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

Started January 25, 2021 by @gracehustle

tune

TIMESKIP

It had been a stressful week since Allian had seen Ezra. Word of them together spread fast around the palace, and through the city after that, meaning she had been asked about it on the daily. Keeping her look as a sweet girl, she usually brushed off the question, pretending to be embarrassed. A strategy that worked well.

As she picked at her lunch a week later, she was deep in thought, mostly about the easiest way to get Ezra out of her life. She barely heard the conversation between the King and the generals, who just had to eat every meal with the two of them. Usually, it wouldn't have bothered her, but Ezra still happened to be one of the generals, and he was seated right next to her. Whoever planned the seating, she decided she was going to fire.

Her father laughed at some joke one of the generals said, letting the conversation dull before he looked over at Ezra, turning the conversation towards the youngest guest with a smile. "So, Ezra, I've heard you and my daughter were spending time together earlier this week, is that right? For a general without his name on her suitor list, you two seem close."

Ezra cleared his throat faintly, a little surprised at being called out like this. "We…are old friends." sure. He could call it that for now. He certainly was not going to tell the king that he hated his daughter's guts. "We were just catching up. Nothign more than that." hopefully the king would believe that. Ezra did not know what would happen if the king did not believe him. He took a sip of his drink, gaze flashing sideways to Allian for a split second, then returning to the king.

"Ah, well being old friends means you two will probably be spending lots of time catching up, I assume?" He askes, his smile never leaving his face. It was hard to tell if he believed Ezra that they were nothing more than old friends, and he didn't give any hints. "You two certainly sound like you get along well."

Allian didn't speak, still mostly lost in her own mind, and she didn't return his glance, her eyes trained on her plate.

"Perhaps." Ezra didn't quite know what to say to all of the things the king was saying. "We've grown apart a bit. Personalities change and all of that." he waved a hand vaguely. They had certainly grown apart, though it was more of a falling apart than a slow, gradual growing apart.

The king leaned back in his seat and watched Ezra carefully, offering as if it was a nonchalant thing, "You two seem good together, maybe I'll add you to her list of suitors. It would make sense since you two are close, and marriage wouldn't be horrible if you're already close." He shrugged, reaching for his glass and taking a sip while he watched for a response.

Ezra suppressed a grimace, instead giving the king a tight smile. "I am not sure that she would appreciate that." he finally said, slowly, glancing over at Allian again, though she did not seem to be paying attention. "We are only friends, not…anything more than that." even friends was a lie, but he was not going to tell the king that.

"You don't have to pretend to only be friends," The king replied, waving away the comment, "I'll add you to the list. A gift from me to you. It'll help solidify your position as one of my generals and will add to your reputation in the capital, plus then Allian won't have to fret over loathing all of her suitors. A winning situation for all." He smiled warmly, glancing towards his daughter, who still seemed to want nothing to do with the conversation at the table. Looking back towards Ezra, he tipped his head in approval and sat up in his chair, this time announcing to everyone, "I hope everyone enjoyed their meals. Feel free to continue eating, I'm going to leave for the night, and I recommend you all do the same. Early meeting tomorrow over breakfast."

The king stood after speaking, downing the rest of his drink before walking out, offering one more smile towards Ezra.

Ezra's smile felt frozen on his face as he watched the king leave. Allian did loathe him, though. The king was doing no one any favors in this situation, despite what he thought. But there was nothing Ezra could do about it now. So he took another bite of food, a faint frown tugging at his mouth.

Allian looked up when her father spoke, a look of boredom on her face. She had run out of ideas on how to make Ezra die painfully, much to her frustration. There were only so many ways she could do so without getting in lots of trouble. Seeing that the meal was done, she pushed her mostly full plate away from her and stood, simply nodding to the Generals before leaving. She was hungry, yes, but she wanted to be away from Ezra more. Walking to her room, she slowed as she got an idea. The kitchens would be open at this time, and the workers usually didn't mind if she was down there. If she didn't want to eat the food from before, she could always go down and make some on her own.

Idea in mind, she changed her path, turning down towards the path down to the kitchens, a tiny smile on her face.

Ezra watched her go, wondering if she had even noticed the conversation. Surely the look she gave him would have been more venomous if she had. His mouth curled very faintly. Perhaps she did not know, then? Oh, that would be amusing, when she found out. He would be able to rub it in her face that, if only she had been paying attention, she could have perhaps prevented this.

Allian indeed didn't hear any of the conversation, nor did she even remember there being any chatter over lunch. It was a meal with the generals after all. The most they usually spoke about was the front lines, or their favorite moments that they had witnessed. Smoothing her dress out, she continued on her way to the kitchens, taking the staircase down two steps at a time. She could smell the scent of cooking food even when she was just at the bottom of the steps, a promising sign that there were at least people there that could make her something if they didn't let her make anything herself.

He shook his head, getting up from the table and heading out to the gardens to pace and think for a while. He needed to clear his head, or something, after that conversation. He hated that he was now on her suitor list. Hated that her father thought this would be such a good match and a wonderful idea.

Allian had been in a fury when she found out that her father added Ezra to her list of suitors. She didn't leave her room for the entire day, only slinking out to eat after she was sure that the other men had all gone to bed. Even after that, she ignored Ezra for the entire day afterward, and only bothered to finally show up at breakfast two days later, claiming that she had a stomach bug to make up for her disappearance. Much to her anger, she was seated next to Ezra again as a plate was set in front of her, but she refused to look at him as she put food on her plate, not even considering starting a conversation with the infuriating idiot next to her.