In the end, I don’t get Albert, or Albreth as I suppose he’s been named back. I bury my sorrow in busy work– preparations for our trip mostly. There’s plenty to do after all. Supplies and gifts have to be packed, along with our weapons. I have to plan our route, alert the larger towns along it that Faladel might want to stop at, and find the perfect balance between bringing too much food and not enough food.
I have new respect for Faladel’s competence after arguing with three different Town Heads via letter about resupplying stops and how and when payment for those supplies should be delivered. There are still some thieves active in the region, so I’m loath to send the money ahead, but they don’t want to put supplies aside for us without upfront payment. And I haven’t even tried convincing the cooks here in the palace to supply me yet!
Somehow I think they’ve gotten it into their heads that I’m not to be trusted. I wonder why. I mean, I always clean up after myself, and I even leave them little samples of my creations!
Technically, Faladel probably only had to deal with the cooks, because we didn’t stop by any towns on our last visit to the Librarian, still the planning that goes into an adventure is no joke.
I stop poring over our route on another map and stretch, feeling my muscles groan and pop in protest. I need to move. Grabbing more strongly worded letters to the various Town Heads, I leave my office, briefly glancing at the abandoned mongoose cage on my way out. I have to take care of it eventually, but some part of me hopes, that if I keep it up for long enough, Albreth will appear in it one day, squeaking in excitement as I walk back in to give him a snake or something that I found.
When I’m on my way back from the Postmaster’s Zydon alerts me that the King was looking for me, and I instantly revise my plans for the afternoon. Using my spectacular guesswork abilities, I quickly narrow down the places he and the Queen might be at this time.
My third try is my final one as well, as I walk in on them talking to Faladel.
“–Your Father, Briareth, and I came up with a small surprise for you.” The Queen was saying. “We know you’ve been working hard on your preparations for kingship, and we certainly appreciate your efforts, but we want you to know–” She breaks off, seeing me in the doorway.
“Uh… If you guys are busy, I can come back.” I say, pointing to the door.
“No, you can stay. You can share your plans with him.”
“Plans for what?” Faladel asks, seemingly half worried and half amused already.
I walk up to join them. The room isn’t large, just another sitting room in a palace full of rooms. It’s simultaneously cozy and airy because of an open ceiling to the warm sun above. The branches above have been trimmed and guided away to allow shafts of sunlight to permeate it throughout most of the afternoon. It’s one of the King’s favorite off-duty relaxation rooms, and an excellent nap spot.
“Well for the Faladel Fun-Plan Extravaganza of course.” I reply, having come up with the name on the spot. I glance at the King. “What does extravaganza mean again? It sounds right, so I used it, but now I’m having second thoughts.”
The King struggles to keep a straight face. “It’s like a party or a spectacle. So, not really the right word.”
I frown. “Well, then, we’ll just shorten it to Faladel Fun-plan. Although that doesn’t sound nearly as interesting. Basically–” I turn to my best friend. “We’re off on another adventure! No more paperwork for a few months at least! Think of it as a vacation.”
There is a flash of startled confusion and incomprehension in Faladel’s eyes, but he recovers quickly. “But what about the peace anniversary festival?” He asks, “What about the Diplomatic summit that was going to happen in two months? How long is this vacation going to last?” He glances at the King and Queen, “Are you okay with this? Did you help him plan it?”
“We approved it.” The Queen says diplomatically, watching Faladel for his reaction.
We all watch Faladel for his reaction. It takes a few seconds, and he isn’t looking at us while he thinks about it. His gaze darts around the room, and then above all of us. Eventually, he takes a breath, meets my eyes, and says, “As long as it won’t cause anyone too much trouble, I think I’d like that.” A small smile, tiny but true, forms on his face. “Where are we going?”
I grin at him “Let me go get my maps!”
----------------------------------------
FALADEL
Briareth chatters at me eagerly, showing off all the maps and notes in his office on how things are going to work out. It’s clear he’s proud of how far he’s thought ahead, but I can’t do much more than nod and smile. My head is too busy whirling with thoughts. First that strange, heart wrenching conversation I overheard, now a plan that gets me out of Heronmal for at least two months? Is there something I’m not seeing here? Their words and actions aren’t matching up. Something is going on here, but whether it is sinister, or sincere, I can’t tell for the life of me.
Eventually, as Briareth looks at me with expectant eyes, and I realize he actually wants a response, I come to a decision. I’ll probably regret this, but I just want everything to feel right again. The last time things felt right– that I felt I could smile wide and sincerely with everyone watching– was when Briareth and I arrived triumphantly in Heronmal, the peace treaty packed safely away in a sealed case, ready to be presented at court. So, I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth any further. I’ll just accept this vacation at face value. And if I come back in time to see my throne taken from me? My parents gift wrapping it and handing it to someone ‘responsible and levelheaded’? Well, I’ll deal with that then.
Briareth is still grinning at me, my decision having taken only a second or two. He’s still waiting for an answer. I smile back, as realistically as possible. “Hold your horses, Briareth, I still need to delegate my tasks and paperwork for when I’m away. There’s no way we can leave tomorrow. Perhaps next weekend though?”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Oh, your parents can take care of that.” Briareth says, waving a hand dismissively. “And it really has to be tomorrow. That’s the only way we'll deliver the money to the towns in time so that we can resupply properly. Unless of course, you’d rather hunt constantly like last time, and just skip the visits to the towns altogether. That could also work I’d suppose…” He trails off thoughtfully, and then snaps his fingers. “Oh, but then you wouldn’t be able to drum up support in the rural towns! And that was the whole point of taking this route!”
My answering chuckle hides a sigh. No looking a gift vacation in the mouth. I remind myself. Although it already is beginning to feel less like a vacation and more like yet another parade of bureaucracy. Nevertheless, I begin helping Briareth draft notices of departure and requests for supplies from the castle stores.
----------------------------------------
BRIARETH
Throughout the next twenty-four hours of desperate planning and editing of said plans; letters, requests, and edits of said requests being sent; and far far too much binging of some delectable cheesecake; Faladel seems to display real excitement. Unfortunately for him, it still doesn’t convince me. He’s still not normal Faladel yet. Normal Faladel would have at least mentioned some of the flaws that his parents had pointed out. Normal Faladel would have stressed over things that couldn’t be fixed to the point of me teasing him mercilessly. Now that I’m looking for it, it’s kinda obvious that he’s putting on a second layer of acting. Normal Faladel is trying to behave like prince Faladel who is trying to behave like normal Faladel, and it’s not convincing at all. Just weird.
I have no clue what brought this change about, if it’s actually here, or if Faladel is just secretly infecting me with his overthinking-things-plague. But I will get down to the bottom of this. I will make Faladel feel better, whether he likes it or not.
But first, I have to finish my fifteenth slice of cake. And then get to that farewell feast thing. Although, I probably won’t have room to eat anything.
The party takes place in one of the largest halls in the palace. Long tables take up half the room, and the other half is a dance floor, swimming with floor length dresses and formal wear of every type. It was a rather last minute affair, but there is still lots of good food and a surprising number of people here to see their prince off. Of course, Faladel’s parents have labeled this as an official information gathering mission– only a few trusted council members and the dwarven ambassador knows the real truth. The rest think it is to scout the perimeter of our world to find a good spot to mine for a newly discovered mineral called Ayline. I think it’s being used in some of the magical gadgets that Adamar’s family keeps coming up with, but I don’t know the details.
However, since I’m playing the part of a mineral expert on this mission, I make up a lot of explanations for people on the spot.
“It is quite rare to find this ore in such a pure quality.”
“We believe we have found stones that contain innate magic, and the Prince’s talents make him uniquely suited to confirming such a suspicion.”
“We suspect they are not stones at all, but dragon eggs.”
When yet another young lady asks me why Faladel of all people has to go on this mission I finally catch on.
“You know, you’re the fifth person to ask me that tonight.” I tell her. “He has to go because he represents the interests of the crown. And, his presence signifies the crown's great interest in gaining access and funding this project, so that one family doesn’t end up monopolizing it and selling it at obscenely high prices.” I push my fake glasses further up my nose in a studious and vaguely supercilious way. “Is there a special reason you and the others wish him to remain here?”
The girl colors and shakes her head, confirming my suspicions. Faladel must seem like quite the eligible bachelor right now. Mature and responsible heir apparent. I’m surprised I never noticed it earlier. No wonder all these ladies are disappointed he’s leaving.
I sip my cocktail slowly, trying for a scholarly vibe as I plot out how much I should tease him about this recent development.
The party finishes surprisingly quickly, and Faladel and I head out the morning after. I was delighted by the chaos and confusion of questions at the party that I could lie to with ease, but absolutely exuberant once we’re on the road again. The only thing keeping me from galloping on ahead is Myrddin’s tired plodding along. If anyone had to guess who went to a party last night between me and him, the answer definitely wouldn’t be me. He looks decidedly hungover for a horse. But time and tide wait for no man– err… mustang? Although I'm not quite convinced horses and tides go together, or that tides actually have anything to do at all with our departure for that matter, I let the thought go, sidling up to Faladel.
He is smiling as he waves back at the last few children following us out of Heronmal.
“You excited?” I ask him.
He turns to me, and my heart sinks slightly as I recognize the smile that he shoots me. “Is it that obvious?” He asks, tilting his head slightly. “It’s been quite a while since I’ve been able to visit the more rural towns. Not to mention, Ayline properties have been a research topic of mine for a few years now. It will be interesting to see the ore in its unrefined form.”
It takes me a few seconds to get what he’s implying with that wordage. And then a few more seconds to realize that that head tilt was supposed to direct my gaze to two golden orbs following us calmly.
I feel a rise of malicious spite, and calmly, after considering my actions and their potential consequences for exactly zero seconds, whip out a few arrows and shoot them down.
Bullseye! Well, annoying little golden orb eyes at any rate.
“Briareth!” Exclaims a shocked Faladel, but then he stutters, apparently unable to find the words to scold me with.
“Whoops!” I exclaim loudly, in case there are any more of those dratted things. “I missed the deer.”
Faladel opens and closes his mouth a few more times before just shaking his head, not willing to reveal that I actually shot the things on purpose when more could be watching. “You have to be more careful, Briareth.” he finally says, around thirty minutes or so later down the road.
“Oh I will be.” I say cheerily. I’ll be very careful to shoot all of them down. I could even make a game of it! Shoot the annoying orbs that I just realized have probably been responsible for ninety percent of Faladel’s stress the past few years! I was such an idiot to not realize that these things would be plaguing him constantly. It’s not like the King and Queen could teach him the spell that disrupts their enchantments, he can’t use magic after all! And I don’t know it because I never thought I’d need it. But I’ll make up for it. Whenever they follow us from the towns, I’ll simply get rid of them and make it look like an accident. Although I concede, staring at my friend as he lets his conflicted emotions finally play out over his face. I should probably do it where he can’t see it.
I grin to myself, accepting the self imposed addendum. A game isn’t fun without some challenges. Now I just need to make up a points system.