Young Eadlyn and Kile have so much potential, but this one shot didn't really go anywhere. Whoopsies. At some point, I need to write something where Kile has been secretly in love with her This Whole Time because that could be so CUTE and ANGSTY.

No idea what I'm doing next. I was going to write something based on Taylor Swifts 'tis the damn season' but turns out that's going to be a multi-chap and I only do one of those at a time because my little frog brain gets confused if I write too many stories. That said…suggestions welcome! KEADLYN RENAISSANCE PART 4 BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Mom and I had the same argument for the hundredth time. She wanted me to stay at the palace forever. I wanted to go to college and get a job. She said there were jobs at the palace. I said the royal family didn't employ any architects, so I wasn't interested. Somehow that argument still ended with me sitting in on a cabinet meeting, which had to be the lamest thing I could even imagine.

Even though I was only fifteen, I wasn't even the youngest person there. Eadlyn Schreave, Her Royal Pretentiousness, clocked in at almost two years younger than me, but she looked perfectly at home in the dull bureaucracy that was apparently all cabinet meetings had to offer. When I was thirteen, I had basically spent all my time climbing trees and catching frogs, but apparently that was just proof I wasn't cut out to be royalty, as Eadlyn reminded me at every possible opportunity.

Annoyingly, Lady Brice- who, as far as I could tell, was the one who actually ran the country- thought it would be a good idea for the two teenagers to sit together. Yeah, right. If it was Ahren, sure, but Eadlyn? There was no way. Eadlyn was the only worse thing I could think of than this cabinet meeting itself, which was already threatening to lull me to sleep.

When my eyelids actually started to droop, I was greeted with a bony elbow to the ribs. "Pay attention!" Eadlyn hissed.

I blinked sleepily a couple times. "Why do you care?"

"I just do. Here, take notes."

Taking notes was the last thing I wanted to do, but Eadlyn had never been good at taking no for an answer. She shoved some paper and a pencil in front of me (she had brought an entire zip-up binder into the meeting, which did not surprise me at all) and stared me down until I picked up the pencil.

Unfortunately for her, I was no better at doing as I was told than she was at taking no for an answer. Instead of jotting down notes on proposed budget cuts (which was super boring, by the way) I started sketching out a design for a new palace. The one we lived in was okay, I guess, but it obviously needed more secret passageways and towers. The original palace had clearly been designed to be a fortress, not a work of art, at least on the outside. I, Kile Woodwork, intended to change that.

When Eadlyn noticed what I was doing, her face turned a very interesting shade of red. It was way too fun and way too easy to get under her skin, although she certainly gave as good as she got. She snatched the paper back from me. "Why can't you pay attention?"

"Why can't you mind your own business?"

"Why can't you-"

"Eadlyn!" her father, King Maxon, scolded. "Do you have any thoughts on this new proposal?"

Still beet red, Eadlyn quickly rattled off a composed, professional answer. As irritating as I found her, I had to be a little impressed. She was going to make a good queen.

I might have told her as much, if there was any chance she'd believe it from my mouth. Besides, I wouldn't want to give her the wrong idea.