Lai shrugged. “Guess I hadn’t thought that far.”
“I’m getting ahead of myself anyway,” Shi’chen admitted. “But… you’ve been a good friend to me. Thank you.”
Lai grinned and gave his hand another squeeze before pulling back. “All right, get to bed, Your Majesty. Can’t have your brother seeing you with bags under your eyes.”
Shi’chen gave him a smile back, then got up to move over to the bed. He toed off his boots and slid under the sheets, which felt absolutely amazing after the wooden berth on the ship. “Good night,” he said softly.
“Sleep well, Shi’chen,” Lai said in return.
The next morning, Shi’chen woke up even before Lai did, which was unusual for him. He took advantage of the time to wash and try to clean his clothes as best he could, and by the time he had dressed and returned to the main room, Lai was awake and had ordered breakfast for them. Shi’chen barely paid attention to the food, too eager to get on their way.
“You know he may not be there,” Lai said as he slid his boots on.
Shi’chen let out a frustrated breath. “I know… But I think he’s safe. I can feel it.”
Lai raised a brow. “Really?”
Shi’chen laughed and shook his head. “Well, not literally. I can’t hear his thoughts or anything,” he clarified when Lai didn’t seem to understand him.
“If you could, that would make this whole trip a lot easier,” Lai said as he secured his belt with his rapier to his waist and tossed a cloak over it. “But we will find him.”
Shi’chen nodded, pulling on his new warmer clothes, extremely grateful for them when they stepped out of the warmth of the inn into the coldest air he had ever felt in his life. His breath came out of his mouth in a puff of white, and it took him a moment to realize that it was because of the temperature. Lai watched him with a slight smirk on his face. “You really are not used to the cold, are you?”
“Not at all,” Shi’chen replied, waving his fingers through his next breath to watch it swirl.
“You can do that while we walk,” Lai pointed out with a chuckle, and Shi’chen quickly moved to follow him, his cheeks and the tips of his ears reddening in embarrassment under his warm coverings.
Without asking, Lai got them onto a carriage that took off through the streets, the bells on the horses’ harnessing tinkling merrily. Shi’chen watched the city go by for a few minutes before turning to Lai again. “I’ve never seen you use it. Where did you get that sword?”
“From Talen,” Lai said, giving him a slight grin. “He taught me to fight with it.”
“Was he a good swordsman?”
Lai nodded. “He was. I think you kind of have to be when people hate you.”
“I don’t understand that,” Shi’chen said. “I’ve never met a half-elf besides you, but you don’t seem any different from the other elves I’ve known. Except your ears are shorter.”
Lai shrugged. “Some people can’t see past that.”
“Well, that’s ridiculous,” Shi’chen said, rolling his eyes.
Lai gave him his usual bright grin. “Agreed. If I’m going to be hated, I’d rather it be for my sparking wit, not my ears.”
Shi’chen laughed at that. “How could anybody hate your wit?”
“You’d be surprised,” Lai said giving his hair a little toss.
The horses clip-clopped down the stone road, and Lai did his best to distract Shi’chen from his tension by pointing out various places they passed and recounting a few stories from his time there. Shi’chen wondered to himself what it would be like if he was not a prince, if he was just some unknown sailor, with no ties to anyone or anything. Finding a friend like Lai would probably be exciting.
He wondered how Talen and Lai had ended up together and debated asking, but the last thing he wanted to do right now was cause his friend any pain. He suspected that once A’bbni met Lai, Lai would spend a lot more time with them and the opportunity would come up later to find out. That train of thought took him down a whole new path. He knew A’bbni would like Lai, but would Lai like A’bbni? And if he did, was he all right with that? He loved seeing his brother happy more than anything, and especially now, after everything that had happened to them, he wanted A’bbni to experience happiness again.
He wondered how his compassionate brother was doing without him, if his injuries had healed, if his mental state was all right. He felt like he had left his twin at the worst possible time, so soon after the abuse and shock of what Hi’jan had done to him and what En’shea had done to their Father. He had grappled with it as best he could while on the ship, but he was sure that it had affected his brother infinitely more than it did him. That thought alone brought a sour taste to his mouth.
“And that was how I fucked a dragon,” he heard Lai say next to him, and his mind snapped back to reality.
“What?”
“Ah, there you are,” Lai said with a grin. “You went away there for a bit.”
