Author's Note: This was written for the March TPE Challenge. It is fluffier than what I usually write, but I hope you enjoy it, anyway.
Gold at the End of the Rainbow
There was a leprechaun in the room, and Kaddar didn't know what to make of it. At least, he thought that the foot-high creature with copper hair and clover-green garments that had launched onto his ankles and was now trying to remove the golden bangles encircling them was a leprechaun from one of the northern Carthaki conquests.
"Let go," snapped Kaddar, yanking his legs free and scowling down at the now cackling little man. "You look clever enough to know not to assault the heir to the Imperial throne."
Having only returned to the university an hour ago from the Imperial Court, where he had been named the new heir after the previous one had been poisoned by Ozorne over Midwinter, Kaddar was still not finished with the novelty of pulling rank with his new title. In fact, one of the reasons he was visiting Master Reed's office right now was because he wished to taunt his favorite teacher for the first time in weeks by pretending to pull rank.
"Ah, Your Highness," Master Reed muttered, turning away from one of his habitats with a rather absent expression. "I didn't hear you enter. One day, I'm going to remember to put secrecy spells on my door, and you'll regret not knocking."
"I know that if I knock, you'll only forget to answer the door." Smiling, Kaddar attempted to sidestep the leprechaun, which ended up being a mistake that wiped the grin off his face, as the little man clutched his knees and began climbing up his thighs, doubtlessly in search of more golden jewelry.
"No, Cormac," scolded Master Reed, and, to Kaddar's surprise, the creature, grumbling about wanting more gold to boil in his pot, released Kaddar's legs and back flipped onto the floor. "If you attack my guest again, I won't let you eat supper with me in the master's dining hall."
"The masters will appreciate eating with a beast crazier than a marmoset about as much as they would a sword in the chest," Kaddar said, deciding that he wouldn't attempt to move closer to Master Reed's habitats, after all, if a lunatic leprechaun was in his path.
"He arrived three days ago," answered Master Reed, "and I've been trying to teach him manners ever since. I think it would be good for some of my stiffer colleagues to unwind for the first time since their hair began to gray."
"You just want them to have heart attacks." Kaddar snickered. "I'll bet the person who sent this beast to you hopes you have a heart attack, too."
"Nonsense." Dismissively, Master Reed waved his hand. "Cormac was sent to me by a mage in one of Carthak's northern conquests. She was one of my best students—unlike certain insolent pupils in this room who will remain nameless—and she sent Cormac for me to study as a gift. She'd like for me to return him within the month, however. Leprechauns aren't easy to catch, you know."
"Really?"Kaddar asked dryly, arching an eyebrow. "You could have fooled me with the way this beast leaped out at me. I must have a talent for catching leprechauns."
"I do understand what you ugly giants are nattering on about, you know," growled the leprechaun, glowering up at Kaddar with eyes as green as his clothing. "For the record, I don't appreciate being studied or experimented on when I'm near enough to being human."
"In Carthak, we experiment with humans," Kaddar observed coolly, not knowing whether he loathed or accepted that fact about his fatherland. "We force smart, strong, or handsome slaves to couple to discover if they will breed smart, strong, or handsome stock."
"Humph," grunted the leprechaun, looking almost as if he thought missing supper would be a fair price for kicking Kaddar's shins. "You have a lot of nerve to call me a beast, then."
"No, just a wonderful sense of irony," Kaddar responded, deadpan. Glancing at Master Reed, he added, "You should send him to the Emperor as a gift. He's the real gold at the end of the rainbow."
"Some presents just need to be re-gifted, or that's what my mother always said." Master Reed chuckled. "Yet, the fact remains that this one is only lent to me for a month, and so it not mine to re-gift."
"Maybe that's a good thing." Kaddar found that he couldn't joke about his uncle, after all. He needed to be serious and bitter, especially when with those he trusted enough to be honest about his thoughts and feelings without fear of betrayal or murder. "Your dear little friend would probably be poisoned or placed in the menagerie. My uncle would never stand for being made the butt of any joke, and, thus, he makes an ass out of himself."
"I never will be able to teach you to watch your mouth when you speak about the Emperor." With a despairing sigh, Master Reed threw up his hands as if to demonstrate his hopeless lack of control over the prince's impetuous tongue. "You're determined to get yourself executed or exiled. A suicidal lad to break any mother's heart, I'm sure."
"That's why my mother gave me a special piece of jewelry." Kaddar smiled cryptically, and, when Master Reed's eyes, for once as shrewd as they were when scrutinizing plants and animals, lit upon the ornaments capable of detecting poison, he knew that both of them understood that he was at least safe from meeting the same slow, torturous, and bloody fate the last Carthaki heir had suffered. "I'm certain she'd call what she gave me the insurance that there will be gold at the end of the rainbow for me."