Edan walked down the main city street, stretching his one shoulder as he rolled it gently. He had just finished a good brawl with Gwenmaris in the pub and was heading back home. The night was rather deep, heavy and black with a great network of stars to witness above. While the lamplights reduced the visibility a little within some of the heavier spots, the main road was rather dim tonight as few came out this way during the depths of the dark.
"Damn fine evening." He mused softly as he paused and looked up to the stars. "I bet you enjoy the view as well." He rubbed the palm of his hand gently, relishing just a bit in the feeling of Her. He smiled obliviously, losing thought again as he walked and stargaze directly into a cloaked woman.
"Ow!" She shouted as she fell over gently. Edan blinked at her tiny size despite the voice she was putting on that made her sound almost like a boy attempting a manly gruff. "You.. you..." She rubbed her back, almost completely covered by a rather splendid dress from the arabian penninsula, rich golden brown with a few small teardrop jewels decorating the hem by her ankles, which were covered by thick sandals, in a startling shimmer of sapphires. Edan concluded she was either a whore, or a lady who wanted a night's peace from her husband.
"My apologies, my lady." He knelt down softly, offering a hand. She stared at him with a bit of odd confusion, though he could not quite make out her eyes through a shroud across her eyes. Her slightly scrunch nose was clear, but it soon melted into a softer expression. The night obscured much beyond the subtle shift of shadows in clothing, but she soon took his hand in a dainty gloved finger. "I should have been watching more carefully, but the stars are just so lovely tonight. Don't you think so?"
"The... stars?" She turned toward him as he aided in dusting off her robe, making sure to only dust where the cloak covered a neutral zone. Edan wasn't particularly fond of sneaky gropers himelf, and had even taken a couple of his own soldier's hands for daring to steal or even attempt to steal a woman's dignity.
"Oh, yes!" He smiled, looking up to the shimmer of their endless constellations and swirl of things among the sky. Vast oceans of purples, blues, and the richest but tiniest flickers of amber gold among the endless sea of stars. His teachers had told him in his youth that they believed that was the Ether, a vast weave of energy that connected everything in the universe itself, even the planets and the stars. He found the name a little unnerving, and often preferred to simply call it the River. He found a far gentler beauty in that. The priests had given up teaching him a damn thing by the time he was five and had told them their god was a jerkface with a bad temper and a rude face. He had not been allowed near the churches since. "See how they dance and swim?"
The woman chuckled just a little. "Sadly, their beauty may be beyond me, my lord."
"Oh, please. Just Edan, or if you insist, Prince Edan. Not much for their titles if I am to be totally honest." He flashed a dorky smile as he held his hands to his sides. "We all bleed red and burn black the same, ay?"
The woman almost seemed stunned for a long moment, before vigorously agreeing. She shook her head so fast that it almost dislodged the wrappings of her dress along the head, and Edan chuckled more than a little as she fussed to fix it. "Yes, I do agree." She began once she was certain it wouldn't come undone again, fixed in place by a couple loose women's pins she had tucked in her brazier, Edan assumed at least. "Life is indeed simply life."
"I like to think of it more like we are all going to be wormfood someday. All going to the same holes in the ground, ay?" For a moment, Edan swore she looked nearly ready to wretch, but she waved at him as he paused. Perhaps he had simply imagined it. "Well, reason I say it is cause what's on your skin doesn't matter near half as much as what's in your soul."
"Hm... Edan, yes?"
"Hm? Oh, yes?" He had started spacing out at the stars again.
"I was hoping to go to a small library in town that's open late, but I am afraid I rarely leave the palace. I'd rather not be seen, and I'd enjoy an escort so I do not get lost."
"Well, why didn't ya say so???" He took her by the hand and turned to start a brisk walk. "Happy to escort a lady anyday!" He really meant it, too. No concept of lust or nastiness, not even a twinge of manipulation.
...
Nuru had not expected to run into any of the royals outside the palace, let alone the damned prince himself. He also had not expected him to not only be a gentleman, but he didn't even suggest ratting Nuru out. He even mistook her for a woman, which helped his little plan rather well.
He told Edan the name of the shop, walking with him along the rather rough streets. Harder and a bit more craggy or stoney than Nuru was used to, he had considered a couple times asking to be carried. He hadn't as he still wasn't sure what Edan's endgoal was, and he would rather stay on guard than leap into the potential maws of a beast.
A worry that died rather fast as Nuru listened to the warrior prince. He spoke the entire walk, nearly an hour at that, about the stars, history, and this neat new kind of flash powder he had figured out how to make that could melt right through rock. He spoke of Infern's early days and the rise of his father, reclaiming the ancient rite of their ancestor Arthur and taking down the countless greedy and cruel lords that had begun to consume all of England, Scotland, and still held a few poisoned tongues further east in Europe. His father had managed to work through alliances apparently with France, but they were tenuous. He wouldn't elaborate, but Nuru was rather happy to return to the more scholarly topics.
They started long and rather extensive discussions on the cartography of modern maps. Edan seemed rather irritated that they often favored fantasticism over direct factuality, though he had a soft spot for maps that had taken extra care to highlight historical and cultural monuments. Nuru himself favored more fluid maps, ones made to ever change and be a little more flexible, to which Edan relented a little and admitted to their usefulness. He didn't sound bitter, either, but he did pout. Nuru thought it was mildly cute seeing his handsome face pout... Wait. Handsome?
"Well, here we are!" They stopped outside an old library, in fact, the Library of Infern itself. "Oh you are going to love the old librarian!" He opened the door and stepped into the vibrant sheen of the well kept library with the disguised Nuru in toe. His jaw nearly hit the floor when he entered.
Every wall gleamed beautifully with silver plated brickwork that gave the place an almost infinite mirror look that shocking cast almost every reflection in an infinite shadow. The balance of mirrors killing the light so precisely though directed reflection that all one saw on the otherwise gleaming silver was a shadow of yourself, bathed in night itself. The bookshelves were all blackthorn polished to a deep, almost bluish black, and decorated on each corner with a nesting Raven made of carved blackthorn.
All the books look freshly dusted and shiny, gleaming covers that caught with little glints of gilded gold, brass, and silver with the rare but not unseen bronze spine across countless colored backings. Shelves upon shelves gathered, repenned and stored by the Librarian, who was leaned over the front desk. Black tarnished wood carved in a rather naturalistic style which gave the illusion of roots seeping into the clean floorboards which had the tiniest pockets of moss growing near each shelf and the desk. She gave a wide, red painted smile to Edan the instant he walked in, gazing up with rich amber eyes from her book.
"Prince Edan himself, back to come and finally sweep me off my feet?" She stood up straight, a broad bodied woman who wore it fantastically, much to Nuru's admittance. She stood barely taller than Nuru himself, and wore a black fitted dress that hugged her just right to give this feeling of a gorgeous teardrop. It had long sleeves that slipped at the ends into rings on three fingers of each hand, and a beautiful jewel like a crescent moon fixed to the center of her bust overtop of the neck high dress. She had similarly ivory skin to Edan, a rarity even in this land of pale skinned men, and her chest bounced with the bounty of her blessings as she stood up with a cheery smile. She had a singular mole just over her lip, so small that Nuru found it almost pleasing.
"Sadly, I must disappoint you again good lady Badb. However!" he enthusiastically pointed upward with an arm bent at the elbow. The motion paired with the goofy grin and the contrast to what she had just said nearly sent Nuru into a fit of giggles. "I bring a new customer!" He grinned, moving aside to reveal the shrouded prince. "A lady of the palace slipping out for some good reading. Surely you don't mind if she peeks around for something, right?"
"Oh no no no!" She giggled gently as she circled the counter, walking on black heels that almost looked like painted raven skulls. "Any friend of our sweet Prince Edan is a friend of mine!" She grinned happily.
"You are too kind, lady Badb." Nuru gave a gentle bow, blushing a little for what he couldn't figure.
"Oh hush with the lady nonsense. Edan, why don't you run down the street to the corner market and grab us all a nice batch of sweetbreads."
"OH FUCK YA! BE RIGHT BACK MATE!" He nearly slapped Nuru on the ass before he froze, sweating a little at his own error and quickly wiggling back. "M-my apologies!"
"Oooooh, so you fancy this kind of 'lady?'" She giggled with a hand in front of her lips teasingly. Nuru caught the implication even as it was apparent Edan hadn't.
"N-no! I just, well, we had such a good chat on the way here that I kind of forgot a little that she's a lady."
"What's that supposed to mean." Her tone was rather dangerous. "Women can't be smart?"
Edan waved his hands in front of him. "N-no!" Badb leaned in, almost nose to nose with the prince now. "Any woman can be! It is just, not many in court can even read outside of the council..." His forehead grew moist as she gave a narrowed gaze before sighing. She leaned back, holding her forehead with a hand on her hip.
"Sadly, that doesn't shock me." Her lip twitched lightly. "Idiots up there are too busy getting drunk or laughing about whatever gossip or mistress got too uppity."
"Well, not all."
"If they can hold a sword properly, they don't count." Edan began to start. "Or wear glasses." He shut up pretty quick, looking just a bit like a whining puppy. "Now. Go on, get our treats." He smiled, seemingly off the hook and took off happily into the streets.
Badb's gaze fixated now onto Nuru. "Now." She set her hands upon each hip and fixed Nuru with a quirked brow. "Why are you roaming this late at night alone I presume before our dear knucklehead found you, Prince Nuru?" He gulped slowly, caught so easily.
"H...How...?" He stammered softly.
"Not everyone in this city is a peon of that bastard church. Some of us still speak eagerly to the older, more sincere powers." Her hands crackledn briefly with a flash of lightning between her fingers that snapped with a purple crackle. "Some still respect the world and it's real gifts." Her expression softened. "Just like you."
He looked at her a little surprised. "You can even see -"
"See? You've practically got paintings lined up across the entire city for comission with that parade you had coming in. I didn't have to see those wings to know you have them. Doesn't help that you kind of reak like wet feathers." She waved a hand in front of her nose.
"I beg your pardon! That is the finest perfume in all of Cairo!" He got a little bit angry to be called smelly by someone who called mildew and dirt home.
"Then why wasn't it applied to you?" She flashed a smirk while leaning back against the desk on her elbows. Nuru nearly lost his head. "Guess the rumors among the little birdies is true. You got yourself a whore."
Nuru didn't know who was more surprised, him, or Badb, as his wing sat at her neck before either even saw it move. He heard his voice ring without even having thought of speaking. "Call my lover a whore again, and I shall take your head for laundry."Badb slowly pursed her lips, m,aking almost a sour face for a second before busting out with a hard laugh. She held her stomach, struggling with more and more giggling fits. "What?! I said do not insult her!"
She took a couple minutes to calm down, wiping her eye and snickering lightly. "How long have you be studying english there, kid?" She smiled at him deviously, and it sent a chill up Nuru's spine.
"Uhm, about two months. Why?" He fixed the dress, not wanting to damage one of the gifts from his beloved aunt. He would never see her again, but she sent such gorgeous treasures like this back home. She had always been his greatest champion in those early days where his condition made some of the priests think twice of his succession. He considered writing his aunt Hanna sometime soon.
"Wow, talk about impressive. Whole time you only flubbed one word." She suddenly switched to proper coptic. "Is this a little easier for you?"
"..." He cleared his throat, speaking back in the dialect of Cairo where he had personally grown up. "Yes. A little bit, at least."
"Ya know, you could talk with Edan like this. He speaks a few tongues. Bet whatever he's missing you could fill in."
"He can... speak coptic?" He raised a brow.
"Prince likes to dable around from time to time. Might surprise you. In a lot of ways, inn fact." She giggled ominously, and Nuru was pretty ready to get out of here just as Edan bounded back in through the door. He was carrying a bag full of what Nuru to his deathbed would call the foulest smelling 'food' ever.
"By... god..." He caught the near slip. "What is that horrid smell?" He looked to Edan, still pretending to blindness while he was looking toward Nuru.
"Sweetbread!" He cheered.
"Sweetbread?" Nuru asked.
"Cowstomach." Badb answered.
Nuru would not, in fact, hold in his dinner for much longer after that, but Badb took care of it. Someone would wake up to re-eaten fish and rice in their stew tomorrow, but they probably had it coming. Probably.