Putting the Past Behind

Alex woke up but decided not to open his eyes for some reason. He felt something very familiar under his head.

“And? How does it feel?”, asked Cera.

“How does what feel?”, asked Viole back.

“You know… being finally married to him?”

“Oh, that’s an interesting topic! Please enlighten us!”, added Caleb.

Alex felt his soft pillows shift under him.

“Huh? What?... Uhm… Well, I guess we are technically married now… huh… Hey! What did you mean with… finally?”, asked Violet.

“Wasn’t that your intent from the start?”, answered Cera with a question.

“What? No! What gave you that Idea?”

“I mean your… deal… with him to help him find a woman? Come on! You’re just trying to keep him away from real candidates and trying with lost causes… I always wondered why…”

“Oh, that I know!”, interjected Caleb.

“You’re wrong! Both of you! It’s nothing like that! How often do I have to repeat myself? We are best friends and I truly wish for him to find someone who he loves and who loves him back. I am keeping him from nobody!”, corrected Violet annoyed.

“Best friends? Wasn’t it just friends or good friends until now?”

“Well… he has earned a promotion… after all he has done until today… and especially today.”

“Oh, and that is the end of the career ladder for him?”

“With me, yes.”

“Why? You literally say that you love him in every other possible way but with your voice…”, said Cera.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh please… First example… look at you just now.”

“What? I’m stabilizing his head, so he does not bump his head every time we hit a stone… and, come on! After what he did today, he deserves a bit of comfort.”

“Comfort? Give him some fucking blankets then and not your thighs! Well, whatever… What about the constant flirting between you two?”

“We don’t flirt constantly!”

“Uh, please be the savior of my ass.”, imitated Cera Violet’s voice.

“Oh, well of course because you have a rather lovely behind!”, imitated Caleb Alex voice.

The pillows under Alex head shifted position again.

“Shut up! We don’t sound like that!”, said Violet slightly embarrassed.

“You do, my dear…”

“Sometimes even worse, little bird…”

“What? No! That’s… It’s just friendly banter! And if he gets more comfortable in talking with women through practice with me, then I’m fine with it… They are just words without meaning behind them, we both know that!”

“Very noble of you… there is only a slight problem.”, said Cera.

“And that is?”

“He only ever flirts that way with you… he doesn’t even try with the girls you send him to…”

“Now that’s not true! What about Hina? He was all over her! He even touched… her tail!”

“And he would have touched much more, if you hadn’t sabotaged it.”, mentioned Caleb.

“Huh? Didn’t she say it was his smell, that was the turn off? That’s not my fault! And by the way he does not stink! I don’t know why everybody is going on about that…”

Alex heard someone sniffing near him.

“He does smell rather nice actually!”, exclaimed Violet strongly.

“There! Why did you do that! Is that really… just friends… behavior?”, retorted Cera.

“What? Can’t a friend sniff a friend? Who are you? The Sniff Guard?”

“It’s not his smell that was the problem… It was yours!”, interjected Caleb.

“Huh? I don’t smell!”

Alex heard sniffing again, but this time not that close.

“Okay… I have not had the chance to take a proper bath the last few days… we all have… Usually I take good care of my smell!”, said Violet defensively.

“I know you do… but that’s again not the problem… It was not how you smelled… It was the fact that Hina could smell you… on him.”, explained Caleb.

“What? How?”

“My guess… because you rub yourself on him every time you get. Like a animal marking its territory. Beastfolks have very sensitives noses and pick up on those things. If someone smells very strongly of one other person, it’s usually because they are in a relationship. That’s how they tell who is taken. I even heard from some with especially good noses that could tell the difference in smells for a simple handshake up to married for hundred of years.”, interjected Cera.

“That’s interesting… even I didn’t know that! I always just thought that Hina has a weird smell fetish…”, mentioned Caleb.

“How was I supposed to know all that? Okay… I may sometimes get a bit touchy with him… But that’s just because I’m a touchy person.”

Alex suddenly felt two hands stroking gently over his head.

“Oh, I know…”

“Shut up! I mean… look he is just so touchable, I can’t help myself sometimes.”

“There again! Touchable?”

“I mean in a teddy bear kind of way… like he gives me comfort, when I touch him… Don’t look at me like that! It’s not that! Can’t you hug a friend anymore? What? Are you now the Hug Guard too?”

“Okay… then one last thing… that has been bothering me for so long now… What is up with you two and always getting breakfast ready for the other one? Every time we stay at an Inn or somewhere not in the open, the one that gets up earlier from you two always prepares or orders a double portion. The other one then always gets up when the first portion is just finished and then you slide over the plate.”, asked Caleb.

“What? That’s just a habit we developed living together… it’s just nice to have a breakfast ready when you wake up…”

“That’s a habit a married couple would develop, not friends.”

“We are not a married couple… well I guess we are right now… but not because he or I wanted it… it was just the only way to get out of that situation… and wait a minute! Wasn’t it your idea that got us married, Caleb?

Alex began to feel sleepy from the constant gently strokes over his head.

“Oh, you’re right… that was me…”, admitted Caleb.

“And one thing as well! I don’t want to hear any of this stuff from you! You got your whole mess going on with Lena! What’s that all about? Why don’t we start talking about that?”

“Okay, I’ll shut up about it… for now.”, said Caleb and submitted immediately.

“That means it’s my turn again! I have a thing as well that I would like to ask you, when we are on the subject already.”, interjected Cera.

“What now?”, asked Violet really annoyed.

“When we were kissing and getting right to the good part…”

“Wait, you did what?! I want details!”, interjected Caleb.

“Shove it, Caleb!”, said Violet and Cera simultaneously.

“Okay, so when we got right to the beginning of the good part… whose face suddenly popped up and made you push me back?”

Alex felt it shifting under him again. He fought the urge to fall asleep.

“How did you know it was a face?”, asked Violet surprised.

“I just guessed.”

“Fuck… uhm… It was… one of my exes… way better than Caleb in bed… I just thought of him and realized… I’m not into woman but men after all… that’s all!

“Huh? Really?”

“I call bullshit… especially the way better than me part!”, interjected Caleb.

“Sorry my bad… he was leagues better than you… not even in the same universe.”

“Ouch… that was mean… I have feelings too you know!”

“Yeah, and you run from them!”

“At least I acknowledge them and don’t deny them straight out!”

“Okay, let me say this one more time as clear as I can.”

Alex felt himself slipping away into the sleep and desperately tried to hang on.

“There is no romantic feeling between me and Alex. And there never will be… because I just can’t feel that way anymore about anyone, after the whole thing that happened in my past.”, said Violet very clearly.

Alex fell asleep.

“…Or at least I thought…”, admitted Violet as she watched his sleeping face.

“Oh, so there is something! I knew it!”, said Cera.

“I… please leave me alone with that… I don’t know… I need time to think about it more…”, said Violet deep in thoughts.

“Alex, wake up!”, said Caleb and shook Alex’s shoulder.

“What? Where am I?”

“That’s a surprise!

Alex sat up and looked around. He was in a big bed in an even bigger room. The interior looked fancy

“Come on and get up, I will help you get dressed.”, said Caleb next to him.

Alex stood up and was surprised. He did not find his clothes but a doublet in dark green and a matching pair of fancy trousers.

“What is that?”, he asked confused.

“Clothes.”, answered Caleb very seriously.

Alex refused any help and put the clothes on himself.

“Alright then let’s go!”, said Caleb after he finished.

“Where to?”

“You’ll see.”

Alex followed Caleb through the door into a hallway. Everything seemed very luxuriously decorated. Caleb led Alex through some doors and up some stairs and through a hallway, halting before an oaken door. He knocked. A muffled voice said to enter. Caleb opened the door, went in and Alex followed.

“Oh, our dear guest is awake and up, I see? How do you feel? Is everything alright?”, asked a man sitting behind a big oaken desk.

“Oh… yeah everything is fine… I’m just wondering where the fuck I am…”, answered Alex still a bit sleepy.

“Alex, my friend you are in front of Johannes Albert von Huelsn, Crown Prince of the Huelsn Empire.”, said Caleb next to him.

“OH, fuck… Uhm…your, majesty…”, said Alex panicked.

He began to fidget around, because he didn’t know if you were supposed to bow, or kneel or whatever was custom here.

“Go on both knees, lean forward until your head touches the ground, then kick up into a headstand followed by a handstand and three push-ups.”, whispered Caleb.

“What?”, asked Alex perplexed.

“Quick, or it’s considered rude!”

Alex did as he was instructed. The Crown Prince watched in silence. Alex did his second push-up, when the door opened again.

“What the fuck is up with the acrobatic show?”, asked Violet surprised as she entered, together with Cera.

They both went next to them and did a curtsey.

“What are you doing, Alex?”, asked Violet again.

Alex did not move, or rather he could not move. Something he saw had paralyzed him and it had nothing to do with him being currently upside down. Violet wore a long dress in bright green colors. Cera wore a yellow one, but Alex didn’t even notice the elf. Since he was slightly off balance and could not move, he just slowly tilted to one side more and more until he hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Caleb turned away and suppressed his laughter really badly. Cera just outright burst out laughing. The Crown Prince began to chuckle as well. Violet just looked very confused.

“Please relax and don’t be so formal… and thanks for… whatever that was.”, said the Crown Prince and stood up.

Alex got up as well, his head red as a strawberry. He glanced over to Violet and noticed that she was fidgeting around with her dress and seemed very uncomfortable in it.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I heard that you were responsible for saving a whole village from a bandit attack. You have my utmost thanks for saving our people from demise.”, Johannes continued.

Alex looked up and got a good look at the Crown Prince for the first time. He was tall, had short black hair and a clean-shaven face. His build seemed muscular, but more on the lean side and he also could be considered conventionally handsome. He wore a fancy looking silken doublet.

“And I also watched your duel. It was rather unusual I must say, and I have some things to discuss with you about the ramifications of said duel.”

He grabbed a piece of parchment from the desk and came over to them with it.

“First we have this.”, said Johannes and held it out to Alex.

He grabbed it.

“This is the official proof that Violet von Tuerkis is now married to Alex here, granting him the name and title of Count von Tuerkis.”, explained Johannes.

Alex took the parchment and immediately ripped it. Johannes’ eyebrows went up.

“And if you want the divorce, you will need that piece of parchment so, whatever you do, don’t lose or destroy it.”, he explained further.

“Oh shit… Uhm… we can still fix that! Do you have some glue?”, said Alex panicked.

He went on his knees and gathered the scraps. Caleb and Cera began to laugh again. Violet just stared at the scraps.

“That was a joke… Don’t worry we can do that if you both wish to do so.”

Alex nodded and all turned to Violet.

“What?... oh, uhm… yeah… that’s what I … want.”, she said.

“Very well, I will see to the right documentation in a bit, now I have something else to tell you. It’s regarding Eduard von Braun… Documentation and witness reports have been gathered linking him with the bandits attacking the villages in the area and his true involvement of the tragic disaster that befell the House of Tuerkis.”

Johannes turned towards Violet and bowed very deeply.

“Violet von Tuerkis I apologize for the failure of the empire to see the truth and punish those heinous crimes sooner. I honestly does not know how to atone for it, so if you have any wish, I will gladly grant it if it’s within my power.”

“Well… uhm… a new Staff with magical conduit properties, would be awesome…”, she said slowly and fidgeted with her dress.

“Very well. It will be done. I also would like to guarantee you that Eduard and his accomplices will be accordingly punished for his crimes.”

“Meaning?”

“Death.”

Violet nodded and continued fidgeting with her dress.

“That leaves only one more thing to discuss, and that is the future of the lands belonging to the house of Tuerkis. I am afraid that with the current laws of succession your house stands without a head. According to the law, in that case ownership will get transferred back to the Emperor. Unless you have a new husband in mind, Violet.”, said Johannes and smiled friendly.

Way too friendly, thought Alex.

“No… I don’t plan on getting married soon… and… I don’t plan on… continuing the name of Tuerkis… that was my past and I plan to… put it behind me.”, said Violet slowly but determined.

“As you wish. I will see to it, that the lands will be managed by trusted men and maybe if you ever change your mind, we can still arrange something.”

“I thank you for your benevolence.”

“Well then, that’s all from me… You are all welcome to stay in the castle for however long you want.”

Caleb and Alex bowed. Cera and Violet did a curtsey and then they all left the room.

“What?”, asked Violet with a sigh.

She had noticed Alex staring at her outside in the hallway.

“Are you okay?”, he asked seriously.

“What? Why do you ask?”

“Because you look very uncomfortable…”

“I… I am… but they would not let me in front of the Crown Prince in my usual clothes.”

“Yeah, me too…”

“Huh… I though you would say the same as everyone else and tell my how beautiful this dress looks on me.”

“Well, the dress does look very beautiful on you… but you look miserable in this dress…”

“Ouch… the truth hurts…But now that you asked me… I feel better somehow… thank you… now let me get out of this fucking thing and back into something comfier… and afterwards, we raid the kitchen, okay?”

“Deal! I’ll get my axe!”

“NO, no, no, no! Not that kind of raid!”

They both laughed.