Chapter 8: Start From X

The sun steadily rose along the edge of the horizon, basking the whole of the world in a warm orange-red glow, signalling the start of a brand-new day. The dawn’s early light crept through the blinds of Skyhold’s medical chamber, slowly trickling in until its gentle beams cascaded across the sleeping of Tangerine Acrulenthen, causing her to stir in her slumber.

Fluttering her eyes open, Tangerine awoke, refreshed and revitalized, ready to tackle another new day at nursing her Chosen One back to health. The blood rushed to her cheeks as her stares met the equally flushed face of one of her disciples, a young woman no younger than 17 winters with long blonde hair and dark blue eyes.

“Your Majesty... G-good morning!” said the priestess in training, Maria, who doesn’t didn’t look at Tangerine naked forme.

The princess shared her embarrassment. Both still had had trouble doing this every night. The reckless damage done by Desmend’s physical boost spell was more extensive than they realized.

Multiple level two muscles related injuries, and the South African boy acted as if nothing happened! Muscle tears, lacerations, contusions, legs with hamstrings strains, rotator cuffs tears, ruptured biceps, and many, many more! Worse to Acrulenthen sisters Aura and Tangerine dismay, Desmend wanted to continue his spar with their sister Clementine!

The Elder Witch and Divine Priestess forcibly put their king on bed rest on the spot.

“You may go now,” Tangerine silently said as, once again, the Chosen One has the daily problem that all men face every morning. Maria promptly bolted out of bed without waking the king. Maria couldn’t handle his praises anymore, especially when his voice was changing.

To repair and mend all the damage that would get Desmend on his feet in 3 weeks was to do a healing ritual. It’s A high-level healing spell. For the magic to work, it requires two maidens of the goddess near the ages of the target being healed... in the nude.

“By the goddess,” Tangerine can’t look away. Maybe he would be grateful to his... They might even...

No! No time to get caught up in her fantasies! Tangerine had a boyfr- had a Chosen One to heal!

“Good morning, Tangerine... can I open my eyes to your wonderful form yet?”

Harry, Yulis, Aura and Eliza watched with silent amusement as Tangerine furiously paced herself around the Royal Library. She was mumbling to herself every now and then as she kept walking back and forth without an end in sight. With her priestess in training, Maria was red as the sun itself and not blinking.

“You might want to slow down a little, Princess Tangerine. You’re starting to wear down the floor,” Harry quipped from behind his report. The king is not going to like this when he recovers, or maybe he already knows.

“I will do no such thing, Sir Doyle. I’m on pins and needles here.” Tangerine muttered as she continued her rounds.

“Well, what’s the problem?” Yulis asked knowingly. “You just showed up out of the blue, invited yourself in, with a blushing Maria who doesn’t seem to respond to anything, and started pacing like the sun wasn’t going to rise tomorrow morning. What’s wrong?”

“The Chosen One,” Tangerine curtly replied. “He’s the problem.”

“The buffoon?” Aura raised an eyebrow. “What did he do this time?”

“How about waiting on me hand and foot ever since yesterday and today?” said Tangerine, earning a perplexed look from everyone.

“And... that’s a problem?” Harry deadpanned with a hypothetical grin on his face. The gay man had to give it to the king. He doesn’t make things boring!

“Hmph, sounds to me like he finally realizes his place in the world,” Aura coldly stated. “He may be the Chosen One, but he was never king material, to begin with; he’s better off being a butler or a servant to an individual of higher standing. At least then he’ll be acknowledged for something worthwhile.”

“Are you sure that’s not something that you would like?” Harry teased. “Imagine it, Aura. Desmend, by your side, all gussied up in a fancy ensemble, obeying your every order without protest. Your word is law, and he has to do whatever you say, no matter how outrageous or... suggestive, the demand.” Both he and Yulis cracked a slight grin.

“Quiet, you,” Aura grumbled with a heavy blush that didn’t go unnoticed by Harry’s and Yulis’s keen eyes. But they chose to remain silent, knowing full well that the enjoyment of it all was in Aura’s constant denial about her sense of infatuation for the dark-skinned man.

“Do you honestly have any idea what Maria and I went through yesterday?” Tangerine asked, stopping finally.

“No, but I kinda want to hear it.” Yulis gave Princess Tangerine a knowing smile. She needed more stories since the maids refused to even go near the king anymore since the voice changed. “Come on. Don’t skimp out on the details.”

“Yesterday, in the afternoon, I came back from training to find that he had prepared an extravagant meal for us, with lit candles, a decorative ice swan, a bottle of something he called cider chilled in an ice bucket and everything,” Tangerine started. “I have no trace how he pulled all that off. He somehow even managed to convince Sir Andre to play a symphony for us on a zither while he’d served us!”

“What? *Laughs* The lad can play the zither?” Harry exclaimed. “Wait, I’m so telling everyone this!”

“Not before me, you don’t,” Yulis said.

“Seriously? That’s the first thing you do?” Aura gave Harry a look.

“Well, look at it from my perspective. This is comedy gold! I never had so much fun in my life. So let me have this.”

“I agree; let us have this,” Yulis added.

“You tw-”

“Ahem!” Tangerine brought everyone’s attention back.

“Sorry, continue.” Aura apologized while glaring at the elf and halfling.

“Anyway, after we finished the unbelievably something that is not from this world, Aa tender cornish game hen with black truffle mandarin salad, which he all made himself, by the way, he went on to give us a foot massage. And let me tell you, when his hands touched the soles of my feet, they practically oozed.” She briefly shuddered from the memory. “I can still feel the lingering sensation of his touch from the night before tickling the tips of my toes!”

Tangerine didn’t hear a head landing on the table as she continued her rant.

“Then, there was the poetry reading (about me), the figure drawing session (of Maria), and lastly, the might night under the starry night with the full with a song (in dedication to the both us)!”

“Wow.” Harry whistled. “You must’ve had one heckuva night... Is that why those—”

“I’ll say, did you enjoy it?” Yulis asked.

“By Goddess above, I adored every second of it!” Tangerine shouted as she collapsed onto her knees and descended into hysterics. “But, the way he whispers my name in the sleep, the tone of voice he adopts whenever he speaks to me. It’s too much to handle! Then his voice got authoritative and commanding as the healing ritual fixed what happened to his voice! It sends shivers down my spine each time he addresses me!”

“Um, sister,” Eliza spoke for the first time.

“I’ve been trained to break bones of both man and beast in alphabetical order, I can take on a small army of demons beasts and win all by myself, I can heal an entire squad of men and women for hours, backwards, but I don’t know how to deal with the unwavering passion of that man!” By now, she had curled up into a ball on the floor, huddling against herself as Aura rushed on over to console the hysterical girl. “Ugh, I feel so pathetic... I don’t even think he even needs me. Worse, he is not even trying to court me.”

“There, there.” Aura patted her on the head. “Let it all out.”

“I didn’t realize that being treated like a queen, a goddess, can make one feel so inferior...” Tangerine mumbled.

“I’m surprised, Princess?” said Yulis. “I thought you had a thing for him, judging by how social you are with him compared to most of the other boys. And now that he’s showering you with praise and gifts, you’ve become a nervous wreck caught between a rock and a hard place. Was I wrong in my hypothesis?”

“I don’t./She doesn’t like him,” said Tangerine as she regained her bearings. Along with Aura.

“The man is throwing himself at your feet; what’s stopping you from snapping him up?” Yulis inquired. “He is the king, but he is also the poorest man in the county because he is paying everything out of his vault. Even though the Royals hate his guts, the people everywhere love him because until the of next month. There are no taxes... Take that man already.”

“YOUR MAJESTY, WHAT ARE YOU BUILDING NOW?” They heard Andre yell from the courtyard. “HOW HAVE YOU BEEN HEALED ALREADY?”

Aura and Tangerine rushed out of the library quickly before Tangerine could answer Yulis question.

“I swear to the goddess if he destroys my courtyard...” So Eliza said and sprintedafter her sisters.

Harry and Yulis just stayed where they were with smiles on their faces.

“Every day, the king gets crazier and crazier,” Harry said. “I love it. Do you have what ‘bombs’ are? The king told me to find Saltpeter and the yellow stuff that comes from volcanoes. “

“I have no idea, but I bet it’s crazy.”

*Boom*

The duo jumped from their seats by the sound of thunder on earth

“What the devi-” Harry didn’t get to finished when he heard yelling again from the courtyard.

“HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY!?”

“God, I hope so! It wouldn’t work if I weren’t!” Desmend loudly declared with a clear hint of madness in his voice. “I woke up today, and I was struck with a wonderful idea!” They heard him say. “If I’m going to destroy the four lords and cast in the lottery ticket... Then I need to build a weapon of mass destruction!! It is brilliant, brilliant, BRILLANT! Ah ha ha ha ha!” He cackled wildly.