"And with that our meeting is adjourned. Thank you." King Aleric stood up dismissing the high council.
Aleric had adjusted fairly quickly into his royal duties as King for he had been trained to fill this position since he was barely able to walk on his own. King Alwin, his father, had a good reign leaving matters of the state almost completely stable as they were handed over to his son.
It was a very hard role to fill but as King Aleric stood, he had done an excellent job. Running a kingdom was no easy feat. Many of his councillor members had originally been against him believing he would be a young and foolish king but through perseverance and hard work he proved them wrong and gained their support.
Count Alvore had been in attendance of this particular meeting along with his eldest son Sorin. Sorin was already well recognised as the Alvore heir, and many believed that he would be taking over his father's position soon.
"Count Alvore, may I have a minute of your time?" King Aleric stopped him from leaving along with the other members.
"Your Majesty." The Count turned to him and gave a light bow. Sorin doing the same, he was his father's shadow in moments like these. It was his place.
"I believe you are to be visiting the Duke of Waisend soon?"
"That is correct, Your Majesty. I depart for Canterbre tomorrow at dawn." The Count confirmed.
"Good. I have a request," Aleric started handing the Count a sealed letter, "Give this to the Duke."
"It will be done. Is there anything else that you wish for me to do?"
"No that will be all. Thank you." Aleric dismissed.
The Count and Sorin took a final bow before making their way out when a sudden thought struck Aleric.
Erica.
So much had happened recently that he had no chance to even think about her until now. He remembered how panicked and injured she was when he last saw her. This sent a jolt of pain to his heart. He prayed that she was okay.
He wanted to see her again. The last time he saw made him almost desperate. Many things were wrong with that entire encounter. From the way she came to say a final goodbye to her injured fingers. Her terrified face when she saw the palace guards approaching worried him more.
Something was very very wrong.
Erica wore a disguise for a reason. She was scared of the guards for a reason.
Aleric hoped that she did not assume that it was him who called the guards that horrible day, he hoped that she did not think that the guards were there for her, but judging from her reaction at the time, he could tell exactly what she believed. There had been a major misunderstanding. This caused his stomach to turn.
He wanted to know just why she was so scared, why she was injured, why she was in disguise...
He wanted to protect her, to save her from all her troubles. It was a strong feeling, and he was yet to fully understand it.
One thing was clear. He needed to find her.
All he knew was that she was somehow connected to the Alvore family. The handkerchief she gave him the first time he met her and the fact that she was hiding for Walter confirmed this.
He grimaced at the memory of the handkerchief. He could not believe that he had thought it was Walter's sister Sibyl the entire time and even thanked her. Aleric had nothing against Sibyl, but he knew the type of lady she was. She toyed with his cousin's feelings and lied about the handkerchief being hers. All just to get close to him or rather his crown.
The memory of Erica hiding from Walter gave way to more questions. He had dismissed it at the time but now regretted it.
Walter was a very good friend to Aleric. Aleric knew him very well and he knew that his dear friend was a good person but why was Erica afraid of him? What did he do to cause this?
Aleric knew he needed to talk to Walter directly. He trusted him and as much as he wanted to protect Erica, he knew this had to be done.
When King Aleric was finally done with his royal duties for the day, the sun had already set. He made his way to the barracks. Many of his attendants were against this as it was late opting for him to summon the young commander instead, but Aleric needed to walk, he wanted to stretch and get some fresh air.
Walter was not in his room but fortunately one of his squadron members knew where he was and nervously directed the young King to the dark and almost completely deserted training grounds. One might assume it would be the perfect trap as an opportunity for an ambush to kill the King as it was ideal to perform such an act, but a lone figure stood in the distance swinging his sword against a dummy. It was Walter.
His movements were strong and harsh. It was clear that something had upset him.
"Commander. You have a visitor." The nervous squad member called out interrupting his training before scurrying off like a scared mouse back to the barracks.
Walter temporarily stopped and gave a side glance. He gave a grunt of acknowledgement before returning to his onslaught against the dummy.
To anyone else this would be seen as highly disrespectful to the King and would result in punishment but for the two of them, this action was looked over.
"What is troubling you enough to get you into this state?" Aleric asked. He was concerned.
He had not seen Walter for the past few days. Something had obviously happened in this time.
Walter dropped his sword and plonked himself down on the ground next to Aleric letting out a long sigh and rubbing his temples. Aleric sat next to him and waited for him to begin speaking.
"Do you think I am a horrible person?" Walter asked and looked up at the starry sky.
"Absolutely. You are so horrible that I am here to see you and you look like a miserable old man." Aleric playfully replied trying to cheer him up.
Walter rolled his eyes but gave a small smile, "I should not have expected a proper answer from you of all people." His smile then turned into a frown, "But honestly I feel like a horrible person."
"You are not. Do not say that."
"How do you know? -"
"Because you are my friend." Aleric interrupted him. There was a long pause before Walter sighed again.
"I forgot about someone who I should not have..." Walter began looking down in shame, " I know these past few weeks have been hard for you but compared to me, you are so strong."
"It is only because I have people like you standing at my side supporting me. So let me return the favour, let me support you. Tell me what is wrong."
Walter gave a grateful smile in response to Aleric's words before looking up at the sky again.
"I used to carry a petty jealously when I was a child. I wanted my father's attention, approval and acceptance. I was not the only one, my siblings did too. Sibyl especially. She used to come crying to my brother and I when our father paid no attention to her. My father's attention however was always on someone else. This made me resentful and mean." Walter momentarily paused as he recalled the memories, an upset arch forming in between his eyebrows.
"There was an accident and suddenly my father's attention was directed towards us. I hate how happy this made me feel. I was happy that someone was hurt. Without realising it, in the four years that followed, my petty jealously had been forgotten as the person who it was directed at was hardly in the picture anymore. Until the incident happened around roughly six years ago..." Walter fisted his hands.
"Six years ago, I walked into a scene that had already taken place. Sibyl had supposedly been hurt and suddenly my resentfulness came back, I failed to project anything but hatred and took Sibyl's side. My mother handled the punishment and as the years past I slowly forgot this person as I never saw them again. I disgust even myself for this." Walter punched the ground next to him, "It was not until recently that I was reminded when I thought I saw them, but I was too slow to reconnect and now I never will be able to."
If Aleric was not watching his friend, he would not have noticed the lone tear falling from his eyes. He had never seen Walter cry. Walter was always the strong one between the three of them. He never showed any weakness or let his emotions get the better of him. He was a strong pillar and hated showing vulnerability. In his mind it showed that he was not a real man, so he was not allowed to cry. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop the lone tear falling down his cheek, he just prayed that Aleric could not see it as it was dark.
In this moment Walter was very vulnerable and Aleric wanted to console him but did not how to. All he could think of was putting his hand on his friend's shoulder and awkwardly patting him. This did more for Walter than Aleric realised.
"You are really bad at this." Walter gave a sad chuckle, appreciative of his friend's terrible attempt.
Aleric immediately stopped and looked away mildly embarrassed, "Be grateful I tried because I will never do it again."
"I am grateful. Thank you." Walter sincerely responded.
There were a few minutes of comfortable silence. Aleric had forgotten why he had originally come to see his friend but was glad he had. Aleric and Walter had been through a lot together.
"May I ask you a question, you do not have to answer if you do not want to...?" Aleric trailed off giving a side glance to his friend who was getting ready to get up.
"Just ask." Walter stretched as he stood.
"Who was this person that you forgot?" Aleric was mildly curious as he got up too from his spot on the ground.
"My sister... Erica."