1x1 with ~naturesword~

[~NatureSword~]

"T-Thank you." Kisa replied gently with a nod to the princess as they walked through the halls. After they separated, she grabbed a simple cloak and clipped it on around her neck before flipping the hood to rest gently on the top of her head, just barely covering her ears. She found it much easier to be in town and deal with the merchants if they didn't know about her kitsune heritage -as it was very common for them being servants and outcasts in this kingdom-, not to mention less stares. Kisa thought for a brief moment of what Adeline said concerning the knights, but she shook her head. If she brought a knight with her, it would certainly have more eyes on her. No, the less eyes, the better. Besides, she's dealt with the merchants before. She'll be fine. Picking up a basket, she then left the castle and went into town.

Alok nodded his head as he listened to him,"Sounds good. I'll see you later." He waved as he left. Upon entering the castle, he looked around as he made his way to the rooms that the ball would be held. While the commanders were invited to partake in the ball and be extra protection at the same time, there was still going to be active knights on duty that would be posted in the rooms. Not just for their protection, but it also gave a bit of comfort to the guests that if something was too happen, they would also be protected. He casually walked through the rooms and looked around, making a mental note of how many knights to post in each room and where.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline sighed happily as she set out her outfit for tomorrow, although she disliked dancing with some of the princes, there were a few who she enjoyed a dance with, just not enough to spend the rest of her life with. Besides, sometimes the princess was lucky enough to sneak in a few dances with the commanders that were undercover at the ball, those were her favorite dances as they knew how to have fun. Once another handmaiden picked up the dresses to take to get silk pressed, the princess began wandering the halls looking for some trouble to get into, and trouble she found. She was wandering when she bumped into the elven commander Alok. She giggled softly as she looked at him, remembering how he had humbled the recruit earlier. “Good morning commander, impressive show you put on earlier!” She exclaimed, flashing him one of her bright smiles.



Romanos had properly positioned all of his recruits outside of the castle, as the ones inside needed to be as focused as possible. It was much more likely that there would be trouble inside rather than out. He took in a deep breath as he headed back to his room to make sure he actually did have nice enough clothes to attend the ball. After a few minutes of leafing through the clothes in his closet he found a nice button down white shirt, a golden chain, and black dress pants. Thank the gods. He hadn’t really wanted to make a last minute trip down to the town as he knew it would be especially busy with everyone preparing for the ball.

[~NatureSword~]

Alok was looking up towards some of the higher levels of the room, thinking about posting a guard or two up there before he suddenly felt him being pulled out of his thoughts as he bumped into someone. Once he realized who it was, he gave a little bow,"Your highness, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there." He admitted before he felt a wave of pride and grinned at her,"Thank you, though you are too kind. And please, princess, you can just call me Alok." He told her before smiling as he looked at her,"You are as beautiful as ever." He complimented her.

Kisa made her way through the markets in the town, carefully weaving her way through the crowds of people before coming over to one of the fruit stalls. She looked at them and bought a couple of a few different fruits, some which also happened to be the princess's favorite. After settling them into her basket, she continued on through the crowds, as much as she didn't like to be there. There was just too many people, and it was so loud, and you never know when-..... Kisa's eyes grew a little in a panic after squeezing by some people as the hood of her cloak came off her head, her kitsune ears being revealed. Not thinking too much as her breathing quickened a little, she ran off to the nearest alleyway to hide herself before too many people could see.
After finding a quiet and mildly empty alley near some stairs, Kisa reached back to put her hood back on before her ears twitched to a sound, something that sounded like rubber, before she turned around quickly to see what it was, only to find herself as the target for some kids who were throwing and sling shooting some rotten tomatoes before running away laughing. They got some on the top of her dress, her neck, and even the side of her face and hair. She stood there a little stunned before she picked up the faintest sound of some men laughing in the distance. Now it made it sense to her, but she did nothing but stood there by the stone stairs, her basket having fallen to the floor.

[cronchbottle]

"Oh no you are quite alright! I should have been more careful," Adeline replied, a soft blush appearing on her cheeks. "Oh Alok, you flatter me too much." She said as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, smiling brightly at the knight before her. "Shall I expect your presence at the ball tomorrow? It would be a pleasure to have a dance with such a regarded member of our army," she questioned, doing her best to calm the blush that she could feel creeping into her cheeks. Usually she wasn't so bold, but there was something about Alok that really drew her to him.



Romanos cursed to himself as he looked around for his cufflinks, not finding them as he looked and looked through every drawer. He would have to go into town after all. He huffed as he walked down the path, not at all excited as he saw the large crowd preparing the city for tomorrows ball. He looked to his left when he heard men chuckling, which usually meant trouble as he recognized those laughs very well. Upon looking he saw the princess's handmaiden and rushed to her side, shoving the men aside roughly as he went to her aid. "Oh come on lets get you back to the castle," he said, frowning softly as he began carefully wiping the tomatos off of the woman. "You are too pretty for them to be treating you like this," he said as he placed the cloak back over her ears, making sure to be as gentle as possible. "I'll explain to the princess what happened, we will get this taken care of." He said as he gently placed an arm around her waist to guide her back to the castle.

[~NatureSword~]

Alok smiled at the princess as she tried to take the fault,"How about this? We're both at fault." He said with a little goofy grin. Normally he wouldn't have tried to such a compromise with someone from the royal family, but he felt that the princess would be fine with it. He listened to her question before giving a brief nod,"But of course. I wouldn't miss it." He said before something inside him wanted to be really bold. He gentle took her hand in his before he bent down, his eyes looking up at her,"If it pleases you, I shall save my first dance for you, Princess." He said before planting a soft kiss on the back of her hand.

Kisa stood there a little stunned, not making any movements until she heard a familiar voice. She lifted her eyes off the ground and looked at the knight that stood before her. She stayed still and silent, as he carefully removed some of the tomatoes that lingered on her before she nodded a little in reply about going back to the castle. She was glad that the cloak was replaced and over her head, hiding her cheeks as she could feel them warming up a little to his words. She tensed for a brief moment as his hand wrapped around her waist before she allowed him to lead her back. Kisa frowned a little at the thought of Adeline before shaking her head a little,"N-No, it's alright. S-She doesn't need to be involved. I-I'm okay." She finally replied to him softly. Her voice was surprisingly calm and normal for her after such an ordeal. However, her eyes told a different story as she didn't realize the tears that were forming under her eyes.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline giggled, "I will take that little compromise." She said, smiling happily at his goofy grin, she thought that little smile of his was rather cute which in turn made her smile even brighter. She let out a slight gasp as she saw Alok bend down and take her hand, she felt a blush again creep into her face and butterflies in her stomach. "It does please me dear Alok, I will hold you to that." She said after quickly recovering from the shock of his bold move. "Now I must be going, I have a few more things to attend to before the ball, but I will be eagerly waiting for that promised dance." She said, before placing a small kiss on his cheek with her soft lips, quickly hurrying away after she did so, her heart racing wildly as she had never done something so bold.


"I believe she does, and I shall do my best to accompany you on these trips from now on, or send one of my best knights if I am occupied. It is a crime after all to attack a member of the royal service, I will make sure that an official reminder is posted throughout the town on that matter before any further action will be taken." Romanos huffed as he carefully walked her back into the castle guards. "Just because you are different doesn't mean that you should be attacked like that, not everyone is elven or human." He said as he escorted back to her room. He looked around for some wipes and then finished cleaning the rest of the tomatoes off of her face. "Do you need anything else from me? Some company even?" He questioned, doing his best to try and make the other feel safe.

[~NatureSword~]

Alok smiled at her,"I'm sure that you will, Princess." He said, counting on her to hold him accountable. He noticed her leaning towards him before feeling the soft kiss on his cheek, slightly surprised, but it was not unwelcomed. He was about to say something in response, but was left watching her run away and out of the room. Alok stood there blinking for a few seconds before he gave a goofy grin and crossed one hand on his chest and did a slight bow at the waist,"Until tomorrow." He said quietly to the air, as though she was still there in front of him. He smiled before going back to making preparations for the ball.

"I-It was just a couple kids pulling a prank...." Kisa said quietly. While she was fairly certain that those men had put the kids up to it, there was no sure proof that that was true. Maybe they did, and maybe they didn't. And why was she trying to defend them? When they got back to her courters, she slowly sat down on a chair as she heard him rummaging around to find a cloth. There wasn't a whole lot in her room. Basically just the basic necessities. By the time he was in front of her and cleaning her face, a tear or two slipped down her cheeks, though Kisa still remained unaware of her tears,"I-I..... I-I don't know....." She said quietly.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline slipped back into her room, her heart racing wildly at the bold move that she had just made. Did she really do that? Yes, yes she did. She took in a few deep breaths to collect herself before wandering over to the large bay window that overlooked the forest. She stood there for a while, carefully observing the birds fluttering around before she was taken out of her daydream by a knock on her door. It was one of the kitchen servants with her dinner, she let them in, sitting down in her bed to eat. Usually she didn't do such a thing, but she was rather tired and didn't feel like walking down to the dining room at the time. Besides, she wasn't exactly ready to face Alok again as the more she thought about her actions, the more anxious she got.

"It doesn't matter who did it, they should be punished for their actions. Besides, I don't feel like they did it on their own accord. That group of men you saw has been causing trouble across the town for months, sadly not enough to put them away for long periods of time. I would love to get them taken care of, especially now that they did something so horrid to such a caring person." Romanos said kindly, trying to lesson the hurt Kisa was feeling. "Well, I will stay right outside of your room if you decide you want some company." The knight said, gently wiping off her tears with a soft smile on his face. "Let me know if you need anything, alright," he said, before walking out of the room to stand outside of the door.

[~NatureSword~]

When he was done making preparations, Alok stretched his arms over his head and looked towards one of the outside windows,"Huh.... Evening already? Wow, time sure flew by today." He said to himself. As though almost on cue, his stomach let out a low growl before he chuckled at himself,"Maybe I'll go find Romanos and see if he'd like to hit up the tavern with me to get some dinner." He murmured quietly before smiling at that thought and then nodding in agreement to that thought. He walked out of the room and into the corridors before he started to whistle to himself as he started walking, thinking of where his comrade would be right now, though even that proved to be difficult as his mind often slipped back to his encounter with the princess.

Kisa quietly listened to him as she just sat there. Maybe he was right about those men. He was a knight after all. She suddenly felt a warm blush creep onto her cheeks once again at his comment towards her. It was something that she was not used too. She noticed his hand moving to her face again and thought that there was a bit more to clean off before her ears slightly pricked upon realizing that he was drying her tears. She didn't say anymore to him before nodded a little in acknowledgement. When the familiar click of her door was heard as it closed, she gently touched a hand to her cheek. Tears? How long as she been crying? Kisa wondered for a brief moment before she suddenly thought about the soft touch of his fingers to her skin and the way his soft smile was to her.

[cronchbottle]

Adeline dug into her dinner, which today was partridge with a side of mashed potatoes which happened to be one of her favorite meals. She ate quietly, pondering what tomorrow would be like for her, hoping that it would be much better than the last years. Shaking the worried thoughts out of her head she finished her food before wandering over to her balcony to get a breath of fresh air. She sighed softly as a soft breeze brushed against her face, blowing her curls gently as she looked out over the kingdom.

Romanos sighed softly to himself, that poor woman didn't deserve that kind of embarrassment. He didn't understand why others were so cruel to those who are different than them. He leaned against the doorframe, ignoring the grumble his stomach was producing, he wasn't about to just up and leave her for some food, not until he knew she was feeling at least a little bit better. He would get this situation handled, one way or another.