Chapter Text
Once upon a time in the middle of winter, when the flakes of snow were falling like feathers from the sky –well, actually it was the beginning of autumn and there wasn’t a snowflake in sight, but close enough right?— a small boy shot out of a carriage marked by a royal crest and dashed off in the hopes of finding an adventure.
“Lance! Come back here young man!” An intimidating figure shouted while stepping from the carriage.
“Let him have his fun dear. It’s his first time away from home and he just wants to have a look around,” a soft voice spoke from inside, “We have plenty of time before dinner for him to explore. If you’re really that worried about him getting into trouble you can send one of the guards to keep an eye on him.”
The man sighed. He held a hand out to help the woman down, “Commander Thace,” he turned his head towards a guard on his left, “make sure the boy doesn’t destroy anything.”
Thace bowed, “Of course Lord Zarkon.” And with that the Commander strode off after the young boy.
~
“Woohoo!” Lance shouted excitedly as he raced through an empty courtyard. The boy didn’t stop to survey his new surroundings having had plenty of time to do so during the seemingly endless drive down the winding path that led to the front of the Castle of Marmora. As they had approached the castle Lance noticed the giant stone wall surrounding it. The Castle of Marmora was a huge fortress built from dark gray stones and surrounded by craggy mountains on almost all sides. It was incredibly well protected. While it was a stunningly beautiful sight in the late afternoon light, with the bright colors of autumn contrasting against the dark stone, its heavy atmosphere and many fortifications made is seem like just the place someone in need of rescue would be. Noticing this last fact Lance had rushed from his family’s carriage the moment it had stopped. He paused in the courtyard he was currently passing through to dramatically strike a pose and pull back an arrow on his bow. He imagined he looked just like the heroes from his stories—they were always posing before leaving on grand adventures. Looking around for a target and discovering a small oak tree nearby, he released his tight grip on the string. Instead of whistling through the air and hitting the tree with a resounding thump as Lance had hoped it would, (he thought it seemed like the kind of dramatic effect a hero needed) it wobbled through the air and made a weak thud as it clattered on the cobblestone path a few feet away. His shoulders slumped. After receiving the small bow for his eighth birthday two months earlier he had been practicing nonstop, but was yet unable to hit a target.
Lance walked forward dejectedly. As he reached for his arrow he heard a distressed yelp and laughter; thinking it might be someone in need of rescue he rushed off in the direction of the racket.
As he rounded a corner into the royal gardens Lance saw two young boys throwing rocks and poking a stick up at a cat in a tree. The cat was obviously not appreciating this as it let out another yelp when a rock hit the branch next to it.
“You almost got it! Try again!” The boy holding the stick shouted.
Lance knew an injustice when he saw one, and this looked like his chance to be a hero. He started forwards to tell the boys to leave the cat alone when a blur of red and black tackled the one who had been throwing rocks. He went down with a scream.
“Hey! Get off him! Get off him! What’d you do that for?” The boy with the stick tried to grab the newcomer and throw him off his friend, but he jumped back with an alarmed shout when the black haired boy pointed a knife towards him. Fearing more for himself than wanting he help his friend, he ran away.
The remaining boy tried to wriggle out from underneath his attacker, “We weren’t actually gonna hurt it! I promise!” The boy sitting on him shoved his shoulders roughly into the dirt before jumping off and glaring as the other child scrambled to his feet and rushed off in the same direction as his friend.
The newcomer shoved his knife back into its scabbard and brushed the dirt off his red vest. Lance stared, mouth agape in shock. This boy had beaten Lance to the rescue! He hated him already. And what was with his hairstyle? His silky black hair was way too long in the back and looked unkempt. It dawned on Lance that the boy must be Keith, the Prince of Marmora –the kingdom he was visiting right now for the annual Fourth Alliance Balls— he had seen portraits of the boy and knew nobody else with such a ridiculous hairstyle. He noticed Prince Keith starting to reach up to coax the cat down. “Nope. No, you—No, no no. No, you don’t. I’m saving the cat.”
“Who are you?” Keith asked brow furrowed in confusion.
“Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.” It should be obvious who he was, but he was just given another confused look. “Prince Lance.” He clarified hoping that would make it even more obvious than it already was.
“Really? Are you like, the prince of one of the outer kingdoms?”
“No, I’m the Prince of one of the Fourth Alliance Kingdoms!”
Keith’s eyes narrowed, “Oh, I remember now, you’re the bratty prince from Nalquod who’s failing his combat training.”
“Not anymore!” Lance shouted indignantly. “I’m an archer now and I can beat you and your knives in target practice any day!”
Because of the Fourth Alliance Lance had to be knowledgeable about the members of the other royal families in the alliance and he was well aware of the fact that Prince Keith was constantly praised by everyone as a prodigy in his combat skills. It wasn’t Lance’s fault he was almost a full year younger and had only started his training recently. He just couldn’t seem to keep up. He was always hearing “Keith this” and “Keith that” and about how he needed to “be more like Prince Keith.” Lance had decided to combat this skill gap between them by excelling in the one area that Keith struggled in. People. The only negative thing he ever heard about Keith was his attitude. While Keith excelled in his training, he also excelled at having a short temper and often scared his tutors away during his seemingly uncontrollable bouts of rage. Knowing this flaw of Keith’s, Lance put more energy into his skills with people. He actually enjoyed being surrounded by people and always felt out of place when days would go by without lots of conversation. He was the perfect little gentleman around adults and was often told what a charming boy he was. His only problem came with making friends, although one would never be able to tell. There were many times when he had thought he had friends, but he always discovered they only played with him because he was a prince and the families were hoping to be in good standing with the royal family. This didn’t stop him from being polite and playing with them, but he always felt that it put a chasm between them he would never be able to cross. He had no one his age to share secrets with or to confide his insecurities in. His biggest insecurity being he would never catch up with Keith. But none of this mattered because Lance was better with people than Keith was and he was sure that once he got the hang of his bow he’d be able to hit any target better than Keith could with his throwing knives—which was known to be his best skill.
“If you’re so sure you can beat me then I challenge you to a competition! Whoever can hit the target for the most points with five arrows or knives wins.” Keith shouted angrily.
“You’re on! Now that you’re my rival I swear I won’t lose to you in anything! But first I’m going to rescue the cat from the tree.” This started the two boys arguing over who was going to rescue the cat, Keith saying he had saved it from those boys and Lance saying he had seen it first; while they were butting heads, the cat jumped nimbly down and started to slink away.
Keith was the first to notice the cat’s absence. He stopped shouting and scanned the area.
Noticing Keith had turned away Lance shoved his shoulder, “Are you even listening?!”
Keith spotted the cat’s fluffy gray tail disappearing around a hedge and instead of getting mad at the other boy for shoving him he shouted, “After it!” and pointed in the direction it had disappeared.
The young princes raced after it, not really knowing why they were following it; after all, they had just been planning on rescuing it from the tree. But it was surprisingly fun running alongside each other, laughing as they followed it. It turned into a race with one boy pulling slightly ahead then the other catching up and vice versa. Following the cat on a path through the hedge maze they burst into an open area with a tool shed and a small vegetable garden. Glancing around the cat wasn’t anywhere to be found.
“I was sure it went this way.” Lance huffed out, holding the cramp in his side.
“Maybe -gasp- we took a –huff- wrong tur…” Keith started, but stopped when he heard soft meows coming from near the tool shed.
Lance and Keith looked at each other. They paused for a moment to catch their breaths. Breathing normally once again Keith put a finger to his lips indicating for them to be quiet and motioned with his fingers for them to walk to the shed. They crept forward slowly. As they approached they discovered a disarray of broken crates and barrels leaning against the side of the shed. There was an open area under part of the crates from which a fluffy gray tail and the corner of a tattered blue blanket stuck out. Cautiously they approached. Upon closer inspection they discovered that the cat they had followed was the mother to a litter of kittens. They were all fluffy balls of white and gray fur squirming around and tumbling over one another. They didn’t seem to be more than a few weeks old. Lance couldn’t help himself. They were just too adorable. He reached out to pick one up but yelped and yanked his hand back when the mother hissed.
After watching from afar for a while Lance noticed a little ways away from the rest of the kittens lay another. This particular kitten was a significantly smaller than its siblings and its gray fur was dirty and matted. It was obviously the runt of the litter and from the looks of it the mother had rejected it. Lance’s heart ached as it mewed weakly. He slowly reached for it; this time the mother didn’t give a warning hiss, so he continued and gently scooped it into his hands, pulling it close to his chest. The poor thing was shaking. How had it survived so long like this? He looked up, worry shining in his eyes and tugged at Keith’s sleeve who was mesmerized watching the other kittens. Startled by the tug on his sleeve Keith jerked his head up and saw the sickly kitten cradled in Lance’s arms. Noting the urgency on his face he grabbed Lance’s free hand and started pulling him back towards the palace.
They hurried back through the hedge maze, only having to back track twice, and into a servants’ entrance. As they went through the kitchen Keith saw a pitcher of warm water —probably for one of their many guests— and dropped his tight grip on Lance’s hand to grab it along with the fluffy towel next to it. Keith hurried Lance to his room. He knew nobody except a select few would dare enter and they’d have some peace and quiet while helping the sick kitten. Once inside he closed the door and plopped down on the rug, motioning Lance to do the same. Grabbing a small blanket from his bed he laid it on the rug. Lance gently set the kitten on the blanket. He then shrugged off the bow and quiver slung over his shoulder and set them to the side.
“You start washing it,” Keith shoved the water jug and towel towards Lance and stood up, “I know someone who can help.” He paused at the door, glancing back and seeing the soft look on Lance’s face as he started cleaning the kitten. “I’ll grab some food for it too.” He added before closing the door softly behind him.
After washing the kitten in the warm water Lance dried it on the towel and combed through its fur with his fingers. It stopped shaking when he bundled it up in the blanket and held it in his arms again. The room was somewhat chilly, and he grabbed a thicker, red, blanket from the bed and wrapped it around his shoulders. He scooted backwards so his back was up against the wall. The blanket was warm and smelled nice. He looked around the room. It was obviously meant for a prince with its size all of its intricate furnishings, but it didn’t feel very homey to Lance. It was very different from his room at his own palace. While Lance’s room had intricate tapestries his mother had woven hung on the walls in every place where there wasn’t a window, the walls of this room were cold stone with nothing covering them. Lance’s room also had all of the things he’d collected on his adventures such as shells and pretty rocks strewn over every surface. Keith’s room was practically empty besides the furniture. As Lance pondered the seemingly impersonal room that Keith had he shifted position a few times before falling completely still. While he wasn’t in the most comfortable position in the world, it was hard to keep his eyes open when wrapped in a warm blanket with a dozing kitten on his lap. He slowly drifted off to sleep awaiting Keith’s return.
~
“Shiro!”
The young guard paused upon hearing his name being called. That was weird. It sounded like Prince Keith, but the prince was supposed to be greeting guests with his father until dinner. Then again, the prince did have a knack for escaping social events. He seemed to avoid social interactions as if they were the plague and didn’t do well in forced social interactions either; his constant need of new tutors as proof of this. Though for some unknown reason, the prince had taken a liking to Shiro. After the young prince had barreled into him full force on Shiro’s first day at the palace he was now one of the only people Keith would let near him. So despite being a new recruit and only fifteen, he was soon given the position of Keith’s personal guard whenever the boy wasn’t with his father. Surprisingly he handled the young prince very well and they soon became like brothers.
Shiro sighed, turned around slowly and raised a questioning eyebrow at his charge. Oh no. He knew that look. The prince had that look of fiery determination in his eyes, and when that happened Shiro was bound to be in for a wild ride while following along with the boy’s newest goal.
“Shiro! You have a cat.”
It was more a statement than a question, but Shiro answered anyways. “Yes. Why are you asking?” He narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Had the prince done something to his cat? How would he have even gotten to him? Black was in his private room wasn’t he? Although, his room was next to Keith’s, and knowing the boy, if he had wanted to he would have been able to get in. Shiro was suddenly very concerned for his cat. He knew the prince wouldn’t harm him on purpose, but what if he had been having one of his anger fits while looking for Shiro and accidentally kicked his cat out the window? Well… that probably wasn’t the most likely thing… maybe he had just stepped on Black’s tail and felt really bad about it or something. Yeah. That was it. There was no need to worry, everything was fine. Although Keith was now looking at the ground shuffling his feet. Maybe everything wasn’t fine. Why wasn’t Keith telling him what happened? What if it was too horrible to say out loud?!?!?! Stop it! Shiro mentally slapped himself. He repeated his personal mantra in his mind, “Remember, patience yields focus.”
He crouched down to Keith’s eye level and put a hand on his shoulder. “Keith, what happened?”
“Well… um… uh, there…” Keith stuttered, suddenly feeling shy, “there’s this kitten… we… we found it, and it’s sick but we don’t know what to do.”
Shiro’s features softened. He was just trying to help a sick kitten. Everything was fine. Shiro started counting off the steps on his fingers, “First off, you’ll need to make sure to clean it really well, then feed it some warm milk every hour or so. And make sure to keep the room it’s in warm. Would you like to bring me to it?”
Keith grabbed Shiro’s hand and began walking, confident now that he knew Shiro would help. “I left them in my room while I went to get help and food.”
“Wait, wait, wait… Them? And earlier I remember you saying we. Who’s with you?”
Keith paused, suddenly shy again. “Earlier today I uh… ran into Prince Lance, from Nalquod. We found the kitten together.”
“Looks like you’ve made a friend.” Shiro smiled as he continued on past the prince.
Keith blushed a deep scarlet that contrasted his light skin tone and let out a screech. “What?!?! No! He’s not my friend! He’s declared himself my rival, and we’re even going to have a target competition to see who’s the best!” He said the last sentence with a surety as if that completely proved there was no friendship in the matter. Keith had never had friends before and he wouldn’t know how to act around them even if he did, so it was just easier for him not to have any.
They stopped in the kitchen to grab some milk and firewood before making their way to Keith’s room.
“Lance, I’m back…” Keith said as he opened the door and stepped into the room. His heart melted instantly at the scene before him. Lance was curled up asleep on the floor, wrapped in Keith’s favorite blanket, with the kitten snuggled asleep against his chest. Keith slowly let out a deep breath when he realized he was holding it in. He glanced up to see Shiro looking at him with a knowing smile and he quickly crossed his arms and turned away with a humph. Shiro just rolled his eyes, sighed, and dragged his hand through the black tuft of hair on his forehead.
Shiro strode to the fireplace to heat the room up as Keith slowly approached the sleeping Lance and kitten with the milk he had heated up in the kitchen. Hearing the noise of other people in the room Lance sat up with a yawn. He turned his sleep filled eyes towards Keith as the boy blushed again and turned away. Startled by Lance’s sudden movement the kitten woke up and started mewing weakly. Noticing the bowl of milk Lance pulled it towards him, dipped a spoon in and started feeding the milk to the kitten drop by drop. It was too weak to move by itself so it couldn’t drink from the bowl, and because it had been sick from birth its eyes hadn’t opened yet. They stayed like this for a long time, each boy taking turns feeding the kitten until a servant came to announce dinner. Shiro promised to stay and watch over the kitten while the boys joined their families for the royal dinner that was always held the day before every Alliance Ball.
~
After following the two princes unnoticed for a while Thace decided Lance would be well enough off with Prince Keith and reported back to the Queen and Lord Zarkon. He informed them that Lance was being entertained by Prince Keith and he would send a servant to fetch them when dinner was ready. The Queen was delighted.
“Oh how wonderful! It will be great for the Alliance if the new generation of rulers can become dear friends. And Lance could use someone his age to confide in. You no longer need to watch him tonight Thace, I’m sure Lance will be on his best behavior in the presence of another prince.” The Queen smiled brightly while her husband stood silent.
While Zarkon was married to the Queen of Nalquod, he wasn’t the king, nor was he Lance’s actual father. Zarkon was a lord from a distant land who had been visiting Nalquod with a large entourage when the King had a hunting accident and died suddenly. Feeling duty bound to help the queen of his new found friend he stayed many months to offer what support he could. And while the Queen grieved for her lost husband she was charmed by the loyalty and respect that Zarkon showed and commanded from his followers. Needing someone to help lighten the heavy load of the Monarchy, she married Lord Zarkon. But because of the laws of the land that only someone of Nalquod royal blood could be king –unless there was no one of Nalquod royal blood alive— he stayed Lord Zarkon, consort to the ruling queen. Once Prince Lance came of age he would inherit his birthright and become the new King of Nalquod. Other than Lance there was no one of royal blood to inherit the throne since the King and Queen had no siblings.
Zarkon thought of his step-son’s new friendship with the prince of the Kingdom of Marmora. Powerful friendships between royalty such as this one could get in the way of his plans. But if he played his cards right it could work in his favor. Zarkon was not a patient man, but in this case he would have to wait to see how things played out.
~
The Fourth Alliance Royal Dinner was always an extravagant event. It was held four times a year, once in each kingdom of the alliance, the night before the ball. The royalty of the four kingdoms, and also some smaller kingdoms who were not a part of the main alliance, were the only attendants of this event. These events were held to remind everyone of the friendships between the four kingdoms and the tragedies of the previous alliances. Everyone in the kingdoms knew the stories by heart. The Fourth Alliance Royal Dinner always came after the ruler of the kingdom hosting the event recounting the story; and so Keith’s father told the story at this dinner as bards strummed softly in the background.
“Thousands of years ago there were two vast kingdoms that held much of the power in the lands. They controlled the commerce between them and the smaller kingdoms and played a huge role in the lives of the people. There were often disputes and small battles over boundaries and rights of commerce; to keep the peace between the kingdoms, an alliance was formed. This was the First Alliance. Though it was not called that at the time, for they were unaware of the tragedy that it would become and the other alliances to follow. Strict rules of who governed what were placed. Most of all there would be no fighting amongst the two kingdoms. A full-fledged war would spell disaster for everyone.
“They lived in peace for many years and the rulers of the two kingdoms became the greatest of friends. They fought off many invaders together and worked alongside each other to improve the lives of their people. Everything changed when one ruler decided he needed more power. It started small, with his kingdom taking over the smaller nations surrounding his. It wasn’t with bloodshed; mostly intimidation and threats of withdrawing resources. The other king turned a blind eye to this, not wanting to oppose his friend or start a war that would surely be this land’s doom. Eventually the ruler, wanting even more power, expanded the size of his army. Soon his kingdom was an empire, governed through fear. The only thing left standing in his way was his old friend. He knew he would be the most powerful if he could take his old friend’s kingdom. Though his forces were great, he could not gain control over the kingdom he longed for. His old friend’s kingdom refused to go without a fight. The people of this kingdom had deep connections with the mystical powers of the land and used it to their advantage. While they were a small force, they were a mighty one. It was a brutal and bloody age. The war raged for many long years until finally there was no one left to fight. The people of the two kingdoms had utterly destroyed one another; though the rulers of the kingdoms had vanished before the destruction was complete.
“Survivors from the ravaged smaller kingdoms grouped together in clans. They fought over the scarce resources and the parts of the land that were still habitable. Eventually the clans grew, along with the slowly healing lands, and four great kingdoms were founded along with many smaller ones. They often fought battles with each other, though nothing as horribly destructive as the War of the First Alliance. Soon the Second Alliance was formed between the kingdoms of Nalquod and Olkarion. To combat the newfound strength of this alliance, the Third Alliance was formed between the kingdoms of Marmora and Arus. As the battles increased between the two alliances the rulers realized something. History was repeating itself. They could not continue like this or the lands would be destroyed as they had been in the past. The rulers of the four kingdoms convened at a dinner to discuss peace treaties. Thus, the Fourth Alliance was created by combining the four kingdoms. The fighting ended and rejoicing spread throughout the land. A ball was held in honor of the new alliance and the rulers made a decision; to keep these traditions alive so nothing like the War of the First Alliance could ever happen again. The kingdoms decided to meet four times a year to solve disputes and renew friendships between the rulers. That is why we are here today…”
While Keith’s father continued speaking of the friendships between the kingdoms and how important this event was, Lance’s mind drifted elsewhere. He was excited to finally be old enough to attend the Fourth Alliance dinner and ball, but he hadn’t expected it to be so excruciatingly boring. Maybe the ball tomorrow would be better. He sat on the left side of his step-father and his mother sat on his step-father’s right. The table was round, so as to show no kingdom ranked higher than another. Ruling monarchs sat perpendicular around the table with their consort on their left, and any children to the left of their consort. Rulers of the smaller kingdoms sat in between the four main kingdoms. In these positions the ruler of Nalquod was across from the ruler of Arus, and the ruler of Marmora was across from the ruler of Olkarion.
As the first course was brought out and everyone started chatting Lance frowned. A few seats away from him sat Keith’s father, the King of Marmora. He could hear him in a discussion with someone about Keith’s studies. They talked about how well Keith was doing and as more people joined the conversation his eyebrows scrunched and his frown deepened. He jabbed at his food, annoyed. Why did everybody praise Keith so much? He wasn’t so great. Lance thought back to the kitten they had found. Sure Keith had helped him with it, but he could have done that on his own. Plus, they were rivals. Lance was every bit as good as Keith. Lance started shoveling food into his mouth angrily. His mother gave him a warning look and he slowed down. Whatever. Keith wasn’t worth getting angry about. He tried to tune out the conversation and put another spoonful of soup in his mouth. He was mostly successful and had calmed down somewhat until Zarkon who had just joined the conversation looked down at him, “Sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do. You’ll have to start training harder, like Keith.” Lance just about choked on his food. He grabbed his napkin and coughed into it until his throat cleared. He looked up at Zarkon to make a remark about how he was already better than Keith, but his step-father had already moved on from the topic. Looking around the table he found Keith who was sitting beside his father and looking down at his plate. He shot him the nastiest look he could come up with, hoping Keith would look up.
Feeling someone’s stare on him Keith glanced up from where he was poking at his food, only to find Lance glaring daggers at him. He was startled by the murderous look. He had thought that with the whole rescuing the kitten together thing Lance would have put their newfound rivalry aside for a bit. A little saddened at seeing the other boy so mad at him, but not wanting it to seem like he cared, he stuck his tongue out. At that Lance stabbed his meat, seething with anger. They spent the rest of dinner making faces at each other.
Once everyone had finished eating the political discussions began. Each ruler took a turn sharing the economic states of their kingdoms and any other important news that had happened in the months since the last dinner. After the updates were finished it was time for solving disputes between the kingdoms. Each leader spoke their grievances if there were any, a moderator kept the arguments calm, and the rulers talked through them until they found a solution that would work for everyone. The main issue discussed was when Lord Zarkon reported the barbarians to the west of Nalquod had been causing some small problems in the kingdom; though nothing big enough for them to need to use force against yet.
All this seemed to stretch on for an eternity until finally they came to the moment Lance had been waiting for with nervous anticipation all day. Every time a member of a royal family came of age to join in the festivities they had to be introduced before everyone at the first alliance dinner they attended. The current ruler of their kingdom would give an introduction and then the child –just recently turned eight— would say something or other about how honored they were to be attending.
During the last winter dinner held in Arus, Keith’s speech was said to have been sorely lacking. It had been short and not at all enthusiastic about being a future ruler in the alliance. His father had given him a stern talking to afterwards about how he needed to show that he was learning to be a capable ruler who would work with the alliance for peace between the nations. It had been particularly poorly received since in the previous year the King of Nalquod had suddenly died. Supposedly it was due to a hunting accident, but rumors had been spreading of the possibility of it being an assassination by another kingdom. Everyone needed to show that they were still working for peace and had no ill wishes against the other kingdoms.
Though Lance was young he still understood the importance of good relations between the kingdoms. Since the death of his father there had been unrest in his kingdom with talk of the possibly assassination. He was determined that his speech would be wonderful. If the heir to Nalquod could be shown to help keep the peace then everyone would calm down and realize everything was fine.
His mother stood, motioning for Lance to stand as well. “My dear friends,” his mother smiled, “It is an honor to be gathered here for another celebration of our wonderful alliance. As you all know, we have a new attendant to the festivities. I am proud to introduce to you my son, and heir to the throne of Nalquod, Prince Lance.” Everyone clapped politely, if not with trepidation. It was in everyone’s best interest that this went well.
Lance waited patiently for the applause to die down. His mother had warned him to keep it polite and short, so there would be little room to mess up. But he knew what needed to be said. “Thank you, for allowing me the honor of being here with you today. I am aware that tensions between the kingdoms have been high since the tragic death of my father,” Everyone seemed to be holding their breath. Lance’s mother had paled. “I miss him dearly, but this is not the time to be suspicious of one another.” Lance looked around the table, making eye contact with each monarch who all looked down or to the side, not able to meet the young prince’s eyes for long. ”It was an unfortunate accident that no one could have seen coming. In these trying times, instead of placing blame, we must work together to move past these tragedies, or we will live to see the past repeat itself. I will take rule of my kingdom from my mother when I turn fifteen since it was my father who carried the royal blood and passed it onto me. I will strive to become a person capable of being a compassionate king who will listen to the problems of his subjects and work alongside them and my fellow rulers to make this land one we can all be proud of living in. I look forward to working with you and learning from you. Let us continue in this age of peace for a long time to come.”
There was a stunned silence in the room before applause erupted. It was an eloquent speech that they had not been expecting a child to make. It was as if the eight year old prince hadn’t been the one speaking, but instead his future self.
The applause died and Lance slumped into his chair relieved. He had thought long and hard about what to say ever since he had been informed he would have to say something. He had never been able to script anything out, he just seemed to know that he would be able to say what was needed when the time was right. He looked to his mother to see if she was disappointed—she never got mad, just disappointed. He knew she had told him what to say but he had known those few short sentences wouldn’t have really meant anything to anyone. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw her beaming from ear to ear. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle one of her disappointed faces like the ones she made when he accidently broke something or was caught doing something he shouldn’t have been doing. They always made him feel so guilty.
After returning the smile to his mother he spared a glance for his step-father who was sure to be proud of him after the speech he had given. He was surprised to find Lord Zarkon looking at him with a straight face, showing no emotion other than the corner of his mouth turned down slightly in displeasure. Lord Zarkon wasn’t known to show his emotions much, so Lance hadn’t been expecting a smile like his mother’s, but he was confused by the look he had seen on his face. Hadn’t Lance given a good speech and helped ease the tensions?
He was quickly distracted from this train of thought when he saw Keith looking at him with a surprised expression. Ha. Obviously Keith couldn’t possibly fathom how amazing his speech had been and was in shock from it. He stuck his tongue out at his rival.
Keith was awestruck by Lance’s speech. Expecting it to be similar to Lance’s arrogance in the gardens he had been caught off guard by the eloquence of it. How had he known just what to say? Keith had tried so hard during his introduction months before, but somehow it had come out all wrong. How had Lance eased the tension so easily? It was as if Lance was years older than he actually was.
Still staring at Lance in shock he was startled out of his thoughts when the other boy noticed him and stuck his tongue out. Ugh! Ignore his previous thoughts! Lance was still just an immature little kid who thought he needed to prove himself for some reason. How had he thought this brat had done something miraculous was beyond him.
Soon after dinner was ended with another short speech from Keith’s father. His father excused him to go to bed while the adults went to a large side parlor for friendly games and entertainment. Lance had already disappeared, so Keith headed obediently to his room, exhausted from the long day. On his way he was so tired he forgot the kitten was still in his room with Shiro. Opening the large mahogany door he yelped as he ran into someone and fell to the floor on top of them.
He pushed himself up a little dazed. Hearing laughing he turned his head to the side to see Shiro snickering while leaning against the wall. Then remembering he had fallen on someone he looked down to see the kitten on someone’s face. The person reached their hand up to pull the kitten off their face revealing Prince Lance.
Seeing who was on top of him Lance startled struggling under Keith’s weight. “Get off me you idiot!!!” he screeched as his cheeks quickly turned a rosy brown due to his blush.
Keith scrambled to get off him becoming a flustered and blushing mess himself and tripping again in his haste to get up. Shiro was gasping for breath by the time they untangled themselves. Scooping the kitten into one arm Lance jabbed a finger into Keith’s chest and said “Tomorrow. Meet me in the shooting range after lunch for our competition.” And with that he stormed from the room.
Flopping down on his huge bed Keith groaned. He had forgotten Lance’s promise of a competition before the ball. It wasn’t that Keith was afraid he’d lose, he was just annoyed with Lance’s insistence with this dumb rivalry. He didn’t understand why Lance wanted to beat him so much.
Shiro smirked “Looks like you have a busy day tomorrow.”
Keith let out a small frustrated scream and threw a pillow at Shiro’s face. It would have hit its mark but Shiro just caught it and threw it back, hitting his charge square in the face. “Goodnight Keith. Get some rest, you’ll need it.” And boy would he ever. Dealing with Lance for one day had exhausted him completely. Staring at the ceiling in the dark long after Shiro left he thought about Lance. He was annoying, but there had been times where he felt like they had been enjoying each other’s company; like when they were running through the hedge maze chasing the cat and caring for the kitten in his room. But then there were the other times like the arguing when they first met and later during dinner and back in Keith’s room again. He blushed again when he remembered he had fallen on Lance. Furiously he rubbed his cheeks trying to make the heat from the blush go away. He didn’t understand why his face kept growing hot whenever he thought about that moment. Maybe he was just starting to get sick. Yeah, that was it. He elected to ignore the feeling until Lance had returned home. He couldn’t risk being sick when he had been challenged to a competition. Maybe Lance was just so annoying he was making Keith sick. Whatever this feeling was he would ignore it until it went away. Luckily he would only have to deal with Lance for a few days each year. This weird feeling wouldn’t last long, he was sure of it.
Eventually he drifted off to sleep having a strange dream. He was walking through a forest and found an empty cottage. Walking farther into the trees he found Shiro and six other people he didn’t know surrounding something he couldn’t quite see. They all turned to look at him. Most of them had tear tracks down their faces making it obvious they had been crying, but he didn’t understand why or what they were crying about. Oh well. It was only a dream. He forgot about it by morning.
Little did Keith know this was only the beginning.