Chapter Text
Prince Khalid is a young prince of Almyra, the fourth prince born in the royal family and the heir to throne since his mother is the current Queen.
He's known to be standoffish since he became five years old, and it's no mystery why for he's had a lot of death threats over the years. Especially from his eldest brothers who were shoved to the side upon his birth and their rights to the throne taken from them.
And with his three year old younger brother being targeted as well, he took it upon himself to study things beyond his age for their survival. Thankfully, there are some people inside the palace and in politics who'd prefer to have him alive.
Though the play of politics is still complicated for him to understand, at least he knows that he can rely on a few people until they show their real selves.
He and his brother lives in the Capital, and not a boring day goes by without Khalid testing out things he had learn for survival. One would think his stay in the Capital is miserable, but it's actually not so bad.
He gets to go out with his mother or his instructor every now and then, seeing the place where he lives with his own two eyes, and not just through the eyes of the higher ranked nobles that comes to the palace to report things.
The Almyran capital is big, with the place split up in many sections: near the palace is the marketplace for the higher end merchants, and on the eastern and western sides of the city are another marketplaces that caters to the citizens' needs.
Sprawled out next to those markets were the residences of the merchants who opted to display their wealth, and then those of the commoners whose houses were almost touching.
There were several city squares where people meet up for a date, picnic or just hang out with one another, decorated with large fountains and decorative canals that runs around the city.
Khalid is also curious of what's outside the Capital walls though his instructor, and many others, have told him there's nothing out there but endless plains, and maybe an oasis or two. Or maybe a group of nomads who took it upon themselves to follow their cattles around.
And according to his history and geographical lessons, the nomads are the highest and the most respected people of Almyra, next to the King for the work that they do. They're the ones who produce the best meat and dairies and breed the best horses and wyverns to supply the royal army.
While there are others who also do those stuff in their own farms, the quality from the nomads is what have been established as the top tier and thus the royal family protects them and in exchange, the nomads sell their wares to the royal family almost exclusively.
They were out one day, with his combat instructor, to get a wyvern egg from a breeder that has lost its mother and his instructor wanted to give the egg a new home and a new family.
Khalid's little brother, Karim, stayed behind with their mother since they have some of the honey soaked fruits that he likes and would not trade for, not even for a walk in the city.
Beside, he's too young to have any idea what it means to re-home a wyvern egg.
"You must be... General Nader?" A tough and rough looking man with braided blond hair and tightly cropped beard asked Khalid's combat instructor. He wears clothes common in Almyran mercenaries, that Khalid sometimes get to chat with at times. Those who were not hired to kill him that is. Thankfully those mercenaries have a conscience and didn't really try to kill a kid, compared to those assassins Khalid tried to reason with the other week.
The little prince of Almyra gazed up at him, fascinated by him that he didn't notice the young girl in short twin braids standing by the sideline and keeping watch over the wyvern egg, a protective hand on top of it.
She doesn't wear the same clothes as the older man, but rather she's wearing what the commoners usually wear for their every day lives.
"Uh, yes. And you are...?" Khalid's instructor said uncertainly.
"Jeralt. I was told to deliver this egg by your friend." The man said, gesturing to the kid next to him who seem bored.
Nader only looked at Jeralt carefully, eyes darting between him and the kid who's standing by the egg. It's not new to him that some assassins dress up as ordinary mercenaries to get close to the Prince and attempt on his life.
He gently pushed Khalid behind him, keeping his eyes trained on Jeralt.
"What happened to the man who's suppose to deliver?"
"Recuperating in one of the houses down the street." Jeralt replied. "He got set upon by bandits outside the capital, probably to steal this egg. My daughter and I were just passing by when we saw it happened. Couldn't let a man die just like that for a trivial item like this."
Nader considered him for a moment, then decided to trust him even a little, since he still delivered the egg. If this was another person who knows the value of the wyvern egg, he wouldn't have bothered to meet up with them.
He thanked them, taking the egg from the little girl who never once changed expression. She had gently patted the shell before standing next to her father, watching Nader and Khalid go back to the palace.
Khalid turned to look over his shoulder to see the girl's face for the last time.
She's incredibly interesting, with her silence and that expression. And when her father took her hand to walk away, presumably to the house where the delivery man is resting, Khalid turned pink when she looked over her shoulder to look at him. Their eyes met briefly before they both turned away to stop themselves from tripping.
Khalid regrets not being able to talk to her, even with a few words. It's rare for him to meet someone around his age group who's taller than him, and who doesn't seem to have any interest on bullying him.
Once back inside the palace, Khalid took several cushions for the egg to sit on as Nader checked on the list of wyverns who are nesting mothers that can take in the new egg.
"They don't seem to be from around here, don't they?" Khalid asked his instructor as he sat down on a soft cushion and holding the egg up carefully on another. He admired the hard, speckled shell, pressing his cheek to it.
"Eh, it happens." Nader replied. "Displaced mercenaries from your mother's homeland. Probably have a bounty on his head or something, trying to turn over a new leaf..."
Khalid gently caressed the egg, wrapping his arms around it but not being able to envelope it entirely.
"What will happen to this egg?" he asked.
"When it hatches, it's going to be trained to be part of your father's wyvern company." Nader idly responded as he finally found the name of the wyvern that is perfect to look after the egg before it hatches. "Or if your father's feeling generous, he might give it to you."
Khalid brightened up at that.
Him, have his own wyvern friend? That would be awesome.
If he can't have friends in his age group, at least he has a wyvern companion. Wyverns don't lie to the person they bonded with after all.
And once they've imprinted, it's going to take a while for them to adjust to a new master if their previous abandoned them or died.
"Now, kiddo." Nader said as he picked up the egg. "We'll be resuming your lessons tomorrow, so do whatever you want to do today so that you won't be distracted."
Khalid stood up, adjusting his pants and fixing his hair.
"And you're not allowed to go out on your own." Nader added, making the prince pout. "If something were to happen to you, I'm not sure which one of your parents would kill me first."
How'd he know he's going out to look for that mercenary and his daughter?
Was it because he's pretty obvious that he's desperate for friends? And that the girl seem to be nice, if not a bit unnerving because she never changed expressions.