Percy bit his lip, looking over at the girl sitting on the grass in front of him.

The Asilia Royal family were visiting Arrelstead for a 'diplomatic convocayshun', which, Percy had quickly learned, was just a really fancy way of saying 'a boring meeting full of boring stuff'. It happened every year, this was nothing new. However, this year's gathering had immediately turned out differently to the previous years. The grown-ups had decided that fourteen years old was the right age to start attending the meetings, which meant that the Fitzgerald twins from Asilia were stuck in the main conference hall, along with Percy's older sister, Henrietta.

Percy couldn't help feeling slightly annoyed by this. He was almost twelve now, which meant he basically was twelve, and that was pretty much an adult, right? He certainly acted more like an adult than Henrietta did, and she was allowed in the meeting.

He'd also had one heck of a growth spurt over the summer, adding to his feeling of maturity. He'd grinned when he'd first realised that he was now the tallest of the children - he'd even overtaken William and Richard! - but his pride hadn't lasted long. As he sat on the lawn in the Palace gardens, legs askew, he realised that he didn't really know what to do with his limbs any more.

Usually, the Royal children all spent time together while the convocayshuns were happening, but now it was just him and Alexa Fitzgerald, the youngest of the Asilia Royals. He'd always gotten along well with Alexa. She was twelve, too, so basically the same age as him, and she was way more confident than he was, so he never had to worry about deciding what they should do. Something about this year felt... different, though. He was so used to everyone else being around. When it was just the two of them, it was strange.

... And it was just the two of them! The guards weren't at the door any more! Wait. Their families weren't trying to set them up or something, were they? Ew. Alexa was definitely not his type, and he was pretty certain that he wasn't Alexa's type, either.

Percy screwed his eyes shut. Not the point. The point was that he had no idea how to act in this kind of situation.

"You're really quiet, aren't you?"

He opened his eyes again... and jumped, letting out a slight yelp as his vision was filled with the sight of Alexa looming over him. How had she gotten that close without him realising?

"Ah, sorry, sorry!" she grinned, quickly backing up. "Didn't mean to scare you or anything. I just didn't realise how quiet you were. I guess it's just quieter in general when Richard isn't around."

"Sorry," he mumbled. He felt his cheeks begin to flush in embarrassment. "I was just thinking."

"About?" grinned Alexa, scooting closer to sit cross-legged next to him.

"Um... stuff."

She snorted. "What kinda stuff? You don't have to be weird, it's just us."

Percy bit his lip as he glanced towards the doors to the Palace.

"Um," he began hesitantly. "I was thinking about... well, um... the guards are gone."

Alexa's eyes lit up, and she quickly turned to look over her shoulder.

"Wait, seriously? This rules! Let's sneak out!"

...

Percy stared blankly at her.

"Huh?"

"Let's sneak out!" she repeated emphatically. "Go on an adventure! It's so boring here."

Damn. He shouldn't have mentioned the guards. This was his own fault, really. As much as he liked Alexa, he also knew what she was like. He should have expected this.

"C'mon! It'll be fun!" she said excitedly, brushing the grass off her trousers as she stood up. "Not gonna lie, I've been staring at this wall for ages. It's totally climbable."

"I don't think we're allowed to do that," said Percy nervously, scrambling to his feet. He looked over at the wall beside them, then back to the plucky girl standing before him. "If you wanna go out, we can just... go through the gates..."

"That's boring, though," scoffed Alexa, reaching a hand out to tentatively grab onto a brick. "And the guards might not even let us out. Trust me, it's way funnier to walk in through the gates when they think we're still inside. I've done it before."

"I don't know," murmured Percy, his eyes drifting towards the wall again. It did look fairly easy to climb, admittedly, but... no. This was a bad idea, they shouldn't do it, they'd get in trouble-

Alexa lifted a foot up, applying her weight to the brick carefully, then reached higher, pulling herself slightly up the wall in one fluid movement.

"Come on," she urged. "I've done it before, back home, and the walls of Asilia Palace are way higher than this one! It'll be fine. I swear!"

Percy bit his lip. He didn't really want to be left alone in the gardens, and he really didn't want anything bad to happen to Alexa, so...

He took a tentative step forward, and Alexa grinned, thrilled.

"Yes! I knew you weren't boring!"

Percy's ascent took considerably longer than Alexa's did. He looked back nervously, whimpering slightly as he watched the ground getting further and further away from him.

"How do we get down on the other side?" he asked quietly, grasping onto another sticking-out brick.

Alexa reached the top of the wall and sat on the top of it, dangling her legs in Percy's direction. She grinned, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You should worry about getting up first, slowbean. Hurry up! I know you can climb faster than this."

"I'm going as fast as I can!" protested Percy. His pace quickened slightly as he continued to carefully climb up the wall. Soon, he had also managed to reach the top, and he sat down on the top of the wall, breathing heavily.

"I can't believe we're doing this," he said nervously, peering at Alexa. He pushed his overgrown hair away from his face. "We're gonna get in trouble. We shouldn't be doing this. Come on, we should go back down now-"

Alexa giggled, swinging her legs around... then jumped, leaping off the top of the wall. She landed on the grassy banks outside the Palace with a soft thud, dancing on her feet as she steadied herself.

Percy gasped and whipped his head around, staring down at the giggling girl beneath him.

"Come on!" she called up, waving her arm. "Just jump! It's fine! I'm fine!"

"It's so far down, though..."

"It's not! Trust me."

Percy slowly raised his legs over the top of the wall, then - on the count of three, two, one - he pushed himself off. His eyes widened as he watched the ground got closer and closer... remember, bend your knees when you land...

He landed with a heavy thud. The impact was stronger than he expected, and he stumbled, staggering for a moment, before falling backwards onto his behind.

Alexa giggled again, then held out a hand to help him up. He reached out gratefully as she pulled him to his feet.

"You fell," she giggled, looking up at her friend.

"I'm fine!" said Percy quickly, his face flushing red. "I did it! Let's go back now."

Alexa simply stuck her tongue out at him, and, before he had time to process what was happening, she started running down the bank, heading towards the forest at the edge of the lake.

"Why would we go back?" she yelled, racing towards the trees. "We haven't adventured yet!"

Percy gasped, eyes wide in panic, when he noticed where she was going. She was heading into the forest. The forest! His father had always told him how dangerous it was to get lost in the forests of Arrelstead. It was the big rule. The forests were Off-Limits.

"No! We're... we're not allowed in the forest!" he stammered, panting heavily as he started to run towards her.

"We don't have to go in the forest!" she called back. "We can just have a look-"

"Percival Clement Reid! Alexandra Fitzgerald!"

A deep, booming voice sounded out from the direction of the Palace, and Percy froze on the spot. One of the Palace guards was sprinting towards them.

"Damn!" exclaimed Alexa, slowing down. She quickly made a U-turn and trotted over to Percy's side. "Faster than I expected! Guess they were still watching after all."

"I told you we'd get in trouble!" hissed Percy, trying his best to look as small as he possibly could - which wasn't very small at all, now that he'd gotten so tall. Alexa shot him an apologetic glance as the guard quickly reached them.

"My fault!" she called out to the guard with a grin, holding her hands up in surrender. "It was my idea. Sorry!"

"Sorry," mumbled Percy. His cheeks flushed red again. "Please... please don't tell my parents! Please."

"I have to report this," the guard said flatly.

Percy looked up at him with a pleading look. A few moments passed, but the guard eventually let out a long breath.

"... Fine. I won't mention the forest. Just this once. But this won't happen again."

The imposing figure beckoned for the two children to follow him, muttering under his breath as he marched them back to the Palace. Percy sighed in relief, his shoulders slumped, as they returned to the gardens.

The two of them settled back down on the grass, this time under the watchful eye of the guard, who had stationed himself in plain sight at the door. Percy sighed again.

"Sorry," repeated Alexa, glancing over at him. "You're not mad, are you?"

"I'm not mad," he mumbled, lowering his head. "Just... we could have gotten in really big trouble. And the forests are really dangerous. Like, really bad."

"Oh." Alexa blinked, surprise on her face. "Huh. You're really freaked out about this, aren't you? I'm sorry. I didn't know the forests were that bad. Honest."

Percy bit his lip, raising his head again. He quickly brushed his hair out of his face, tucking loose strands behind his ear.

"No, I know. I should have told you sooner," he said, his voice wavering slightly. "Sorry."

Alexa laughed out loud.

"Why are you apologising?" she giggled. "I didn't even give you the chance to tell me! You didn't do anything wrong! Look, it's fine. We got to climb the wall, I learned about the forests, the guard's cool, we're all good! Yeah?"

He hesitated for a moment, but eventually, Percy nodded, and Alexa's smile grew wider.

"Yeah! Nothing to worry about!" she beamed, standing up again. She held out a hand to help Percy up again. "Come on, let's go see if we can get some snacks from the kitchen staff."

Percy nodded, a faint smile returning to his face.

"Yeah. Let's do that."