Road to Ruisea

❆ ❆ XXIX. KUMARI ❆ ❆

Kumari bolts awake at the very crack of dawn.

She notices the train's stopped moving, and she leaps out of bed, pulling up the curtains on her window to see where she is.

And indeed, she is where she wants to be.

"Axeria!" She breathes, fogging up the glass.

She rummages around in her room, tossing all her stuff around, before she finds Goldy under the dress she'd been sewing up last night. She picks up her little goose, and brings her back to the window, pushing her beak against the glass like her own nose had been pressed up earlier.

"See! See! We're here, in Jae's kingdom. This is where he was from."

Goldy honks, Kumari thinks, in appreciation.

She changes out of her pajamas in a flash, quickly stripping and then slipping on her day clothes, finally throwing on the jacket Jae had given her.

Kumari bolts out her door, racing down the train corridors, fully intending to see every single part of Axeria before anybody could stop her—

She's stopped by a distinct tugging feeling, halted to a stop by a strong hand grabbing her fuzzy jacket collar.

'"Let me go!" She whines, and she already knows exactly who it is. "I wanna seeee!"

"Not so fast Kumari," Jae laughs. "I woke up extra early, because I figured you'd try to pull one over me like this."

"Let me go!" She insists again, and Jae's grip loosens. Once it does, Kumari bolts again...

And again Jae catches her, this time by wrapping his arms around her waist and latching on.

"Wily!" He laughs. "Wily wily Kumari."

She flails her arms around in an almost-fit. "Jaaaaae. This isn't faaaaaair."

"No but it's safe," and he starts dragging her back towards her cabin. "C'mon. We're staying on the train until it's time to leave for Qiluca."

Jae's cabin door opens, and out comes a bleary-eyed and shirtless Chiro.

"Mind getting dressed?" Jae snorts. "It's not like you have much muscle to show off anyways."

"Mmmh," and Kumari understands it's way too early, even for Chiro. "Wha'ver. Wha you doin' wake. Wha she doin' wake?"

"Keeping her inside," Jae sighs. "Tried to go see Axeria."

"Jae is so mean to me," Kumari insists.

Chiro rubs his face, "Hhhh yea... Jae let her go. Go wif her, if you gotta."

"You need to either go back to bed or splash some water on your face," Jae sighs. "You sound seven instead of seventeen."

"And you're treating me like I'm six instead of sixteen!"

"Listen," Jae loosens his grip to pat her back. "You need someone, older and wiser, telling you what to do. I'm seventeen, going on eighteen, and I'll take care of—"

"I don't want you to take care of me!" Kumari kicks him backwards in the shin, but it barely hurts him, she thinks. Hurts her own toes more... Not worth it. "You're acting just like my parents."

Jae freezes, icy blue eyes carefully examining her face — she's sure it's red from frustration. Jae's eyes are calculating, cold, and Kumari doesn't like it.

But then... They soften.

"I'm not being fair," Jae agrees at last. "And Chiro wants to protect you more than I do, so if he's telling me to loosen up, then I'm definitely doing something not right. You've spent enough time locked up, not able to do anything. Enough is enough. I'll take you around Axeria myself."