Crown

Se Gūrotrir Gen Vīlībāzma-The Spoils of Battle

Tobi slowed down and let Astrid off. He had brought them back to the ruins that she showed him not too long ago.

"Why here?" She questioned.

"I think that in order to clear your head, you need something to completely occupy your senses and I think I know just the thing."

Tobi climbed up the same path that they did not but two days ago. This time he led Astrid aside to the area he had explored a bit when he first arrived there. He took one of the hanging vines and swung it towards her. She caught it, her slim fingers running over the thick vine as she brought it closer to her. She looked at the vine for a moment before glancing over at Tobi with a peculiar expression.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Tobi asked, hinting at his plans for their little afternoon adventure.

Astrid grinned. "Why, I believe I am indeed!"

The pair laughed as they leaped off the edge of the platform they were on. They swang from the vines, filling the air with their gleeful cheers. The two of them would land on the neighbouring trees before grabbing another vine and leaping down in an attempt to get gravity to pull them faster. Somewhere along the line, it seemed as though they had made it a little competition to see who could circle around the ruins like this the fastest. Gaining speed by the second, Astrid let herself go, just enjoying the wind in her hair and the illusion of flight which made her forget about her previous shackling thoughts and simply presented her with a freedom that she had almost forgotten about.

At that moment, she suddenly realized why her mother used to longingly look out the window and stare enviously at anything flying overhead. It was because she too had tasted the freedom of flight and could no longer reach for it again. Astrid began to slow down, allowing Tobi to zip past her. Astrid always tried to be like her mother. She admired her so much after all. Her little excursion to the ruins made something click in her head. Astrid had always thought that her mother naturally knew what the right thing to do was and thus, always took the right course of action, but that wasn't really the case. In her moment of realization, Astrid came to understand that it wasn't that her mother always knew what the right thing to do was, but rather that she had learned and gained enough experience to know what moves to play and when to play them in this game of life.

She came to a halt, Tobi already standing on the platform again. His victorious smile spent no time at all on his face as the first words out of her mouth when she landed were:

"I'm going to marry Cheng."

Tobi stared at her, his mouth slightly agape. For the first time since he had met her, she dawned a rather serious tone and while he hadn't known her for long, she was the first friend he made here. So he couldn't help but worry for her.

"Are you sure?" He asked warily.

She felt like she had to start somewhere and if this was the way she could begin taking her first steps into becoming a woman like her mother and being able to live up to the legacy of her brothers by fulfilling her role as the sole Princess of Solaria, then she was willing to do it.

"I'm sure. It's not like I dislike Cheng. He's handsome and strong and he seems like a very kind and genuine person so I feel like he'd take care of me. Plus...it would form an official alliance with the Summer Isle. I've overheard Adam and Kal, our court scientist and a friend of mom's, speaking of a possible war with Sindaria. If that comes to pass then the Summer Isle's aerial soldiers would come in great handy."

Astrid's words didn't do much to quell the doubt in Tobi's mind, but she seemed to be really thinking hard about it. So he decided to let her do what she felt was right and if somehow it turned out to be a bad decision, he would be right here to back her up.  Astrid took another vine in her hand and tossed it to Tobi.