Accession || Ongoing ||

Fourteen: Both Of Us Are The Same Person!

"What's a 'silly bus'?" Nash piped up as he scrunched his nose again. Poor child, caught in the middle of all of this, Alyxia  thought disapprovingly.

Alyxia shook her head dismissively. "Big person word.  They changed the things you're supposed to learn?"

"Yeah," Nash nodded energetically. "They even gave us these new texts, but I don't like them much. Well at least we don't have to study the royal family; they're boring."

Alyxia felt a streak of indignation run through her. "That's not true! The royal family is very interesting."

Nash frowned, raising an eyebrow. "How? It's always the same thing." He closed his eyes and held his hand up, as if he was going to recite something. "'The royal family trace their family members from their mothers. Queen Adelaide came from the Peyton family who helped rule the nation even before the war and the end of demakisy.'"

"Democracy," Alyxia corrected.

"What's that?"

"Well, it's this thing where people chose their own leaders back in the day," Alyxia explained. "Instead of kings ruling, there would be people who would rule for some time, and then another person would come in their place."

"Rulers changing all the time?" Nash cocked his head to the side in confusion. "That's weird. Why didn't they put one person in charge of everything?"

"Don't fret about it now," she assured him, patting him on the shoulder. You'll learn all about it when you're older." She couldn't bring herself to tell the young boy the stories of corruption, criminal inefficiency and decadence that rotted the democratic system and brought about its own downfall in the war.

Nash shook his head in annoyance. "People always tell me that," he grumbled.

"Dinner's ready!" Sylvie called out from the kitchen. "And for dessert, clear chewies, courtesy of Alyx!"

Alyxia had to resist the urge to guffaw as she watched Nash jump in glee. "Clear chewies?" He nearly shrieked in joy. "Thanks a bunch, Alyx!" Instantly, she was tackled by what seemed like a battering ram but was actually Nash hugging her. "Thank you!"

She barely had enough time to wheeze out a 'no problem' before he ran to the kitchen and out of sight. Alyxia couldn't stop a small smile from playing on her lips. Apart from Reiley, Nash was probably the closest thing she had to a sibling.

But Farron's like a sibling to Nash too. So if you married Farron, that would technically be incest.

Eh, royal family members marry their second or third cousins all the time. What's the problem?

Stop thinking about marriage! Alyxia chastised herself. Focus on the throne. Boy troubles can wait.

You're spending too much time with Reiley.

You are me. I am you. Both of us are the same person!

Alyxia shook her head, trying to push out the existential crisis she just had. It was then that she noticed Farron and Reiley's conspicuous absence. "I'll fetch them," she muttered to nobody in particular as she moved towards their room. What could they possibly be doing in there?

As she neared the doorway, she heard voices speaking in a hushed yet urgent manner. The markers of a fierce yet restrained argument. Not again, she thought to herself.

Instinct told her to flatten herself against the wall as she crept towards the doorway. She remembered a time which almost seemed like years ago, when she had to flatten herself against the wall to escape an angry mob of violent prisoners wreaking havoc inside her own home-