The Tiamat looked amazing docked at Wisteria’s pier. The enormous ship was in fact the largest vessel the Sea Lands had received so far and The Council was pleased to know their dock was suitable for it. They’d be concerned about depth but alas, The Tiamat was designed differently. The vessel would have no problem adjusting to the dock as long as the depth difference between optimal and real wasn’t an exaggerated amount. When they’d disembarked that morning with the weapons and textiles they’d showcase to The Council, a large crowd of people welcomed them from the pier. The people of Wisteria had come to see their guests, and they were all excited to have them around.

“Are you seeing those? Holy heaven, I would love to rest on their bosom.” Touta, Evan’s First mate, nudged Evan as the latter oversaw the crew unloading chests unto hover boards by the docks. “I hope we can wrap this up before noon. Maybe I’ll get my own chance at a date.”

“Or you could spare Rin the trouble and keep it in your pants.” Evan replied. For some reason, even after getting married, his First mate couldn’t stop going after other women.

Touta had landed his job after he pulled Evan out of the water and successfully rescued the latter’s men during a battle out at sea. This all happened during the second war under Ashura’s reign, Touta assumed charge as a half-dead Evan asked of him. Yuki had gone missing at that point and Evan had no one else to rely on. He’d relied on the only other man who believed the naval fight could still be won. Touta, with assistance from Evan, DID turn the tie on that battle. Despite their losses, they managed to drive the enemy kingdom’s forces off.

Touta was a married man five years older than Evan. He was full of scars from previous wars, since he was usually infantry before he joined Evan’s crew. He’d kept his face clear of any damage though, safe for the one large thin line that ran underneath his eyes and over the bridge of his nose. The man had stopped cutting his hair a few years back, at Rin’s request apparently, so he kept his long, black hair tied in a braid. Evan had gotten the chance to meet Touta’s wife, a wonderful young lady three years younger than Touta, and who pretty much loved her man enough to overlook he could not control his libido during long journeys.

“Evan, Rin understands I’m far from home.” Touta’s gaze was fixated on a werebreed girl with rounded, brown cat ears, a pretty face and a big chest. “She knows she is the one and only owner of my heart.”

“Now if only she owned your Touta Jr too.” Ashura made her way to the couple of men, her comment making Evan laugh and Touta look at her exasperated. “Are we set?”

“Yeah, we are.” Evan said as the crew members gave him the “all set”. “Let’s dazzle.”

Meanwhile, Claris Azure stared at the Tiamat as he sat on his cozy bench by one of the three windows in his room. The prince and his aide stayed at a fancy hotel on the center of the city, on the highest floor so they could appreciate the ocean. It was a breezy room colored with white and pastel colors. The room had two beds, his had a lot of pillows. Larissa was lying asleep on hers, she looked more like a bundle of sheets than a person from Claris’ point of view.

“Well, I guess going on ahead without her won’t hurt…” Claris mumbled to himself as he got off the window and his feet into a pair of light blue slippers. He’d decided to wear a pair of white, capri pants and a sky-blue, v-neck shirt.

Before going out, he grabbed his bag of coins and tied his hair up in a high pony tail. His full intention was to show off the beginning of his tail markings. They covered his back and ran down till his lower back where normally they’d fuse with his tail. The pattern was far more discernible in his were form, in his current form the would-be scales were translucent, glowed golden and green under light. At the nape of his neck the pattern was more visible in his human form, green and gold swirls curled up reaching towards his hair’s baseline. A glimmer of sunshine and the pattern glowed, sparkled.

He said he liked that my hair looked like it had stars in it… maybe he’ll like stars on my skin…? Claris thought, his lips curling up into a smile as he subconsciously stroke the back of his neck. You’re crushing, just… go out on the date with this guy and get rid of the pitter patter!

Claris left his room in a hurry trying to think of anything else but Evan. He had to stop at the Hall of Law for a quick meeting with June and he couldn’t do it with his head in the clouds… not if he wanted to seem normal to June. The moment he closed the door behind him, Larissa rose from her bundle of sheets.

“Wow, he’s really crushing.” She laughed, running a hand through her disheveled hair. “Augh, I really hope he gets laid already.”

Claris made his way through the curiously quiet streets of Wisteria. He imagined that the early birds of the town would be down at the pier, doing what he’d been from his window. The prince managed to find an open food stand with hot strawberry crepes ready to eat. He bought one and entered the main road leading to the Hall of Law. He still had half a crepe to eat when he walked into the Hall and met June waiting at the entrance.

“Claris, you’re here earlier than I expected.” The man said, giving Claris a panty dropping smile as Larissa would describe it.

“If I’m so early, why are you here at the door?” The prince laughed before taking a bit off the remainder of his crepe.

“Well, I won’t lie. I was dying to see you.” June replied. “You look really nice today. You’re even wearing your hair up. There a special occasion?”

“And what if I wanted to impress you, huh?” Claris’ tone was merry. More so teasing.

“We both know you don’t need to impress me.” June pulled Claris closer to him, the first time he’d actually been direct about whatever it was they had going on between them. “Do I have competition?”

“What’s this? Jealous?” Claris used his free hand to slide his fingers across June’s chest. “June Ocean, finally asserting his desires all because he got jealous?”

“Dick move, is that what you’d call it?” June mused, Claris just stared at him with bedroom eyes. “…with a face like that I can hardly imagine there ever was a reason for me to be jealous.”

“Oh, there is though,” Claris added, stepping back from June and finishing his crepe. “I got a date later. I’m crushing on him like I’m crushing on you… except he doesn’t know who I am, and he straight up asked me out.”

“A bold one…I suppose you snooze you lose.” June chuckled as Claris finished his crepe. “Let me know how it goes. If he snoozes, I’ll take my chance.”

“Oh June…” Claris laughed, he actually couldn’t believe how all of a sudden he had two dreamy guys gunning for him. June’s attitude pissed him of though, what with only being direct after Claris had crushed on someone else. “Maybe next time don’t toy around with your interest and just ask them out.”

Claris would have done so, if he weren’t so terrified of dating again.

“I’ll take that advice. Here’s the permits for your sister’s ship. Have fun on your date, darling.” June produced an envelope from his jacket and handed it to Claris. The man gave the prince a wink before making his way back to his office.

Now that I think about it, he’s actually a jerk, right? Claris thought while gazing at June’s round and tight behind. A jerk with a nice ass.

One thing down, now all Claris had to do was walk to the beach and hand in the permits to one of his envoys before waiting out for noon. So there he was, thinking about having to meet his sister at land in two weeks and already being annoyed out of his mind, when his eyes crossed Evan’s. The foreigner was heading up the main street alongside the woman from the day before and a man who looked older than them but not by much.

“Claris! Good morning!” Evan called as he realized who’d he’d just happened by. To the prince, Evan looked like an excited puppy.

The woman at Evan’s side stared at said man with surprise all over her face while the other man looked at him as if he were a stranger.

“Hi!” Claris’ reply was a little shy, he approached the trio wearing an embarrassed expression. “Busy morning I see.”

“Y-Yeah! We’re uh, trying to get in some trade deals with The Council of Wisteria.” Evan walked up to him and awkwardly stuffed his hands in his pockets. Evan was wearing a similar outfit to the one he’d been wearing the day before. Instead of a white shirt, he wore a black one. “You… look nice…”

“So do you.” Claris giggled, loving how adorable his crush was acting. The foreigner remained still for a few seconds, his eyes fixed on Claris as the latter nervously tapped the nape of his neck with his fingers.

“Oh! Uh, we have a little time—” Evan snapped out of his trance and turned around to show off his awed friends. “This is my boss, Empress of Akakawa Shirogane, Ashura Amachi.”

Ashura walked forward and made her bow, Claris fully bowed in return.

“Your Highness, it is an honor.” Claris replied, he was caught off guard. He was not expecting royalty to be walking down the streets as comfortable as he did. He was the thirteenth prince and therefore not very important amongst other royals in his family. That granted him liberties, including the right to walk around on his own or with only Larissa to back him up. Not that he needed bodyguards, but that was beside the point. An Empress shouldn’t be walking on her own without proper escort, even in a land where she’d have no enemies. Which meant that Evan and his other friend must be her bodyguards…

“Oh please! No need for titles! You can call me Ashura! I am so very happy to meet you! Evan’s been really excited over getting to know you. I hadn’t seen my Captain happy about anyone ever before! I do hope you two get along!” Ashura wanted to get chummier with Claris, give him a huge hug, but her other friend cleared his throat so as to remind her she was in public. “Just know that he might be my right-hand man, but if it’s about you my lovely Captain can have the rest of the week off.”

“Subtle, Ashura. Very Subtle.” The man, who despite looking older than Evan was a lot shorter than him, smiled and bowed like his empress had done. “I am Touta Itou, Evan’s First mate and her Highness’ Chief Strategist back at our country.”

“Claris Azure,” The prince thought about mentioning his title but withheld it. “It is truly a pleasure to meet you both.”

“I hope we haven’t scared you off, Ashura can come on too strong at times.” Touta’s accent was a lot stronger than Ashura’s and Evan’s. Claris assumed he’d only recently began to speak the Common Tongue. “We’ll go on ahead. Shall we, Your Highness?”

Touta turned to Ashura, the woman giggling and waving goodbye before going off with him and a couple of hovering chests up the street. Evan remained standing before Claris, his eyes looking at anywhere but the prince.

“Sooooo you’re the  Captain?’ Claris asked.

“Yeah, I uh… thought I would get the chance to tell you under different circumstances. Ashura likes to show me off though…” Evan bit his lower lip and took a hand to his chin. “Umm… I… don’t know if you’d still like to—”

“Evan, don’t worry. Big titles don’t scare me.” Claris replied. If anything, Evan’s made him crush on him even harder. A captain. He’d be out at sea almost as much as Claris. “I’ll see you later, okay?”

Claris reached for Evan’s hand, the foreigner taking it in his. The prince held on to it softly before allowing his fingers to slip out of his grasp.

“Mhmmm.” Evan nodded, it was curious how much of an adorable pup he was.

He’s a lot more confident than yesterday, that’s for sure. Claris thought giggling to himself.

“Bye! Good luck with The Council!” Claris exclaimed as he walked away. Evan waved goodbye to him and after they both smiled at each other like dorks, Claris finally gave him his back.

Evan stared at the glimmers on the back of Claris’ neck and was absolutely dazzled by them.

“Stars… in broad daylight…” He mumbled seeing the blue haired man continue on his way down the street. “Goddess…”

“Yo, charming!” Touta called after him. Evan turned around to see Touta wearing a scolding gaze and Ashura staring at him with bright eyes, a dumb smile and no signs of breathing. “Nice catch, real cutie.”

“I know.” Evan replied as he caught up with his friends. “First person to not run off when they heard who I am.”

“He doesn’t know what your title means, we’re in a different country.” Touta explained. Ashura was still silent, staring at him with sparkly eyes. “But he didn’t run after meeting our dumbass Empress. That counts for a lot.”

“Imagine your babies, Evan.” Ashura mumbled as they continued making their way to the Hall of Law. “They’ll have cute blue hair and pretty bronze skin!”

“They’re men, Ashura. It’s biologically impossible.” Touta reminded her. “You’re saying non-sense way too early in the morning.”

“But just imagine it!”

“Your Highness, perhaps you should daydream to yourself for today.” Evan stepped in. “It’s way too soon to be thinking about our love children.”

“At least Evan gets me, Touta.” Ashura crossed her arms and pouted. “If Tokiri were here, he’d follow my lead.”

“Thank the goddesses your husband’s not here then.” Touta and Evan spoke at the same time. The trio remained quiet for a couple of seconds before they all started laughing. It didn’t take them long to return to a more serious mood, for in a matter of minutes they were already standing at the foot of the Hall of Law.