The Crown Prince Thinks I'm a Guy

The Insignificant Portals

"Don't tell me-?" I asked, and then gulped down once. "We're going in there?"

Norc and Heather looked down at me with surprise, then disbelief, and then with plain and undisguised humor. My cheeks blushed with embarrassment.

"We're... not?" I mumbled.

Norc fought to keep his laughter in while Heather knelt in front of me with a grin. She placed a gentle, yet coarse hand on my shoulder, as though I was a child she had to console, which only made me more embarrassed. She said, "No, sweetie. We'll leave that to the mighty soldiers of the Empire, yes?"

I glared at her. "I'm not a child excited about these sort of things. I was only assuming-"

She nodded swiftly, her grin faded out. However, I could still notice how her eyes twinkled with joy.

'Calm down, Eleftheria,' I thought to myself. 'They will only treat you like a child, because to most other people, you really are.'

That indeed made my blushing cheeks return to its normal state, and I had to fight the urge to glare openly at my companions.

After a while of silence, wherein the two teenagers somehow found it in themselves to look away from me and whistle at the wind (Heather still kneeling), I finally cleared my throat for their attention. "If it is not to enter said portal, then what might the distinguished mare be doing here?"

Heather turned her body back to face me, all too energetically, and replied just as animatedly. "We've been called here for back up!"

When she didn't continue on, I looked over to Norc. He smiled with a shrug, saying, "It's nothing but a formality. Mare Desiderii has always played an active part in the affairs of the Aerim Continent. Most of the higher nobles and founders of great organizations came from this mare, after all. So, whenever something as interesting as this occurs, the Mare couldn't possibly be out of the loop, yes?"

I gulped down. "You mean we were invited merely to... spectate?"

Heather clapped her hands, stood up from where she knelt, and brushed down the dust from her dress. She winked at me, saying, "You're a quick one."

I shook my head. "But then my earlier statement wouldn't be all bogus, either."

She froze and then tilted her head at me.

I explained, "Even if this is all a formality, it does not change the fact that we are here as reinforcements on paper. Hence, it was not altogether otherworldly for me to ask whether we would be going inside the portal or not."

Norc snorted and slapped me on the back twice. He grinned at me and faced Heather. "More than just a bit quick, if I should say so myself."

Heather shrugged good-naturedly. Then, giving me a curtsy, she offered, "Apologies for the undue response to your perfectly valid question. It was wrong for my motherly senses to consider you a child, when you are all but."

Although successfully placated, I still found it too much. "It's fine, Heather. Regardless of all things, I am still indeed lacking of experience."

She smiled easily. "Allow me to help you with that then."

Norc spluttered noisily, holding his hand up. "W-What kind of experience are you talkin' about again?"

She smiled freshly at us both. "Life... experience?"

I giggled quietly, and decided to veer the topic back into place. I inched forward and grabbed at Heather's gloved hands. Trying my best to smile as cutely as possible, I asked, "Then, who is inside the portal now?"