TACENDA // Technoblade X Reader

5

They day before the embassy arrived, you found Colin in the garden, feeding the tropical fish with lazy tosses of crumbs into the pond. It was a bright and sunny day, not a single cloud in the sky. You could hear birdsong as you sat down next to him, neatly crossing your legs and placing your hands in your lap.

Colin barely acknowledged your presence, sparing a single glance in your direction. 

"Hello Colin." You said.

"Did father send you?" He asked, tossing another handful of crumbs into the water. They caused little ripples across the surface, and the fish came to snatch them up greedily, distorting the reflection of the cloudless sky and your faces. 

"No." You said. You had come of your own accord, to talk to him yourself before the embassy arrived. 

"Then what do you want?" He asked. 

You frowned. "I can't come just as a friend? Does it always have to be something dire?"

Colin laughed, tossing another few crumbs. "You and I both know you wouldn't come here for idle chat. Not with me. Are the twins not available?" He said 'twins' with a sneer, as if there were a thousand words that he would have picked to call them before that.

"Fine, if you want everything to be so unpleasant." You said. "I'm sure you know the embassy is arriving tomorrow."

"I'm well aware." Colin drawled. 

"I just wanted to let you know that I plan to sit in on all of the negotiations." You said. "Just to be sure you don't make a fool of yourself or the kingdom. Lord knows father won't do anything."

Colin glanced over at you again. "Of course you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?" You asked, trying to look him in the eye. Colin said nothing though, just tossing another pinch of crumbs into the pond. 

You sat in silence for a moment, watching the leaves stir gently in the breeze. The garden was always so full of life - even down to the soil. It felt like the heart of the palace; the only place that wasn't carved out of cold stone, the only place that breathed. 

"Why did you kill them?" 

The question was out of your mouth before you could stop it, hanging in the air between you and your brother. 

The corner of his mouth twitched. "They're monsters. They would have killed us without hesitation if they had the chance."

"They were village people-" You started. 

"They're not people." Colin interrupted. "They're gold hoarding beasts. The world would be better off without any of them."

"They're sentient beings." You said. 

Colin rolled his eyes. "Sentient like the spiders you find in caves."

Your mouth set into a firm line. "That's just ignorant-"

Colin heaved himself up off the ground, tossing the pouch of crumbs at you. "Here." He said. "I'm done with this. You were always too soft for your own good."

You caught the pouch as Colin kicked a pebble into the pond, scaring all the fish back into their hiding places. He stalked away, back through the garden and towards the palace, and soon enough you couldn't see him anymore, obscured by the trees. 

You looked down at the pouch in your hand. The leather was worn where the drawstring ended, and you pulled at it gently, opening the bag to toss another pinch of crumbs into the water, drawing the fish back up to the surface. Their scales caught the unfiltered sunlight and made the water dance with colors, like swimming prisms. 

You leaned back in the grass, letting the sun warm your skin. It would probably be the last snatch of peace you would get for a while, with this embassy coming. You were worried about Colin... not necessarily his well being, but what he would say to the embassy when they arrived. It didn't matter how decorated these Pigmen were - they were still Pigmen, and to him that meant they were beasts.

You didn't understand how a boy who'd had the same upbringing as you could turn out so drastically different. 

You had spent hours in this garden together, laughing and playing after your lessons, with the wooden practice swords you would drag from the barracks. It was always a game of kings, with Colin enacting pretend laws, and ordering you and the twins around from the top of one of the apple trees, like it was a tower. 

You smiled at the memory. Things had been simpler then - when Colin would shed a tear from just stubbing a toe, and the twins teleportation was shaky and unreliable. Perhaps if you could go back to those years, you could see where Colin had gone wrong...

Perhaps it was when your father gave him a battalion of his own men to command. Or maybe when he took his first adventure to the coast, to retrieve a shipwreck. For a week after he had returned, you had heard him crying in his sleep, mumbling about the legions of drowned bodies that had almost taken him with them. You had tried to comfort him only to be pushed away.

Whatever it was, there was no way of going back to fix it now.

You would just have to do your best to make sure he didn't say anything that would offend them. 

You dumped the rest of the crumbs into the pond and watched as the fish sucked them up, swimming in an intricate pattern you didn't understand. What a simple life; to be a fish. Swimming aimlessly, only worrying about survival. The embassy would arrive and these fish would be unbothered - no matter what decision the negotiations came to, it would not affect them. 

You pulled yourself up from the ground and brushed off your clothes before tucking the now empty pouch into your pocket. You would have to return it to Colin later - though he probably wouldn't care if you didn't. Perhaps in a few hours he would be in a better mood, and you could actually talk to him. 

Doubtful, but it wouldn't hurt to try.