Kora and Ben sat on the beach, the fire they had started burning brightly. Ludis was approaching, flinging sand from her boots as she sat and began to pull food out of her satchel.
"Where are Stella and Royce?" Ben inquired after quite some time. Kora and Ludis gave each other sly looks.
"Fishing -" Kora said.
"Boating-" Ludis said at the same time. Ben looked at them both, and both women started laughing. Ben looked at them both, and a light bulb went off above his head. He started to smile wickedly.
"Go Royce…" He murmured, happy for his friends.
"GO STELLA!" Ludis and Kora chorused, and another round of laughter rang out. Malik approached and was smiling.
"I want in on the joke-what's so funny?"
"Fishing -" Kora.
"Boating-" Ludis.
"Long walks on the Beach-" Ben. They all spoke at once, and now they were crying, they were laughing so hard. Malik shook his head, and noticing who was missing, blushed.
"Never mind, I don't want to know." This had the others gasping. Malik did not want to ruin the moment.
"I need to talk to you all, but I really do not want to ruin this night. Can we just … meet up tomorrow when Stella and Royce are free?" Malik strived to be honest, and they all looked at each other before nodding.
"Agreed." Malik pulled cards out of the satchel at Ludis's side and tossed the deck to Ben.
"Your turn to deal. No cheating, Althan, I am watching you." Malik joked. Ben, pretending to be offended, held his hand to his chest dramatically.
"Had if ever occurred to his Majesty, that maybe he sucks?" Footsteps approached, and Ian sat by the fire. They all looked up in surprise, and he held his hands out.
"Now that's borderline treasonous talk, Ben." Ian teased, trying to lighten the mood his appearance had caused. No one spoke.
"Like the king said, it can wait until tomorrow. I want in, I heard his grace is a sucker with a poor poker face. Where's Stella and Royce?"
"Fishing"- Kora
"Boating" Ludis
"Long walk on the beach." Ben.
The King shrugged - "Crabbing." They were all laughing now, and Ben dealt the cards.
They were trying to shake the feeling of anxiety of Ian's arrival, it was not his fault. He was a good man, and a good laugh. They all sat around the fire, joking, and playing the king for "The Kingdom's money" as he so put it, and Kora looked up at the moon. Shadow was curled behind her and Ben, her friends, were all laughing. Ben was warm at her side, teasing that she was peaking at his cards, his arm around her. Today. Today was theirs. And it was good.