Vellen couldn't stand his friend's engagement party. He couldn't shake their conversation from his head... Tennet had said he would have asked for his hand. In another life, maybe they would be together, announcing their own engagement to the people they cared for, not avoiding each others gaze in a sea of strangers they didn't care about. Maybe they had in the past. It was a comforting thought, at least. 

Still, he drank throughout the celebration, to his Tennet. To his prince, soon to be king. He had promised to be there for him, so he danced, he laughed, he claimed that his tears were those of pride and joy and nothing more. Seeing the princess at his arm was the one thing that made him look away, favoring shallow conversation with whoever he was near. 

Around him, people celebrated the union between the heirs, wished for their love to be true, claimed they could see a spark between them already, that their children would be brave and kind and that they were living through a fairytale. 

A fairytale...

What a bright and beautiful lie. 

The celebration was torture. 

Nobody knew Tennet as he did. Nobody knew how his favorite place to hide when he was young was among the trees, that he and his oldest friend made huts together out of whatever they could find in the forest. Nobody knew how he loved magic, how he marveled over the traces of gods and goddesses left over from ancient times. Nobody knew how his eyes lit up when he could make his own choice, or his favorite shade of green. Nobody in that ballroom or its garden knew the feeling of the prince's hand in theirs, the sound of his breathing as he slept, a slight smile on his face when he fell asleep happy. None of them knew how much he disliked bedding people, how much he hated his role, how heavy the crown on his head truly was. 

Yet, they all pretended to know. 

Vellen needed air. The pretense was suffocating. 

The knight found a quiet corner of the gardens, where the hedges were tall enough for him to be out of view. Mocking him with romantic ambiance, fireflies danced around him and the stars shone overhead. 

There was so much he wanted to do but... he had made vows. 

I vow my blade to your vengeance. I vow my armor to your safety. I vow my title to your crown. I vow my life to your soul. I vow my distance to your duty. I vow my presence to your reach. 

But stars, every part of him wanted to break the vows he had made. To run to his friend, his Ten, throwing duty to the wind. To pull him away from the dreaded engagement, to-

"Vel?" 

Vellen looked up - Tennet was on his own, looking worried. He was dressed beautifully, but his regal stance had fallen. There were certainly some people who would find him soon. 

"I- you shouldn't be here." 

"You're crying..." The prince's voice sounded tight, as he let himself reach out to wipe the tears from his knight's face. 

"I didn't notice... People are going to come looking for you." 

"At that point, I will tell them that I need a moment with the one who accompanied me here." 

"We can call it engagement nervosity." 

Tennet chuckled and let go of Vellen's face, quietly studying it. "You're not okay..." 

Vellen scoffed. "I- I'm not right now. But I will be. I just needed a moment to myself." 

"Do you want me to leave?" 

He looked at the prince, wordlessly. There was far too much to say, but not enough time. "No, but maybe you should. I- I love you, Tennet. Deeply. As a friend, but also as much, much more. I have since we were young. So being surrounded by people who pretend to love you... I needed a moment. I'll be okay, I promise." 

Tennet took Vellen's hands. "Do you resent me for choosing to travel with you?" 

"A little bit," the knight didn't hesistate. "This night can't end soon enough. Our journey was-." He sighed - there was no word quite right for it. "I wouldn't trade our three days together for anything in the world." 

"I don't think I've ever seen you this sentimental, Vel." 

"Yeah well, right now, it'll be words or tears. Talking is probably the only thing preventing me from crumbling down entirely and breaking my oath." 

Tennet inhaled sharply at those words, before letting out a groan. He removed his crown and rubbed his face. His princely demeanor had fallen, replaced by something Vellen recognized from the prince's worst days when they were children, and they would hide away from the world. 

"Ten?" 

"I-." He cleared his throat. "I rehearsed this so many times when you could not hear me. I thought it would be easier." 

Vellen's stance straightened. "Tennet you are worrying me." 

The prince exhaled deeply, before finally looking right into the knight's dusty rose eyes. "I-... I release you from your oath, Vellen." 

It was as if the world stopped around them entirely. As if the floor broke below them and the sky above vanished. The words hit Vellen more deeply than the sight of the princess on Tennet's arm. His reaction must have been worrying - Tennet's hands moved up to hold his arms. 

"I love you too much, Vellen, ever since we shared that very first kiss in our tenth summer I knew I loved you. And I can't be the one to hold you to an oath that clearly hurts you so, so deeply. I can't bear to see you like this." 

"Ten-" 

"Go home. Go back to the city, open that bookshop, live your life, Vel, my Vel, live for us both if you can. I release you, I set you free. Its midnight, let it be the door to a new dawn for you. I just - I have seen you hurt from far away, as we pretended to not care for each other. Your face when I asked you to join me... it shattered me. But I had to choose you, to spend every moment of these three days with you, before I could do this." 

"No, no-" 

"I've been planning this since before the engagement was accepted." 

Vellen felt his stomach drop. "You- you knew? You planned it? You dragged me here just to further break me?" 

"No, I-" 

"My title to your crown, remember? My life to your soul, my distance to your duty, my presence to your reach, I vowed it all to you!" The tears that streamed down his face did little to hide his confusion. 

Tennet knelt in front of his friend, holding his hands. "And I release you from them all. I want you to be happy, to feel free and to live a life where you can thrive. I've wanted that for you for years. I know that holding you to your vows will only build pain for us both until we are numb to it. Go live, Vel." He kissed the inside of Vellen's wrist. "Gods, please accept. Please go, and don't turn back." His voice broke on the last word as his own tears streaked down his cheeks. "Please, Vellen. Go. Go..." 

Neither was sure who kissed who first, all they knew was that they had melted against each other, held each other, cried together. It was desperate and searing, a silent plea for fate to be kind for them just for once. 

"Please don't make me go Ten..." Vellen managed, breathless from the kiss. "I can't lose you, I can't, you're my friend, my person, I can't, I can't..." 

"I will watch you bloom from afar, as I always have. I promise we'll meet again, and I promise you'll be okay." 

"And you?" 

"I'll be okay, too." 

"Do you promise that too?" 

"... I can try."

Vellen looked at Tennet then and pulled him into a hug. The pair clutched onto each other, trembling, gripping onto anything they could. 

"I refuse to say goodbye," Vellen muttered. 

"We don't need to. I swear, I mean it when I say we will meet again. As often as I can allow it." The prince reached up and stroked Vellen's ear, gently removing the cuff around it that marked him as a knight, kissing his cheek as he did so. He didn't hesitate before removing a rather simple ring from his smallest finger, slipping it onto Vellen's own hand. "This is yours now. A part of us will always be bound together." 

Vellen nodded and forced himself to let go of his prince. Quietly, he removed one of the leather cords that decorated his glaive. "I don't have much to give, but..." He tied it around the prince's wrist, right where they would exchange the lightest of touches away from view. "I ah, I actually stole this cord from a fort we built, when I got my first glaive. I should be thanking you for my freedom, but... I hate this. I don't know what I am apart from what I grew up to be." 

"... I'm going to miss you, my Vel." 

Every part of Vellen cried out in pain. "... my Ten." 

"Prince Tennet? Where are you?" Someone shouted not too far away. Vellen's stomach dropped further - he felt faint. 

"You should go." 

"They can wait-" 

"No. Please, Ten, go. Just... go." 

Tennet sighed and pressed a tender kiss to Vellen's forehead, before repeating the action on his wrist. He ran over that spot with his thumb, lightly, intimately. 

"It's time for you to build a new fort, just for yourself this time." 

"I will do my best without your help." 

"I know. Just try to make it out of something more sturdy than leaves and branches." 

Vellen had to tear himself away from Tennet, to maintain the illusion that they didn't care for each other. The princess's guard who found them looked at them each in turn. "My prince! Sir knight! Are you both alright?" 

"I released my friend from his oath to me," Tennet explained. "We have known each other since we were children, and are... quite fond of each other, so it was difficult to accept, for both of us." 

"I see. I am sorry, sir- Vellen, was it? My cousin got released last week, never easy, but hey, it's a big world. I'm certain you will find your way." 

"Right... thank you." 

"Well, people are looking for you, your Majesty, for a speech about the union."

"Right. Best get going, then." 

Vellen's heart broke as he watched Tennet walk away, donning the mask of the ruler. 

I love you. Be free.

Tennet's voice seemed to have spoken direclty into his mind, then. It must have been some kind of hallucination, or his own imagination. 

Just in case, he thought back a reply. 

I love you, too. Be at peace.

Vellen's job was done.