“No, no!” Yaluda breaks in. “You can pry, feel free to ask questions! After all, you basically bared your soul and your story with me. I would be a hypocrite if I wouldn’t do the same!”

As soon as those sincere words come out of his mouth, my mind goes blank. I know I had questions I wanted to ask him, but I suddenly can’t remember any. Luckily, I am spared from embarrassing silence when a hand touches my shoulder. I glance up from my sitting position, and see Briareth standing right behind me.

“Sorry to disturb your little chat here,” He says, “but we all need to talk.”

Yaluda stands up and dusts himself off. “Do you and Prince Faladel have questions?”

“More than a few.” Briareth smiles. “I’m open to your proposal, but I’d like a few more details, and Faladel, well, he needs more convincing. Patricide doesn’t – well, murder in general actually – doesn’t fit his moral upbringing.”

“What Briareth means to say is that I’m sure there’s a better way to get a King off the throne than killing him.” Faladel interjects, frowning at Briareth.

“Well,” Yaluda says, “Don’t think of it as murder or killing, consider it- ” he makes the little air quotes again “‘disposing of trash’ instead. I mean, it’s basically what we’re doing.”

I can’t hold back a snort, luckily Briareth’s laughter covers it. Faladel glares at all of us, and then continues as if Yaluda hadn’t said anything. “Couldn’t you just frame him for insanity to prompt a quick handover? Surely nobody wants a crazy person leading the country. It’s just a matter of carefully setting up a few public situations where he’ll act entirely illogically. It’s not even really lying, he is at least mildly crazy to try to slaughter his children. I understand that might not be as satisfying as murder as a form of revenge, but a life for a life isn’t the right answer! That whole way of thinking is what started this war in the first place!”

I glance at Yaluda. Faladel has some good points, and his idea for making the King seem insane is clever, but the handsome Prince isn’t convinced.

“You know very little about Dwarf politics, don’t you?” He asks rhetorically, his golden eyes boring into Faladel’s matching golden ones. “You might have rules for succession when your rulers go insane, but we don’t. Insane Kings are just quietly disposed of, and the heir takes their place. No one can just ‘step down’ from being King. They can’t be pushed out of it either. They die in that role, and then someone new takes over. Killing my father or waiting him out is the only way I’ll take the throne. The crown has a 100% mortality rate. Murder is in my blood.”

Faladel’s face twists into a frown. I shift nervously from one foot to the next. The tension in the room is visibly rising as the two prince’s stare each other down. I kinda see Yaluda’s point. I’ve never heard of a King stepping down for health reasons. They always continue till they die. So, what if the only way to solve all our problems and end this war is through murder? Will Faladel let Briareth concoct the poison for Yaluda?

“Well, there’s a simple way to solve this!” Briareth steps slightly in front of the two princes, breaking their eye-lock. He smiles and looks at me, I feel my stomach sink. “I’m willing to do it. Faladel isn’t, so we’ll use the third member of the party to break the tie! You’ve been hanging out with Prince Yaluda for the better half of an hour, do you think we should kill his dad and your former commander-in-chief? Do you think the Prince will keep his promises afterwards?”

I glance over at Faladel, whose face is carefully neutral, and then at Yaluda who is staring at me hopefully. I understand Briareth’s logic asking me this, but why did he have to put me on the spot? I stare at the floor between my feet as I consider my answer.

“Yaluda is a decent person, I believe he’d keep his promise to make peace with us afterwards. Killing the King doesn’t sit quite right with me, but if there isn’t another way to end all this–” I hesitate. Isn’t one life for the sake of many basically what the Generals were thinking? Albeit on a much larger scale. My gut twists as I realize my hypocrisy, but I continue – “If there truly is no better way, then, don’t we have to do it?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Faladel stares at me, disappointment clear in his eyes. I shift uncomfortably, not able to meet them for long, and look over at Yaluda. He looks surprised, like he wasn’t really expecting me to side with him. He notices me watching him and smiles gratefully.

----------------------------------------

Faladel insists on brainstorming other ideas to try to find one that is morally justifiable and will end up with the Prince on the throne. Briareth’s happy to go along to satisfy him, but it’s clear he isn’t trying his hardest to come up with solutions.

Instead he’s gone back to teasing me about my non-existent love life. With Yaluda, of all the dwarves he could have picked.

“I really wasn’t expecting you to side with Prince Yaluda over our dearest Faladel. Did you two, perhaps, connect over that intimate, private conversation you were having on the other side of the room?” Briareth says, his completely innocent face an obvious facade.

Even though none of the things he is insinuating are true, I still feel my ears heat up. I bless my lucky stars that he waited until Yaluda had left the room before starting this conversation. “It was an entirely innocent, short conversation. No more intimate or private than your argument with Faladel was.” I say shortly, trying to end the teasing before Briareth gets on a roll, but I’m already too late.

“Oh, but you were so quick to judge him as a ‘decent person.’ Do you claim to have gleaned that sort of in depth knowledge of a person's soul from, as you call it, ‘one entirely innocent, short conversation?’” Briareth drops the innocent mask and grins evilly. “It feels to me like you must have known him previously. Perhaps he was the one distracting you that long ago day in the throne room? The lover you used to meet clastendinely in secluded hallways so you could promise together that your love would be everlasting? No matter where you ended up stationed, no matter how long you had to wait, you’d be true to each other forever?”

My face is probably beet red at his very specific description of my imaginary relationship. “Simple soldiers in training never have one-on-one conversations with any of the nobility, much less with the royal family. And certainly no clastendine meetings in any hallways.” I say stiffly, taking a swig of some beer that had been brought to us by a thoughtful member of the Prince’s Personal Guards, or PPGs as Yaluda called them.

“So just an unrequited crush then.” Faladel says dryly with perfect timing. I spit my beer all over my lap in shock, probably just as he’d planned. He sips his beer with all the satisfaction of a cat, then makes a face at its taste. Meanwhile Briareth cackles at my reaction.

“Exactly! See, Balderk, Faladel gets it! No need to hide it from your good friends! There’s nothing wrong with liking men. I personally like both guys and girls! And Faladel– well actually, I don’t know. Who do you like, Faladel?”

“I don’t like anyone.” Faladel says, staring at his beer and frowning, as if suspicious of its contents.

“Ouch!” Briareth looks mock affronted, and clutches his chest, as if his heart pains him. Faladel glances up from his mug with a flat stare.

“Meaning I’ve never been physically attracted to anyone. Not that I don’t like you platonically.” Faladel clarifies. I drink the rest of my beer, watching their conversation interestedly. Finally, Briareth’s bugging someone else about romance.

“Seriously?” Briareth looks surprised. “Not one crush? I must’ve had at least fifty, and you haven’t had one?” I’m shocked by his confession, but then remember that he’s eighty something, so fifty crushes from a guy like him doesn’t mean he’s changing his mind on a day-to-day basis. He just acts like he’s a teenager, he isn’t actually one.

“Not that I’ve ever noticed. Is it really that strange?” Faladel asks, and I decide now is probably the best time to escape the interrogation, before Briareth starts asking about Yaluda and I again.

“Well… No?” Briareth answers, but it sounds more like another question. “I don’t think so at least, but aren’t you expected to have kids one day? You know, so they can be Kings or Queens?” I get up, and start padding over to the door. Yaluda said we aren’t supposed to go out, Briareth and Faladel are too recogniseable. However, I am not nearly as noticeable as they are. I’ll probably be fine.

“I’ve actually been thinking about that recently, and I don’t think I have to. It’s just what everybody expects. If I die without an heir, the public will hold general elections, and another familyline will take control. It’s not like the country will fall apart without Mithrandirs guiding it.” Faladel says slowly, choosing his words carefully.

Briareth hesitates. “I guess so. It is your choice after all. But think of your Dad, Faladel. He would love to be a grandfather!” I arrive at the door and slowly creak it open. Neither of them seems to notice.

“You just want me to name a child after you.” Faladel says dryly as I slip through.

“That too.” Briareth admits unashamedly. And then the door clicks behind me, and I can’t make out the rest of their conversation.