Part 1 - the wobbly-headed prince
It began quite ordinarily enough, one nice summer day, with an orange-haired prince named Schuldig riding through the deep forest. He had been hunting wild boar with a pack of his best boarhounds and was quite bored.
Ho-hum...there are no boars around here... Though on the good side, there are bores either... It's best to be away when Count de Seline is spouting his latest scroll of petitions and when the Grand Duke of Nevaren is trying to foist one of his ungainly cows of a daughter at me...
The prince was gifted with thought-sensing abilities and knew that in all likelihood of finding wild pigs in this part of the forest near midday was nil considering that they were probably wallowing in the shade but he needed respite from the court. The thinly veiled excuse was good enough to get him away. He had managed to lose the rest of his hunting party fairly quickly.
Besides, I can sense boars from far away enough so that it isn't much of a danger to me...
Yes, he was the heir to the throne of Kovere but he didn't have to pander to his courtiers' wishes all the time. Not that he pandered to them at all ordinarily. Besides thought-sensing, Schuldig could actually be quite manipulator.
Count Gaston didn't know what was coming to him when he kept pestering me about that law...
The unfortunate count had found himself saddled with one of Grand Duke's infamous daughters after one ill-recalled night. And there was that diplomat, Killdere of Tomoe...
He'll never show his face here again...
Schuldig had made the man try to tap dance to the ceiling with a marked lack of success.
He'd been the laughingstock of the court for a month...
There were several incidents and no one ever suspected the scapegrace crown prince of any wrongdoing since no one knew about his powers either.
And a good time is had by all... I'm going to be king for goodness sake...not their personal lackey...
Still, even with the pranks the court's sanctimonious prattling often got to Prince Schuldig's nerves. He was still irately ranting when he heard a sound of a deep voice ringing in the woods.
"Aya, Aya, let down your hair."
Now this made the prince very curious. In truth, it would have taken very little not to make this particular prince curious since he was of a meddlesome nature. He got off his horse and followed the sound of the voice in time to see a hooded figure climb up what appeared to be a coiled red-colored rope.
Hmmm...now this is interesting...
Schuldig lurked behind a tree for a moment and waited. His patience was rewarded. An hour or so later, the dark cloaked figure shimmied down the rope and gone off to whatever mysterious errand it devised and he was left to find out what equally mysterious thing was on top of the tower. He circled the tower looking for the entrance.
Not here...nor here...oh, well...
After a few moments--very short moments since Schuldig perpetually suffered extreme excitement and a certain lack of attention--he gave up and decided that the tried and true way was best and... [1]
"Aya, Aya, let down your hair." Schuldig shouted in his nasal voice.
The red rope dropped down in front of him.
Here we go...
"Crawford-san, it sounds like you caught a dreadful cold..." Aya broke off as he noticed that the man who had climbed up the sill was definitely not Crawford-san.
The stranger was totally different from Crawford-san, having wild long orange hair instead of short black and his eyes were a sparkly green, instead of artic blue. Distrust rose in Aya's mind but somehow he couldn't bear to just toss the man out. Uncertainly, he murmured a thoughtful "Hn" and looked at the man warily.
Schuldig was struck speechless by the beauty that stood before him. He noted that the lady was one of the most gorgeous he'd ever seen. He marveled at the fine features, silky red hair and clear amethyst eyes. Most of all, he was quite swept away by the purity of thoughts he sensed from the lady. Her thoughts were like a mountain stream in their pure clarity. You could see right down to the bottom without attempts at muddying deceptions. She was a relief after all the court intrigues and simpleminded louts of the court.
She's a treasure all right but what is she doing all alone in a tower?
Schuldig decided then and there that he needed to know more about her right there and then.
"My name is Prince Schuldig, my lady." Schuldig said, smiling his most charming smile when the lady turned to him after pulling up the rope. She was a charming little thing, so prettily sitting in the stuffed chair by the window.
Probably so she can put down the rope when necessary...
"Hn." The lady grunted as she picked up a book and started to read.
That went well...
Women usually fawned on him upon knowing his title but this one doesn't seem to be impressed by it.
A true blue innocent...interesting...
Schuldig knew, however, that she was half-watching him so he struck a seductive pose.
No response.
I think I'm in love...
Two hours later...
Aya peered over his book to look at his noisy guest. The man was strange. He chattered too much. He asked too many questions about things that he should know.
Crawford-san never asked me what these calculations...or why I was reading about unicorns...
And this Prince Schuldig character was so nosy. The man kept asking about Aya's parents. Did he have any siblings? Did he know anything about outside of the tower? Aya suspected him of being a demon.
But he seems harmless...
There were vicious youkai outside and in the lower parts of the tower. That was the reason why Aya had grown his hair so long so that Crawford-san could climb into the tower and avoid the demons as much as possible. It was also why he could never leave the tower...
It will leave Crawford-san without a way into the tower...
The stranger smirked at him.
That's it!
Somehow it occurred to Aya why he hadn't tossed the man out yet.
That expression is so like Crawford-san's...
"My name is Aya. I live here with Crawford-san." The words escaped in a low mumble before Aya could stop them.
"And Crawford-san is?" Schuldig pounced on the mumbled response. The first he had in hours, he never found anyone as closemouthed a person as this Aya.
She must have been left here so long alone...not having anyone to talk to...
He really wanted to know everything about the lovely creature.
After all, it's best to know about one's future Queen...like how many rivals I have to dispose of and what dowry am I likely to get... Or any inconvenient relations I have to put up with...
"Hn." It seems that the beauty was regretting her answer and was back to mumbling.
Fine, I think I pushed her enough for today...
"Oh, the day is getting late. I must be going, daydream of me, my amethyst. Where is the rope? Don't let me bother you, I'll get out myself." Schuldig said. They had an awkward moment when Schuldig realized that "the rope" was in fact Aya's hair.
"You have very strong hair, my amethyst. What kind of soap do you wash it with?" Schuldig asked, getting a black look for his troubles, a clear admonishment to get down the rope before Aya lost her patience with him and dropped him while he was climbing down the tower. The anger that radiated off Aya felt like a wake-up slap, dropping him out of his befuddlement.
"I'm going. I'm going." He said good-naturedly and went down without further prodding.
I think I'll do some looking into my pretty little amethyst's background...
Schuldig believed that there must be more to the beauty than a pretty face. And now that he was awake, he found it peculiar that Aya wouldn't talk about his family and lived with "Crawford-san".
Her silence could mean something else...it maybe that she's been told not to tell anyone about her background... Aya's a common peasant name in Northern Kovere but it's a royal name in Tomoe...but that might not mean anything...
Hmmm....
Belatedly, Schuldig's curiosity was aroused and the rest of him got cooled down a bit.
There is something not quite right about this situation...unless "Crawford-san" is the beauty's very jealous husband... Now that would put a damper on things...
It always did when you had to kill their husbands to start a relationship.
It took two seven-days for the prince to return. It would have been politic to say that he couldn't find any information concerning the new love of his life. A strange girl imprisoned on top of a tower is hardly a personage in court of which everything was known or could be known for the right price. It would have been also politic to say that a crown prince had duties, duties that couldn't wait and were more important than rescuing odd damsels in distress no matter how beautiful they were. But the unadorned truth was... He simply forgot. [2]
A lot of distractions presented themselves and Prince Schuldig gloried in them. In two weeks, he'd managed to cause more havoc than any minor rebellion could have. It had started with the Tomoen ambassador...
"Your Majesty, I would like to present you with my alternate trade agreement." The oily voice did nothing to reassure and with that uncompromising start man launched into an exposition of trade between Kovere and Tomoe.
Schuldig played with one of his cufflinks.
The man droned on and on about the trade of foodstuffs and the mechanics of custom between their two kingdoms. The "wherefores" and "buts" were enough to make anyone seasick.
He could read his father's mind and could see that it didn't impress His Majesty either.
Maybe I should make him shut his gab up... It would do both of us a service...
Being shut inside the stuffy audience chamber with the sanctimonious idiot was not Schuldig's idea of fun. They were suppose to consider the man's words and see if they were worthy of a council hearing but he could already see from the man's mind that they weren't. He could feel the sliminess of the thoughts, of the dozen clauses in the thick book-like scroll, like the coils of a snake, winding this way and that, made to crush the unwary.
"Please leave so that we can consider your words, minister." The words were said in grave dignity, one would not think the thoughts belying that were quite opposite.
That was utter bull turd! I'm not even considering putting this up to the Council...I'll stall him until he finds something else to propose...
Hmmm...it seemed that they'd sent one of the more ambitious idiots they have this time...
Schuldig contrary to his name never felt guilty but this was inconvenient to say the least.
He's going to be one persistent asshole unless something's done about him...
Hmmm...this bears thinking...
"Are we going to hear that blowhard speak again?" Schuldig smirked tiredly. He was anticipating such a show today but a little appetizer wouldn't hurt.
"Schuldig, it is not becoming of a prince to say such things about an honored ambassador." The king said predictably.
It always delighted the prince that he could needle his father so.
"Well, he is, Your Majesty." Schuldig never called his father anything but that for as long as he could remember. The man always blamed him for his mother's death and thanks to his Talent he always saw it.
"But it is still unwise to say so." It was the same lecturing tone that the king often used on his son. Schuldig let him ramble on at length while waiting for his main source of entertainment today, the ambassador.
I was always the unpleasant duty...
It didn't hurt because Schuldig was used to it. All his life, he had been the scapegrace prince and that was fine with him. He preferred to spend his time on other pursuits anyway like last night.
His attention wandered to the hallway outside where the slightly giddy ambassador waited. He poked the Tomoen a bit to make him enter a bit faster.
Perfect!
The show was about to start.
Schuldig was all but chuckling with mirth as he walked down the palace. Oh, it had been a lovely show. Well worth the previous night's lost sleep. He had "persuaded" the ambassador into editing his next proposal, a document of exclusivity, restricting Kovere's heavy wool and mutton trade to Tomoe alone into a contract limiting the trade into Tomoe to blue sheep.
The resulting uproar was a beauty to see. The king's forehead throbbed like it was ready to pop a vessel. He tossed the ambassador out with only the minimum courtesies, just short of calling the man an idiot.
Something tells me this ambassador wouldn't last any longer...
His merriment sustained him till court the next night.
"I'm bored." Schuldig mumbled mostly to himself. He was with a faction of nobles that he rather fancied to be less boring than most but they weren't up to mischief at the moment.
"We could always pop some mead into the fruit juice and tea like we did the last time." Lord Naru said. He was a blond cherub of a boy. His father had expired of a morbid excitement of the brain, leaving him an orphan and lord both. His guardian left him much to his own devices.
Oooh, that had been fun...
Several maidens and dandies had been married off as a result of that night's revelry. However, here weren't many youngsters at court at the moment.
"Or we could get one of the High Councilors to trip in his robes." The un-dashing Sir Masato said. He was good natured and messy as ever.
That wasn't much of a challenge...
Between Lord Naru and Sir Masato, the evening never passed without some social explosion that entertained Schuldig most of the time.
"Just don't spill peas on the feast hall floor again. They found out about it the last time." Duke Yuushi drawled. Neat when Masato was messy, reliable when Naru was erratic, Yuushi was the noble who was usually stuck cleaning after the other two's pranks. Then he continued.
"Maybe get one of the dandies to spill their drink on Lady Carone, then they'll have to dance with her."
Schuldig looked up to the direction where Yuushi had gestured and the ebb and flow of dancers parted for an instance to show an unprepossessing woman in gold silks. Her cheeks were sickly pale and sagging and her lips almost flesh under the poorly applied rouge. Yuushi had been always taken with lost causes. Though the prince supposed he would draw the line against marrying someone as ugly as this woman just so he could rescue her from the vile fate of being a spinster all her life. Schuldig noticed that several dandies were snickering across the room. She was obviously the object of their cutting remarks for they were openly gesturing towards her.
Just like Yuushi...to notice how ridiculed the woman was...
"Who's she?" Naru asked.
"She's the Grand Duke of Nevaren's many daughters." Schuldig replied before Yuushi. The Grand Duke had been trying to foist his daughters on any bachelor with even a whisper of high born blood in their veins.
Not that he had any luck so far...except for Nissette, and I helped with that...
Rumor had it that the Grand Duke had been drunk out of his mind when he had ended betrothed to the then court ugly, Lady Sarmina. The marriage went amazingly well after the first few months in which the bridegroom had spent most of his time in the bottom of the wineskin. Sarmina it turned out to be of kindly disposition and they had a grand total of seven daughters and two sons. All of which, sadly, took after their mother when it came to looks. Schuldig reached out curiously with his mind.
Hmmm...Nissette was a spoiled brat, ugly inside to match her outside...this one seems as meek as her mother, except that no one wants to get close enough to find out...
The other daughters were still in the schoolroom.
Hmmm...
"I fear me that it would take more than a spilled drink to do that. Why don't you dance with her?" Masato asked, oh-so-innocently.
"I'd rather not, my thanks."
After what had happened to Count Gaston, every peer in the place was now understandably leery of dancing with another of the Grand Duke's daughters.
Maybe I can do something more than a spilled drink...
Schuldig gave a mental tug to one of the brainless butterflies in court, a dandy in blue silk. He was gratified to see the idiot turn immediately to the woman. Dull cynical eyes suddenly alight with interest.
Not that that was hard...
Schuldig saw the dandy approach the lady to make some small talk. He turned his telepathic attentions to another.
Heh, it's easier than turning a flock of chickens...
He had done that in his childhood when he and a servant boy had a run in with the cooks in the kitchen stealing some pastries.
There was a commotion after a moment as several dandies made their way to the lady abandoning even more comely partners until several were vying for her attention.
"It seems that the lady didn't need your help, after all. Or did you unbend enough to spike the wine?" Masato asked in a dumbfounded manner.
The lady grew so popular that there were several fisticuffs in her name. The other ladies were the ones.
"Nay...but did you? Or you?"
Both Masato and Naru shook their heads.
"Now, now, it must be one of you. No such frenzy can be natural."
"Don't you trust us?" Naru laughed when a particular dandy made more of a fool of himself trying to bump another off the line.
"Really now..."
Schuldig let it go on for a few moments and volunteered to avert suspicions.
"I did."
"Oh, what compound did you use?" Naru asked interestingly.
"It's one of my special alchemist's."
"Awww..." Masato and Naru knew better than to ask what it was. Schuldig always kept 'those mixtures' quite secret.
Very secret since they don't really exist...
"You didn't put it in everyone's drink did you?" Yuushi asked nervously looking down at his goblet.
It was a nervous moment when Masato and Naru contemplated their mugs.
Heh, they know me so well...
Schuldig had no reservations about playing a joke or two on his supposed friends.
"Come now, don't you have any yearnings for me?" Schuldig blinked his eyelash in the parody of flirtation.
"Nay, so I suppose it was just them..." Masato grinned and everyone relaxed.
After all that excitement everything went on the same way it did.
Schuldig had gone into his normal amount of mischief sans the use of his powers with Masato and Naru. He also went through the nubile women in court with Yuushi, like the newly widowed and still delectable Countess of Egin. Not the last had any bearing at all with love, mind you.
Rumor would say later that love finally reminded the prince but the truth was that he would have gone on forgetting, if not for a conversation he'd had with his manservant, Youji, about the general creepiness of the forest...so perhaps we can blame Youji for the mess that followed.
"Are you going to the forest again, Your Highness?"
"No, Youji. I'm not in the mood for rustic entertainments at the moment and the dancing-around at court is rather diverting at the moment."
"That's very good, Your Highness. To tell you the truth I had often felt uneasy for your good health when you wander in the woods since it is reputed to be a haven for demons and one demon in particular...has a very bad reputation." Youji said, roguishly grinning.
"And who is this demon that they're talking about?" Schuldig asked, he allowed the informality with this particular manservant since they had been together for a long time and the man shared his unique sense of humor and taste in women and pastries. Youji had been the servant boy that had been caught with him stealing tarts at the kitchen when they were about five.
But not highborn to rival or fawn on me! And that is very important...
He had a few "friends" in high places so to speak but they all expected something of him. Youji for all the man's sass wasn't the kind to get uppity with him.
For all Masato, Naru and Yuushi are friendly and harmless, they are quite capable of betraying me unwittingly...
Such were the tides of the court. The blond was also a veritable goldmine of information.
Hah! Even without my ability to sense thoughts I could get along pretty well with the information he'd gotten for me...
Most of the noble blooded idiots never realized how much servants saw of their follies and how gossipy the peons were.
"The demon is known as the Darkness-in-the-Woods, everyone said that he gets children and eats them for breakfast."
"Oh, come now! It's the old ghost story all over again." Schuldig was annoyed, he'd heard the story when he was a child and even then it was old.
You have to be good or Darkness-in-the-Woods will get you! Eat your vegetables, don't talk back, and don't ever, ever walk into the woods... Sheesh, what load of bull droppings...
"It's more than a story, Your Highness. There was actually a child from the country that was taken off by the demon. He was a toddler when he was marked by the demon for his own, our neighbors said. His parents fled from their home village when they learned. They called their boy by his sister's name to make sure that the demon never heard his name since demons can hear names from way off. Name-magic, they calls 'em." Youji said with relish. He must be pretty excited by the story from the way his peasant accent slipped out.
"There was no doubt that it happened?" Schuldig said in an indignant voice.
Now, Schuldig might be carefree and wild for the most part but there were some things he could get serious about like heroic impulses. Those impulses were somewhat beaten into his head with a great big stick by his father. Ahem, no pun or malice intended but that was the only way to get an idea into the fluffy orange head. And this kidnapping business was riling those instincts up.
"Aye, it did. Saw it with my two eyes...or at least I know someone who did."
"And when did this happen?"
"About sixteen years ago. The child was celebrating his fourth birthday in public, fact was, a whole county's worth of folk were there. His family went all out for it. You know the Fujimiya merchant that made a name for himself for fine wools and silks?"
"Who hasn't?" The man was one of the pinnacles of trade in Kovere. He was reputed to have started as a peddler. He'd saved enough gold to buy a freehold to raise sheep but as luck would have it, an uncle accidentally died to gain him a respectable Holding. The man was jumped up to nobility in one kick of a recalcitrant mule. He wasn't content with that however, he wangled a deal with an exotic merchant from far off and managed to get some beastie that produced some fancy cloth, silk, which all the ladies wanted.
He gets wealthier by the moment...though money can't buy noble standing. Everyone still thinks he's a thinly disguised penny-pusher... He'll surely not object to having his child married to the Prince, he'd been trying to get his other daughter a "good" husband for awhile now... My Aya's such a real find...but wait...!
"The child was a boy right?"
"Aye, quite a cute little thing, too. But Ken could probably tell you more about him. He's the one who saw the abduction. He's from the Fujimiya holding."
"Ken..."
"Yeah, Ken, the stable boy you like to tease a lot?"
" We like to tease a lot. Remember you were with me when we bait poor Kenken."
"Aa, he's so fun to tease."
Ken was from the country and refreshingly naïve. He'd run the strangest errands for the prince and Youji before he found out that half of them were fictitious.
Really, strawberries in the depths of winter? Horse fur? Can anyone be that innocent?
Evidently there could be since Ken tried to run the errands without complaint.
Now that is a source I can trust...
"I was about three years older and thinking that he was such a girly boy. I remember telling him right well, in fact. All I can say is that he did have a mean left hook." Ken said, reminiscing.
Tsk, tsk, my, my, Ken you don't intend to lie to your prince like that...do you?
It wasn't the way it happened but then maybe Ken was also denying the fact to himself...
Red berries glistened under the glazing, making his mouth water. One gigantic slice in particular loomed in his sight.
I want that slice...
He reached for it only to find a bigger pair of hands taking the slice away. He looked up to see another child with red hair, purple eyes intent carrying the plate away.
"Hey, give it back to me, girlie." He exclaimed.
"No way, and I am not a girl." The stranger said smugly.
"I saw it first!"
"Did not."
"Did too." His fists clenched in indignation.
How dare he take the pie when I was there first!
"Did not!"
He punched the annoying girlie on the face. He felt quite satisfied as the other boy reeled under the blow.
Snobby girlie...thinks she's better than me...
Splat...
His vision darkened and he felt sticky cream run down his nose.
After that, the fight had turned into a small brawl as other children took it into their heads to heave food at each other. It took a few grownups to stop the food fight and Ken learned to his great mortification that the child he had been fighting was the name-day celebrant, Lord Aya Fujimiya.
Hah, what a hot temper our Kenken has...
"Why, Kenken, I never thought there was so much fight in you...going against one of the noble born that way..." Schuldig purred.
"I...was but a child then..." Ken's face looked like the time he had tripped headfirst into a vat of carmine dye.
If not redder...
"Naughty...naughty...Kenken..." Youji taunted on cue and the afternoon went uphill from there.
Schuldig and Youji whiled away the afternoon teasing the stable boy.
Schuldig paced his room.
Hmmm...Lord Aya Fujimiya...that would put a crimp to my marriage plans...
It wasn't as if same-sex marriages were forbidden or some such nonsense, wealth and power bought that much at least.
Besides, I could always sire an heir on some wobbly-headed lady and keep right on having a male consort...that sort of thing's been done more than once... [3]
There was legal precedence for what he'd wanted to do but that wasn't it. Schuldig was hopelessly clueless on how to go about having sex with another man since his taste had run mostly to women.
But such a pure minded person is such as Aya...wait, that's not quite right. Youji said that they never used his real name...what is his real name, I wonder?
Schuldig would make a point to find out before he went to the tower.
"How do you do, my pretty amethyst?" Schuldig said as he climbed into the tower room.
"Hn." Aya murmured.
I don't know why I let him up again...
Ran did know what to make of the man. Prince Schuldig was obnoxiously loud and nosy. He chattered without regard to Aya's opinions.
Maybe it's curiosity then...
He waited for the man to enter the room and take one of the chairs but Schuldig didn't.
"Don't you get lonely around here?" Schuldig put his face so close that Aya had to back away.
Thump!
He forgot about his hair, it was still stuck to the hook on the window.
"That can't be comfortable." The tone wavered suspiciously and Aya knew that Schuldig was trying not to laugh at him.
Aya glared at the prince as he picked himself up from the floor ignoring the offered hand. He went to the window to pull his braid up. A hand came over his.
"Let me help you with that."
What's with him?
Ran glared at him and yanked the braid off the hook savagely off the hook.
Hmmm... it might take more time to convince him than his father...
Schuldig remembered his conversation with Lord Fujimiya and smiled to himself.
It might take me a while but he's mine already so I can take my time...though I thought I would have a harder time of it...
"Your Royal Highness...what an unexpected pleasure it is to see you." The gray haired lord said, rising from his desk to meet his prince respectfully. He wore gray silks very much appropriate to the sweltering summer and his status as a lord.
A man of veritable good taste...
Schuldig noted that the jumped-up merchant lived rather well. The study was inlaid with the finest oak. The green and brown rugs on the floor were well-woven. The green cushions on the chairs, he was pleased to note provided a modicum of comfort as well as pleasing to the eye. Schuldig noted all of these little details with a gleeful mercenary eye, his uncertainty melted at the show of such wealth and class. He was going to propose a marriage for the heir of all this. He was!
"Please remain seated, my lord, I know that such a busy man such as yourself would have concerns other than a random royal visit." Schuldig waved the gesture away casually. Even if he was deserving of the respect, the man was his future father-in-law.
"So what brings the Crown Prince to my humble home?" Lord Fujimiya asked, managing somehow to sound quite neutral.
"I would like to tell you, my lord, that I have found your son." Schuldig threw his opening gambit.
"Where...?" The man leaned forward, trembling with his eagerness and longing. Schuldig knew he had him then.
"In a tower somewhere, still in the clutches of Darkness-in-the-Woods..."
"Your Highness..." Schuldig cut off the plea before it was finished.
Pride has to be maintained after all...this is my future father-in-law...
He had wit enough to know that it would be too awkward for future relations if he made Lord Fujimiya too beholden to him.
Grinding his pride into dust is not a choice I would lightly make...
"He has grown into a fine young man, I would rescue him if I could...for a price."
"Anything...anything within reason..."
The man was close to losing it again.
I might as well...
"Oh, even his hand in marriage?" Schuldig asked, swooping in for the kill.
The stunned silence lay heavy upon the room like a wet woolen cloak.
"You do not have a sister."
Ah, by the nether hells, he's conservative...
The lord probably wanted his son to father sons on some lady instead of dallying with another man, even if the man was the King himself. Still Schuldig had no choice but to continue.
I can always change his mind for him later...I suppose...
"Aye, I'm asking for myself. This is my price. Give your son to me and have no fear. From what I see of him, he is remarkably well suited to my tastes and I will be gentle with him."
The lord sat back he looked as if he had swallowed a whole apple. Silence tense as a bowstring before battle permeated the room.
Schuldig wondered if he had to use his powers after all, but the quiet was soon broken.
"Better than the demon I suppose..." Lord Fujimiya finally consented.
"Then let us make plans my lord. I would like my bride to have a proper welcome home by his folk as proper..."
Yes...I can take my time...and—ah, maybe--shouldn't smile so, my betrothed would think me a loon...
Aya was glaring suspiciously at him for just that.
Schuldig settled in the chair.
This will take a while...
Author's notes:
[1] In modern terms, this prince has got a mean case of ADHD (Attention Deficiency Hyperactivity Disorder)!
[2] Ayan-kitsune faints sideways off a chair, headfirst. Crawford-kitsune catches him and both of them grumbles "Schuldig no baka".
[3] "Yeah, and both of you can have wobbly-headed children and keep me out of it." Aya said, stomping off into the sunset.
I forgot where I put the updated version of "Violets Fade Quickly". Um...D'oh?