Michael
Michael filed into the dinner room with the other invited parties. Zen and Mira were obviously present, but the queen-mother had excused herself, other than them, Duke Wallsten and Duke Wulfen, who had brought along his son and wife, who had been introduced to Michael as Lady Selena Wulfen, and lastly the Archpriest of the Kingdom of Telios Patheros.
Lady Wulfen was a small woman with hazelnut-colored hair and a round face, that didn’t mean that she was heavy though, she looked very slender and pretty to Michael.
The Archpriest in contrast was a man in his forties with an angled face that Michael wouldn’t describe as pretty. His short brown hair was already receding, and he wore no beard. His clothing was impressive enough to distract from his plain face, they were beautiful robes in white and gold as it was the church’s customs but to such a high quality to rival the clothes of the late King Johann.
Zenial of course sat at the head of the table while Michael and Duke Wulfen flanked him to the left and right. Michael’s seat would have normally been reserved for the next important person, but Duke Wallsten had given up his seat for Michael and taken the one next to Michael, with Mira filling up the left side of the table. Lady Selena sat beside her husband with her son Julius at her side across from Mira. The Archpriest had taken a seat at the opposite end of the table and gazed over the present nobles.
It didn’t take long after sitting down that Zen turned to Michael and spoke, “Michael, much has happened to you in the last months, and I am eager to hear all of it. A meeting with the kings of the dwarves, peace negotiations with the wolf clan in the beastwoods, and the clearing of the Ereic Mountains. You have been busy indeed.”
“Yes, those mines you have discovered will be very beneficial to the kingdom indeed,” Julius Wulfen said with a polite smile, but Michael could guess the glee that the young heir must have been feeling.
He turned to the heir of House Wulfen who had grown considerably since last they met and looked him in the eyes. “They will indeed, even if the way they will be used is still to be determined.”
“You are not saying that you will challenge the decision of the king to claim them for the good of the whole kingdom, do you?” Julius looked back at him with a frown. Everyone was watching the exchange of the two teenagers, but no one intervened as Michael smiled.
“There is still some deliberation to be had about the best use of these resources. The king surely appreciates quality council from the people that are at the core of the issue.”
This comment made Julius frown deeper as he showed his disapproval. “I am sure the king has had more than enough ‘council’ to make an informed decision about the subject.”
“Oh, I am not so much concerned with the quantity of council but much more with the quality,” Michael retorted before he could reign himself in. The implied insult hit home much more visibly on Julius’s face than on his father’s, who simply watched the exchange with a neutral expression.
Julius gritted his teeth and growled, “And you are much more qualified, I assume?”
Michael stopped himself from answering reflexively again but before he had settled on a diplomatic answer Zen interjected, “As much as I appreciate a lively discussion, I haven’t invited you for politics. We will have plenty of time to claw each other’s eyes out about the wealth of the southern mountains in the coming days.”
Michael turned toward the king and saw an amused smirk on his face, he probably didn’t suspect that Michael was completely ready to claw someone’s eyes out to retain his mountains, well metaphorically speaking ... mostly.
Zen looked at both of them until they had calmed down and then looked at Michael with an excited gaze, “I heard that you fought a four-skull Dungeon Guardian. How was that?”
“Oh yes, I can tell you it was definitely not a direwolf,” Michael answered with a chuckle which caused the others to laugh as well, the only one who understood the jab was Julius who simply stared at Michael.
He resigned himself in after that and began telling the stories of his latest adventures to a mostly interested audience. The Archpriest seemed to be mostly displeased with the tales as they were filled with magic and other races, but he kept quiet, content with listening and watching.
The conversations eventually diverged from Michael’s adventures and split up into multiple smaller conversations.
“And then he jumped into the stream after my earring even though he couldn’t swim at the time,” Lady Selena recounted with a lighthearted chuckle and patting her husband’s hand. “I was actually concerned that he would simply drown but the guards managed to pull him out in time.”
The lady was currently recounting one of her first meetings with her now husband to the amusement of Zen and Michael.
“You must have been impressed by his bravery,” Zen said with gleaming eyes, but the lady scoffed humorously.
“Impressed? I was furious. I quite vividly remember yelling at him what kind of stupidity had brought him to the conclusion that diving after an earring into a stream without being able to swim was a good idea.”
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Duke Wulfen managed to keep a dignified expression through all of this but Michael was sure he saw the edges of his mouth twitch upward multiple times, but he managed to keep the smile off his face.
“I heard that love often makes people do foolish things,” Michael noted cheerfully, “Not that I would know but that is what people say.”
Lady Selena looked at her husband with love in her eyes and asked, “Did you love me back then already? We didn’t know each other that long.”
The reserved duke looked at his wife and finally smiled weakly, “I jumped, didn’t I?”
Lady Selena then turned back to her young listeners with a grin and concluded her story, “The first thing that I demanded for this marriage to go ahead was for him to learn how to swim.”
Michael and Zen chuckled at that, and Lady Selena joined in with a friendly laugh. Michael caught himself multiple times forgetting for a while that he was sharing stories and laughs with his ‘enemies’ for this journey and just enjoyed the conversations. Sure, he avoided talking with Julius for any extended period of time, but the rest were nice people on his side of the table.
He didn’t share many words with the Archpriest directly either, the man seemed to be content with throwing in a comment or two from time to time but stayed silent most of the time, so Michael couldn’t get much of a read on him.
After a couple of hours, the dinner came to an end, and they began wishing each other a good night. To his surprise, it was Duke Wulfen who stayed behind with Michael and Zen for a moment and then approached Michael.
“Lord Rowan, do you have a moment,” he said. Michael looked over to Zen who had asked for him to stay behind and the king nodded.
“Of course, milord. What can I help you with?”
“I do not intend to drag down the mood, this evening has been surprisingly delightful but due to the nature of why we have gathered here in the capital, I feel like I have to get this off my chest before the emotions start boiling over in the next couple of days,” he said calmly.
Michael frowned but motioned him to go ahead.
“I want to extend you my condolences for your loss. It is a great injustice what has happened to your family, and I was shaken to my core when I heard about it. Your father and I never got along, and we rarely agreed on anything, but I deeply respected him. Losing him is a travesty.”
Michael tried to read the man’s face, he was sure this was just a polite or manipulative speech, but he couldn’t see any clue that the duke was lying, he much rather picked up an aura of sincerity from him.
“Thank you. I appreciate it, Duke Wulfen,” Michael answered and bowed deeply. The duke nodded back at him and then left.
Michael was left a little bit stunned; he had expected hostility from the duke, but he had proven himself much more civil.
Zen joined him in looking after the duke while he left and placed his hand on Michael’s shoulder, “That went surprisingly well.”
“Right? Somehow, he was much nicer than the last couple of times we met,” Michael replied with a confused expression.
“He is not a monster, Michael. He is just ... very focused on doing what is best for the kingdom,” Zen said with a little bit of hesitation.
“And for himself,” Michael added to which Zen huffed but didn’t disagree.
“Come on, let’s go onto the balcony and get some fresh air.”
Michael followed the king outside until they were alone on the balcony, he imagined that it had been quite a challenge for Zen to convince Mira to leave them alone for this.
Zen leaned on the balcony railing and looked down on the gardens, it had gotten dark a while ago and there wasn’t much to see but a couple of lights where the guards patrolled.
At this moment Michael noticed once again how young they both were with thirteen and eleven. It slipped his mind from time to time because they were both rather mature for their age, so it was hard to distinguish between the adults and them. Sure, they towered over Michael but after years of working with Solon, height didn’t connect with age in Michael’s brain anymore.
Zen and Michael had both been pushed to grow up faster than most other children, in that they were very similar. The reasons were different though, while Michael was pushed by adversity and a strong sense of duty to his people, Zen was molded by the pressure of expectations.
He had been the sole heir of the kingdom from the moment of his birth, it had never stood to question that he would succeed his father one day and everyone expected him to be perfect. Now he was the king, decades earlier than anyone had expected or hoped for, and the expectations were even larger. His father had been a great king even with his weaknesses, and now Zen was looked upon to continue in the large footsteps of his father, in that Michael and Zen were alike again.
They stood in silence for a minute just staring in the dark until Zen suddenly spoke.
“I am going to be betrothed soon,” he said with a humorous smile.
“Oh,” Michael said surprised, “Congratulations. Who is the unlucky bride? One of Duke Wulfen’s daughters?”
Zen smirked at Michael’s words but shook his head, “I had considered it, but he said that I already have his loyalty and that we need to reinforce the alliance with the Perios Kingdom now more than ever.”
“That makes sense. What kind of person is she?”
Zen shrugged, “I have no idea. I never met her.”
“Huh, that is gonna be a surprise at the wedding,” Michael joked, and Zen pushed him jokingly. That was the special bond that they shared when Michael was with Zen, separate they both appeared more as adults with little experience than as children but the moment they came together they reverted to being just dumb teenagers poking fun at each other.
“I will meet her before that of course! I have exchanged some letters with the king of Perios and he will visit with his daughter in a couple of months. It will still be a while until I am even old enough to marry,” Zen said with feigned annoyance.
“It is a good move,” Michael admitted. “To be honest, I haven't seen many people yet that decided to make the good move over their emotions.
“Yeah, it should show all our neighbors that we stand together and prevent at least all-out war. There is much more we will have to do to secure that peace though,” Zen said and got a little bit more serious.
“About that. The mines ...,” Michael started but Zen cut him off.
“Let’s not talk about that yet. I just want to catch up with my friend and leave the politics and administration for tomorrow. I hope that is alright with you?”
“Yeah, sure,” Michael said and also leaned on the railings.
“So, how are you, Michael? And I don’t want to hear about what you have accomplished or how your lands are doing. I want to know how the boy Michael Rowan is doing,” Zen asked, showing at the same time how well he knew Michael.
They talked long into the night; on this balcony, they weren’t a king and a count they were just two friends who hadn’t seen each other in a while.