aurelia said. She showed him the list. "I guess we can check that off our list."

Lucas scanned the words Aurelia had written down. He nodded.

"These look fine. I don't believe it'll be too difficult to get food, maps, or really anything else on this list. But what I'm worried about is weapons." Lucas stated.

Aurelia couldn't help but give Lucas a quizzical look. "Weapons? Why would we need weapons." She hadn't written those down.

"Well, think about it. There has been quite a few pirate attacks lately and we don't want to be the next plunder. A few swords would be nice." Lucas stated.

Aurelia raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know how to use a sword?"

"You don't?" Lucas wondered.

"That comes with growing up here, doesn't it?" Aurelia gestured, showing that she meant the castle when she said here.

Luke smiled. "Yep."

"Can you teach me?" Aurelia inquired. She said it rather fast and excitedly, not knowing that the words were going to come out.

"You want to learn? I didn't peg you for being the brawn over brains kind of person." Lucas gestured to the books spread out on Aurelia's bed. Books that Aurelia had borrowed from the library. Aurelia blushed.

"I'm not. I prefer to use my intelligence rather than physical force, but sometimes intelligence isn't enough. I believe you can relate? I don't think anyone would peg you as the strong, masculine type either." Aurelia smirked at the teasing.

Luke mock glared. "Who are you calling not masculine?" He flexed his arm.

Aurelia's grin grew. Lucas was not exactly what you would call buff. She giggled as she poked the skinny twig he called an arm. Lucas continued his mock glare before relaxing his arm and rolling his eyes.

"Sure I'll teach you. I'm not a master myself, but if you'd like to learn I can teach you the basics." Lucas told her.

"That'd be great." Aurelia smiled brightly at him.

Lucas felt his face grow red. He couldn't help it and he didn't know why.

"Er... Yeah, so anyway I'll make sure that we've got those things. There's not much you can do, but you can pack whatever books you want at least. Sorry." Lucas stated.

Aurelia waved him off. "It's fine. Not a big deal. I just need to focus on the what we're going to have to do. I've never even been out of the capital before." Aurelia admitted.

"Let's hope everything goes smoothly." Lucas stated. He turned to leave, before remembering something. "Oh before I forget Letholdus gave me something for you."

Lucas pulled out a small, black velvet box. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to. Just around Letholdus until we change the ruling situation." Lucas stated opening the box.

Inside was a gorgeous little ring. A white pearl at on a rose gold band with three tiny diamonds on each side. It was beautiful.

"You just have to wear it around Letholdus so he doesn't throw a fit."

"Wow..." Aurelia was momentarily awestruck. "Uh sure, okay." She snapped out of her trance.

Now all she had to do was pretend to be okay with her forced engagement around the king, sail across the sea, avoid pirates and sirens, and find Mr. Gold.

Easy peasy, right?