Adventures of the Space Aces

Space Lads

This is a short fic about Silas and Sylvie, although related to my Space Aces, they are their own thing and the main characters to my big WIP that I'll probably never finish. This is an unrelated, standalone fic though, based on a prompt I saw and liked. I hope you enjoy reading. Any fics focusing on these two will be labelled Space Lads moving forward. 

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"Ooh, what's this?"

Silas looked over his shoulder at his roommate, Alistair. He was holding up an old photo. Silas had to squint to get a good look at it.

"Oh—wait, what? What is that picture? Is—is that me?" Silas crawled closer to Alistair and took the photo out of his hand, inspecting it closely.

It was an old, greyed photo of Silas as a child, standing hand in hand with another child by a set of swings, both donning flower crowns.

Silas flipped the photo around, searching for some sort of information about the picture because he couldn't remember ever doing this or who the other kid even is.

"So? What's the picture?" Alistair leaned closer, trying to look over Silas' shoulder.

"'Dunno, doesn't say. Just says it was taken in 2004 so . . . Eighteen years ago apparently. God, how old was I then? 7, 8?"

Alistair leaned down even closer and looked at the photo once more. "Who's the other kid?"

"Good question. I have no clue."

The mail slot clanked the arrival of a letter. Both Silas and Alistair turned their attention to the door. "Wonder what we got in the mail." Alistair braced himself to stand but Silas beat him to his feet and headed over to the front entry. He saw the letter on the floor, a simple envelope sealed with wax. It was clearly not spam mail.

Silas turned the envelope over after taking a good long look at the insignia embedded in the wax seal. It was addressed to him. Elegant cursive littered the backside of the envelope, telling Silas of the sender's origins. 

 "The Royal Advisor to the Crowned Prince of Nephlis?!" Silas almost dropped the letter in his shock. Why would the royal advisor to a foreign prince be mailing him anything? Silas didn't even have any ties to the country of Nephlis. Not as far as he knew anyway. 

 "What? What are you talking about?" Alistair joined his roommate by the door, peering into Silas' personal space to inspect the letter. 

 "Well, what are you waiting for, you should open it already. See what it says!" Alistair pulled the letter out of Silas' hand but before he could rip the seal, Silas snatched it back. 

 "Not with your bare hands, you barbarian, go grab me a knife." Silas pointed to the kitchen, holding the envelope up and behind his head, away from his grabby friend. 

 Alistair rolled his eyes but did as requested. He handed Silas a butterknife and Silas ripped the letter open smoothly with little damage to the paper. He pulled out the letter inside and dropped the now empty envelope in favour of unfolding the letter with both hands. 

 "Mr. Sayer, By the King's decree, you are hereby invited to journey to the kingdom of Nephlis to honour the commitment you share to the crowned prince through your marriage vows eighteen years prior. As the crowned prince's coronation draws near, it is vital the crowned prince's spouse be present henceforth. Arrangements have already been made for your travels. Sincerely, Royal Advisor Enfield," Silas finished the last sentence aloud, almost dropping the paper, his grip so slack, his jaw on the floor. 

 "Marriage? Spouse? Prince?! I'm not married. I've never even met the guy! How can I be married to him!" Then it hit him. The photo. That must've been the wedding. But Silas couldn't even recall the full memory to be certain.