Chapter Text
“Is there a problem, Sariel?” Imladris asked.
She and Sariel were supposed to be having another lesson right now, and while she was writing her notes, she had noticed that Sariel had had a faraway look in his eyes.
“Hmm? Oh, no. All is fine,” Sariel responded.
However, Imladris had known Sariel quite well from her time being Belle, and Sariel now acted as her tutor. So, it was easy for her to tell that Sariel had just been brought back to reality from being deep in thought.
“Are you sure?” she continued to press.
Seeing Imladris’ inquisitive gaze, Sariel relented. “Well, there is a small matter that I’m having some difficulty deciding on. However, it’s nothing serious.”
“Is there anything that I can do to help?” Even if it was just “a small matter,” she still wanted to help Sariel, after all that he had done for her.
“I’m trying to think of… an activity,” Sariel admitted.
Imladris blinked in confusion. “An activity?”
“Well, it is the winter holidays. And with the three foreign princes staying with us right now, I was thinking that it’s an opportune moment to strengthen the bonds not only among the Rhodolite princes but also our bonds with our neighboring nations,” Sariel elaborated. “So, I’m trying to think of an activity that they can all do together.”
Imladris nodded in understanding. “How about some kind of winter game or sport? It’s the right time for it, anyway,” she suggested, glancing out the window. The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, and even more snow was falling from the sky.
“What kind of winter activities did you use to participate in when you still lived in town?” Sariel asked.
“Hmm… Let’s see… I used to like skating with my friends when I was younger…” Imladris said. Then, she added with a sheepish smile, “Oh, but I don’t think that Yves will have a good time with trying to balance himself on the ice, though.”
Sariel chuckled a bit at that. True. Yves already had enough trouble with staying upright as it was without adding a smooth, slippery ice surface to the mix.
Then, Sariel thought of a certain problematic prince, and his smile turned into a scowl. “Yes, and I’d hate to think what that hellcat—I mean, Prince Clavis—would be able to do with skates.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be good,” Imladris winced. She didn’t even want to think of the possibilities. “Uh… what about sledding? We could have a sledding race.”
She had never really gone sledding before, but it was something that she had always wanted to try.
Sariel shook his head. “The only elevated place at the castle grounds is the Hill of Remembrance, which is a very inappropriate place to sled. We would have to get everyone in carriages and go on a ride to get to another elevated area. More importantly, just like with skating, there are so many dangerous things that the hellcat—err, Prince Clavis, that is—could do with a speeding sled.”
This time, though Imladris tried not to imagine, scenarios flashed in her head. She could all too clearly visualize Clavis trying to run over the others with his sled. Especially poor Yves. And Chevalier! Clavis would most definitely want to run over Chevalier…
Wanting to save her beloved from possible assault by a speeding sled, Imladris quickly backtracked. “Yeah, maybe let’s not go sledding… I wonder what else we can do?... Oh, I know! How about a snowball fight?”
Sariel raised an eyebrow. “A snowball fight, you say?”
Imladris nodded eagerly, her eyes now sparkling in delight with the idea. “Yeah, everyone enjoys a good, old snowball fight with friends. We could easily just do it at the castle grounds. Plus, it’s fun and competitive enough to keep them interested, but also still safe enough.”
“They would be throwing projectiles at each other, though,” Sariel pointed out.
“It’s only snow, at least,” Imladris shrugged. Even the more problematic of the princes couldn’t do much damage with snow, right?
…Right?