"Come on!" Caspian nearly drags me out of bed. His little seven year old eyes are shining in the moonlight.

"Cas, it's still dark." I groan, pulling the blankets over my head. "What is it?"

"I want to play!"

"Can it wait until the sun comes up?"

"No."

"Fine." I slide my way out of bed and pull on a cloak. "Why do you want to play now?"

"You never have time for me during the day..." Caspian trails off for a second. "You always play with Len and Samuel."

"Cas..." I never realized it, but he's right. I'm always hanging out with my cousins, leaving my little brother with no other kids to play with. Sure, there are plenty of seven year olds in the kingdom, but none of them seem to like Caspian. "Okay. What do you want to do?"

"Can you teach me how to climb trees?" His deep brown eyes, the exact same color as mine, sparkle with excitement.

"Of course. Get some boots on, and let's go."

"Thank you!" He dashes across the hall, into his chambers.

He joins me in less than two minutes. I take one of the torches from the wall and together, we make the journey down the stairs, through the kitchen, and across the knights' training fields, into the forest.

"Let's get you started on this one." I direct Caspian to one of the smallest trees. "Just watch me first, okay?"

He nods so vigorously, I'm afraid his head will pop off. I scale the tree with ease, looking down at my brother. His face is full of astonishment, and he claps for me when I climb down.

"Can I try now?" He waits for my permission, even though he doesn't have to.

"That's what we're here for, isn't it? Now, see this knot here? Use that as a foothold, then reach up and grab this branch."

"What about that one?" He points to one thin branch just above him.

"Never grab the thin ones. If it's thinner than your leg, it'll break when you grab it."

"Okay!" He ignores the branch he pointed to and goes for one about as thick as his torso. "Now what?"

"The branches are too thin if you go much higher, so just stay there."

He pulls himself up to sit on the branch as I prep myself to climb up after him.

I take my eyes off of him for one second, and I hear a thud and a sharp scream. Caspian is on the ground, clutching his leg.

"What's wrong? What happened?" I stop what I'm doing and crawl back down, kneeling beside him.

"My leg hurts!" Tears stream down his face, looking to me for comfort.

"Can I take a look at it?"

He sniffles as he takes his hands from the limb. The calf is bent in a way it shouldn't be, which terrifies me. I've never seen something like this happen to a person before. But Caspian is scared, which means I can't be. I have to help him.

"What happened to it?" He looks at it in absolute horror, then back up to me, as if I'm supposed to know everything.

"Come on, lets go get Uncle Rhys." I help him to his feet, where he yells in pain.

"I can't walk, Eetu!" He cries.

I lift him up and tell him to hang onto me as I race up the stairs toward the physician's quarters.

"It's the middle of the night." my uncle says before he opens the door. When he sees Caspian's leg, he freezes.

"Please help us, Uncle Rhys. I don't know what to do." I shiver from the cold, despite the sweat trickling down my forehead.

"Bring him in."

"Is he going to be okay?" I ask as my uncle brings out a roll of bandages and two wooden slates.

"He's fine, just broke his leg. Would you care to explain how this all happened?"

"I was just teaching him how to climb a tree... and he fell. I'm sorry, I didn't know he would get hurt."

"Eetu, it's okay, I'm not mad. I'm actually glad you came to me first." He takes his hand and squeezes Caspian's calf, feeling for where the bone is. "It's not even that bad of a fracture. Caspian?"

"Yes, Uncle Rhys?" My brother is in tears at this point. It hurts me to see him in pain, but it hurts even more knowing it's my fault.

"What inspired your wish to climb trees?" My uncle keeps talking to Caspian as he snaps Caspian's leg back into place. I don't think Caspian even felt it.

"We're done here." He gently lefts Caspian off his table after bandaging the area up, wooden planks either side of the bone. "Make sure he stays off that leg for a while, and that he keeps it propped up."

I loop Caspian's arm over my shoulder and thank my uncle. I haul my brother into his chambers and onto his bed.

"Don't move." I order him, then take a few pillows from my own bed to prop up his foot.

"Boys?" My father enters the room. "What's going on? Why aren't you in bed?"

"Uh..." I debate telling him the truth. "Cas wanted me to teach him how to climb a tree, so I took him out into the forest and... well he kind of broke his leg, so we had to go to Uncle Rhys..."

"Cas, are you okay?"

Caspian nods, yawning and dozing off a little.

"Let's let Cas get some sleep, Eetu."

"E! What's up with your brother? Heard he broke his leg." The next morning, I make my way into the square, looking for something to for Caspian to make him feel better. I'm greeted by my two other friends, William and Xander. William is the son of the royal advisor, while Xander is the librarian's son.

"Word travels fast." I shrug.

"How'd it happen?" Xander stops William before he has a chance to speak. "I heard he was climbing a tree, then, next thing you know, he's on the ground with a face full of dirt. So, is it true?"

"Yeah, it's true."

"What was the little guy thinking?" William nearly doubles over in laughter. "He needs to learn to stick to his little pirate act and leave the physical activity to the real boys."

"He wanted to spend time with me, okay? It's my fault he got hurt, so stop making fun of him." I shoot William a glare. "And, yes, he is okay. Not that you care about that."

"Oh, E, come on. It was just a harmless little joke." Xander speaks up again. "Caspian's a weirdo-"

"For wanting to spend time with his brother? You guys are jerks." I don't even look back as I continue on my way into the market.

I have to stay close to the booths to see what they're selling. There's a booth for clothes, but Caspian wouldn't want that. One for beauty products, definitely not those. One for decorative knives, I doubt they'd even sell me one of those.

Then I see it. Someone is selling their own drawings. But the one that catches my eye isn't the millions of pictures of the citadel that surrounds us, but a smaller one, that no one even seems to glance at.

A boat so massive it takes up the skyline of the picture. Sails that catch the imaginary wind behind them.

"Excuse me, sir?" I approach the man at the booth.

"Hello, my young prince." He smiles kindly at me. "Can I help you?"

"How much is that one?" I point to the boat.

"Ah," the merchant laughs as he takes it down from its place on the post, "the sailing ship? Not many people have been interested in this one."

"It's for my brother."

"This one is seven gold pieces, my little Lord."

I fish out the coins and set them in front of him. He gives me the parchment and I smile gratefully.

"Thank you, sir."

"It was my honor."

I head back to the castle, only to find Xander and William on the steps, waiting for me.

"Whatcha got there, E?" William is the first to stand. He takes the drawing from my hand.

"Careful!" I let the word slip out. I shouldn't have said anything.

"Don't tell me you're into the stupid pirate thing, too?"

"I'm not. Now can I have it back?" I reach out my hand, hoping William will have some humanity and return it to me.

"No way! I can't let you become like Caspian, E."

I don't think, I just tackle William to the ground, wrestling him for the paper. Xander pries me away and holds me back from William, who smiles sickly at me.

He doesn't break eye contact with me as he rips the paper. First in two, then four, then eight, sixteen, and into such tiny shreds I've lost count.

"You're welcome. Come on, Xander."

The two leave me at the foot of the stairs, gathering up the pieces, trying not to cry.