Cariun wasn’t going to make anything easy for them, it seemed. After he complained about the lack of hospitality, Tiyrus reluctantly called for a servant to bring them refreshments. Then they had to wait. Cariun couldn’t possibly hold a serious conversation without a cup of tea. The look on Tiyrus’s face clearly indicated this was bullshit, but Olive actually didn’t mind the delay. It gave her a moment to collect herself and besides, a cup of tea sounded lovely after everything that had happened.
It also gave her a chance to ask some questions of Tiyrus about magic. He explained that the ring she wore wasn’t really translating the words as they were said. She was still hearing their language exactly as it was spoken. The magic would supply the meaning behind the word and her mind would do the rest of the work translating it from there. If there was a concept she was unfamiliar with, she’d still understand it as one of her words, but there would be a sense of uncertainty with it. Like she was recalling a phrase spoken inside of a dream.
“You probably aren’t familiar with the terms we use to describe magic,” he said. “Listen.”
He said a few things that she understood as ‘exhaustion’, ‘contract’, and ‘sharing’. With a bit of thought, she could make guesses as to what concept he had said. But there was that uncertainty, like the word had been spoken in passing and she hadn’t quite heard it correctly.
“The more you hear it, the more firm your understanding will become,” he continued. “Eventually that feeling will go away.”
“You’ll be able to get her her own ring, won’t you?” Cariun asked lazily, the first time he'd contributed to this particular conversation.
“Maybe,” Tiyrus replied warily. “You made this much harder. I’ll loan her mine as much as I can, but even I would struggle to cast interpretation spells on the fly. I may need it back at some point.”
“Aren’t you the kingdom’s prodigy?” Cariun replied mockingly. “Can’t you do anything?”
Tiyrus’s expression tightened with anger. Olive’s heart sped up, anticipating a confrontation. They were saved by the servant entering with a tea cart. Olive gave her a relieved smile and the maid smiled back knowingly.
“Good luck,” she whispered as she poured Olive’s tea.
The men, fortunately, seemed too engaged in glaring at each other to notice. Normally Olive wasn’t one to shy away from drama like this. She had no problem with confrontations. It’s just in the past they were about mundane things, like someone who wasn’t pulling their weight in a group project at school. Or she was the one sitting on the sidelines with a bag of popcorn. Likely the maid would be doing the same after she left the room. She should make friends with the maids, she thought. They could probably tell her who to avoid around here.
“Are you content now, your highness?” Tiyrus asked coldly, once everyone was settled in.
Olive sipped at her tea. It reminded her of black tea with a hint of rose. She wasn’t much of a tea connoisseur, but she had to admit that it was very nice.
“No, not like that,” Cariun interrupted, reaching for her teacup. “You put milk in it.”
“O-oh,” she stammered.
He deftly poured an amount in and stirred the tea, turning it a cloudy cream color. He shoved the cup back at her. She took another sip and found that bitterness from before had simply melted away.
“Prince Cariun,” Tiyrus said, more sternly this time. “Why do you have Olive with you?”
“Oh, is that her name?” the prince replied carelessly, leaning back in his seat. “His Majesty has graciously entrusted her to my care.”
Tiyrus’s face darkened considerably. He carefully put his teacup down and folded his hands in his lap.
“Did you orchestrate this?” he asked, softly. Even Olive recognized the danger in his tone.
“I wouldn’t presume to know what the king will do,” Cariun replied smoothly. “I was merely in the right place.”
“He let me out,” Olive quickly volunteered. “And led me to where I’d be found by the king.”
She had no reason to help him, after all. Cariun didn’t seem surprised at her betrayal, either. His expression remained emotionless. Tiyrus, on the other hand, was livid. His hands clenched into fists.
“That was cruel,” Tiyrus snapped. “You’ve put her at a significant disadvantage.”
“And will you do anything to alleviate it?”
Tiyrus did not reply. Cariun smiled to himself.
“Of course you won’t,” he murmured. “You’re nothing but my father’s dog.”
“Do you think this will help you?”
Tiyrus’s words came out savagely, startling Olive. Who was Tiyrus, that he could speak to a prince with such open anger and contempt?
“Did you think that by attaching yourself to a guide you could save yourself?” he continued.
Olive lost track of the conversation at that point. The word ‘guide’ came with such a strong sense of uncertainty that for a moment she felt adrift, lost in her own mind. She blinked and the haze dissipated.
“I’m sorry,” she said, interrupting Tiyrus in mid-tirade. “You called me a-a… guide?”
The two fell silent.
“That is not the word I used,” Tiyrus sighed. “Seems the concepts are too far apart to translate. This will take some explaining. Prince Cariun, would you be willing to leave Olive with me for a little while? What’s done is done, I suppose. I will do what I can to help, but it will be for Olive’s sake. Not yours.”
“I expected as much,” Cariun replied smoothly.
He stood, picking up a cookie and shoving it in his mouth.
“You never defy the king, not even in the smallest thing,” the prince continued around the cookie. “Will you someday abandon Olive as well, if she remains in disfavor with the king?”
“Get out,” Tiryus said flatly.
The conversation between the two was over. Cariun sketched a mocking bow at the two of them and then saw himself to the door.
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