Káel heaved Puff into the air, his wings madly flapping for some lift to his pudgy body. After a few painful seconds, he managed a glide two heads higher than Káel, his entire body flipping back to do a flip.
Like the last five times his form broke as he was perfectly upside down, landing him on the plump white pillows covering half of Vera's bed.
Káel smiled as he heard a muffled snort. "Wow, almost had it."
"I'm serious, don't break anything."
He glanced at the wooden door Vera's voice had come from, A walk-in wardrobe on the other side that he'd assumed she'd simply gotten lost in for the last ten minutes.
"Pretty sure the party already started."
"Yeah, just give me a minute."
Káel scooped Puff into his arms again, tossing him with and extra hard heave so he went into an immediate glide. Instead of watching another failed attempt, he turned to perusing Vera's room. Tidy and nearly trinketless, with a delicate rouge theme that screamed the opposite of his friend.
He turned his attention to a smaller bookshelf that sided her bed, skimming the titles of thin fairytale books that likely fed at a child's imagination by the line of dust coating them. All except for one, where the dust greying the shelf was cut into by its cover sliding out multiple times.
He read the twisted gold lettering, muttering it under his breath. "The Heroic Tales of Locke Lanbrellhande." With a curious hum he pulled it out, cracking the cover for a slip of parchment to flutter out. With a cut gasp he quickly picked it up, checking the door Vera was still behind in case she could somehow sense his snooping.
He stared at the slip of paper, a kitten scratched out with charcoal black lines covering the sheet. Admiring its details for a few seconds, a hint of shame was quick to slap at the back of his mind. This was probably something personal.
He carefully placed it back in the book, hoping he'd gotten the right page as he deftly slid the book back on the shelf.
Opting to avoid opening anything else, his eyes rested on a little black cat doll. It was tucked right next to the book, with small blue gems for eyes and a drooping face. Hand-stitched by a cutesy attempt at depression, limp as a ragdoll, and clearly done by unprofessional hands. He poked it, playfully pinching it's little triangular ear.
"What are you doing?"
Káel shot around, staring at Vera tentatively as she peeked through the door. "Nothing!" He chuckled nervously. "You make that weird cat doll?"
She narrowed her eyes. "It's not weird. A friend made it."
"Friend? What's her name?"
"His name."
Káel glanced at the doll, the grin on his face belittling his age by a couple years. "Horus?"
Before Vera could pop out a spell to light him on fire, three curt knocks rattled the second door in her room. Even Káel could remember that three knocks meant a guard was at the door, which usually meant the one making them knock was of some royal position.
Vera pulled out of the wardrobe, still fiddling with a gold ribbon in her hair as the ones on her back fluttered about undone. "Who is it?"
"That tone is much better, love."
Vera rushed to the door, pulling it open for her mother to welcome herself inside, a silver circlet haloing her auburn hair to compliment the diamond white summer dress that waterfalled to her toes. She left the single guard tailing her in the hall, looking around the room and landing on Káel with a soft smile.
"Any chance you will be gracing the party we are throwing for you? I'm not sure I've ever seen Elisious so embarrassed to take a podium alone."
Káel held his breath, stuck straight in the presence of queen Yasha as he almost forgot to bow before speaking. "Y-yes your majesty. We just lost track of the time getting ready."
"Getting ready in my daughter's room?" She smiled, sizing up her stiff daughter as she motioned for her to turn and let her tie the loose ribbons. "Well anyways, I'll advise you not to get too close to her." The Queen smirked at Káel's grimace. "Cilvren may like you now, but he can be quite unpredictable when it comes to Vera."
"Mother!"
She chuckled to herself, pulling at the first ribbon on Vera's back so hard she coughed. "The gold looks lovely." She flicked her attention back to Káel, ignoring the fact that he was transfixed to her bow tieing skills and hadn't noticed. "I must say I'm glad Cilvren misinterpreted your character so tragically, Vera could do with an unorthodox friend like you."
Káel processed the compliment, head unintentionally tilting to show the twist of confusion in his tone. "Thanks?"
Yasha snapped her fingers, the guard in the hall immediately closing the door for some privacy. "Anyways, how did today's court session go? Dare I ask."
Vera grinned. "Mr. Rudas tried to convict Káel with children's fairytales."
"Oh dear, I can imagine." She snickered at the thought, finishing the last bow on Vera's dress to let her twirl and test it. "I pray this may never reach Kataggen's ears, but the bar for recruiting Council representatives has certainly gone downhill. At this point they'll start hiring nulls." She sighed, dipping her chin at Káel. "I'm sorry you and your friend got caught up in this. I'm afraid the Council will do almost anything to be right."
Vera stopped, her lips twisting with confusion at her mother's words. "I thought you hated Novans."
"I hate the Novans from the war love, if that creature has been in Cobalt since it was called the Whitecrown Kingdom then there isn't a chance in oblivion he participated." She grimaced at a twisted strap on Vera's dress, quickly straightening it to perfect the picture. "Of course, should this reach your father, I will deny every word."
"Wouldn't that be a conversation," Vera replied, stretching her arms and twisting her hips to make sure she could actually move in the tight cocoon of fabric her mother had fastened. "I probably won't stay at the party, Mariel should do for the trophy displaying."
"Your brother is there too actually, he wanted you to meet someone."
Vera's jaw dropped. "You mean he actually found a princess dumb enough to marry him?"
The Queen frowned. "You can say that to her face, or not at all."
"Why don't you just tell me when Adrian's gone so I don't ruin our political relationships?"
"You have too much respect for yourself to do something like that. Adrian will be staying here until schools starts up for you; I'm afraid meeting him will be inevitable." Yasha stiffened her frown with Vera's sigh, her voice pressed to the special tone of a disappointed parent. "You need to stop holding grudges against family members."
"Hey I don't have a grudge against you."
"Yet."
Vera scoffed. "I haven't even considered hating you."
Káel let the awkwardness sink in as Vera bickered with her mother, a soft buzz in his pocket nearly pulling a yelp out of his throat.
He hadn't felt anything like it since Ray brought him to Lumi.
He quickly pulled his phone out, trying to process the sight on the screen.
A text message.
He opened up his messages, catching a glimpse of a text stream he didn't remember having with Ray before going for the new messenger.
The words were there, but the sender was blank.
Sorry, I finally figured out how your magic box works.
Káel's face twisted in confusion at the strange text. The words screamed one person in particular.
Phantom?
His conversation immediately disappeared.
Don't type that! What if the Council gets your magic box?!
Káel narrowed his eyes as the conversation history was deleted once again.
Did you hack my phone?
No... I put a small long distance manipulation enchantment on it.
You what?
"What are you doing?" Vera said, a lack of a response from Queen Yasha showing that his lack of intervention was in the spotlight now.
"Killing time," Káel replied, pocketing his phone to feel it buzz against his butt. "Are you two done figh-ne talking... eachother?"
They both cast the same empty smile over him, picture perfect to send a shiver down his spine as they spoke in unison. "Yes."
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Fun and Useless Fact #5:
Someone born without an ability to use lumience and/or magic is typically called a 'null'. In some places it is believed they are vessels without a soul.