2 Brandon
"You want to do what?" Brandon said.
His roommate and best friend tossed an empty suitcase into the dorm room's closet. "Switch places. You be Prince Sky and I'll be Brandon the squire.
Brandon said the first thing he could think of: "But we don't look the same." they didn't. While about the same height Brandon was built on generally boxier lines and had dark brown hair while the prince was slimmer and blond. And—princely. Brandon didn't think he had the face of a troll or anything, but he didn't look like royalty. "There's gotta be someone in our class who knows what the Prince of Eraklyon looks like anyway."
But Sky smiled, "Nope! I saw the class list and nobody we know is here. The only people who know what I look like are Master Saladin and Master Codatorta, and they'll go along with it."
They might. Brandon didn't know the fighting arts teacher well but Master Saladin might think the whole thing would be a learning experience for the prince or something. Adults were big on stuff like that. So Brandon said the second thing he could think of, "Why do you want to?"
"Just for fun. I wanna see what it's like to be a normal guy and you can see what it's like to be royalty!"
Brandon knew what it was like to be royalty: boring. That was why the seven year old Prince Sky had started sneaking out to play rogues and paladins with the gardener's son, Brandon and the cook's daughter, Chloe. Then ten year old prince Sky had requested he gardener's son be made his squire, and sixteen year old Prince Sky insisted the royal treasury pay to send that squire along to Red Fountain School for Heroes. And Brandon was stoked to be there. They were going to lean dragon wrangling! Learn the art of the sword from master duelist Codatorta! Study tactics with Master Saladin of the Company of Light! It would put him on the fast track to being a Knight of Eraklyon. But only if King Erendor kept paying his tuition. And that meant going along with stuff Sky wanted to do. This was the first time Sky had ever wanted to do anything quite this wild. "Bro, what if your dad finds out?"
"He won't. He's got some big all-royals summit scheduled for parents' day."
Sky had done his research. Which seemed awfully serious for something just for fun. Brandon gave his friend a sideways look but the prince was turned away, tacking an Eraklyon Levibike Championship poster to the wall above Lady's dog bed. This idea was trouble, Brandon could just tell. But he didn't have any other actual arguments and he did have to think of his tuition. "Ok. If the headmaster doesn't mind and when your dad catches us you say it was all your idea."
"Sure, ok." Sky said cheerfully. "I'll go talk to Master Saladin. And since you're 'Prince sky' you should take the bed by the window and the bigger wardrobe."
"I'm not trading all our clothes. That'd be weird."
"Nah. You can have a fancy suit though." The prince tossed a balled up, wrinkly, but very princely outfit with gold braid and a scarlet sash. Brandon wasn't excited about the clothes, but there might be perks to being the prince. Especially if he got first dibs on Sky's care packages. Queen Samara sent epic amounts of Eraklyon snacks.
Sky went off to ask Master Saladin and Brandon looked over their dorm room with an eye to the identity switch. He didn't mind having the bigger wardrobe and better view, but he wanted to keep his own stuff. And where would he put the hologram of his family?
His gaze fell on the hologram Sky had already set on his desk. They'd have to put that somewhere, maybe in the middle of the room. No way no how was Brandon going to have the real Sky's fiancee next to his bed!
He could think of a few perks though. If he was the prince maybe he'd get first choice of practice weapons. First choice whether to be the one to take Lady for walks when it was raining. And then there was the subject of Girls. Brandon was a fan of Girls in general and was hoping he might meet one who'd be the right one in particular. Not many Girls took a second glance at the prince's squire but everyone took second glances at the prince.
It didn't take away Brandon's suspicion that this was going to go badly, but it did make him start shifting his stuff over to the other side of the room.