True Ruler

Prompt: "That boy, always talking, always the slave of cruelty and the friend of hope."

Emil gave the now far away still-smoking palace a glance, getting a better view of it each time he got a little further up the mountain. Being taken away from the palace itself had made sense, considering the smoke the fire had been producing. However, at the time all three of them had left, the fire had only been affecting the wing containing the archives and Emil's quarters, and hadn't justified leaving the palace grounds, let alone the city grounds entirely, on horseback. Lalli and Reynir could not explain the reason for which they had led him to this mountain and were actively keeping him from turning back each time he made a move to do so, as he didn't speak either of their languages. Emil's father's reaction to his lack of ability to learn other languages had been to give him a retinue of foreign servants who didn't speak the local language in hope to motivate him. However, practicality had entailed having a scribe who understood what he said and shared a language with some of the servants, resulting in only a little organization being necessary for everyone to know what they were supposed to do. The scribe in question wasn't with them and asking where she was seemed to be the best way to make Lalli snub him for a few moments and Reynir sniffle. This only added to the strangeness of the situation, as those two were literally the last people in the world who would go anywhere without Tuuri; Lalli was her younger cousin and de facto ward, while it was quite frequent to see a given hair tie make its way from Tuuri's ponytail to the end of Reynir braid, or vice versa, overnight. Yet another strange detail was that having one of Tuuri's hair ties in his hair usually was a recipe for an entire day of Reynir getting the stink eye from Lalli. Today happened to be one of those days, yet Lalli's usual hostility towards Reynir had seemingly vanished in favor of scouting various directions pointed by him; from what Emil could tell, Reynir was the only one in their group with any idea of where they were going.

They eventually stopped at a small wood shed in the middle of a woody patch that had just enough horse tying poles for the three of them next to it. Emil was ushered inside by Lalli and Reynir, who made a few gestures that Emil understood to mean they wanted him to stay inside. Following this, Reynir went right back out. Lalli started a fire in the fireplace while Emil just watched; someone had once tried to teach him how to start a fire once, but he hadn't paid attention due to being convinced he would never need to do such a thing himself. Lalli's outfit looked a little strange due to consisting of Emil's dark riding boots and clothes consisting of drawstring pants and a shirt kept closed by a sash that might as well be sleepwear, if very nice sleepwear. The function with which the clothes came meant that there were no shoes to go with them, not even sandals or slippers, unless they were gifted to him; the person wearing them wasn't supposed to leave the bed, let alone the room in which the bed was. Only now, Emil realized what he had been expected to be doing when the fire had started, and possibly would have been, if he hadn't been appalled by the fact that someone had somehow gotten the idea that he wanted Tuuri's weird, if kind of adorable in his own way, cousin as a "toy". It had been quite obvious to Emil from the first few hours of meeting him a few years ago that Lalli was the kind of person who would never stop needing a watcher, and that Tuuri was taking on that duty in exchange for having an extra pair of hands when she needed it. Emil had once outright asked Tuuri why he was with her rather than back in their home country, only to get an amused "he's my bodyguard" in response. After what had happened just a few hours earlier, Emil wasn't quite sure she had been joking anymore. Barring the strange coughing fit that had preceded his sudden initiative to put as much space as possible between the two of them and the palace, Lalli had proven himself to be a fast runner with whom Emil had had trouble keeping up and capable of impressive acrobatics while half-dragging, half-escorting the slightly chubby royal Prince he was away from the fire. They had also somehow managed to not run into anybody not named Reynir during the escape that had turned into the gentlest abduction ever at some point and showed that Lalli knew how ride, as well. This hadn't fitted with Emil's image of Lalli on so many levels. Emil came to a realization: could the way Lalli had acted all those years have been a trick to fool people into thinking Tuuri had been sent away from her country without proper protection? Was he seeing the real Lalli for the first time? As if to prove him only half-right, Lalli suddenly closed his eyes and slapped his hands against his ears, as if to shut the world out. He next started that strange sound somewhere between a light growl and a moan that usually signaled that he really wanted to be left alone and risked reacting disproportionally to anyone trying to interact with him. The moan eventually changed into a slew of barely audible words, among them Tuuri's name. It wasn't rare for Lalli to ask for Tuuri in such moments if they happened while she wasn't around. Some of the other servants had discovered, by pure chance, that putting blanket over his head and back sometimes helped calm him down if Tuuri genuinely couldn't be disturbed. The only blankets they had were under the saddles, which were one the horses outside. Emil remembered that he had been wearing a coat all this time, took it off and put it over Lalli's head:
-You probably have a better idea of where she is than I do, and it's not like you can tell me where she is anyway, so this will have to do.
Emil's gesture only seemed to change the growl-moaning into sobs. After multiple attempts at alternate ways to calm him down, Emil somehow ended up sitting against the wall opposite to the shed's entrance, with a person who frequently swatted hands approaching him away like flies huddled against him, still sobbing and repeating Tuuri's name over and over again. What was taking Reynir so long? Emil still didn't know what had warranted taking him to the shed in the first place. Lalli looked very tired, he realized. Much more tired than himself. Maybe he needed to sleep a little. Emil remembered a childhood lullaby and started singing it.

Reynir looked at the food and other potentially useful plants he had managed to collect in his belt pouch and decided it ought to be enough to make a dinner for the three of them. He hoped that the spoiled Prince wasn't going to protest about the nature of the food, nor its quantity.
Hush little baby, don't say a word
Papa's going to buy you a little bird
Tuuri had always insisted that the Prince wasn't actually that bad a person, just used to the lifestyle that came with his position and oblivious to the efforts it took on the part of his servants to maintain it. But even she had had to open her eyes about the kind of person he really was when he had turned out to have requested Lalli to be his "toy".
And if that little bird don't sing
Papa's going to buy you a diamond ring
Just this morning, she had changed her mind back, after reading some of the foreign correspondence the Prince had received for his sixteenth birthday. Many of the people sending the Prince a letter for the very first time for the occasion had assumed that he at the very least knew the Shared Tongue, which was also the main language in Reynir's home country. The Shared Tongue being one of the three Tuuri spoke alongside her native one and the local one had made her the one translating the letters so the Prince could read them. She had shown the correspondence to Reynir despite the fact that she wasn't supposed to, and he had noticed the same thing she had. Each letter "kindly suggested reconsideration" for at least one policy that the Prince was allegedly going to put in place once he would become King. Many of the future policies mentioned were mutually exclusive with one of the others, and each country seemed to have heard only of those that would give its royalty a low opinion of the Prince. According to Tuuri, some of them contradicted the Prince's own words or were illustrative of very clear-cut positions on subjects about which the Prince had admitted to not caring at all.
And if that diamond ring turns brass
Papa's going to buy you a looking glass
In the middle of her observations, Tuuri had asked a strange question:
-Reynir, what made you start not liking him that much?
-I heard that he wanted to start producing a local brand of high-end wool and stop importing it from my country. And that he hoped the people there would eventually be the ones buying the wool produced here.
Reynir's family was a producer of the high-end wool that was currently doing very well across the continent, and their host country was its biggest client. Such a policy would entail either ruin or having to learn a new trade at an advanced age for his parents.
-I heard from someone who's friends with a local sheep farmer that the Prince's plan was to import even more wool from your country and make it cheap enough that more people could afford it. And come to think of it, it's not the first time I hear of servants that have completely different ideas about what the Prince's future plans are. And… oh no…
Tuuri had half-dropped her face in her hand while pinching her nose. The only other time Reynir had seen her do this before had been right before telling him about Lalli being picked as the Prince's future "toy".
-I… think whoever is behind this got me too. Taru wants to stay on his good side so… she told me to show no signs of contesting his decision about Lalli around him… to not even talk about it unless he brought the subject up. He never did… and it made me so mad at him… but… what if… he doesn't know Lalli is his bedroom right now?
A ringing bell had reminded them of the time. Reynir had been expected at the Prince's birthday party as part of the entertainment, while Tuuri had needed to finish translating the birthday correspondence to make as many messages as possible ready to be read by the time the Prince expected them.
And if that looking glass gets broke
Papa's going to buy you a billy goat
As a round of applause had congratulated the end of Reynir's party tricks, the archivist, rather than Tuuri, had come in with the translated letters on a silver tray. Reynir had decided to leave to go see Tuuri as soon as he was sure he wouldn't be missed but realized as soon as he got himself out of the party hall that he had used all his paper to perform the party tricks. Some King a long time ago had only seen the library, the archives and the paper supply room they shared only as rooms full of paper that could easily catch fire and had decided that each of them should be in a different wing of the palace. The archives had won out as the room to be in the same wing as the main royal quarters to enable swift storage and eventual consultation of official correspondence. Just as Reynir had been leaving the supply room, he had felt magic emanating from the talisman meant to signal whether Tuuri was in any kind of danger. As soon as he had smelled the faintest hint of smoke, his mind had put two and two together. Various people were making sure anyone who wasn't a professional rescuer of sorts stayed out of the entire wing. Reynir had quickly realized that only the easy ways in would be guarded and ran for the side of the building that had no ground-level entrances, but a few windows and balconies on the upper floors.
And if that billy goat don't pull
Papa's going buy you a cart and bull
Reynir got to the balconies just in time to see Lalli jump from one of the lower balconies, holding onto a short and chubby form that tuned out to unfortunately not be Tuuri. Lalli's first reflex after recovering from the landing had been to give a quick look around him, and the sight of Reynir had seemed to irritate him much less than usual. Actually, he had seemed a little relieved to see him. He had grabbed the Prince's arm, walked toward where Reynir had been standing and used his free hand to fetch for one of the talismans Reynir was wearing as a necklace under his shirt, and lifted it to the level of Reynir's eyes. It has been the very talisman that had signaled Tuuri was in trouble earlier, now cracked to the point that the lower half looked ready to fall off the upper one. Reynir had understood and remembered. "If one falls, the other two better leave." Lalli had refused to leave without the Prince for a reason Reynir hadn't been able to work out. Reynir had a hiding place in mind, and that hiding place happened to include a way for at least him and the Prince to find out what each of them knew of the situation.
And if that cart and bull fall down
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town

As Reynir got close to the shed, he realized that he had left the Prince alone with Lalli and that as far as the Prince was concerned… Reynir briefly questioned how much of the situation Lalli actually understood, considering how he had passed up an extremely unexpected opportunity to escape his predicament before any of the consequences even happened. He also quickly remembered that Lalli had plenty of reasons to not have noticed that specific facet of the situation. Reynir decided to knock before coming in as a precaution. While the Prince sounded a little annoyed, Reynir recognized the gist of his words as an approval of his entrance. What he saw was far down the list of what he had been expecting to come back to. The Prince's first gesture upon seeing Reynir was to point at Lalli who was sitting next to him and mime Lalli's usual "withdrawing from the world" gesture. The Prince's coat had apparently been put to good use in that regard, in addition to giving Lalli a much-needed extra layer of clothing as the evening cold was setting in. Reynir realized how drained Lalli looked, and suddenly feared that the day's events could not be the only reason. He rushed to Lalli, kneeled next to him, and fetched for one of his necklace talismans. It took a few moments to find the one that worked as a quick medical check-up, as the threads of the handful he was wearing had gotten tangled with each other. When he lifted it to put it on Lalli's forehead, the three other talismans he was keeping in that manner came with it. Needing to concentrate to do the medical exam, he didn't notice the lower half of one of the other talismans falling off and getting picked up by the Prince. Reynir let out a sigh of relief when Lalli turned out to not be suffering any ill effects from the fire, coming down with anything serious or have any physical wounds besides the bruises that could be expected from spending a few hours riding in glorified sleepwear and boots intended for someone a little shorter and much fatter. A little food and rest would be enough to get Lalli in enough shape to get himself to their intended hiding place, where he would be able to properly rest of the mild fever he was coming down with, on his own strength.

Reynir served the food he had gathered in three equal portions, using some of his sheets of paper as makeshift plates. Lalli ended up being the one among the three of them to stare at his food instead of touching it. As Reynir was working up the courage to go try getting some food inside Lalli in spite of the very real risk of getting punched in the jaw for it, he witnessed the Prince picking up one of the nuts in Lalli's "plate", peeling it and putting it into Lalli's mouth without meeting any kind of resistance. Lalli started chewing on it, and soon swallowed. This repeated a handful of times, until the Prince stared at the nut he was holding, ate it himself, and gave one of his own berries to Lalli. It took this for Reynir to realize that in the process of trying to give everyone an equal share of everything, he had given Lalli a few items he actually couldn't stand eating. The Prince, of all people, was the one correcting his mistake. One of the horses they had stolen had happened to have a canteen still attached to its saddle, which had enabled Reynir to collect some water. He gave a little to Lalli once he was done eating, then both the Prince and himself took a share. Reynir went back out to fetch more water and came back with the three saddle blankets. Reynir realized that if it hadn't been for what he had seen during the rest of the evening, he probably would have read something other than an attempt to give Lalli warmth during the night in the fact that the sleeping arrangements the Prince had fixed up for himself and Lalli involved them being huddled together. Reynir tried to not think of Tuuri and what she would have thought seeing this, as his top priority was to fall asleep so he could talk with Lalli in the spirit realm.

Concerning the fire, all Lalli had been able to figure out had been that it had started in the archives while Tuuri was in the room. Unfortunately, his magic worked in such a way that it had already been too late to save her by the time he had realized she was in trouble and Reynir had quickly figured out that it was still too early to ask more about it than he strictly needed to know. Saving the Prince, however, had been within Lalli's reach, so he had done it. When Reynir had asked him why he had gone through the trouble of saving the Prince given the circumstances, Lalli semi-reluctantly shared a set of his own memories with him, unsure how to explain by other means. Lalli had always been good about making himself scarce when Reynir and Tuuri needed to be alone. Tuuri had admitted to not being sure where he went in those moments but had decided to not worry since he always came back from wherever it was unharmed, and he probably needed a little alone time anyway. In hindsight, she probably should have paid a little more attention. Tuuri's room being right next to the archives had meant that it wasn't that far away from the Prince's either. Most servants being off work had meant that the Prince was, as well. The half-open balcony door and the half-dozen of palace cats in the Prince's room explained each other. The Prince greeted Lalli as he came into the room, and promptly went under the bed. There were a couple blankets and a pillow waiting for him there, as there had been ever since his second visit to the room. A plate with a pastry on it was soon slipped under the bed along with a few words, the Prince having guessed Lalli's favorite by offering him a different one on each of his first visits, then letting him pick one from a selection of a couple during the following ones. There hadn't really been much more to it as Lalli tended to have a nap after his snack and wake up to the Prince still chatting to the cats right around the time the coast was clear to go back to the room he shared with Tuuri. At best, he had found himself staring at the Prince a little more than before while Tuuri was working with him and to be able to tolerate looks coming from the Prince a little better than those coming from other people. The shared memories ended and Lalli spoke himself:
-Where are you taking us?
Reynir answered:
-Someone I know lives in the mountains and said myself and anyone I escaped with would be welcome if I ever found myself abruptly needing to leave the palace for at least some time. My guess is that you don't plan to bring his Highness back there anytime soon.
-You are correct. Does that acquaintance of yours have any travelling equipment or weapons? I want to take him to my country. He should be safe there. I… guess you can come if you want. Just know that what you and Tuuri were doing will have no value to anyone there, so you better be ready to earn your keep until people start wanting you around because they like you.
-He'll have everything we need. He can also speak with both his Highness and me. It might be a good idea to make him aware we are taking him to another country, and why.

xxxx

Mikkel was surprised that Sigrun didn't break her clay cup with the strength she used to slam it on the table. He couldn't do much about the reason behind it, unfortunately. News from town were bad enough that he couldn't exactly blame her for trying to get drunk badly enough to need a healer and reduce the chances of the plan being a danger to her life by getting drunk in a healer's house, his own as it happened.
-That bunch of nobles and merchants actually did it! King's dead, his woman's dead, Prince's dead and nobody misses them because they all think they were complete jerks. Now kid's uncle is going to be made King because his brats are still little and we'll be watching each of the three brats get convinced they'll make a better ruler than the two others over the next few years.
For someone who wasn't that much into politics, Sigrun had quite accurately summed up the reason the fire had managed to kill the main branch of the royal household while leaving the backup one intact. The King had never taken an official wife nor gotten to the "and a spare" part of the common wisdom on producing heirs. The Prince had been even less likely to go beyond the call of duty in that particular matter, and the fact that his "toy" was most likely going to be male meant that even the possibility of only one of the two children being legitimate was extremely slim. Many a female "toy", the most recent being the Prince's own mother, had produced a future King, due to such children being as good as legitimate when there were no actual legitimate children. A royal throne without any competition for it was the bane of "that bunch of nobles and merchants" as Sigrun called them, or the "True Rulers" as others not-so-euphemistically called them. The royal family had been a puppet to them for centuries, any personal political agenda taking a backseat to the sum of that of that of the "council members". The lavish lifestyle the royals got to enjoy by being the nominal rulers was in reality a perpetual bribe intended to keep them happy in spite of the situation. The end result was that the royal agenda known to the public ended up being whatever the True Rulers, or at least a majority of them, had managed to agree on. However, someone ending up King from lack of other candidates tended to strike a sensitive chord with the populace; it tended to suddenly remind people who were fine with their favorite among two siblings becoming King of the fact that the same family had stayed in power for centuries and give them revolt-oriented ideas. Because of this, would-be "by default" Kings tended to be replaced by another person in the line of succession while they still held the title of Prince, always in such a way that as few people as possible would feel sorry for them. Mikkel had guessed long ago this particular Prince would go via an "accident" and Sigrun had quit her job as his weapon handling instructor upon realizing that she was getting attached to a kid who was slated for a death that she was very unlikely to be able to prevent. Those who were a liability to any plans of the True Rulers, even without realizing it, tended to end up imprisoned for spurious but believable reasons, some of which could still ruin one's life once they were out. Mikkel's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, that remined him that he had offered his house as a temporary refuge to some of the palace servants he had gotten to know during his very brief tenure there.

Once all three of them had stopped in front of the mountain house that looked at least a little better than the shed in which they had spent the night, Lalli hadn't as much climbed off his horse as almost fallen off it. If he hadn't been ill the previous evening, he definitely was now. Emil had managed to find a way to both hold him upright and be able to take him to the door when the door in question opened, revealing a large blond man wearing sideburns that Emil took a few moments to place:
-Face-cancer guy!
The man, whatever his name was, looked in his direction, only for his perpetual squint to grow in to fully open eyes.
-You?
Emil usually had trouble making out sentences spoken in the Southern Region accent, but a single clearly and loudly pronounced word wasn't too much trouble. A voice marked by the much easier to understand Western Region accent emerged from inside the house:
-Hey, wait, I think I know that voice.
Another familiar face, on which Emil was able to quickly place the name "Sigrun", showed up in the doorway:
-Wow. Either I'm more drunk than I thought I was, or it's really you. Wait a sec… if you are here… why was everyone in town talking about the guards finding a charred body that must have belonged to someone your general size in the burned down part of the building?

xxxx

Lalli was bedridden for a couple of days with a fever, and it took about the same time for Emil to adjust to what had happened according to Reynir, Lalli and Sigrun. Spirit realm communication, which Emil knew to be only be possible between two mages, had enabled Reynir to find out what Lalli knew of the situation. Reynir had shared that alongside with his own information with Mikkel, who had shared it with Sigrun, whom Emil was able to understand. The half of a decorated metal circle that had fallen off one of Reynir's necklaces, which Emil had planned to give back to him at some point, had suddenly become very hard to part with; Reynir had said Emil could keep it if he wanted, since he still had the half tied to his necklace. Mikkel and Sigrun had agreed that going to another country where people were unlikely to recognize him sounded like a good idea. Luck had it that he already had one lined up. However, they also both considered that he should decide what he wanted to do and take the next step that best suited it. There was just one catch: they really wanted him to have his mind made up by the time Lalli would be in shape to travel again, as Mikkel could only hide them for a limited time before someone besides Sigrun became aware he had visitors. On the third morning, as Lalli was finally able to get out of bed, something resembling a long-term plan sprouted in Emil's mind. He wasn't sure how doable it was, however.

Getting Emil, Reynir and Lalli prepared to travel to the latter's country involved all three of them getting new outfits, haircuts and hairdos. Lalli's hair only needed be tied in the back of his head to make him almost unrecognizable. Emil's was cut short enough that he only needed to run his hand through it to make it neat, but long enough that it still looked nice. When it came to Reynir, the only way to conceal his characteristically poor haircut choice was to cut the braided part of the hair to the length of his bangs. Tuuri's hair tie found a new home around Lalli's extremely short ponytail. The next step was to choose weapons among Mikkel's small hidden stock. Reynir traded his visibly palace-produced knife for one a random traveler was more likely to have. Emil found a sword that suited him. Lalli tried three different bows before settling on one. Sigrun had watched his shots through Mikkel's window and let out an amazed whistle when he had used the bow he had ended up picking.

xxxx

That evening's dinner was going to be the last before all five of them left for Lalli's country. Mikkel and Sigrun knew they wouldn't be able to stay in the country very long after helping someone the True Rulers wanted dead. Lalli didn't mind having them along according to Reynir. This left one last worry in the back of Emil's mind, as Lalli had elected to sit next to him for dinner:
-Hey, Mikkel, could you ask Reynir if he knows what the deal is with Lalli? It's not that I mind him or the help he's offering me, but I am… how can I say it… a little lost concerning him after the past few days.
As Mikkel spoke to Reynir, Emil couldn't help but suddenly wonder if he still had that incomprehensible accent when he spoke the Shared Tongue. Reynir's explanation took some time, and Emil really hoped it would get at least a little shorter by the time it got to Sigrun. Sigrun's turn quickly came:
-It looks like the sort version of the story is that Lalli had no engagement in the politics going on in the palace beyond besides needing to protect Tuuri if someone ever tried to attack her. He saved you the other day for no other reason than there being a fire and not wanting you to die. But apparently, the reason he wasn't involved in the politics is similar to the reason you don't expect a person born blind to get into painting. He's never been able to lie convincingly and is basically deaf to many covert means of communication. The whole thing about an honest man being the most suspicious thing in a room full of liars made it so that somewhat of an act was required to make him look as harmless as he is to the True Rulers. But not everything was an act either. Those episodes during which he shuts himself out of the world when it becomes too much for him are real, for instance. Reynir hasn't been told much more by Tuuri and is not on the best terms with Lalli on a personal level, so this is all he's able to share with Mikkel.
Emil stayed silent for a few moments as he took that information in. He knew the first thing he wanted to tell Lalli, even if he didn't understand him:
-Thank you for considering me worth saving.
Lalli seemed to at least understand that he had told him something nice.

Mikkel suddenly spoke and Sigrun "translated" for him:
-He's wondering if you have any idea what you want do once we've left yet.
Emil answered truthfully:
-I have been cooking up something during the day. At that point, I'm still wondering if it's possible.
Sigrun pointed out the obvious:
-We won't be able to help unless you tell us what it is.
Emil took an inspiration before voicing his thoughts:
-I've been taught to be ready to rule this country and I still want to do it in some way. I know that hiding in Lalli's country for some time is my best option right now, but I'd like to come back someday. Maybe under another name and appearance if it's the only way. I was thinking that I should learn some kind of trade that would give me a good reason to be travelling and thought a merchant of sorts could be a good idea. Then I realized some members of the True Rulers are merchants. Do any of you know how successful I would need to be as a merchant to become part of the True Rulers?
Emil had just the time to see a smile form on Mikkel's face before Sigrun slapped him on the back strongly enough for his face to end up in his plate.
-I like it. Too bad Mikkel is probably about to list about a hundred reasons it wouldn't work.
Mikkel's mumbled sentence was a little short to actually be a hundred reasons the idea should fail.
-What did he say?
-Some poetic banality about those aiming for the moon and missing it hitting stars instead. I guess it's a "yes, let's give it a try" after all.

That evening, in the spirit realm, Reynir explained Emil's plan to Lalli:
-Anything you want to say about this I can share with the others tomorrow?
-Ask them if travelling merchants can sell pastries.