“Captain, would you quit moping and get back to work?” Valneiros said. The dull thud of the stamp pressing into the papers was the only solace Eliqinor had. His face had long ago stuck to a paper on his desk. The ink probably dried on his face by now, and that was how he became one with the document.
“No…” Eliqinor replied. It had only been a few days since he had been called back to work. The break was supposed to be longer, but the ones who had taken his place at work messed up the paperwork. As a result, the Empress requested his assistance. The paperwork had been in a disastrous state so he had to call in backup, but Aila had forbidden that backup to be Shafir. Something about him having other responsibilities he had to attend to. Last Eliqinor knew Shafir was relaxing back at the manor, enjoying his recuperation.
“...” Valneiros’ stare bored holes into Eliqinor’s head. He knew he was being annoying, but how could he not? The one reason for him to get up every day and deal with all this stupid paperwork wasn’t here. The luxury of having Shafir around was enough to let him power through a week’s worth of papers in one day.
“Besides, I know I asked you to help me, but why is he here?” Eliqinor said and looked up. Valneiros sat in Shafir’s usual spot and beside the tall wood elf sat Katar. Next to Valneiros, Katar looked like a gnome because of his stature. His red hair bounced as he wiggled around on the couch.
“You were the one who interrupted our day!” Katar responded. He pointed at the older elf, who stared back at him. The paper stuck to his face would probably have made Shafir hide a chuckle, but these two ignored it in favor of letting Eliqinor make a fool of himself. “We made plans for his day off and you showed up asking for help.”
“Your plans were probably stupid anyway,” Eliqinor said and waved off the feisty redhead’s protests. There was a loud gasp of dramatics before Katar spoke.
“Were not!” Katar shouted from the safety of the couch. Valneiros ignored the bickering and went back to work on the papers. Katar used him as a shield when Eliqinor shot him with a look of annoyance.
“Let me guess, you were going day-drinking and to get sloshed?” Eliqinor’s face spread into one of a smile when Katar had no comeback. Eliqinor couldn’t say he was much better though, because whenever he had a rough day or a free day, he’d do the same. Except only when he was in their company. Eliqinor couldn’t remember when he first befriended the redhead, but he knew it had been Valneiros who introduced them. The redhead somehow ended up in a weeping pile by the end of their drinking session and Eliqinor had to watch as the wood elf carried the small sun elf off.
They were all friends now though, so he couldn’t complain too much. It didn’t help that they also knew a little too much about each other now. So that left Eliqinor in a sort of vulnerable position.
“The Empress said he couldn’t come to work,” Valneiros interjected, trying to save the situation. It was clear he was trying to help them both save face. The change of conversation was for the better, or the two elves would start arguing.
“I know, and it’s killing me.” The other two elves did not enjoy Eliqinor’s dramatics. Katar sighed with annoyance and Valneiros had to prevent himself from reprimanding Eliqinor for slouching.
“It was never said you could not seek him out yourself,” Valneiros helpfully supplied. Eliqinor thought about it for a minute. They had never specified that they forbid him to see Shafir, just that he would have different duties to attend to. Thus leading to him not being able to not go to his usual job.
“I can’t just walk up to him and ask how he’s doing.” Eliqinor found the request too bold and odd. How would he even know where to find Shafir? He wasn’t privy to what his current job entailed. Katar and Valeniros looked at each other in exasperation.
“Eliqinor, if I hadn’t walked up to some random person at the tavern and said hello and asked how they were doing. Do you know how many times I’d get laid?” Katar asked. Eliqinor didn’t know how this pertained to their conversation. “Zero and a half. That’s still more times than you.”
Eliqinor threw a paperweight at Katar, who laughed. He wasn’t wrong, though. Katar was probably the only person who could easily secure a date every time they went to the tavern. While Eliqinor was having trouble even getting Shafir to look his way.
“I don’t like it… But I’ll try,” Eliqinor said and laid his head back down on the table. “Just give me all day to emotionally and mentally prepare myself.”
“Captain! Please get back to work…”
~ ☽ ✧ ☾ ~
Aila took a sip from her teacup. It wasn’t uncommon for Shafir to be forced to meet her like this, but it had him more worried than usual. The last time he saw her was when she was lashing out at both Eliqinor and himself. Next thing he knew, they assigned Shafir to keep Orpha company.
“You called for me?” Shafir asked and sat in the chair across from her at the fancy table set up for tea. The tiers of sweets and sugar cubes cluttered the table.
“How is Orpha?” With how busy Aila was, he doubted she had much time to see her lover. It was also probably one reason she had sent him to keep her entertained. Living in a small room with little to do could drive one crazy, so having company was always good.
“The Imperial Consort is doing well. Though she misses you,” Shafir answered, and the maidservant put a cup of tea in front of him. He watched as she poured cream and syrups into it. Then the maidservant added a couple of sugar cubes. Tragic. Shafir’s nose scrunched up at the sickly sweet smell that rose from the cup. Aila had intentionally picked something he disliked. Her petty nature hadn’t changed, and for that, he was proud of her.
“She wouldn’t be so lonesome if I didn’t need to pick up someone else’s mess,” Aila replied curtly and sipped from her cup. He couldn’t fault her there. This was both his and Eliqinor’s fault.
Between causing strife over having to take time off because of their injuries, it threw the complete order of things into a mess. Temporary stations had to take their jobs and worst of all, Shafir heard an inkling of their temporary replacements fucked up all the paperwork, which had caused Aila to have to do all of it.
“My apologies, your Highness. I will do better next time.” Shafir forced himself to drink the sweet tea. It was her way of getting revenge without doing anything too wild. The look of satisfaction on her face as his expression turned sour like a cat that smelled something horrible, must have been a good sign.
“I have a proposal for you. If you accept this, there will be no need for a next time,” Aila said and slid a large stack of paper to Shafir, along with an inkstone and a quill. “Come back to me.”
“Wh-what!?” Shafir barely had time to cover his face from the shock, spewing tea all over his hand. He hadn’t even had time to look over the papers and Aila was already propositioning him.
“Being the personal knight of the Empress would increase your pay. I would give you the maximum benefits. You could live in the castle and you could live a cushy life. I don’t go anywhere dangerous these days.” Aila knew how tempting the offer was. Any sane knight would jump on the offer and a younger Shafir had, but he wasn’t like that anymore.
“I-“
“There is no need to give me an answer right now. You have all the time in the world to answer but I worry,” Aila’s voice contained care and he could tell that she meant it. He had no place at her side. Shafir was an aggressive and rather unpopular person, let alone the fact he had a curse mark. He already knew most nobles would probably dislike him, or the rumors that had eventually died off would return.
“But your relationship with Orpha, what if-“
“We have already discussed it. Well, by letter we did. Even if rumors start up that I am smitten with you, she knows it would never be true.” Aila smiled like she could never be wrong. How could they both blindly trust each other? Was that how it was when you loved someone? Shafir still couldn't understand, but if he ever wanted someone to trust him blindly, he had a certain someone in mind.
“I still feel like this is a bad idea," Shafir pressed. Even if the Empress suppressed the rumors and guaranteed his safety, it would still be a mistake.
“Even if you reject me, the offer will always stand.” Aila sipped from her tea and Shafir followed suit. Not without gagging slightly.
“Thank you, your highness.”
