See the world through the small window

Through the window, the twins could see the capital in all it's glory. The roads were paved stone, so the ride was extremely comfortable for now. They hadn't left the vicinity of the palace yet so the streets outside weren't particularly busy.

Most of the people they saw were guards, bureaucrats or nobles. A couple carriages passed by the window every now and again but they were rather rare. The twins hadn't memorised the crests of each noble family yet, so they couldn't recognise who all of the carriages belonged to.

Still they did see the Jupiter, Neptune and Mercury families all leaving the castle in their carriages. Even the twins had memorised the crests of the 8 planet families. The Neptune family had actually waved at them through the holes in the side of the carriage that acted as windows. The twins waved back and they were about to lean out and wave at them as they rode back but Nadia grabbed them by the collar and stopped them.

"You cannot lean out of the window like that." She told them sternly. When the twins asked her why she sighed and explained.

"It's already dangerous to have these windows in the carriage at all. We definitely shouldn't have them open. We are confident however, that no matter the projectile, we could stop it before it harms you. If you leaned out though, Lilith's magic wouldn't work and I would be a second later. It may not sound like much, but a second is an eternity in a combat situation." The twins sat back down after that.

They still continued to look out at the scenery however. Outside the palace walls, most of the buildings were garrisons. You could occasionally see guards training in the yard or wandering the paths to the palace, likely on patrol.

Some of the guards had specific crests emblazoned onto their armour. The garrisons were similar. The garrisons boxed in each entrance to the palace in a manner akin to a checkpoint. Each gate had a different pair of garrisons.

The left garrison always had the same crest. A large flaming ball in the middle of a massive, void-like expanse. Orbiting the flaming ball was a number of different circular shapes. Some seemed vague and gaseous, blurry orbs of colour mixing chaotically in their confines. Others were more solid. Rocky land dotting their surface separated by water.

This was the crest of the imperial family. The sun orbited by planets and drifting through the emptiness of space. The twins thought the visual was cool. The big shiny sun shining brightly on the other planets and giving them light. The vision was heart-warming to them.

The crest on the right garrison was always different. A blue orb of water and gas. A yellow mix of clearly toxic substances. A burning red orb of sand and rocks with many a valley dotting it's surface. The twins recognised these crests.

As the guards trained, the twins heard the captains of each garrison barking orders. "You don't want those rookies showing up us trained soldiers do you? Come on! You're better than that!" Shouted the captain from the imperial side.

"Lets teach those old farts a thing or two. We've been protecting their majesties for years, it's time they show us some respect. I expect you to earn it!" Came another shout from the opposite side. It certainly motivated both sets of guards. The effect was multiplied several fold when their carriage passed by the garrisons.

The twins could see the guards practically double their training in speed. Their swords started to swing at velocities the twins couldn't yet follow. It wasn't just the knights however. The mages also started casting more flashy spells far more quickly than they were previously. Each looked to the carriage for a reaction.

Particularly impressive was a combustion mage. He pressurised the air in front of him for the whole time the twins were there. Just as they thought he was lazy, it happened. A deafening roar shook the carriage slightly and the twins felt a wave of hot air hit their faces.

They covered their eyes with their arms but once they felt the hot air recede they quickly peeked through the gaps. The target he'd been practising with had become a small pile of ash. The area around it was similarly atomised. A small crater had formed in the centre of the training ground and his colleagues were staring at him with clear annoyance. He didn't care though. The mage smiled as he looked at the imperial carriage.

The twins were smiling and clapping. "That's so cool!" Cally cheered. She was unsure if the mage could hear her from this distance. Regardless she shouted as loud as she could. It seemed to work, as a smile tugged at the lips of the mage. Until he was smacked upside the head by his captain. He was then chewed out for excessive force, showing off etc…

The twins were still clapping though and the mage got through the scolding with a smile. Nadia was also smiling at the twins while Lilith merely sighed. Nadia found watching the twins enjoy themselves to be the greatest peace in her life thus far. Her smile was motherly and kind.

Once they trotted past the garrisons, the next thing they saw were the mansions of the central nobles. Closest to the garrisons, grand and decadent buildings spanned out in a ring around the palace on all sides. The closer they were to the castle, the more obvious their splendour.

These buildings were tended to by a number of servants. Once the twins left the immediate area of the castle, the streets were significantly more busy. Especially the carriages. The roads that were once clear and comfortable immediately became hectic and noisy.

The twins could hear the gallop of hoof-beats on the stone covered ground. The whiny of parked horses and lapping of water could be heard from all around them. People talked from so many different directions. The twins tried and failed to keep track of all the conversations going on.

On the streets around them, people who were clearly servants were busily moving to and fro. Some of the younger ones were even dashing across the streets like rabbits freed from a cage. Cally watched a maid run across the carriage filled roads without a care. Hiking up her skirt so she didn't trip, the maid ran as fast as she could down the roads before disappearing around a corner. The desperation on her face was clear.

The servants all seemed extremely well acquainted. They would sometimes jog together towards their tasks, the occasional couple holding hands while they walked. Cally even saw a few pairs dart off into back alleys. Asking the adults gave Cally a confusing answer. Apparently they were couples that didn't like others to know they were couples.

The servants weren't the only ones who were frantic. Some of the coach drivers around them were similarly hurried. A loud 'Thwack!' made Cally flinch. She looked over to see a driver hurrying his horse along with a leather whip. His face was dripping with sweat.

Every few seconds he'd crack the whip and Cally would flinch. It wasn't just her. Felis had already slumped back in his seat. He had been looking in the same direction and couldn't tolerate the cruelty. Cally understood this was the way of the world. She knew but still…

She decided she was tired watching the outside for a while and slumped back into her own seat. She turned to her big sisters and hoped they would find something to distract her brother with. She didn't want him to think about that horse all day.

Thankfully Cally didn't have to wait long. "Shall we discuss your affinities?" Lilith asked and Cally leaned forward excitedly.

"I wanna have wind! I can't wait to have lightning rain down from the sky like Zap! And Poof! Then, I can connect the two points in space. The lightning will dance around, it'll be really pretty! Like lots of crackly sparkles!" Cally explained with mostly injected cheer.

Nadia hid her giggle at the way Cally was talking. Lilith unfortunately, was a rather realistic individual and had to shatter the poor girl's dreams. "I'm afraid that is not quite how affinities work Cally. To start, space and lightning are separate affinities, as I previously explained."

Lilith's rebuttal caused a long pout from Cally. One Nadia found absolutely adorable and burned into her mind with all the passion of a fangirl. "What can magic actually do then?" Cally suddenly gasped after her questions.

"Can I make ice castles?!" She had jumped out of her seat and towards Lilith. An act soon punished. The carriage rolled over a bumpy part of the road and Cally was forcefully thrown back into her seat.

Lilith and Nadia took a quick glance at Cally to see if she was injured. Cally was rubbing her butt with a wince. Noting that she wasn't crying and hadn't broken any bones or such from the fall the two adult royals were satisfied. They continued the conversation.

"Theoretically yes." Lilith answered and Cally's eyes gleamed. Felis however, didn't get his hopes up. He noticed the qualifier and realised that Lilith meant it was nigh impossible. Thus he wasn't particularly disappointed when Lilith continued.

"The ice castle would likely melt within several hours however. Assuming you have enough mana to make it in the first place. It is not completely impossible, but I suggest not keeping your hopes that high. It is easier to avoid disappointment when you do not expect much." Cally slumped her shoulders hearing that.

"Real life magic is so boring." The sigh came from Cally's very core. Nadia didn't like to see Cally like this and attempted to cheer her up.

"Making a doll house out of ice should be do-able though. It'd be on a smaller scale but with enough control, you can create the same thing."

"I guess." More slumped shoulders were her only response. Realising that Cally was swiftly becoming disillusioned with magic, Nadia tried to think of something to convince her. An idea soon came. Nadia started using her magic to manipulate the air currents within the carriage, right next to Cally's ear.

A quiet whistling sound echoed throughout the carriage. The melody was calming yet triumphant, it felt as though all the low notes were missing. It created a dissonant sounding tune. You knew there should be some sort of deep, stomping melody behind it. Yet you couldn't hear it.

Lilith remembered it well however and filled in the gaps herself. The twins weren't so calm. It felt unsettling to them in the same manner as wind howling on empty plains. It was ominous and creepy. They felt slight shivers running down their spine and they huddled up into their seats.

Seeing their reaction, Nadia swiftly stopped the tune. She didn't want to scare the kids. She was just trying to help. Looking at their slightly trembling forms, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you two."

The twins were slightly placated by Nadia's apology. They had also become significantly less scared knowing that Nadia was the one making the noise. They still didn't find the tune pleasant. Lilith on the other hand, was still humming the tune to herself after the fact.

Lilith's humming however seemed like a completely different song to the twins. They didn't even notice the similarities. Lilith's humming included the missing low notes and the melody was far less ominous for it. The twins just took it as background noise.

Nadia decided not to mention it. The twins were clearly terrified and this had been a bad idea. She needed a different way. In the meantime, she distracted the twins with the change of scenery. This was the commoner's district.

Nadia noticed they had just passed through the gate with the help of the imperial seal. An excellent distraction. "Look." Nadia gently nudged the twins towards the window once more.

The twins were reluctant but curious. The latter won out eventually, causing them to lean on the window frames and stare out in wonder. Their faces were illuminated by the evening sky. A soft golden hue enveloped them and the twins looked truly untainted by the world. They stared with innocent joy on their faces.

For the evening sky lit all of the capital equally. They could feel the bumps from the carriage switching roads now. Every single rock laid out on the road. It felt like being in the middle of an earthquake and was extremely painful. Their spines protested the treatment vehemently.

Despite this, everyone stared out at the capital's streets. The people on the street went about their lives. 30 year old fathers carried wooden pales from the nearby water stations with the occasional child in tow. The twins followed one such child.

He made some sort of grabbing motion at his father. The father seemed to show him the two heavy buckets he was carrying. The child pouted and slumped his shoulders. The father sighed before hooking the buckets further up his arm. He grabbed the little tyke and lifted. The boy was now riding on his father's shoulders and smiling innocently. He looked down on everyone with an innocent smile.

The twins stared at the scene without averting their eyes. Soon the father and his boy were gone. They were lost in the throng of people on the streets and the twins moved their gazes elsewhere. Like the man taking down his stall. He had finished a hard day of work and was now taking down his stall piece by piece.

The man didn't seem to be a craftsman. He was having quite a bit of difficulty taking down the structure without completely breaking it. His expression became more and more annoyed. Eventually the twins heard a snap and it wasn't just his patience. He had broken one of the wooden beams.

His foot angrily smacked against the rocky ground and he paid for it. He started dancing around holding his toe. The twins laughed innocently and Nadia gave him a pitying gaze. Days like that were rough.

Attention was next directed to the buildings. The twins frowned and Felis asked "Can family fit. Small house?" Nadia took a peak at the building and found a typical commoner home. She chuckled at the twins' naivety.

"Yep they can fit. Their family's just a bit smaller than our own. See." Nadia pointed towards a nearby house's entrance.

The house itself was made from stone indicating the slightly higher status of it's occupants. It was barely two stories. Stack a few adult humans on top of each other and they could probably climb onto the roof. The roof made of from a number of brick tiles.

Around the house was a little picket fence. In between the two was a number of plants that the twins both recognised immediately. Mostly comprising various foods. Carrots, potatoes, maize even the occasional group of wheat stalks. The land must have been fairly good here.

The family was just walking through the fence gate and the twins looked at them. "That's their whole family." Nadia mentioned behind them and the twins were awed. There were only 3 people. The father held the gate for his wife and child as they all walked in behind him. The child burst out running.

The moment she was in the gate she had started to run. Tripping slightly on the way. She ignored it and headed straight for the door in front of her. She gestured wildly at her parents. They eventually caught up with her and looked exasperated as they opened the door for their child.

Cally had been distracted by the scene but she returned to herself. "Who cooks for them? Ugh who cleans?! I'd hate that." Cally said with genuine disgust on her face. Nadia smiled at the outburst. Lilith however, answered the questions.

"I imagine the parents do the majority of the cooking and cleaning themselves. Though I have heard that there are families who have the child join. They are often a willing participant however." Felis nodded but Cally turned to Lilith.

"Didn't you say to let the cooks do that? We could've been doing it this whole time?! Wasn't it super unhealthy or something?" The rapid fire questions didn't faze Lilith one bit however.

"Many unhealthy acts are not only possible but occasionally encouraged. Be that biologically or socially. It is unhealthy to throw yourself off a cliff but you are no less capable. Lemmings are an excellent example of bad peer pressure."

"Lemmings?" Felis asked. He tilted his head and Nadia found it adorable enough to answer. She knew this one.

"A type of rodent that throws themselves off cliffs for no reason. Lilith studied them a while ago." Lilith nodded to Nadia's addendum. It had been some time since she studied them and the twins were likely not very self-aware at the time. Lilith was a child herself so they would be rather young.

"That's not the point!" Cally shouted. "Why can't we cook?" Cally's question was delivered with all the conviction of a puppy denied their treat. She stared at her older siblings with pleading eyes. Lilith's eyes did not meet her own because she had once again forgotten to do so. Nadia however did.

"Because the chefs know what they're doing. Nutrition is important Cally. Get it wrong and you could grow up to be incredibly small or brittle." Nadia explained slowly, looking into the girl's eyes. Cally pouted but nodded her head.

"Miss I believe I shall have you as my own!" Came a pompous voice from outside the carriage. All occupant's attention turned to it. The twins leaned out of the window to get a better look and Nadia loomed behind them. Lilith didn't bother. She would merely ask her family what they saw once they finished observing.

"What?!" Came a startled and slightly angry reply. Lilith might not need to ask. The reply came from a woman that sounded rather young. Mid twenties at the latest. Her voice was high pitched and chimed like a bell. The exact type nobles liked.

"I shall have you as my own." Repeated the pompous voice. Lilith could hear the twins gasp but Nadia seemed to make no reaction.

"Like hell you will! I'm dating already. Back off!" The woman snarled. It didn't match her voice but her ferocity came through clearly. The noble didn't falter.

"I am the great Frank Livertan and I will have you for my own." He declared. His voice was seemingly approaching the woman. Lilith could 'see' the twins shuffling about nervously but she didn't see a reason to be worried.

"I know your damn rules but I don't want nothin' from you! I'm taken so back off!" Shouted back the woman in clear anger. The twins turned back to Nadia with questioning eyes. Nadia must have shaken her head however as they soon turned back to see the scene.

"I could grant you the world and you do not want it? Perhaps the money for a lovely wedding? A life of luxury? Perhaps even security from a few skeletons in your closet? You must merely ask and you shall receive. After you come back to my house with me, of course." The noble explained. She was clearly not unaware of the customs however. He was just convincing her. It wasn't working.

"I ain't got no skeletons, I got enough cash for what I want and I don't need to f*ck some noble just so I can live in the lap of luxury. I ain't unfaithful." The woman angrily retorted.

"Impressive conviction. Many a commoner would beg to be in her position. Not to mention she doesn't seem scared of the retaliation at all." Nadia noted. Lilith could see the twins' ears flattened against their head and assumed it was Nadia's doing. Good thing too. She didn't want the twins picking up that kind of language and asking one of the maids.

"The Livertans are a powerful family. I'll have you know my brother is one of the galaxy commanders. I myself run several companies. I am never denied what I desire. I can assure y-" Began the noble only to be cut off by the woman in front of him.

"I told you I ain't for sale! My word is my bond, I ain't breakin' it. Go pick up some girl who actually wants your money." The woman was practically screaming by now. It was the only reason the imperials could still hear her. Their carriage hadn't stopped. They were already some distance from the scene.

Lilith 'saw' the twins turn towards her. Cally was the first to say "That guy's weird." Felis swiftly followed up with a "Player." comment. Lilith wasn't sure if Felis was degrading his character or praising it.

As the lull in conversation started Lilith watched the twins turn back out the window. "Look the gate! Guards too!" Cally exclaimed. Lilith had to guess they were already at the front gate which meant this carriage ride would soon come to an end.

The gate guards here must have recognised the carriage's emblem immediately as well. Lilith didn't hear any questioning. Only the imperial family could get through any gates without the guard examining them closely. Even then, they had to recognise the driver.

Lilith heard the scraping of metal and assumed that was the gates opening for them. The carriage started again soon after. A small bump signalled they had travelled over the small increments from the gates. The journey after that was uneventful.

By the time they reached their destination the capital's bounds were long out of sight. The door slammed open as they arrived. The twins bolted out of the carriage like they were birds freed from a cage. Following behind them, Lilith and Nadia slowly made their own exit.