Chapter 77: Brothers

It was a dreadful thought. Izaya wasn't even sure why he was asking. Something this personal, he was sure Clairance wouldn't want to talk, lest remember that time at all no matter what happened.

But to his surprise all the maid had to offer was a soft smile matching the rays of sunlight peeking past the window stills.

"You are fitting the king in the way your words carry gentleness," she said with the slightest chuckle carrying her words causing Izaya's tension to lift."You can rest assured," she whispered, "He did not touch me nor any of the servants we have now serving at the castle."

None?

The words were obviously supposed to assure the queen, but after hearing what the late king had acted like that statement only left a much darker question sitting in the room.

"What happened to them?" Izaya whispered, as though he was treating unknown land inhabited by dangers of all kinds.

"Shizuo," Clairence answered a bit faster than she had meant to as she quickly cleared her throat, "Pardon, I mean the king," she corrected, "He set them free from their contracts. Paid them a more than generous sum and made sure they had places to stay with no connections to this place."

So he took care of them.

Of course.

Warmth of the same kind that Izaya felt when Shizuo gazed at him filled his chest. How was one single man capable of worrying so much about his role as the kind when he already took so many actions that affected everyone positively?

"I know he wished he could have done more. It was apparent in his every action," Clairence sighed as she continued and her voice dropped a little as she glanced towards the window. "And so do the servants. They may hate the late king and resent him for the rest of their lives, but Shizuo is not part of that rage."

Following her gaze Izaya found himself looking at the close vicinity of the castle grounds. The stalls of the merchants were still doing good business and joyful faces traversed the market.

Hearing about this newfound piece of the past it finally made sense why there was such a large rift between the rumors revolving around Shizuo and the people treating him like he had been part of their families for years.

Shizuo's reputation was set to shift sooner than later from this point on and it would tilt into the more favourable side.

"He is a gentle caring soul to the depths of his heart," Clairence finished and a sneaky smile brought up her lips as she looked at the queen. "And it only delights us to see a similar one at his side."

She was talking about Izaya.

Or rather, Kururi the queen.

It was a compliment, and probably the best she could give, and yet all Izaya felt upon hearing it was a tinge of guilt and sadness.

He was not the queen.

That fact became more and more apparent the longer he spent at the castle.

Shizuo and him had to part at some point. He was no wife. And once his siblings were back-

Falling silent Izaya couldn't help but feel his thoughts circling with no solution in sight.

They hadn't talked about it yet.

He tried to, but- at the end of the day he always chickened out when it truly mattered.

"The village Shizuo headed for," Izaya spoke up slowly, remembering how Shizuo had mentioned that he needed to talk to some farmers there. "Do you know its name?"

Surprise flashed across Clarence's expression as she blinked at her queen. The motive was apparent, she wanted to follow her husband.

"You can't plan to go there alone, my lady," she quickly corrected, but understanding was the last to be found on Izaya's expression.

"Why not?"

It was only after the words left his lips that Izaya realized his mistake- and Clairence chuckled at the innocence harbored by the question.

He was a lady. Not only a lady, the queen- of course riding out alone was no option.

"Excuse me, that was uncalled for," the maid quickly cleared her throat and straightened her expression as she pointed towards the training grounds near the castle walls. "I think Crispin stayed behind to teach Karazam a lesson in swordfighting. You can ask him to accompany you."

Right, the training grounds. A soft hint of nostalgia surfaced from the back of Izaya's mind as he thought about the place and the last time he had been there.

He had watched Shizuo fight, or rather win. And afterwards he showed him the tower, the scenery on top and told him stories about slaying artificial dragons in the most unique ways.

It was a memory he treasured and one that only strengthened his urge to follow the king on his trip. Quickly moving he headed down the hall.

"Thank you," he called before disappearing down the stairs.

"Have a safe ride!"

Doors were pushed open and optimism carried Izaya's feet as he descended the staircase leading to the castle.

It was the prettiest day. The cold that had claimed Shizuo's territory for so long was starting to fade and an even warmth slowly spread across the lands.

He could feel it on his face, the gentle touch of summer's spring. A bit early overall, but all the more appreciated after the long cold.

Quickly moving towards the training ground Izaya looked out for the knights mentioned. And he heard them before he saw them.

"More strength on the grip! And bend your legs to remain mobile!" Quick orders were shouted across the area as they were in the middle of training.

Metal clattered and soft groans followed as Izaya turned around the corner to add a picture to Crispin's voice and Karazam's demise.

Having dropped flat on his ass and lost his sword Karazam was groaning at the sky before quickly getting to his feet again. "Once more!" he requested and Crispin was all too ready to provide exactly that.

Wearing only his chest plates Izaya noticed how thin and tall the knight actually was. Most knights looked better with their armor on, the same accounted for Karazam who was wearing a bit of protection on his upper body as well, but with Crispin it was actually the other way round.

His blond hair glittered in the sunlight and his fine features only added to a certain elegance he held in every motion.

Karazam charged at him as Crispin had probably ordered him to earlier.

Swords crossed, blows were taken, and to Izaya's surprise Karazam actually stood his ground.

At least for a few hits.

But after a consecutive attack of five he suffered the same fate he had before as his ass met the ground with a soft groan.

"Focus. It is not the sword you are fighting, but me," Crispin added what Izaya suspected to be tips on improval. But he really had to work on his expression, because he sounded as though he was getting pretty fed up with this.

Izaya couldn't really say why, but somehow he knew Crispin was giving him a really hard time on purpose.

And Karazam- well, he was better than Izaya had ever imagined. So far the squire had only mentioned being unable to fight and his nonexistent confidence had tricked Izaya into thinking he actually sucked.

But this right now was not the result of someone who wasn't capable of learning and improving.

"Lady Kururi!" Having turned to his side in order to fetch the sword that he had lost, Karazam had finally spotted their queen and quickly rose from the ground.

Almost immediately Crispin readied himself for whatever it was that was coming his way as he strode towards Izaya.

"My lady, is anything wrong?"

He should have expected his appearance to not exactly trigger bounds of joy. The worry on Crispin's expression immediately informed Izaya of his mistake and he quickly shook his head.

"No, no, I didn't mean to interrupt."

Relief spread across both sibling's faces and Karazam slowly picked himself off the ground.

"What's leading you here? I'm sure you didn't come to watch me train," he chuckled and Izaya smiled at the way Karazam so easily diffused any situation.

"I was thinking of joining Shizuo at the village." Only upon speaking did Izaya realize that these two might not even know where exactly the king had headed, but it seemed he was lucky as Karazam looked into the direction of the nearby forest.

"The one up north, right?" Crispin spoke aloud, but more to himself than to the queen as he turned. "I will get my horse."

As always Crispin was fast to understand and even faster to act, but this time it wasn't his help that Izaya inquired.

"I think I can go there myself actually, I just need one of the horses," Izaya explained with a smile on his face. After all, it was just a short ride. There was no reason to interrupt their training.

But the brothers seemed to disagree.

"Alone?" Karazam repeated and the darkest expression decorated Crispin's face as he crossed his arms in front of his body with a simple but definite, "No."

"Is that an order?" Izaya joked, at the way the knight presented himself so terribly unwavering, but it seemed his pun failed to connect as all Crispin did was nod.

"I will take my punishment later for acting out of place."

Wow.

This was going to be one hell of an awkward ride if Crispin truly insisted on tagging along.

Karazam seemed to read the mood better as he quickly approached his brother from the side. The breast plates were taken off his upper body as he nodded towards what appeared to be his own horse.

"What if I accompany her?"

An even worse expression drew across Crispin's face at his younger brother's suggestion.

"You?"

Izaya felt somewhat bad for Karazam. He was pretty sure Crispin didn't mean to sound as judgemental as he did, but that simple word somehow seemed to carry a load of arguments as to why Karazam was not capable of executing this task at all.

Talk about a confidence downer.

Faltering just lightly, Karazam visibly tried to ignore the jab to his heart.

"I know I'm no true knight yet, but I can fight, and it's only a very short ride," he insisted despite the obvious disapproval and for a second Izaya felt bad for even asking.

But surprisingly enough Karazam seemed to have persuaded his older brother as Crispin sighed. "Alright."

A smile broader than a thousand suns spread across Karazam's lips and he quickly turned to face Izaya.

"My lady, if you would be so kind to follow me," quickly walking off towards the one horse that stood by at the training grounds, Izaya quickly realized they were going to ride on one.

Getting up first and awfully quickly Izaya was left to stare at the creature of hell with reluctance that showed on his face.

"You sure this creature won't throw me off?" he asked and Karazam paused for a second as he realized the queen's unjustified aversion.

"Never, I promise," he announced gently and offered his hand to help the queen get onto the loyal animal. And really, it only took a quick pull of his arm and a bit of strength on Izaya's part for him to slip behind Karazam. For a single second Izaya almost wanted to adjust his legs in a manner that certainly would have surprised Crispin who was watching them with worried eyes, but he quickly remembered how a lady was supposed to hold herself and instead held onto Karazam's back.

"It shouldn't take long, just past the forest and a couple roads down the fields," Karazam announced, and with those words he flicked the reins. "Whatever you say, I trust you," Izaya sighed.

Quick, but not too fast the horse moved as though he had issued the perfect order and the training grounds were abandoned.

Izaya barely saw Crispin's face before it vanished into the distance. The merchant stalls were broadly avoided and a narrow path painted to the left of it aimed towards the main road into the forest.

It was beautiful.

Izaya could still remember the last time he headed into this direction. It was on their way back from his first arrival. He had gotten kidnapped and Shizuo pulled him onto his horse on their way back.

So much had changed since then. Not only their relationship, but they themselves as well.

Shizuo's lack of confidence and the lies, both had disappeared over the course of time and now all Izaya faced was a gorgeous forest with an inn not too far ahead. Shinra's mum, was she cooking up some sausages right now?

Izaya couldn't help but chuckle softly at the idea.

Harmonic.

That's what these lands were right now. Almost too peaceful and gentle to be deserved. Even the weather seemed to be on his side as it showered their path with gracious rays of sunlight.

Almost by reflex Izaya retracted one arm from Karazam's hip in order to reach for his collarbone. The spell he had learned and the peace all around worked wonders on his body and it was no lie when he found himself thinking that he had never felt this good before.

There were no coughs, no immediate threats or looming destinies to fear.

And Karazam seemed to be in a similar mood as he was obviously more than proud to have been assigned the duty to accompany his queen.

The squire was so small though. At least compared to Shizuo.

Holding onto the guy that was supposed to protect him Izaya couldn't help but notice how small he was. Thin too. Almost made him feel like he should protect Karazam and not the other way round.

Izaya spotted a few light bruises that had formed on Karazam's wrists and found himself slightly worried about Crispin's training methods.

"Your brother seemed pretty mad," he started as soon as the horse left the forest and slowed down a little.

He almost expected Karazam to vent about his brother's hard training, but not a shred of complaint was to be found in his expression as he smiled over his shoulder. "Don't mind him, he is always like that," he laughed, obviously misattributing Izaya's words of concern for him to ones over himself. "He just worries more than he needs to."

But Izaya smiled nonetheless. Because if that was the first answer Karazam was going to give, then he truly didn't seem to mind his brother's behavior.

"So you do have similarities," Izaya snorted and Karazam huffed.

"That's just because we only want the best for our commander," he quickly explained, "He loves you with every fiber of his body and especially now after-" coming to a stuttering halt Karazam's sentence was butchered to pieces in quick and confusing successions. "I mean, today, or tomorrow, you never know and…" obviously cursing his mouth for speaking at all Karazam bit his tongue and Izaya snorted.

"What are you trying to say?"

to be continued~

I dunno why but somehow writing the combination of Izaya and Karazam dorking their way around on a single horse seems absolutely hilarious and adorable at the same time for me xDDD They are just two smol beans trying to advance ahahaha

And Karazam can't take Izaya's jokes to save his life xDDDD

Ahh glorious- and the conversation will get even funnier xD

See you next friday everyone~! C: