The Lore

The Lore Chapter 11

"Again, I am super sorry.." Julianne said as they were walking along "Again, I said it's fine", Izumi said, still rubbing the sore spot "But it's not fine! I should have controlled myself" she said, walking faster to overpass him and stop him in his tracks in front of him." Oh please, you were just kidnapped, if anything Sofia was right, it was my fault for scaring you when you could be still in posttraumatic stress." he replied looking bored, down at her "Yeah but-" "There you are!" a voice suddenly announced with made her jump a bit and look backward "Oh hello crown prince" she said curtsying and Izumi followed her lead by bowing towards him as well, "Please, Odom is just fine" he said bowing his head and putting his hand over his chest, which Kevin also followed his lead by copying Izumi's bow. "Alrighty now that we've done our greetings.." Odom says then stops as he looks around in his pockets for something which intrigues Izumi's attention." I'm sure it was here.." he lowly says, to which Princess Julianne tilts her head a bit to look from behind Odom to give Kevin a quizzical look, in response he shrugs his shoulders as he also doesn't know what the prince is doing. "Prince Odom... Is there a reason we are meeting? Or.." "Aha! Found it!" He says out of nowhere which scares Julianne a bit "What are you-" Before she finishes her sentence Odom puts a rose in front of her face which makes her back away a bit till he lowers it till they can see each other again in view with the flower out of the way. Julianne looks down at the flower surprised and she takes it from Odom's hands "I thought you may appreciate the gesture as a sign of respect and friendship between our two kingdoms, you seem to be the only heiress to the throne right? I did a bit of research, it would be amazing to be allies once I, king of Asheatha, and you, Queen of Ocheral" he says, about to say something but is interrupted "You want to be allies with us? And why is that? If anything you'd benefit us more, so what's the point." Izumi says coming a bit closer with smite in his voice while still keeping a sort of calm composure. This caught Odom a bit off guard, Julianne was too busy looking at the rose that she couldn't reprimand him and it was sorta making Odom nervous still, he tried to keep it calm. By dismissing him. "Well, is it so wrong to help others?" "No. I'm just saying it's stupid that you ask for us when we have nothing to offer you" "That's what you think. Have you heard the saying 'The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns'? I forgot the rest but it helps in this case anyway" he says slowly "What? That's just stupid, what does that even mean??" Izumi says, starting to lose his cool and gets close to Odom's face with a more intimidating face "...the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose' by Kahlil Gibran" which automatically makes Odom peek behind Izumi while he turns his head back a bit in surprise by Julianne speaking again. "Ah, it's nice to know someone understands," Odom says smiling, passing Izumi and walking towards her as she holds the rose close to her chest "You like Kahlil Gibran's work?" she asks "Hmm, let's just say I had an expensive education.. But yes, his work is impressive" which makes her brighten up.

As she's about to ask another question Izumi blocks Odom's face and pushes Odom back till there is a 5 feet gap between them with him in the middle which surprises Julianne as she looks at him "Izumi!?" which makes him turn to her at the sound of his name. (What are you doing?! I'm getting close to him!) is what he could read off her face "It's quite alright" as Odom pushes away Izumi's hand and 'dusts' himself off which draws back Izumi's attention to Odom "Well who even is this kAhIl GaRbAgE?? What about Shakespeare?? He's wayyy more famous! 'To be or not to be!'... Am I right?..." Izumi says as he's in an awkward pose with his hand raised to the air while Odom and Julianne just stare at him. Julianne takes a glance at Odom who... Looks utterly confused, she mentally facepalms her face with embarrassment *Pointed Cough* "First of all. It's Kahlil Gibran, one of my favorite philosophers and. . . Izumi . . . Thats Hamlet..." she says disappointed which makes Izumi falter even lower for kinda insulting her about her interests. "Maybe you could join my friend Kevin here, while you go blow off some steam," Odom says, making Izumi angrier just because of the thought of leaving his lady with him, and looks back at Princess Julianne for backup before he snapped. "Well... You have just been here for barely a day, and I did hit you pretty hard... So why don't you take a break?" She said nervously . . . It's not what he wanted to hear... " Yes, my princess, '' Izumi says, defeated. He walks off without looking back. Julieanne calls his name repeatedly. "Oh, I didn't mean to hurt him, he might've thought you were propos..." Her voice trailed off. "Proposing?? What, no I-I-I was just giving the rose as a peace offering." "Oh, umm well... Giving a rose to a lady means you are offering to court them." Odom turns a deep shade of red "Wha- well, I- ummm uh well this is embarrassing. Please know princess that I would never ask without your permission or knowing for sure that you would agree. Especially when you are in love with someone else and that someone else obviously likes you back." "Someone else...?" "Izumi of course, the way you look at each other, anyone with even the slightest amount of brain cells would be able to see you like each other," Odom says matter of factly. Now it's Julieanne's turn to turn a rich shade of pink."Is it so obvious?.." she says nervously "Pretty much but uh- sorry about the mix-up.. 'curse Roland's idea!' " Odom said and procrastinated at the end "Yes! About Roland though, I'm glad you're willing to be supportive of Roland's relationship" she says joyfully trying to bring the attention away from herself which snaps Odom back into the conversation.

"Wait . . ."

" What? "

Flashback

Royal Princes (Odom + Roland) POV:

"I think me and the Princess got off on the wrong foot," Odom said sprawled out on Roland's bed "Who? Princess Julianne?" Roland questioned, "Of course, who else?" "At least you didn't embarrass yourself in front of half of the dynasty.." Roland said looking a little more disheartened "Oh yeah. What was that about? The whole outburst" Odom clarified "Erm. You and Lady Julianne? What do you care about you two's relationship??" "I- Why does everybody do that?! There's nothing between us!" Odom said disgruntled "Ok! Chill, but still it's a valid question" Odom sighs "Father told me to make a good impression on her, something about joining our kingdoms together or something" Odom said still lying down and waving his hand lazily in the air "You're actually making an attempt to listen to father for once?" Roland joked "Hey! I do listen to him!" Odom said as his arms support his upper half as he shifted up a little. "Right, and our grandmother died a few years ago," he said in a sarcastic voice "Wait whaaaat?? I thought she did die?!" "What? No! She's at one of Dad's properties in retirement!" "Right and next you'll say Gramps is also in retirement alive and well in the same property as grandma," Odom says obviously not believing his brother

...

"He is??" Roland sympathetically and his brother for how much of a lost cause he is "Wait- you're serious? Eeeh" Odom says clamping his teeth together "I've missed so many postcard letters for them" Odom fully sits up and rubs his face as Roland stares off into space for a few minutes then starts to speak "Maybe you could give her a flower, or bouquet of flowers" "For grandma? Nah she's never been one for the flowery type." Roland smacks Odoms arm "Ow!" "I meant Julianne! Give her an assortment of flowers or something to show that you care!" "Ohhh" (I swear I question how we're related Odom) Roland thinks as he pinches the bridge of his nose "Great idea!" Odom says and heads for the door "Where are you going?" Roland questioned "To go find flowers? Duhh" Odom retorted "It's literally almost midnight, ten o'clock more specifically. If you go to the garden choosing a flower at this time of hour you'd probably mistake a flower for one of the eroded stones from the old statues" "Hey! And in my defense I was just going to make someone else go fetch it for me" "Don't you think it'd be more special if you grabbed yourself, at least she'd know you took care in this and tried to make an effort" Roland looked questionably at him, and Odom looks like he actually tries to think for a few seconds"hmmm... I guess you're right" he said looking up from his thinking phase and smiled pleasantly at him then headed for the door again "Well... Goodnight Roly Poly" Odom says, then closes the door slightly and leaves. His footsteps can still be heard becoming more and more faint as he walks farther to his corridors. "Why do they still call me that, just because I couldn't say my name when I was 2 and accidentally said that doesn't mean they can call me that!!" Roland smiles for a few seconds, then flops on his back and makes a very dramatic sigh.