When the Storm Lulls

1

Kile didn't know what he was expecting, he just knew who. He was expecting guards, the ones that said, "No, boy, you can't come up here.", but he never got them, which surprised him. He was expecting politicians, the ones Eadlyn always complained about, the ones that complained about her keeping them from her dad, the ones that weren't there.

Instead, Kile had quietly skipped up to the third floor of the palace, the way he had before the Selection, and tapped the door to King Maxon's study to make the door swing open. Inside there was a dry erase board, filled with Eadlyn's scribbles and notes by a large desk, which had multiple stacks of paper place haphazardly upon it. So this was the place Eadlyn disappeared to during the day?

Eadlyn was on the phone, a small frown on her face as she listened to a man talk rapidly in Spanish on the other line. They conversed, or rather, heatedly argued, in Spanish for a few minutes while Kile watched her work.

There was a theory in psychology named flow, and it said that a person could become so immersed in their work that they were not conscious of themselves or time, besides in sleep, it was the only time you could escape those two things.

Looking at Eadlyn now, Kile had to recognize flow at work, the theory enveloping the woman, or rather, girl, making her incapable of being able to take care of herself, to make sure she got enough sleep, enough food, enough clean air. Eadlyn, Kile realized, needed someone to take care of her, or else the princess would slowly deteriorate into a shadow of herself, driven mad by her job and a psychology theory. Thinking back to the hordes of boys, all dying for Eadlyn's attention, not her heart, Kile felt an uneasy feeling grow in his stomach.

He stayed quiet until Eadlyn slammed the receiver down before saying, "You know –"Eadlyn jumped, having to pull herself out of her reverie, "– Most people think sleep is good for you, but, honestly, I disagree," he flopped down onto one of the rarely used couches in the room, "You see, it takes a certain madness to live, a certain, how should I put this…insanity that comes with ruling a country. Some people would say it's stupid to make sleep deprived decisions that could possibly lead to the deaths of millions, but you have to be the right amount of psychotic to make those decisions. Obviously, you agree with me."

Eadlyn's lips quirked, as the two fell into familiar patterns of banter and annoyance, "It would be an injustice to do them otherwise."

"Absolutely!" Kile said, pointing his finger to the ceiling, "THOSE WHO NEED SLEEP SHALL FEEL MY WRATH!"

Eadlyn was now smiling, "What can I do for you, Kile?"

"No, no, no," Kile said, sitting up. He had started this game and he was going to finish it, "What can I do for you? 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country'. And today, what I can do for my country is chain you to a bed."

"I don't need to be chained to a bed," Eadlyn said, shaking her head. She would most definitely not yawn at thinking about a bed. Most definitely not.

Kile watched her sad attempt to find the beginnings a yawn and sat up, "Yeah, sure. How many cups of coffee have you had today?"

Eadlyn thought back through the past – how many hours? "Um…four."

Kile stared at her.

"Okay, maybe five."

Still staring.

"Okay, seven."

…Still. Staring.

"Fine, eight! One for each hour of sleep you're supposed to get."

"That is not how it works."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? I want Dad to stay with Mom so I can't slack off with all of this stuff," she picked up a piece of paper just as filled with scribbles as the dry erase board, Kile realized it was a to do list. A really long one. "And I can't slack off with the Selection, otherwise the press would have a field day."

Kile blinked at her, "They always have a field day."

Eadlyn slumped in her seat, "Yeah, I know."

Kile swiped his hand through his hair, "Look, I get it. Your mom had open heart surgery so you picked up some of your father's slack so that he could stay with her while she recovered, but the fact that your mother had a heart attack that was caused by a genetic heart disease induced by stress should be proof enough that you should not go too long without sleep."

"I know, I know, but –"

"We're going on a date," Kile said suddenly, getting up from the chair.

"Okay, first of all, interrupting is entirely rude. Second of all, you asking me out is completely illegal."

"Oh my gosh, I'm such a wild child. Come on." He lifted her out of her chair, and pushed her towards the door.

Eadlyn tried to go back, but he pushed her on. After a while, she ceded, "Where are we going?"

"To your bed."

Eadlyn redoubled her efforts to go back, almost knocking her tiara off her head, and Kile realized he should probably explain, "Whoa, girl. You haven't figured out my middle name yet. We're going to sleep, and since I can't trust you to do that alone, I'm just going to have to sit and make sure you do it."

Kile decided he liked Eadlyn when she was sleepy. The moment she had entered her room, she had let him take out her many pins and had let him help her out of her dress and into a sleep gown (he tried not to look at her, but only got so far when she was standing right in front of him in nothing but a bra and panties) (she may or may not have let him look).

More than her letting him care for her, she seemed to let her guard down as he did.

"Do you think what happened to my mom cold happen to me?"

He looked at her as he helped her into the sleep gown, his hands just barely skimming her sides, "I don't know. Let's not find out."

"It's my fault, you know." He stared at her for a second as she stared toward the balcony. Dusk was just beginning to fall and the sunset was beautiful, neither of them really took it in. "Ahren left because of me, Mom had the heart attack because he left." She looked up at him, "I could have killed my mother. I almost did."

"You couldn't have known Ahren was going to do that. You didn't cause the heart condition to act up. It just did."

Eadlyn lightly hummed, and he dragged her towards the bed, "Come on."

She sat down on the bed, looking at him, then she smiled softly, "Do you want to kiss me, Kile? You can if you want."

He did, but instead of her lips, he kissed her forehead, "Go to bed, Eady."

"Eady. I miss that nickname. It sounds so simple, but nothing really ever is."

"Are you always like this when you're tired?"

Eadlyn hummed in answer, and Kile smiled.

The princess crawled to the middle of the bed and laid down, "Will you sleep next to me?"

He had been hoping she would ask that so he wouldn't have to sleep on the couch, "Sure." He nodded, taking off her shoes and coming towards her, finally pulling her to him so she could put her head on his shoulder, "Best date ever."

Kile responded by taking a lock of her hair and playing with it, and he couldn't agree more.