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It was late in the night, and the castle was quite. Jaron lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. He should've been asleep by now, but his mind was buzzing with too many thoughts.
Just about an hour ago, he was wandering around the castle as usual (this was the only time of the day he gets freedom, where no one is constantly on his back trying to tell him where to go or what to do), when he saw that his parent's room was still lit up. That was odd. His parents have a tight schedule – with what being royalty – so they always slept early. Curiousity overtook him and he crept closer, making sure not to make a slight sound, and leaned towards the door to hear what was going on.
He couldn't hear much as they were speaking really quietly. What could the topic possibly be that makes them have to discuss it in such quiet voices in the middle of the night, instead of hosting a meeting with their regents? all he could hear were snippets of their conversation, "Bymar" "arriving", when something they said caught his attention: "Jaron".
That's when he leaned in closer and pressed his ear against the door. Suddenly, his mother's distressed voice got louder: "- to a boarding school in a completely different country! Eckbert,we cannot do that!"
Jaron moved his ear off from the door and took a few steps back.
He must've made enough noise, because his parents suddenly went silent, and after a few seconds' pause he heard footsteps walking towards the door. He quickly ran back to his room, hoping he didn't get caught. Once he was inside he threw himself on the bed and now, an hour later, he was still awake.
Jaron was still trying to comprehend what his parents were arguing about. They can't actually be thinking about sending him to a boarding school. Maybe he misheard? He really hoped that was the case. He turned to the side and closed his eyes, but just couldn't sleep. In the end, he gave up and, decided to go over to Darius's room. He often snuck in and slept next to him. Jaron never even wanted to have a separate room, he always felt comfortable sharing a bed with his brother.
Jaron quietly opened the door to Darius's room. He closed it behind him then tiptoed over to The bed. He tapped Darius's shoulder, but that wasn't enough to wake him up (His brother was quite a heavy sleeper), So he shook his shoulder a little harder. Darius woke up with a start and turned his head over to Jaron.
"Jaron?" he mumbled groggily.
Jaron was about to start asking if he can sleep here, but Darius got his sleep intrupted enough nights by Jaron waking him up because of this reason, so he just silently scooted aside to make space for his little brother, then rested his head on the pillow and fell back asleep immediately. Jaron hopped on and covered himself with the blanket and tried to also get some sleep. About thirty minutes passed, and he was still awake. He shook darius awake again.
"Darius, I can't sleep".
Darius groaned, displeased at being woken again "Try harder".
"I can't!" Jaron complained.
Darius sighed and slowly sat up. "Okay, how about we do something until you get tired enough?"
"Like what?"
"Maybe......" Darius thought for a moment. "We can build a pillow fort?"
Jaron stated blankly. "A pillow fort?"
"Yeah". Darius sat up and slid off his bed, then started picking up his pillows, pulling one from behind Jaron. "Why don't you get more blankets and pillows from one of the guest bedrooms?"
Jaron was confused, and frankly thought it was a little stupid. But he supposed building a pillow fort was better than staying up alone with his thoughts. So he also got up and stepped towards the door.
The castle had many empty bedrooms, mostly for noblemen and royalty or anyone of higher class visiting the castle for diplomatic reasons. His father ensured they had the most plush beds to make sure those snobs felt comfortable. A single room contained everything a pilowfort maker could ever need.
Jaron strolled to the nearest bedroom, which was just down the hallway to Darius's room. When he opened the door and saw the decorations, he realized this was Amarinda's soon-to-be room.
Princess Amarinda was the niece of the Bymarian king, the only ally Carthya has. As such, it was arranged that she would marry the person to take over the throne – Darius.
His father thought the two should get to know each other, so he had arranged with Amarinda's uncle for her to live in the castle until the time when she and Darius marry. His mother took care in ensuring the castle servants would arrange her room in a way that would ensure her comfort.
A few weeks before her scheduled arrival, Jaron's parents had sternly lectured him to start behaving better around her – though of course, Jaron wasn't paying attention for most of it and only promised to get his parents to let him go. They all knew he wouldn't be better.
Jaron's heart sank when he remembered it was only a week until she would be expected to arrive to Drylliad. Darius was the closest friend he has; he didn't like the idea of sharing his attention with Amarinda. When she gets here, will Darius drift away from him? Will his behavior toward his brother change, would he shun him like everyone else, if he were expected to become a better king for Amarinda?
He brushed away those thoughts. Amarinda isn't here now, he can take as many pillows from her room as he wanted.
It was a bit hard for Jaron to open Darius' door with his hands full of pillows and blankets. When he managed to open it, he saw that Darius had already started building the fort. One corner of a blanket, which made the fort's roof, was hung over one of the bed poles, and Darius was using his sword as a support pillar on the other side, putting pillows at the base to hold it up and keep it from falling. He noticed Jaron walk into the room "Ah! that's more than enough". He took some pillows from Jaron's hands and started stacking them on top of each other to form a wall, while Jaron pulled another blanket over the "walls". After a few minutes, the pillow fort was finally done.
"You go ahead, I'll be a second" Darius instructed.
As Jaron crawled in, Darius went over to the bookshelf near his desk. He scanned the shelves, until his eyes landed on what they were looking for and he pulled out a book. When he crawled into the fort, Jaron glanced at the book he was holding and immediately recognized it. It was a collection of classic fables, given to Darius on his eight birthday. He and Darius had loved that book when they were younger. He still remembers back when they still shared a room, how Darius and him would get ready for bed each night; then their mother sat between them, reading the book as they cuddled up next to her. Sometimes even their father would join, sitting on the foot of their bed and wishing them goodnight when the story was over. It was one of the few good memories Jaron had of his entire family getting along well.
When Jaron got his own room, Their mother stopped reading them bedtime stories.
Now, here he and Darius were; cuddled up in blankets with the book like they used to. However, thinking about his parents filled Jaron with anxiety again, remembered the reason they're doing all this. Darius was starting to read out loud, but Jaron wasn't paying attention and instead was looking at the floor nervously. He was fighting internally over wether to say something to Darius; what would he even say? that he thinks their parents might be trying to send him to another country? Would Darius even believe him?
"Darius".
Darius paused reading and looked over at Jaron.
After a bit of hesitation, Jaron finally built up the courage and asked, "Do... do you think father would ever send me away?"
Jaron look at his brother while he awaited his response. Darius's face dropped. But it wasn't the face of shock, or suprise, or bafflement of asking such a question. In fact, it almost seemed to Jaron like he expected this.
Darius gazed down at the pages of the open book in his hands. Jaron's chest began to twist; why was he taking so long to respond? Shouldn't he immediately have replied with "No", "Don't be absurd", or "Why would you ever even ask that?".
But then, Darius lifted his head and gave a soft smile , "I don't see how he could."
Jaron stared back at him. There was something in his brother's expression he couldn't read. He turned his gaze back onto the soft, white pillows that formed the floor of the fortress.
His mind was once again at odds with itself. Sure, he caused his father trouble, but that doesn't mean his father doesn't want him around, does it? They have their differences but they'll always.... love each other. Or at least care about each other, in their own, conflicting ways.
Finally, Jaron made his resolve. He doesn't have to think about this now. He's in a pillow fort with his brother, reading stories. That's all he should be paying attention to. Jaron feigned a neutral expression and replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, you're right. Don't know why I even asked".
He leaned his head on Darius's chest. Darius put one arm around him and started reading from the book in a calm, soothing voice. Jaron relaxed against his brother's embrace and and closed his eyes. Just for this moment, everything was fine.