"Your highness, we can do without the air wielders. It will be a difficult battle but we can be victorious." Leo said as helped Velaine with his coat.
Velaine only continued with his task. There was nothing to reply to after all, he still had not made a point.
"So why do you dance to her tunes, Your highness?" He continued.
Velaine smiled as he took the royal staff.
"Dancing to her tunes...." He whispered more to himself than to the man by the door.
"Is that what it looks like?" He asked, now looking at Leo whose gaze rested on the floor.
"Pardon my language your highness." He apologized.
He chuckled before he asked again.
"Is that what it looks like?"
Leo felt uncomfortable saying what he thought.
What if he picked offense?
But he should not lie to him
For he knew very well he viewed lies as greater disrespect than bluntness.
"Your highness, yes. That is what it seems."
Velaine chuckled before he replied.
"Aveedah must be very wise then, she told me to my face that she does not trust me and never would. You do not say that to somebody you think you have control over."
"Alliance with the air wielders is worth the hassle. We will not have to deploy all our men to the battle field if we have them but that is not the only reason I agree with the alliance."
Leo waited for him to continue but he simply walked out, forcing him to hurry and catch up to him. He moved closer to him, so the guards behind them would not hear before he asked.
"Then, is it the prophecy?"
"Do you think Noelle is the monster we should be seeking?" Velaine asked, stopping to look at Leo making the guards behind them stop too
"I have not given a thought to it. I do not believe in prophecies your highness." he replied bluntly.
Velaine shook his head and continued walking before he replied.
"You should, I witnessed the last one come true and one thing I learnt about prophecies is they were not revealed to be evaded. They are a glimpse of a near or faraway future we should be ready to encounter."
"Greetings your highness."A guard interrupted before Leo could ask further questions.
"Her majesty sent me to escort you." He explained.
"Lead the way." Velaine replied and the guard hurriedly took his position.
"Be careful Vee and make sure to send a message the way I showed you to." Keevah instructed as he led Aveedah's horse while she walked beside him, Eric and four guards walking ahead of them.
"I will and I plan on returning before a fortnight. Take care of things here and inform me if there is a problem no matter how minor." She replied, collecting her horse from him.
He collected it back from her and said.
"You should let me do this much for you. You are a queen and you deserve the farewell of one."
"That will just be me making a bunch of elderlies line up to say blessings they can say in the court room. There are more important matters to deal with Keevah." Before Keevah could argue, the guard she had sent to escort Velaine announced his presence.
"Your highness, king Velaine is here."
"I should be on my way Keevah. Take care of yourself and the kingdom." She said.
He only nodded in response and knelt down before her, interlaced his hands together and placed them on his knees.
She smiled before she stepped on the hand and he propelled her onto the horse.
"I could never refuse that." She teased making him smile.
"Good morning, your highness. I received my knights. Thank you for keeping them safe and handing them over." He said, approaching her on his horse.
"Thank you for sending them to help me." She replied.
He smiled at her and asked.
"I expected a palanquin and a crowd."
"I prefer to control my journey and unlike a crowd, I prefer peace." She replied.
He nodded and patted his horse.
"Shall we?" He asked to which she nodded and turned to smile at Keevah before she turned back.
"Lead the way, we are stopping by Ridah anyway."
The journey was quiet but they sometimes raced each other giving the men behind them a hard time while other times they allowed their horse stroll side by side yet not saying anything to each other.
Aveedah was the first to break the silence by giving him a jar of water she had collected from Eric when they had stopped by a river to allow the horses drink.
She threw one to Leo who was so surprised at the gesture that he almost got smashed on the face by the jar
"You do not need to bother yourself about me your highness." He said picking up the jar.
"The others got theirs too." She replied gesturing at the guards who were drinking, chatting and watching over the horses.
"Thank you for your generosity your highness." He replied bowing.
She smiled at him before she turned to watch the guards.
"What do you wield?" She spoke and two out of the three men with her looked up. Eric did not bother knowing fully well there was no way, she was referring to him
"Keevah said you were not a water wielder even though I thought you were due to the incident with the knife." She continued.
Leo turned around to guard their backs just like Eric was figuring out she was not talking to him.
"He must be very observant." He commented
"He is right. I am not. I wield swords, arrows, knives and spears." He continued.
She Looked at him for clarification but he said nothing, just held her gaze and allowed her to figure it herself.
"You are ungifted." She whispered, unable to believe it.
"You look like you do not want to believe it." He commented, his eyes still on her.
"It makes sense." She replied after a while.
"What does?" He asked, curiosity lacing his voice.
"You have to be all or none to play fair. Your lack of gift is what makes you able to bring together gifts and rule them fairly, though it is impressive as I suppose it took you a lot of patience and life threatening moments." She explained.
"I hear admiration in your voice." He teased.
"You heard correctly." She admitted, her gaze staring ahead.
"Will you not ask how I changed the path of the knife?" He asked.
"If I do, will you tell the truth?" She replied his question with another, turning to look at him again.
He smiled before he replied.
"It is a trick I learnt from the water wielders in my kingdom. I will teach you when we have time." The smile he had growing wider.
She nodded before she turned to see the guards pulling the horses and approaching them.
"When should be on our way." She said and before he could utter a word, she stepped on Eric's ready palm and mounted her horse.
He held back whatever he wanted to say and mounted his own horse.
Their journey commenced but this time, something was different between the two of them.
They still were not talking but their silence had changed. It was now amiable and comfortable.