The Princess and The Bandit

NINE

But despite this girl's obvious dislike, Lauren isn't blind to not notice the simple fact that she is beautiful.

Very beautiful and very infuriating.

"Do you practice witchcraft? Weiss Tower is a commonplace for practitioners of magic," Ally asked this time, breaking the intense glaring that's happening across the dining table.

Lauren took a moment to reply, "No. Uhm, an old friend may have been there and I was hoping to meet him there and perhaps he could help me with my predicament,"

"What's his name?" Normani asked.

"What exactly is your predicament?" Ally followed up, a mix of curiosity and confusion in her tone.

Lauren contemplated telling them of whom she was looking for. But she wouldn't dare elaborate on why she's looking for this particular person. She wondered if it's such a good idea to disclose the name of the man she was searching for in the past few days. Or if it is unwise to tell them because of the great possibility that it would cause her some trouble and raise more questions.

She thought about the pros and cons, of what more lies to tell, while munching on her crispy deep fried calamari quite uncomfortably.

"Is he a wizard?" Normani prompted.

"No, he is not,"

Now that she thought about it, Simon doesn't really have a fixed profession. He's neither a scholar nor a warrior. He knows as much literature as he knows about combat fighting. He knows a little bit of medicine and very much little about magic.

When Lauren realized that the panda-fish isn't the only one staring at her expectantly, hoping for an elaborate answer, she suddenly felt inclined to say something. It was as if all their gazes compels her to speak her mind truthfully. It was absolutely making her feel so uneasy.

"His name is Simon," Lauren finally obliged after a moment of excruciating silence, "He is an old friend who left home a long time ago to pursue his true love. I have . . . I've been, uhm . . . I've been informed that he might've been to Weiss Tower in his quest," she winced as she found herself stupidly rambling.

There couldn't be only one Simon in this world so what are the odds these people know someone named Simon anyway . . .

Princess Lauren thought.

She only mentioned the first name, and did not provide any surname. There are probably thousands of other Simons in the world who casually travels to Weiss Tower in a quest for true love. So, she thought maybe it's okay. She continued eating, trying her best to appear stoic and nonchalant with her eyes focused on her plate, quite unaware of the discreet looks of the other four people on the dining table with her exchanged.

Very, very much unaware that Camila, Dinah, Normani and Ally do know one particular Simon who has been to Weiss Tower in a quest to find his true love just about a decade ago.

And people tend to change in such a long time . . .

* * *

Simona rifled through her things. Looking for a book that the emperor of Arcadia awarded to her a long time ago for safekeeping. It was leather bound but not as thick as the old books of history and geography and medicine. It has the image of the Arcadian tree of life printed in gold on its front cover and the couldron of the blue fire in the back, also printed in gold.

It is one curious artifact of the Arcadian empire that only heirs to the throne can read. She never knew what's written in there meant but flecks of blue embers always flew out of it whenever she opens it and attempts to read what's written in its golden pages.