Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
👑 N I K O L A I 👑
"Good day, Your Highness."
"Good day, Miss Ceron. How are you on this fine day?"
"I am very well, thank you. How about you?"
"I cannot complain, the company is great and we have good wind." Nikolai turned towards the water after seeing her smile at his comment and leaned against the railing. "Do you enjoy boat rides?"
Aneel nodded. "I adore them. Although I can't tell that I have been on this kind of ship once before. It looks like it is very agile and can move fast, but it could be difficult to manoeuvre on open water because of its fragile frame."
Nikolai blinked a few times, surprised. The perfect description of this ship. "That is correct. How do you-"
"A glass of wine, Your Highness?"
He hadn't noticed Vilde approaching from the far, his attention had been on Aneela by his side. "Uh, thank you." He shot her a quick smile and took the wine before turning back to the zemini. "Do you-"
"Aneela, I think Kheru is looking for you."
That is clearly a try to get rid of her; I bet Kheru is with Tolya and doesn't even think about her friend right now.
"Kheru is on the lower deck, watching the squallers perform – I would only disturb her."
Not one hint of anger, Nikolai noticed, she has all rights to be very mean to any of them due to their-
"You were about to ask me something, Your Highness?"
Her focus was on him now. Only on him. Vilde in front of them was long forgotten as if she never came over and tried to pull Nikolai away from Aneela. "I lost it, I am sorry."
"We were talking about the ship, did you design it?"
He smiled and nodded enthusiastically, blocking out the fjerdan who was now desperately trying to come up with a reason to end their conversation, but Nikolai kept talking to Aneela. "I did, it went through five prototype stages until it was able to move on the lake like it does right now. I'm planning on developing its big sister for the sea, travelling could become even more efficient."
She looked up to the mast above them and let her eyes wander around for a moment. "With three more sails I assume, to balance out the size and get an advantage on speed and manoeuvrability?"
To say Nikolai was impressed was an understatement. "I ... planned on two sails, actually. One here and one here." He pointed at the directions. "Where would you put the third one?"
"Over there," she turned to the front. "I think a smaller one would help."
Finally, Vilde took a hint and left with an annoyed glance at Aneela.
