The rest of the day was quite uneventful, not in the sense that he did nothing but laze around, but more so, nothing interesting happened.
He still had to secretly roam through the kingdom with Gaius to find and investigate more of Oswald's deeds, and since today was the last day before Gaius and Alariv moved from the palace to the camp on the border to prepare themselves for expedition, Ashoka had to make good work of the time he had with the prince.
When noon arrived, he returned to the palace. Since there wasn't much for him to do right now, he decided to enter Eldrin's chamber to rest and maybe have a chat with him.
Well, it was also supposed to be his job to accompany the young king, something he had almost totally ignored!
Yeah, very diligent of me, I know.
But when he entered the room, though, he was met with complete silence from the young king...
Unexpectedly, Eldrin didn't seem very fond of the idea of talking with him. It was as if a thin veil had been dropped between them, preventing them from properly communicating. In fact, Ashoka could almost sense a hint of... anger?
Wait, what is this brat even angry at me for?!
It couldn't possibly be because of him agreeing with the worries Alariv had yesterday, right?
Ashoka just couldn't help but scratch the back of his head. These kids were just so damn difficult to understand!
An hour passed just like this, with the room shrouded in an awkward silence.
Sometime later, Ashoka's ears caught a soft click. In the next second, the door at the right of the chamber swung open, revealing the figure of Alariv, who had a languid and fatigued expression on his face, as if he hadn't slept in a long while. It seemed as if the stress and worry for the hunt's success had taken a toll, even on the mighty ascended.
From the corner of his eyes, Ashoka saw Eldrin's eyes glint as a smile appeared on his face. Entering inside, Alariv studied the two people leisurely resting within, and noticing the strange silence permeating the room, he asked with a dubious expression:
"What is it with the two of you now?"
I would like to know as well!
Before Ashoka could say something, however, Eldrin stood up and greeted Alariv with an excited voice:
"Uncle Alariv, you are finally here!"
***
"—Argh! Fuck—!"
Ashoka didn't know how he had come to be in this situation, but he would've appreciated being anywhere but here.
Ashoka was falling.
The verdant meadow seemed to stretch endlessly in front of him, the lush grass swaying gently under the light of dusk like waves. Ashoka looked at the beautiful yet upside down scenary in a daze. For a second, he just wanted to lie down on nature's most comfortable bed and close his eyes, forgetting all about the world around him. Ah... How pleasant it would be...
Of course, the one thing that wasn't so pleasant about this situation was the ground that was moving towards his face at mach fuck.
Or maybe it was the other way around?
There was a muffled thump as Ashoka's head violently impacted against the ground, causing soil and grass to be thrown around. For a second, Ashoka saw stars. Still moving from inertia, his body continued to tumble forward, his entire body moving over his head as he rolled over in a not-so-graceful manner.
Ashoka heard the sound of hooves stomping on the ground as the horse continued running forward—not caring one bit about its missing rider—and failed to hit his head by just a few inches.
After another full-body roll, Ashoka finally stopped, his face practically buried in the ground. Instead of sitting up, though, he just lay there, having decided that acting like a dead body was the better choice.
But of course, indifference did not mean shame would not follow him behind like a shadow. Soon, there was the sound of hooves, accompanied by that of giggling, which soon turned into loud, childish laughter.
Finally, with some difficulty—which was more mental than physical—Ashoka raised his head. What he saw was Eldrin—sitting on top of a white horse—laughing his head off as tears flowed down his face. The brat didn't even bother cleaning his face, as his hands currently held the reins of his own horse.
God, just how much he would pay to punch that face!
But, of course, he couldn't, because that brat was the goddamn king!
In the next second, there were once again the sounds of hooves as Alariv appeared behind him. Dismounting from his horse, he rushed towards Ashoka, helping him get up and checking for any injuries.
Right, he remembered how he had come to be here.
Back in Eldrin's room, when the prince had appeared, the mood within the room had shifted quickly, transforming from a tense silence to one filled with joy and laughter as Eldrin conversed with Alariv excitedly. Soon, even he was pulled into the conversation by none other than the young king himself.
These sudden turns of events completely baffled Ashoka for a good amount of time. But the answer was quite apparent.
He is still a kid after all...
In the end, Eldrin was still just a kid, and just like all kids do, he had decided on throwing a tantrum without knowing how to end it. He had probably hoped that Ashoka would somehow try to resolve it himself, but it seemed he had severely overestimated Ashoka's maturity and willingness to drown himself in such matters.
When Alariv finally appeared and started talking with him, Eldrin finally took the opportunity to break the heavy veil, finally ending their senseless charade.
Eventually, Eldrin somehow also convinced Alariv to teach Ashoka how to ride a horse. It took some time, but when the young king threatened to teach him the art of horse riding himself, the prince finally gave in.
And that's how Ashoka found himself diving headfirst into the ground at speeds he would prefer not to be, falling from his horse.
"Nothing serious from the looks of it. Just a few bruises and scratches." Alariv smiled as he stood up, patting Ashoka's shoulder.
Thankfully, he had fallen on soft soil, so there weren't any injuries to speak of. But regardless, Ashoka couldn't help but have a sullen face. Looking at his expression, Alariv laughed out loud.
"Come on, what's with that face? It's normal to fall once or twice when learning to ride a horse."
After some thought, he pointed at the still laughing Eldrin.
"You see that brat? Although he's laughing right now, he fell more than 3 times during his first mount. In fact, it took him an entire week just to get to the point where he could even mount a horse properly."
Hearing that, Eldrin's laughter stopped as he turned his head at neck-breaking speed.
"I did not! Stop lying!" He skrieked.
Both of them let out a chuckle at Eldrin's clumsy retort, but then, Ashoka's expression fell once again. After all, there was one fact he could not ignore!
"Yeah, and he's also 4 years younger than me..."
Alariv sighed heavily and patted Ashoka's back. "And he was also a prince, while you were not. That title comes with far more benefits than you might think, so don't sell yourself too short. And regardless, even Gaius fell more than you in his first mount at 15."
Ashoka smiled with bitter amusement. To think that there was such a side to the aloof ascended!
Standing up, Alariv looked around and then turned towards Eldrin, gesturing for him to call back the ownerless horse who had decided to set off towards the setting sun. Then he turned to Ashoka.
"It seems night is already approaching; we should probably get back. Ah, time really does fly fast! I could've sworn we had only been out for an hour!"
Ashoka did not answer. Instead, he just stood there, motionlessly, his head down as he fiddled with his fingers. He looked like a nervous child about to ask his parents for something very expensive for the first time. Even his voice trembled as he spoke in a low voice.
"Um... Sir Alariv! I... I wanted—ughh, how can one... awaken?"
Alariv gave him a curious look.
"Oh? So you want to become awakened?" Then, he smiled. "Right, isn't it about the age young ones like you start getting curious about awakening?! Don't worry, I will teach you all you need to know!"
There was the sound of a loud whistle as Eldrin set off to chase Ashoka's horse with a whoosh. The horse stopped and turned around, towards the direction of the whistle, and finally noticed the missing rider. Then, it lowered its head and started eating the grass below.
Alariv continued, "Since I'll be out for some time after today, why not have our first lesson tonight? Come to my room after dinner, and I'll fill you in on the basics."
Ashoka simply nodded, unwilling to raise his head.