Author's note: BEWARE! SPOILERS FROM END OF Radiant Dawn!!
"You had us worried," the stern but soft and wholly unexpected sound almost made him fall backwards out of the window, "your Majesty." Even if he'd been a fool-hearty fledgling or popped out of his egg just yesterday, the tone of the last two words was enough of a signal for anybody that perhaps falling backwards out of the window was not such a bad idea. Also, if the sentence structure and word choice was not enough of an indication as to who the voice belonged to, the size of the shadowy outline he wished he'd noticed earlier and the way this outline held itself would have been a dead give-away to any hawk, raven, or heron child old enough to flutter a meter from its mother.
And Tibarn had certainly not popped out of his egg just yesterday.
"Kmph!" he coughed, unsure of whether or not he should give up the option of escape for his pride by coming into the room, and improvised gruffly, "No need to stand on ceremony, Reyson. You of all people should know I've never been fond of all that Majesty nonsense." For now he'd play it safe and stick to the window. "And what's this 'us'? I only see you…"
A spark flickered into a flame and revealed the Heron Prince, looking every bit as reprimand-ready as Tibarn had expected, standing at the door with a lamp. He walked forward. Tibarn tensed. Just as the Hawk King was prepared to risk the backwards dive from the window, Reyson made a detour to Tibarn's bedside table saying, in the manner of one explaining something for the thousandth time,
"Well, if you're not satisfied with just me, think of me as the ambassador for the committee of the concerned," he sat gracefully on the edge of the (Tibarn noticed with only slight and easily-dismissed embarrassment) poorly made bed, wings lifting and falling with the movement.
The fact that the Heron did not feel the need to face him was of great concern to the Hawk King.
From the sigh that followed his statement, however, Tibarn could perfectly visualize the younger laguz's delicate features arranged in a rarely seen distraught expression without being privy to the ventral side of his potential obstacle. "I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed that the recently made king of the united bird tribes just," another, quickly inserted breath of exasperation prepared Tibarn for a demeaning verb, "flapped away," he was not disappointed, "in the middle of the night. I just chose to come confront you on the subject since I'm sure, positive, that you have a perfectly good explanation for such behavior…"
Pride won out, though Tibarn was unsure of how much of it he would have left after being berated by a Heron.
"I just needed a breath of fresh air, that's all," he said with finality as he made to the nightstand where Reyson had placed the lamp. "Surely you can understand that." The Heron turned to face the window when Tibarn finally reached the lamp and a position that would allow him to look at Reyson face to face. This threw him off guard but he quickly recovered by slowly beginning to walk back around the bed to the other side under the guise of random pacing.
"I'm waiting."
"For what?"
"The truth."
Not good. An answer like that from the most severe of the Heron King's brood meant one of two things: 1) He already knew 'the truth' and lying would only make matters worse or 2) He was bluffing at number one and you had to either insist your first fib was true or try another and then stick to your guns. If it was indeed 1, Tibarn was as good as dead.
He would shoot for 2.
"Reyson!" he used his most earnestly hurt voice, finally making it to the other side of the bed and sitting down, facing the Prince. Reyson quickly turned away again, feathers splaying across the rumpled sheets. "Why would I lie to you?"
"Why indeed!"
It had been 1. Now was the time to escape but he had given up his chance the moment he set foot in the room.
"Reyson-"
"How many times must I tell you that beasts of the forest are not food, you callous uncaring carnivore!"
"Reyson-"
"We discussed this in full before coming to Serenes several times and yet you still lacked the self-control to keep yourself from turning some innocent creature into an unnecessary midnight snack! Is this what we have to look forward to in our future leader? A thoughtless slaughtering machine?"
"Reyson!" Tibarn's boots came down hard on the wooden floor as he stood. "You speak without knowing the other side's mind, Little Prince." The Heron's wings ruffled as he shifted them in irritation. "You've no right to condemn me until you've tasted the meat of those 'innocent creatures'," he lectured Reyson's back, "I think your mind may change when you do."
"Who's to say that I will? I haven't the slightest intention of- Mm!" Reyson's doubtless extensive and informative explanation was of no interest to the Hawk King.
The bed sagged under his full weight spread between his two knees as he kneeled on the bed directly behind Reyson, thick, powerful fingers deeply entwined in the Heron's corn silk hair so as to return the favor of preventing escape. But it wasn't the rather violent jerking back of his head that curtailed the Prince's protest so much as it was Tibarn's lips pressed against his own. The kiss wasn't gentle or innocent (as a first kiss should be) but deep and passionate (like, at the very least, long term lovers).
So it was really no wonder that Reyson could do little more than sit limply and hope that the Hawk King's ferocity remained concentrated on his lips and no where else.
"Hm."
"Ah!" Reyson gasped the instant his mouth was freed and collapsed into Tibarn's arms as he slid them through his cascade of golden hair to his neck and back.
He glared. Tibarn returned the look with an amused grin.
"So, think you understand why I can't live without fresh meat now that you've had a taste," he licked his lips, "your Majesty?"
The young Heron's sharpest of death looks did not waver as he reached up to take the Hawk King's head in gentle hands, pulling him back down. He replied flatly, smile breaking free only just before their lips touched again, "No."