The room was nice, perhaps too nice for a guest room.

Hyde sat on the bed, bouncing slightly on the mattress. It was comfy, he was glad that Gus said yes for them. He would have said no, but then that would mean that he’d be cooped up in the carriage. It didn’t matter that the upholstery was fancy and all that, a regular size bed would beat the best cushion any day.

Still.

Something kept nagging at the back of his mind.

The young man sighed.

“[Falcon’s View]”

The world became more vivid and richer in detail, he covered one of his eyes—it was too detailed. Squinting a bit, he took in his surroundings, a window adorned with a well-worn but clean curtains, right below it was a candle holder by the table, it had some dried off wax, the floor was swept clean except for some recent smudge of dirt—probably due to him exploring the forest, a cabinet that looked years old and that was pretty much it. His skill wasn’t that useful right now… there were also some scratches by the door post. Wait. Those weren’t scratches, they were etchings! Three, five, seven, eight and nine.

The girl must have been measuring her height here.

Hyde sighed and closed his eyes. Well that was a waste of time for him, he resumed his gaze out the window— and lo was right outside his window and staring at him with unmoving eyes.

He reached for his dagger but found it missing in his sleeve. Right, he left it at the forest.

“Who are you?!” Hyde asked.

“Hey, don’t yell!” The guy sighed before climbing inside the room. The man swaggered and gave him a blank stare him...

“You can’t just trespass into someone’s house! The [Village Head]’s house too!” Hyde drifted his fingers to the hilt of his rapier. The guy in front of him was swathed with leaves and dust, but Hyde had a feeling that the guy was a formidable man to have ignored the residence’s protective aura.

“Hmm… you’re not really much for a noble heir,” The guy sighed, shrugging to himself. “I don’t understand why the fuss about you.”

Hyde lifted a brow, what was the guy talking about? The guy placed his arms behind his neck.

“The name’s Garret Booker, future head of this village.”

Hyde blinked. Introductions?

“Um, I’m Hyde—” he extended a hand.

Garret scoffed and swatted it away.

“Nobody asked for your name.” The guy only needed to spit to add more insult to injury.

Hyde wanted to point out that the guy just introduced himself but chose not to push it any further. What did this guy want from him anyway?

A knock came from the door once, then quickly opened.

“I heard you shout, sir Falcon—oh it’s you, Garret, what are you doing here?” Reuben Fletcher walked into the room, his arms crossed together. “Shouldn’t you be keeping watch?”

Garret switched faces in a blink of an eye, one moment the guy was scowling at Hyde before the guy had an arm around his shoulder, practically hugging.

“Ah! My bad sir Fletcher, I just wanted to introduce myself to His Highness.” Garret held him too close, far too close for his liking.

“I’m not really a prince…” Hyde breathed out, sighing. They always messed up the honorifics, didn't they?

“But you’re a noble! The heir of the Falcon House, our Lord. What else can I call you but…”

“Hyde is just fine.” He took the opportunity to jerk away, waving his hand. “No need to treat me with too much respect.”

The Village Head looked at them with a frown before his expression lightened a bit, he nodded at the two of them.

“It’s great to see young folks getting along, anyhow, the two of you should get going— we’ll all meet up at the village square.” The man turned to the door.

“Huh? Why is that sir Reuben?” Hyde asked, his curiosity piquing.

“Well, why not go check out yourself.” And with that, the door thudded close.

“Ugh. Chum chums. It’s too sickening.” Garret shivered.

Hyde frowned, moving away from the boy. “You didn’t have to pretend to be nice to me.”

“And get my head lopped off? I’d rather not.”

---

The sound of music, laughter and the crackling fire.

It was like another world in Hyde’s eyes.

The time for merriment and enjoyment, a time of celebration.

"Should I say 'surprise'? You’re gawking." Garret muttered beside him.

“...this is a village festival?” he asked, watching people left and right holding conversations, dancing around together and just having a pleasant evening together with everyone. There was a huge bonfire at the center, a group of men and women roasting a variety of captured game. An array of long wooden tables close by where people gathered and talked amongst food and drinks. Hyde noticed Gus and Frank with the people.

“What? Don’t you guys celebrate anything back at your castle?” the man sniffed.

“Manor, or fortress to be exact. We celebrate Winter Solstice, kingdom holidays and such… but we tend to stay at our place you know? And there’s less people, the soldiers do go home...” Hyde trailed off, still looking around.

“Well, you’ll love this. Everybody’s all around, fire is hot and cooking⁠—so are the ladies here, if you get what I mean.” the man wiggled his eyebrows at him, draping an arm across his shoulder.

Hyde made a face, edging away from him. “I don’t get what you mean.”

The young man snorted, “You’re a poor man then, must be hard living cooped up in a castle.”

That wasn’t exactly the case with Hyde was it, “Well, in addition to soldiers, present among our estate we have servants…”

“You mean... maids? Actual maids? The skirt, stockings and everything?”

“Uh, yes…?” Hyde nodded his head, wondering why Garret would be so interested in them. All the younger girls really did was giggle and give him weird looks when he was around, and the older maids scared him like his own mother.

“I take back what I said, having maids taking care of you⁠—sweet life, that’s for sure…” Garret trailed off as a young woman passed by them, “Hey Lily, wanna meet my good friend, Hyde? He’s the noble you know?”

This Lily stopped mid-stride before looking at the two of them, her face instantly turned red. She did a quick curtsy and bent her knees low, “Ah, greetings to you, sir Falcon. Please excuse my impiety.”

Was it just Hyde but did the girl just glared at Garret, she probably didn’t want to talk to them.

“No worries, uh… please enjoy the night.” Great, was he doing it right? His sister would have chewed him out for trailing off in the conversation.

“Thank you sir Falcon! Have a good night too!” and before Hyde could even say something else, the woman high-tailed out of there, once again leaving him with Garret Booker.

“Well aren’t you so popular with the ladies.” Hyde managed to speak.

Garret Booker simply rolled his eyes, “I guess being a noble doesn’t necessarily equate to being charming with the ladies.”

“It takes a certain skill to do that, not that I know anyone with it.” Hyde shrugged.

"Well, there’s still a lot of ladies here, come on man—” the boy motioned to a portion where people around their age were gathered together. It looked like Cedric and Jamie were having some fun with the people.

“Uh...I need to look for my sister.”

“Hah! Excuses, but... did you just say sister?”

Hyde felt his eye twitch a bit, once again another person was interested with his sister.“Yeah, but I don’t take it too…”

“Let’s go look for your sister.” Garret grabbed his wrist and pulled him along, passing through crowds and searching for another redhead.

. . .

The two of them searched and finally found his sister situated quite far away from the center of the festivities, almost out of reach of the bright burning fire and almost shrouded in darkness.

With a certain someone.

“Tom?” Hyde whispered to himself, what was happening? Was this some sort of illusion to deceive his eyes?

“I don’t think you mentioned your sister having a-” The young noble clamped a hand over his companion, thankfully the young man shut up.

It wasn’t like the two of them were doing anything wrong...or nasty.

Not at all.

The two were sitting together side by side some wooden crates, the boy seemed to be pointing out at the stars. His sister would mull over it and then nod, and say something that his ears couldn’t pick up. Hyde watched for a minute, or two, he wasn’t so sure. Only when he felt a tap on his shoulder did he look at his companion, Garret.

The man motioned for them to go.

And somehow, that just felt appropriate.

Throwing still one lingering look at the two… they both seemed happy.

“You look like you need a drink or two.” Garret remarked as they walked away.

Hyde scratched his cheek, “Maybe, I could use some game too.”

And so they did.