Trial Two~Bonds
Cheng stood in front of Astrid defensively as she stumbled awkwardly to her feet, stuttering as she tried to clear up his misunderstanding about the situation. Cheng turned his attention to Albus, glaring daggers at him.312Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcznczX9mju
"How impudent, committing such indecencies against another man's fiancé!" He scolded.
Astrid's eyes widened and she tugged on Cheng's sleeve. "Fiancé? What do you mean."
Cheng looked back at her with a somewhat guilty expression. "I apologize for not telling you sooner, the real reason I came to here was to establish an alliance with Solaria and the Summer Isle. I know this is out of the blue, but I had planned to ask for your hand in marriage."
Albus scoffed and pushed himself up off the ground. "You say she's your Fiancé? Well then if she's so important to you, perhaps you should keep a better watch over her. If she's bringing other men home then clearly you're lacking the means to satisfy her. Who knows, if you keep neglecting her like that a man like me may sweep her off her feet and steal her from right under your nose."
Astrid was slightly taken aback at Albus' sudden attitude. He struck her as a fairly calm and gentle fellow and he had been nothing but a gentleman to her this entire time. Sure he had some sass to him but she didn't expect him to bite back like that. All of Cheng's focus and the suspended disbelief in his eyes, rested on Albus. The sounds that escaped him sounded different. Like an unused voice from the depths of his heart.
"You dare to—are you questioning how much I care for her?"
"No, but she is." Albus gestured to Astrid's increasingly confused expression. Given that she had met both of these men not too long ago, she was a tad bit overwhelmed, to say the least. "Maybe you should ask her how she feels before you go jumping to conclusions by yourself."
Cheng had, had enough of Albus treating him like an idiot and in a fit of rage, he reached out and grabbed Albus by his shirt. "That's rich coming from someone who was forcing himself on her not too long ago!"
Albus' indifference to his scolding made Cheng even angrier and so he raised his hand to strike him and Albus did the same to defend himself. Astrid was at her wits end. She grabbed Cheng's raised arm and flipped him off his feet and onto the floor. Albus, who still had not even so much as flinched was also toppled to the floor when she did the same to him.
"Enough."
Both men were effectively silenced and now slightly unnerved by the fuming Astrid that towered above them.
"Cheng, it's a misunderstanding. I was being and stubborn and Albus was trying to prove a point. Albus, Cheng is not a bad man. Please don't be rude to him."
The men conceded their argument as she so plainly laid out the facts for them. Sin, who was hiding behind the gazebo, stepped out and began walking towards them.
"Yo! Seems like you've been having a fun time little sister." Sin raised his hand to wave at them, trying not to make things any more awkward than they already were.
Astrid sighed. "Sin! What are you doing here?"
"Just taking a walk....you're a new face," He said, glancing at Albus.
Albus dusted himself off and greeted Sin. 312Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCULOWjxxi6
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"Pleasure to meet you your Highness. My name is Albus Deroutér. I'm a travelling craftsman. Princess Astrid brought me here because she believed that it would help inspire me."
Cheng bit his lip to avoid saying something he'd regret. He was angered by the way Albus spoke of Astrid so familiarly.
Sin nodded. "I see. Well don't make too much noise, you'll disturb the animals. Mother is very particular when it comes to them and we don't want to make her upset!" He laughed.
Usually, the mere mention of Illya was enough to quell any skirmishes and it seemed to work on Cheng but Albus didn't look like he was the least bit scared.
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind. It's quite late. I think it's time I take my leave. Do tell the Queen that I enjoyed my time here with Astrid and perhaps, if time permits it, I will visit again someday."
Cheng stared at Albus, shocked to see him address the Queen so boldly. Even going as far as to mention her daughter. Sin nodded, suddenly taking a liking to the young craftsman's boldness.
"Will do~"
Albus nodded respectfully towards Sin and Astrid and made his way back down the way he came, leaving the three of them to their own devices.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
The woman's voice echoed through the trees once again. "Have you gone deaf? I said to release your hostages."
Yukimi and Ri-is could hear the bandits cowering outside of the tent.
"The boss won't be happy about this," one lamented.
"Where is she when you need her!"
Yukimi and Ri-is looked at each other. "Their boss is a woman?"
"Seems so. I can't think of any women that would gain anything from kidnappings us though. Much less one that has the gall to do so," Ri-is whispered back.
A wave of relief washed over the bandits as a woman stepped into the fray to defend them. "Calm down. We don't want to fight. We want to bargain."
The mere tone in her voice sounded stubborn and unpredictable yet strong and calculating. It was highly reminiscent of Illya's.
"You don't want to fight? Tell that to the men that attacked us in the forest earlier," Ea retorted.
There was a cold silence. Like the woman was reprimanding her forces with her steely gaze alone. "Sorry about that. It was a miscommunication. I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I just needed to get your attention."
"Enough. Bring the hostages out so we can confirm that they're safe." Tah Min demanded.
The woman sighed and signalled for one of her henchmen to bring them out. A man entered the tent and Ri-is and Yukimi stumbled back. The man wasted no time in binding their hands and bringing them out of the tent. Once they were out, they were able to get a good look at their surroundings. Standing a little ways down the path on a small cliff that overlooked the area there were in was Ea, Tah Min and a tall elf.
"She's on our side right?" Yukimi whispered.
Ri-is nodded. "She's mother's friend. She's one of the chosen heroes from the Continental War. She watches over Craobh Fuaran now. Her name's Rhona."
The woman beside them removed the hood on her cloak to reveal blond hair that was tied messily into a ponytail. She turned to face them and Ri-is instinctively calmed down despite his rising suspicion. There was something about her crimson gaze that seemed so familiar.
Rhona spoke once again, drawing everyone's attention. "You said you wanted to bargain. What is it that you want exactly?" She questioned.
The woman smiled. "My name is Diana and I have to talk to the Queen. Take me to her."
"This is quite the roundabout way of trying to get an audience with the Queen. Why go through all the trouble," asked Rhona.
"I have my reasons," she stated simply.
"...Why are you so determined to speak to her?" Rhona pressed on.
Diana paused and stared at the group before her. "Is it that strange that a daughter wants to spend time with her mom?"
A deathly silence fell over the group. Mouths agape, eyes wide, Ri-is was the first to break the silence with a gasp and a blunt flair of emotion.
"You're her daughter?"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•
Nikiro had gone out for a bit of nighttime exploration. He walked down the streets, enjoying his leisurely stroll. Eventually, wandered into a small shopping district which had been carved into a cave system over a volcanic canyon. It had many winding paths that spiralled in a colosseum-like fashion. The shops we're expertly carved into the cave walls. In the center of the "Colosseum" was a statue of Illya that sat atop a large piece of volcanic rock. around the rock was a sea of lava. According to the various signs hung around the place, the area had been completely destroyed and reduced to ruins until Illya became Queen and rebuilt it.
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Nikiro found it fascinating to go around and learn about the history of the place. As he walked, he noticed familiar faces approaching, it was the women from the flower shop in town that he had run into with Sin when he first arrived in Solaria. One of the sisters spotted Nikiro and skipped up to him.
"Hi there handsome! How are you today?"
"I'm fine, how are you?"
"My sisters and I just came to shop for some new ribbons to tie our bouquets with. How's your boyfriend?" She playfully nudged Nikiro and he laughed.
"He's doing well I'm sure. I haven't seen him in a while but the last time we talked, he did mention wanting a souvenir so I was just looking around for one."
"That's so sweet! I hope you find what you're looking for!"
They waved goodbye and the girl walked off with her sisters. Nikiro was going to continue his walk when a muffled "disgusting" caught his attention. He turned around to find a drunk man leaned against the rails and laughing with his friends. They occasionally glanced over in his direction and Nikiro assumed they overheard his conversation. He was just going to walk away, not wanting to cause a scene, but before he even looked away, the same drunk man piped up again.
"The hell are ya looking at ya stupid fag?"
Nikiro was used to comments like that for the most part, but he was definitely not expecting to hear it at this point in time. He turned around and began to walk away when a bottle of alcohol came whipping past his face and smashed onto the ground in front of him. It was followed by obnoxious laughter from the group of men.
"HEY! ARE YOU DEAF? I'M FUCKIN' TALKIN' TO YA!"
Nikiro turned to face the man. He was more than capable of putting him in his place right then and there, but he didn't want to make a scene and the man's drunken wails weren't exactly helping.
"Can I help you?" Nikiro asked blandly.
"Yeah. You can tell me what the hell a stupid ass homo is doing here? Ya ain't gonna find nobody to fuck here. Nobody want's to put their dick in some guy's nasty ass."
The group erupted into laughter again and Nikiro rolled his eyes.
"Yeah okay. Judging from your lack of intelligence I'm sure you haven't been able to put your dick in anything except your hand."
The man stopped laughing. His brows furrowed in disgust and anger as he marched up to Nikiro and grabbed him by the throat.
"WHAT WAS THA-"
The man was cut off by a hand that had reached around Nikiro and punched the man hard enough for him to stumble back. The hand then wrapped itself around Nikiro, pulling him close. The panic in Nikiro's eyes disappeared once he realized who was behind him. Sin grinned staring down at the drunk man.
"Now now, I know he's gorgeous but do try to be a gentleman!" Sin mused.
The group of men cowered at the sight of Sin.
"Y-You're highness! S-Sorry I didn't...I didn't...we didn't know he was Y-Yours!"
"Doesn't matter whether or not he's mine, you're behaviour is such a disgrace. Hayate, deal with him!"
Hayate emerged from the shadows and swiftly approached the men while Sin lead Nikiro away.
"I had come out to chill and forget about my sister's boy drama. I didn't expect to run into you here. You okay?" Sin let go of him as they walked.
"Yeah...I'm fine...so I'm 'gorgeous' huh?" Nikiro tried to joke to mask his panic but the almost undetectable quiver in his voice didn't slip past Sin.
"Of course you are. What? You don't look in mirrors? How is that surprising to you haha!"
Nikiro wasn't expecting that response. It caught him off guard and he averted his eyes. The way his brows curved and his body was stiff as they walked told Sin that he was still a little shaken up. He didn't quite know what Nikiro had to have experienced to make him this scared of things like that, but he did know that he didn't like seeing his friend like this. So he reached his hand out and very gently linked his pinky finger with Nikiro's. Nikiro looked up at him but Sin didn't say anything. He didn't need to. He just smiled and Nikiro soon found himself smiling as well. They walked all the way back to the castle like that in a comfortable silence and it wasn't long before Nikiro had completely forgotten the incident with the drunk men.
