"Ugh," muttered Blanc as he opened his eyes.
It was the morning after an entertaining and eventful night.
His head was heavy, and his vision was moving more slowly than his eyes were.
The alcohol had yet to leave his body.
And he could barely move his body.
Ah… well, that was because the bed he was in was cramped by two others who were still sleeping.
He began thinking about last night as he moved slowly off the bed so as not to wake the two up.
He failed.
He could not help himself.
The stress of the last two days, the stress of all that had and was yet to happen, the alcohol, and the pressure of his needs made a concoction that had brought this failure.
He called it a failure, but as much as he did so, he enjoyed it.
He could not help his lips not to take the shape of a smile and laugh quietly as he got dressed.
He laughed because, as much as he failed, he was also brought to failure by none other than the two sleeping in the bed.
Especially Celine.
What a fearsome mind, thought Blanc as he looked back at her.
All the events of last night happened under her hand, under her will.
He shrugged his shoulders.
It did not matter.
He trusted her to know that this was the extent of her manipulation of him.
So, all comfortably dressed, he left the room to check on the twins and to prepare breakfast.
Kael and Lune were staring at the ceiling, awake, as Blanc approached their room.
"Good morning, you two," said Blanc, entering their room. "How are you feeling?"
"Ah, good morning, brother," replied Lune, startled by Blanc's sudden words.
"Good morning," sighed Kael, who still kept his eyes on the ceiling, "We are fine, and you reek of alcohol."
"Sorry about that," Blanc sighed, turning around to leave. "Since you two are awake, start slowly to get ready, and I will call you when breakfast is ready."
"Wait," said Lune suddenly, "What comes next?"
Blanc turned back towards the two as he searched for his words, "We leave either tomorrow or the day after. And we head to Blood Maroux's domain. They are our allies, and we know Lord Lucien escaped the battle."
"I thought we would go to Sera's new place," Kael muttered.
"It was an idea we talked about, but the difference in climate is too harsh, and it's even further away than Blood Maroux's domain. And we need to find a safe place for Celine to-"
"Give birth, yes. You said that already," Kael interrupted.
Blanc stared for a moment before asking, "Are you mad at me, Little Kael?"
"Perhaps," Kael muttered.
"Kael…" sighed Lune as she got up from the bed. "Do not mind him, brother. He's still sad about… everything."
"Is that so," muttered Blanc, "But aren't we all? *sigh* I promise I will try to make everything better, I just need to get stronger."
"We know," said Lune, sending him off with a smile.
"You missed the whole point," whispered Kael as he watched Blanc leave their room.
After all, Blanc wasn't the only one who felt weak, who wanted to get stronger and defend them all.
But Kael did not say it for Blanc to hear.
He wanted to, but he knew it would only be another thing on Blanc's already heavy mind.
So he stood silent.
Last night, He fell asleep holding his twin sister in his arms as she wept.
And that made him feel weak.
Worthless.
A failure of a brother.
He will have to get stronger, somehow.
Water began to boil as Blanc prepared the things he needed for the porridge.
A bit of oats from their supplies, blueberries, and raspberries picked from the woods a few days ago.
Quite a hearty meal for breakfast.
Yet he knew he, Celine, and Miyanna would need it.
Celine would be best to keep eating good meals, gather her strength, and recover.
For Miyanna, well, if he had this bad of a hangover, he knew she would have it worse.
And Blanc hoped that a sweet meal might lighten the mood of the twins, who tried so hard to keep themselves together, even though they grieved the news from last night.
As he began stirring, slowly thickening the porridge after adding the oats, he let his body cook the food while his mind began wandering.
What villages and cities could they pass through, how to best go unnoticed, how to hide his and the twins' hair from being noticed by people, and how can they all get stronger doing all of this?
His strength was essential, but the others needed to get stronger, too.
Some ways could achieve that, but that would put them at too high a risk to make it worth it.
But were there other ways?
Besides that, they could only go into other domains' wilderness and hunt worthy harvests, but if they were caught, that would put them in just as bad a situation.
He came out of his thoughts as the porridge was ready, knowing full well that he would have to decide how to proceed only after talking with Celine on the matter.
So, before Kael and Lune could notice, he took two wooden bowls of hot porridge back to his room, where Celine and Miyanna were still sleeping.
He put them down only near the bed, only to leave the room and return a minute later with two cups of water to wash down the warmth of the porridge.
He watched the two sleeping for a bit before he woke them up.
The two women slept peacefully as they took over the part of the bed where he had been sleeping before.
Celine looked beautiful as her hair stood, even now, as she slept, behind her ear, gracefully flowing backwards as if moved by the wind.
Miyanna, though, her hair was a mess, covering half her face as she slept.
Though messy, it looked cute to the point that it made Blanc chuckle slowly.
The contrast between Miyanna's dark hair and Celine's wheat blonde hair was such a sight to behold that, for a moment, Blanc lost himself in its daze, before finally realizing it was time to wake them up.
"Wake up, you little drunkards, breakfast is ready."