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Of Princes and Knaves

Alexander: The Palace of Timeless Winters.
Walking on its halls, Alex always felt the weight of history... now, more than ever.

The days mean so much....

How long had he been with the Pale Angel? It felt like an eternity now. They barely had a day together.. before the Boil. Before the Dark Angel's lust and the party, and the two days, and... it all went by so fast. So much happened in such a short time.

And now, she was gone.

Kanti warmed him, made him feel whole, but still... he missed her...

His lady.

Thinking of her filled him with such love. With such guilt. With such...

Without meaning to, he saw himself in front of the door to her chambers. She had always been so keen about her privacy... he wondered if she had let anything of hers' inside. Anything he could see... touch... to remind him of her. The tips of his fingers brushed against the door, remembering all the times he would knock...

Almost wondering wether she would reply him if he knocked again...

???: There is a voice drifting through door. It is a gentle and loving whisper, a sweet and flighty tone. A child's voice.

"...and so it happened that Heathen Knave came across Glim- Glimmering Emerald when she was bathing in the stream..."

The speaker is apparently reciting an epic story to some unseen audience - and doing a bad job at it. It seems the child cannot quite grasp the required reverence for the scene, for at times her voice is soft and adoring like the stroking of the fluffy fur of a stuffed animal, and at times it rises into a tinkling giggle, so much like tiny silver chimes all bobbing in unison.

"Noting the robes the maid had discarded onto the riverbank, Knave ins-inst.... instantly turned his gaze away. He knew that the maid had not a thread to cover her beauty, and, and, and although the droplets of water sparkled and glimmered like - hee - like diamonds across her bared form, there were some jewels that were not meant to be clai-med..."

Alexander: There was someone on her room!

Who dares intrude on his lady's room?!?
For a moment, he got angry... before noticing the voice was that of a child!

And then, slowly, very, very slowly, he opened the door, silently...

Trying to see just who was intruding in the most sacred of all sanctums....

???: There, on the bed of the dreaded Pale Angel, lies the intruder. It is a child dressed in a ragged black blouse and little else. Sprawling on her back, she has lifted her legs - long and shapely for someone of her age - and propped her bare feet against the far wall. Blissfully ignorant that she is being observed, she twiddles her toes idly and flips over the next page in the book propped against her belly:

"A-hem. 'I have always wondre -- wondered why the water here is so clear and pure', told Knave to the maid in the stream. 'Now I finally know the answer. If a such a lovely being sanc--ti--fies the waters by bathing here, what choice does the stream have but to be moved and atte-mpt to mimic such purity by becoming clear and beautiful as well?'"

"Glimmering Emerald's eyes widened - even in fear they sparkled like the jewel she had gained her name from. She was calmed when she saw that the man had turned his gaze away, yet even this gesture did not sta-u-nch the strange flutter - hehehe - in her heart."

Alexander: The prince stared, beffudled. She was.... well, deathly pale, dressed in black, and yet so... cute!

...who?

Almost made him think of the Pale Angel as a child. Well, if she was just pale, not an albino, but still....

He just stared, confused, and before he knew, he was caught listening to the story... and wondering...

The tale. It hit a chord in his heart, remembering him of... something....
Something he wanted.
Something he tried to be.

"Hello...?" He finally spoke, the words coming naturally....

... cursing himself for breaking that cute sight. For breaking the narrative, clumsy as it is...

???: "And so asked the beautiful Emerald: 'Who are you, to speak --'"

The girl halts her narrative in mid-sentence. She cranes her neck to turn her head at the door. Her crimson eyes blink upside-down at the arrival for a moment, her mouth shaped like a tiny little 'o.' Then her childish face melts into a sweet little smile.

"Hello", she says. "Are you here to kill me?"

Alexander: He blinks.

Wha..?

"n... no! I... I am just here because this... this is my lady's room!" He takes a step back, not wanting to scare her... "Wh... why would you think that? Who are you? What are you doing here?" a rapidfire of questions come from him, tripping over his tongue in the proccess....

???: "I'm spying", the girl replies with an impish smile.

"I dun know what you do with spies who get caught, but the Prince of Shadows likes to kill them." Turning her gaze back to the book, she leafs through the pages for a moment, then shrugs and adds: "Well, he tortures them first, I guess."

She bends one leg to the side, movement smooth and effortless. Bending the leg into a right angle from the knee, she uses her toes to rub at some itchy spot on the thigh of her other leg. Her blue skin is smooth and firm. "This is a funny story", she comments after a while. "Have you read it?"

Alexander: If her very presence was enough to confuse the Prince, her words were enough to twist his mind around until it was ready to snap. What could he say? She just admitted to being spying on them! What could he do? She did it in all innocence, and ready to die! Just... what could he...

... and his mind is left to try to work that, as he replies, almost mechanically... "... no, I have not."

"Why are you reading it here...?"

???: "I found it on the bed. It had a bookmark on it." Without looking up from the pages the young girl raises one hand and displays a dried flower to the Prince. "I guess she likes it. I like it, too", she adds with a giggle. "It's funny."

And then she draws a deep and solemn breath and begins to read aloud once again:

"And so asked the beautiful Emerald: 'Who are you, to speak to me with such noble words? Your words are plea-ssing, like honey -- I like honey -- but your garb is that of a bandit.'

I am a bandit', replied Heathen Knave and bent down to pick the silken robe into his hands. 'I was given a bandit's name. I steal from men for my own gain. I pick their pockets and pil -- pil--fer their sacks, for that is the only way for me to make a living in the cruel world. This I admit freely. But some treasures in Creation are not to be stolen - sunshin-ny in the sky, rustle of wind in the leaves, and pure maidens bathing in streams. Hee hee. You have nothing to fear from me, fair lady.

And thus saying, his gaze still av-verted? he held out the robes for the maid."

"And that", she adds firmly, jabbing a little finger at the page, "is the funny part."

Alexander: It was so.... wondrous. So innocent. So beautiful. Not quite what he read until a little while ago... he would rather read more epical stories... and not romances. Romances were for Carina to read. And yet, something there is... just what he was trying so hard to be....

... and... something in it hurt in his chest.

"That is... hers'?"

You have those, milady?
You read those books?
You dream...

The rose hurts, as well.
He had never given her a rose...

"Why is it funny?" He asks, walking closer to the bed...

???: "Well, you see", the girl breathes, importantly, "she's making him happy, isn't she? Guys get happy when they look at naked girls. When a guy wants to be really happy, he always tears the clothes off from the girl. But this Knave guy?"

She shakes her head and taps the book with her fingers. "He puts a robe on her. On her, you see? He gets happy by putting the robe on her! Why? It's so funny..."

Her enthusiastic explanations begin to trail away. She frowns, hard at work with the matter. "Maybe he knows she gets happy when she gets the robe? I dun know..."

Alexander: ... he always tears the clothes off the girl

Yes, he does. I do... I did to Kanti, to Lilith...

That is how a man acts...?
That is how he acts...
And a knave, more noble than he had been in ages...

More noble than he had been...
Even on a book....
He walks closer to her, touching the surface of the book... "No, see." He says, shaking his head. "He loves her. When a man likes a woman... when he is noble in his soul and intentions... he respects her. He will not rip anything of her, he will not hurt her in any way. He will care for her. That is respect... and love."

He knew what to say. He always did.

Then why did he forget? Why was it so easy to forget?
So easy to just push into a woman, to hurt her...

So easy to pretend he forgot what he had always known....

???: "...huh?"

Her raven locks resting on the sheets that had once born a much more mature woman, the girl blinks up at the Prince. There is puzzlement on her face, in the pouting lips and half-open mouth, incomprehension of something... critical.

"Ooh", she finally announces, with spirit, as if something had finally dawned to her. "Love." She nods, seriously. "Marriage. Cute little babies. I like babies."

Something else seems to occur to her now, and she presses one finger against her chin. "But is marriage always about love? I mean, the girl here, Glittering Emerald, she's supposed to marry a really rich and handsome prince. Prince wants to be happy, too, and there's one point where he tears down the girl's clothes. The girl says no but he does it anyway. But he's going to be married to her, so doesn't he love her, too?"

Alexander: That makes him think of Moon. All the people Kanti told him she had lain with...

And she liked Moon...
And Moon was protective of her...
And he never took advantage of her.

He was a better man than Alex in that, wasn't he?

"No. He does not. See..." He sits down, easing himself on the bed.. "Some people see marriage as just a way to own someone. To use someone. Rip their clothes, dress them like dolls, dominate them."

???: "Are you sure?" The blue girl scratches her head a little, a bit confused and sceptical now. "None of them ever married me. Are you married?"

Alexander: "They do not need to marry to do that, see. Marriage... can be much. Or so little... people can marry and do the same things he always did. People... do that much to you?" or so they did in all the stories... And she asked wether he was marrried.. "No. Maybe I will be to the Pale Angel... I wish we could be. I have Kanti, too. She is my concubine."

And I have ripped the clothes off both of them.

???: "Really?" She smiles prettily, pleasantly surprised. "Are you going to rip their clothes off, or are you going to res-pect them?"

The question is innocent, dropped lightly from her lips without any thought at all about its contents.

Alexander: ... and it hurt. It hurts because of how that question mattered...

"I ripped their clothes off already..." He says, his voice pained. "No idea what I will do now."

Were you thinking how the men you had dreamed of were so much better than me, milady?

???: "So you didn't need to marry, either?" the girl goes on blithely. "That's nice!"

When the Prince does not immediately respond, she opens her eyes and looks at him more closely. Noting the pained mien on his face and the sadness in his eyes, she frowns. "Are you sad? Why are you sad?"

Alexander: "Because, see, I wanted to be like the knave. All my life, I dreamed to be like the knave." He nods.

"And instead, I have been like the prince, you see. Every time..."

???: "Hmm." The girl puckers her lips and taps them with her fingers, deep in thought. Coming up with a decision, she snaps the book shut and swings herself to sit upright on the bed. "I know!" she announces and sets the book aside. "Let's play! I'll be Glimmering Emerald and you'll be Knave!"

Alexander: He blinks. "P... play?"

"Like... like how?!?"

???: "Oh, it's easy, silly", she grins and, without a second thought at all, pulls the voluminous blouse up and away. Alex's first impression about her was correct: with the exception of a small pair of black panties, she indeed is wearing very little else.

"Emerald is bathing in the stream and Knave happens to come by", she explains and tosses the blouse to hang from a bed's cornerpost. "You go over there, and you're strolling through the forest when you happen to come by this pretty stream and --"

Alexander: Trying not to giggle, with a slight blush, he gets up... and turns around, trying not to look at her.

And tries to remember where her blouse was....

???: As soon as Alex moves to his proper place, a happy little hum begins to rise from behind him. For all her inability to read a book properly, the girl is truly putting an effort to playing her role. Her song has no words in it, only emotions. Hers are the idle melodies and content crooning, daydreaming lah-de-dahs that hold no real purpose whatsoever, save to express the happiness of the singer. Hers are the songs of beauty and purity, of a heart full of compassion, of a head full of fantasies about knights in shining armor... with room for little else, apparently.

Alex can almost hear the murmur of the brook in the forest and the gentle splash of water as the maiden washes away the dirt of the cruel world.

Alexander: The prince takes one look at her, a blushy smile on his face before he turns around, and speaks, his voice the essence of poetry, trying to find the words in the book, of one that has seen something beautiful and wondrous, warm, polite. "I have always wondered why the water here is so clean and pure." He says, as if he was truly seeing this water, as if he could see it run past him... "Now I finally know the answer. If such a lovely being sanctifies the waters by bathing here, what choice does the stream have but to be moved and attempt to mimic such purity by becoming clear and beautiful as well?" Whateverr he was, at least the prince's oratory skills were well honed!

???: Glimmering Emerald turns at the sound of his voice, her mouth opening in a surprised gasp, her arms wrapping themselves quickly over her chest. Her eyes widen - even in fear they sparkle like the rubies she...

...er.

...like the emeralds she had gained her name from. Seeing how the Prince turns his gaze away, however, she seems to relax slightly, although there is still an air of anxiety about her, awareness of... something she daren't quite yet name.

And thus asked the beautiful Emerald: "'Who are you, to speak to me with such noble words? Your words are pleasing, like honey, but --" She hesitates and licks her lips with a little red tongue. "Like honey, but --"

There is another pause.

And then, the blue-skinned girl giggles and lifts one hand from her chest to rub the back of her head. "I forgot it! What was she supposed to say?"

Alexander: He smiles, a shadow of a laugh as the warm air touches his lips, and he does his best girlish voice to say, "like honey, but your garb is that of a bandit. " He finishes, picking up his own like, "To which I am supposed to say, I am a bandit. I was given a bandit's name. I steal from men for my own gain. I pick their pockets and pilfer their sacks, for that is the only way for me to make a living in the cruel world. This I admit freely. But some treasures in Creation are not to be stolen - sunshine in the sky, rustle of wind in the leaves, and pure maidens bathing in streams. You have nothing to fear from me, fair lady.'... and then..."

And then, gazr averted, the prince picked her blouse, holding it with reverence to Sweet Raiton, like the heavenly robes of lady Emerald...

???: "That's right!" She claps her hands together, pleased. "You have a good memory!"

And then, her eyes widen, and she clamps the arms over her chest once more. "Ooh, this is the best part", she whispers, eagerly, and edges her way across the bed towards Alex and the threadbare black blouse he is holding out for her.

Alexander: "Thank you... but I do not know your name. Should I call you lady Emerald?" He smiles, still averting his eyes, he slowly, gently, slid the blouse on her, trusting her help as he tries to do so with only the feel of where she was, not seeing and trying not to touch... ... are you going to be around much longer? If you are, I could read it for you... you seemed to be having troubles with it!"

???: The garment is voluminous - larger than what the girl would actually need, and so the Prince has no trouble sliding it over her form. Her thin arms raised, her head bent back, she enjoys the sensation of the blouse flowing down over her for a moment before answering: "Ooh, I dun know if I can stay around for long. Job to do. But if you promise to read it to me the next time we meet, I'll hold on to it very seriously."

Now safely clothed, she lets her arms fall down to her sides and opens her eyes, smiling up at the handsome prince. "Are you happy now?"

Alexander: He pecks her forehead, with a happy smile. "Yes. Yes, I am happy now. Thank you, lady Emerald."

I know who I want to be again.

Sweet Raiton: Rising onto her toes, she suddenly returns the peck onto Alex's cheek, and then takes a dancing step back. "I'm glad that you're happy", she whispers, gently.

"And it's Raiton", the girl correct him, still smiling. "I'm called Sweet Raiton."

Her hands hidden shyly behind her back, she retreats to the door and slips away.

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