"Have you seen the crown prince?"
"Must be juggling stones with the forestfolk."
"Must be fighting off some mountain thieves."
"Must be at the courtroom collecting taxes and solving the water crises of the Empire."
"Well I must find him quick! I have a message from the Queen!"
Pulling his hat closer to cover his remarkable pale green eyes from being spotted by the passerbys, Clover Romero Milton threw a stone at the giant apple tree in front of him. "The maids sure trust their Prince a lot," He whispers to the lurking presence of his best friend hiding amidst the dense overgrowth of leaves atop the tree.
The stone accurately hits an apple. Clover catches it upon its fall.
"Well, I don't reckon they have an Empire to rule. Imagination might be a great escape amidst royal chaos," His best friend replies, head hidden somewhere behind the branches, invested as if finding a lost treasure.
Clover bites into the apple. It sounds a crunch in his ears as its citrusy juice oozes from the croners of his lips. Clover licks it all in a go. Delicious.
"What are you even doing up there? Romancing the birds?" The boy asks, squinting up at the tree and wincing because the peeking sun was too harsh for his gentlemanly eyes.
"I'm having a conversation with the squirrels and you are proving to be a divine distraction, my friend," His friend replies from the beyond.
A loud rustle of leaves catches Clover's attention. Clover steps forward to help but the apple in his hand was a little too addicting on his tastebuds.
Clover bit another bite when his best friend, who was perched over a small branch, lost his footing and fell off the tree with a resounding thud.
Clover's handsome face contoured into a wince, neither his body nor his apple inching any further from their original spots.
The boy, who had fallen from the tree, groanes deeply.
"Ouch," Clover deadpans, "Did it hurt?"
"I'll ask that when I'm boiling your bones tonight," Came the latter's seething reply. His silk creme shirt had torn around the elbows, heat gravitating over them and raging redness appearing on the smooth paleness of his skin.
"That sounds borderline gay to me," Clover whispers with a smirk, eyeing his friend's palms hiding something behind them. But he does not gets a chance to question it because his friend is already sliding his legs over Clover's shin and successfully tripping them to the ground.
He falls with his teeth stuck on the dumb apple, piercing all the way to his gums. Clover whines, pale green eyes watering in pain as he slowly pulls the apple out of his teeth and throws it away with a jerk. Betrayal.
"I hope you choke on a fishbone," Clover all but cries out a whisper.
His friend laughs out loud.
"Come'ere I've got something for you," His friend, now sitting up with his back leaning against the dark bark of the tree, gestures Clover to come closer.
Peach lips jutted out in a pout and with pitiful wet eyes, Clover crawls over to his best friend, risking his high quality Retrican leather outfit some dirt patches.
His friend holds his hands out for Clover to see what was hidden inside his curved palms. But a sudden squeak and the glimpse of fur and whiskers had Clover jumping into a backflip and rolling downhill into the Royal Courtyard.
"ZEPHYRUS BLADRIC ELSTAN!!!"
Was his retreating scream.
Zephyr enjoyes Clover's reaction to the bottom of his heart and gets up, caressing the small squirrel in his hand with the tip of his thumb. It had injured a hand of its and been bleeding alone in the tree.
Zephyr assumed it to have stepped on some sharp edged stone.
Nevertheless, it was much calmer than most squirrels that Zephyr had made acquaintance within the bounds of his limitless gardens.
He decides to take it inside the castle and treat its wounds.
On his slow descent down the hill he spots the huffing figure of short Clover raging towards him.
"I cannot believe that you had the nerve to bring an animal this close to my face! You horse rutting moron! You know I am terrified of animals! Rodents! Creatures! I do not care for one bloating point of difference, I don't! But— How could you—?!! woah ah ah!!" Clover had begun in a high pitched wannabe threatning tone but it changed to scared, soulless shouts when his eyes dropped from Zephyr's smug face to the small squirrel still resting in his hands.
"The beast is in your grasp!! Keep it away from me, I say, keep the abomination away from me!!" Clover screames on top of his lungs, as his legs involuntarily race faster towards his best friend. As if creating a havoc would make Zephyr aware of the small animal in his hands.
"Well then, stop walking towards me!" Zephyr laughs out in reply, brushing past a panicked Clover and marching for the doors to his castle.
Clover pulls his lips in a thin line before he eyes the fluttering piece of torn fabric on Zephyr's arm. He takes off his black leather jacket and tip toes behind Zephyr to land it on his shoulders before taking huge steps away to maintain a respectable distance between him and the man with an animal.
"The crown prince mustn't go around in tattered clothes," Clover informs with a scowl when Zephyr turns back with a questioning glance.
"Why thank you, my manservant," Zephyr winks cheekily at him before sliding his arms through the jacket.
Clover sticks his thumb behind the upper set of his front teeth and flicks it off in Zephyr's face.
The crown prince lets out an exaggerated gasp of offense.
"According to the Royal Code of EDA, you are now credited with 40 lashes by Hak for performing inappropriate acts in the presence of Royalty," Zephyr sings out brightly, knocking twice against the copper doors before they were pulled open for his entry.
Clover tightens his leather vest around his chest and slender waist whilst grumbling incoherent curses directed at his best friend's broad back.
Though, upon stepping inside, Zephyr's smile drops from his face as fast as his knees to the floor because standing inside the ceramic tiled royal foyer was the Queen of the lands of EDA.
The squirrel escapes Zephyr's hands as he takes his position, body bent, one knee kissing the ground while other pressed against his heart in a promise of remaining forever grounded and humble. His left hand stays on his scabbard and his right reaches to his heart in respect.
"May long live your highness, my queen!"
Clover too, falls in a similar posture, with a peasantry squeak, as he sees the squirrel escaping from Zephyr's hands and running off.
"Rise, Wind of the Empire, Zephyrus, and look your mother in the eye."
The Queen's words are well practiced, seemingly gentle but her sharp eyes are expressive of expectations, and as Zephyr stands to his feet he can only trust his friend to take care of the wild squirrel before it gets lost in the Royal household and gets executed. Or worse, adopted.
"Afternoon, mother, it is a sweet charm seeing you here today," Zephyr greets, falling into hug because the queen had her arms held out for him.
The animal jumps its way around the foyer while Clover thinks of a way to catch it without being in close proximity of it. Summoning utter genius from his last working brain cell, he pulls out his handkerchief and throws it at the squirrel.
The squirrel evades without a doubt.
The vain piece of cloth futters beside someone else.
"Hopefully I'm not a distraction among your Royal duties, son?" The Queen questions, startling blue eyes holding his mocha ones as her skinny hands held his vieny ones. She stands close, invading all personal space and scrutinizing through her son's walls of defences.
Clover stealthily tries crawling in the handkerchief's direction.
"You flatter my worth, mother, I was only gardening atop the hill. As a lesson to learn of the troubles our villagers go through," Zephyr replies with a practiced calmness to his persona and a subtle smile on his lips. Whilst, on the inside, his mind is propelling questions at the speed of light.
The squirrel hides behind the Queen's ruffled dress and Clover's heart nearly jumps out of his mouth. What are his last wishes, again?
"You hold up the Empire's might with such refinement, my boy, no wonder the people are proud to have you around," The Queen breathes out another charming smile, bejewelled hand reaching out to stroke her son's caramel head. "Though, I have a piece of news for you."
Behind the Queen's extravagant gown of black and gold is a girl, slouched to her knees, crushing her vintage plaid periwinkle dress in the process. Clover's handkerchief was scrunched in her fist as she's taking out peanuts from underneath her creme hat and aiming them for the squirrel to catch.
Clover feels his soul going into erectile dysfunction, mind travelling into places of strange abhorrence.
"With due respect, I am all ears. Would you like to continue our conversation in the tea room? I reckon it is time. Do you want me to send someone for the Priestess?" Zephyr eyes Clover lying on the glistening floor with his jaw touching the ceramic tiles and he desperately tries to get his mother out of Clover's chaotic presence.
If the Queen caught that, it would mean serving in the stables, for a week. Surrounded by shit, both literally and metaphorically.
"Leave that for some other occasion, my beloved, today I want you to meet someone special," The Queen brushes away Zephyr's suggestions and, much to his utter dismay, turns around.
Before Zephyr could pull the Queen back or Clover could stand up, the girl mechanically stands up into position and a few peanuts slip down in the process. Clover rolls frantically out of sight.
The Queen, who only ever looks at the eye level, smiles at the girl whose ashy hair were braided to a side while loose ashy curls framed her face.
But that's not the point.
The point is, the peanuts rolled progressively faster towards the Queen's skirt while three pairs of eyes glare at them in a predatory manner.
Reflexes too jumbled with priorities to function.
The girl holds eye contact with the Queen as the regal woman steps forward to line a bejewelled finger over the girl's forehead and guides a few stray strands of hair back in place. In doing so, the Queen unintentionally captures the peanuts in the ruffles of her lavish gown skirt.
Clover sucks in an audible breath.
Zephyr visibly clenches his jaw behind his mother's back.
And the squirrel, well it jumps inside the creases of the Queen's dress to find food.
"Meet Agnes, an absolute angel. Your betroth-ED TO BE, OH SWEET EDEN—!!THERE IS SOMETHING IN MY SKIRT!!"
The Queen screams, flinging all Royal etiquettes out of the window when she bunches up the ruffles of royal gown under her armpits and bounces form one shaky step to the other.
"My Queen!" The girl exclaims in her husky voice as the Lady of the Land jumps into her arms with a flurry of curses aimed at a small creature.
Caught off guard, and still new in heels, the girl looses her balance and tips over the heels along with the Queen's body suffocating her to the floor. A few ancient pots fall in collateral damage due to the circumference of the Queen's gown.
The peanuts hurl in different directions with the Queen's movements. The squirrel frenzies behind them.
"THERE IS A WILD SQUIRREL INSIDE THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD!!" The Queen screeches, clutching her arms tighter around the girl and almost bruising her in the process.
Clover finally detaches himself off the tiled flooring and jumps to Her Majesty's aide. He manages to get her clingy claws off Agnes and makes her stand up, pulling her right hand in his as Agnes takes her left hand in hers, still stumbling. The Queen squeezes her well-made nails in the soft flesh of both of their hands.
The squirrel almost becomes the victim of the guard's spears before Zephyr announces, "Do not attack to kill!"
Zephyr plunges to the tiled floor and corners the squirrel against a wall and cages it in his palms again.
"The disaster is contained, my Queen, no worries. No casualties. Are you okay?" Zephyr bellows from one side of the foyer, with the same contained calmness in voice, so unlike the girl and Clover who were a breath away from tipping down the edge of laughter and falling into the grounds of mirth.
"Reasonably so," The Queen replies, breathing to the count of numbers that the girl was whispering in her ear. Feeling considerably relaxed, she pulls her hands away and questions in an eerily cold tone.
"Who dared to unleashed a squirrel at me?"
Three fingers pointed at each other.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬