"Yeah, Cadmus' is just amazing." Fiori smiled dopily, finishing up the last of his greens. "I'm really glad I get to eat his cooking again, it's such comfort food. I bet he could cook something from your homeland, if you gave him a recipe."
“I know a few recipes,” Levi perked up at the suggestion. “I don’t cook often at all, but I’ve talked to cooks and bakers plenty of times. It’s just the simple dessert recipes they’ll share with me. They tend to be more protective of the secret recipes,” he chuckled, and took his last bite of the meat.
Fi laughed too, setting his utensils on his plate and then standing so he could gather up Levi's too. "Yeah, the cooks always are. it took me years to wheedle a couple soup recipes out of the cooks, and those aren't even specialty foods. Gods know what they serve us at banquets." He shook his head. "Let's go wash our dishes, yeah? And maybe pick back up on our conversation?"
“Hah! Yeah, I wonder,” he chuckled. He finished the last bit of greens, nodding. He stood up with his empty plate and the utensils set on top of it. He wondered what else needed to he said in the conversation. Would he ask about the sudden change of his mood when he had mentioned siblings?
"You got very… tense. When you mentioned siblings." Fiori led him over to one of the sinks, washing off his dishes quickly and then grabbing a towel to dry them off. "Do you mind if I ask why?"
Levi stood beside him with his plate while he patiently waited. He let out a small sigh through his nose, “Oh…When I mentioned siblings, I remembered something terrible that happened the night I was abducted,” he began softly. He wasn’t opposed to telling Fiori the majority of the details (while avoiding the details that implied he was royalty), it was just harder to get it out than he thought.
Fiori took him and washed it, setting them to the side once they were both dry and leading Levi out of the kitchens. He winced when he heard the word abducted, suddenly reminded of why Levi was here. Of what had been done to him. "You really don't have to tell me if it's too hard to remember. I don't want to stir up any unpleasant memories."
“It’s fine,” he lightly shook his head as he trailed beside Fiori. “I just won’t get into a lot detail about it, but… but I’m almost positive my brother sold me, or at least betrayed me to those…” he didn’t know what to call them. “To whoever brought me here,” he admitted, following a random spot on the floor with his eyes.
"Illegal traders." Fiori practically spat the words, face going dark. He softened slightly when he looked over at Levi and realized how lost he seemed, nudging him softly. "Leviticus, I promise I'll do my best to persecute the men who brought you here. And… you cannot blame yourself for what your brother did. People just… turn out bad. There' nothing we can do to stop them from going down their own paths sometimes."
Levi looked back at Fiori at the nudge. He managed a smile, comforted, if at least a little bit, by the assurance that the traders would be put to justice. They already talked about that earlier, he knew, but it was nice to hear again, especially after remembering more of the terrible things that happened that night. Those people deserved to be punished.
“Thank you,” he replied. “I’m just… very confused. I thought my brother and I were close.”
Fiori shrugged. "You may have been, at one time, but family is… competitive. Especially between siblings. There's only so much parental affection to go around, only so much praise. Jealousy festers easily but snuffing it out is difficult." He turned to Levi with an apologetic look. "Your brother… he probably wanted you out of the way. So that he could take your place."
Levi’d eyes widened ever so slightly. Of course—his brother wanted to be the prince, the heir, the next king. It made sense, but it still stung like a sword buried in his chest. “I don’t like jumping to conclusions but…I’m sure that’s what happened. Nothing else makes sense. Unless he was bribed by another part of the family, but that seems too complicated.”
Fiori frowned when he saw the surprise on Levi's face, nodding along to his suspicious as his mind whirled with a way to comfort him. "Brothers are not always who we need them to be. Power is… corruptive. Especially when you're the one watching from the sidelines as someone else bears the weight of it."
Levi nodded along, gradually seeming more able to grasp the concept. “That does make sense. A lot of sense, actually. I remember that recently he did seem a lot more distant to me, especially as we grew older. I guess I just didn’t think much of it at the time…Thank you.” He looked up and forward again with his eyebrows furrowed with curiosity. “Where are we going now?”
Fiori was glad that he could help Levi come to the realization, even if it wasn't a pleasant one. "Of course, Leviticus. I'm your friend, am I not? What kind would I be if I weren't here for you to lean on." He turned another corner. "And we're going to the baths. I need to tidy up, and Tharis needs a place to deliver a few of your new clothes."
Levi’s expression melted into a warm smile. He simply, sincerely nodded. He liked them being friends.
He turned the corner with him. “The baths…It feels like I haven’t been there in forever.” He brought a hand to the back of his head, marveling at how such short time could feel like so long.
Fiori grinned back at him. "Time's funny like that, Leviticus. It stretches like shadows in the evening." They came to a large pair of wooden doors. Fi led Levi through without a second thought, revealing the massive hot spring under the castle. The walls were covered in mosaics, warriors and gods of the Usige homeland, half obscured by clouds of steam.
Levi marveled at the walls they same way he marveled at the bath when he first arrived that morning, admiring it even more this time now that his head was clear and his stomach was full. They had hot baths in his own kingdom, yes, but the style here was so completely different and foreign to him, but breathtaking nonetheless.
Fiori reached back to undo his shirt and then sighed, wandering over to Levi as he fiddled with the back halfheartedly. Normally he didn't bother with a shirt- it was too hot here to stay fully clothed all the time- but he'd dressed up a bit to see Cadmus and make Levi think he wasn't a complete savage and now he couldn't get it undone. "Could you get the button for me?"
“Oh,” he blinked and nodded, “Sure, yeah I can do that. It’s in the back?” He walked around him to locate the button and deftly undo it. “Is that the only one?” He wasn’t as used to the shirt with buttons in the back. The shirts he wore at home were either buttoned in the front, or had a long v-neck collar that tied shut.
Fiori nodded, stepping away so he could strip out of it and toss it carelessly into the corner. His pants soon followed, but he kept on his underthings for Levi's sake. "Yes. it's more convenient to take off that way. Or… it would be, if I could ever reach it."
“It’s an interesting, but clever concept.” He glanced over at the recently tossed shirt. “I’m going to have to get used to that.” He glanced around for a place to sit. His feet still aches, but at least they weren’t as painful as before.
"Why?" Fiori stretched and then slipped into the baths with a happy sigh patting the rim of the pool to get Levi to sit beside him. "I would not do anything without your permission. And I'm quite happy with my Cadmus, I do not want you in any non-platonic way."
Levi pulled up the hems of his pants to above his knees, and sank down to sit on the rim beside him. He let his feet dip into the warm water. “Oh, oh I just meant I’ll have to get used to the buttons on the back of the shirts. But… I… appreciate the assurance, I suppose. I’m quite happy with my Mordecai too,” he let a breathy chuckle escape him.
"Oh!" Fiori blushed, sinking a little lower into the water. "I apologize, I thought you were referring to…" he gestured vaguely to his chest, trying his best to indicate his nudity without being weird about it. "But you don't have to worry about the buttons either! Shirts are annoying, mine are old. I'm sure they're different now."
“No harm done,” Levi shook his head to dismiss the misunderstanding. “And the shirts at my home are annoying too.” He crossed his arms and rested them leisurely on his knees. “Especially the ones with close to twenty buttons keeping the front closed. Those are our old shirts.”
Fiori wrinkled up his nose at just the though. Nowadays shirts had lacing up the back so you could untie at the bottom and slip out of them. Having to do and undo twenty buttons just sounded like a special kind of hell "That sounds horrible; do you really have to wear them all the time?"
“Thankfully, no. Only on special occasions when we have to dress formally and our outfit calls for it.” He stared down, mesmerized by the water while he talked. “For everyday wear we have shirts with a long neck collar that come down to about this far,” he pointed to about the middle of his abdomen “with lacing that we tie to keep it closed. When undressing with just loosen the string and pull the shirt easily over our heads.”
"You know you could hop into the bath," Fiori offered when he caught Levi looking at the water, scooting to the side so he could have a place to sit. "And our shirts are similar, but we have the lacing up the back. They're rarely worn, though. Many of our citizens find them unnecessary, and I tend to agree."
“I suppose I could,” he debated this, eventually deciding to take the offer. “Lacing up the back does seem very unnecessary.” He agreed, and managed to convince himself to wriggle out of his shirt and pants, casting them to the side. He still wore his underthings, though. He sank into the water, and with it exhaled a long, relaxed sigh. Communal bathing wasn’t particularly uncommon in his culture, especially with friends and family, he told himself. And besides, Fiori was a friend now.