Page 86 of The Wild Prince's Favorite
“Tievin,” Lorey tilted her head, calling him with a firmer tone. “I’m just going to teach her some basics. I doubt she’ll be able to master the intricacies of our military strategies or the layout of the Empire within a couple of hours.”
Tievin turned his eyes back to her. He didn’t trust Alezya, but he did trust Lorey. Just like him, she’d grown up close to the Imperial Family, and in many ways, she was quite impressive herself. She was smart, well-educated, loyal, and most importantly, she was able to bring some sense to Kiera, which was a feat in itself. Despite being the Princess’ companion, she’d never shown an ounce of arrogance, nor any want to rise above her station. Just like him, she was fully committed to serving the Imperial Family, although for a different reason.
“...Fine,” he said, briefly glancing again in Alezya’s direction. “Let’s go to my tent then, I have all the supplies you might need.”
Lorey gave him a thankful smile, and he turned around, guiding the two women to his accommodations. So it began, he thought to himself. More trouble...
They reached his tent, and after giving Lorey the supplies she needed, he let the two women find a spot for themselves near the fire, sitting on cushions to face each other. Tievin simply went to his desk after hanging their coats. While he did want to get some work done from the comfort of his tent, he also wanted to be within ear’s reach to assess for himself what that woman learned of their language. He’d barely heard her talk all along and was quite curious to see how quickly she’d be able to learn their language. After all, this situation was completely unprecedented. No tribesperson had ever tried to learn the Empire’s language, and the opposite was also true. Both campshad been at odds for as long as the Empire had existed, it seemed. The tribespeople hadn’t even let the Empire see one of their women until now, for some reason.
Tievin didn’t like changes, and he liked even less when something unprecedented happened. And it had all happened because of one woman, to boot. Trouble, trouble...
Thankfully, he soon realized that, as Lorey had said, Alezya was still far from mastering their language. Lorey had some drawing talent, and she used it to teach Alezya what she could. Instead of going for the grammar or teaching her to form full sentences, she was more dedicated to increasing the woman’s vocabulary through images and gestures. While Tievin read and annotated his reports, he listened with one ear as she taught her like one would have a child. To eat, to drink, to sleep. Water, food, fire, bed, bath, clothes. Sky, snow, mountain, forest. Man, woman, child, dragon, bird. Me, you, us, them, and the numbers, one to ten. Soon enough, Tievin stopped listening, feeling bored and trying to focus on his work instead. At least, it appeared that Alezya was genuinely trying to memorize it all. Lorey was a patient teacher too, repeating without end the words Alezya had trouble remembering or enunciating.
“...Why isn’t she trying to teach you too?” Tievin asked when the two women had stopped for a bit to drink.
“I tried asking her, but she’s reluctant to.”
He frowned.
“She’s learning our tongue, but she won’t teach you hers?”
“She’s nervous,” Lorey defended her. “Tievin, she’s in a foreign land with foreign people, and she doesn’t understand why we’re kind to her nor what we want from her. She’s afraid.”
“She’s ungrateful.”
“She’ll open up,” Lorey insisted. “If we give her some time to. She was beaten and exiled by her own people, twice. You can’texpect her to suddenly open up to complete strangers about the ways of her people.”
“You’re too trusting of people,” Tievin sighed.
“If one woman could lead to our ruin, the Empire would have collapsed long ago,” Lorey chuckled. “Moreover, this isn’t the first time Kiera and I have dealt with foreign tribes. When we explored the west, do you have any idea how many times we were greeted with arrows and spears? We have actual dragons obeying the Imperial Family’s will, Tievin. If I were Alezya, unable to check our intentions, I’d be worried that you’d destroy my home if I did or said anything wrong. That young woman has experienced enough trauma already, give her some time.”
An actual dragon was guarding the tent right then, for they could hear Kein snoring right outside Tievin’s tent, although it had already been established Kein wasn’t a menace to Alezya. If there’s one thing Tievin was grateful about that woman’s presence for, it was that this mad, havoc-wreaking dragon had finally been somewhat subjugated... for now.
“...And what does Her Highness think?”
“You’ll hear it from her,” Lorey replied. “I don’t speak for Kiera.”
Tievin didn’t raise any more protests. Only in a private setting like this did they allow themselves to call the Prince and Princess by their names...
“Lorey?” Alezya suddenly called her.
“Yes?”
“...Kassein?”
Lorey smiled kindly.
“Where is Kassein?” she translated Alezya’s question for her. “Kassein and Kiera are gone hunting. Hunting.”
She mimicked the act of hunting, and whether she understood that or not, Alezya gave her a little nod, looking satisfied with that answer. The two of them resumed their“lesson” and Tievin resumed his work while they waited for the Imperial siblings to come back from their hunt.
Tievin wasn’t so worried now that he knew both siblings were together; he could easily guess Kiera would taunt her younger brother into a competition, and they wouldn’t return until they were both satisfied, which meant it was definitely going to take a while.
Moreover, those two hadn’t seen each other in years, and despite their eight-year age gap, they’d always been quite close. With seven siblings, it was always hard to fully identify the dynamics of each relationship, but Tievin could confidently say Kiera was one of the siblings Kassein felt closest to, notably because of her honest, blunt, and outgoing character. She had also been away while his relations with his family had deteriorated, so she didn’t play any part in the downfall that had led to his exile... which explained why she was the only member of his family Kassein had felt comfortable asking for help, although he’d never explicitly said it.
Tievin was silently congratulating himself for having pushed the Prince to seek help when they heard Kiki’s particular, high-pitched growl in the distance.
They all turned heads and, after putting their cloaks back on, left Tievin’s tent to go and meet the returning siblings. Just as Tievin had anticipated, they’d been at it for a while, and it was dusk when Kiki landed, making happy hops around Lorey. The two siblings hadn’t flown back, but they’d left the dragon to carry their biggest prey, and the result of their hunt was now lying in the snow, two impressive lines of dead animals that garnered the attention of many soldiers around.
