A small smile formed on Camus' lips as he poured water onto the roses. His friends were sitting around the table talking, not minding what Camus was doing, and Camus had stopped listening as they had returned to bickering about how to turn the kingdom into a better place. One of the roses whispered soothing words towards him and he carefully caught it between his fingers, making sure that he was not tucking at it too hard.
"Thank you, but you needn't worry about me."
The rose answered him in the soft tone that the others could not hear.
"Because they are my dear friends, and I enjoy their company."
Orpherus raised his voice as Ludwig apparently said something to offend him and Camus shook his head, releasing the flower from his grip and moving on to water the others. A few of the flowers calmly corrected him when he poured a bit too much water over them, distracted by the fight that sounded like it would break out anytime soon. Slowly he put down the watering can on the ground and turned around to look at his friends.
Ludwig was still sitting calmly in his seat, while Orpherus had gotten up so hastily that the chair had fallen over behind him. Naoji and Eduard was glancing between the two, apparently uncertain about how to handle the situation. Camus got up on his feet, leaning a bit towards the right side while pondering about what he should do. The fight needed to stop, even the flowers were getting stressed out by it. Ludwig's eyes turned darker as Orpherus once again tried to emphasize his points about how to handle the kingdom.
"You'd drive the kingdom to ruin if you had your way, Lui!"
Ludwig raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And your way is that much better?"
"It would not provoke unnecessary killing at least!"
"Neither would mine. We'd have handled the situation before it came to that."
"The guardians of the kingdom can not be everywhere all the time, you know that as well as I. Making the people feel like they have a hand in the kingdom and like they are listened to is a much better way to go. It would make them feel like they are needed. Face it, Lui, there wouldn't be a kingdom without them, they should have a chance to take part in the politics as well. And if we listened to them and satisfied their needs, their wishes, the kingdom would be happier."
Camus put his hands over his ears, all of the shouting was starting to get too loud. Ludwig forcefully closed the book in front of him, the first visible sign that Orpherus was getting to him.
"Clearly you have no clue what you're talking about, Orpherus. We can continue this discussion once you've decided to join the rest of us in the real world."
"That was uncalled for, Lui! Orphe lives in the exact same world as the rest of us, including you!"
Ludwig just glanced at Eduard before getting up from his chair.
"Naoji, let us leave before this gets ugly."
Naoji bowed his head and got up to follow Ludwig away from the house where they gathered during the breaks between classes, but Orpherus and Eduard got in their way before they had time to react.
"This is not over yet, Ludwig."
"Orpherus..."
Ludwig slowly put his hand onto the sword at his side and Camus looked up at them, and finally took two step towards them.
"Please... please, stop this."
He could see that his low whisper had not reached his friends, as Orpherus raised his hand to draw his sword.
"You must stop this, please."
He was certain that Eduard and Naoji heard him, as they turned their eyes towards him, but Orpherus and Ludwig still had their eyes locked onto eachother. He took two shaky steps closer to the four.
"Please, Lui, Orphe, stop this NOW!"
The two young men shifted their glances and looked at Camus, partly shocked that he had raised his voice as much as he had. A small blush appeared on Camus' cheeks and he turned his eyes towards the ground instead.
"You are making the flowers upset. Please do not fight over this matter again. It's not worth getting upset at each other about."
He raised his eyes again and looked at Ludwig, certain that at least he would hear his words.
"The place is getting an eerie feeling when you are fighting like that."
Ludwig's eyes got softer and his hand left the sword and fell down his side instead. Orpherus smiled towards Camus.
"I apologize, Camus, it seems my mind clouded over for a while there."
Camus shook his head and smiled.
"It's alright, Orphe, no one was hurt this time. I'm happy that you've stopped arguing now."
Ludwig took a tighter grip around his book and left the building without another glance at any of the others and Naoji quickly followed him. Eduard turned around and shouted after the two young men.
"Hey, Lui, you could at least apologize to Camus! He's your friend as well!"
Camus laid his hand on Eduard's arm.
"Eduard, it is alright. Lui has already apologized."
"I didn't hear it."
Camus smiled towards the tan boy.
"You didn't need too."
Eduard shook his head before smiling back at Camus.
"You're too gentle for your own good sometimes, Camus."
Camus just smiled a bit wider and got back to continue watering the flowers. As he picked up the watering can Orpherus knelt down beside him, his gentle hands caressing the flowers.
"I apologize to you too. I didn't mean to upset you. I know Camus care deeply for you, and as his friend so do I."
"They forgive you, Orpherus."
Orpherus smiled towards Camus.
"It makes me happy, Camus. I wouldn't want to hurt anything that you've poured this much heart into."
Camus watched as Orpherus gracefully got back up on his feet and turned towards Eduard.
"Well then, we should get going, class is about to start. Camus, try not to let the flowers get you late again."
Something sparkled in Orpherus eye and Camus blushed, turning his face towards the ground again. The flowers were laughing softly at him and he turned towards them as Orpherus and Eduard left the small garden.
"Oh, hush you."
Still, he was happy to have gained such good friends at the academy. He just hoped they could stop their arguing for good.
"Some day", he said softly with a smile towards the roses. "Someday they'll get over it."