A/N: I'm trying super hard not to make every chap Ken and Ky but it's pretty difficult ngl. So this will be nice to get back to pft
Enjoy~
'We're getting along fine. Nothing new. -K'
The message was as the last three had been: Short and to the point, Kendra unwilling to spend any extraneous amount of energy on the fat bastard no doubt lazing about across the lands in his throne. She sighed, rolling her letter and sealing it with a candle wax imprint that Cartman had left her with; Their sigil of the bear stared back at her in embossed red. It was unnervingly fitting for the cruel monarch; An untamable beast made of thick claws and vicious fangs alongside his generous padding. All that mattered was what he wanted: Food and power. Anything that stood in his way was considered a potential enemy, and he wouldn't hesitate to launch a full-frontal assault against them. She twisted her lips and got to her feet, tying the letter off with a ribbon and heading outside of her room. Her blue eyes scanned about, catching a handmaiden bustling and waving to get her attention.
The Drow stopped and blinked, forcing an uneasy smile on her face and walking to the princess, curtseying. "Yes, Your Highness?"
Kendra held out the letter, clasping her hands together in a pleading expression.
The elf stared at her a few moments. "I'm sorry, you want me to...read it?" she winced.
The princess shook her head, pointing to the note and towards the window, thrusting it towards it dramatically time and again as the poor servant stood there baffled.
"She wants you to help her send it," a voice perked up, the girls turning to see Kyle approaching with an awkward smile. Kendra greeted him with a grateful wave and he glanced at the message. "For home?" he asked. She nodded hesitantly and he looked at the embarrassed Drow, "Can you send that down to be placed out on the next message run for Kupa Keep, please?" he requested.
"Of course," she said hurriedly, taking the letter with gentle fingers. "I'm so sorry, Your Highness," she apologized in a fluster to the tall princess.
Kendra smiled gently and shook her head, waving it off. She was more than used to people playing the guessing game with her when she didn't have parchment right on hand. This was one of the quickest exchanges of it she'd had to deal with thanks to the redhead at her side. The servant curtseyed for the both of them and Kyle dismissed her, the royals watching her walk off with her head held down before looking at each other.
He chuckled quietly, "Just a suggestion: Maybe you should start writing your requests before you leave your room. It'll make it a little easier on you."
Kendra blinked. One would think she would've thought of that by now. She nodded sheepishly and brushed stray hairs behind her ear.
Kyle cleared his throat awkwardly and she looked at him once again in curiosity. "So...bit of news," he winced. "If you're not comfortable with the idea, I can try to convince my mother otherwise, but-" he stopped as Kendra grabbed his arm, dragging him behind her back into her bedroom. His face erupted in color as she hauled him over to her desk, grabbing parchment and her quill and beginning to script.
"Your highnesses, this is most inappropriate, m'kay?" A voice called from the doorway, both of them whipping around to find Lord Mackey staring at them with crossed arms and tapping his foot. "Prince Kyle, you should not be in the young lady's room without a chaperone."
"S-she dragged me!" he protested in a sputter, pointing at her accusingly.
Kendra wrote a little note, writing atop: 'Read aloud'.
Kyle blinked, grabbing the message. "'Don't worry, Lord Mackey, give it some time. I wouldn't defile the prince as of...yet'...Fucking shit, Kendra!" he shouted, turning to her nearly falling on her desk in hysterics.
The man frowned disapprovingly at the both of them. "M'kay, Princess, don't ever let the queen hear you talk like that. She won't take it well."
"With the way she's pushing for this fucking marriage she'd probably lock us in a goddamn room herself," Kyle muttered, doing his best to ignore Kendra elbowing him and wriggling her brows tauntingly.
Mackey sighed, "Your Highness, where is Stan? Or Craig for that matter?"
"I dunno about Craig, but I ran off from Stan," he shrugged casually.
"Again?" he sighed irritably, rubbing his temple. "Prince Kyle, you can't go without a guard. Same goes for you, Princess," he directed at her. "Especially considering today's activities."
Kendra narrowed her eyes, tapping Kyle's shoulder and looking at him expectantly. He let out a long sigh, "So...today my mother wants us to go out to the kingdom together," he winced. "Wants me to start dismantling the racism or whatever," he mumbled. Her breath hitched nervously, looking between the two of them staring at her. She gulped, grating her lip. If the rest of the kingdom was as blunt as the Canadian kings, or as uncomfortable as that handmaiden had been...She rubbed her arms sheepishly. Kyle watched her pitiably, placing a hand on her arm. "Look, if you're that uncomfortable, maybe I can convince my mom to give you a few more weeks."
She looked at him for a moment, grabbing her papers and scrawling him an inquiry. 'I trust your judgement, you know your people better than I ever could. What do you think we should do?'
Kyle looked back at her and gave her a reassuring smile, "Look, I don't know how our people will react to this. I really don't. But I can tell you this much: You're safe," he emphasized. "We aren't violent or bloodthirsty like I'm sure humans are told," he rolled his eyes. "I think that you should. If only for an hour or so. We get you out there, we let people stop thinking it's merely a rumor, and you can start building yourself from the ground up with them. We have less than five months here to make them happy for our union, every interaction counts."
Kendra took a long breath and nodded slowly. She knew it was true, she knew that the Drow had little to no interest in hunting anyone down unless they'd truly done them wrong. Given, sliding into their monarchy could very well be a bit of a threat to them, but she'd just have to trust Kyle's judgement on this one. This was going to have to come sooner or later, and the sooner the better to give her time to be in the public's eye to ward off the scrutiny. 'All right. If you're sure.'
"I'm sure, you'll do great," he promised. He turned and looked at the man in the doorway and sighed. "Lord Mackey, can you track down Stan and Craig?"
"Very well," he nodded. "But no funny business, m'kay you two?" he warned.
Kyle scoffed and waved him off. "Yeah, I think we're good. Back off." The lord shook his head, bowing and turning on his heel to find the guards.
The prince jerked at another message, 'So...am I dressed well enough or what?'
He glanced at her elaborate purple gown, twisting his lips. "Okay, don't get me wrong, it's a nice dress and all...But not the best first impression for Larnions," he winced. She slumped defeatedly before standing up straight and walking to her armoire, grabbing her various gowns in her arms and tossing them on the bed, gesturing at them desperately. He laughed, "Calm down," he coaxed, walking over beside her. "Look, remember that we're not a wealthy kingdom. We have fancy clothes for official business or whatever, but for informal meet-and-greets and whatnot we just wear our more subtle crap. We don't like making the people feel as though they're less than we are," he gestured to his own plain green robes, tight tanned pants, and worn leather boots. She pointed between him, herself, and the dresses again and he nodded in understanding, blinking at the array before him. "Wow. Fatass wanted to make damn sure we knew Kupa Keep was loaded, didn't he?" he murmured, glancing over the embedded jewels cresting each gown. These wouldn't work, not for this. He twisted his lips in thought, looking up at her embarrassed expression, green eyes lighting with inspiration. "I have an idea," he handed her back her paper, grabbing her quill from the desk and bringing it back over. "Write down your shoe size and measurements," he paused as she hitched a saucy brow and rolled his eyes. "Not for that. Just fucking do it."
She chuckled, quickly doing as told, folding the message and handing it back, "Okay, hang on," he said, turning on his heel and sprinting out of the room, Kendra watching after him with a cocked head. She heard his footsteps receding down the hallway and sighed to herself, looking at the clothes on her bed and hunching down embarrassedly. What she wouldn't give to just have some fucking pants again. She gathered the ornate clothing and slowly began placing them back in her armoire. So many of these dresses had been gifts from other lands that she'd never even ventured to. After all, so many believed the way to winning a kingdom's favor was by dazzling the lady of the palace. She so rarely cared, never meeting the men and women who sent her such clothing, only busying herself with polite handwritten thanks that Cartman dictated for her. Countless gems sparkled in her blue eyes as she hung them onto the wooden rack, fabric draping down towards the floor of the cabinet in flowing, silky lines.
She'd been doing this for so long, forgetting just how nice it must be to not have a constant goddamn breeze on her legs aside from the few times she'd...Well, that ugly past didn't particularly matter anymore. But how she longed to be able to run around and wrestle constantly like he used to, playing with his older brother and younger sister in the fields behind their parents' home. Kenny closed his eyes, letting himself wander out of Kendra and back into himself for just a brief moment. He allowed the scent of summer to settle over him, the toasty feeling of his skin, the small pain in his back from giving little Karen piggyback rides as they roamed around town trying to find food, the three of them laughing all along the way. He sniffled, letting out a shuddery breath. He supposed that all didn't matter anymore. Royalty didn't dwell in the past, right? Or at least, that's what Cartman had always said. The Drows though...they seemed to be rooted to who they were, what they always had been, even despite himself coming in and fucking up their natural order. He had to admire it in a way, never imagining royalty being so traditional and sentimental. It was like he'd been gently rescued in a mother's arms from the whirlwind of progression into slow baby steps towards the horizon. It was a welcome change, and he was thankful enough that he got to be a part of it.
"You all right?" Kyle's voice popped back up, whirling around to see the redhead staring at her worriedly. "You look really tense...are you sure you wanna do this?"
She nodded briskly, throwing herself back into place and straightening up as he approached her cautiously, almost looking as though he were afraid of startling her. Kendra couldn't help but smile. The little prince was adorable in his own way, a constant mismatch of emotion that she was more than amused by as she followed along. He was a complete enigma to her; so used to the constant brash cruelty that Cartman exuded.
Yet another more than welcome change.
She noticed fabric draped over his arm and simple brown boots held in his hands. He smiled embarrassedly, "Look, if you don't like this idea, that's fine. But, I went to the servant's quarters," he explained, putting the boots down and holding up a long, simple dress of muted brown, an olive scarf dangling off the hip and swaying down to rest over the front like an apron pocket. It was like from the fairy tales she'd read of peasant girls in the woods who longed to be princesses by the end of it all. Amazing how turned that could become in reality. A plain embroidery of pink flowers rested on the corner of the the scarf and she grinned, taking it from his hands and holding it against herself. She nodded briskly and he sighed in relief. "Good. I asked the girls in their housing if anyone matched your measurements. The closest one gave me this and told me to inform you that...it may be a little...uh...baggy in the..." he gestured to his own chest embarrassedly and Kendra held back a snort, nodding.
She grasped the boots before putting a hand on his shoulder and leading him to her desk, pressing him down into her chair. 'Tell me things that I should know before we head out,' she wrote for him before walking away from him to behind her dressing screen.
Kyle blushed, keeping his eyes on her shut door. "Uh, well...Not much to know," he said as casually as he could manage as he heard the shuffling of fabric from behind him. "Basically we Larnions come down to this: Simplicity and communication. We're very open with our subjects and when we're down there unofficially, we treat them as though we're merely their neighbors, unless a situation calls for otherwise." Kendra blinked, readjusting her makeshift breasts as she slid into the dress, draping it over her shoulders and struggling to button herself from behind, cursing to herself. Kyle leaned back and swung his foot in front of him, heaving a deep sigh. "Look, all I can say is to be yourself. You're not an asshole, well, in most cases," he scoffed, Kendra laughing to herself and shaking her head, "so they'll at least like that about you. Our best bet is to try to make you like Stan or Token or Clyde," he shrugged. "The elves trust them enough, but still remember that they are human. That may be the best that we can do, but they're respected and well liked. I'm sure that we can get you right up in there with their rankings in no time if me and my mother talk you up enough."
Kendra smiled, lacing up her final boot and taking a deep breath, looking at herself in the mirror. She almost didn't recognize herself in such simple attire once again like in her youth. She loved it. Every bit of her loved the modesty of the outfit, the way that it so easily draped off her hips and rode to the comfort of worn boots. She wriggled her toes and sighed happily, relishing in losing the fucking high heels she'd been forced into for so long.
She stepped from behind the screen, seeing Kyle still intently staring at the far wall. She smirked. Such a gentleman. She knocked on the wall beside of her and he whipped his head around, blinking at her in shock. "Better," he broke into a shy smile, getting to his feet and walking over towards her, nodding in approval. "Now you won't stick out like a sore thumb," he smirked gently, getting a sheepish grin in return. "Oh," he said, reaching down into his robe pocket, "The girls said to put these in your hair," he held out a few pink flowers matching those on her scarf and she blinked, grasping them in delicate fingers and turning them. Little flowers with four outstanding petals cloaked in their light powder color. Kyle smirked at her curious expression, "We call them vynnessia vesdrac. Or Butterfly Souls," he rolled his eyes, grasping one back and pointing to the soft petals, "'Cause ya know...looks like a butterfly," he shrugged sheepishly. She nodded, holding one up to her hair and frowning. She didn't do flowers, only ribbon. So few plants were within her availability in Kupa Keep.
Kyle noticed her hesitation, reaching up and hooking the one in his hand through her side braid. Kendra watched him in astonishment as he silently went about threading her hair with the plants in her hand. He noticed her staring and blushed, "My Ma always needed help putting flowers in her hair," he explained, taking them one at a time to wind stems flawlessly into the soft golden straw. "My dad is an idiot when it comes to not yanking hair out, as you can tell from the baldness," he said jokingly, "and Ike doesn't quite understand how sometimes you do have to look decent for the people, so she made me do it," he shook his head. "At least your hair isn't curly. Trust me, it makes it a thousand times harder," he scoffed, feeling his own fluffy bangs hanging pointedly against his forehead. She smirked, reaching up and tucking her last flower into the side of his copper curls, both of them staring at each other with their fingers entangled in one another's locks.
Kyle's breath was caught in his throat, staring up into those freshwater eyes silently, heart beating out of control. He felt dizzy and nauseous, Kendra's body heat seeming to overwhelm him. He couldn't even acknowledge his own heat spreading through his face as his keen mind seemed to slip him completely. Kendra gulped, feeling his hair curling around her gloved fingertips and biting her lip under the concealment of her scarf. She looked down at him stuck in his fluster and smiled nervously in the tension.
"Isn't it time to go, Your Highnesses?" an irritated voice sprung up, both of them ripping apart from each other and turning to see Stan in the doorway, a dark shadow over his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah," Kyle nodded briskly, heart still trying to find a rhythm again. "Let's uh...let's go," he jerked his head for Kendra to follow, ducking down into himself embarrassedly. He glanced up to see Stan watching him disapprovingly and winced in apology, the ranger turning on his heel and storming out the door. Kendra watched Kyle slump entirely, looking beyond guilty and disheartened.
She stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, stepping over to her desk and scrawling him another note, 'Are you all right?'
He looked between the note and her, the princess catching the remorse lingering in those leaf-green eyes. "It's...a long story," he said quietly, looking at the door before back to her and taking a deep breath. "But it doesn't matter," he straightened himself up. "What matters is the two of us getting through this. You're sure you're okay with doing this so soon?"
She nodded, reaching down and putting her hand on his shoulder supportively, trying to read the influx of emotions steadily coursing through the younger. He smiled meekly, "Come on, then," he patted her hand, leading her out the door and into the corridor, finding Stan, Craig, and Butters waiting for them.
Kyle looked at his ranger, heart sinking as Stan caught Kendra's hand still on his shoulder, looking away from him angrily and the prince bit his lip.
"Are ya ready, Your Highnesses?" Butters chipper voice broke through the tension.
"Yeah. We are," Kyle replied quietly, feeling Kendra squeeze his shoulder before letting her hand drop off of him. "Stan, you ready?"
"Fine," he grumbled.
Kyle narrowed his eyes at him, Kendra watching cautiously as the redhead straightened up, face falling from culpability into a stern line. Stan wanted to play this game? Fine. He had his own pawns to move. "Good," he said sharply. "I expect you to be on your best behavior, Ranger," he snapped, Stan flinching at his tone and finally locking eyes with him blankly. "Come along, Princess," he said, holding out his hand. Kendra blinked, taking it and the both of them reddening as their fingers linked together and dropped between their hips.
Stan's jaw fell slightly agape as he watched the two of them walking away from him, only moving when Craig grabbed around his arm to begin dragging him beside himself. "Make it more obvious," Craig muttered, glancing to the ignorant paladin to his opposite side who was nearly beaming with glee at the royals and their affectionate display.
"Ain't this great?" he whispered excitedly to the rogue.
"Yeah. Wonderful," he scoffed and rolled his eyes, looking at the devastated ranger and shaking his head. Great. If something happened, he'd probably have to handle fucking all of it on his own. Stan would be too busy frozen and watching the prince like a goddamn puppy who was being taunted with steak. He shook his head, continuing to drag the boy with them and watching the hands of the prince and princess carefully, raising his brow at the both of them squeezing against one another's palms. Sharp eyes slivered up the two forms, watching as their shoulders subtly slunk into a nearly comfortable stance as they continued down the way towards the main door of the palace. He looked between the ranger and his prince and sighed through his nose. Well great. Reading emotions with ease came with a hell of a price being so closely involved in this political and heartbroken bullshit: He could just tell that it wasn't going to get any easier any time soon.
A/N: Stupid cute dork agh I can't take it. Next time is the trip into town whoop.
Thanks for R&Ring!