Years after their first meeting, when Jatty was officially Arne's royal squire, she was being prepared to assume the throne in the next two years. Who she would marry was the question who kept the councillors awake at night.
Oltremare was one of the five kingdoms of the Fourth Continent, the fourth largest and the third richest. The fact that it was almost all peninsula meant that 60% of imports and exports were handled there, so it made sense to get along with them. It also meant that the other kingdoms would want to join forces to increase their power, and it is known that there is nothing more unifying in diplomacy than a wedding, a royal wedding. So when Jatty was rescued by Caudata, that was not their first encounter.
"A bachelor party?" he asked in astonishment.
"Uh-huh, the counsellors are nervous because they think I want to marry you", she replied as she removed her training armour.
"Well, I wouldn't mind having a luxury live as king consort..."
"And having to sleep with me until we sire at least one heir, how about that?"
The boy froze at the image that flashed through his mind, his face went pale, breaking out in a cold sweat, "N-no...No!", he cried out in horror.
"That is what I thought", Arne let his hair down and it slid sweaty down to her waist.
From a very young age, her hair had seemed to belong to counsellors and stylists who told her that to be beautiful like a princess she had to have long, neat, healthy hair. She wanted to be loved by Oltremare, so she obeyed every single one of their petitions; nevetherless, there was a difference in making her more appealing to the audience, and controlling her life. No one asked about her opinion in the matter, and she did not know if she wanted to get married at all; she was just eighteen.
"Jatty, let's give them a lesson of who is the future queen."
They wanted to make her more feminine because her height and build did not resemble her mother's, who was small and skinny like a doll. Still, they had forgotten that Clarine, besides all her dazzling, canonical beauty, was a bloodthirsty warrior who had ascended to the throne by killing her tyrant brother with her own hands. She was also a shameless burper at royal banquets.
Morover, they had not in count that her father, Prince Arson, was the most feminine of the three and yet was known to try to compete with the burps of his beloved wife; he admired everything she did not matter how disgusting it was.
The people of Oltremare knew how the royal family was, and they did not expected Arne to be delicated and pure. Arne, however, was still unaware of this and just did what she felt was the correct thing, trying to follow her own whishes for once.
When it came time to introduce the future queen to the heirs of the five kingdoms of the Fourth Continent, Arne had shaved her head like a cadet. She had decided not to wear the dress that concealed his muscles, but instead a tight-fitting one that showed off his well-crafted figure. Everyone knew that Arne trained day and night; the odd thing would be if she was all skin and bones. The dress was black and had a slit that showed off her strong, sinewy legs. Arne looked spectacular because she felt spectacular. She looked confident, because she was confident and comfortable with her body. That day Arne felt feminine and strong and also aroused the anger of the royal council.
Jatty watched her walk down the stairs and felt proud of her; her emotional strength was finally catching up with the physical one.
"And is that the 'beauty of Oltremare'?", a mocking voice said behind Jatty, "Now I understand why they were so worried..."
Jatty turned around to look for the barker; his duty was to eradicate the threats and the person insulting Arne seemed pretty dangerous. In reality, however, the real danger at the time was Jatty himself, who was willing to assault a royal member of another kingdom regardless of the consequences.
Clarine, seeing and hearing the scene, approached quickly to the young man in order to calm him down, "Jatty! How handsome you look!", she said grabbing his arm, "Have you met Prince Caudata of Alcora?"
<
"A pleasure, your majesty", he politely said. <
"Sure, squire", Caudata replied rudely and uninterested. He checked the boy in front of him from head to toes and smirked.
Jatty looked at him back, and if looks could kill, Alcora would currently be short of heirs to the throne. <
Clarine squeezed his arm in warning and whispered, "You can't hurt a prince, not inside the palace at least", and winked. "I'll leave you young men to get to know each other."
The prince kept his eyes fixed on the squire, as he drank from his cup and silence fell between them. Jatty felt that if he looked away he would lose, so if Caudata looked at him 100% intense, he looked a him 120% more intense.
"You and me, after the party, at the stone fountain on the north lawn," the threat from Jatty's lips to Caudata's ears was accepted with a nod.
However, it would had been nice if Jatty had given the prince a little more of context; the squire was prepared to fight, and Caudata was conviced they were about to make out. The meeting was something like this:
"You ready?", Jatty asked while loosening the knot of his tie.
"Yeah, let's do it", Caudata unbuttoned the first three buttons of his shirt.
"I will give you a lesson."
"Oh, no need to. I have done this a couple of times."
They both looked at each other under the starry sky; the breeze rustled their clothes. Caudata approached first and, just when it looked like he would draw his sword, the handsome young man tucked a lock of Jatty's hair behind his ear.
The bewilderment was such that he was slow to react until he felt the royalty's breath on his neck.
"What are you doing?!"
"Kissing your neck?"
"Why would you do that?! Use your fucking sword!"
"My what? Uh...kinky, I don't have one like that thou?"
The misunderstanding was never addressed; Jatty walked away thinking Caudata did not take him seriously, and Caudata left Oltremare thinking the squire was shy.
"You are her fincé?", both squires asked at the same time.
"Haha, yes!...Did not I told you, Lope?"
"You did not!"
"Well...I am! So, can we get going and fgo find my future wife?"
Caudata's horse passed the two squires and Lope followed him short after. The prince looked over his shoulder at the boy who remained behind, and held out his hand, "Get up."
He was hesitant to accept, but he had no choice; he would get to Arne sooner on horseback than on foot. He climbed up and sat down behind the boy by himself and, in a raspy voice-caused by the cold at that hour of the morning-that Caudata found charming, he said, "For Arne."
"Of course."
"Move your asses!"
"Yes, m'am!"