Silver Eyes

A/N - not happy with this chapter - I was stuck late at work the last few days, and my brain was too fried to make this flow right. Please point out any glaring mistakes, and please R&R :)
Raven/Smint45 - thank you for the reviews :)

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Asahi glanced sideways at his traveling companion. The wizard was quiet for the most part, replying when the Knight spoke, but not offering much in return. So far he had figured out that he was young, probably not much older than Asahi’s age, and was much hardier than the normal wizard. It was odd - most royal wizards were old men, even if they did still manage to look young, because it took years to learn their craft. However, it seemed that Rian had been a full wizard since he was 20. It wasn’t surprising, if he was that skilled, that he was already the royal wizard. Looks wise all he could tell was that he had pale skin, and the typical red hair of the eastern part of the kingdom, worn a bit longer than was considered in style for a male. He wished he could get a glimpse of his face, it was aggravating in his line of work to not be able to look someone in the eyes. The best Asahi could figure was that he had bad memories related to his looks, either from being too pretty as a child or the opposite. Either way it was unnerving.

He knew he shouldn’t pry into the other man’s business, he hadn’t been asked to, and without that reason it just wasn’t polite, but he couldn’t help himself. Not only was it something that as a Knight he was trained to do, the wizard was the biggest enigma in the castle. No one knew anything about his past, except that he had spent a year with the King’s brother. And now Asahi would be spending every waking moment with the mystery for the foreseeable future. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. He had time though - part of the reason he was chosen to go on this mission(other than his looks) was because he had an easy time getting people to open up to him. He would just have to go slowly with the man. Eventually he would have to start trusting him. They hadn’t been given any sort of time frame , which was good as he wouldn’t have been able to even estimate how long something like this would take, but made the Knight worry about the King’s state of mind even more.

It wasn’t a secret that the King’s mind was going, but the problem was that only the people in the castle really knew about it. The rest of the kingdom either didn’t notice, if his ridiculous laws didn’t affect them, or thought he was some sort of tyrant. His council tried to meet when they could without him, to try and curtail some of the harm his paranoia did. They were also trying to figure out how to get the King off the throne without assassination or civil war. No one wanted to kill the man - it was hardly Kalen’s fault he had gotten injured during the last battle he was in. But at the same time he was no longer fit to be King. Of course, one of the side effects was the subtly progressing paranoia; by the time anyone had realized there was something not right, no one was willing to mention it. The few who did disappeared. The army was the biggest problem. Kalen was the most popular general the army had seen in ages, more so than anyone currently in charge. And while there were plenty who may see something off about their King, they would still fight for him. The council was trapped between loyalty to the man Kalen had once been and duty to their country. Which didn’t leave many choices, and unfortunately no peaceful ones.

If the rebels had had a shot in Hell in winning, Asahi (and probably the rest of the Knights) would have joined in a heartbeat. The problem was, they didn’t have a chance, and attacking random patrols wasn’t doing anyone any good. That was always the problem with rebel groups, they attacked people who didn’t have any control over the laws, and ended up getting people killed for nothing. So he would go along with this plan and see if he couldn’t get this resolved semi-peacefully.

The rest of the day passed fairly uneventfully, and they reached the first town a little after dark. After a quiet meal, Rian retreated to his room, and Asahi followed shortly to his own. There were very few people in the common room, and he doubted he would hear anything of interest this close to the capital anyway. He glanced down at the empty spot on his finger where the ring marking him as a Knight generally sat. It had bothered him to have to take it off, but it had to be done. He had spent most of his life in the Knighthood, training from the time he was five. He had been born to a fairly removed yet still influential part of the royal family, and as the firstborn was expected to inherit the title and lands. His younger brother now held the title of Marquis, and was welcome to it. He had demanded to be a Knight since he realized what they were. When he was a child, the extra sword lessons were given to humour him, but after a few years passed, and his instructors realized how gifted he was with a sword, the lessons became more serious. After his brother’s birth, when he was nine, his training began in earnest. Asahi was quite aware he didn’t match the hack-and-slash looks of most of his fellow knights, but while they got their information from being ignored, the handsome young man got his from his charm.

Growing up, he was everyone’s best friend. He made - and kept - friends easily, but no one ever noticed that he didn’t let anyone in. Going to grab a couple pints with his fellow Knights, or commiserating with nobles over the latest tax wasn’t the same as spilling his secrets into a willing ear. There hadn’t been much of a chance to get to know any girls either; he had had some flings of course, but on both sides it was recognized as casual. Like most of the nobles, he had an arranged marriage. Unlike most of the nobles, he had yet to meet his betrothed. She would be seventeen shortly, just a little over a year away from when they would get married. But for the last few years she had been fostered with her family in the country and Asahi had been stuck in the capital. The marriage had really been based on him become Marquis, but the Duke had insisted that the betrothal stand even after he had decided to become a Knight. Given the care noble marriages had to be arranged with to prevent family from marrying too close, Asahi wasn’t about to argue. There was actually a section of the archives, and a small legion of scribes that dealt with the family tree and determining which matches would be okay. Even as a Knight he would still have an arranged marriage, it just likely would have been to a lower ranking portion of the family instead. All he could hope for is that Saela turned out to be as nice as her parents, and that they could at least get along civilly. The upcoming marriage was yet another reason the Knight was glad this was going to be a long mission. While he had prepared for it all his life, he still wasn’t completely ready to settle down and be a family man. He would no longer be sent on the more dangerous missions, and marriage was generally seen as the first step towards retirement. Generally by the second or third child the Knight was settled into a mentor role, and thinking about that just made him feel old.

So he would enjoy his extended mission, figure out his mystery companion, and not think about what was waiting for him when he returned home. With a last glance at the wall dividing his room from Rian’s, he settled down to sleep.