The Guardians

What Is Love?

February 9
    Year 375 (6 years later)
The Land of Wind
   (Anemone)

It had been another cold day in Anemone, the capital of the Land of Wind. It was the home of the humans and was ruled over by the current Guardian, Sebastian Sitorious, a descendant of the original Sitorious.

A strong winter breeze blew, rustling the many trees and plants that littered the garden of Avolire castle. Red northern cardinals chirped from afar as small squirrels treaded along the green grass that would soon be covered in snow. In the garden, along a wooden bench sat a small boy accompanied by a few curious squirrels. His golden eyes scanned the open book in his hands while he read out loud to his small audience.

He read the tale about the Forest of Eden, Sirius and the First Ones. He knew the story well having read it several times but there was still one thing he didn't understand. Glancing up at the cloudy sky as another cold breeze blew, ruffling his white locks of hair.

Sirius loved the First Ones.

"What is love?" The boy mumbled, blinking up at the cloudy sky. "What do you think?" He turned to ask the squirrel that was creeping towards him. "Do you think my—" He paused when his slightly pointed ears picked up the yell of someone approaching. The squirrels' ears perked up at the sound and they all jumped from the bench before climbing up a nearby tree. The boy sighed exasperatedly and closed the book he had been reading before sitting it upon the bench as he stood to his feet.

With his golden eyes and the broken circle around each of his pupils, his white hair and slightly pointed ears. The boys's parentage was clear to anyone who laid eyes on him. He had the features of each of the four races, a hybrid the boy was. The small boy was the prince of the Wind country and the king's son, Nolen Sitorious.

"Your Highness!" Again came the shout of a man who was desperately searching for his misplaced prince. The man who served as his escort soon came into view. "There you are. I thought we spoke about not wandering off without me." The dark haired knight scolded, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Forest, you promised you'd only be a minute. You took sooo long and I got bored." The young boy replied and the knight let out a long sigh before stiffening.

"Unfortunately, Lord Gilbert isn't available" He spoke.

"Where is he?" Nolen questioned with knitted brows.

"He had to attend an important meeting on behalf of the king." Forest explained. Gilbert of House Everett, one of the four Great Noble Houses of the realm, was the king's lead Advisor and hand. Him and the boy were as close as could be and he had promised to teach the boy magic that day.

"I was told it was a last minute decision..." The man uttered after seeing the boy's sullen pout.
"Since Lord Gilbert isn't here, shall I have the carriage prepare—"

"No, not yet!" Nolen perked up, holding his hands out to stop the man. He knew once he got home he'd be forced to study and he wasn't sure when he'd be able to visit the capital again. He needed to enjoy being here while it lasted. "I don't want to go home yet, why don't we visit the training grounds?" The boy suggested as he moved to walk around the man and headed towards the training grounds.

————————————————————————

The training grounds were large fields, located in the outer ward of the castle. A handful of knights,
dressed in navy blue armored waistcoat vests, littered the fields. Some shot arrows at targets made of hay and a few held swords and whacked at wooden dummies while others spared against other knights.