#broyalsweek

The Banther Lodge was reserved exclusively for winter time. No other time of the year. It was the boys' favorite place to go in the winter time. They always jumped up and down in front of the door, eager to enter the house, as Harrow laughed, walking towards them with the key.

The boys burst into the lodge, shedding their winter gear. The first thing Ezran would do is plop Bait down and play with his wooden toys. Callum would put his own items in his room and work on the painting he left from last year. It was the landscape before his window.

After lunch halfway through the day, they sat on the couch while they digest their food, then go sledding down the steep slopes of the terrain. After a few rounds, they then stayed at the bottom of the hills for a three-way snowball fight. Sometimes, Ezran would take a side, and even switch sides at some points.

After the fun in the snow, they would go back to the lodge and change into warmer clothes. They would have steaming mugs of hot chocolate to warm them up, then talk about whatever they felt. They would ask Callum how his painting was going, Harrow about his kingly duties that were still unfinished, and Ezran about Bait and other animal friends he may have picked up along the way.

Their talks usually lasted through dinner, Callum occasionally hiding behind his sketchbook. Sometimes, he would be there for so long that he would forget that there was a plate of food in front of him until Harrow would try to steal some of it.

Ezran woke up earlier than usual that morning. He looked around the chamber. Bait slept peacefully next to him on the bed. Pip was still dreaming on his perch. It had been almost ten years since his coronation, but it felt as if it was only yesterday.

Knowing how extra grumpy Bait got when you woke him up too early, Ezran carefully slid out of bed onto the floor. He tip-toed to the curtains that separated the balcony from the rest of the room, and he opened them a little to allow himself to sneak out without disturbing Pip. Ez was surprised the exotic bird was still sleeping, as he was a very light sleeper. 

On the balcony, he looked over the sea of trees below him. Is this what his father saw every morning when he woke up? Ezran closed his eyes, imagining a day that seemed so long ago, in which it was.

The day was only a few weeks before his father had been killed. Once a week, King Harrow and his two sons would stand on the balcony for a while in the morning. They would watch the sunrise and reminisce times with Sarai. Ezran did not remember his mother, but he loved hearing the stories from Harrow and Callum.

“What did she do for my first birthday?”

Harrow and Callum laughed. Ez always asked to hear this story. It was his favorite. “Well,” King Harrow began. “She wanted to keep it simple. We both believed that birthdays should only be widely celebrated when a child reached a major number, such as 10 or 50.”

“Thats why our tenth birthdays were celebrated publicly!” Ezran exclaimed.

Callum nodded. He took out his sketchbook, where he drew detailed illustrations to help tell the story. He opened to one of the late Queen Sarai holding Ezran with a small gift in her hand. “Mom wanted your first birthday celebration to be just the four of us. Dad agreed, and we set up a small celebration in the garden. That’s where the patch on your pack came from.” The patch in question was a dark blue patch with light blue embroidery in a diamond pattern that was sewn onto Ezran’s backpack many years later. It was not a long story, but it was a satisfying story. Ezran loved it.

Now, the king opened his eyes once more. By now, it was a half hour later, and Pip flew over to perch on his shoulder. Bait ambled out to meet with them. The glow toad was much older now, and Ezran knew his time was coming soon. He did not know how soon, however. The bird also now had problems taking off and landing. Times changed fast after the war ended. Callum stayed in Xadia with Rayla, visiting every now and then. Ellis came around every now and then as well, Ava coming along. She too, was aging fast.

Ezran leaned over and picked up Bait gently. “Its okay, boy. I got you.” He entered his room again to prepare for the day ahead. Yes, it was another birthday, now 20 years old. He expected the guards to be more protective of the king, and they would be wishing him a happy birthday here and there.

When he was dressed, a knock came at the door. “Come in,” he called. The guard, Marcos, came in. “Sir, you have visitors from Xadia,” he said, smiling. Ezran perked up. Visitors from Xadia? Could this be his brother and his sister-in-law? He nodded to Marcos. “Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~~

“Where are we?” a small voice asked. The owner of the voice, a small, three-year-old elf-human child, pulled at her mothers hair. “Mama, where are we? Are we in trouble?”

The elven mother chuckled. “No Sarai, darlin’. Your uncle lives here.”

Sarai looked around the courtyard where they stood. My uncle lives here? Is he rich?

“I guess so, in a way,” a deep voice responded. Her father.

The mother looked at her husband. “Callum, does Ezran know were comin’?”

Callum shrugged. “I figured we could surprise him.”

“What do ye think he’ll say when he sees us?”

The human man put his arm around his wife, tussling his daughters hair. “We’ll find out soon, Rayla. I’m not worried.”

A door opened. It caught the attention of all three. They turned toward the sound.

It was Ezran.

He stared at them for a while, and they stared right back.

“Is that my uncle?” Sarai asked. Rayla nodded, smiling.

Callum walked toward Ezran, and Ezran slowly descended the stairs. When Ezran reached the bottom of the stairs, the brothers stared at each other for a moment more before running toward each other and embracing when they met in the middle, laughing. Rayla laughed along with them from the side, and all three of them had tears in their eyes with nostalgia.

Rayla walked to them and handed Sarai to Callum before hugging Ezran herself. “You’ve grown,” she said. Ezran laughed. “I know,” he said.

“Hi,” came the small voice again. Ezran turned his head to see Sarai. They all laughed while the small three year old smiled innocently. “Whats your name?” Ezran asked her. Sarai, she said. Ezran chuckled. “Welcome to Katolis, young one!”

“Don’t worry, Ez, we’re not that late,” Callum said. Now 20, he was driving the two of them to their grandparent’s for Thanksgiving. Ezran, now 15 could not stop fretting over it. He had been worried about leaving Bait alone for the several hours that he would be away with his grandparents. “They won’t be mad, will they?” he asked once more.

Callum chuckled, now focusing on changing lanes. After he managed to get into the correct lane for the exit, he continued. “Mom and dad know how much you love Bait. Gramps and Nana may not understand, but mom has rebelled against her parents for ages.”

Ez nodded, remembering how his mother’s parents were fairly racist. “I just hope it doesn’t ruin Thanksgiving.”

Callum patted his brother’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine. You and dad have me and mom to stand up for you.”

Ezran nodded again, hoping that Callum was right.

-----

They finally arrived. They opened the back to get Callum’s guitar before heading inside. When inside, their grandmother greeted them. “Oh, Callum! You’ve grown so much since last year!” she gushed. Callum felt like he was suffocating from his grandmother’s crushing hug. Nana pulled back and saw Callum’s guitar. “And you play guitar now? Oh, will you play for us later? And can you sing?”

Callum set his guitar down and rolled his eyes. “Yes, Nana, I will be playing later.” The old woman cooed. “However,” Callum continued, “I will not be singing.”

“Oh?”

“My brother, Ezran, will be singing.”

Callum gently nudged Ezran to step forward. Ezran did so, and held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Everyone seemed to hold their breath as Nana silently judged Ezran. “Please,” she said after a while, “Call me Miss Gertrude.” She turned away without another word and walked toward the kitchen.

Harrow and Sarai had arrived earlier, so they were already set at the table. Ezran and Callum joined them after shedding their outside gear. Their grandfather was at the table, too. “So,” he began. “Ezran, right?”

The boy nodded. “Yes, sir.”

The elder man nodded, absorbing the information and considering it. He seemed to do this with every question he asked Ezran.

“How old are you now?”

“I am 15 years old.”

“High school?”

“Yes.”

“Same place as your brother? Pentarchy Prep?”

“No, sir. I attend a trade school.”

Gramps perked up at this. “Ah. What are you studying?”

“I haven’t decided yet, but it will most likely be marine wildlife and biology.”

Gramps nodded once more, smiling a little now. “Well, tell your old Gramps if that changes.”

“Please. Trade schools are nothing but scams for rich companies to find young minds that are easily manipulated.” Nana had just returned to the table and set down the turkey. “And call my husband Sir or Collin.”

Ezran nodded. “Yes, Miss Gertrude,” he said politely. He did not want to blow it with his grandmother, although he felt he already had.

-----

Dinner did not go as badly as Ezran had thought that it would. Gramps would ask him and his father different questions about what they did, but Nana continued to comment every now and then with snide remarks and switch the conversation to Callum and Sarai.

After the meal, they sat around the living room talking and laughing. Eventually, the conversation returned to the guitar.

“Sarai,” Gramps said. He gestured toward the instrument. “Which one ‘a your young’uns is pursuing music?”

“Both of them are,” Sarai told him. She nodded to Callum. “It seems that Callum will pursue it more on the career end, and Ezran will do it for a glorified hobby.”

“Glorified hobby, huh?” Gramps repeated. He looked at Ezran. “Never lose it, boy. It’ll get ya far, no matter what you decide to do.”

During this interaction, Callum had pulled out his guitar and tuned it. He came back over with it for a mini performance. “What song will you play for us, Callum?” Nana asked.

“Walking in Memphis,” Callum replied as he sat down. He positioned his hand into an F chord and looked at Ezran. “Ready?” Ezran nodded.

Callum took a deep breath in, and began playing the opening riff. Everything was silent except for the guitar for a few bars before Ezran started singing. The fifteen-year-old had an amazing voice.

For the next few minutes, the only sounds in the house were Callum’s guitar, Ezran’s voice, and occasionally Callum’s voice coming in for back-up and harmonies. Sarai quietly hummed other harmonies, and Harrow patted the arm of the chair to the beat.

After the song was done, the four adults clapped. “That was surprisingly...decent.” Gertrude had a somewhat confused and disgusted expression riddling her complexion. “It was not horrible, I’ll give you that.” She stood up and left the room.

"There's another one!" Callum whispered excitedly. The wolf pup bounded out of the bush it was hiding in and nipped at the older wolf that was already there. Callum and Ezran were excited to be out in the wild, watching it with a front row seat.

The boys were alone at the moment, their parents at a campsite not far from where they observed the wild canines. They were ecstatic. Observing wolves – and wildlife in general – was on both of their bucket lists. When they found out how many wolves were in the area they were in now, they started to ask their parents if they could go. Their parents had finally caved after months and months of asking. Now, they were finally in Yellowstone National Park.

Callum took out his camera and angled it carefully only to bring it down again. If the flash was on, that could have been the end of them. After turning off the flash, he snapped a picture of the wolves. He was lucky to catch them when he did, for just after he took their photo, they bounded down another path, still playing. Callum lowered his camera to look at the picture. It was perfect.

“Thats a really good one, Callum!” Ezran said.

Callum nodded and stood up. “Who do you think would appreciate this more?” he asked his brother.

Ezran stood up beside him, and they began to walk back to the campsite. “Out of which friends?” Ez said, “Art friends, or general friends?”

“I mean Soren and Claudia.”

“What about that sophomore you’re friendly with?”

“Rayla? I just met her this year. We haven’t actually had a proper conversation outside of theater.”

Ezran nodded. “I think Claudia would appreciate it more than Soren. And, from what I think I know, I think Rayla might like it, too.”

"You just did magic!"

His brother's words rang in his ears as he tried to fall asleep. He had only found out he was a mage a few hours ago. No, not only a few hours. He opened his eyes, realizing it was already morning. He sat up and looked around. Ezran was still sleeping, cuddling Bait. The Moonshadow elf they had met last night, Rayla, sat on a rock not far from where they two princes made camp for the night.

Callum's eyes shifted to his bag. He reached inside and pulled out the orb that contained - what did Claudia say it was, a storm?

Callum gazed inside. The lightning and clouds swirled around the glass-like ball. He looked at Ezran. The innocent younger prince was still asleep, still dreaming.

Callum stood up. He held the storm ball in one hand, and he used the other hand to pick up his sketchbook. He walked over to a tree to sit down and draw until Ez woke up.

The young prince inspected the details of the stormy sphere. As he drew, he thought of the spell he had cast last night. The spell that told him he was a mage. A wind breath spell. Aspiro.

Were there more spells he could cast? He figured he would try the lightning spell that he saw Claudia do.

How many more spells were there?

He looked at his little brother. It was just the two of them out here with an elf that could kill them any moment if she so desired. Callum shuddered at the thought. He had already seen his father - stepfather - get ready for his own fate. Was he gone? Callum hoped for the best.