kingdom falling | gyuricky

twenty three.

The month that came after the day of the Summer Solstice Festival was one of the busiest months of the year for the sect. The gates were crowded with people once again, early in the morning of the second day, clamouring to get themselves registered so they could submit their help requests. Gyuvin could hear the sounds of faraway chatter as he emerged from his sleeping quarters to head to the Eclipse. On second thought, he turned back and headed in the direction of the guest quarters. He wondered if the others were awake yet. Considering the sun was already beginning to rise, he supposed they should be. Meteor Court had never imposed strict sleeping hours on its cultivators, but he knew some of the other sects did.

As he turned the corridor that opened out into the guests quarters of the grounds, he missed crashing head-on into Ricky by a hair's breadth, stumbling back just in time to catch himself before he fell.

"Oh, you're awake. Good morning."

"I've been awake for two hours," Ricky said neutrally, straightening out the front of his white robes. "Your sect is so laid back."

"Hey, there's no point waking up before the sun rises. It's so dark outside that you might as well just do your morning activities the night before." Gyuvin turned and started walking back in the direction of the Eclipse, expecting Ricky to be following. "Wait. You brought a change of clothes with you? Weren't your inner robes soaked with lake water last night?"

"No, I didn't," Ricky answered. "And yes, they were. You have a confusing habit of asking many questions at the same time."

"So, you're wearing lake clothes?"

"No, I'm not wearing them."

"You're not wearing your inner robes?" Gyuvin stared at him, slack-jawed for a long moment. "You don't know how to wash clothes?"

He was unsurprised to find out Ricky didn't know how to wash clothes either. Seriously, it seemed like all Moonrise Palace was good for was raising a bunch of princesses.

"There you go asking more than one question again," Ricky said, pretending to sigh. "No, and no. What about it?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Gyuvin answered. "Come on. Bring your lake clothes with you."

He dragged a bewildered Ricky over to the disciples' quarters and left him standing in the middle his bedroom as he rummaged in his chest for a set of clean uniform. "Here you go, put this on. We're the same height, so it should fit you alright."

Ricky looked like he wanted to argue. "I only need the inner robes," he said. "I can still wear my outer robes from yesterday."

"You put those down on the grass last night," Gyuvin pointed out. "White fabric stains easily. You should wash them."

Before Ricky could continue arguing, Gyuvin threw the set of uniform at him and closed the door behind him. "I'll wait for you outside!" he called through the door. "Give me your dirty clothes when you're done and I'll help you send them for washing."

Moonrise Palace's official sect uniform was a set of faint, milky-blue robes with an iridescent, sheer outer covering that shimmered with the embroidery of the moon phases in silver thread. There was something about the color that had always made Ricky's habitually cold resting expression even colder than it already was; sometimes when Ricky looked up and didn't smile, Gyuvin felt like he was struck by a bolt of ice, for just a passing moment.

But as Ricky re-emerged from his bedroom in Meteor Court's signature spun gold, for a second Gyuvin imagined he was watching the first buds of tulips bloom in the spring. Their sect's uniforms were made of a very fine silk spun only by silkworms fed with spiritually-rich herbs and leaves, designed to be adaptable to temperatures because, unlike the snowy mountains places like Moonrise Palace were built on, Sunshower City saw all four seasons every year. The resultant fabric was comfortable and lightweight, more the color of summer sunshine than true gold; something about it brought out a hint of natural color in Ricky's face. Gyuvin had never noticed the dusting of pink over the tops of Ricky's cheekbones until now, as he stepped into the morning light.