Midway pt. 8 Like Body
Non , unlike Santo and Jin, sent for me rather than waiting for me to come to him. He requested that we meet in the castle's training ring. I arrived the next morning as requested before dawn. It seemed I was the first to enter , not even my sister had entered the ring for her daily training so early. The sun was still rising on the sand pit that was the ring. When he finally arrived he seemed to walk down the stone steps as the sun arose behind him , it was quite the entrance. There was something different about him but I couldn't put my finger on what. Maybe my eyes were still waking up, but as he came closer it began to come clear what had changed. He was missing the red patches in his fur.
Par- You colored your fur?
Non- Why would I do that
Par- Its just that, you had red spots the last I saw you
Non- Those were ... stains of battle
He was a member of Catalina's royal guard after all, but when I last saw him he was covered in so many red spots I believed they were a part of his fur. What could he have been doing to be so drenched in "stains" before attending my brothers event?
Par- Stains of battle?
Non- Training, I lead the combat training of my kingdom's royal guard , in intense practice things can get ... out of hand
Par- Was anyone hurt
Non- Many were hurt, but they'll live
Par- It sounds like your a demanding teacher
Non- I have to be strong as steel for my men to learn to break stone
Par- Is that why you wanted to meet in a training ring , am I to watch one of your classes
Non- In Catalina love is seen as a war , but unlike war in love you hope that your adversary never falls, you want the battle to be endless and ever growing no matter how weighed you become
Par- That's very... poetic but
Non- As a royal you were trained to defend yourself?
Par- Yes , I know how to handle myself if a situation calls for it
There was a brief pause as he stepped away to stand near a rack of weapons. He looked to the weapons then back to me.
Par- I'm sorry but are you asking me to fight you
Non- In Catalina this is a ritual held before any relationship begins, a battle between two meant to join together is fought till one yields, the winner decides if there union begins or departs
Par- I know how to defend myself, but my sister is trained for war
Non- I know you will not win , but if anything between you and I is meant to be real then this is a tradition that will mark it's start
Par- What if I hurt you , your a member of another kingdoms royal guard
He laughed.
Non- I doubt that will happen but It would be a welcomed surprise
Par- Does your king know you are here, doing "this" with me
Non- My King asked me to offer myself to you
Par- He wanted you to be with me
Non- My King knows you are at an age where you are ... exploritive and he felt you would connect best with one who fits your heritage
Par- I don't think it's your kings place to meddle in my life
Non- You misunderstand, my King asked this of me, yes, but it was my choice to make in the end, a choice that I am still making
Par- So your here of your own wants
There was a gravity to the scene that only came from our being in solitary silence in such a spacious arena together.
Par- You know if you hurt me my sister may fight you next , she can be protective that way
Non- You speak of your sister so heavily , perhaps I should ask her to enter this ritual with me instead
He laughed again.
Par- This is a very strange way to start a relationship
Non- You know little of your traditions and heritage
Par- I'm a prince of Fae not Catalina
Non- You are a monkey like I, thus your blood is from Catalina
Par- My blood is of Fae
Non- Do you not wonder what you might have been if you were not given to this land
Par- I was born here
Non- you were brought here
Par- what difference does it make
Non- it makes all the difference in the world , had you never been given to this family you would be home with your brothers
Par- you speak as though you know for certain my birth family is from Catalina, I could be from anywhere , Oboshi, Fae , Merce, anywhere
Non- but what if you are from my kings kingdom, what if you were my prince
What was he speaking of. He had no doubt in his voice, and questions of hypothetical realities seemed to be real to him.
Par- what are you saying
Non- there was much work in having another kingdom take the heir of ours as its own
Par- what are you saying
Non- my King knew it would be a difficult life for you to grow up away from your people but
Par- what are you saying Non
Non- your father , your true father is King Teco
Par- your lying
Non- perhaps I am, but what If it were the truth
He was toying with me or completely serious, but I couldn't tell which.
Non- now are you ready to fight me
He meant to make me mad by raising questions of my birth family, and it worked. I gave him a fight , a long fight , a battle. It was clear who was the better fighter but he'd gotten under my skin. Of course he won, he had to, I was never going to beat a royal guard in direct combat. I knew the battle was done when I woke up hours later, and by that time he was gone.I knew what Non had told me was only meant to make me angry but he fabricated such a story with ease. It stayed with me. I needed to find him again to know for sure if it was all a lie.
I was battered and bruised covered in sand from the pit as I searched the castle for Non. I found my brother first.
Louis - Par , you look terrible, what happened to you
Par- Non
Louis - Non did this to you,
Par- yes, no, it's complicated, do you know where he is
Louis - he left hours ago to rejoin King Teco in the city
Par- where in the city
Louis - the embassy
I was nearly on my way when my sister joined us. She stormed down the hallway until she met us.
Louis - Sky
Par- morning sister
Sky- what have you done
My sister seemed displeased to say the least. She already had a bark in her voice.
Sky- you left the castle with a commoner
Par- what
Sky- the inventor
Par- that was days ago
Sky- then you lost a Lady of Oboshi
Louis - we know she's in the castle
Sky- you both allowed a circus to enter the castle
Par- it's gone now
Sky- and who do you think gave the guards the order to remove it from the castle grounds
Louis - that was you?
Sky - don't being to question me when you invited strangers into the castle, into our home
She didn't care that we had our get together at a time when there was a possible killer to worry was after the family . She was displeased by the choice of guests we invited into our home.
Louis - they were vetted by the the Reeves, everyone was and is safe
Sky- this isn't about safety
Par- then what is this about, they weren't "workers" they are good people
Sky- good people? A night from another kingdom who could just as well be a spy, a scientist who's only major success is a slightly brighter light than that of a candle and isn't even a member of a royal family , a winch clearly looking for a crown , and perhaps the worst is the literal circus perform, do ether of you want to be king , do you care about the reputation of the crown at all
Louis - Sky your looking at this to deeply , a few unique guests are not going to give the kingdom a bad reputation
Sky- but would you care if they did
Louis - of course I'd care , god , you act like your the only one here fit to wear a crown, but your so detached from everything, Par was just trying to live his life
Sky- I would keep our people safe, I would make sure our family name stood with honor untarnished by scandal and rumor
Louis - you would keep our people scared and soulless under the military's boot, we wanted to have some fun something you should learn to do
Par- Sky , this isn't a battle, I see where your coming from but you know we wouldn't let anything happen
Sky -and I suppose you think you'd be a better ruler as well , even after the events of the past days
Par- I don't want to rule anything, but if I did I wouldn't let fear of how we might look stop us from living life , and sure we could have waited to have our guests in a more royal manor, but no one is going to die or rebel against our family over a few dates , our family name is still good
Sky- I'd expect this from Louis, but Par
Par- I have met four of the most amazing people over these past days, I'm not going to feel sorry for that
Sky- sorry isn't good enough
She left us, and where I understood her argument it felt out of place. I won't argue that having a circus invade the castle wasn't too far, but Santo was a nice brilliant person and I didn't care if he was a royal or not. Jin was a beautiful soul. Yale was... who she was . And I was still making up my mind about Non. If being king meant that I couldn't see these amazing people, then I wanted no crown, no throne , no seat of power. But I always knew where I stood when it came to the subject of being king, even if I could never say it out loud, what surprised me was Louis. He said it , he wanted to be king, or at the very least he believed he'd be better at it than our sister. But that was something to think about later.
Par- I'm going to go find Non
Louis - yea good luck with that
I Knew he wanted to go with me but with his kind still being questioned for our King Fathers poisoning he couldn't leave.
Par- you really should find Lady Yale
Louis - she's in the castle, she'll turn up eventually
I was on my way. Leaving the castle with Santo made me more comfortable out on my own, so I left my royal guard and traveled into the city on my own.