After the War's End

Chapter 6

The reddish light of dawn illuminated the room, waking the Sun-King, who found himself snuggled next to Aloy, holding her hand. He noticed that she was asleep on his bare chest, and he felt his blush growing exponentially on his cheeks. The situation both pleased and discomforted him. Part of him liked that she was so close, but at the same time, he felt the urge to run away. He tried to calm himself. He wasn't quite sure what to do. It was still early in the morning, but he needed to go supervise the state of the city, assess the damage, and continue with the repairs. "By the Sun..." he whispered, biting his lower lip. It would be impossible to move without waking her up. She seemed so comfortable... Her expression looked relaxed, with her eyes gently closed and a slight smile on her lips; her breathing was steady, and despite them holding hands, she wasn't applying any pressure with her fingers. Her palm was simply resting on his. After the night they had spent, she needed sleep and rest to regain strength. He sighed. He didn't want to wake her up and have her find him all flushed, so in the end, he decided to get out of bed as slowly as he could. He carefully got up, holding Aloy's body, which was sleeping peacefully, and laid her down on the pillows. Then he gently covered her with the blankets to keep her comfortable, and he grabbed some clothes before locking himself in the bathroom. Avad bolted the door and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He was very red. A silly smile appeared on his face. 'She's so...' he sighed, with a distracted gaze. Afterward, he freshened up and dressed in appropriate clothes for hard work, but not before examining his wound. Relieved, he could see that it had finally stopped staining his clothes; now the cut was dry. Still, he hurried to hide it under a white shirt. The time had come to go out again. He looked at his reflection, adjusting his hair, and saw that his face had regained its usual color. He carefully left the bathroom and cast a fleeting glance at the bed. She was still with her eyes closed, so he stealthily moved around the room.

"Are you going to be very busy today?" the huntress, who was lying down, startled him with her sudden presence, watching him.

"Wh-what a scare! I thought you were asleep." he laughed, rubbing his neck with his hand involuntarily "Well, in the morning I have quite a bit of work, but by mid-afternoon, I hope to have everything finished. Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to show you something, if you can... I think you might like it." she said.

"Alright, where should we meet?"

"At the bottom door of the elevator, even though it's broken, it's a good meeting point." he smiled, gladly accepting the offer "How are you? How's your wound?" she asked later.

"It's incredibly better, after how the healing went yesterday, I definitely didn't expect the pain to go away so quickly." she replied, placing her palm where the cut was. She smiled.

"I'm really glad." she kindly replied.

Afterward, they bid farewell, and Avad went off to attend several important matters he had pending in the palace. He was peacefully lost in his thoughts until someone knocked on his door.

"Avad," Blameless Marad said, entering "I have several reports for you. First, even though we prioritized fixing the crops right after the battle, the harvests have been too affected, so this year we'll have to trade with other tribes to get supplies. I also wanted to inform you that we've delayed the reconstruction of the wall, so I've increased surveillance in that area. The aqueduct also needs some repairs. While we managed to patch it up to keep the water flowing to the city, the sooner we fix it, the safer the canal will be; we don't want it to collapse." he received no response. The Sun-King was gazing absently out the window, with a smile on his face "Hello?" the newcomer said, raising an eyebrow.

"Marad! Sorry, I didn't hear you coming..." the king exclaimed startled.

"Avad..." he said with a teasing tone "I see you're distracted. Is there something you want to tell me?" he asked curiously. Marad was his most loyal assistant, the one who knew him best, and in whom he placed his trust for almost everything. He was several years older than him, and he had known the king since he was a child. He had always been his closest friend (his only friend, actually, he was essentially the one who had taken care of Avad, apart from his brother, except Marad was still alive), and a very intelligent person. That's why, after Avad ousted his father from the throne, he appointed Marad as his first advisor and the chief of spies in Meridian. To the outside world, they maintained a cold and professional relationship, but in reality, they were great friends.