Rebellious Tendencies

[pirateoftherings]

"You would think," Kjan replied absently, glancing over one of the other handwritten documents. To be honest, he'd never been particularly intrigued by anything political. Having spent his entire life surrounded by nobles, politics, and all of the complexities that came with them, he was painfully aware of how many unwritten rules there were. Even something as simple as dining with 'friends' required mentally keeping track of what could or couldn't be discussed in the presence of each individual in attendance. Quite tiring, really, and there were better things to spend ninety percent of one's life worrying about.

"When do you figure the cooks will have supper ready?" he asked after a moment, discarding the parchment. "I'm famished. Running for one's life is tiring work."

[Meldawen]

Phaerin was now holding up two of the four loose leafs of parchment and scrutinizing them closely, apparently trying to decipher the handwriting. "What if she was alive?" he said thoughtfully. "Right, Kjan, if you were evil and greedy and - you know, like the Regent - and you discovered that someone very capable of taking your throne away was alive rather than dead, like you thought they were, maybe you would want them to stay dead?"

He raised a questioning eyebrow, pondering this idea. Then he uttered an exclamation, and cast about for the other two pieces of parchment. "Kjan! What if he killed her in the first place? What if he killed all of them - come on, where is it -" he broke off and searched among the veritable snowfall of papers until he found the right one. "...let's see...here, listen to this! 'If my liege requires that the Princess be further' - what is that word...deprived...degraded...dis...dis..."

Very suddenly and explosively, he let out a shout. "'Disposed'! 'If my liege requires that the Princess be further disposed of!'" Turning, he thrust the parchment at Kjan. "Look! That's what it says!"

[pirateoftherings]

Kjan suppressed a groan and accepted the parchment. Phaerin could be very...fanatical, once he got his mind set on something. "Why, so it does!" he exclaimed with false enthusiasm. "Would you look at that! That's positively remarkable, that is. Perhaps next we'll uncover an elaborate scheme to undermine the kingdom itself and further corrupt the system!" He handed the page back to Phaerin. "Right, that was fun. In all seriousness, though, could we perhaps go find out what the food situation is? In case you don't recall, we forewent the noon meal in favor of sneaking around restricted areas."

It took one look at Phaerin's expression to tell Kjan that he was getting nowhere. "My parents are out of town until next weekend, and Aran and his family are all staying with Ylaine's parents until the end of the month," he said, a touch resignedly. "I'm effectively the lord of the estate, for the time being. Head back with me tomorrow, and we can look over it somewhere where we can count on not being disturbed. Is that acceptable?"

[Meldawen]

Phaerin stopped mid-sentence, pausing to scrutinize the now slightly crumpled sheets of parchment in either hand. "But -!" he started, looking almost pleading. "This could be the discovery of the century, Kjan! Think of it! It's - it's -"

His friend was not looking particularly enthused. Phaerin's stomach chose that opportune moment to complain very loudly. He glanced from the parchment to Kjan. Parchment. Kjan. His stomach reminded him that it had a purpose, that being to be periodically filled with food. He sighed melodramatically, and blew out the candles. "All right."

---

By the time they'd managed to collect the contents of a proper meal (which involved quite a few things, according to Phaerin, despite his earlier reluctance) the hour had become somewhat late. It was probably a bad idea, therefore, to attempt to take it all back to Phaerin's rooms with them.

Carrying two pints of ale, a nearly-whole roast chicken, a loaf and half of bread and some mustard, Phaerin still took the stairs two by two back up to the wing of the Grey manor that held the bedrooms. This produced an interesting clanking noise, accompanied by the sloshing of ale in its mugs. "Oops," he whispered from the top of the stairs. "Hope somebody doesn't step in that."

Despite this, they made it safely along the next hallway. Then things got sticky.

"Kjan, how nice to have you!" came a dangerously sweet voice from just behind them, accompanied by light flooding from a half-open door. "How coincidental, I was just telling Mira here to get a guest room ready for you. I'll have her show you up there, shall I? It's rather late."

The maidservant spoken of slipped past her mistress and curtsied to Kjan, murmuring something about a room. Phaerin attempted, very quietly, to sneak out of the circle of light. Unsuccessful. Lady Grey's next words were decidedly less smooth.

"Phaerin Grey, you are going back down to the kitchens to put that all back exactly where you found it. When you miss dinner, you miss dinner." She glared, formidable in her violet-patterned dressing gown, and he attempted to look innocent. There was a moment of silence. "Well?"

"Right," said Phaerin, juggling his many items. "Kitchens." He shot Kjan a look on his way by that conveyed he thought it most unfair that his food items hadn't been confiscated.

"Off you go, then, Kjan," said Lady Grey, sweet once more. "I'm sure you've had a long day."

[pirateoftherings]

"Oh, yes, positively exhausting, milady," Kjan said hastily with an exaggerated yawn. "It's a marvel that I've not fallen asleep on my feet, really. Good night, Lady Grey, and thank you ever so much for your gracious hospitality. Good night, Phaerin." Executing a flawless bow in the direction of the former, Kjan hurriedly followed the maid to the designated guest room. He waited until she had gotten the room in order, then collapsed into the ridiculously large bed. He would've been just fine sleeping on a couch in Phaerin's quarters, but since the maid had gone to so much trouble....

[Meldawen]

Well, it was almost dawn. Phaerin wondered if Kjan would object to being woken at this hour of the not-quite-day, and concluded that he probably would. Best not to annoy the person whose estate you were visiting. He wasn't generally this considerate - 'considerate' meaning for Phaerin that he half-correctly surmised what others might think of his actions and generally did what he wanted anyway - but he had a shrewd suspicion that his mother might have anticipated him and stationed someone to make sure he and Kjan didn't go gallivanting all over the place before the sun was up.

Sighing, he idly flopped onto a sofa (Phaerin never slept on his bed. It was a large flat surface and therefore already occupied) and went back to sleep until an hour after dawn, at which time he concluded that anybody with a series of important documents to decipher would surely be up by now, and went to hammer on Kjan's door. There was nobody in the vicinity, meaning that he quite cheerfully shouted through the door - "Awake yet?"

[pirateoftherings]

The long and rather inventive string of expletives - declaring exactly what Kjan thought of people named Phaerin who dared knock on doors this early in the morning, where they could stick their impatience, and how long they could keep it there - was answer enough to that question. Nonetheless, roughly five minutes later, there was a series of noises that sounded vaguely like someone getting up, followed by the door slowly opening.

"What do you want?" Kjan demanded, leaning against the doorframe and suppressing a yawn.

[Meldawen]

Phaerin looked behind him. Then he looked down the hall, both ways, and finally peered past Kjan into the room. Finally he resumed his former position, and leaned against the doorframe, grinning. "Sorry. Thought you must be talking to someone else. I would have though it was more obvious than that what I wanted."

There was a pause, and then he added, "though judging by that extensive string of expletives, you're not especially inclined to give it to me."

[pirateoftherings]

"Oh, I'll give you something," Kjan muttered, going back into the room to retrieve his vest and coat. He emerged a few moments later looking halfway presentable, though no more enthusiastic about being awake. "One of these days...." He trailed off, not even bothering to finish the commonly-uttered threat.

"Right. So are we going to be boring and take the road back to my place, or shall we take the usual shortcut?"

[Meldawen]

"I'm never boring," said Phaerin indignantly. He struck a pose. "Phaerin Grey is many things, but he is never boring." Judging from the lack of reaction this got, Kjan was still half-asleep. He dropped the affectation. "Right. Well, as my lovely lady mother will no more let me have the carriage than she'll let me eat dinner at midnight, of course we'll be taking the short cut."

Some pilfered food and a sheaf of papers later, they were on their way, having avoided several potentially difficult encounters - namely, with people who might inquire as to where they were so eager to be off to, this early in the morning - and gone halfway around the manor rather than attempt to get past Lady Grey. Lord Grey, ostensibly, liked his sleep, because he was nowhere to be found. More convenient that way, Phaerin decided, as he dropped their pilfered food out the window after Kjan and then let himself down, dusting his hands off with an air of finality. "Right. Off we go, then."

[pirateoftherings]

Kjan caught the package with ease, then motioned graciously for Phaerin to lead the way. Another not-so-gracious gesture was made at the man's back as soon as he was past, but by the time Phaerin had looked back, Kjan was smiling innocently and following at an agreeable pace.

They ate their breakfast as they walked, hoping to put some distance between themselves and the estate before someone wondered where Master Grey had gotten off to at such an absurdly early hour. Not that he was especially forbidden to go places - he was a grown man, after all, if a grown man still living with his parents - but it would hopefully forestall any unwanted questioning.

It was really quite a bit more practical to travel cross-country between the two estates, Kjan reflected as they wove their way through the trees. In order to keep from encroaching on any noble's precious land, the public road was quite winding and much longer than it needed to be. The Grey estate and the Armadur estate were not actually too far apart, as the bird flew (or Kjan and Phaerin hiked), but traveling on the road nearly doubled the time required.


Within a few hours, they had reached the edge of the Armadur estate. They were just nearing the end of the forest when Kjan was quite unexpectedly assaulted from above. He stooped to examine the offending object - now on the ground - and raised an eyebrow fractionally. A shoe. More than that, a lady's shoe. Falling from a tree. A quick glance upward revealed the source of said shoe.

"Hello!" Cerys said brightly, giving them a slight wave from her precarious perch on one of the tree's lower branches. "Kjan, could you perhaps give me back my shoe? I seem to have dropped it. Oh, and a hand down would be lovely as well."

Unsure whether to be concerned or amused, Kjan settled for a mix between the two and complied, first passing up the shoe and then standing at the base of the tree while Cerys climbed down.

"Much obliged," she said as Kjan helped her to the ground. She looked down and pouted slightly. "Oh dear, I seem to have torn my hem. I'll never hear the end of that, I'm sure."

"Cerys- what, exactly, were you doing in a tree?"

"Well, I was reading," Cerys replied, holding up the book that she was still clutching. "Until the pair of you came along, at least."

"Are you sure that's the smartest thing to be doing? You were still feeling ill when I left yesterday morning."

"Father had arranged for yet another suitor to come calling yesterday morning. I was ill from the very thought of it. And now that said suitor has been effectively discouraged, I'm feeling quite rid of whatever malady plagued me. Curious, isn't it?" Cerys paused to pick a leaf out of her loose hair before curtsying politely in Phaerin's direction. "Phaerin Grey. A pleasure, as always. I do hope you didn't get my brother into too much trouble this time?"

[Meldawen]

Phaerin bowed, grinning. "Likewise." He slung a companionable arm around Kjan's shoulders. "I do hope this scoundrel hasn't been prevaricating...I assure you I'm quite solicitous of his safety."

There was a pause. "Most of the time. If it's convenient. Anyway," he continued hurriedly, "I can entirely sympathize. I can't count the number of girls my mother's invited for dinner, and then contrived to leave me alone with. They didn't much like hearing about the times Kjan and I filled Dante's socks with frogspawn," he added, reminiscently, with the air of one recalling a pleasant event.

Realizing he still held the sheaf of papers, he glanced at Kjan. "Would Cerys like to know, do you think, about the trouble I seem to have gotten you into this time?"

[pirateoftherings]

"I've been nothing but almost completely honest in my recounting of our 'adventures,' thank you," Kjan said, a touch indignantly. "Probably the reason for her concern. And in regard to your latest fixation-"

"I would love to know," Cerys interjected smoothly. "Do share."

"Not here," Kjan replied offhandedly, glancing toward the main estate. "Cerys, mother and father are still gone, right?"

"To the extent of my knowledge. Unless they've hidden themselves somewhere like they did that one time when father didn't believe that you could run the estate for a single day without things falling apart, of course. Why?"

"No reason. Phae, we can use the main study to look over those. They won't last five minutes in my quarters."

Both men took off toward the central house, with Cerys trailing after them.

As soon as they'd closed themselves in the largest study, Cerys folded her arms across her chest and arched an eyebrow in their general direction. "Right. Now, what 'trouble' have you two gotten yourselves into this time?"

[Meldawen]

"Well," began Phaerin, casting Kjan a mischievous glance, "it has to do with being places we shouldn't, and probably breaking the law, but really, that's ever so much more interesting than being nicely law-abiding citizens." He tossed the sheaf of papers on a table, and collapsed onto the nearest seating apparatus, folding his arms behind his head. "See, Kjan and I were thinking -" here he cast a glance at Kjan "- all right, well, mostly me - that as a sort of pleasure outing, it might be somewhat amusing to make a sort of...foray...into what you might call, perhaps, enemy territory."

He grinned. "See, we thought - all right, Kjan, I thought - that if certain documents could be acquired that were not quite...complimentary...to a certain Regent's reputation, that could be useful."

He leaned back and placed his boots grandly on the table, hands behind his head. "And as you'll see, we seem to have succeeded."

[pirateoftherings]

"Useful toward what?" Cerys asked as she absently tied back her hair and began looking over the indicated documents. "Sedition?"

"Just satisfying a bout curiosity, really," Kjan replied, propping his own feet up as well. "Look for familiar names in there....Particularly those of certain late personages."

Cerys studied one of the letters for a moment longer before glancing up at them with a slight frown. "Silvryn Seilhera?" There was a pause as Cerys took a seat and returned the parchment to Phaerin. "You believe the rumors, then?"

Kjan glanced briefly over at Phaerin. "I, for one, wasn't aware that there were rumors."

"Well, whenever one of the most qualified heirs to the throne in over a century disappears literally overnight with no definite cause given, stories are bound to be started. Conspiracy theories, for the most part. Some even claim that the Regent himself was responsible." Cerys leaned forward and arched an eyebrow in Phaerin's direction. "Do you?"