Spoiler
Okie dai, here's chapter two!
If you haven't read it yet, here's chapter one... I edited it some, mostly little stuff.
If you haven't read it yet, here's chapter one... I edited it some, mostly little stuff.
Tallor was lying on his belly, on his bed, his head stuffed in his pillow.
“Go away,” he growled into the pillow as his bedroom door opened.
Ignoring this, the person came in, closed the door, and sat at the foot of his bed.
Tallor looked behind him, his face furious, “I said-” he began, but stopped when he saw the yellow and purple dressed girl, “Oh…” he wiped his eyes in frustration as he muttered, “Zari, if you could just lock the door as you leave, that would be fantastic,” then stuffed his head back in the pillow.
Zari sighed, “Moosty, you know that you’re being ridiculous.”
That was her nick-name for him: Moosty. Zari originally hailed from a different kingdom, where they spoke a different language, and she had explained to Tallor that this word meant ‘little brother’ in that language.
“I deserve to be king,” he said in a voice muffled by the pillow.
“And Dreek doesn’t?”
Tallor lifted his face from the pillow before telling her, “Dreek doesn’t want to be king. He wants to be Layr’s little teddy bear…”
“Sit up, you silly child,” Zari instructed him, pulling his arm.
He sat up with a groan.
“Now, admit that you were being silly,” she demanded.
He scoffed, “I don’t think ‘silly’ is the right word.”
“Well I do,” Zari shrugged, taking her gloved hand and wiping his face clean of tears, “and I ought to know. As a jester I’m quite an expert in matters of silliness.”
Tallor forced down a smile, muttering, “Okay, fine, I was.”
“You were…?” Zari asked.
Tallor glared at her, “I was being silly!” he shouted in frustration.
She gave him a quick sort of one armed hug, “Good boy. And I believe your reward will be arriving... right... about...” she watched the door.
Soon, the door opened to reveal a small man with tufts of white hair on either side of his head, holding a trey of chocolate chip cookies.
“There they are! Here, just give it to me, Jarve,” Zari held her hands out for the plate.
“Very good, madam,” the butler placed the trey in her hands, and backed out of the room with a bow.
Zari put the plate right under Tallor’s nose, allowing it to take in their warm, sweet aroma, before placing the plate on the bed between them.
Tallor took a cookie, and examined it, but didn’t eat it. “I always thought you two would end up together…” he muttered absent mindedly, still staring at the cookie.
Zari looked at the cookie as well, her eyes scrutinizing, as if she was trying to figure out exactly what intrigued Tallor so much about the sweet. “Huh?” she asked, glancing at Tallor, “oh… is that so? I do suppose there was always a possibility… but he never really liked me. I don’t think he’s my type either… don’t get me wrong,” she added, giving him a serious look, “I would be absolutely honored to marry a man bold enough to be a butler… it’s a dignified, difficult, and thankless profession.”
“What?! No, not the butler!” Tallor rolled his eyes, “I was talking about you and Dreek.”
Zari’s eyes went so wide you could barely see any of the black makeup smeared on her eyelids, “Oh! Dreek… not Jarve…”
“Obviously,” he added.
“Now that is silly, my friend. What ever made you think that?” Zari asked, biting into a cookie, and shaking her head.
“You and him were best friends…” he began.
“Exactly,” she said in a voice muffled by cookie. After swallowing she added, “We were friends,” and shrugged, as if there was nothing else to it.
“Don’t lie to me,” Tallor glared at her.
As Zari took another bite of her cookie, she only managed to keep a straight face for a few moments before she sighed, frowning, “Sometimes I forget that you’re not a little boy anymore, and I’m not a stupid teenager. Now you’re a smart teenager, and I’m a stupid adult… it’s sort of sick.”
“Just tell me what happened between you two,” Tallor leaned in slightly to listen.
“Nothing happened,” she pushed him away. Now she didn’t sound exasperated or playful; she sounded exhausted, upset, “He is the heir to the throne of the most powerful kingdom in all the land, and I am the court jester. It doesn’t matter how I felt, or how he felt.”
“You loved each other!” Tallor insisted.
Zari frowned severely, “Tallor Jango Massin you don’t know anything about ‘love,’ and neither do I, so don’t start to try to have a conversation about it with me.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Besides,” she sighed heavily, “I didn’t want to talk about me, or Dreek, or anyone else; I wanted to talk about you. But first,” she took his hand, and jammed it towards his face, “eat your cookie! You’re a growing boy!”
He rolled his eyes, taking a bite of the cookie that left only a small crescent behind, and giving Zari a look of utmost attentiveness as he chewed.
She patted his shoulder, “You’re going to be fine. You’ll find something better to do with your time then be a king, after all, look at your parents; do you really want to sit on a throne for the rest of your life, bored and withering away?”
“You know full well there’s more to being a king then just that,” Tallor insisted after swallowing.
“Well I suppose you would get to knight people, and make speeches, and stuff, but besides that, no. I don’t. I’ve been the royal court jester for six years, I’ve worked in this castle for ten all together, and in that time I’ve never seen either of your parents do something that seemed remotely-”
“Has anyone ever told you talk far too much?” Tallor interrupted her with a glare. “Zari, don’t you see?” he stood up, dropping what remained of his cookie back on the plate, “I want to be the ruler of Eriot. It’s in my blood, I can feel it… this desire for…” he trailed off, gripping his fists.
Zari stared up at him from where she sat on the bed. She swallowed at the look on his face. “Moosty…”
“Power,” Tallor concluded, looking into space with a crazed expression.
“You’re scaring me!”
Tallor looked down at her in surprise at her frightened tone. “Sorry…” he muttered.
“It’s alright,” she sighed, stood up, and straightened her hat, “you’ll be fine…” she repeated, “even if you have to cry, or rant, or break something first. Just get yourself together, okay? And do it before the festival tomorrow.”
Tallor, who had almost forgotten about the celebration, just nodded in response.
“Oh, Moosty,” Zari hugged him as he stood rigid, arms down at his side, “you'll be fine. I’ll see you.”
“Goodbye,” he murmured, as she left his room with a wave.
