The feeling like he had made a mistake didn't go away the next day. Or the days after that.

Training had only gotten more intense, so it actually seemed like they were planning on using the guards to fight. Well, at this point they almost had no choice since half of the soldiers and almost all of the knights were off giving Avaviles a reason for battle. Takkoria's famously large number of fighters weren't there.

Nikkol knew that they'd been in Caben for a while now. It wasn't that big of a location, and if they haven't found her by now then they were likely to never. Either she was dead or decided to go somewhere else.

"Hey!" Nikkol pulled his attention to Edgal, who was looking at him like he'd been trying to get his attention for a while. He hadn't really talked to his friend over the past few days, mind too preoccupied with his own situations. "We're going drinking." Edgal demanded, swinging an arm around him, but holding that arm tight, letting Nikkol know there was no backing out.

Nikkol still tried to. "I'm really tired today, they worked us hard."

"Exactly, we all need a break, need to relax."

"But I just wanna go to bed."

Edgal groaned. "Come on! You haven't hung out with me in forever and I'm starting to feel neglected!"

"Don't you have Anaiah taking up all your time?"

"It's not the same." He squeezed his arm tighter. "You're not getting out of this. It'll just be me and you this time, I'm sure we have a lot to talk about." With the way he spoke it was obvious he was talking about what was going on between him and the prince.

Nikkol didn't say anything else, keeping his head down and getting out of all his armor. He didn't protest when Edgal dragged him all the way to their usual tavern, in truth barely being aware of it. He had trouble focusing since his mind was busy. His own thoughts tended to be more unfocused too, although seeming to have a common theme: Setial.

Edgal led them to a table in the back of the tavern, kind of separate from other people so they'd have some privacy to talk. "What is with you lately? Has Prince Setial been giving you a lot of trouble?"

Nikkol shook his head. "None."

"There's obviously something up with you and I'll bet it's the one thing that's changed over the past few years. Tell me what happened." Edgal pressed.

Knowing his friend, Nikkol knew he wasn't going to let this go. It had been pressing on his mind lately, so he figured he might as well tell him. "I stopped going to his room at night and he's been ignoring me since."

A lot of that wasn't true.

For one, he made the decision to stop going seem a lot more insignificant and unconfrontational than it was. The screaming and yelling and pushing were a big part of the story and something that Nikkol often reflected back to.

Secondly, he hadn't been completely ignored.

At first he was. The first day after their... talk, Setial passed him in the hall. Nikkol, having broken the rules concerning him so many times, let his eyes follow the prince so he got to watch him a few more seconds. The prince's gaze didn't waver from pointing forward both there and back. He did, however, yell particularly loudly at his father in the throne room.

The second day, he passed again, this time, he looked at Nikkol, eyes displaying a pained emotion on the way back. No yelling happened that day.

The third day, well, that day, Setial looked at him and froze in front of him, like he wanted to say something, but continued on, not even looking at him on the way back.

Nikkol knew he was being pathetic, practically documenting the every sight of the prince, but couldn't help it.

Not when every glimpse of him made his heart flutter in hope.

Not when the very thought of him made deep feelings of regret and longing shot through him.

He tried remembering how lonely, upset, and detached he felt from him when he had temporarily shared his room, but all he could remember is that he was there. He was there and Nikkol could see him whenever he wished.

"Yeah, you told me earlier that you were allowed to go there every night and then you stopped coming out with us." Edgal reflected quietly, bringing Nikkol back. "Why did you stop going?"

Nikkol shrugged, although the question made his heart ache. "He's been tired and angry all the time because of Avaviles. We barely talked and I didn't like that." He simplified it even though it felt much more complicated than that. He felt so much more than that. "So I stopped going. I doubt his life changed much after that, as I said, we barely interacted at all at that point."

"And this happened two days ago?"

"About three or four actually, this day's practically over."

"Three days ago?" Edgal fixed himself, clearly annoyed at Nikkol's little correction, but having too much on his mind to complain about it. Nikkol raised a brow, he hadn't told Edgal about that. "Your sad, downer mood increased around that time." Nikkol huffed in annoyance, leaning back in his seat and looking elsewhere, done with the conversation that felt like it was getting nowhere despite having just started. "And I think the prince has been plenty affected."

Nikkol's interest was caught, as anything involving Setial was something he cared about. "What do you mean?" His sudden energy was obviously noticed by Edgal, who looked at him like he couldn't believe what he'd become, and Nikkol couldn't blame him.

"You haven't noticed how he's went and talked to his father in the throne room, a very public place, three days in a row?"

"That's nothing new."

"But it's been something we've talked about here for the past few days. Yeah, I know, maybe you should've come." Nikkol didn't like this weird fighting thing with Edgal. Usually they'd act mad when the other had done something to irritate the other, but it was all done with a strong underlying fondness. Now, that didn't seem to be that present and it wasn't a fight yet but not a friendly conversation. All this flitting between the two made Nikkol feel like a woman. "He was really irritable the first day he was acting weird. And I mean really irritable. He snapped at pretty much anything, then, the next day, he said like one sentence then nothing else. I don't know how he was today, but I'll bet it was equally as weird."

"That doesn't mean anything, everyone's just on edge from the upcoming battle." Nikkol snapped at him, not letting hope bubble up inside him, he knew it would amount to nothing.

Edgal looked taken aback. "Hey, man, I'm just trying to help."

"Sorry." He immediately felt guilty for taking his anger at himself at his friend. Edgal really didn't deserve this, he'd been trying to make sure he was okay and to keep his social life semi-active throughout the whole thing while Nikkol disregarded him. "I'm just really tired and stressed. I'm just going to head to bed."

Edgal nodded. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea."

He didn't follow Nikkol out, who left quickly to not say anything else he'd later regret.

But the tired and stressed feeling didn't go away the next day, and left him silent and miserable for the entirety of the morning. When he was on shift there was no talking allowed, so he was allowed to sulk in peace.

Being with Setial had ruined a lot for him.

He was losing his best friend, his sanity, and was incredibly unhappy at the moment.

But he had saved him.

Saved him for months more of the same exact routine and given him something to look forward to and care about.

He wouldn't give up the time they had spent together for anything. Except maybe more.

His thinking was cut off at the sound of footsteps. Like with every person that passed by, Nikkol waited expectantly, hoping he'd get to see a certain someone.

He not only got to see him, but got to hear him as he stopped in front of him. "Hi." Setial said quietly. He didn't look good, like he hadn't been sleeping well and like the whole world happened to rest on his shoulders.

Nikkol wished that he wasn't on duty, or at least wasn't in a place where he was unable to respond in case someone overheard or was watching. 'Hey.' he tried to convey with his eyes. 'Please keep talking to me.'

His wish was granted. "Come, I, um, want to talk to you." Setial shuffled uncertainly for a second before slowly reaching his hand out and grabbing Nikkol's, looking at him to make sure he didn't pull away before turning and walking in the direction of his room.

Nikkol felt an overwhelming amount of both happiness and worry.