Worlds Apart

It is Gianni's first week as one of the royal physicians. He completely returns the king to the brim of health and all the while helps and cures the ailments of the attendants of the palace. As days pass, he feels winter wandering ever so closely. It is his first time going through winter in the palace. Before he becomes a butler, he would spend the holidays in the Seinetarne domain with his family.

Their tradition of exchanging gifts, while telling medical stories by the fireplace is such a distant memory. The chocolate fondue that they make and the pain au chocolat that they bake together. The sweet custards and the confectionaries that they create mixed with herbs to create a unique blend of flavor. The laughter and the smiles are now distant memories inside Gianni's head.

The smell of mint reminds him of the mint-infused pain au chocolat he made when he was young. A bit adventurous and creative, but more on the reckless and mad. He grinds fresh mint leaves turning them into powder. He adds them to the flour mixture of the bread and bakes it. The wafting coolness of the mint vividly reenters his mind. He misses those days with his family, but he looks forward to his time in the palace.

However, he has more problems in his hands than to think about the holidays. The entire Capital is experiencing a shortage of medicine because of the exponential spike of influenza and diarrhea in the recent days.

As the youngest physician in the palace, the head doctor gives him the great task of resupplying the continuously diminishing supply of medicine. The problem is too great upon more consideration, as winter is coming, and most of the herbs do not grow well with the cold. They must think of a way to grow herbs as fast as they can before the first drop of snow flutters over the sky and lands gracefully on the soil.

On the Royal Herbarium, where most of the palace's herbs are, Gianni grows lavender and other herbs with high tolerance to the cold. Helping him with the task is Claire, a medical student and the only daughter of the chief physician. She is Gianni's assistant in all his surgeries and ventures.

One day, the entire Capital completely runs out of chamomile tonic. Gianni and Claire immediately sets out to forage for chamomile on the southern prairies and forests. Prince Louis who needs to do something outside the Capital goes with them, even going so far as assigning knights to escort them. As they reach a certain distance south, Prince Louis parts as he heads east towards Midael Fort.

Gianni and Claire continues southward. They eventually arrive at a lush green prairie untouched by the harsh chills of autumn. It is only a few leagues from the Capital, but the temperature difference is obvious. They begin their search for chamomile. Luckily, they did not only find the said herb but also several other scarce herbs such as buplèvre, mint, basil, and thyme.

As soon as they finish gathering all they can find, they begin their return trip to the Capital. Upon their return, they begin preserving some of the herbs and turning most of them into medicine. They collected so much that they have to call for help from other fellows. The commotion in the palace attracts the attention of the queen who notices Gianni's efforts in solving the herbal shortage problem in the Capital.

Prince Julien and Gabriel who are passing by sees what all the royal physicians are doing. Without any hesitation, he runs to Gianni to help. The entire physician team, especially Claire who sees Claire the prince first, stops to look at the approaching royal.

"We want to help," Julien says, which marks a surprise on the physicians, "what should we do?"

"Your Highness," Gianni approaches him, "we need to preserve the basils and thymes for winter. But first we should wash them, Claire will tell you what to do."

"Me? But sir," Claire moves closer to Gianni. She whispers, "that's the prince. I couldn't possibly talk to him."

"Just show him the ropes. It's fine, he genuinely wants to help."

"This way, Your Highness," Claire says after clearing her throat.

Even before the sun can set, they all finish processing the herbs.

It is a success for the team. To Gianni and Claire, it is a nice new experience, seeing everyone help together to solve a crisis. Although, their remedy is surely short-term, it is better than having no temporary solution at all. The two are given a day off on the morrow.

As Gianni returns to his chambers, he sees Prince Julien standing beside his door. He leans back against the wall crossing his arms on his chest with his eyes closed, patiently waiting for Gianni to arrive.

"Your Highness," Gianni approaches the prince as he gets closer to his room, "to what may I owe you the pleasure of your presence near my door?"

"Gianni, I'm here to congratulate you on your success." Julien stands up straight, gazing intently at Gianni's blue eyes. "I have gifts for you waiting inside. I hope you like them."

Prince Julien leaves. Gianni proceeds inside his room, where he finds a basket with a bottle of red wine and fresh cheese. Further inspection inside the basket reveals a note which makes him smile as he reads it with his eyes.

To the greatest physician in the entire world, you are my inspiration.

Meanwhile, the letter that Princess Ariana sends finally arrives to Leon. Though the letter looks untouched, Prince Louis' attendants already looked through the contents. Thankfully, Ariana heeds the words of Julien. She cipheres and codes her message.

Rain and moon, strawberries and rocks, knives and shields, fog in clouds to meet, her letter writes.

The spies that Louis planted are not sure of the meaning of the contents, so they let it pass and skips reporting to the prince. When Leon receives the letter, his heart overflows with joy as he understands what the message entails.

"This is in one of her poems that she mentioned during our…date. Rain signifies sadness, and the moon means loneliness," he starts to think hard. "The princess, she feels sadness and loneliness. Strawberries are sweet and red, and rocks in Inglaterran language sounds similar to the words for smile and you. Does it mean, sweet smile? My sweet smile? Knives and shields entail betrayal and protection. Someone must have betrayed her and in order to protect me, she ciphered this letter. Fog in clouds to meet, she wants me to reply but also in a mysterious way."

Without another moment to lose, Leon starts writing a similarly ciphered reply.

Olives, tonic, rose, rocks, sunshine, and shore. To sea, sun, and horizon. He immediately orders the knight who gives him the letter to send it back to the princess.

It is finally the day for Leon and his squad to travel to his home territory. After staying a few days in Fort Midael, they are finally given formal orders to head out. It is late morning when the squad embarks. Through the forests of Gallia, they ride with the wind in their backs and the earth on their horses' hooves. When they arrive at a certain town, Basil, close to their destination, they witness a burning house and a woman's corpse lying on the cold hard ground. They help extinguish the flames and investigates the death of the woman.

The deceased has a teenage son who is only a few years younger than Leon. He asks her about the teen's mother, her cause of death and her assailant. The teen burst into tears and blames himself for her death.

"Why is it you fault?" Leon asks. "You did not kill her, did you not?"

"I…I," the teen shudders and refuses to speak anymore.

The knight squad inquires the village people regarding the incident. They discover that the boy is seeing the daughter of the ruling noble of the territory in secret. When the noble found out, he ordered his house to be burned and the boy killed, but he is able to escape as his mother sacrificed herself for her son.

The story crushes Leon's heart. He develops greaty pity on the boy and tries to talk to him, once more, "so, you are seeing the daughter of the ruling noble?"

"I," the boy shockingly glares at Leon, "it wasn't like that at first. You see, one time I saved Catherine from people who wanted to hurt her. She escaped from their castle and wanted to go around town, but she got unlucky. I saved her and you could say she liked me for saving her. We agreed to see each other again and the more we saw each other, the more we wanted to be together. We promised to runaway together early today. I expected that she would keep her promise but I was wrong. She didn't come. I waited until morning for her, but it was all for naught. I returned home only to find out that my house is burning, and my mother laying lifeless on the ground."

The teen cries and lets it all out. Moved by the boy's story the knight squad decides to take responsibility for the boy. They take him in and cares for him all the while preparing him to be a knight.

"What's your name?" one of the knights in the squad asks.

"I'm Luke, Luke D. Brysand," the boy answers.

Later that night, Leon gazes on the moon and stars from the edge of the lake, where they camped just outside of town. Luke's story has him thinking. His mind and heart are overcome with questions.

Perhaps the princess and I are worlds apart. She is the future queen of Gallia, and of the two kingdoms if a unification occurs. And what about me? I'm just a knight from a poor province in Gallia. No matter how much effort I put in, my birthplace and my status will never change. I will never be her equal. She will never see me as an equal. Why do I even like her? What is it in her that makes me like her?

His thoughts suddenly pause. A shooting star burns across the dark sky. It falls on the northern horizon, disappearing as quickly as it appears.

Because she is kind and passionate. She wants to follow her heart. She is brave and just. Her eyes shine and her face is pulchritude. Whenever she calls out my name, I want to be by her side. I like her, and I want to be with her.

He eventually falls asleep with the thoughts continuously lingering in his mind, challenging the bond that he shares with the princess.