Dax

I quickly padded down the hallway, my feet making slapping sounds as I made my way to my father's library.

"...Auden, you can't expect me to tell that story again!"

Laughter tumbled from the slightly opened door along with the golden candle light that danced across the floor boards.

"Bartram, it's such a wonderful story to tell though!"

My father's hearty voice greeted my ears. A smile crept across my face and I quickly pushed the door open to speak with him.

My father sat in his favorite armchair that looked out onto the lush meadows of Madeo with a smile on his face. That was the best thing about him. He always smiled.

"Dax, my son, come here and let me introduce you to my dear friend." My father motioned for me to approach the pair of them and I obediently followed.

His hand clapped my shoulder once I stood next to him and he proudly introduced me to his friend.

"Bartram, this is my son, Dax."

I smiled at the man that sat across from my father. He looked tall and intimidating, nothing like the way my father smiled and laughed. How were they good friends?

"He is about the same age as your boy, is he not?" My father asked the other man.

Bartram glanced to the far corner of the room where I had not noticed another boy that did, in fact, look to be around my age.

"Kai, my most agitated son, has just turned 13. Maybe Dax could help to straighten him out, no?" Bartram suggested.

My father gave another hearty laugh. "That, or he would turn him wild. I swear the maids have such a difficult time trying to dress Dax every morning. All he ever wants to do is stay up all night and look at the stars, and then he refuses to even get up in the mornings." My dad looked off to the side with a small smile. "Moira always said she knew he would be the brightest child. Look at him now."

Bartram seemed to sympathize with my father as he spoke. "She would be proud, Auden."

Their conversation started to bore me, so I wondered to the boy in the corner. He was reading at the moment and I assumed that he did not notice that I was walking his direction.

As I came closer to him, the freckles across his cheeks became more and more evident until I dropped to my knees on the floor in front of him to examine them.

He gave me an odd look as I gazed at his cheeks.

"Wh-"

He began to talk, but I interrupted him.

"They look alot like stars."

He seemed taken aback by my outburst.

"W-What?" He asked, confused.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Your freckles. They look alot like the stars." I clarified, but he still wore the same look of confusion. "The stars. The things in the sky at night."

"I know what stars are." He grumbled and looked away from me.

"Well you sure didn't act like you knew."

He ignored my statement as he continued to read the book he held in his lap.

We sat in silence for a few moments before I started to become antsy.

"Let's go do something." I said, interrupting his reading.

"No."

"Why?" I pouted.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

"Because you're annoying."

The insult didn't phase me, just motivated me further.

"I think you just don't know how to have fun."

He tried to ignore me until I began humming obnoxiously, doing my best to get on his nerves.

"Will you quit?!" He whispered, making sure not to draw our fathers' attention.

I smirked.

"Only if you come do something with me."

He glanced at our fathers for a moment before turning back to me.

"Fine but only because you are obnoxious and I would like to read." He said, rising from the chair he sat in.

"Kai and I are going to go walk around for a bit." I skipped happily back to my father and announced in a singsong voice.

Neither of the men said anything, so I took that as them giving us their permission to wander about.

I waited at the door for Kai to join me and held my arm out once he finally shuffled over.

"It is mandatory." I stated simply, raising my eyebrow at my outstretched arm.

He looped his arm through mine, grumbling and mumbling the whole time.

And then, just like that, we were off.

I led him through the winding halls of the castle I had grown up in, watching his face contort into expressions of joy and contentment. I decided not to tease him about looking so happy. I didn't want him to go back to being brooding and solemn.

Once we finally reached the destination I had in mind, Kai wore a look of confusion.

"Why did you bring me up here?" He asked, taking in the view from the balcony I led him to.

I walked forward, rested my arms on the railing, and released a heavy sigh. This place was peaceful.

"Because this is the best place to look at the stars." I responded simply, waiting for him to laugh or turn away to rejoin his father. People never understood why I liked this place so much, they would always laugh and call me 'childish' or taunt me saying that this was 'a waste of time'.

We stayed quiet for a moment, so quiet that I was almost convinced that Kai had already left me alone.

But I was pleasantly surprised when he joined me at the railing and looked up at the sky.

"It is pretty, I guess." He mumbled under his breath while kicking at the ground.

A smile spread across my face.

No other boy my age had ever said that. They always turned and ran back to the other boys that didn't understand, leaving me alone every night.

"You don't have many friends our age, do you?" Kai questioned gently.

I shook my head.

"All the other boys think I'm too odd to play with. They don't understand why I like to sit out here."

"Why do you like to?"

A part of myself wanted to lie to him, to make up some half truth to answer his question. It felt wrong to reveal something so sensitive to me, but it felt even more wrong to lie. So I decided to force the truth out, one way or another.

"My mother brought me here often." I strangled out. "It was our tradition."

Kai gave me a small, gentle smile, as if the memory warmed his heart as much as it did mine.

"She sounds like a wonderful mother."

"She was." Speaking of her in past tense hurt more than losing her in the first place.

We sat silently for a moment, watching the glittering sky above us, until he spoke again.

"What happened to her?" He asked, turning to face me.

I opened my mouth to speak, but the distant voice of his father interrupted.

"Kai, where are you?" He yelled. "We must return home now if we are to be back by morning!"

Kai gave me a soft look and turned to leave.

"I'll see you next time, Dax."

And with that, he disappeared to find his father.

I wanted to yell at him to come back, I wanted to scream until he returned. I needed him to listen. I needed him to listen to me while I told him about my mom, about the sunsets she used to take me to watch over the ocean, about the dog we found in the garden, about how lonely I was, and about how glad I was that someone finally came along and understood.

But I let him go.

I let him go.