forum At War // OxO // Closed

Started September 19, 2021 by @ElderGod-Icefire

tune

For the next few days, Kaylum made sure to avoid the Kevran prince at all costs, even when King Auren asked his son to talk to him. But Kay couldn't ignore it completely. The next time he astral projected, he saw a thin, glowing thread tied to his soul, leading off into the distance. When he followed where the thread was leading, the other end was tied to… Nikolas.
For a while, the peace negotiations seemed to be going well, and Kay desperately hoped that no political marriage would be necessary. He distracted himself by spending time with Xiomara or reading in his tent. For a while, this seemed to work.
Until the negotiations took a downward turn. Kay's parents eventually began pleading with him to try to make friends with the Kevran prince, so the tension they caused in the meeting tent may ease. He would sometimes lie, say he would talk with him when really he would go somewhere with Xiomara or the other Tesh soldiers. Sometimes he would outright refuse, then lie about the reason. By some miracle, his thoughts managed to not betray him.
And then Xiomara started to urge him on again. Really, it was only because of her that he actually started considering talking to Nikolas again.
And so, he went with Xiomara to the training ring again. "Don't try to fight me as a distraction," she'd warned, "Just talk to him. Get to know him. He's more than just a human."
Yeah, he's my soulmate and I don't like him, Kay silently replied.
He stepped inside the ring, looking around for the human prince.

Nik was sparring with Ryker this time; Ryker was taller even than Aron, but wasn't as broad-shouldered. The man's dark hair was tied back into a low ponytail, and he fought with a pair of rapiers. No wooden sticks this time, the two fought with real swords. Nik fought with two swords as well, though his were thicker, rather than the slim, flexible metal of Ryker's rapiers. Neither man looked up as Xiomara and Kay entered, both laser focused on each other. Ryker was a bit older, perhaps in his late twenties or early thirties, whereas both Aron and Lieze were roughly the same age as Nik. Aron and Lieze weren't there, though Errol was seated to one side to keep a careful eye on Nik and Ryker. The healer was there just in case they hurt each other, so that he could heal them.

“Well, he looks busy,” Kay responded aloud, “Maybe we should just—“
“Xiomara!” A call sounded some ways away, seeming to come from a group of Tesh soldiers who were watching two others have a good, old fashioned wrestle.
“Quinn!” His bodyguard called back, then looked to Kaylum with a small smirk. “Your Highness, I would’ve thought you’d gotten sick of me being at your side all the time.”
With that, she was gone.
Kay sighed, glanced back toward the humans, and ambled over as discreetly as he could. Just wait until they take a break.
He stopped a few feet away from Errol, keeping his eyes on Nik and Ryker.

Errol looked up when Kay came over, raising an eyebrow faintly, then turned back to Nikolas and Ryker. The two sparred for a while longer, before they parted for a quick break, Ryker coming over to Errol. He cast a curious glance at Kay before bending to greet Errol with a soft kiss. "Not too bored?" he asked, voice carrying a northern accent.

"Not at all." Errol replied with a laugh, wrapping his arm around Ryker. The healer was missing one of his hands, the arm ending in a stump, but other than that, he was fine.

Nik eventually moved over as well, though his eyes kept flicking over to Kaylum uncertainly.

Kaylum waited, silent, suddenly very, very anxious. He probably looked really stupid right now, completely avoiding Nik for the past few days, only to now suddenly appear near them alone. And what could he say? Hi, peace negotiations aren’t going so well so I guess I have to get along with you now. No way. If he started the conversation, it would be so incredibly awkward.
So he communicated how he communicated best: silently. He twitched his ears in the direction out of the ring, looking at Nik furtively, giving a silent request.

Over the past few days, Nik hadn't really tried to communicate with Kaylum, just waiting as the negotiations deteriorated, their status as soulmates an ace card in his pocket, so to speak. He had been prepared to use it to save the alliance, if necessary; after all, for both of them to be soulmates? The chances of that were astronomical. So when Kaylum turned up here alone, it piqued his curiousity, and he shrugged one shoulder in response to Kaylum's silent question.

A cheer rose from the other side of the ring; one of those Tesh soldiers must’ve won the wrestling match. But Kaylum’s focus was entirely on the human prince before him. He had been prepared to feel intense embarrassment at Nikolas’s reaction to him being here, but surprisingly, that little shrug left him feeling neither embarrassed nor any more anxious.
He led Nik out of the training ring and sat in the grass, looking around to make sure they were alone. He was still at a loss for how to begin, and wished for a brief moment that they could telepathically communicate. That would be so much easier.
Then again, could he telepathically communicate with a human? Kay doubted the idea, but maybe it was possible considering they were soulmates. He shook his head, trying to get back on track.
He cleared his throat. “Um… so… my parents, uh…” he fumbled, “They keep asking me to talk to you, so… I guess I’m doing that now? Or at least trying to. Um, how are you?”
He internally cringed, desperately trying to summon his mother’s charisma to no avail.

Nik carefully lowered himself down onto the grass, stretching his damaged leg out in front of himself. "I am well." He replied slowly. "And yourself?" He looked over at Kaylum. "Do your parents know that we are…" He trailed off, letting Kay fill in the blank. It wasn't a hard blank to fill, after all.

“Um, I…” he searched for a word that could accurately describe how he was feeling at the moment. “I don’t know.”
Kay stared at Nik’s injured leg until he realized he was probably being rude. He filled in the blank easily. “No, they don’t. I’m honestly surprised, considering that they can read my mind. They probably suspect something, though.”

Nik nodded slightly. "I see. My father does not know either." He said, ignoring the stare Kaylum had directed at his leg. He was used to it. He was wearing long pants, right now, so the scarring was covered, but it was uncomfortable to sit with it bent under himself for long periods of time, hence why he stretched it out straight. "I do not want this alliance to fail, Kaylum." He looked the other prince in the eye.

Kaylum nodded, holding the other prince’s gaze for a moment. Then he tsked and pulled his knees against his chest, burying his face in them and holding them tight.
The possibility that an alliance could be formed without a marriage involved wasn’t out of the question, of course. The question was if he could deal with the possibility of an alliance with marriage involved. Would he be willing to enter a union with a human for the sake of their kingdoms?
As the prince, he should value his kingdom over his own desires, he knew this. However, the sudden change was just so great. A sheltered, inexperienced prince to a husband, a name on a contract, a link between nations. Kay hated to admit it, but sometimes he felt like— and knew his parents and others still saw him as— an ignorant child. Resentment for his parents insistence of keeping him away from anything that even just might pose a danger to him stirred inside him, but also guilt. Because at first, he gladly let them keep him sheltered away. He didn’t want to deal with the responsibilities that came with his title, nor the war that kept giving his mother a new scar each day. But he got older, and could no longer turn his eyes away from the consequences of that. And yet still, his parents expected he would stay out of the way, though Mother more so than Father. What would they say if they knew? What would they do if a political marriage became necessary?
But of course, that wasn’t the question. Kay lifted his head so he could stare at Nikolas again. Well, it might not be so bad if it was his soulmate, right? Even if he was human? Even if he had shifter blood on his hands?
“Neither do I.”

Nik's gaze was calm and steady as he watched Kaylum. "Good. A marriage simply for the sake of the alliance should be our last resort, but it will happen, if it needs to." he said. He knew that Kaylum probably wanted nothing to do with him, in terms of marriage, but it had to be kept in mind. "If we were to be married, prince Kaylum, I want you to know that I would not force you into anything you did not wish to do with me, whether that be something so simple as a shared meal, or something more, ah, intimate. I would not force you into any of it." he had no desire to do that to Kaylum. If they were married, he hoped it would at least be cordial between them, even if neither actively wanted anything more.

Kay’s ears twitched in silent reply. “That… that makes me feel better about it,” he said honestly. The corners of his lips quirked upward. “And I would treat you the same way, Prince Nikolas.”
He stretched out his limbs and threw some of his stray dreadlocks over his shoulder. He almost wanted to ask about the strange black stuff on Nik’s soul, but of course he wouldn’t know about it. Should he know? It was his soul, he had the right to know. Kay might tell him if he wouldn’t ask how he knew, and Kay was almost certain he would.