The Prince Forth & The Pauper by ARIE78 (Completed)

7. Well told lies with pinches of truth

~Up at the castle~

Kit gulped, getting himself ready for the newest idea he had decided to act on with the help of Ming and Beam. His heart beat hard as he stood outside the throne room this time instead of sneaking past the guards, he was purposefully lying to the king before the ‘break in’ even began, instead of lying to try and cover his tracks. He knocked on the door, willing himself not to shake as he was called to enter. Phana looked up from his throne, worry lines across his head. He tried to smile as Kit came in, realising it wasn’t good to show his worry and also trying to get back on Forth’s good side by being nice to his friends. He hoped soon Forth would go back to normal, or as normal as was possible. “Oh...Kit. Is there something you need?”

Kit gulped again, clenching his fists to try and stop his hands shaking, luckily enough his fear just showing up as nerves in front of the king. “Umm, I have an idea.” He stepped forward, licking his lips, his mouth dry. “An idea to get Forth to...” He gestured not knowing what to actually say about Forth’s condition.

Phana sat up, his fake smile relaxing into a true soft relieved one, he gestured Kit closer. “You don’t have to seem so worried. I know that you only ever do anything in Forth's best interest. Come here.” He frowned and clicked his fingers to get the attention of a servant. “I need a seat for Kit here.” He smiled to Kit's confused look. “We probably have a lot to talk about, no? I want to hear your idea in detail. You seem to come up with good plans, even if the one last week wasn’t wholly successful.”

Kit sat in the seat offered to him, worried about whether he could really lie easily in front of Phana who now seemed to fully trust him, feeling guilty at betraying him but knowing that he had to.

Phana smiled encouragingly at Kit. “Well, let’s hear it then.”

Kit tilted his head, pretending to think about it. “Well, it’s not a plan really. It’s just...” He got himself ready for the lies to flow. “I went to Forth’s room not long after Ming and I took Beam back to his house. I wanted to cheer him up and asked him what he had done, who he had met.”

Phana laughed slightly. “He got lost, that’s what he did.” He saw Kit’s guilty look and put his hand up before he could apologize. “Sorry, ignore that comment. So what did he say? And how will this help?”

Kit nodded. “Sorry, this will lead into the idea, I promise. The thing is he didn’t only meet Beam on his...trip.” Kit winced, having not been able to think of a better word. “He met a woman, I don’t know her name. But I got from the way he spoke that he got quite friendly with her.”

Phana nodded, frowning as he thought. “Right, but even he did become friendly with her, what can we do without her name? And what can I do? I can’t just let people into the castle, you know that.”

Kit shook his head. “Don’t worry about that! This was before Forth and Ming got...separated. Ming says that he’d be able to find her quite quickly and when I asked him about what she was like; it was him that gave me the idea. Apparently she used to be a cleaner for one of the noble families around here, only for a summer when they needed extra hands.” He said this quickly realising otherwise there would be many questions about why she had stopped working there. “According to Ming, Forth had felt sorry that she’d had to lose her job just because they didn’t need that many people anymore.” Kit was glad that Beam had put this idea into their heads about Forth wanting to help the people more.

Phana grinned, catching on to what Kit meant. “So, you think I should employ a new maid into the castle?” He fiddled with the arm of his chair as if he was processing the idea, even though he had really already decided.

Kit realised he had to sweeten the deal a bit, just to make sure everything went smoothly. “Well, I just thought it would be a good idea, especially as she could take his food to him later. He does seem to eat a bit more with me or Ming there, maybe he’d eat with his new friend here.” Kit watched this dawn on Phana’s face and tried not to smirk. “Ming and I will get everything ready and it will be a surprise to Forth until tonight. And if it all goes wrong...” He bit his lip, playing the part of concerned friend to its maximum, not really needing to worry about what it looked like as he was concerned about Forth well being, but knew that this plan would get Forth to do something. He had seen straight away how friendly Forth had become with Beam, shocked even that Forth had become attached to someone so easily in a day. “...at least we tried.”