Chapter Text
Langa ended up being stationed as a guard outside one of the courtyards. He was essentially guarding flowers. It made sense, since he’d only recently been assigned, but still.
The courtyard itself, like the rest of the castle, was open and spacious. There was another windowless corridor that led directly from some hallway into the area, and while the courtyard itself was smaller, there was no denying how impressive it was. Most impressive, in Langa’s opinion, was the giant willow tree where a single wooden swing hung. There were other flowers and trees around of course, but the willow tree felt like it fit. Langa chose to stand adjacent from the corridor, almost right in between the tree and hallway.
Not much happened, the days passing with Langa was mostly trying to figure out the layout of the palace. But on his third day, a red haired boy came bounding out of the hall. His head was whipping back and forth, searching for something, before he turned and found Langa.
“Ah, hi! Finally found you.” A smile. “I’m Reki Kyan. You’re one of the new knights, right?” Reki Kyan– the crown prince. Langa blinked. Why was he seeking Langa out? Langa hadn’t been caught wandering around, had he? No, he’d been sure. He made sure to bow before beginning,
“Yes, your highness. May I ask why you’re here?”
Reki grinned. It was then that Langa took in his full appearance. He was wearing a simple white button up, the sleeves puffed outward at the hem, a black vest over it, and pants to match. What stood out the most was his hair– bright red and sticking up in all different directions. He had a blue cloth tied around his face to hold the hair back, but there were still strands falling down the middle. His eyes were a bright amber, and beside his hair, they almost seemed red, too.
“Oh, you know, I like to meet anyone new that comes in. I met Miya the other day, he seemed…” Reki made a face Langa couldn’t quite place, “chatty. But nice. I guess he has to be.”
“Has to?”
“Prince and all. What about you? Or– your name I mean.”
“Langa Hasegawa.”
Another smile. “Nice to meet you, Langa Hasegawa. Sorry it took me so long to say hello, prince things I guess.” A sheepish smile. “I should go meet the last guy, but I’ll make sure to stop by again!” Before Langa knew it, the prince was running off in the direction of the corridor, waving and looking over his shoulder as he did so.
+
At the end of the day, instead of snooping around some more, Langa decided to walk straight back to the Keep, to try and get some information out of Miya and Shadow. He hadn’t run into either of them since the first day, so this would also keep them from getting suspicious about him at all. Turns out, he wasn’t the only one with an out-of-the-way post.
“Yeah, they put me in the back. Stared at the forest for most of the day.” Miya had added when Langa brought it up.
“I was by the front, you know with all the bushes and rocks? Only the road stretches so far out it’s more on the guards by the gate.” Shadow that time.
Apparently, after a week or two, with rotations and shifts, they’d finally be guarding more serious areas. Having found that out, Langa moved on to what else he’d been thinking about all day:
“So… Prince Reki came to meet you all, too?” Maybe it was a bolder approach than his other… colleagues would have taken, but Langa needed information. The more the better. Plus, Reki seemed far from closed off.
“Yeah, he seemed chatty. Eh, kind of a slime.” Langa almost choked. Were people really that comfortable insulting the Kyans? Or was it that the Kyans were so loved the people felt comfortable teasing their monarch? Neither of them seemed that put off by the comment, so maybe it was the latter.
“Slime?”
“Oh my god, sorry.” Shadow threw his hands up, waving them around in a panic. “It’s a Miya thing. He calls everyone slime. Probably shouldn’t be doing it about the royals, though.” Shadow shot Miya a glance, and Miya at least looked a little reproachful. “Anyway, yeah. He stopped by just to introduce himself. Seems nice.”
“Are all the–is the whole royal family that welcoming?”
Miya hmm’ed a little before saying, “Queen Masae is really nice. Once, on a tour through the kingdom, she stopped by our village for a short time. Just a few days, though. Probably won’t see her a lot, she’s so busy. But I hear Princess Koyomi is off at school, and the twins… are around? I don’t really know.”
Langa nodded at this, and knew he had to offer up information of his own soon. If he asked too many questions, it’d be suspicious. Casual conversation only lasted as long as it seemed casual.
“They never visited my village back then, I was a little curious.” Langa already knew–had studied really–that the Kyans always did a tour through the kingdom every ten years. But of course, with as big as Nilum was, they couldn't visit every village, especially not those as far north as where Langa was claiming to be from.
“They never went to Stris?” Shadow asked, a little sadly. It seemed they really did hold the Kyans in high regard.
“No, but it’s fine. I’m here now.” Langa forced a smile, and deciding that was all the probing he’d need to do for today, went to lay down. It wasn’t late exactly, but training as a knight had them going to bed earlier. Especially Miya- who turned out to be a health nut.
After laying down and thinking it over, Langa and ended up deciding that he’d write an update letter to Tadashi tomorrow night, for now, he’d wait to see what else Prince Reki might say to him.