He was awoken by a hand shaking his shoulder. Illyon sat up, blinking sleep away from his eyes, and watching the servant move around the room blearily. He took the cup that the servant was holding out with a nod of thanks, and drank without an idea of what it was. He couldn't figure out what it was, but it was sweet and cold, washing away the last of the exhaustion that tugged him back to his bed.
Illyon yawned as he stepped off the bed, the servant working quickly to pull his shirt over his head. The servant still fumbled slightly with the ties on the tunic, and his belts, but he was learning surprisingly quickly and worked without complaint. Not that he could complain in the first place. Illyon made sure that he wouldn't be overwhelmed, but he always looked more uncomfortable whenever Illyon offered to help or relieve his work some.
Even though he had been with Illyon for sometime around a month by now, it disturbed him to see that he still looked at him with a slight fear. He had the dark hair of the Miiryn, but he was much paler than the ranging tan to dark skins of the Miiryn, and his eyes were a confusing mix of light green and gold rather than dark brown. It had taken him two weeks to finally get his name, and it was only through parchment and quill. That still made him feel slightly stupid every time he thought back onto it. He had only given him the parchment and quill because of his brother's suggestion, after days of berating him with complaints. But he had learned the servant's name—Sephys.
Sephys now trailed behind him, his gaze fixed on the floor like always. He had insisted that Sephys had his permission to look up at people, but he always seemed more at ease following him by watching his feet rather than his back. Still, it had earned him more than a few strange looks. Somehow, days after he had decided to have Sephys serve under him, the entire court knew that he was a Miiryn captive. It pained him to see Sephys receive hate-filled glares from lords and servants alike, but there was nothing he could do about that. He supposed he should be thankful that his father didn't even seem to notice that Sephys existed.
"Laech Viseis." Illyon greeted, bowing slightly, "I'm prepared for my lessons today."
"For once." The old man smiled at him, but his smile faded quickly as he saw Sephys behind him, "Come in."
The healer's room was filled with rows and rows of shelves, stuffed with either books or vials of different colored liquids and dried, powdered plants. The table where they usually carried out their lessons was crowded as well, overflowing with yellow parchments and thick tomes bound in leather.
The laech swept the parchments off of a chair, and pushed them into Sephys's arms, "Go put these away." He ordered, then turned back to Illyon. "We will continue with the crests of the lords, my prince." He said, easing into another chair, nodding for Illyon to sit.
"Will we be going over the crests of my father's sworn lords, again?" Illyon sighed. It hadn't been very long ago that the laech made him memorize the crest and colors of his father's lords, but no matter how hard he tried, the names and crests that went together always seemed to slip his mind.
"Not today." The laech smiled, as if he knew that Illyon didn't remember, "Knowing the crests of our enemies is just as important as knowing the crests of our allies."
Illyon bit back a groan as he sat back, "I don't see the point. If they have you at swordpoint in battle, that'd confirm they're your enemy. Verim had said there's no time to see their banners in a real battle."
The laech laughed, "It is true that Prince Verim was much worse at remembering lords and crests than you. But knowing this will prevent unnecessary confusion and offense." He pulled a book that was almost twice as large as the others around him, and opened to a page.
It showed a coat of arms of two blue snakes conjoined at the tail on a field of green, "The crest of Lord Haiwin, who backed Rhiys in the battle of three."
"He eventually was named a traitor and was beheaded by the king of Rhiys himself." Illyon said, frowning, "Does it matter now?"
"A traitor will sire traitors." The laech said, "It is best to keep a keen eye on them, my lord."
"Of course." He pointed to the next page, "Whose crest is this?" The crest he was pointing to was one of a black crow with three heads on a field of white.
The laech was silent for a moment, before saying quietly, "The arms of the royal family of Earin."
Illyon stared back at him blankly, "Earin? The island off our coast?"
The laech nodded, "I'm sure you know what happened, my lord."
"The Broken King murdered the king and queen and set their lands to fire." Illyon said, "Since then, the land of Earin has not borne a single grain or fruit."
"So it is said."
Illyon left the laech's room what seemed like hours later, vague shapes and colors spinning in his mind. He glanced back at Sephys who had somehow managed to disappear in the laech's room for the time he was taking his lesson, but reappeared as Illyon was leaving. He wanted to ask what he was doing amongst the shelves with the papers, but Sephys wouldn't be able to answer, and it would only be a waste of breath. So he only nodded at him and headed down to the courtyard to meet Gaarwain.
He had expected Gaarwain to be at the courtyard, wildly slashing his sword at the dummies that stood at the ends of the courtyard. But the courtyard was empty, to Illyon's confusion.
"Where is Gaarwain?" he asked, stopping a squire that was rushing past him, a bridle clutched in his hands.
"Ser Gaarwain was called to the war council, my lord." The squire said, bowing quickly, "As are Ser Marwis and Ser Irros."
The squire rushed off again as Illyon thanked him. When Illyon turned around, Sephys was holding a tourney sword, glancing around the courtyard with a slight frown furrowing his brow.
"It seems there will be another battle with Miiryn." Illyon said, shrugging, "Ser Gaarwain will not be here to train me." He took the sword out of Sephys's hands, and spun it, as Sephys nodded.
Illyon swung half-heartedly at the straw dummies, pretending that they were Miiryn warriors in silver armor and screaming. Finally he lowered his arms with a huff of annoyance, "Can you fight with a sword?" Illyon turned to look at Sephys.
Sephys nodded, his eyes flickering up in surprise.
"Do you think you can train with me?" Illyon asked, smiling.
Sephys hesitated, before nodding.
"Thank you." Illyon laughed, "You had better get a sword of your own, though."
He thought he saw a smile reach the corner of Sephys's lips when he turned to fetch an extra sword from the armory.
