sbi royalty

interlude from raccoon boy & (??)

Tommy carefully positioned his feet on the his balcony's railing, he made sure to use the thickest section by the wall, with one last glance around, he leapt for the adjacent balcony. He tried not to look down, the 3rd storey is a long fall down.

One foot landed, the other just scraped the stone and slipped, dangling above the treacherous 50m drop below.

His hands scrambled to grab the railing and he quickly wrapped his arms to make his position secure.

His heart pounded in his head and he shut his eyes tightly as he grunted and hauled himself up and over onto the balcony floor. With a sigh he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the sky for a minute to let his heart slow down.

After one last deep breath Tommy came up to a seat, then slowly to a stand. The sudden realisation dawned on him that someone. might of seen him and he dashed to open the doors and go inside.

In a split second, he was inside with the wooden doors firmly closed behind him. The room was a small one, with only a cot and a few toys. Tommy hadn't been in here for a while, not much reason to visit a long unused nursery.

He tried his best not to cough from the dust as he left via an adjoining door to a spare bedroom, then finally out into the corridor. The guards were far behind him now, he just had to reach the North Tower without arousing susupicion. That can't be so hard, right?

In truth, this was actually a practice run for Tommy, it being noon and all. Him being spotted now wasn't a big deal, unless he was doing something stupid and reckless of course, (for example jumping across balconies springs to mind).

However, going towards and in the North Tower would be very peculiar for a prince, since it's only used by the guards.

Tommy began the stride swiftly down the corridors, he made sure anyone he passed had little time to debate his actions in their head as he moved past them so quickly. Eventually, the corridors became less ornate; more stone, wood and basic torches. He soldiered on for a bit further until he finally noticed light beaming out from around the corner, he raced towards it without a second thought and before he knew it-

"AGH!" Tommy shouted. In his rush he had completely missed the rather tall boy who had just innocently rounded the corner himself at just the right time for him to collide into the prince. Tommy recoiled immediately and after catching his breath looked up the boy who he assumed must be some sort of messenger or page, however Tommy couldn't get over his unusual hair.

"I'm terribly sorry Your Royal Highness! I didn't mean to, I will of course accept any punishment you see fit." He responded sincerely.

Tommy froze for a moment before staring right at the page's hair and saying,"What's with your hair?"

He raised his eyebrows, completely taken aback by the Prince's lack of care for the current situation, while simultaneously being fascinated with his hair.

"How is it like that?"

"I don't know Your Highness, I understand it's unusual to have half-black half-white hair but this is just hair it has always been I'm afraid..."
He trailed off, gazing outside briefly.

While Tommy still stared, he simply replied "I see." seemingly deep in thought. "Oh and don't worry, punishment is not necessary."

Tommy reentered the real world and looked the boy up and down. "Wait, that's not our uniform...Who are you?. Tommy demanded taking a step back, he knew to be wary, he'd trained for much worse scenarios.

"It's okay! I am just new sir! That's all I swear!" He put up his hands in defence."In fact, well, I didn't want to say this, but I'm actually lost..."  He looked down at his shoes.

"Well, I was supposed to be doing something sneaky but oh well, I'll just have to wing it later, I'm not busy, and you seem like nice company so I'll take you wherever you need to be. Sound good?"

The page was shocked about how little the prince cared that he was just a commoner, he supposed it must get boring...

He nodded his head and the two set off across a large stone bridge leading towards the main building.

As they walked, a something dawned on Tommy and he quickly spoke up:"Say, I haven't asked for your name, have I? I'd like to know so that I can always put in a good word for you if needed." Tommy's softer side seemed to come out around friends his own age, he felt more relaxed, more at home.

"Ah of course, it's Ranboo, Your Highness."

"Tommy! It's been a pleasure."

And with that, they reached a pair of heavy wooden doors flanked by two guards.

"This is it Ranboo, I hope you enjoy it here."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

He bowed slightly before being let through, the guards gave each other puzzled looks before snapping right out of it as Tommy stared right into their souls. It was a rather curious sight to be fair.

Tommy sighed before slowly turning around to head back to his chambers.

'What time is it? Oh crap!'

After checking his watch and realising he was about to be late for another sword lesson he sprinted off down the corridor, almost bumping right into a couple maids, leaving anyone who saw him even more confused than usual.