Through the Looking Glass

A Dozen Red Roses for My Darling

"Uff."

Alver tried to catch his breath. The third round of getting kidnapped via bouts of questionable light that seemingly has a personality now- of course, they are alive...of course- didn't go as smoothly as the first two. The ground vanished below his feet and Alver went tumbling down, taking an equally floundering Cale with him.

They hit the ground hard, gaining another groan from Alver and a curse from Cale.

Alver started to get annoyed. He stood up after the ground stopped spinning and helped Cale by lending him a hand. They dusted their probably spotless clothes off and looked around.

"My turn, again.", Alver muttered, defeated.

Well-cared-for trees with no branch out of order, dozens of blossoming bushes and flower patches, and a variety of busy palace staff passed the duo. They were back in the Rowoon palace gardens. No golden light was visible. They vanished as soon as they dropped them here.

Cowards.

Cale's face expressed what Alver thought.

At first, Alver entertained the idea of exploring. Maybe catching a glimpse of his mother and child self. However, he quickly trashed that idea when the strutting form of the queen passed them in the gardens. Her clothes resembled an over-styled peacock and seemingly half of the entire palace staff was shadowing her.

Alver doesn't hate her.

She is the third prince's mother and obviously favors her own son, instead of supporting Alver, the rightful crown prince. Yet she didn't go through with annoying things like assassination attempts or openly neglecting him. She just ignored him, which was fine.

Also, Alver grudgingly had to agree that among all the women his father has dated, the queen is the most competent in the area of administration and noble etiquette.

Anyways, the idea of finding his younger self was scratched. If the queen was openly running around with that particular shiny crown, then his mother has already passed away. Child Alver will be knee-deep in swordsmanship lessons, administration, etiquette, and various other, extremely boring duties.

So, why are they here?

Cale stood next to Aver, impassively watching as servants chased after the surprisingly fast queen. In their hands were various gimmicks that Cale did not care about. He had to give it to the queen, her heels were higher than Cale's level of patience yet she still strutted across the ground with practical ease.

Once more, he is glad that he was born a man.

"What shall we do?", Cale asked with a soft voice. It wasn't his turn to lead and the young noble noticed that Alver made no action of following the queen, nor did he start searching for his younger self.

Alver gazed around with a critical eye. Dusk was slowly approaching. A golden hue colored the leaves of the trees in a warm orange and the smell of dinner filled the air. In an hour or two, the sun will be gone completely.

"How about we just enjoy the fact that nobody can see us and take an uninterrupted walk in the garden?" The idea sounded better the longer he thought about it. One of the things that annoyed Alver the most is that he had almost no privacy. Only in his own chambers and even then, some guards will stand outside his doors.

Right now, they are invisible or nonexistent and nobody will scold them for breaking protocol, wandering off in the gardens without adult supervision.

(Alver doesn't remember how often he cursed the palace protocols to the heavens and back. What extra adult supervision? He is over twenty?? But no, as long as you spend some time with anyone that is not family- three generations need to connect them-, you will be shadowed by a third party that will make sure that both of them are acting within boundaries.)