Nik cleared his throat faintly, nodding. "Of course." he said. "Besides, even if I had done…anything, you're a dragon. You could pin me with one foot. Paw?" he shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know what all the proper terms for dragon anatomy was, but he assumed foot or paw or claw or something of the sort would work.
He laughed. “That’s true. Claw works,” he offered. “But I could also levitate you into the air and put you somewhere far away from me. Or I could teleport away from you myself.”
Nik’s gesture caused his gaze to drift to the tattoo again, but Kay eventually looked away again.
He laughed faintly. "Ah, yes, there is that." he replied. "Though I would prefer you didn't break any of my bones. That would be uncomfortable." he sighed very faintly, running a hand through his hair and looking over at Kaylum. He was quiet for a long moment, considering what to say next.
“Ah yes,” Kay said sarcastically. “Breaking bones is merely uncomfortable and nothing more.” He shook his head with a smile. “But no, I wouldn’t do that. I’m not that bad at telekinesis.”
Nik laughed quietly, shifting his damaged leg. "The breaking itself isn't usually that bad, it's the months and months of healing that's worse, in my opinion." he replied. It had been a year since his leg had been hurt, and he would limp for the rest of his life. Sure, it wasn't just a simple break, but still. The bone had broken and the muscles had been shredded, and the scarring on it was nasty.
“Ahh,” Kay nodded slowly. “I see. I suppose you would know better than I.”
Considering that Nik had actually been in the thick of battle, he wouldn’t be surprised if Nik had a higher pain tolerance than him. The only big injury Kay could recall experiencing was a sprained ankle. His parents always made sure to keep him away from anything that could hurt him more than that.
Nik shrugged faintly. "Perhaps so." he said, running a hand through his hair and studying Kaylum for a moment, then away again. He didn't know what else to do or say. Kaylum was the one that had begun this conversation and encounter, so he didn't know what to do now.
Kay fell silent, feeling the conversation straying into awkward territory. He wasn’t sure was to say now either, and hesitantly reached up to put his hand to his neck. Something made him turn his head back, and once he did he spotted Xiomara peaking out from inside the training ring. He saw her quickly disappear, and sighed. His hand dropped to his side.
“Um, thanks,” he murmured, turning his gaze to the grass, “for talking to me.” He quirked a small smile and stood.
"You're welcome, Kaylum." Nik replied. He shifted, pushing himself to his feet. It took him a moment longer than it did Kay; with his leg, sometimes getting up could be a bit more difficult than it used to be. "If there is ever any other questions or concerns that you wish to speak with me about, please don't hesitate to approach me with them." his tone was polite and cordial.
Kay nodded and twitched his ears in response. I'm probably going to hesitate.
He went back inside the training ring, not surprised to find Xiomara waiting.
"So Your Highness, are you going to keep avoiding him now?" she asked.
He shoved her arm, but not hard. "You abandoned me," he whined.
"Yeah, yeah," she shoved him back. "But I think you needed it."
As Kay had come to understand about her over the years, she was usually right about things, so she was probably right about this. But it wasn't like he was going to admit that. He sighed. "I guess I won't avoid him anymore."
"Alright," she nodded, satisfied. "So the conversation went well?"
Kay blinked. "I guess… I guess it did."
Nik headed back inside as well, going back over to Ryker and Errol, who were talking quietly together, Ryker's arms wrapped around the healer in a gentle embrace.
"Did the talk go well?" Errol asked, looking over at Nik with a small smile.
"I…suppose so." Nik said, shrugging his shoulders. "He wished to speak to me, and we ommunicated about some things."
(Aaa idk what to say >< uhhh, when do we plan for the attack on the camp to happen?)
(same lol. Uhh probably soon, I wanted to give them a bit of time but we could probably do it now, if you want?)
(Let’s give them a bit more time before it happens)
(alright! So what do we wanna do, then?)
(Hhhhhhhhh)
(hjgskduhgbjfh)
(Lol sorry. Uh, maybe just another conversation, but this time Nik initiates it?)
(sure that works! Another training ring encounter, or?)
(Uhhhhhh idk, I’ll leave that up to you shidjjd)
(lgjdbkgjhb maybe they run into each other out in the field?)
(I mean sure dnjdjnd)
A few days later, Nik was headed out to the field beside the encampment, intending to see if Kaylum was there so that he could speak with him. The negotiations were…holding steady. They weren't getting better, but they weren't exactly getting worse, either. So he wanted to speak with the other prince and see if there was a way they could work together to better the negotiations, short of marriage. He did not want to rope Kaylum into marriage unless it was desperate.
Kaylum laid next to Xiomara in the grass in dragon form, on another one of his ‘astral projection expeditions.’ Sometimes whenever he astral projected, ghosts would take notice and try to get his attention, like with the Kevran soldier from the other day. At least the one he was speaking to now was friendly, a Tesh commander with his wings blackened and burned. They were mere stumps, but the commander seemed used to it. He was talking about how he died— apparently it was some time before Kay was born. Apparently Kevran troops caught his camp in an ambush and burned it to the ground. Kay listened patiently and respectfully, though the commander sort of pushed the story onto him.
At some point the commander trailed off, lost in the past, and that’s when Kay noticed the thin glowing thread pooling from his soul and leading off into the distance, to another glowing light that was only tempered by an infectious darkness. A moment later he could hear Xiomara’s faint voice, calling to him from the physical world. Kay thanked the commander and bid him farewell, then quickly returned to his body.
“Kaylum?” Xiomara’s voice was clear as day now. His eyes flitted open and he raised his head. In her dragon form, she couldn’t make facial expressions, but her ears were twitching with curiosity. Kaylum shook out his feathered mane before turning to see Prince Nikolas approaching.
Nikolas's gaze moved to Kaylum as the prince moved to look at him. "Good morning." he greeted. "May I speak with you, or are you busy?" he asked, one hand holding onto his cane, though he was not quite actively using it. His leg was feeling alright for now, and he didn't see the need to lean on the cane when he did not need to. He didn't mind carrying it with him, though, for a few reasons: it was helpful if he did need it, and two, it served as a good weapon if he needed to defend himself. "It's quite alright if you are too busy to speak with me at the moment."