The alarm sounded. Jake moaned and rolled over reluctantly, he hadn't slept well, plagued with dreams of the fighting and fire and destruction. The alarm kept ringing, seemingly getting louder with each repetition of the tune. Jake pulled up his pillow and tried to shove it in his ears but it was no use; he rolled over, groaning and slammed his fist on the top of the tiny alarm clock, deadening the noise, however, he was already awake and there was no hope of him drifting back to sleep. He opened his eyes, although there was no use trying to check the time without his glasses on, everything was blurry and nonsensically dark. His spirits dropped further as he remembered the day, the gloomiest day of the year, the changing of seasons. The sun wasn't going to rise today; the castle was going to be plunged in darkness, which was what it felt at that moment. Jakes room seemed unwelcoming; it was large, not unlike his own room, with a full poster bed, a large wardrobe and a desk with "compulsory" dresser. He wasn't at all accustomed to the way of life with maids and waiters adoring on him, even if it wasn't exactly a new concept. All the royals had the same treatment, and they also had guards, which were the worst of it; Jake liked to think that he was mostly responsible for himself, that he could protect himself fine without the need for constant guarding, however, the other royals had insisted on the guarding and monitoring of people inside and outside the castle. It was all a big faff in Jake's opinion, nothing more than an odd paranoid thought that had manifested itself into this awful rule.
He swung his legs out of bed slowly, raising his heavy head and fumbling on the desk for his glasses; putting them on was like focusing a camera, and he was grateful that through the war, his only pair of glasses had managed to come out, unscathed apart from a scratch to the rims where he had dodged a spear from a rather angry Derse soldier. Jake was weary, tired from little sleep but also cautious, although he didn't like the idea of guards patrolling the grounds, he knew that he, as a royal, was a potential target for attack. With darting eyes, he scanned the room for anything unusual; a lifetime of looting caves and ancient ruins had taught him a thing or two about traps, and nothing was able to pass his eagle eyes. However, it was hard to make out any objects in his room, as the summer light dwindled and clouds formed overhead.
Jake got up, turning on a small light in his room, it was just enough light to illuminate most of the objects in the room sufficiently for him to dodge the artefacts that littered the floor and get to his cabinet. He groaned once more as the all too familiar formal dress almost called to him as he remembered the meeting that was arranged for this morning; diplomats based in both Derse and Prospit were to be coming to meet the royals about a peace agreement and cease fire that was to be taken place soon. He slipped on the golden crested jacket and trousers and hooked his crown onto the belt in which his pistols also lay. Jake liked showing them off, putting them into clear view to let others, namely spies of assassins, that he was never unequipped or without a means of defence. Nevertheless, he hadn't had to use them for anything other than show as of yet, he mostly spent his days aimlessly wondering around the castle grounds, even though he longed to go beyond the kingdom walls of Prospit. Recently, his schedule had been too full with meetings and talks to be able to truly get away and relax for a while, plus, the others would never allow such a thing, without a dozen armed guards.
Jake sighed and turned to the door, his hand hovering above the handle momentarily before firmly opening it and walking briskly down the deserted corridor. He was headed to the meeting room, there was no point in standing around, waiting and doing nothing, he wanted to be moving, at least acting like he was taking part in the negotiations; but he was tired, really tired, the talks had seemingly been going on forever, and with no obvious end in sight, Jake was starting to get tiresome. He stopped in the door of the meeting room; it was a rather large room, capable of hosting huge parties, even half of the army, around a long thin desk which ran the entirety of the length. There were tall thin chairs that lined the edge, with 4 grand, golden chairs that were placed at the very top, directly opposite the door, for the 4 royal children of Prospit. Although these chairs in particular were lavishly decorated, the whole room was very grand and imposing, with large stain glass windows that stretched high up towards the ceiling, almost like a grand cathedral. This wasn't the place to be holding such tense talks; the room looked as if it was meant to hold a wedding of some sort, with the gold trimmings and delicate table garments as a sign of wealth for the state.
Jake sighed, a long, heavy, and very tired sigh. He didn't understand why the people were at such unease toward each other; true, they had never really gotten along throughout the history of the two kingdoms but it wasn't fair to drag the royals into their own petty disputes. Roxy and Dirk were his friends, he could never bear to fight them, even if they didn't see eye to eye on some things; him and Dirk also had a past, sure, but that was no reason to be spiteful.
Jake walked down the table, towards the end of the room, running his hand along the top of the lavishly decorated yellow chairs and paused as he approached the end. Turning towards the entrance, he flopped into his chair, glancing out of the window. The glass gave the streets below an even yellower tinge to them, but Jake could still make out the clouds that were rolling through the streets from Derse. It should have been a nice sunny day, had it not begun to turn to the gloomy, rainy season that was winter. Jake had never been that keen on the darkness of the winter months, nobody was; it was hard to keep a kingdom running smoothly without the help of Derse, but alas, this treaty would be able to sort out their problems, he didn't think the people could last another winter, the last had been dreary enough as plagues and disease rocked the kingdom and pushed it to the limits. Jake slid down his chair, worried at the prospect of the winter to come but hopeful that the diplomats would be able to pull through just in time; he closed his eyes for a brief moment.
...
The desk rocked violently as Kankri scribbled furiously onto the notes lying on his desk; the desk was old and shaky enough, he had received it as a gift from the Prospit royals to start his career in diplomacy along with his own office and a few heartfelt gifts, the letter that he received upon passing his training was framed, and sat neatly on the desk among other papers. Today was his big day, a possible breakthrough in his career; Kankri had a meeting with the Prospitian royals about the negotiation papers for a cease fire and meeting on neutral ground from the royals of both Kingdoms. Prospit and Derse had arrived at a shaky peace, allowing for essential trade only, but this was at liberty to break apart in an instant.
Kankri gazed out the window at the elegant golden streets and spires; it had been his home as long as he could remember, and before now, he'd never had a reason to travel outside of the boundary walls, so he was more than a bit nervous at the prospect of travelling across the plains to Derse. Unwillingly, he started to retract back into his bright red turtleneck sweater, shaking slightly. He wondered what it would be like to step into Derse streets, to hear the bustle of an unfamiliar city; he knew it was extremely unlikely that they would attack him, all diplomats wore neutral colours to distinguish themselves as non-biased citizens. However, it was a daunting prospect nevertheless. Kankri pulled himself out of his sweater and picked up his cloak from where he had carelessly dropped it that very same morning. It was also coloured in a vibrant red, to show he had no alignment favouring either Kingdom, however, he only just began wondering whether the colour was going to make him stand out more; Kankri sighed and shook his head, maybe he should have opted for a grey, at least something less, obvious, as this.
Regardless of the colour of his cape, Kankri was feeling confident in himself; as a newbie in the ranks of diplomats, it was a privilege to be chosen to host the negotiations as others had so rightfully told him, the whole future of the Kingdoms was riding on the success of him. Admittedly, his work was tiring, but in the end, he was one of a few people who could do it well, and someone had to keep people from declaring war on each other! He checked the time, the meeting was in an hour or so; Kankri decided as the first official meeting, he should start how he was meaning to go on and be nice and early, such as to prepare the notes. He stood up abruptly and grabbed the notes, marching towards the door as he threw his cape on; he opened it and stepped out into the fresh air.
The day was dreary, so much as to try and dampen the spirits of Kankri; the air was wet with moisture as the dry hot summer was replaced with the dark sticky days of winter. The street was dimly lit and Kankri decided it would be best to leave his hood on top of his shoulders, as not to frighten anyone who may have ventured out and braved the first day of winter. He took a moment to breathe deeply as he shut the small wooden door behind him, swinging the sign on the door to 'closed'. With one last exhale, he stood up straight and set off for Prospit's main keep.
