Boboiboy: Elemental Tales

Friends to the Death [DQ AU]

Hello! I'm back! And not with the fic I originally had planned!

Rather, this is an AU I've had in mind for a long time and suddenly wrote on a whim. It's heavily based on the Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda, one of my favourite book series of all time! If you're interested, do check it out! (But, I beg you, don't judge it based on the anime adaptation. Oh lord, that show...)

Keep in mind: this is part of a series; this chapter and the following one will set up the rest of the story. All chapters in this series will be marked with [DQ AU] (see title).

Now, first off, I will swear up and down that the Kokotaim gang and elementals are not present in this chapter. There are mentions of marriage and pregnancy, but it's not them! I swear! (They're the focus in chapter 2, though.)

Second, the Shadow Lord has nothing to do with Fang. That was a coincidence I didn't even notice until the final round of editing.

Third, the absence of any names is important to the plot, so bear with me. There's much less annoying secrecy in the next chapter.

Fourth, for those of you who saw my nonsense code(s)... you'll see.

Warning: minor & mentioned character deaths, poor leadership, betrayal, mentioned marriage, mentioned arranged marriage, mentioned pregnancy.

***

i.

Two young boys. One, the crown prince. One, the orphaned son of a palace servant. Two best friends.

The nobles raise their eyebrows at it, but titles do not matter to little children. They are not like adults; they do not make acquaintances for personal gain, nor judge a person based on class, nor abandon old friends because of palace gossip. They simply look at each other and see new playmates.

Or, in this case, a new playmate. The sons and daughters of nobles kept to their own parts of the palace, as did those of other palace servants; the royal children never saw them. But the late father of the common boy had been a devoted servant, and the young prince was so lonely...

***

ii.

Their nursemaid is calling for them. Their tutor is looking for them from the schoolroom window. The chief advisor is probably furious.

It is exhilarating.

The two boys clamber up the big tree in the gardens, quick as lightning, and squeeze themselves into the hollow trunk.

Their nursemaid often laments the fact that they never devote the same amount of effort into their studies as they do their games. The future leader of the land, just as often, thinks that this is obvious; tree-climbing and archery are much more fun than history and literature, so why should they?

However, this leaves them with a slight dilemma: what to do for the next few hours, until the tutor retires for the day and they can no longer be dragged back to class. Their favourite secret pastime is Aim High, in which they compete to see who can shoot an arrow over the palace wall first, but that would be equivalent to putting up a giant sign declaring their location. So-

"Let's make a secret language!" Declares the prince, very nearly getting them caught with his volume.

His friend readily agrees.

Of course, they don't quite manage to create a new language. They do, however, come up with a sort of secret code by interspersing the letters 'el' and spaces randomly into the message. The first coded sentence that the servant boy writes goes like this: be stfri eeln dselfoelre veler.