Between the Veil and Crown

Kylin 54

Kylin had to suffer the Prince in the afternoons or near the end of his shift, when Preman to relieve him. There were times Taileia would dismiss him or Preman early, finishing their shifts for them herself. Ofjaet meanwhile spent much of his time in the throne room, observing the Harlofelpan political system. More often than not, Morganne remained in Selim's room, ensuring the careful administration of her medicine and Selim's smooth recovery.

And his recovery was indeed going smoothly- perhaps too much so.

As Selim gained awareness, he seemed really insistent on rushing himself. Kylin's on shift tasks went from just making sure no one messed with Morganne or Selim to including having to watch for any of Selim's attempts to get out of bed. Sometimes Kylin's prevention was accepted with no more than a small noise of protest. Other times, however, Selim was in some kind of mood and gave Kylin a piece of his mind= which would have been more intimidating if he could speak clearly and didn't skip over crucial words. He was never asked to repeat himself for clarity, for his mother was quick to chide him for any "unprincely language" she suspected him of wanting to say.

His main visitors were his mother and one of the younger princes, Cor. The queen was pleasant enough; her tone was always gentle and any time Morganne performed even a routine task, she gave the healer a soft word of gratitude, attempting to express even a miniscule amount of how thankful she was to Morganne for saving Selim. When she entered the room, morning, noon, or evening, she would ask anyone present if they had been properly fed or rested. She would have tea supplied for them, and when there was no conversation, remain quiet in her corner, embroidering. Now that Selim was on the mend, she was not always present, going out to seek her other sons or her husband. It was from her that Selim received much of his appearance.

It was Cor, though, who received her nature, with shots of an excitable personality. It was made very plain why Selim claimed Cor could be convinced of dismissing everything that happened in the Veil with Selim. Cor was determined to make friends of those in close vicinity and had a strong fascination with Ranger life- more so now that Selim was no longer in danger and Cor did not have to wait in anxious fear. He avoided the topic of Amelia as he pressed Selim for details about his time in the Veil. Whenever Selim brought up something that he could not fully answer himself, Cor turned to a Ranger in the room in the hopes that they would explain further.

During one conversation with Cor, where the queen was not present, Selim noticed a ring adorning Cor's finger and remarked, "That's new. Where'd you get that?"

"In one of the western towns," Cor said brightly. He popped the top open to reveal a compass surface. From where Kylin stood, he could see that it found south.

"Arvek thinks it's useless because it points south," Cor said, affirming what Kylin saw.

Before he could stop himself, Kylin cut in, "It is not useless; it is in the wrong environment. South pointing compasses are the only ones that work in the Veil."

Both princes turned their attention to him, surprised that he had given input.

"But the Rangers don't wear these," Selim said. "At least, I did not see anyone wearing them."

"They're typically not as strong," Kylin answered. He paused, considering stopping there. Despite Cor's friendliness, Kylin had not engaged much with his questions. Whether it was the constant noise that caused him weariness or the thought of how he had screwed things up with the Crown Prince, he had a hard time getting himself into mood to amicably chat, leaving others to handle Cor's curiosity. But it was not just Cor this time; this time it was Selim posing the question about equipment he might handle himself, if all went well. Seeing that he had missed previous opportunity to school Selim as his future apprentice, he decided to make up for it. "The rings don't always have the strongest enchantments, since equipment is passed down it would mean constantly resizing them, and the design of compass rings does not lend to easy resetting, for when we need to trail another Ranger."