Kaz hummed faintly, and nodded, leading Will out of the rose garden and along the paths, winding through the gardens until they came to the pond. It was of a good size, with various aquatic plants growing in and alongside of it. Turtles sunned themselves on rocks, along with other, less recognizable creatures.
Similar to the rose gardens, Will pauses to take in the sight. From the glistening water to the weeping trees to the small creatures that decorate the sun-warmed rocks– "What's that?" He asks, leaning into Kazimir to point out a fuzzy little thing lingering near the bushes. While Will has always favored the flora of the world, he can't help but admire the fauna from time to time.
Kaz smiled softly. "It's a Salgan." he replied. "Harmless. They do bite, but they're generally harmless." he watched Will quietly, watching as Will took in the sights around them, as the human took in the pond and all the creatures and flora that were in and around it. It was a lovely area, it really was.
"Can I hold it?" Will inquires though not waiting for an answer as he slowly approaches the critter. He slowly extends an arm and crouches in the soft grass. When the salgan doesn't move away, Will shuffles even closer until he can brush its nose. "It looks like a hedgehog–" He observes. "But without the quills." As he gently strokes the salgan's head, it begins to chitter.
Kaz watched as Will approached the creature, suppressing a smile as it chittered at the Martyr. "It does." he agreed with Will's observation. He was not sure if the creatuers were related to Hedgehogs; it was not a topic he had devoted a lot of thought to, really.
Without waiting any longer, Will scoops the small salgan into the palm of his hand. "Are they mag–" He cuts himself off as he catches sight of a short man with a well-trimmed white beard a little down the path. "Kazimir–" Will nods his head in the direction of the man.
Kaz frowned at the sight of the man, recognizing him instantly as one of his advisors. One of the more insufferable ones, at that. The man was Fae, but of a slightly different sort than Kaz, hence the short stature.
"Your majesty, I am here to remind you that you have a meeting in only 5 minutes, and you have yet to make any official appearance for the day." he said, gaze flashing to Will for only a moment before returning to Kaz, giving the emperor a quick bow.
Kaz frowned. "I am quite busy. Reschedule the meeting." he flicked his hand in a dismissive gesture, already turning back to Will.
There were a few moments of silence, and then the advisor cleared his throat. Loudly. "This is an important meeting, your majesty, and pardon me for my bluntness, but you shall have plenty of opportunities to ravage your newest concubine. There are far more important things than a human…toy." his lip curled in faint disgust, and the look he cast over Will was full of judgement and self-righteousness.
Will blinks. His eyes move from Kazimir to the advisor to the salgan in hand. A human toy–? "Excuse me, what did you call me?" If he wasn't holding a precious little creature, Will's fists would be balled at his sides. Damn it, he endured enough insults with the humans, will it just happen all over again with with Fae? And with the reputation of nothing but a whore no less…
Kaz turned back to the advisor, glaring at him. "You will not refer to William in that manner ever again." he said, voice low and furious. "If you want to keep your life, in any case." he took a step towards the man, still glaring. "Now get out of here and reschedule that meeting. I don't want to see your face again."
Will watches as the advisor's face turns bright red before he stutters out an apology, scurrying down the path. "You should get to that," Will supplies quickly and quietly, averting his eyes to the salgan. He swallows. The creature chitters; Will sets it down on the rock. "Could be important."
Kaz shook his head, stepping towards Will. "Nothing, in any lifetime, will be more important to me than you." he replied softly, reaching out to cup Will's chin in his hand, touch light and gentle. "I am sorry that he felt like he could speak like that to you. He had no right to say those things about you."
Will's eyes never meet Kazimir's. They stay locked somewhere along the pond's shoreline. "It's alright." Will jerks out of Kaz's touch, sitting down on the edge of the bank. Not anything I'm not used to, He wants to say, but leaves it unspoken. With a careful hands, Will bends some of the reeds to swirl in the water, watching intently as they break the clean reflection and send ripples spiraling across the surface. "You have a country to run. It's not like I'm going anywhere."
"And in the next lifetime I will have something else." he responded. "As I already said: nothing I ever encounter, in any lifetime, will ever be superior or more important to me than you are." he didn't move towards Will, letting the human have his space.
Will nods, already knowing these lines from faint memories of prior lives. No matter what, the Snake always runs into some barrier, Will's taken priority and– "Alright." Even when he shares what Kazimir wants, his bones itch to argue. It's always in his nature–to oppose the Snake. His hair glints in the rising sun as he turns to look at Kazimir. "Do you know what lives in the pond?"
Kaz exhaled softly, looking over at the pond and contemplating it for a long moment. "I do not. Fish, I suppose. Other things that like the water." he didn't know much about the gardens and the denizens of it, really. It simply was not something he had ever been overly interested or invested in, though…perhaps for Will's sake, he should learn a little bit more about it all.
"I suppose I could stop asking you questions about the gardens." A knowing, smug look briefly flashes in Will's eyes as he looks up to the Snake. "You don't seem to know a lot about them." The faintest of smiles crosses his face as he turns his reflection back to the water. He wonders how shallow it is, what creatures lurk in the depths, how many species it holds. So many questions for the gardeners once he finally gets the chance to meet them.
Kaz made a face at Will, rolling his eyes. "I don't need to know a lot about them. I just enjoy them, rather than asking so many questions." he retorted, stepping forward to stand beside Will as the human stared into the depths of the pond. To tell the truth, it likely was not very deep. Deep enough for large-ish fish, sure, but nothing too massive. That would be dangerous.
"I'll marvel at the pond another day," Will announces, standing from the shore. Briefly, he compares his own height to Kazimir's before dismissing the thought and turning his gaze back towards the palace. His stomach lightly groans, much to Will's embarrassment. "Lunch?" He tilts his head down the path.
"Brunch, rather." Kazimir replied, beginning to head down the pathway already. "As we did not eat lunch, at your insistence, darling." he gave Will a teasing expression, before turning ahead again and leading WIll through the winding, weaving pathways that took up the gardens. Some of them were the tamed, graveled things that you could find in any pathway, but others were more dirt and beaten grass, more magical and soft looking.
Not even bothering to retort, Will nods and follows Kazimir back to the castle on the various paths. He pauses occasionally to marvel at a peculiar mushroom before jogging to catch up with the Snake. "I hope there aren't any Fae delicacies that'll inplode my stomach." He means it mostly as a deadpan jest, but there is some true concern lacing the sentence.
Kaz blinked at the comment, turning to squint at Will. "I…had not thought of that, but there are." he replied. "I will keep an eye on what you're eating. I would rather you not die." he said, mouth quirking faintly. "At least, not yet." he continued to move through the pathways, frowning just a little bit as they walked together.
"Yes, I've only had this life for twenty-three years. I'd like to have it a while longer," Will responds with a deadpan tone. It's… true. In some lives Will's elven or fae, already living a few hundred years before running into the Snake. He's… so young and the truth really just hits him as the two of them approach the garden doors leading into the maze of a castle.
Kaz nodded a little bit, and opened the doors to the palace. "Brunch." he said, shaking his head just a little bit and leading Will through the large, winding halls. They passed servants every now and again, and sometimes even people who were clearly nobility of some kind. All gave Kaz deference and a wide berth, and all peered curiously at Will, glances quick and surreptitious for the most part, though there were a few that openly gawked and stared at the human walking beside the emperor.
Will, of course, notices the glances and looks and gawks, but he pays them no mind. None of the odd stares trouble him. "Brunch," he agrees quietly, holding eye contact with a passing noble, just to see the reaction. The two of them enter a nearby dining room, much smaller than what Will assumes is the main one. It already smells of food.
This was a private dining room that Kaz and Marie both used, though she was not in the room currently. "Take a seat." Kaz said, gesturing to the table and seating himself at the head. There was already food out, most of it hot and ready to be eaten as soon as they were ready to do so. Kaz studied it for a moment, then dished himself up some food.