Three Lies, All True || ONC2021 Longlister

Chapter 4: Tears of Kytzlanna

When Crown Prince Nikolas said that they were going to leave immediately, Petra didn't think he meant 'immediately' immediately. The moment they went out of Adrien's personal study, Crown Prince Nikolas didn't even give them a chance to prepare. It even almost looked like he was resisting the urge to yell at them to get going.

So, with nothing but a cloak and magic in their hands, the three of them muttered a prayer to the goddess of winter and left the castle in the dead of the night.

And during the first three days of them walking from the castle to the borders, Petra lost count of the times she palmed her face because none of them thought of bringing extra money.

"It's our first time going outside of Royisa that doesn't involve murdering people as the main priority!" Peter had told Adrien when they realized that he didn't even have a single copper stone. "We never brought money with us before, so why should we now?"

"Because we need money!" Adrien yelled back with a groan. "Do you expect the three of us to walk from the middle of Royisa to who-knows-where in Nuryyn without anything?"

Petra scoffed and crossed her arms. "You make it sound like you're any better, Adi. You're the one with a pocket dimension, but you didn't bring a lot of money, either!"

"At least I brought some!"

And so, for three, agonizingly long and painful days, she heard the same things from Adrien and Peter. It was slightly surprising that she didn't lose her mind from their bickering. That, or maybe they were the only reason why she was still somewhat sane.

Fortunately, their bickering ended after those three days. And for another two days, they continued walking until they were close to Royisa and Nuryyn's borders.

The closer they got to Nuryyn, the more they needed to blend in. So Adrien spent most of their money on either getting clothes or necessities such as ingredients for potions or maybe new spellbooks with spells they never tried before. And since they were tight on money, Petra understood that they had to sleep outdoors.

It was during their short breaks when Petra distanced herself from the two and sighed in relief. She would either consult her star map and check a few things again, maybe even see if she could alter fate one way or another, or write in her journal.

She was in the middle of her current entry when she heard a small blast from her right. Tucking the letter inside the pages, Petra looked up from her journal and turned to face Adrien and Peter, who seemed to be making a potion with their limited materials. The light from Adrien's cauldron illuminated the small cave they were in, allowing her to see their focused expressions.

"What are you two up to?"

Without lifting his head from his own book, Adrien replied, "The potion that I lost days ago." He glared at Peter before turning back to his work. "Like I said, it was still a prototype and I'm not quite sure what it does. Besides, I... want to see what it can do."

Peter simply pursed his lips and nodded.

Petra turned away from the two and scowled. The thought of making potions made her head ache again. Potions… she would never understand how those worked. 

Before she could get back to writing, Adrien groaned in frustration and swiped his hand to the left, making the entire set disappear. "This isn't how i did it, there's something that I'm missing here. I don't know what."

"I already told you, we can deal with this later." Peter stood up and stretched his arms before sighing in relief. "Kytzlanna's just another walk away, and I don't know what to expect from beyond there."