forum Broken Friendships And New Enemies//Closed!//0/0

Started January 25, 2021 by @gracehustle

tune

Allian sighed with relief as she was sure no one else from dinner left, slowing her walk until she was just ambling along, taking in the sights of the castle she so loved.

Ezra eventually excused himself from the dinner. As he left, he unbuttoned his jacket to reveal the white shirt underneath. He let out a breath, shaking his head a little bit. He hated the idea of having to court Allian, and also hated the idea of volunteering any of his officers for such a thing. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

She took in the sights out of the large windows, looking out over the garden. The sun had already set, and the faintest twinkling stars captured her attention. No piece of her mind strayed to the topic of marriage, or the danger of having Ezra around the castle for so long. She was focused fully on the stars, easily tracing out constellations in her mind that she had memorized long ago.

Ezra started walking, unsure where he was going, just knowing that he needed to clear his head. "Marriage! To her! Never." he mumbled to himself, shaking his head and frowning, raking his fingers through his hair and ruining the careful combing that he had done earlier, leaving the strands of hair sticking up all over the place.

Allian had ended up near the library, the large windows giving her plenty of room to admire the sky. As much as the stars took her mind off of Ezra, slowly her thoughts pulled back to him. She wrinkled her nose at the idea of marrying him. Her father may have thought their relationship was still strong, but she knew it was far from that. The only thing that could bring her to marrying him was being forced to, whether it was due to war or just simply the lack of any other suitors. All she could hope is that it never happened.

Ezra sighed very faintly as he walked along, wandering aimlessly through the halls. They weren't very brightly lit, but it was lit enough that he could see where he was going. The familiar halls brought back so many memories, but he wasn't sure he liked that. Not when Allian was in so many.

The halls of the palace held numerous memories of playing with Ezra, and yet, most of those memories, she couldn't or wouldn't remember. She sighed as she looked out the window, forcing herself to think of something happier, less downbeating than marriage. Allian wracked her brain for ideas, smiling gently when she remembered how she had always loved looking to the stars. The dark had always scared her as a child, but the stars to her were mesmerising. They still were.

Ezra kept wandering, looking tired as he wandered the halls, which were mostly empty of other people. He hoped he could leave soon; he didn't like being here for multiple reasons. Some were Allian. Others were his family. His uncle had disowned him just before he chose to go into the military; his mother didn't care, and his father had never been in the picture anyways. His parents were married, sure, he was no bastard, but he hadn't seen his dad since he was five years old. His parents hadn't divorced, but they certainly weren't together, not in any real sense of the word.

Eventually, Allian sighed, pulling away from the window as she straightened out her dress. It was getting late, and even if the halls were silent, she was sure someone would stumble upon her eventually. She wanted to be far away from here when that happened. Smoothing out the skirt of her dress, she looked once more out the large windows, then started away from the library. Not one part of her wanted to go to her room already, but it was the only safe place in this place, other than a childhood hiding place.

His parents were… complicated, to say the least. Just complicated. He sighed, raking his fingers through his hair and shaking his head, still wandering through the halls. In the morning he wanted to spar, needing to get out all of his excess energy.

She started the walk back to her room quietly, keeping her eyes out for anyone. Allian wasn't trying to avoid people, she was just trying to avoid specific people, like Ezra. Seeing him in the halls would lead to conversation, most likely one that would lead them to remember just how bad their relationship was, and how much they hated each other. She took back halls as she walked, knowing well that it wouldn't help her stay away from Ezra any more than the main halls would.

He kept roaming the halls, mind wandering just as much as his feet were in those hallways. He sighed very faintly, frowning just a little bit, wrapped up in his thoughts.

(Sorry for the wait…studying for finals and an ACT)

Allian continued on her way, pausing every time she heard footsteps. Most of the time, it ended up being a servant doing their job in the palace, but as she paused once more for footsteps, she wasn't as sure. These footsteps seemed heavier, and as she turned the corner to get to the stairs, she figured out why. They didn't belong to any servant, instead, they belonged to the one person she didn't want to see. Ezra.

(it's fine! Oof good luck with those)

Ezra startled faintly when he saw her, and he frowned a little. "Your highness." He greeted coldly, eyes narrowing a little bit at her. He tried not to seem too very grumpy about her presence. He didn't want to cause a fight, even if just seeing her made him want to.

"General," She replied, scowling at the ground as she greeted him with a nod of her head. Allian knew saying anything wrong would lead them to fight, and that was the last thing she wanted, especially in the halls of the palace. "How was your dinner?" She looked up at him as she spoke, cold anger in her eyes.

"My dinner was just fine. And yours?" Ezra kept up the same cool, collected manner that he had been doing his best to assume, knowing it was in his best interests to do so. He hoped that Allian wasn't petty enough to fire him as a general once she was the ruler, but he wouldn't put it past her to be.

"It was quite alright," She replied, a cold calm tweak to her words. Allian crossed her arms in front of her as she watched her former friend. Nothing else came to her mind as something to say, and she quite frankly, didn't want to talk to him anymore anyway. Walking off right away was rude though, and for her, as an up and coming ruler, it could come off as even ruder.

"Good." Ezra searched his mind for something to say that wouldn't be rude. He couldn't just walk away; she was superior in rank to him and it would be unbelievably rude to just walk away from a superior, no matter how much he disliked her. He ran his hands through his dark hair, eyebrows pulled together very faintly as he considered.

“And your walk? Any better than dinner?” She asked, the question flying into her mind just before the awkward silence lasted any longer. Allian could tell that they were both itching to leave the conversation, but until they reached a acceptable stopping point, it wouldn’t be polite for either of them to walk away. And they didn’t want to ruin their reputation for doing something so stupid.

"My walk was tolerable. It was mainly to…distract myself. And your own? I trust it was… satisfactory?" He had defaulted to that calm politeness that he used for everyone and everything, though there was still an undercurrent of cold dislike beneath every word he spoke.

"It was as good as it could be," She replied, no hint of a smile or any emotion besides faint annoyance in her words. Pausing for a long moment, she finally sighed gently, "Well, I should be getting on my way, I have…things..to do elsewhere."

"Yes, of course. I would hate to keep you waiting for too long." He gave a short, quick bow, then watched her go, unspeaking and silent. His mouth twisted faintly once she had her back to him, and he shook his head a little bit. He really did dislike speaking with her.

She didn't bother to bow before leaving, just brushed past him, scowling to herself as she hurried along. So much for being able to get a nice relaxing stroll around the palace. Not being able to do that for the next week would be a pain, but she didn't want to get anywhere near Ezra if she could ever help it.

Ezra narrowed his eyes for a moment when she didn't return the courtesy bow, shaking his head slightly, and then turning to make his way along the halls, in the opposite direction that she had gone.

Allian didn't care to apologize for her rudeness as she hurried off to her room, determined not to meet with any of the other generals in the halls until she absolutely had to. As she passed a hallway near to the King's office, she could hear the chatter of conversation, letting her know that the generals were being occupied enough that she could slip by up the stairs to her room.