Guardians of the Prince

As we got closer to the mountains we’d seen in the distance, I spotted a town at the foot of them.

“That’s the town of Tau Lato,” Mr Kahzam explained.

A cobblestone road started just after a stone bridge over a river, and we took that into town.

“Wow… Pretty.”

I stared out the window alongside the prince at the rows of buildings.

The leaves of the trees along the sidewalks on either side rustled, swaying in a refreshing breeze. Large, two storey houses stood in neat rows. All the walls were a beige kind of white, giving the place a bright feeling.

Gardening must have been a flourishing pastime here, because flowers burst into bloom in every garden and there was an abundance of superbly positioned trees. Every person who walked past seemed to brighten at the sight of all the greenery. There were no walls or fences, so surely the planters must have known everybody would be able to see their handiwork.

A little further on, the road widened and there were more shops, and more people walking along the streets too. The car could hardly move forward there were so many of them, and occasionally people sauntered past us on anpy.

We came out into a wide, circular plaza with large flower beds, and Mr Kahzam parked the car in one corner. The children must not have seen too many cars, because they all crowded around to ogle it. They all had various different hair and eye colors.

“Let’s get out for a bit and take a break,” Mr Lahzt said, looking in my direction. “Although, first… Stick out your left hand.”

As I wondered what this was about, Mr Lahzt took a simple silver ring out of his pocket.

What?

He looked like he was about to put it on my ring finger.

What? What?

Without thinking, I pulled my hand back. Mr Lahzt’s eyes opened a little wider.

“All adults here have a ring on this finger, I just thought it might be best if you didn’t stand out…”

“Oh yeah, true! Uh, do you mind if I put it on myself though?”

I accepted it from him, totally flustered, and put the wide band on my left ring finger. Come to think of it, why was this exactly the right size?

“Is… something wrong?” Mr Lahzt was suspicious, so I shook my head and grinned.

“No, nothing.”

Aah… That was bad for the heart.

The entire company got out of the vehicle. As soon as the prince saw the kids in the plaza, he tottled off towards them, obviously thinking they were friends.

Mr Lahzt pulled him back, seeing me glancing around, and said, “Wanna to see the town?”

“Is that alright?” I asked back, with unintentional anticipation. Mr Lahzt smiled a little and looked at Mr Kahzam.

“Kahzam must be exhausted too. And he’s a bodyguard, so he’ll go with you and you can both get a change of scenery. I’ll make sure prince doesn’t wander off.”

“Is that alright?” I asked again, looking between the two of them.

Mr Kahzam smiled. “I need to purchase a few things too, so let’s go.”

He put on a large newsboy cap and pulled the brim down low over his face. It looked like some kind of disguise… Oh that’s right, he was supposed to be undergoing medical treatment right now, so if he met anyone he knew, the whole plan would be exposed.

“Okay then, if you don’t mind.”

I left the bag with all the prince’s stuff in it to Mr Lahzt. I’d stuffed a bunch of things inside, diapers (it turned out they even had paper diapers here! They weren’t the most effective things, but they were really convenient for trips!), and also some sweets, and towels, things like that.

Mr Lahzt seemed a bit miserable. “Ah, diapers,” he said, “I’ll, uh, give it a shot.”

His eyebrows scrunched together, and I laughed without meaning to.

We headed off, and when I looked back, Mr Lahzt seemed to be following behind the prince, who was on his way to his new friends again.

The prince was always surrounded by adults, it’d be nice for him to play with little kids for a while.

We walked through Tau Lato, my first town in another world.

I was an alien here, hiding the fact that I didn’t have any seals on my finger, and I felt like I shouldn’t call too much attention to myself, and so I walked as close as Mr Kahzam as was practical, but… I really was excited, and caught myself sneaking looks in every direction.

Pulling the brim of his hat a bit lower, Mr Kahzam whispered, “We are a bit suspicious, aren’t we.”

“Indeed we are…”

Be normal. Be normal.

All the shops had their doors and windows flung open, and they all felt welcoming. Lots of people were busily coming and going.

The sign boards were written in both Shin and the phonetic Ren script, so I understood immediately what each store was selling. Clothes, shoes, a bread store inside a dry goods store… They were all places I was familiar with. Well, this was a different world, but the towns were full of the same people, so it was only natural, I guess.

“Oh, maybe we should find something for Mr Lahzt’s mentor? As a thank you gift?” I suggested. It was a defining custom of my original world, but if we were going to go to the house of our betters to consult with them, I thought we ought to bring some expression of gratitude, no matter the world.

Mr Kahzam smiled and nodded. “Dr Lahzt asked me to buy something. There are some sweets Dr Lemonina especially likes.”

And so, we headed to a candy store.

Mr Kahzam seemed to know the place, and walked with a confident step. I could tell, though, that he was matching my speed.

Looking at the people on the street, it seemed to be a culture where women wore mostly skirts. I didn’t see any of the women in pants. And they didn’t seem to wear too many patterns either… Simple shirts with skirts, and for decoration, scarves and shoes with embroidery on them, that was the impression I got. There were even a few people like me with apron-style dresses on…

“Was there anything you wanted, Kohme?” Mr Kahzam asked me as we were walking. I answered immediately.

“I’ve got everything I need for the moment.”

Lady Solamire and the midwife had gotten me everything I needed, as a woman.

I’d been staring into basically every store, but what I was really looking for was a toy, or clothes for the prince, anything prince-related. Not that I had any money, so I wouldn’t have been able to buy anything anyway.

Mr Kahzam stuttered. “That’s not… Um, ah. If there’s anything you haven’t seen before, or anything like that, you’re quite welcome to buy it. You don’t have to worry about paying.”

“What are you talking about, aren’t you on temporary leave?” I said, putting my hands on my hips.

I was never someone who enjoyed letting other people treat me. I was even less inclined to it with Mr Kahzam, and I was already relying on him so much.

He did seem kind of dejected though, somehow. Alright alright, I guess he had his pride as a man to consider.

“Mm, how about sweets then!” I said. I could handle some sweets. “Whatever these things are that Dr Lemonina likes so much, I’d like to try them too.”

There was a moss green cloth on the table, which was set up in the shade of a graceful tree. Mr Kahzam was sitting relaxed on the other side of the table from me, looking over at me. The server lined up a dainty white tea cup and plate in front of me, with something that looked like a fruit tart on the plate.

We were eating on the terrace at an open air cafe.

This… This was more than I’d expected. I thought we’d buy some kind of baked treat, and then take it home with us. Well, Mr Kahzam was only having tea, I guess.

But this was an awful lot like a date.

True, Mr Kahzam was always by my side, but this was the first time we’d been alone together like this!

Once I was on this train of thought, a date I’d had with my old lover passed through my head, and I started to get upset. Oh my lord! That’s in the past already! Go away!

“Thank you for the food!”

I rushed the fork to my mouth. “Mm… This is delicious.”

It had a gentle sweetness to it, and I broke into a smile on pure reflex. There was some kind of boiled fruit, like a yellow cherry, inside the tart, but once in the mouth it had a kind of honey lemon flavor, it was amazingly good.

Mr Kahzam looked at me tenderly. “It’s not like we’ve never eaten a meal together before, but this time… It feels kind of different,” he said.

“Have we?”

“You invited me to eat with you all the time in the Garden of Stars, didn’t you?”

“Oh. Oh yeah…”

I was always giving Morio something to eat, or having him try stuff. I spoke in Japanese, but we got the general meaning across with hand gestures.

“I was so pleased to have you eat something I’d made… Even more so when I got to eat something you’d made.”

Mr Kahzam’s eyes roamed everywhere, especially towards the end of his sentence, that was unusual… And was he blushing?

Wait… I was blushing too. Don’t say stuff like that to me, it’s sounds like what a couple that’d just started living together would say to each other!

“Well, feeding you was just my way of trying to get you to stay in the Garden of Stars, you know.”

Why would I say something so embarrassing?

I hurriedly tried to cover for myself, and even Mr Kahzam looked away again.

“I thought it would be nice if I could stay too,” he said, “but I didn’t have any way of telling you I was a human back then, so…”

“Ah, yeah, yes, that’s true!”

“I kind of wanted to hear you sing more, too.”

“Yeah… Wait, singing!?”

Aaaaaah! I’d sung a couple of different things to the prince, he must have heard me! It was all golden oldies type stuff, and anime songs, and folk songs, and like, Koume Originals.

I didn’t even know what to say anymore, so I demolished that tart like it was the last one in the store, and then waited around while the store employees put Dr Lemonina’s treats in a gift box.

“So, uh, that was really good! Thank you, Mr Kahzam! Shall we, uh, head back?”

I got to my feet, unable to calm down, and stumbled against the chair. Mr Kahzam immediately stuck out a big hand to help me.

I grabbed on right away, but then I got so embarrassed, I pulled my hand back instantly, and apologized without even looking him in the face.

We chatted off and on, and went straight back to the plaza… Hm? Was that someone crying? The prince had scraped his forehead and was wailing, clinging to Mr Lahzt’s neck. Oh my, he must have taken a tumble.

Mr Lahzt noticed us and turned around to face us, saying something to the prince, obviously trying to soothe him, but his little face was all scrunched up, and he seemed inconsolable.

I rushed over, calling out, “Little prince,” and the prince lifted his bright red face up and stretched out his hand to me, still bawling. I took him from Mr Lahzt, who looked relieved, but I was the one feeling relieved at having come back to my normal daily life.

“Sorry… He was clinging to me, and I couldn’t use any Shiino.”

“What? The prince doesn’t have a Shin name yet, can you still heal him with your arts?”

“Healing no, disinfecting yes.”

Oh, so it was different if it wasn’t altering the prince’s body. But now the prince was clinging to me so tight that we couldn’t even show Mr Lahzt his wound.

“It’s alright, little prince. That must’ve hurt, huh? Maa-tan’ll eat all that pain right up, nom nom nom!”

I made like I was gnawing on the prince’s forehead, and his crying got a little quieter. I gnawed louder, and the prince started laughing and crying at the same time.

Which reminded me of something my own mom had said to me. When a parent said to a child, “Pain, pain, fly away!” 1 a small amount of the pain did indeed fly away. That was a bit of magic that really did exist.

So there was some bit of magic I could offer the prince, even without Shin, I thought, watching Mr Lahzt use his arts.

When we were ready to set off, Mr Lahzt offered to take over driving, but Mr Kahzam said he was fine and politely refused, and took his place in the driver’s seat again. We crossed the bridge again, and left the town of Tau Lato.

The road immediately curved in between mountains. The prince had cried himself out and was sleeping in my arms, and it was somehow quiet inside the cabin.

I reached out one hand and opened the projection device with the folded mirror from before. Reading in cars usually made me carsick, but I could definitely look at this thing.

Books, huh…

I love reading. I like it so much, I used to spend hours at the library.

That was why, when Nanao started going to elementary school, and I thought it was about time I found a job, I knew what I wanted to do right away. Maybe it was a bit unimaginative, but I became a bookseller – an employee at a bookstore.

One cold day after I’d been working there a little while, when work was over and I’d changed out of my uniform, I thought I’d like to buy myself a book before I went home. I was in the bookstore with my coat on, and had just selected a book, when someone spoke to me.

“Oh? Aren’t you one of the regular employees here?” they said.

That was him…

I’d come to a whole other world, and the memories of the different scenes of my life were still piling on top of one another. Even bright, colorful scenes turned dark and somber.

I sighed, and Mr Lahzt, who’d been staring silently out the window, looked over at me.

“What’s the matter?”

“You and Mr Kahzam are single, right?”

They must be, if we’d been talking about having one of them play my husband. Well, I only realized it after I spoke though.

“That’s abrupt,” Mr Lahzt said, surprised. I set the sleeping prince down on the sofa.

“It’s just, I’ve talked about my sisters, and about how I’m single, but I realized I don’t know anything about you all.”

“That is true, now that you mention it,” Mr Lahzt said, nodding. “Lahzt Jegart, twenty seven years of age, single, Shiinoce. Both my parents were Shin researchers, and I don’t have any siblings. Pleased to meet you.”

“Wow you’re young! You’re so composed, I thought you were a lot older. That’s some gap.”

Mr Lahzt laughed at my surprise. I had a bad feeling about something. “You don’t exactly feel like a fully adult woman yourself, Kohme. You’re a lot younger than I thought you were.”

That wasn’t even praise, was it.

“You seem flustered by Lord Fatido’s advances.”

“Please don’t say that.”

“Romantic relationships don’t seem to be any different in this world than in yours. So I imagine you’re not used to it, Kohme? Not used to various things.”

“You– Don’t be rude!”

I didn’t mean for the conversation to go in this direction! Dug my own grave.

“Bullseye? You’re red all the way to your ears.”

“I– Well what about you then, you don’t seem to have a girlfriend? You said you were a workaholic didn’t you? You seem the type where your relationship just fades away even when you do manage to snag someone.”

Ah, his eyes glided to one side, bullseye for me! This guy’s definitely the type to get a girlfriend and then neglect her!

“Ah, um, I’m single as well… Kahzam Saegis, twenty four.”

Gentle Mr Kahzam was trying to regain control of the situation, and interrupted the conversation while still driving, but it only ended up getting me more agitated, and I ruthlessly slashed out at him.

“Are you the type to fade out too, Mr Kahzam?”

He coughed. No way, a critical hit!?

Mm… Mr Kahzam was an exceedingly wonderful person, but I imagined that because he was passionate about his job, in addition to being taciturn, that even girls who liked him wouldn’t approach him. Well, that was just my imagination, but it seemed to fit a little too well. Sorry to be bullying people younger than me.

“So, Kohme, is there… Ah, nevermind.” Mr Lahzt started to say something, but quickly stopped himself.

Was he about to ask me if I had a lover? I mean, I didn’t right now, but even if I had, I couldn’t meet them… Maybe he’d realized that and cut himself off.

Mr Lahzt was definitely aware of the wrongs he’d done me.

“A pair of star-crossed lovers, ripped apart, one in one world and the other in another? There’s no one like that,” I said, having a deliberate bit of fun at his expense. Mr Lahzt almost choked for a second, but then glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

“Really? You’re not just keeping quiet about it out of regard for my feelings?”

“There really isn’t anybody. There was, but we broke up not too long before I came here.” I plowed on without waiting for his reaction. “But I do anticipate being happy again before too much longer. So you don’t have to worry.”

“You anticipate being happy?”

“The bouquet I was carrying when I came here, the person who gets it during the ceremony is supposed to be the one who gets married next.”

“Oh I see.”

I explained the tradition, but Mr Lahzt didn’t seem to know what to say.

Mr Kahzam asked a question from the driver’s seat, his tone hesitant. “Kohme, that… that bouquet, who gave it to you?”

“Mm? My younger sister, the middle one.”

“Ah, I see. That’s okay then.”

Was it? What on earth, did they think I was still hiding something from them?

I looked out the window, a bit unhappy, and reflexively let out a shout. “Wow, that’s gorgeous!”

We’d gotten about halfway up the mountain, and come out into a place with the most amazing view.

We came to a sort of observation point where the shoulder widened, and parked the car and decided to take a break.

The prince woke up and had his engines at full throttle all of a sudden. He tottled off and started down the pull-out stairs, so I rushed over to lend him my hand. He must have slept well.

The prince’s hand in mine, I took in the magnificent view, enjoying the cool breeze. A mountain range rolled like an ocean into the distance, and a green forest spread out in front of it, with a river shining silver through the breaks.

Looking a little closer to us, I could see a small town in the forest. I assumed that was where we were headed next.

Turning around to look in the other direction, there was a castle nestled in its surroundings, far in the distance. The castle had been built atop a hill, and wasn’t very tall, but it stretched out to the sides, and its ivory walls were gentle on the eyes as it melted into the scenery. The several spires on its triangular roof were cute too.

A small lake glittered near the base of the castle, along with what I assumed to be a fruit tree orchard, with small trees lined up in perfect rows. There were a few differently sized buildings dotting the surroundings, and one small village or town maybe. And then there was an enclosed pasture outside of that, with a herd of some domesticated animals eating the grass.

“That whole tract of land around there is the Shiz Cagna, where prince will probably be living,” Mr Lahzt said, and I gasped.

That… I knew it, I was out of place after all…

When we headed back down to the van again, I felt two hands plop down on each shoulder from behind me. Mr Lahzt’s was strong, and on the other side, Mr Kahzam’s was gentle.

I realized I must have had a pitiful expression on my face, and I sucked in a big breath of air.

Whatever would happen would happen, there was no point in thinking too much!

“Let’s have lunch!”

I was famished, actually. We’d made sandwiches in Mr Lahzt’s villa, so it was time for a picnic as we took in the beautiful scenery!

After we finished our meal, we got back into the RV and wound our way down the mountain.

Eventually, we came across a town full of log houses all in a row. This was the town I’d seen from the lookout spot earlier.

The town looked like it had been cut into a part of the forest, and they must have gotten plenty of travelers, because there were lots of supply stores and places to stay, and also a roost and watering hole for posteys ready to carry letters, and even stables for anpy.

“Oo, a footbath!”

Under a little gazebo by the side of the road, I spotted a mini pool filled with steaming hot water, and so the prince and I went up to it and started removing our shoes. Mr Kahzam stopped us.

“Kohme, that’s for the anpy to rest their feet in. It’s ‘dame’ for humans.”

“Ah! Was that Japanese you spoke just now? You spoke a word from my country!”

I was shocked, but Mr Kahzam smiled. “I’ve heard you talking to prince,” he said, “and I remembered a few words.”

But…

Oh right, I’d raised the prince in the treehouse with Japanese only, so Morio would have gotten used to hearing it. Even after we came to Mr Lahzt’s vacation house, I thought the prince might get a bit confused if I suddenly switched languages, so I mixed in a few local words in with a lot of Japanese.

Even Mr Lahzt seemed to have learned quite a few. “I’ve picked up a bit myself,” he said. ” ‘Oide’ for ‘come here’, ‘kocchi’ for ‘this way,’ and stuff like ‘dakko’ and ‘chuu’ for hugs and kisses.”

He counted them off on his fingers. Well, he was a scholar after all, he could memorize things easily. He’d only been living with the prince a few days.

“Oh,” he added, “and also ‘unchi’ and ‘oshikko’ for poo and pee.”

Although, I felt like maybe he needn’t have remembered those.

Footnotes

sort of the Japanese version of “Kiss it make it go away!”