The Prince Forth & The Pauper by ARIE78 (Completed)

Chapter: 16. A dangerous situation?

~Extra scene~

Phana rowed the boat back to the shore, Forth and Beam still sitting at one end of the boat together, though Beam was lying down more than sitting now, Forth’s arms around his chest and stroking his hair with one hand. Phana smiled at the sight, his smile turning into a grin as something else caught his eye. “Have fun last night, Forth?” He subtly scratched his neck, just taking his hand off one of the oars for a second before returning it to its proper position, his grin widening further as Forth tried to pull his collar up.

“Stop it.” Forth blushed slightly, snuggling his face into Beam's hair, trying to hide it before wondering if the hickey was the reason the two of them had kept getting stared at while they were sitting on the shore.Forth frowned as he looked back up at his father. “Father, how can you act like this? Surely you should be annoyed.”

Phana tilted his head to one side as he carried on rowing. “Annoyed? Why should I be annoyed? You’re happy, after all.” He looked pleasantly perplexed as he stared at Forth.

Forth shook his head at his father’s carefree attitude. “You’re making me get married in a week or two and yet you’re fine with the way I’m acting with Beam...if so, can’t we just call the marriage off?”

Phana sighed, having hoped not to get on to this subject. “Forth, it’s not that simple.” He stopped rowing, letting the boat drift slowly back to the shore on its own as he thought about the matter at hand. “I don’t want to say this because it feels like I’m using you...Wayo’s kingdom is bigger than our own, you know that an alliance with them is necessary to protect our small realm.” He smiled as Forth nodded with him, knowing that Forth had always understood the political side of kingship. “This marriage was always a way of making an alliance. If we had stopped it before Wayo came here there may have been less of an issue but with Wayo here, if we tried to stop the wedding we would offend Wayo and his father.” He stared at Forth seriously. “Instead of receiving peace and the promise of an alliance we could start a war. Wars have been started for much less, as you know.”

Forth nodded, sombre. “So there really is nothing we can do?”

Phana smiled. “Cheer up; maybe it will sort itself out.” He looked out across the lake as they came close to shore, a small frown on his face as he thought things over.

Forth looked at him, puzzled. “Fathe-”

“Are we back near dry land?” At that moment Beam decided to speak, having not paid attention to anything that had been spoken about, instead having chosen to try and ignore everything in the hopes he could stop the rocking motion making him feel ill. He quickly stood up, wanting to be off of the boat as quickly as possible and wobbled.

“Watch it.” Forth stood up with him, grabbing hold of him in an attempt to stop him falling but was unsuccessful, instead being pulled down as well into the shallows of the lake. He shook his head, his arms stretched out in front of him, holding him up, his wrists barely covered by the water. He looked down at Beam who was on his back between Forth’s arms and chuckled at him. “Stupid. First you want to be off the water as soon as possible and then you pull me into it with you, make up your mind.” He kissed him quickly on the nose, still laughing softly at the look he was getting. “Come on, let’s get up before you catch a cold.” He stood up and pulled Beam up with him, holding him around the waist.

Phana, having been unable to say anything before through his laughter, finally spoke. “Are you two OK?”

Beam smiled, embarrassed. “We’re fine.” Back on relatively dry land he already felt a lot better than he had in the boat. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to do much on the boat...did you catch the fish you were looking for in the end?”