~Talfen, the capital of Coldshore~
~Inner Court, The Royal Palace~
Reqiel rolled over to his stomach and yawned, stretching as he did, only to pause halfway when he caught sight of Sarell sitting beside the fireplace.
He shot upright, "Did you forget to wake me up for my walk?" He asked in disbelief, looking out the window to see that it was already sundown. "You did!"
Sarell slowly rose to his feet with a relieved smile, Prince Reqiel had completely recovered from his fainting spell. "How do you feel, Your Highness?" He asked indulgently.
Reqiel let his legs hang off the side of his bed with a light scowl, "Upset."
"Then I suppose you don't mind changing out of your walking attire," Sarell went right on, humoring him.
Reqiel slowly deflated at this glancing down at his outfit, as he did so, he caught a glint of metal at his wrist and he pulled up his sleeve to find the bracelet Princess Aethel had given him.
Right then, his memories spilled back in and he held his head and groaned miserably, "Did I faint?" He asked Sarell, who had walked up to him then, "Right in front of Prince Cederic?"
"I thought you weren't trying to impress him," Sarell noted with humor twinkling in his pale green eyes as he held out a hand to Reqiel.
"I'm not trying to completely ruin our relationship either," Reqiel groused, taking Sarell's hand and letting himself be pulled up.
Sarell remembered Prince Cederic dropping off Reqiel like he was aflame and then quickly leaving, he also remembered everything that happened before then because he was present but Reqiel didn't need to know that.
"He seemed fairly concerned for you and was the one to bring you back to your palace in the company of Princess Aethel." He said as vaguely as he could while trying to reassure Prince Reqiel at the same time.
Reqiel perked up at this, "You think so?"
"Yes, of course, now would you like to have dinner?" He asked, letting go of Reqiel when he was on his feet.
"I guess I should, how long was I out? Did Aethel say anything before she left?"
Sarell had planned to change Reqiel out of his walking attire but there was really no need to, he could very well eat dinner in them, and then change into his night robes before going to bed - even he could be lax with rules.
He turned around to lead the way out of the bedroom, "You were asleep for a little under an hour and Princess Aethel said she would be paying a visit to check up on you tomorrow."
Reqiel groaned again, sounding truly miserable but other than that he looked perfectly fine. If anything Sarell thought that there was an exceptionally healthy glow to his face after he woke up.
Reqiel however was drowning in thoughts of what conclusions the Royal siblings would draw concerning him from the fainting stunt he pulled on their evening walk, he hoped that it wouldn't affect his permission to leave the Royal Palace.
He had to remedy this in someway, and to do that, he would have to first get himself accustomed to walking around before asking to leave the palace, not just because he was trying to build a favorable image but because he didn't want something as silly as a fainting spell to stop him from exploring the city like he wanted.
~*~
Andras remained in the living quarters until the patrol was over, the very first person to come dashing in was Randall who looked to have so much to say. This was the first time Andras didn't mind the chatty trainee because he was quite lost and needed some information.
"Andras! Word of what you did has spread around the palace. Did you really save the famed Princess and have Crown Prince Cederic acknowledge you?" He asked as soon as he came close enough, skidding to a stop in front of Andras.
Andras' brows furrowed, that was a little different from what he remembered happening but he wasn't interested in correcting rumors that would only persist regardless of what he said. "And? What else did you hear?"
Randall deflated at this, he should have known that Andras wouldn't care about things like that. "Well, it would seem that you have actually managed to accomplish the impossible," He said in awe, dropping to a crouch as the other trainees filed in.
The tension in Andras' shoulders eased at his words, he was seated cross-legged, his sheathed sword placed by his side on the mat. He flicked his eyes up at the other inhabitants of the living quarters when he felt their eyes on him only for them to look away quickly.
"Is it really that easy?" He asked quietly, touching the plain gray band around his forehead that had the King's insignia on it.
Randall blinked in shock, of course, only Andras would think what he had done was easy. "I guess some higher-ranking guards might try to get in the way because they don't like you but they can't do anything about it as the order came from the Crown Prince himself." He thought out loud, a solemn look on his face.
Andras listened intently, Randall certainly knew how politics worked in the Royal Palace of Coldshore so he could trust his deductions.
"As a matter of fact, this is possibly the first time in history that a guard in training was acknowledged by the Crown Prince, he must have seen something impressive about you." The wiry trainee said, sounding proud.
"And what about you?" Andras asked.
"Huh?" Randall glanced up, caught off guard by this question.
"If I get promoted to the inner court…" Andras added, leaving his sentence open ended.
"Oh," Randall murmured, staring at the space between them. "Bold of you to assume that I won't try hard to meet up with you," He said with a grin that was as forced as his cheery words, "But that aside, come tell me just how you rescued the Princess…"