The following days seemed to pass slowly for Fratley, probably due to the fact that he was constantly being advised not to leave Burmecia and that he was walking out into almost certain death. Fratley did not let these constant thoughts daunt him. He had faith in his own strength; he knew how to survive outside of the gates of Burmecia. This journey would not be the last thing he did in his life.
However, Fratley still needed to ask for the King's permission to leave Burmecia. He had been thinking about how he should persuade the King to allow himself to leave his home. His reasons were solid, and respected his honour as a Dragon Knight.
Fratley began to make his way to the royal palace of Burmecia. He had looked at the timetables for the Dragon knight duties and he knew he was not required to be on duty until the afternoon. He had plenty of time to seek the King's permission to leave. There were not many Burmecians out on the streets in the morning rain, only the Dragon knights and soldiers who were on duty keeping order and a few civilians who were doing early shopping from the few stores that were open.
Fratley eventually reached the royal palace which overlooked all of the Burmecian homes. He approached the front gate of the castle where a few Dragon knights were looking over the timetables and where two more dragon knights were guarding the castle from intrusion. When the two knights saw that Fratley was approaching the gate they crossed their spears to block his path.
"I wish to see his majesty." Fratley stated.
The two knights looked at each other briefly, before shifting their gazes back at Fratley.
"Who are you and why do you wish to meet our King?" The knight on the left asked, looking quite suspicious.
"My name is Sir Fratley, I am also known around the Dragon Knights as 'Iron-tail'." Fratley answered. "I wish to ask for permission to leave Burmecia."
"You're Sir Iron-tail Fratley?" The guard on the left gasped in disbelief. "I heard about your victory in the tournament; unfortunately I couldn't go and watch the matches, much as I would have liked as I was put on duty."
The knight on the opposite side just laughed heartily. "You unlucky sod, you missed a brilliant match!"
Fratley had a warm smile forming on his lips from these hearty comments, yet still wanted to get in the castle and talk to the King.
"Can I go and talk to his majesty?" Fratley asked politely, after the two knights had finished laughing about the comments they had just said. "Please...with a little sugar and lemon put on top?"
"You have lemon on your pleases Sir Fratley?" The guard on the right replied as he opened the gate. "That is strange..."
Fratley chuckled at the comment, shortly before entering the Burmecian royal palace. There were not many guards wandering around the palace at the current time, mainly because others were sleeping and a few were even in the battle arena that was used for the tournament training vigorously.
Making his way to the throne room, Fratley passed a few more guards, most of which did not pay him any attention. They knew him as Sir "Iron-tail" Fratley already, mostly from his performance in the tournament, but didn't want to say anything.
Fratley reached the door which lead into the throne room, where there was a single slave dressed in rather silky clothes which suited him well.
"The King is busy talking to his consultant. He shouldn't be too long." The slave stated casually but quietly.
"Oh, right." Fratley answered in a similar manner.
Fratley stood still and waited patiently for a minute or two. Then, the door opened slightly.
A young Burmecian male fell clumsily out of the door, shortly before the door was shut firm again. The male stood up and looked at Fratley with a rather indignant expression on his face. He brushed back his fairly messy ginger hair shortly before speaking.
'Fancy me-! '
"Shhh!" Fratley shushed him.
"Fancy meeting you here." Prince Puck began again in a much quieter voice.
"In trouble again eh, Puck?" Fratley replied.
"Yeah, but what are you doing here?" Puck asked, pressing Fratley in a combat of speech.
"Asking to see if I can leave Burmecia." Fratley replied, he then continued. "I must journey across the Mist Continent to find out more information about other towns, whilst increasing my strength by taking out monsters methodically."
"Run that by me again, only using the coloured version with pictures this time." Puck replied with some sarcasm.
Fratley sighed, before trying once again. "I am planning to travel to Alexandria, to test my strength against General Beatrix, a formidable opponent from a distant land. Whilst on the way there, I may grow stronger by training against the monsters on this continent with my lance."
"Cool." Puck answered with a short grin.
"However, I'm finding it difficult explaining this to other Burmecians. Yet I came here to ask your dad so I can go." Fratley added.
Puck chuckled. "I think he'll let you go somehow, Fratley!"
Fratley smiled, and conveniently the door opened to reveal none other than his majesty himself, dressed elegantly in a silk blue shirt, cotton blue shorts and a nice blue cape that just made him look really good.
"I heard pretty much all of that conversation Fratley..." The King said calmly with a warm smile across his mouth, which had fur around it for some reason. "I had the odd comment with my consultant adviser just to see if it would be a good idea to let you go."
"Really?" Fratley asked seriously.
"Yes. Of course you may enter and discuss it further with me, out of the range of a certain ginger haired Prince..." The King cast a quick glance at his son. "Enter."
The King held the door open so Fratley could enter, and then shut it again, leaving Puck outside.
"That's just typical..." Puck scowled before walking away to find something else to do.
The meeting with the King had been a complete success. He had given Fratley official permission to leave Burmecia; Fratley now had a piece of parchment which would easily confirm this to any Burmecian guard in visual range. Fratley knew the meeting had been a success as soon as he entered, and indeed left, his majesty's throne room. Although it was also really upper class and Fratley just wanted to see what the room looked like in working order. That, plus his royal highness was a very friendly Burmecian who had a very efficient way of handling matters.
However, Fratley would need to tell Freya that his meeting with the King had been a success. He had the letter; he would need to show her. He could also tell Lion-heart and April again, but they were already well-aware of Fratley's plans, even if slightly worried about them. Fratley might also need to show Frato, although when he told Frato of his plans the last time Frato suggested that he should try leaping over the Burmecian wall at nightfall, only to end up being caught by the Burmecian guards on night patrol and forced back into Burmecia, a tactic which would achieve nothing but prison for him.
Well, tonight would be different. Fratley would finish his duty as a Dragon Knight at a set time which we really don't need to know and would make his way to Freya's home with a little something known as a gift. He knew Freya loved him, he knew she loved him with all of her heart. It would break his own heart if he left without spending as much time as he could with her. He was making the most of the time he had.
Fratley knocked on the door to Freya's house, and waited patiently outside in the light Burmecian rain.
The door opened.
Freya's father...stood in the door-way...wearing an extremely unusual combination of "casual clothes". Her father had that stare, the stare that makes you feel as if you are doing something drastically wrong when your initial ethic is good.
"May I see Freya please?" Fratley asked politely, whilst looking very casually at the weird clothes of Freya's dad.
Her father smiled, and walked a few steps into the house, looking up, and shouted:
"FREYA! FRATLEY IS HERE TO SEE YOU!"
A brief silent moment passed, with only the noise of what was undoubtedly Freya Crescent upstairs running around doing her various activities. Fratley's Burmecian ears could identify the specific combination of Freya "getting ready".
"Hello Fratley..." Freya cooed from the top of the staircase.
"He-llo Freya..." Fratley cooed back, in an even better seductive voice.
Freya then appeared on the top of the staircase, wearing an extremely attractive white silk dress, which matched the colour of her hair and showed her extremely attractive Burmecian figure.
"Hey there..." Freya continued to coo in her seductive voice. "What have you been up to..."
Fratley held quite plainly his document, received from the King this morning. "I got the official document which states I can leave Burmecia today."
"Oh..." Freya answered, still in this seductive voice. "That's a shame..."
"Tell me about it." Fratley answered, smiling at Freya's heavenly figure.
"Maybe you could enter my bedroom of pleasure and we can discuss things of a more interesting nature..." Freya continued to use her sensual voice.
"O-kay..." Fratley answered.
"OI!" Freya's dad shouted from the living room, catching both of the romantic pair's attention. "No love-making in my house! Is that clear?"
"Oh, lemon!" Fratley cursed.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy IX or any characters that happen to star in it. However, Frato and Redwind are products of my own imagination, so their mine. Also, don't try and sue me. I have earned a grand total of £0.00 from this story, and Square-Enix is perfectly entitled to a 50 sum of my profit, so they can also have 0.00 from this story...
Author's notes (Robshi replies): I feel that was a great chapter, relevant to the plot, utterly perfect in every way. I don't know what you think just now, but I am very proud of this chapter. Now, moving on to my beloved reviewers who actually read this story...
Lancer Zero: I really appreciate your reviews, I might choose to edit some of the chapters, although my main concern is getting this finished. Good point about the lances though, I may have to make use of the comment when editing chapter 2. Training lances with blunt ends for balance may be a suitable replacement.
Wonwingangel: I'm glad you're enjoying it. Keep reading.
And I also see that Wallwalker has joined the "tell Robshi something he already knows" club.