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Adrien slightly panicked at the suggestion Farah made, to help clean his room.
"Aha, yes I will make it tomorrow" he said nervously, with a forced fake laugh.
"But I don't need help, king Adrien is a big boy now, he can clean his own room" he said, in a rush.
He sat down at his desk, gesturing for Farah to follow.
"Tell me Farah, did you ever learn to read?" He asked her, looking up while he did.
"Or write?" He pressed.
Farah shook her head. "Alright," she muttered. "If you insistโฆ but it looks like the entire Eastern army put its fist through your closet."
She followed him over to his desk, keeping a respectable distance away from him. "Yes, I did," she answered. "Both. Why do you ask?"
"no reason, I just came across a girl in the village today, she looked about your age" Adrien explained, his lips drawn into a tight line.
"I asked her if she knew where to get pomegranates in the village and when i showed her my written shopping list she told me she never learned to read" he added sadly.
"That experience made me think that i should put an education law into place, where children have to go to school, at no cost either, so more people can afford it" he said with a small smile at the thought of every village child attending school and getting education.
Farah pressed her lips together and nodded slowly as she listened. "I think that would be an excellent idea, Adrien," she said when he was finished. "It was my father that taught me to read and write, not my mother. And he only did it so I could be a better soldierโฆ in other words, he didn't do it for me, he did it for himself."
The young woman leaned against the wall beside his desk, closed her eyes, and tilted her head back slightly in a very improper gesture to expose her neck and throat. She sighed quietly. "I can't say I despise my parents, but I'm grateful for moving into the palace." Suddenly, Farah realized herself and stood upright, inhaling sharply. "I'm sorry, that was terribly inappropriate of me to say."
Adrien smiled up at him.
"It's fine Farah, I thrive on the people of my kingdom being informal around me" he explained.
"but I too have things to say about my parents that would be inappropriate." He mumbled quickly.
"So, I should write out the law? For everyone's education?" He asked her, with a small grin.
Farah sighed quietly with relief. She only worked under one person โ other than Adrien as the king, obviously โ and if he had heard her speaking that wayโฆ Farah didn't even want to think about it. "Yes, wellโฆ I still shouldn't have said those things," she murmured.
HIs question made her perk up again, and Farah was grateful for the change in their discussion topic. "I don't see anything wrong with it, but on most laws your father made, he consulted the council first."
"I don't care what the council has to say about the laws of education" Adrien deadpanned, arching a brow.
"I think we both know the council will say giving women equal rights to education as well as colored people will denounce our reputation even more, blah blah blah" he said with a small smile.
"I don't technically have to consult the council either, so I won't, after the law is set in place they will either like me for it, or continue to dislike me even more than they do presently." He added.
Farah laughed shortly. "Most of them would agree with that point of view, yes. You may forego the typical procedure and write the law then. But it would be so funny to watch them debate it when it doesn't matter and you already have your mind made up."
The woman hesitantly glanced at the door, then lowered her voice before she spoke again. "But Adrien, you have to do something about this war. It's getting out of hand, and the consequences are beginning to take effect. The longer we drag this out, the worse it will be for the kingdom as a whole. Think of your people. How will it look passing an education law in the middle of a war?"
Adrien scowled at the floor.
"I must clarify that I wanted no part of this war, but my stupid father went in died in the middle of it, after he composed it!" He whispered loudly in response.
He cleared his throat and looked away.
"What a foolish man he was, I cannot believe he has done this to his own kingdom" he muttered.
He sat on the edge of his bed roughly, rubbing his eyes with his fingers and sighing.
"I have no initiative when it comes to war Farah, I think you out of all people should know that after you've been with me for this long," he said "but i'm going to say what my father refused to say his whole life, even during times of death and struggle. I have no idea what to do next." He said helplessly.
"I need help with this war, but I have no idea to start with, the council wants to drag it out and expects us to win, I just want it to be over." He whispered.
Farah let her eyes fall downward. "Yes, I know," she acknowledged quietly. "You're not a fighter, Adrien. That much I've figured out." She lifted her eyes to his and arched her eyebrows with a playful smirk. "It wasn't that hard to anyway."
She pushed away from the wall and stood in front of him as he sat. "But I am. And even I don't see how this war is going us any good. Not that war does good in the first place, but we're not even close to winning. Latharia isn't either. There's no benefit for anyone. It's a loose-loose battle we're fighting. I just don't understand how some of the councilmen can't see thatโฆ
"But that's beside the point. You're the king now! You can introduce a treaty or some kind of a peaceful arrangement for the conflict. It's your duty to do what's best for your people, and right now, what's best is ending this godsforsaken war!"
"Latharia want's paper and wool" Adrien stated, thinking aloud. "And we need more access to rope" he continued.
"What if we make them a deal with trading, we have some things they want and they have things we need as well" he said "a treaty would be a nice touch as well" he said, smiling.
His smile slowly turned into a frown.
"But what if they refuse?" He asked nervously.
"If they refuse, they're out of their minds," Farah countered, shaking her head. "A trade deal is just what we need. That's an excellent idea."
She smiled knowingly at him. "You're going to be a brilliant king, Adrien. Your father was a decent one, but he'd occasionally make rash decisions. You've got your wits about you."
Adrien flushed a light pink color, his face heating up, he covered his face with his hands and muttered "thank you" through them.
He waited until he felt his face cool, then removed his hands.
"Thank you" he repeated more loudly this time.
"I'll write up the treaty and the written trade deal soon" he promised her with a small smile.
Farah arched her eyebrows in amusement. "I'm only being honest," she stated, laughing a bit at how flustered he got. At how flustered she'd made him. "There's no need to thank me."
She returned his smile. "Brilliant," she remarked. "If you need my help with any of it, you know where to find me."
"good night Farah" Adrien said with a soft smile.
"I shall require you in my quarters after you wake up tomorrow, in order to get help with the treaty and what not" he said waving goodbye to her and shutting the door behind her.
He began to undress, getting into his sleeping clothes before burying himself under his quilt and closing his eyes.
"Good night," she replied, returning his small wave with her own. "You know me; I'll be there." Once his door was shut, Farah turned and headed the short distance down the hall to her own quarters. She changed out of her military garb into a distinctly more feminine nightgown, and she let her hair down out of its strict, elegant updo. A soft sigh passed her lips as she took in her appearance with her long hair finally let down. Her window was open, and it drifted around her in the breeze. Farah hurriedly went over to her window and shut it.
After a few more moments of getting herself ready, for bed, the young woman laid down and closed her eyes, relaxing for the first time since she'd woken up.
Adrien awoke with the sun shining through the large windows of his quarters, he sat up slowly, stretching and rubbing his eyes with his fists.
"I hate the morning" he mumbled to himself, swinging his feet over his bed.
The sun rose outside her window sooner rather than later, and Farah sighed at the sight of it. "Good morning," she muttered to no one and slipped out from beneath her sheets. The day didn't call for much, potentially a council meeting, but that was yet to be decided. She dressed in a white, tunic-like shirt, dark dress pants, and boots before tending to her hair with a wide array of products.
Once she was finished, her hair in an elegant but inherently severe updo, she strode down the hall and knocked on the king's door. "Your Majesty? It's Farah."
Adrien yawned and said "come in" groggily.
He was still in his own dress clothes, which consisted of a long white tunic and shorts.
He stood up and raised his arms above his head.
Farah entered and shut the door behind her. "Sorry I'm a bit late, Iโ" She stopped talking when she took in Adrien still in his dress clothes from the day before.
The woman crossed her arms and arched her eyebrows. "I take it back. You're not even ready yet."
"I most certainly am not a morning person" Adrien grumbled, slowly trudging into his closet, he picked out a light mint button up and charcoal grey dress pants.
"Must you always awake at the crack of dawn?" Adrien complained "I would have loved to slept in, but I have a feeling you would have not let me" he said with a faint smile, pulling off his tunic and sliding the button up on, carefully doing up each button.
He then hid behind his foldable wall, slipping off his short and putting on his pants and coming back out again.
"Im supposed to be meeting with a woman today, in discreet Farah, she wants to be involved romantically, but I simply cannot do it, she reminds me of my sister! If I married her, what would people say! That I married my sister is what they'll say!" He said in disbelief.
"she is a nice woman though" he added with a small grin to himself.
Farah rolled her eyes. "It's part of training," she insisted. Even though he went behind his foldable wall, the woman still turned her back to him out of respect. "You could have told me to wait and changed before I came in here," she added.
When she heard the footsteps that indicated he was finished, she turned and arched her eyebrows at him. "Marrying your sister?" she asked, her accent making the question even more amusing when she asked it. "Good Lord, please don't."
"I won't" Adrien said with a laugh "trust me, that's the exact reason I refused to meet the woman in secret" He explained with a smile.
"God im so glad she married and went away" Adrien said with a sigh
"good lord that woman was a literal hot mess" he said with a smile, knowing Farah had a hatred for his sister as well.
"She was more than a mess," Farah muttered, a snarl biting at her words. She remembered the princess well, perhaps better than most. After all, she'd served as the princess's guard before being reassigned to Adrien.
Her eyes widened as she realized what she said and how she'd said it. "My apologies," she said quickly, dipping her head down to hide the embarrassed flush on her cheeks. Sometimes, she let her words get ahead of her.
"she was a disaster." Adrien stated coldy.
"Forgiveness is not required when it comes to the likes of my sister, lord knows she doesn't deserve to be remembered nicely, as cruel as she was" he added quickly.
His cheeks becoming pink with the angry thoughts he sufficed about the woman who had once lived in the castle with him.