I couldn't help but laugh at them, despite being tall and standing on the tips of their toes, even they couldn't reach the lychee. The tree itself was on the higher end of the spectrum, but was sparse of berries itself, the only ones being high up and towards the center.
"We really don't need the lychee, Asp! We've got blueberries and grapefruit already." I called out. The picnic was already made, the cloth was out and bowls of food were set.
"Yeah but..you said you liked it and I forgot it back at home. What better than fresh ones we picked ourselves?" They said with a smile that caused butterflies to flutter in my stomach. I rolled my eyes and lowered myself to sit on the cloth that I had laid out. One of the horses neighed off in the distance and I smiled, seeing them roaming the field happily.
If only we could do this more often.
"Raegan. Raegan, sweetie!" I heard a soft, feminine voice to my left and glanced over, but there was nobody there.
"Did you hear that?" I asked, Aspen raised an eyebrow and cocked their head to the side.
"Hear what?"
"Raegan!" The voice was louder this time and before I could reply everything began to fade, black coming in from the distance and quickly overwhelming the scene around me.
My eyes fluttered open and were immediately harassed by a bright light. I flung my arms up to cover them, groaning. Of course it had just been a dream.
"Raegan, if you keep sleeping in you're gonna be late!" I recognized the voice now as my mother's.
"Late? For what?" I groaned, rolling onto my stomach and burying my face into the pillow.
"For what? Oh you know, just your entrance exam for the guard. Nothing important, of course." I could hear the smile in her voice. I hummed softly into the pillow, thinking. Exam? The Royal Guard? I laid there for a few moments as the thought played in my head. Then it clicked.
"How much time do I have?" I asked as I sprung up from my bed, stumbling out of it and over to my dresser.
"A little less than half an hour?" She guessed with a small laugh.
Shit, it's at least a twenty minute ride on Ares to get to the castle. "Can you saddle up Ares for me?" I asked as I dug through my dresser and pulled out a few articles of clothing.
"Of course." I changed quickly as soon as she had begun to walk away and raced into the kitchen, almost slipping on the hard wood while in socks. Grabbing two apples and a slice of toast with jam off of a plate on the counter, I met my mom out front with Ares. "Good luck sweetie, you're going to knock them dead!"
With a hug, I swung up onto Ares and headed off. "Come on boy!" Picking up pace to a gallop, I followed the road that lead up to the castle grounds. "Pardon me, coming through!" I called out, the streets were more populated than usual and I sure as hell didn't want to injure somebody on the way. But damn, did it really have to be on such an important day?
A crowd appeared ahead of me, just blocking the path that headed directly to the entrance of the courtyard. With a quick glance around I veered hard to the right, earning a whine from Ares, and rode directly up a wooden construction ramp.
