Chapter 4:
Chapter 2 The Banquet
Skylit Roses
-Insert Author-Nim listening to Wuji, Wangxian, The Untamed bgm and a playlist inspired by TGCF while writing-
"A person's character is not determined by what other people believe it to be; it's determined by their morals and actions." -Park Saeha
A gentle breeze washed over the garden as Saeha stepped out of the small wing of the palace that belonged solely to him into the walled off garden that could only be accessed through this wing of the palace, cherry blossom petals from a grand old Cherry Blossom tree overlooking the palace scattered with the winds burying themselves in his hair and sticking to his clothes momentarily before being blown off into the small Koi pond and being nudged and eaten by the koi. Saeha lifts his robes sitting down next to the pond, he produced a small bun from his sleeve tearing it into small pieces for his fish "Eat up little ones, this was all I could get before Madame cook chased me out of the kitchen." The koi happily collected the bread as it dropped to the surface, their pearlescent white and vibrant orange bodies casting a brightly colored glow across the surface of the water, their movements causing the various lily-pads to bob up and down. No Lotuses grew in the pond in fact they didn't grow around the places in Zhan-shi that Saeha was allowed to go at all, he'd only ever seen them in paintings, he'd hoped that growing lily-pads in his pond would cause some to grow but no such luck. Saeha decided not to dwell on it turning his attention to what he had to do today, for starters he needed to go down to Yunmeng and ask Xie Ming if he'd be willing to act as a translator and teacher for the People of Zhan-shi and the foreigners at its border, he'd then need to arrange accommodations for the foreigners to stay a night within Zhan-shi for the banquet, then of course there was arranging the actual banquet itself and inviting the foreigners to the banquet. Saeha presses his index finger to the crease between his top lip and bottom lip, thinking, "Hmm, a large banquet would be preferable, right? I hear Master Blacksmith Erik really enjoys his alcohol with large festive meals, so I should probably arrange for fine liquor and wine, right?" The largest of the Koi seemed to be staring at him as if wondering why in the world he was talking to himself, Saeha laughs "Sorry." He pushes himself to his feet walking over to the small stone bench on the other side of the garden, in all reality the bench had been basically claimed by Wild roses and a mysterious Grapevine that just started growing there one day but it was still a bench, he plops down on the bench pulling a couple grapes off the vine, cleaning them with his robes and then popping them in his mouth 'I'll send for as much Alcohol as Mother and Father will allow and make the banquet as large and extravagant as possible just to be safe.' he nods shortly in satisfaction
Elias grumbles in protest as he pulled himself out of the relative warmth of his fur blankets into the almost offensive cold that called itself a morning breeze, in his half asleep state he was THOROUGHLY convinced he was going to get frostbite for being unlucky enough to get up early and it probably wouldn't have been a stretch either "How can anyone live here.... It's like a cursed land of eternal winter..." His mother throws him a fur cloak. "Be a man, boy; you're whining more than the women!" Elias pulls the cloak on over his shoulders. "What about Astrid?" His father chuckles. "Why don't you ask her yourself, lad." His mother shakes her head. "Astrid, always talking about Astrid! Just marry her already, boy!" Elias shakes his head. "I'm not interested in marrying Astrid! She's my best friend." As if on cue, Astrid bursts into their tent cursing, "I refuse to believe there's people living in places this cold!" Elias nods. "Exactly! It's freezing!" His mother rolls her eyes. "They're perfect for each other." Astrid looks over at her like she'd grown three heads. "Me and Elias? Ew!" Elias reaches over, grabbing hold of the muscle of Astrid's cheek. "Didn't you say yesterday that you wouldn't reject me if I proposed?" Astrid pinches him in the side as a counterattack "I said I wouldn't reject you IMMEDIATELY, that doesn't mean not at all!" Elias elbows her in the gut "I've been your friend since you were still chewing on your father's sword! I deserve more than just a delayed rejection!" Helga pokes her head in, her brown eyes sparkling in a teasing way. "Elias, your prince is here." Elias jolts. "Saeha? He's HERE? As in, in the camp?" Helga nods. "And he's asking for you." Elias pushes through the group, stepping out of the tent, sure enough standing at the center of camp was the prince. "Saeha!" Saeha whips around, giving him a friendly smile. "Elias! Hi!" Elias' eyes widen; had he taken the time to learn how to speak their language? Elias walks over to him in 4 large strides. "What are you doing here?" Saeha rummages around in his sleeve, pulling out a small bun, offering it to Elias. "I'd like you and your people to attend a banquet at the palace." Elias awkwardly takes the bun still trying to get used to the fact that even though it was awkward sounding and a tad over shadowed by his highness's native accent Prince Saeha WAS speaking the same language as Elias "You want to throw us a feast?" Saeha nods motioning for Elias to eat the bun "Welcome Banquet." Elias raises the bun to his mouth taking a bite of it, the bread seemed to almost melt in his mouth a warm thick bean flavored goo coming out of the center of it, seeing how much he was enjoying the bun seemed to make Saeha happy "Red bean bun, Zhan-Shi specialty." Elias finishes off the sweetly flavored bun "It's delicious." Saeha nods looking rather proud of himself "I made it!" Elias bursts into laughter amused by the fact that a prince took the time to make something for someone he'd only met once "Thank you, you didn't have to." Astrid suddenly puts her arm on Elias' shoulder seeming to appear out of nowhere "Well hello Handsome~" Saeha smiles awkwardly "Hello." Astrid laughs "Aw no fair he seemed so comfortable talking to you Ellie!" Elias huffs a little feeling a dull almost unidentifiable feeling of disappointment at his conversation being cut short by Astrid "That's because he likes me! He even made me a bun!" Astrid elbows him in the ribs "Maybe he just felt bad about rejecting you ever think of that? Why wou-" Astrid suddenly falls silent a kind of light blue thread of light stitching her mouth shut, Saeha dusts his robes off looking a little exasperated "Rude." Elias snorts bursting into laughter "You hear that Astrid? His Highness is upset you interrupted our conversation." Saeha nods almost seeming to be pouting "Come to Banquet." Elias grins "I will, We will, I promise."
Elias stares in awe as he and his people were guided through the palace "It's lovely..." The man escorting then nods in agreement "Rose Palace is considered one of the most beautiful places in Zhan-shi, the prince's wing of the palace in particular is quite peaceful and stunning. They say if you enter it during a certain time of day all other sounds are drowned out by the peaceful sounds of wind and water from his garden and the sound of His Highness practicing with the flute." Elias could certainly imagine how tranquil that would be; his mother elbows him in the upper arm. "I see you over there thinking about it; don't even. Leave the prince his privacy and stop trying to get close to him." Astrid scoffs, "Let him make a new friend." She leans towards him, speaking in a low voice. "If you want to, I'll help you sneak into His Highness's wing of the palace." His mother shakes her head, rolling her eyes in irritation. "There's no point in getting attached. Once our supplies are properly replenished, we'll be back on the ocean." Helga gently puts her hands on his mother's shoulders. "That's true, but perhaps making friends with royalty will help Ellie become a better leader." Astrid snorts "Or it'll turn his affections from women to Men." Helga pats his mother's shoulders reassuringly "Just that one man!" Elias massages his temples slipping away from the group down some random hallway, slowly, the sound of chatter was replaced by the soft sound of wind blowing through the branches of a tree and the light splashing of water, the colors of the designs on the walls seemed to change color from gold to a reddish orange colored metal. Curiosity took over, he follows the sound further into the hallway and out into a walled off garden, the garden was fairly small consisting of a large old cherry blossom tree, a small pond, a small pavilion, a hanging paper lamp and a small stone bench that was overrun by intertwining Rose and grapevines, there were wild roses and morning glories climbing the pavilion and covering the wall, Lilies, Jasmine, and various other flowers from around the so."world littered the ground almost haphazardly, the only kind of flower Elias DIDN'T see was Lotus which was surprising considering there were Lily-pads on the surface of the pond. Oddly, the overgrown garden was absolutely stunning. "Wow..." A voice suddenly appears behind him. "Like it?" Elias whirls around, Saeha, the prince was dressed differently than usual in white robes, the way the bottom of the robes and the transparent outer robe swayed in the wind reminded Saeha of a cloud or sea foam "You look different." Saeha chuckles giving a little spin to show off his outfit "Do you like it? A friend gifted it to me because he thought it would suit me." Elias nods a bit awestruck "Yes, it really does suit you... You look stunning." The moment the words left his mouth Elias wanted to kick himself, why the heck would he say that?! He wasn't even attracted to men much less to Prince Saeha! 'I just met him yesterday there's absolutely no way I could be attracted to him!' plus Saeha was a man, his feminine face didn't make him any less a man and Elias wasn't attracted to men! Saeha chuckles "Thank you. You look quite nice as well, did you dress up for the banquet?" Elias' torn out of his crisis turning his attention to his own clothing "That's right, Viking Formal wear is mostly just finer materials and different accessories so I'm amazed you noticed." Saeha motions for him to follow "I mostly noticed that you were wearing more elaborate clothing and jewelry. I must ask, your nobility among your people correct?" Elias nods following him, he'd just now realized Saeha had gotten much better at speaking Norse "That's right, my father's the chief of my people, unlike Princes we don't have a name for men like me but I'll inherit the clan when I'm older." Saeha nods "I see. We're similar then?" Elias chuckles nodding "Yes I suppose so." Saeha leads Elias into a sitting room "Would you like some tea?" Elias raises his eyebrow "Tea?" Saeha bursts into laughter pulling out a kettle and some cups from a small side room pouring them both some of it's contents "Green tea." Elias picks up the cup lifting it to his lips and taking a drink, what greeted him was sweet and had an oddly nutty and vaguely grassy flavor, he sets it back down "Um... I-Interesting..." Saeha laughs "You don't like it do you?" Elias shakes his head in embarrassment "It's far too weird a taste. I-Is it supposed to taste like I wrapped nuts in grass and ate them with a bit of sugar?" Saeha nods laughing and showing far more amusement than Elias felt was truly necessary "It is, yes." Elias rummages around in his bags pulling out a small bottle of fruit wine he'd made himself, he finishes what was in his cup replacing it with the wine before offering it to Saeha "To thank you for giving you something you made yourself, I made this myself." Saeha accepts it without hesitation bowing his head in thanks, he takes a sip of it, for a moment he's completely silent only speaking again after taking another drink "The flavor is exquisite but regretfully after taking a drink I remembered I'm not allowed to drink." Elias laughs drinking some himself "I won't tell if you don't." Saeha stifles a laugh finishing the contents of the cup his eyes sparkling mischievously "Alright, I'll have some more then." Elias grins pouring him some more "That's the spirit!"
~a little later~
Elias snorts, bursting into laughter. "Seriously?" Saeha nods, laughing himself. "It's like listening to an old married couple whenever they're around!" Elias flops back on the floor, grinning childishly. "I can be your guard from now on." Saeha lies on his side beside him "Think you could keep up with me Elias?" Elias nods with a cocky smirk "I bet there's no one in the whole of your kingdom who can handle the role of protector and a Viking Warrior." Saeha laughs flopping back onto his back "Alright, if you really want to." Elias props himself up on his elbow. "We're friends now, right?" Saeha grins, closing his eyes. "Definitely." Elias smiles happily, flopping back onto his back. "Think they've noticed we weren't at the banquet?" Saeha nods. "Father would have noticed almost immediately; they just haven't come to find us because Father assumes you're with me and we're doing our own thing." Elias chuckles, "Well, I'm definitely in here with you, and I'd definitely call drinking together doing our own thing." Saeha yawns, "I'm a bit sleepy...." Elias props himself back up on his side, he pulls off his fur cloak offering it to Saeha as a blanket and his arm as a pillow, Saeha happily accepts it falling asleep pretty quickly after. Elias uses his free hand to play with a couple strands of Saeha's long black hair; his hair seemed mostly straight, but the tips of it had little loose wispy curls; it was unbelievably soft as well, making it pleasant to the touch. Saeha was a pretty interesting person now that Elias had gotten to know him, Elias tried to mentally list off all the reasons he was fascinated by the prince but the more he tried the more he just felt that all his reasons made it sound like he was judging Saeha as if he was a potential wife that his parents found him, he mentally curses himself flopping back onto his back "Goodnight Your Highness."
When Saeha woke up he had a slight headache from the wine and a dull ache in his back and neck from sleeping on the floor, he rolls over to face Elias who was still fast asleep, the muscular man seemed pretty peaceful despite sleeping on the floor "Elias...?" Elias grumbles a little protesting the idea of waking up, Saeha pushes himself up into a sitting position resulting in Elias almost immediately retracting his arm and changing positions as if he'd been wanting to for quite a while, Saeha stifles a laugh not wanting to wake him 'If he was uncomfortable he could have just moved' he throws the fur cloak over Elias pushing himself to his feet, he stretches plodding out of his room down the halls and into the kitchen "Good morning Madame..." Madame looks up from her cooking utensils at the tired prince, she shakes her head muttering under her breath about disorderly he looked before motioning to a stack of buns and some bowls of soup "Eat." Saeha grabs a tray and some utensils collecting enough for both him and Elias, Madame gave the side eye for a moment when she saw the amount he had but didn't say anything, Saeha bows respectfully to her "Xièxie nǐ. (Thank you.)" She nods turning her attention back to her cooking, Saeha plods out of the kitchen returning to Elias, by this point Elias had also woken up though he seemed to be disoriented by the fact that Saeha wasn't there when he woke up, Saeha sets the food down on the small table "I got us some breakfast." Elias squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before stretching, yawning, and climbing to his feet. "What's for breakfast...?" He plods over, sitting down; Saeha chuckles, passing out the food. "Herbal soup and steamed buns." Elias chuckles, picking up one of the buns. "Sounds delightfully bland." Saeha laughs nodding "Sorry, Madame comes from a Village that specializes in herbal foods." Elias bites into the bun using his teeth to hold it while he rummaging around in his bags pulling out something wrapped in a cloth, he unwraps it offering Saeha what looked like dried meat, Saeha takes it biting into it, Salted dried meat, Elias just randomly pulled out.... Salted dried meat "Where are you keeping this stuff?" Elias pulls the bun out of his mouth, chewing and swallowing the bite he'd taken. "My belt bags." Saeha raises his eyebrow. "What else do you have in there?" Elias pulls out a few things; it was mostly food that wouldn't go bad easily; Saeha bursts into laughter. "Were you expecting to get lost in the woods while visiting the palace?" Elias laughs, shaking his head. "No, uh, I store random stuff in these bags all the time; Astrid likes to compare me to a crow or a squirrel." He reaches back into his bags, pulling out a bracelet. "Look at this; this is an oath ring." He pulls out some more trinkets "And these are all devoted to a monstrous wolf called Fenrir, oh and this one!" He pulls out a necklace looping it over Saeha's head "This one is for the Goddess Freyja, she's the goddess of a number of things, Love, beauty, fertility, death, war, magic, quite the versatile woman." Saeha pulls his hair out from under the necklace picking up the pendant too get a good look at it "Do your people make these yourself?" Elias nods "We do yes." Saeha pushes himself to his feet rummaging around in his room for something to give Elias in return, he managed to find a tassel laying around "Aha! Here let me see your sword." Elias unhooks his sword holding it out to him "What do you need it for?" Saeha loops the tassel strap around the hilt of the sword, he holds the sword up "Tada!" Elias tilts his head raising his eyebrow half in amusement and half in confusion "What in the world have you attached to Ormr?" Saeha grins holding up Ai to show his own tassel "It's a sword tassel, they symbolize honor, bravery and the connection between the sword and it's owner." Elias grins reaches out gently taking his sword back "That's fascinating, I've noticed your people place alot of importance on the connection between sword and owner, we have a similar view, the sword is an extension of the warrior's soul and a symbol of Honor to put it simply." Saeha folds his hands in his lap "Seems your people and mine have a bit in common." Elias hooks his sword back to his belt smiling "Yeah it seems so."
"A person's character is not determined by what other people believe it to be; it's determined by their morals and actions." -Park Saeha
A gentle breeze washed over the garden as Saeha stepped out of the small wing of the palace that belonged solely to him into the walled off garden that could only be accessed through this wing of the palace, cherry blossom petals from a grand old Cherry Blossom tree overlooking the palace scattered with the winds burying themselves in his hair and sticking to his clothes momentarily before being blown off into the small Koi pond and being nudged and eaten by the koi. Saeha lifts his robes sitting down next to the pond, he produced a small bun from his sleeve tearing it into small pieces for his fish "Eat up little ones, this was all I could get before Madame cook chased me out of the kitchen." The koi happily collected the bread as it dropped to the surface, their pearlescent white and vibrant orange bodies casting a brightly colored glow across the surface of the water, their movements causing the various lily-pads to bob up and down. No Lotuses grew in the pond in fact they didn't grow around the places in Zhan-shi that Saeha was allowed to go at all, he'd only ever seen them in paintings, he'd hoped that growing lily-pads in his pond would cause some to grow but no such luck. Saeha decided not to dwell on it turning his attention to what he had to do today, for starters he needed to go down to Yunmeng and ask Xie Ming if he'd be willing to act as a translator and teacher for the People of Zhan-shi and the foreigners at its border, he'd then need to arrange accommodations for the foreigners to stay a night within Zhan-shi for the banquet, then of course there was arranging the actual banquet itself and inviting the foreigners to the banquet. Saeha presses his index finger to the crease between his top lip and bottom lip, thinking, "Hmm, a large banquet would be preferable, right? I hear Master Blacksmith Erik really enjoys his alcohol with large festive meals, so I should probably arrange for fine liquor and wine, right?" The largest of the Koi seemed to be staring at him as if wondering why in the world he was talking to himself, Saeha laughs "Sorry." He pushes himself to his feet walking over to the small stone bench on the other side of the garden, in all reality the bench had been basically claimed by Wild roses and a mysterious Grapevine that just started growing there one day but it was still a bench, he plops down on the bench pulling a couple grapes off the vine, cleaning them with his robes and then popping them in his mouth 'I'll send for as much Alcohol as Mother and Father will allow and make the banquet as large and extravagant as possible just to be safe.' he nods shortly in satisfaction
Elias grumbles in protest as he pulled himself out of the relative warmth of his fur blankets into the almost offensive cold that called itself a morning breeze, in his half asleep state he was THOROUGHLY convinced he was going to get frostbite for being unlucky enough to get up early and it probably wouldn't have been a stretch either "How can anyone live here.... It's like a cursed land of eternal winter..." His mother throws him a fur cloak. "Be a man, boy; you're whining more than the women!" Elias pulls the cloak on over his shoulders. "What about Astrid?" His father chuckles. "Why don't you ask her yourself, lad." His mother shakes her head. "Astrid, always talking about Astrid! Just marry her already, boy!" Elias shakes his head. "I'm not interested in marrying Astrid! She's my best friend." As if on cue, Astrid bursts into their tent cursing, "I refuse to believe there's people living in places this cold!" Elias nods. "Exactly! It's freezing!" His mother rolls her eyes. "They're perfect for each other." Astrid looks over at her like she'd grown three heads. "Me and Elias? Ew!" Elias reaches over, grabbing hold of the muscle of Astrid's cheek. "Didn't you say yesterday that you wouldn't reject me if I proposed?" Astrid pinches him in the side as a counterattack "I said I wouldn't reject you IMMEDIATELY, that doesn't mean not at all!" Elias elbows her in the gut "I've been your friend since you were still chewing on your father's sword! I deserve more than just a delayed rejection!" Helga pokes her head in, her brown eyes sparkling in a teasing way. "Elias, your prince is here." Elias jolts. "Saeha? He's HERE? As in, in the camp?" Helga nods. "And he's asking for you." Elias pushes through the group, stepping out of the tent, sure enough standing at the center of camp was the prince. "Saeha!" Saeha whips around, giving him a friendly smile. "Elias! Hi!" Elias' eyes widen; had he taken the time to learn how to speak their language? Elias walks over to him in 4 large strides. "What are you doing here?" Saeha rummages around in his sleeve, pulling out a small bun, offering it to Elias. "I'd like you and your people to attend a banquet at the palace." Elias awkwardly takes the bun still trying to get used to the fact that even though it was awkward sounding and a tad over shadowed by his highness's native accent Prince Saeha WAS speaking the same language as Elias "You want to throw us a feast?" Saeha nods motioning for Elias to eat the bun "Welcome Banquet." Elias raises the bun to his mouth taking a bite of it, the bread seemed to almost melt in his mouth a warm thick bean flavored goo coming out of the center of it, seeing how much he was enjoying the bun seemed to make Saeha happy "Red bean bun, Zhan-Shi specialty." Elias finishes off the sweetly flavored bun "It's delicious." Saeha nods looking rather proud of himself "I made it!" Elias bursts into laughter amused by the fact that a prince took the time to make something for someone he'd only met once "Thank you, you didn't have to." Astrid suddenly puts her arm on Elias' shoulder seeming to appear out of nowhere "Well hello Handsome~" Saeha smiles awkwardly "Hello." Astrid laughs "Aw no fair he seemed so comfortable talking to you Ellie!" Elias huffs a little feeling a dull almost unidentifiable feeling of disappointment at his conversation being cut short by Astrid "That's because he likes me! He even made me a bun!" Astrid elbows him in the ribs "Maybe he just felt bad about rejecting you ever think of that? Why wou-" Astrid suddenly falls silent a kind of light blue thread of light stitching her mouth shut, Saeha dusts his robes off looking a little exasperated "Rude." Elias snorts bursting into laughter "You hear that Astrid? His Highness is upset you interrupted our conversation." Saeha nods almost seeming to be pouting "Come to Banquet." Elias grins "I will, We will, I promise."
Elias stares in awe as he and his people were guided through the palace "It's lovely..." The man escorting then nods in agreement "Rose Palace is considered one of the most beautiful places in Zhan-shi, the prince's wing of the palace in particular is quite peaceful and stunning. They say if you enter it during a certain time of day all other sounds are drowned out by the peaceful sounds of wind and water from his garden and the sound of His Highness practicing with the flute." Elias could certainly imagine how tranquil that would be; his mother elbows him in the upper arm. "I see you over there thinking about it; don't even. Leave the prince his privacy and stop trying to get close to him." Astrid scoffs, "Let him make a new friend." She leans towards him, speaking in a low voice. "If you want to, I'll help you sneak into His Highness's wing of the palace." His mother shakes her head, rolling her eyes in irritation. "There's no point in getting attached. Once our supplies are properly replenished, we'll be back on the ocean." Helga gently puts her hands on his mother's shoulders. "That's true, but perhaps making friends with royalty will help Ellie become a better leader." Astrid snorts "Or it'll turn his affections from women to Men." Helga pats his mother's shoulders reassuringly "Just that one man!" Elias massages his temples slipping away from the group down some random hallway, slowly, the sound of chatter was replaced by the soft sound of wind blowing through the branches of a tree and the light splashing of water, the colors of the designs on the walls seemed to change color from gold to a reddish orange colored metal. Curiosity took over, he follows the sound further into the hallway and out into a walled off garden, the garden was fairly small consisting of a large old cherry blossom tree, a small pond, a small pavilion, a hanging paper lamp and a small stone bench that was overrun by intertwining Rose and grapevines, there were wild roses and morning glories climbing the pavilion and covering the wall, Lilies, Jasmine, and various other flowers from around the so."world littered the ground almost haphazardly, the only kind of flower Elias DIDN'T see was Lotus which was surprising considering there were Lily-pads on the surface of the pond. Oddly, the overgrown garden was absolutely stunning. "Wow..." A voice suddenly appears behind him. "Like it?" Elias whirls around, Saeha, the prince was dressed differently than usual in white robes, the way the bottom of the robes and the transparent outer robe swayed in the wind reminded Saeha of a cloud or sea foam "You look different." Saeha chuckles giving a little spin to show off his outfit "Do you like it? A friend gifted it to me because he thought it would suit me." Elias nods a bit awestruck "Yes, it really does suit you... You look stunning." The moment the words left his mouth Elias wanted to kick himself, why the heck would he say that?! He wasn't even attracted to men much less to Prince Saeha! 'I just met him yesterday there's absolutely no way I could be attracted to him!' plus Saeha was a man, his feminine face didn't make him any less a man and Elias wasn't attracted to men! Saeha chuckles "Thank you. You look quite nice as well, did you dress up for the banquet?" Elias' torn out of his crisis turning his attention to his own clothing "That's right, Viking Formal wear is mostly just finer materials and different accessories so I'm amazed you noticed." Saeha motions for him to follow "I mostly noticed that you were wearing more elaborate clothing and jewelry. I must ask, your nobility among your people correct?" Elias nods following him, he'd just now realized Saeha had gotten much better at speaking Norse "That's right, my father's the chief of my people, unlike Princes we don't have a name for men like me but I'll inherit the clan when I'm older." Saeha nods "I see. We're similar then?" Elias chuckles nodding "Yes I suppose so." Saeha leads Elias into a sitting room "Would you like some tea?" Elias raises his eyebrow "Tea?" Saeha bursts into laughter pulling out a kettle and some cups from a small side room pouring them both some of it's contents "Green tea." Elias picks up the cup lifting it to his lips and taking a drink, what greeted him was sweet and had an oddly nutty and vaguely grassy flavor, he sets it back down "Um... I-Interesting..." Saeha laughs "You don't like it do you?" Elias shakes his head in embarrassment "It's far too weird a taste. I-Is it supposed to taste like I wrapped nuts in grass and ate them with a bit of sugar?" Saeha nods laughing and showing far more amusement than Elias felt was truly necessary "It is, yes." Elias rummages around in his bags pulling out a small bottle of fruit wine he'd made himself, he finishes what was in his cup replacing it with the wine before offering it to Saeha "To thank you for giving you something you made yourself, I made this myself." Saeha accepts it without hesitation bowing his head in thanks, he takes a sip of it, for a moment he's completely silent only speaking again after taking another drink "The flavor is exquisite but regretfully after taking a drink I remembered I'm not allowed to drink." Elias laughs drinking some himself "I won't tell if you don't." Saeha stifles a laugh finishing the contents of the cup his eyes sparkling mischievously "Alright, I'll have some more then." Elias grins pouring him some more "That's the spirit!"
~a little later~
Elias snorts, bursting into laughter. "Seriously?" Saeha nods, laughing himself. "It's like listening to an old married couple whenever they're around!" Elias flops back on the floor, grinning childishly. "I can be your guard from now on." Saeha lies on his side beside him "Think you could keep up with me Elias?" Elias nods with a cocky smirk "I bet there's no one in the whole of your kingdom who can handle the role of protector and a Viking Warrior." Saeha laughs flopping back onto his back "Alright, if you really want to." Elias props himself up on his elbow. "We're friends now, right?" Saeha grins, closing his eyes. "Definitely." Elias smiles happily, flopping back onto his back. "Think they've noticed we weren't at the banquet?" Saeha nods. "Father would have noticed almost immediately; they just haven't come to find us because Father assumes you're with me and we're doing our own thing." Elias chuckles, "Well, I'm definitely in here with you, and I'd definitely call drinking together doing our own thing." Saeha yawns, "I'm a bit sleepy...." Elias props himself back up on his side, he pulls off his fur cloak offering it to Saeha as a blanket and his arm as a pillow, Saeha happily accepts it falling asleep pretty quickly after. Elias uses his free hand to play with a couple strands of Saeha's long black hair; his hair seemed mostly straight, but the tips of it had little loose wispy curls; it was unbelievably soft as well, making it pleasant to the touch. Saeha was a pretty interesting person now that Elias had gotten to know him, Elias tried to mentally list off all the reasons he was fascinated by the prince but the more he tried the more he just felt that all his reasons made it sound like he was judging Saeha as if he was a potential wife that his parents found him, he mentally curses himself flopping back onto his back "Goodnight Your Highness."
When Saeha woke up he had a slight headache from the wine and a dull ache in his back and neck from sleeping on the floor, he rolls over to face Elias who was still fast asleep, the muscular man seemed pretty peaceful despite sleeping on the floor "Elias...?" Elias grumbles a little protesting the idea of waking up, Saeha pushes himself up into a sitting position resulting in Elias almost immediately retracting his arm and changing positions as if he'd been wanting to for quite a while, Saeha stifles a laugh not wanting to wake him 'If he was uncomfortable he could have just moved' he throws the fur cloak over Elias pushing himself to his feet, he stretches plodding out of his room down the halls and into the kitchen "Good morning Madame..." Madame looks up from her cooking utensils at the tired prince, she shakes her head muttering under her breath about disorderly he looked before motioning to a stack of buns and some bowls of soup "Eat." Saeha grabs a tray and some utensils collecting enough for both him and Elias, Madame gave the side eye for a moment when she saw the amount he had but didn't say anything, Saeha bows respectfully to her "Xièxie nǐ. (Thank you.)" She nods turning her attention back to her cooking, Saeha plods out of the kitchen returning to Elias, by this point Elias had also woken up though he seemed to be disoriented by the fact that Saeha wasn't there when he woke up, Saeha sets the food down on the small table "I got us some breakfast." Elias squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before stretching, yawning, and climbing to his feet. "What's for breakfast...?" He plods over, sitting down; Saeha chuckles, passing out the food. "Herbal soup and steamed buns." Elias chuckles, picking up one of the buns. "Sounds delightfully bland." Saeha laughs nodding "Sorry, Madame comes from a Village that specializes in herbal foods." Elias bites into the bun using his teeth to hold it while he rummaging around in his bags pulling out something wrapped in a cloth, he unwraps it offering Saeha what looked like dried meat, Saeha takes it biting into it, Salted dried meat, Elias just randomly pulled out.... Salted dried meat "Where are you keeping this stuff?" Elias pulls the bun out of his mouth, chewing and swallowing the bite he'd taken. "My belt bags." Saeha raises his eyebrow. "What else do you have in there?" Elias pulls out a few things; it was mostly food that wouldn't go bad easily; Saeha bursts into laughter. "Were you expecting to get lost in the woods while visiting the palace?" Elias laughs, shaking his head. "No, uh, I store random stuff in these bags all the time; Astrid likes to compare me to a crow or a squirrel." He reaches back into his bags, pulling out a bracelet. "Look at this; this is an oath ring." He pulls out some more trinkets "And these are all devoted to a monstrous wolf called Fenrir, oh and this one!" He pulls out a necklace looping it over Saeha's head "This one is for the Goddess Freyja, she's the goddess of a number of things, Love, beauty, fertility, death, war, magic, quite the versatile woman." Saeha pulls his hair out from under the necklace picking up the pendant too get a good look at it "Do your people make these yourself?" Elias nods "We do yes." Saeha pushes himself to his feet rummaging around in his room for something to give Elias in return, he managed to find a tassel laying around "Aha! Here let me see your sword." Elias unhooks his sword holding it out to him "What do you need it for?" Saeha loops the tassel strap around the hilt of the sword, he holds the sword up "Tada!" Elias tilts his head raising his eyebrow half in amusement and half in confusion "What in the world have you attached to Ormr?" Saeha grins holding up Ai to show his own tassel "It's a sword tassel, they symbolize honor, bravery and the connection between the sword and it's owner." Elias grins reaches out gently taking his sword back "That's fascinating, I've noticed your people place alot of importance on the connection between sword and owner, we have a similar view, the sword is an extension of the warrior's soul and a symbol of Honor to put it simply." Saeha folds his hands in his lap "Seems your people and mine have a bit in common." Elias hooks his sword back to his belt smiling "Yeah it seems so."
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