"So, what do you want to do today, Ciara?" Elias asked as he and a younger guard followed closely behind her.
"I am not sure."
Since having returned, things had returned to their old rhythms. Only, they'd also become better.
Alex and Elias - though mostly Alex - had demanded the two of them were reinstated as her daily guards at the very, very least half the time. So, it was decided that during the days, she would alternate between the two of them and another extra guard of the young ones.
Naturally, Victoria and the Dragon Slayers hadn't been too excited by her return. She was practicing ignoring them, but it was difficult, even with her father's words ringing in her mind.
She'd barely turned the first corner, however, before she was stopped.
"Ah, I caught you," a familiar voice in an unfamiliar setting spoke ahead of her.
Naturally, her eyes widened in shock.
"Your majesty!" she blurted out just a little too quick. "What are you doing out here?"
Honestly, she could probably count on her fingers the amount of times she'd seen the man outside the throne-room or in the office. And that, of course, included his very own chambers, in which she too slept every night still.
A faint smirk appeared on his face. "What? I cannot wander my own castle, now?" he asked. "I came in the hopes of catching you before you went off somewhere."
"Me?"
He nodded. "Indeed. I figured we could catch up on that cup of tea we did not have the chance to get a while ago," he calmly explained. "After having witnessed that kingdom of yours, I am curious to learn more about it."
She blinked once, processing the information. Wasn't this exactly what she'd wanted all along? And she had absolutely no plans for the day.
"Yes! I would love to!"
He smiled. "Good, because I already ordered a maid to bring the tea to our chambers," he told her, already starting to move back towards said chambers. "It should be ready within short time."
She looked at Elias, grinning at the encouraging nod she received in return. He knew just as well as she did just how important this was for her.
So, she followed the king with light steps, for once not minding the silence between them.
They quickly reached the chambers again - especially seeing as she'd only just left it. He turned to the two guards once they stood at the door. He said nothing, only briefly met their gazes before turning and opening the door for her.
She quickly stepped past him and inside, suddenly not knowing what to do with herself. He quickly came to her rescue, though.
"I ordered for the tea to be brought to the coffee table, so go ahead and make yourself comfortable."
She nodded and quickly moved to place herself in one of the chairs. She was completely stiff with her hands neatly folded in her lap.
He remained silent as well as he casually made his way to the sofa across from her. He made no move to say anything as he made himself comfortable, though.
Alas, she kept her eyes steadily staring at the still empty table, praying that the maid would come quickly.
There were so many things she wanted to tell and teach him, but at the same time she feared doing too much would bore him. She didn't know what he already knew or what he wouldn't want to know. She didn't want to lose his interest now she'd finally gotten it.
Finally, a maid appeared with a tray in her hands.
"Do pardon my intrusion, my king," she said, looking to the king. "Princess," she added, looking at the princess as well.
Ciara couldn't remember a time where this had happened before. Where she'd been mentioned in lieu with the king like this. As though she was his equal.
Still, none of the two of them really noted her reaction and simply carried on.
"Please call if you should need anything else." The maid's eyes flew alternatingly between the two of them.
"This will be all for now," the king curtly replied. "Make sure we will not be disturbed for some time."
The maid nodded, hugging the tray to her chest.
"It shall be done, my king," she quickly said before just as quickly exiting the room.
He languidly reached out to take his cup, leaning back on the sofa and letting his eyes land on her.
"So, tell me about the Dragon Kingdom."
"Huh? W-what do you want to know?"
"Everything," he stated infuriatingly vaguely. "How do you manage to live on such a small island? Why are none of you concerned about the amount of dragons swarming you?"
"Well," she muttered, getting herself started. "The second question is simple. We are not afraid because we know they would never hurt us; they are our friends." She sent him a simple smile.
He, however, frowned. "But how can you be so sure of that? I would wager a guess and say it is not unlikely that there are double the amount of dragons that there are people. How can you keep creatures as dangerous as these so close to the general populace when they are not tamed?"
"Because we trust each other - just as you do your patrolling guards and family dogs," she explained, but she also knew he probably didn't understand completely. "You have to understand that after the Great War the territories dragons could reside in became much smaller. They would be hunted down by your Dragon Slayers and feared by the people."
His expression didn't change much at that, but she could see in his eyes that he was beginning to understand where she was coming from. And where she was going.
"Dragons are intelligent creatures. Even more so than us," she said. "They know that there are things we can do for them that they cannot themselves - such as stitch up a wing - and they know that there are things they can do that we cannot." She smiled lightly. "That is why they flock to us, yet still would not dare hurt us," she summed up. "It is also the answer to your first question - it is because they help us that we can make do for ourselves."
"I see." He paused for just a moment. "In what way do they help you, exactly? Surely, it must be more than simply moving a fallen tree?"
"Yes, much more." She nodded. "We cannot grow a wide variety of crops because the earth is as dry as it is, but the ones we can grow, the dragons help us maintain," she explained. "While we still do not have many of either, it is especially water or earth dragons which help us with this. Sometimes, wind dragons can help us with the water as well, though. They also help us with simple things such as taking care of the children while the parents work and such."
He nodded slowly, his brows a little furrowed still.
"Earth dragons I understand, as they usually do not have wings, but why do you only have few water dragons?"
She shrugged lightly. "We are not quite sure of it ourselves, but we have not seen many new water dragons apart from the ones already living on the island. No one understands it." As a matter of fact, it was quite a big conundrum in the kingdom.
A light look of curiosity and humor grew on his face. "Am I wrong to assume that this is something you have tried to accomplish here as well - that relationship with dragons?"
She felt her cheeks heat up a little at the question. "That is true." While it wasn't something she necessarily hid, she didn't go around speaking of it either. "I want dragons to be comfortable anywhere and for people not to fear them as they do now. That is all."
"There is nothing you or your kingdom stand to gain from this?" The question, though sharp, wasn't unkind or accusatory. It was simply a question.
"I have not thought much about that," she admitted. "I hope we can gain some understanding from the Fire Kingdom especially, I suppose."
He remained silent for a moment, keeping his eyes on her. She couldn't help but almost feel like her very soul was being searched. She had nothing to hide though.
Finally, he let up and leaned back on the sofa again. "I have always wondered - why is it you still call our kingdom - and the others - by their old names? It was changed quite a few summers before any of us were even born."
"It was what I grew up with, so I find it a little difficult to just stop."
"Still. You and your kingdom must have known it had been changed."
She quickly nodded. "Oh, we did. We chose to stick to what it had always been, remembering the reason why they are called what they are."
"The old story about the Elder dragons and all that?" He smiled to himself when she nodded. "It is quite like you."
She nodded again. It was quite like the Dragon Kingdom to remember something such as that, that was true.
It was an old story that everyone had been told at least once. She knew it by heart though, as she had been told time and time again before bedtime.
It was a story of a time before humans, where the dragons were the ones reigning the world. The world itself was split into four - what she knew as the elemental kingdoms - the way it had been for thousands of summers.
Each of the elemental kingdoms were named by their respective dragons, whose Elders had chosen each territory for their nests. Skirmishes, hatred and war raged between the dragons back then, one kind pitted against the other.
Eventually, they all agreed that the middle would be a place of peace and freedom between them all - that was how the Dragon Kingdom was created.
Eventually humans came, each mirroring their respective homes and the dragons in it. And so it had been for many, many centuries, until that war changed everything.
That was when the memory of something she'd been told quite a long time ago popped up again. Something she quickly grew quite impatient to figure out, as it happened.
"Enough about me, though," she said, restarting the conversation that had gone silent as she had been lost in old tales. "What about you?" She met his steely eyes.
"What about me?" He raised his brow as he eloquently took a sip of the tea she had completely forgotten about.
"Well," she started out, her mind wheeling in her head. "I heard it told that you do not originate from the Fire Kingdom, but actually from the Water Kingdom," she replied, the things she was told on the ship so long ago popping back up in her mind.
His expression turned stoic at that and his jaw clenched visibly. "Who told you that?"
She glanced over at him, trying not to flinch at the look in his eyes. "One of the sailors told me when we came here. On the ship," she explained, watching him process it for a moment. "I only want to get to know you too," she told him, her voice choking in her throat.
He sighed. "I see." He turned his head away and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It is true."
"Really?"
He nodded, looking back up at her. "Yes. I was born and raised in the West by my mother until I turned twelve summers." He paused for a moment to think. "Various circumstances brought me here."
She remained anxiously silent, not wanting to disturb the story he would hopefully be telling her.
"As I assume you have also been told, I joined the Royal Guard quite quickly after that and crawled up through the ranks." Things she did indeed know, but still wanted told from his mouth. "When I was twenty summers, the king, who had ruled the kingdom back then, died and I took over. Just like that, a few summers has passed since then, and now we are here."
He looked to her almost expectantly. Waiting for a reaction of some sort, no doubt.
She could only frown when she figured this was all he was going to tell her, however. There was so much more to the story than that - like how he met Sergon and the resistance he must have met when he made it to the throne. He had glazed over all the details!
As such, she naturally wanted to know more. "Wh-"
A quick set of knocks on the door cut her off before she had even begun.
"Please excuse my interruption, my king. You have been asked to return to the throne-room," Elias spoke through the door.
The king sighed. "Already?" he seemed to ask himself. "Tell them I will be right there," he called back to Elias before getting up and tipping back whatever was left of his tea.
Was this really coming to an end now? Of all times?
He looked down at her again. "Please do excuse the sudden end to our conversation, princess; duty calls." His expression was quite blank and unreadable. "It has been a pleasure though. We should do it again."
This was his honest opinion. She could see it in the soft look in his eyes.
"Yes... We should, your majesty."
He gave her a curt nod, then turned towards the door on the other side of the room. He easily reached it within three of his long strides. However, when he did, it seemed almost like he was hesitating to go any further.
Slowly, he turned to look at her over his shoulder.
"From now on, you do not have to call me 'your majesty', princess."
Her eyes grew wide at the implication. Was he asking her to call him by his name? It seemed so. She smiled at that.
"I will, but only if you do not call me 'princess' either."
A light smile grew on his lips as well. "Fair. That is a deal then, Ciara."
She smiled to herself. Living here might not be so bad after all.