Welcome to Gaia! ::

Fingers continued to brush through the ebony locks as he spoke, voice soft and low as it weaved a lonely image in the prince's mind. Forever travelling, forever looking, homesick, the pain sounded so real in Lily's voice it made him wonder if that's how he felt, missing his kingdom or the possible life he had beforehand. Why did he look so beautiful with the pained features? It made Elliot's heart twist, wanting to hold and kiss the teen until she felt better. The lantern's color changed to a gray blue, light in color as well as brightness. "That is a beautiful poem." And kissed the bentien's ear this time.

What could he recite now? "Let's stay on the topic of traveling, Miss Lily." he said, looking out the window at the outskirts of the town they were avoiding. If he looked closely he could see them celebrating. was he not born prince, perhaps he could be celebrating as well.

The blackbird poem was background noise to the furry ears, eyes continuing to watch the celebration, fingers twirling the hair round and round. While the face remained calm, the lantern turned a dark and dim blue-green color, the sadness and jealousy being colored in. Village and town parties always seemed so warm and inviting, the music was loud, the people louder and dancing and food was everywhere. A festival was a celebration, a time to have fun, to dance and sing and rejoice. Growing up, the closest thing he had to a festival were balls and numerous important people would show up, but their goal was to not have fun, their goal was to give a proper appearance to the throne, to impress them and make new connections. The dances were only out of etiquette. As a child he'd only been to one festival, and despite being horrible at the games he'd gotten what he wanted, he was the first few to be fed despite being a child, and it had all around just been sucking up to the young heir. After that he found no point in going to one ever again, despite how much he yearned too.

The green was soon gone from the lantern as the man's eyebrows tilted ever so slightly, the smallest creases of sadness showing on his face, the dim light showed it was of a much greater degree, now a full deep and dark blue. His hand had stopped moving on Leo's hair, instead gently holding the locks which were twisted around his fingers. The next poem did very little to ease his pain, only comforting him in the fact that by tomorrow night or the morning of the day after he would be home and would have familiar faces to distract him along with paperwork. he would have very little time for his own thoughts and privacy in the castle. It was both a blessing and a curse in any and all situations. "Miss Lily, may I have a few moments of silence? Then you may return to weaving the tales of the man's travels."

Elliot murmured a small thank you before retreating back into his thoughts, fingers moving again, freeing themselves of the hair before starting over. The hug was slightly comforting, making the corners of his lips curl up as he continued looking out the window. Lily... she was going to be useful, she was a comforter without having to speak, and the prince found that interesting. Actions were indeed louder than words. She was a good kid, even if it was part of being a bentien.

His few moments of silence turned into thirty minutes, the deep blue of the lantern slowly becoming brighter until it was a royal blue, not to dark but not too bright. Streak of the original white were shining through, looking like shooting stars through the galaxy. The outside view showed miles among miles of plains and hillside, uninhabited for whatever reason, the mountains towering over them. "Excuse me, Miss Lily." he shifted her head before standing up in the carriage and opening the door, the scenery moving past them as the prince hung out, gripping the bar inside the carriage for support. "Stop the carriage, Henry. Give the horses a break. We've enough time for a quick meal and a stroll." Whatever Henry said went unnoticed by the heir, it being about not opening the door when the carriage was moving amongst other things. "Care for a walk, Miss Lily? Stretch your legs, come." He waited against the door frame until the carriage stopped, stepping out and moving up front, looking at the food they brought out.

The lantern on the seat grew dim at the distance, but the color seemed to have changed to a dark orange. Appearing again he grabbed the lantern, it soon turning a bright yellow and he looked at her, curious. "Well you're not going to stay in here. We have fifteen minutes, I brought you an orange but you're going to have to come out and get it, Miss Lily. I refuse to have you or myself sitting in there much longer." And he smiled, cheered up somewhat by being outside.

Back with the carriage were five people, three of them guards, their three horses beside the carriage, and then the driver and the footman. The driver appeared to be the oldest, having a gut and a bristly pepper colored mustache. The guards were definitely older than Elliot, but much younger than the driver, their armor minimal and looking more like civilians than actual guards. The youngest was the footman, looking to be fourteen or fifteen years of age, poking around the bowl of fruit before deciding to eat a pear. They seemed relaxed for the most part, the guards more cautious than the other two. one was even watching where Elliot was going, looking at Lily with a small amount of distrust before scanning the area.

The twenty-year old finally sat down on a plot of grass, glancing at Lily before sighing. "You can sit, I fear you need my orders for everything." And handed her her orange before working on peeling his own, legs crossed. The color of the light was hard to distinguish, either white or yellow or a pastel shade, but Elliot seemed much more relaxed and happy, though his face barely betrayed his thoughts. "So earlier you claimed you were happy to be of use to your country, but I am curious. How do you feel about entering a kingdom who is more or less different in every aspect from yours, Miss Lily?"

The man was soon laying down on the grass, having given a final glance to the guards before doing so. That sky was so blue... he popped another orange slice in his mouth, chewing lazily as Lily explained herself. It made sense, he had the same fear entering Reta, unsure if everything he had read and learned would really be of any use. Another orange slice went into his mouth as she finished. "Thank you for your honesty. But after all the books I'll have you read, you'll be lacking anything but knowledge on the territory." Another orange slice, damn oranges and their addictive taste, he was going to get sick later.

"Although I doubt having proper knowledge on the kingdom will... Never mind that thought. My mind was going slow." And sighed, staring at another orange peel. His mind was telling him that if he ate another the motion sickness would be tough to handle whereas dealing with it on an empty stomach was easy. And Lily had distracted him, and he forced himself to be distracted by Lily. He'd be fine. Unless of course Lily was an assassin, then she could easily stab him right here and kill him before his guards could even tackle her. That would be rather humorous, and he would expect it of the Reta Kingdom.

he sighed softly, silver eyes half-lidded as he looked at the partially eaten orange. "Do you want it? I won't finish it, Miss Lily." and offered it up to her. while the sun was indeed warm there was a cool enough breeze for Elliot to withstand the heat, not to mention these were perfect conditions for a nap. He glanced at his lantern, hitting it and forcing it, and himself, to wake up a little more. he wanted to sit up, but he only had enough strength and alertness to offer the half-orange. "Don't kill me while i'm sleeping." he said, dropping his hand back to his chest and shifting, letting his head rest against her outer thigh before closing his eyes. "When the guard's call me over wake up." he mumbled, dozing off rather quickly. The lantern beside him dimmed almost to turning off, but it was just barely glowing white, most likely to reflect any dreams he would have, if any.

Silver eyes opened just barely as he was adjusted, nuzzling against the warmth before they closed again. She was a nice person, it made no sense why they'd want to give her away, but at the same time, the way he was treating her seemed so much different than how anyone else had by gauging her reaction. The sound of the flute hit his ears and he smiled gently.

The guards however were tense. Each one knew she was a whore, and while they weren't going to lay a hand on her, they knew very well what whores could do. Their job was to give a false sense of security and comfort before shifting through pockets or stabbing someone in the back. They'd have to get her away from him soon. Lord only knew how she would influence his personality or thoughts., she might ruin him for marriage. The color of the lantern hardly changed though, so they couldn't do much unless it turned into a dangerous color.

When the song was over, the eldest guard raised his hand and signaled for them to come back. It was time to go.

The lantern flickered to a brighter, more pinkish state, Elliot waking up and looking at the bentien as he pulled away, ears twitching. "Did you just kiss me?" Came the sleepy question, the man sitting up and looking at the guards who seemed relieved that he wasn't dead. He chuckled, looking back at Lily. "I can tell you finished the oranges. Let's go." And stood up, offering his hand to the male, keeping it within his own as he helped her up and walked back, stopping at the guards and Henry. "We'll keep on riding to Harsgreaves, all right? The first inn we see at the town we'll stop, even if they're having their festival. Understood?" All agreed and he entered the carriage, sitting back on the cushion as the footman closed the door.

That was twice he had been kissed, so before the teenager could sit on the floor, Elliot pulled him down gently, softly and briefly pressing his lips against the boy's before breaking away. "That is either a reward or punishment for waking me with a kiss. I haven't quite decided." he explained, "I must say, I've never been woken up like that before. But skipping that your flute playing is indeed beautiful. I might have a job other than being a bentien for you when we get back to the castle." And the wheels of the carriage began to move again.

Was it sad that Elliot was thinking along the same lines? Lily could sing, play music, whore himself out, no doubt he could dance as well, it was pitiful. Had he seen any more within the walls of the castle he resided at for a practically a month? They were beautiful men often mistaken as women, how many beautiful people had he seen? Countless, nobles powdered their faces to such extremities, was Lily wearing any? He glanced down, no, why would he be? Whore's, if owned by only one person, were not granted the luxury. Yet is was safer to be with a master than on their own, they had no skills aside from prostitution to provide them money for food and clothes. And what woman wanted to marry a male prostitute?

"You would do so anyway even if I didn't ask, Miss Lily. Your loyalty is astounding, but at the same time horrifying. I cannot read your thoughts, so I know not what displeases you, or what you do which displeases yourself. It was your training I suppose which made you like that, but loyalty is very hard to come by. That footman, he's no older than you, yet he's already openly told me that he hates his job, he hates working for me, but he's only doing it for his pay." He smiled softly. "His loyalty is merely out of survival, and being a bentien, it makes me wonder if that's why you're loyal as well." Henry was old, that man, while cheerful no doubt, didn't quite seemed to mind his job, he'd been around sine Elliot was smaller, but he would no doubt work until he died, same as the guards. The prince never understood what made you want to be a guard, protecting others. That did not make understandable sense. There were so many safer jobs out there, like baking.

He glanced down at the woman, realizing his lantern was dimming and smiled, forcing it to brighten back to normal. "I am not angry, merely voicing my thoughts. It's very rare I have someone to accompany me, so I suppose I should not be rude to said company. My apologies, Miss Lily."