Show me what it's for, make me understand it.
I've been crawling in the dark, looking for the answer.
He had never been one for games; even as a child, Altair had been alienated from the other children in the kingdom by being too serious and too pessimistic. What use was a playmate whose imagination revolved around his made-up military strategies, devising ways to eliminate high-risk targets, and who drew blood when the other kids did decide to try and play? Eventually, after one too many incidences, the subjects of the kingdom instructed their young to avoid the General’s odd son. When the General grew curious as to why none of the children were allowed to play with Altair, he had been pleasantly surprised when told the reason. His father advocated violence to his son like someone else’s father might’ve advocated abstinence to their daughter.
Moonstone went on to chide him for his lack of manners, something that forced Altair into fighting the urge to roll his eyes;
‘Oh please, woman, I barely touched you,’ he thought, giving his tail another sharp, annoyed flick moments before the White Queen had arrived. The palomino mare seized the opportunity to nag at him again, this time, for the manner in which he had addressed Ophelia – Altair couldn’t help but roll his eyes the second time, especially when she took the time to bow. Honestly? He had never, not once in his life, met a ruler that cared so much for such an over the top show of respect. They cared about loyal subjects and members of the kingdom who could get things done. Obviously, either Moonstone had never lived in a kingdom before, or she’d lived in one that had been run by a total idiot.
He tilted his head when she glanced back at him, and he nodded at her words, but then shot back with a snide comment of his own.
“I’m sure she would much rather get down to business, rather than have me wasting my time praising her and going over every little detail about how absolutely thrilled I am to be in her presence and how thankful I am that she appeared in my time of need,” It was the most Altair had said in quite a while, in fact, it was the most he’d ever said for as long as he could remember, and he gave Moonstone a rather smug, pointed look before he turned to address The White Queen herself.
“Pardon me for assuming things, though, Miss Ophelia.” Altair tipped an ear back, glancing in the direction that yet another mare was coming from. It seemed his much needed nap wouldn’t be happening for quite a while still
Altair followed her with his eyes, even as she sidled up right next to him; he couldn’t help but to keep curiously casting sidelong glances at the latest arrival. His ears twitched when she giggled, and a sleepy little smile found its’ way to his lips when she began chastising Moonstone. Oh, he was starting to like her already. Once finished, she switched her focus back to him, providing an answer to a question he had been pondering all morning. The Vistas, ah… now that was an interesting name for such a place.
“Ah, here is where we hit a small snag… it’s difficult to choose which path to take, when I know nothing of either of your kingdoms,” Altair told her, glancing between the two Queens. Each of them seemed like smart, capable women; certainly neither of their kingdoms would be running into the ground any time soon.
“I am Altair, by the way, pleasure to meet you both,” he shifted his weight from the right to the left, trying to find some way to be comfortable if he wasn’t going to be able to sleep yet.
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