Author notes: Hello, again! First, I'd like to thank my reviewers for the encouragement, and hopefully anyone reading this story will be pleased to know I've jotted down about half a dozen drabble/ficlet ideas for KFP (mostly focusing on Shen's exile) so this "story" should see plenty of updates in the future. I may also have an idea for a longer story, but we'll see if the plotbunnies hang around long enough... ^^

A note about this fic... this one contains a bit of Shen/Wolf Boss slash (yes, I sometimes ship them!). If that's not your thing, feel free to skip this and check back when I update again as the next couple drabbles should be just gen.

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The Winter Festival and the New Year were the highlights of the year for the Peafowl Clan. Every year for the two holidays—and the intervening weeks—most of the noble families would converge on Gongmen City. The holidays would be glorious affairs with the king holding an extended court in-between. It was an opportune time for the families to all catch up and for their heads to conduct any business with the king or each other.

Now though was the day of the Winter Festival, a day set aside purely for celebration. The Tower of the Sacred Flame was made even more beautiful with holiday decorations, and a spacious banquet hall on one of the lower levels was set up for a grand Winter Feast. A lavish fireworks display always followed in the courtyard once night fell.

From his place on the sidelines of the room, young prince Shen regarded the party, and though he sorely wished to be elsewhere, he couldn't help but be grudgingly impressed by the glamour and glitz of his surroundings.

If Shen was feeling generous, he would have admitted to enjoying the dancing. He had been especially surprised that several peahens had taken the initiative to ask for his accompaniment all on their own without their parents' prodding—as had been the case in prior festivities. Shen never went up to the hens though, only the other way around. Likewise with the peacocks should they wish to engage him in conversation. This frosty reserve was not shyness but instead a holdover from the prince's younger years when, as a peachick, Shen had made a couple ill-fated attempts to join in with his peers in their groups and games.

Children could be cruel, and to say his efforts had been rebuffed would be putting it mildly. Even after a good deal of time had passed, Shen was too bitterly resentful and too proud to approach his peers now that they were no longer chicks. Let them think he was stuck up; Shen did not particularly care.

Still, it was odd to see these hens—who'd wanted nothing to do with him when they were all children—take an interest now. Of course, their motives weren't difficult to guess. Since Shen had—against everyone's expectations—survived long enough to see his fifteenth birthday, it was assumed that within the following years he would be looking to take a wife. The most eligible and highborn of the peahens were still put off by Shen's ominous appearance, but a few of the lower-ranked others had apparently decided the prospect of marrying into the ruling family was worth tolerating a white-feathered and sickly husband.

Shen was irritated by the transparency of their motivations, but he wasn't quite so innocent to the nature of politics. Rather, it was more the fact that he had no interest in any wife that bothered him. The peahens, they were all lovely in their festival gowns and their charming graces, but they weren't the ones who drew Shen's eye. It was the male peafowl the prince couldn't resist sneaking glances at.

Shen had consciously realized he felt this way shortly after he turned fourteen, and even though he had had the last year or so to grow accustomed to the nature of his attractions, it just wasn't fair. He couldn't be normal even by this little bit...?

His peculiar preference was something Shen had mostly come to terms with, but it still frustrated him at times like these, the way his eyes were drawn to the peacocks and their elegant movements and beautifully vibrant plumage.

But for all his desire, Shen resented and shied away from his male peers for the same reasons that he was attracted to them. Their color and strength inevitably led the prince to compare himself to them. With his eerie white feathers and the fact that he was still noticeably smaller than all the other peacocks his age, Shen couldn't help but feel inadequate, a feeling he despised vehemently. Indeed, even some of the hens looked hardier than Shen.

Fortunately for the prince, none of the peacocks had intrigued him enough for him to want to approach one of them. That, and Shen feared his parents' reaction should they find out their son's latest shortcoming. But as it was, Shen's affections were already fixed elsewhere anyway...

"Lord Shen!"

If one's thoughts could summon the people thought of... The prince turned to see said object of his affections, his closest friend Lin.

At a year older than Shen, Lin's slender shape hovered on the divide between youth and adult, and the wolf looked the very picture of the up-and-coming soldier. Shen admired his companion's strength but wasn't envious of it. Lin was just...Lin. Bolstered by their childhood friendship, he had never been intimidated by Shen's social status, and the wolf wasn't interested in wheedling favors either. Shen couldn't help but like the other for his refreshing sincerity and light moods. A touch of romantic interest may have made the prince more biased as well...

"Have you been assigned as a guard here for the evening?" Shen asked, happy to be talking to someone he actually wanted to make conversation with.

"Nah," the wolf replied, not quite able to help slipping into their usual casual camaraderie. "I'm just passing through on my way to town for the festivities."

"Oh." Shen had been hoping he might've had the other's company for the remainder of the party.

"But actually," Lin continued with a toothy smile, "I was wondering whether you would join me. If it would please you, my prince," he added as an afterthought.

Shen sighed grumpily. "That would please me greatly, but I would no doubt be in trouble for rudeness if I snuck off. I'd rather not be confined to my rooms like a chick or deal with whatever suitably miserable punishment my parents deem apt."

"You're already miserable," Lin pointed out. "Might as well have some laughs first if you're going to be unhappy either way," he added, shrugging. "I know you hate it every year, the holidays like this. Why not enjoy them this once?"

"My parents—"

"Oh, you could always say you felt ill and went to rest—" The corner of Shen's beak lifted in an offended sneer out of place on one so young, but Lin plowed ahead quickly before the peacock could snap off a retort. "If they already think you get sick too often, you might as well use it to your advantage for a change."

Shen's expression softened some. "Well..." It would be a good excuse. Besides, he shouldn't be angry with his friend; Lin never thought less of Shen for his poor health.

"We'll go dancing in the town, stop at some of the food stalls—I promise I'll have you back here in time for the fireworks." Lin's smile was hopeful and just a tad mischievous. They both knew Shen would agree; the prince was just drawing out the anticipation now for the fun of it.

"C'mon," the wolf cajoled, nudging his companion's shoulder. "I want to spend the holiday with you..."

Ah, that did it. Shen felt his face grow warm as he blushed beneath his feathers like a love-struck youth—which, technically, he was. "Alright, I'll come with you."

Shen grasped Lin's paw, and in the crowded room, no one noticed the two of them make their escape.

~fin

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