"That's the King," Alya stated flatly, her eyes following Marinette's not so subtle head nod. "We were already in agreement that he was hot."
"No!" Marinette hissed and her ears folded back. "Look past the king."
Alya narrowed her eyes in the direction Marinette indicated. "You mean the darkly dressed sleepy looking fellow? That's the man you were ogling this morning?"
Marinette didn't even answer, only buried her face in her arms, and hoped Alya couldn't see the blush tinging her large round mouse ears.
"He is pretty handsome."
"You should have seen him without a shirt," squeaked Marinette. "He has these tattoos, Alya. These flower tattoos all over his back and left arm."
"You sound pretty smitten with this guy," there was no hiding the smirk in the fox's tone. "What exactly did I miss this morning?"
"I already told you everything that happened!"
"You're telling me that some half naked flirting has already got you this far gone?"
"He was really charming."
"Clearly."
Marinette reclined against a pile of pillows, nursing a glass of whine and discreetly watching the King and his Shadow while Alya gave flirty smiles to one of the palace guards.
Around them the welcoming party was already in full swing. Feline folk from all over Adrien's territory had shown up to meet the Monkey ambassadors and welcome them to the Kingdom. Village leaders, city mayors, lords, counts and countesses, and many more made introductions, eager to make their acquaintance. Most of the beast folk were felines, and many of them were surprised to find the Monkey Ambassador was a mouse.
After meeting so many people the girls were more than ready to just relax in the provided pillows, and snack on the buffet of endless food. Each guest brought their own dish to the event, a sample of the various village's and town's flavors, making it one of the largest potlucks the girls had ever witnessed.
Even their monkey guards were off enjoying themselves, lost to the festivities.
Alya giggled and hid her face in Marinette's side.
"What's got you all worked up?"
The fox grinned up at her mischievously, "I keep making the King's guard all flustered and blushy." As if to demonstrate she turned to look back at a darker skinned man by the buffet table. Alya wiggled her fingers at him, and swished her tail back and forth and immediately the man's face turned three shades darker. Both women watched him choke on a piece of cucumber and dart away.
"You're awful," chastised Marinette.
"But he's so adorable," Alya whined.
Marinette snuck a glance at the King and his Shadow again, only to find Luka watching her over his own glass of wine. She could almost swear the corner of his mouth turned up in the most subtlest of smiles. Those sleepy eyes sparkled with curiosity as his tongue swiped his upper lip.
She quickly averted her gaze, chugged a mouthful of wine and painfully forced a swallow while trying not to cough. Her cheeks were flushed and felt on fire, which she suspected had little to do with the alcohol.
"Awww, you're being all cute too," Alya teased, resting her head on Marinette's shoulder. "You should go up and talk to him."
"Ack!" this time Marinette did choke, and felt wine flood her nose. "I will do no such thing!"
"Why not?"
The hall erupted with cheering as a large serval managed to tag a scarf dangling from ceiling. One of the various games set up to entertain the guests, and give them a chance to show off their skills. This particular one was a game of jumping.
Marinette was too distracted by the wine dripping out her nose to care, but she was grateful for the distraction. Less people to notice her predicament. Wincing against the sting she replied, "Because he's the King's Shadow! He's important, and working, and mysterious and..."
"And you think he's hot stuff and are too much of a fraidy cat to go talk to him. No offense," Alya said to a passing feline man, whom shot her a confused smile, clearly not having overheard their conversation.
Marinette finished mopping up her face, and wrinkled her nose at Alya.
Before either of them could continue the conversation their attention was caught by obnoxious high pitched laughter. Both woman turned to spot the yellowest woman they'd ever seen approaching them, flanked by a couple of other fancy ladies.
It was easy to deduce this woman fancied varying shades of yellow, she was blonde and thin, with sharp features and piercing blue eyes. Her hair looked like spun gold, and she had a fluffy mane of delicate fuzz around her neck and shoulders, leading into a luxurious dress with rich amber and bumblebee yellow tones.
This woman was not native to the Cat Kingdom, and definitely not a member of a cat tribe. If the black antenna poking off the top of her head weren't a dead giveaway, the enormous insect wings hanging off her back like a train were.
Marinette suddenly had the suspicion that the fluffy mane of fur around her neck was less of a fashion statement and actually a characteristic of her animal nature. Or insect in this case.
"You must be the ambassadors," blonde woman crowed as soon as she was near enough to them. Her voice may have dripped of honey, but it was also laced with a tone of superiority and amusement that set Marinette on edge immediately.
She stopped a couple feet away from the girl's pile of pillows, and made no secret that she was scrutinizing them, raking her eyes up and down Alya first, then Marinette. Her once bright smile curled into a frown, shadows taking up residence in her eyes. "Oh, you're not monkeys."
One of her companions leaned in to whisper in her ear, and the light sparked right back into her eyes like someone had ignited a match. She looked at both woman again, this time skipping over Alya, and fixing her attention on Marinette.
"So they sent a mouse to a kingdom filled with cats? God this is rich." All at once her smile became cruel. "Their King is a bigger buffoon than I thought."
Marinette felt her teeth grind.
Alya placed a hand on her tail, which must have been twitching back and forth, and cut in to speak, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced."
Blonde smiled at them the way someone would smile at an ignorant child, "you must be a sheltered fox, since your Kingdom adores me. I am Chloé Bourgeois, a close friend of Adrikins. My daddy does business with nearly every kingdom in the region. All except your kingdom," she turned her attention back to Marinette. "Your King refused to open trade with us."
"Kim's still new," Marinette found herself sticking up for him, despite his recent foolish behavior. They had been childhood friends, growing up together. As teens they'd even been each other's first love. While the relationship had only lasted a couple years before both of them matured and realized they weren't right for the other, they still remained close friends even when Kim applied to become the next King. She even helped him study and train to pass the ascension tests. "He's young and impulsive and still learning the ropes. But I'm sure he had good reasons not to jump straight into business deals the moment he assumed the crown."
Chloé scoffed, "He's a buffoon that's going to cripple his kingdom's trade economy."
"He's a baboon," Marinette surged up from the ground, her ears curling back and her tail lashing dangerously behind her. "And he won't be crippling anything! Le Chien Kim worked hard to earn that position, and he'll be a great King."
"Then why are you here?" sneered Chloé. "Kissing Adrikin's boots because your King couldn't show some respect?"
Marinette felt the heat of magic rolling off her shoulders. Before she could stop herself she hissed at Chloe, and it was Alya, yanking hard on her tail, that caused her to stop mid-hiss and compose herself.
"Would you look at that, the mouse has buck little teeth!"
She clapped a hand over her mouth, and flushed in embarrassment. It wasn't like her to get so worked up that she let her teeth shift.
"That's enough," snarled Alya, stepping in and attempting to put space between them. "You ridicule our King for his behavior, but you're being just as rude. If not more so."
"Your King is so incompetent he couldn't even send the right species to represent his kingdom. A fox and a mouse? Really? Is he running a Monkey Kingdom or that human fairytale, Noah's arc? What's next is he going to marry a slimy frog?"
"What is going on here?" King Adrien suddenly broke into their confrontation glaring sharply between the two ambassadors and Chloe.
"Adrikins," Chloé swooned dramatically, pressing the back of her wrist to her forehead. "These diplomats were being just as rude to me as their King was to you."
"Your, Majesty," started Marinette, "I can explain—"
Adrien held up a hand, "My complications with Le Chien Kim are between him, the ambassadors, and myself. Not you, Chloé. I'm sure this confrontation is a misunderstanding we can work through peacefully?"
"That rat snarled at me," Chloé jabbed a finger at Marinette before feigning a faint into one of the ladies beside her. "She threatened violence against me, my delicate sensibilities have been harmed!"
"Your, Majesty it was a mistake. I didn't mean to—"
"Oh bullshit!" Alya barked, cutting off her friend. "She's fine!"
"Viscountess Césaire!" snapped Adrien in warning, fixing the women with a silencing look. He whipped his attention back to the overly dramatic blonde. "Lady Chloé, please refrain from carelessly throwing about accusations."
"But it's true," she insisted. "I've never been more insulted, and by mere vermin!"
"Vermin!?" This time when Marinette hissed she didn't even try to prevent all her teeth from changing.
"Look at that, Adrien!"
"ENOUGH!" roared the King, his own canines elongating with his loss of temper. The event hall fell into silence, as everyone's attention was drawn to them. Adrien closed his eyes, flattened his ears, and tired to relax the fur on his bristling tail. "Countess Dupain-Cheng, you have my sincerest apologies for—where is the Countess?" He blinked about, searching around for the suddenly missing ambassador.
"She tucked tail and ran off before you so cruelly yelled at me," sniffed Chloé, managing to look completely wounded, even by the King.
Adrien narrowed his slitted pupils and jabbed a claw at her, "You, are coming with me. I want to have a word with you." His voice was tinged with a low growl, but he worked to suppress it before addressing Alya, "please accept my apologies for this situation." Then he turned to his Shadow, who had been standing at a distance observing the entire incident in silence. "Luka, please go find Countess Dupain-Cheng and express my deepest apologies, and if you could, bring her back."
Luka didn't speak, only giving the King a nod before sweeping out of the event hall in the direction Marinette had disappeared.
"You're sending him after her?" Chloé stifled a laugh behind her hand, "even you must consider her a nothing but a meal then."
Adrien seized Chloe's wrist, none too gently, and began dragging her from the event hall, "please excuse us, ladies, Viscountess Césaire. I'll be back shortly."
00
She probably shouldn't have fled. It wasn't very courageous or responsible of her to suddenly stalk out of the event hall, but her body had begun to shift and the last thing she wanted was to transform in front of a crowd out of anger.
There wasn't anything wrong with shifting at the party, other guests were doing it constantly, but it was poor form to lose control and shift because of anger, and she was already feeling completely mortified from the confrontation.
Marinette took a steadying breath and wiggled her little toes. She sniffed back a few tears and used her paws to clean the moisture off her snout.
In her mouse form she was easily the size of a wild dog. Everyone was so keen to point out she was a mouse like it meant she was some meek little prey animal, but if it came down to it she would take on and fight even the largest tiger in this Kingdom.
There is no way I'm letting a snobby BEE get to me. What is she? The size of a sandwich? Marinette snorted and felt a little better. Slowly glittering pink magic rippled over her body as muscles, skin and bone, distorted and began shifting back into a humanoid form.
The magic brought her clothing back as well, leaving her sitting on the steps of a stone pavilion in her lovely pink evening gown embroidered with black lace along the sleeves and waist.
You can do this. Kim has faith in you. He asked you because he trusts you more than anyone else in the world. Except for maybe Max.
She continued to sit there for another five minutes, listening to the din of the party in the distance and the comforting sounds of insects in the garden. Something stirred in the bushes, startling her at first, until a small house cat darted from the garden to come rub against her leg.
Judging from its perfectly normal size, this was a regular old house cat and not one of the beast folk who always shifted into an animal of unusual size.
"Hello pretty kitty," she greeted, letting the cat smell her before giving it a scratch along the side of its face. From the markings she deduced it to be a common tabby. The cat welcomed the affection, offering a purr in return and continued to rub itself against her. "Go ahead," Marinette giggled, "it's nigh impossible to avoid getting covered in cat fur in this kingdom anyway."
A chill suddenly washed over her, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
She didn't really hear him, which was odd, but her nose had picked up a peculiar smell, one she didn't outright recognize but still put her nerves on high alert. Marinette whipped her head around to find the King's Shadow standing awkwardly by a pillar on the other side of the pavilion, closest to the palace.
Luka blinked at her, like he was surprised she noticed him, before raising his hand to wave at her and silently mouth, "hi."
She hesitated a moment before returning the awkward wave, the corner of her mouth twitching up into a smile despite herself.
He stepped away from the pillar and approached her carefully, as if he were afraid his presence might cause her to bolt. Once again he was dressed in dark colored clothing; a long dark grey overcoat with a ridiculously wide belt around his middle. His pants were ink black, with boots that matched his coat. It was fitting given his position; she supposed he chose those colors so as avoid being noticed and to melt into the shadows.
Luka stopped a couple feet away from her and hesitated. After a moment he took a seat next to her on the pavilion steps that lead into the garden.
An uncomfortable silence hung heavily in the air. She noted that he wore long fingerless gloves that hid the rose-vine tattoo on his left arm.
"I hear a song from your heart," he said in a low voice.
That caught her off guard. "Y-yeah? It's beating that loud, huh?"
Luka released a gentle chuckle and she swore she was going to hear that sound in her dreams.
"Not that kind of song," he corrected, "although I'm sure your heart could keep a fantastic beat. But It's more like..." Luka glanced around like he was searching for something before stitching his brows at a clump of decorative grass within arm's reach. He plucked a strand of grass and held it between his thumbs, taking a breath before holding it to his lips and blowing.
The grass gave a sharp fweeeet sound.
"Nope," Luka coughed and tossed the blade of grass off to the side. "That wasn't right... sorry."
Marinette didn't know whether she was allowed to laugh or not, and had to fight the trembling in her lips. She settled for hiding her smile behind her hand.
She watched him twist the hem of his overcoat in his hands. "I'm really not good with words. This would be easier with my guitar," he explained.
"You could hum it?" Marinette found herself suggesting before she even realized what she said. What? No! What are you doing? He's not going to want to hum at you! That's just super weird!
"Oh," he started, and smoothed the hem of his clothing out again. "I could try. But you'll have to forgive my voice, I don't normally sing for an audience. Or hum in this case," he added with a smile.
Her cheeks were heated with a blush when he cleared his throat and began humming a melancholy song.
Sadness? Hopelessness?
She opened her mouth to protest that she wasn't that depressing when his humming took on a more volatile and impassioned tune.
Marinette found herself closing her mouth, her ears twitching to study the song a little closer.
There was something strangely familiar about it, even though she knew she had never heard the song before. And yet... the emotions it invoked, troubled but determined and maybe a little lost, they harmonized with something inside of her.
Maybe this is what's in my heart. She closed her eyes and placed her hands in her lap, only to realize the tabby had curled up on her legs. Marinette stroked its fur as she continued to listen.
The song came to a close and Luka paused to take a breather.
"That was... accurate..." she admitted.
"You shouldn't have to feel like that," he said lowly. "You deserve to have a happier song in your heart before the night ends."
There was that blush again, this time burning the tips of her ears like a flame. "That's v-very sweet of you, Luka."
"They're playing nice music back in the event hall. Maybe I could escort you back and we could dance?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Marinette faltered, she nervously stroked the cat in her lap. "I made a pretty big fool of myself in there."
"No you didn't," he insisted, and twisted a bit in her direction. "That was just Chloé, she likes to stir up drama. The king actually sent me to apologize on his behalf."
"That's very kind of him," she tucked a stray lock of hair behind one of her ears, and couldn't help but fiddle with her earring.
"Chloé is a friend from his childhood, and she can be difficult to handle... nearly all the time. But that doesn't excuse her rude behavior."
"I suppose I can relate to that," she nodded. "I mean difficult childhood friends, that is. I have one, he's a King now, or at least trying to be, he's not very good at it yet. But I believe in him! He's got a big heart and a strong spirit, when he isn't posturing like an ape. Oh god, now I'm rambling—sorry."
Luka placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "it's alright. I'm sure your friend will become a great leader."
"When he learns to keep his mouth shut," Marinette snorted in amusement, then suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth, dropping her ears back. "Oh geez, that was rude. I shouldn't talk about him like that."
You're secret is safe with me," he assured.
Luka didn't pressure her to return to the party, he simply sat next to her while they listened to the chorus of insects chirping in the garden. Occasionally he would lick his lips, which she assumed to be an idle habit, like nail biting or hair twirling. The uncomfortable silence that had hung between them when he first arrived had pretty much dissolved, and Marinette found herself appreciating his patience and company.
Eventually he began humming again, this time it was quieter, and she had to strain her ears a little harder to hear. This song was lighter, filled with an energy of anticipation and hopefulness. Not quite happy, and definitely not carefree, but it still filled her with a sense of pleasure like the thrill of the unknown.
He continued to hum for another minute before falling silent once more, his hands moving to worry the hem of his clothing again.
"My heart wasn't playing music again was it?"
"Oh, uh... no," he murmured, and she swore she could see the color of a blush stain his cheeks. "It was mine."
Her heart rate to spiked like she got struck with bolt of electricity. Marinette decided that she was going to do something really stupid if they continued to sit out on the pavilion alone.
"Party!" She suddenly surged up from the steps, startling Luka and causing him to recoil into a stalk straight sitting position. "The party—you offered a d-dance. I'd like to do you now, if you still want to—I mean it! Not you! No! No doing, just dancing... with you." Luka's usually sleepy eyes were the size of dinner plates while she continued on like an absolute fool. "Or anyone!" she corrected herself, "I mean it doesn't have to be just with you, but you asked and I... I'm just gonna die now."
Marinette buried her face into her hands, and prayed the ground would split open and swallow her.
The man next to her broke into laughter that she was loathe to admit sounded beautiful in spite of her predicament.
"Please kill me."
"You're a funny girl, Marinette," Luka chuckled, finally composing himself. He stood up and took her hands, peeling them away from her furiously blushing cheeks, nose, everything.
Shoot, at this point she could feel the blush not only on her ears but on the tops of her shoulders as well.
He fixed her with those sleepy blue eyes of his and smiled that smile that made her bones feeling like jello. "I would be honored to dance with you."
Luka waited until she tentatively returned the smile before gently guiding her back towards the event hall. His hands were so gentle wrapped around her own, never too much pressure in case she decided to reconsider. A silent assurance that he wasn't trying to force her.
When they neared the party he released her right hand so he could walk beside her, but he continued to hold her left in the polite fashion of a gentleman accompanying a lady. That sweet smile never left his features even though his eyes were fixed ahead of them.
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