Reincarnated Prince just wants a quiet life

Part 12: A Request

I felt something cold and slimy slide across my arms and then my face. Opening my eyes I was met with a mass of tentacles as well clear blue water in the place where the sky should have been. A pair of glossy black eyes flashed in front of my face briefly before a series of squeaks rang out. Slowly the tentacles gently tighten around me in an oddly comforting way. This too was followed by a round of squeaks.

"Goodness, Puvia, would you let him go already?" said a familiar voice behind the mass of tentacles.

I could feel the tentacles loosening up but only after a series of squeaks that seemed to sound more sad than the previous ones. After a moment the tentacles that had tangled around me were undone and I was standing on my own once more. Puvia swam around in a wide circle before coming to rest on the back of a high backed throne where the goddess Paria was seated. "You know I didn't mind it all that much. Something about her is oddly comforting." I said.

Puvia squealed happily and squirmed around on the back of the throne, her tentacles going in every which way.

"Oh don't you encourage her!" Paria said exasperatedly before shaking her head, "Never mind her, Ivan just what are you doing here?"

"Did you not summon me here? Isn't that the only way for me to be here?" I asked.

"Huh... I didn't summon you. I was busy with other things when I felt a presence here. Imagine my surprise when I came to find out that the presence I felt was actually you." she replied.

"If you didn't summon me here then just how am I here? The last thing I remember is ..." I trailed off as the memory of firing the artillery cannon and the subsequent explosion that it had caused. "Oh gods! Darcia, and the others are they alright?"

"They are quite alright, in fact thanks to you not a single Padarian soul was killed. There were some injuries mind you, but nothing a good rest won't solve." said a woman's voice.

What happened next happened so fast that I wasn't sure it happened at all. Paria was suddenly by my side wielding a trident that glowed a teal color. Her flowing green dress was replaced with a thick suit of armor that looked to be made out of smoothed coral. There was a small slit through which I could see her green eyes and nothing else. Those intense green eyes were now focused on the woman who had appeared seemingly out of thin air.

She was a tall and slender woman that carried herself with a certain elegance that screamed royalty. She had pale white skin and long straight hair of the same color that flowed down her backside. She wore a white kimono that had blue snowflakes and dark blue flowers painted all over the fabric. She had a different kind of beauty when compared to Paria. Whilst Parias' beauty was more in your face, this woman was more subtle and elegant. She smiled softly and I felt my heartbeat quicken as her pale blue eyes locked with my own.

"I see you still have good taste in men, Paria." the woman said in a calm and joking tone.

"Why are you here Nunaira?" hissed Paria.

"Why the hostilities, Paria. I only came for a little chat." she said as she gilded closer to us before stopping and snapping her fingers. After which a table and chairs appeared, "Such an uncouth woman. Not so much as a welcome or a single offer for tea. That I would have to bring my own." she said as she casually took a seat. A cup of tea appeared in her hands, which she sipped softly before continuing, "Though you never did make any tea to my liking. Altogether too sweet, too much honey and other ingredients that go and ruin the flavor of the tea."

"I find it hard to believe that you came here solely to chat about tea, Nunaira. Out with it, why are you really here?" Paria replied in a level voice.

"Such a bore as always." she replied as she sighed and placed her cup down.