After a short wait outside the foyer, I heard the sound of a galloping horse. I could tell that there was only a single rider and that the horse was going very fast. It made me think that the visitor was a knight, not a nobleman.
When the visitor reached the entrance, he stopped his horse smoothly and dismounted. He approached me next to the pillar I was standing at and stopped when he was a few paces away from me.
“You must be Serafina. It’s a pleasure. I am your cousin, Sirius Ulysses.”
“Ohhh! You’re the national hero!”
Even a sheltered girl like me had heard his name before. I covered my mouth in surprise.
I quickly remembered that I was supposed to be polite, so I lifted the sides of my dress and did a curtsy. “It is nice to meet you. I am Serafina Náv. Thank you for traveling so far to see me. Please make yourself at home.”
“Judging by your choice of words, it sounds like you know we’ve never spoken before.”
“Hm?”
“I was at your birth ceremony nearly six years ago now. You were just a baby back then and I figured you wouldn’t remember, so I didn’t put much effort into saying hello. Looks like I’m paying the price for my rudeness now, though.”
I gazed mutely up at Sirius, surprised at the sudden familiarity in his tone.
“Uh, sorry.” His awkward voice fell on me from above. “It’s my first time talking to a little kid, so I tried to lighten the mood. Did I make you uncomfortable? I’ve always talked a little roughly, so I’m sorry if I upset you.”
“N-no! Not at all! I should have said a proper hello six years ago… My ‘waaah’ meant ‘nice to meet you.’”
Sirius laughed cheerfully at my answer. “Ha ha ha! Is that right? Looks like I was the poor listener. The thing is, when I approached you six years ago, you took one look at me and started bawling your eyes out for some reason. I didn’t want to upset you any more than I already had, so I panicked and ran out. To think that that was just your way of saying hello.”
Then he crouched down and offered his large hand to me. There was an earnest air about him, different from before. I could sense that he was smiling.
“Let’s try this once more. ‘Hey, Serafina, we meet again. It’s me, your cousin Sirius.’”
“Oh? Uh…”
“Serafina, you’re supposed to say, ‘It’s been ages, Sirius.’ We’re old pals catching up again after six years. No need to act all stuffy.”
“Really? Well, um…”
As I stood there, lost for words, Sirius took my hand and led me into my house. He took short and deliberate steps, conscious of how I couldn’t see. He was a nice person, I thought.
The thing is, I could actually make out Sirius’s shape, thanks to the spirits. Lately, they’d caught on to how I could see a dim outline of the things they were close to. Whenever a new person came by, the spirits scrambled around the person’s face and body. Today, those kind spirits stuck fast to Sirius’s hands and legs. They moved when he moved, so I was able to sense his rhythm.
But for some reason…there was only a single spirit hanging around Sirius’s mouth, not the usual crowd. This was my only guide to his mouth movements, which made his expression hard to make out.
Just as I was puzzling over why this was, Seven whispered into my ear. “The spirits were taking pity on him, you see. Sirius was suuuper clumsy when he was talking to you. This is their way of being kind.”
He went on to say that it would be unfair to me if I couldn’t see the person’s expression at all, hence why there was one spirit around the mouth. This was all very surprising to me. Those cheeky spirits were being very considerate in their own way, but as I walked, I couldn’t help but wish I’d seen Sirius’s face. If he was a nice person, I wouldn’t have been bothered by any awkward faces.
From my mental map of the villa, I was pretty sure that Sirius was headed to the reception room, but then the steward guided him to the breakfast room.
“You haven’t had breakfast yet, Serafina?” Sirius said. “I might’ve shown up too early.”
“Have you already eaten, Mr. Sirius?”
“Try that again,” he insisted. “Remember, we’re friendly cousins meeting again after six years.”
“Um…have you…eaten, Sirius?”
When I fixed my phrasing, he patted me on the head fondly. “Nah, but missing a meal isn’t a big deal. I can go without food for days as long as I have water.”
“Oh, wow.”
Just as we were entering the breakfast room, Sirius stopped in confusion. He was probably wondering why there was breakfast for two on the table.
“I didn’t know you were okay without breakfast,” I said timidly, “so I asked the cooks to make something for you.”
“How did you know I was coming?”
His tone was sharp, which made me feel like he was angry at me. “Oh, no, I didn’t know,” I answered, flustered. I only knew there would be a guest, not that it was Sirius. I hung my head down in shame, feeling like I’d screwed up.
Sirius patted my head again. “Sorry, I wasn’t trying to scold you. My tone was too harsh for a child. I’ll try not to do that again. What I wanted to say was…thanks, I was just getting hungry.”
“Oh, yay!” I lit up.
Sirius put a hand on my back, led me to the highest chair, and sat across from me. He signaled to a lady-in-waiting, and we began our breakfast.
I have to say, it was super fun eating a meal with Sirius. Although he wasn’t the talkative type, he paid close attention to me and made his words count. Plus, he had nice things to say about all the dishes. Maybe it was because he knew I was the one who asked for his breakfast. Living in the capital, I would’ve bet that Sirius had been eating way better meals every day, so his kindness made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
After we were done, I was sipping on some milk when the sound of multiple clattering feet rang out from the entrance hallway.
“Sounds like they’re here,” Sirius muttered as ten knights cascaded into the dining hall.
“We’ve finally caught up to you, Vice-Commander! We’re begging you, please stop going ahead by yourself! Our job is to protect you, so what are we supposed to do if you go off alone?!”
“It’s fine,” he said. “I’m not injured.”
“Glad to hear it, but that’s beside the point!”
As I sat there, overwhelmed by the sudden commotion in the hall, the ladies-in-waiting appeared out of nowhere and started setting down cutlery.
“You don’t have to worry yourselves over these knights.” Sirius swiftly attempted to stop the women, only for the head lady-in-waiting to take a step forward and bow her head to him.
“I am sorry to refuse your request, Your Excellency,” she said, “but their meals have already been prepared. I hope they can partake while it is still fresh.”
As Sirius gazed suspiciously at the head lady-in-waiting, the knights behind him cheered.
“Woo-hoo! It was worth dragging ourselves through the cold for this!”
“What an honor for Her Highness to invite us to breakfast! It would be rude to refuse!”
Then one of the knights turned to look at Sirius. “Don’t be so on edge, Vice-Commander Sirius. Anyone would have guessed that we’d be trailing you! Nobody in your position would move alone, you know? Yes, anyone could predict that the expendables would struggle to keep up… Oh man, saying it out loud is making me tear up.”
After that, the knights turned back to me and bowed politely.
“Your Highness, we thank you for your generous breakfast invitation! We truly didn’t expect such good fortune.”
“We got going as soon as the sun rose this morning, so we are positively starving! Thank you so much for your kindness and consideration, Princess Serafina.”
The knights sat where they pleased and eagerly dug in. They talked a lot and ate just as much. I’m pretty sure each one of them scarfed down about ten times more than what I could. The chefs prepared a feast, thinking that the knights wouldn’t be able to eat all of it, but by the end, they cleared their plates and then some.
Later on, I heard that the chefs moaned at the empty plates: “Ugh, we lost! But it’s nice that they ate it all up!”