The King of Rats in Another's Castle

The princess enthusiastically opens the door and says “Kar’Desh! Oh, how I’ve
wished to meet you outside a public setting! Come in, come in!”
She motions for me to join her in her room. I find my boots moving me towards the
room. What!? Stop! We need to run! Oh no. I’m in the room and the doors shut
behind me. I’m trapped. Her room is larger than my house. There’s a large bed big
enough for my entire family three times over, a couch, chairs, royal rugs, tables, a
balcony outside, an enormous fireplace that illuminates the entire room, and a
ladder leading up to a second floor I can’t quite see. This place has everything but a
cooking station. What could one person even do with all this? Befitting of a princess I suppose. She says to me “Here, have a seat.”

I stare at her, both surprised and confused. “Are you certain I won’t muddy your
chairs?”

She looks confused. “Whatever are you referring to? Could it be that perhaps, you as an elf. feel as though you are unworthy of a seat?”

I return a confused look. “Uh, no? I just thought that you wouldn’t be pleased with an elf on your furniture.”

She falls into a pondering stance. “But I had read that elven societies were often
cleanly to the point where mere stone glimmered.”
Then she continues to come up with countless possibilities. I’m starting to think she's just thinking to herself now... Out loud.

Before she goes to deep into her theories, I interrupt her. “No, princess. I simply
thought that all humans saw elves as filthy beasts beneath them.”
I sit in one of the chairs across from her. Then I realize what I just did. I just
interrupted the princess! I shoot back up and start apologizing. “Forgive my
insolence princess, I had only meant to...”
To what? Before I can come up with a response, she throws her hands out in front of her, stammering.

“Oh no no no, nonsense. I beseech thee, sit.”
This is the princess? A human princess? There’s no way. Royalty is supposed to be
arrogant beyond compare… Like Toross. Reluctantly, I re-seat myself. She clears her throat and begins to speak again. This time with a sort of grace I would expect of
royalty. “I’ve been told that we have you to thank for rallying our troops and inspiring them to fight. So.”
She stands up and does a little courtesy. “You have my royal thanks.”

“Is that why you asked me here?”

She sits back down with a plop. “Well, there was the official matter, but in truth, my
real intentions were just to meet you! You’re the first demi-human I’ve had the
pleasure to see up close. And a fine specimen you are.”
Uhh… Specimen? She continues. “It makes me wonder what’s so different between
humans and demi-humans. Elves in particular.”
She stands up and leans in close to my face with bewitchingly curious eyes. This is... Uncomfortable. She grabs my chin with her tiny delicate hands and twists my head while making observations. “The only difference I can observe is your spectacular
maroon eyes and extraordinary ears. Tell me. Do they allow you to hear things that we humans can not?”
As she squeezes my ears with her free hand, I try to answer her only to be cut off by her continuing to ask questions. She places her hands on my heart and then my gut. With more observations. Is this how a princess meets people? “Possibly, you have
different-ooooo... A superb specimen indeed.”

What do I do in a situation like this? Normally I’m completely okay with beautiful
women touching me, but she’s eyeing me like puzzle to be solved. “Prince-”

She jumps back with a yelp. Then begins apologizing. “Apologies! Apologies! You are simply fascinating to me! Understand, I am the kingdom’s most prominent scientist
and only magic user! Therefore, I run countless experiments.”

“Experiments?” I echo. I think I’ve heard the word before. Although I can’t quite
remember what it was.

Her eyes explode with delight. “Why yes! I have all manner of scientific and mystical apparatus in my lab up there in which I explore the mysteries of the Heavens and
Earth! Would you like to see?”

I stare at her with a blank expression. She lost me at scientific. “You’ll have to forgive me princess, but I don’t know as many words as you.”

She explains that she meant that she tries putting different magical elements
together and seeing what the result was. The results could create salve that healed
wounds in seconds or could explode in her face. She never really knew, and that's
what made it so fascinating to her. Of course, I had to ask her to slow down and
explain a few words, but she was patient with me. That does sound interesting. I’ve
never met anyone with any affinity towards magic. But I have a concern. “You’re not going to turn me into an experiment, are you?”

“Fret not. My experiments for you need you alive and free!” That’s... Not exactly the
answer I was hoping for. But if I end up alive, who am I to refuse this pretty little
creature. Besides. She has the support of a man who can kill me with a word.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt then.”

She jumps up and shakes her arms wildly. “Oh, I’m so excited! Not one person has
ever desired to witness my experiments! Even father is frightened of them. Come,
come!”

“Why would the king be afraid of your experiments?” She gives me a lot to ask about, so I just pick the most recent thing she said.

On the way there she explains “Magic is a largely misunderstood concept in the
world despite everyone containing an aptitude for magic. When I was young, I began casting spells every which way, so my father hired a tutor for me and he said, ‘Always wonder.’ He is the reason I’m so infatuated with my work. I digress. Witchcraft is
often regarded as unnatural and evil, which is why I’m surprised you accepted my
proposal with rather minimal questioning.”
Well, it’s not as though I have many choices. Besides. With a face like that I’ll follow
you to... This is a human I’m talking about. What am I saying?

What I actually said was “You seem to be an upstanding person. If witches are
regarded as evil and unnatural, then you’re proof that they’re not.” Flattery
couldn’t hurt a princess.

Her speech slows down. “I’m glad you think that way. You’re a kind person Kar’Desh.”

That response... Was a little too genuine. Either she’s a wonderful actor, or she hasn’t received much praise at all. But that couldn’t be possible. In a patched up response, I say “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d prefer you just call me Kar. All of my friends do.”

“You consider me a friend?”

That’s not what I was getting at, but I wouldn’t mind it if we were more than-Stop it. I can’t just take it back. Can I? Do I continue? Before I can decide, my mouth speaks for me. “Yeah.”
Welp. No turning back now. “You invited me to see you, and I don’t think anyone’s
ever touched my ears like that before.”
I let out a nervous chuckle.

She pauses for a second. I’m so dead. How dare an elf presume that he could
possibly be friends with a human, let alone the- She explodes with joy. “I accept!”
Huh?
“You may refer to me as Aurora if you desire! Now then, let’s take a look at my
experiments, shall we?”
She starts to show me her different machines both magical and scientific. I can’t
hope to understand any of it, but she doesn’t seem to notice or mind. She’s just
ecstatic to show someone. She’s not at all what I expected her to be. When I think of a princess, I think sophisticated, arrogant, and rude. Overly rude. Especially a human princess, but she’s none of those things. Maybe rude, but not in the way I was
expecting. She speaks fast, with words I sometimes have trouble understanding.
She’s incredibly smart, smarter than I could ever hope to be. She doesn’t appear to
be very lady-like. At least outside of the public eye. And she’s cute. The whole way
she acts and the way she speaks and gets excited is adorable. This can’t be right.
She’s hiding something or she’s planning something. Why else would she be showing me all this?

She has effectively shown me every machine in her laboratory. She realizes and says “Dear Heavens! I must have talked your ears off, my apologies.”

“Oh, it’s alright. You’re clearly excited about it. The least I could do is listen.”

“Oh, but I haven’t let you speak at all! Come, let us sit back down, I want to know
about you. What makes you tick, how you function, why you are who you are, what makes you different. Psychologically of course.”

“Umm... So long as I don’t end up like those animals you had up there.”

“Cadavers.” She corrected.
“And of course! What do you think psychologically means?”

I have no idea. “Alive?” I guessed.

She let out a sigh. “It refers to the mind.”
Mhm. I see I see... So, my mind will stay intact. Can magic remove my mind from my body? We sit back down and she leans in with intense eyes and says “Tell me
everything.”

Everything is a broad topic. “What would you like to know?”

“When I first saw you, you had mentioned fighting for your family. What are they
like?”

I think about my answer for a moment. Not that I have to think of my family before I can describe them. It would do me good if I could acquire the favour of the princess. I should satisfy her curiosity for now and tell her the truth. Most of the truth. I briefly tell her about my mother and siblings and tell her that I provided food for them. I left out the stealing part of course. I told her that job would keep me around on account of my troublesome appearance so money was scarce. Which was true. Then I told
her about my family's reaction when I stood up and enlisted, but this is my
chance to change my fate so I didn't back down.

“What of your father?”

It’s been a while since I’ve spoke of him. “He was killed. He used to provide for the
family, but that left him malnourished. He was run down in the street by a merchant wagon. That was my father 15 years ago. My sibling’s father was stricken with the
plague five years ago.”

“So, you began working from a young age to keep your family fed properly and then became a soldier to create a better future for your siblings? That’s noble of you.
More often than not, noble is merely a title. But you personify it. What allows you
to be a leader to the elves?”

That’s a harder question. I’m not too sure of the answer myself so I speak with a hint of hesitation. “When I stood up there and convinced everyone to enlist with me, a
hole formed in my stomach. ‘Have I just sent these people to their deaths?’ So, when I saw people breaking down, or faltering during training, I had to raise them back up.
If he loses the will to fight, he will likely die. I don’t want that to happen.”

“In short, you feel responsible for their lives? That’s a lot of weight to carry on your
shoulders. You can’t place all of the blame upon yourself, it can only lead to
getting discouraged when we actually do lose some men.”

Before she can ask another question, I ask my own. “I have a question for you,
Prin-Aroura. Why are you asking me all this? These questions are.”
I pause for a moment as I look for the right words to speak. “Complex. To say the
very least. Questions you wouldn’t ask of someone you just met.”

She looks stunned. She glances to either side of the room as though looking for help, but were the only ones here. Finally, she says something. “Well, I. Umm. Was curious to see if you as an elf thought the same way as humans under matching conditions
and.”
She trails off for a second, so I decide to fix a mistake she has.

“I hardly think that my lineage affects how I think. Isn’t that something determined
by personalities? And the people around us? I know for a fact that my friend.”
I stop as I realize that I’m about to rat out Ren and myself. She looks at me with wide eyes, eagerly awaiting the next words so I tread carefully. “Would be too much of a
coward to… Hit on girls if I wasn’t around to help him out.”
That was also true.

Her eyes gazed into mine with a blazing hunger for knowledge. “Are you considered wise from where you came from?”
She doesn’t give me a chance to answer. “On matters of the mind and heart, never
have I been questioned. All who listen simply accept my words as truth.”
I pushed her too far! I have to apologize and run! She keeps going. “This is the
most intellectually stimulating conversation I’ve had in the longest time!”
I. What? What’s going on? She takes my hands and pulls them close to her chest. “If
you would, let us have many more conversations in the future. This would please
me, oh so much!”

“Eh. S-Sure. Of course, princess.”

“Aroura.” She corrected instantly; glittering jade eyes staring at me intensely.

“Of course, Aroura.”

She lets go of my hands and only then did I realize my missed opportunity. This was the first time a woman had brought me to her breast! Who could blame me for
‘accidentally’ touching them?
The princess that’s who. You absolute idiot, what are you thinking!
I didn’t do it, did I?
No, but even the thought is dangerous!
Aroura leans back in her oversized seat and lets out a sigh. “While I would love for
nothing more than to prod into your life and resume our conversation, the
hour grows late. If you’re here too long, people may grow suspicious.”

Not that I mind being in a room alone with her, but I’m glad I can escape. I let out a
breath I didn’t know I was holding. “I agree. Where might the camp be?”

“There’ll be a guide for you waiting at the gate.”

“Right then. Farewell Aurora. Thank you for having me today.”

“But of course. I should be thanking you for letting my curiosity run rampant. I know it can be overbearing at times. So.”
She stands up and does her courtesy “I thank you.”
I nod and take my leave.

Aroura somehow made me forget that I was marching to war. I can’t quite
understand what she’s after or how I feel about her. If she were an elf, I’d be all over her. Smarter than I could ever hope to be with the looks to rival myth. But the way
she looked at me with those eyes, as if I were a locked box waiting to be opened.
And she’s human. I’m not sure I can trust her, although I’m not sure what she has
to gain by asking all those questions or getting close to me. I should try to draw as
many benefits out of this as possible. Having friends in high places is an
advantage I’ve never had before.

wakes me in the morning.