The Gift of War [bxb]

Our lives unchanged

Hello hello. Please leave your thoughts!

...

Waking up in enemy territory, on an enemy bed, after eating food made by said the enemies was not something Ryan had ever thought he would experience. But as he found out, stretching his arms out as he sat up, it was surprisingly tame. He had gone to bed thinking he'd be murdered in his sleep and that had definitely not happened. But what would he know, it was only his second day here.

A loud, insistent knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Sythian boy, they are looking for you."

Ryan sighed and got up, looking around for his spare change of clothes so he could get ready for a day of service. Compared to the other captives, he had gotten off the hook pretty easily. All he had to do was keep the Crown Prince company and rain insincere praises on his poor attempts at literature. He shuddered to think about the girls who had been sent to the kitchens and had to wake up at dawn to get meals ready, or the ones who had to do the laundry, clean the dirty sheets of the enemies.

By the time he had walked out for breakfast, it had gotten busy. It seemed it would still take him some time to get out of his habits. As a prince, he had never liked getting out of bed earlier than he had to, always opting to linger in bed as long as he could. But that just wouldn't do here, would it?

Grabbing a plate nonetheless, he served himself some bread and broth, taking a seat beside a couple Sythian girls that he recognized.

"Good morning, pri- Rafael!" A girl greeted, smiling nervously.

Ryan nodded back, deciding not to scold her for her slip up. "Hello...?"

"Oh, my name is Fredricka!"

"Sweet name." He smiled and began eating his meal, pretending not to notice the blush on the girl's face, or the excited glance she threw at the other girl.

"Rafael." He looked up to see another girl, one that he recognized. Her name was Amber, and he knew her to be a smart girl. "Are you serving the Crown Prince?"

"Yes." He replied simply, not knowing what they were getting at.

"Um, alright." Amber hesitated a bit. "And... how is it?"

"Serving the Crown Prince?" He asked, raising an eyebrow, getting a nod in return. "It's alright. Not the worst, I suppose." Ryan shrugged, blowing on his spoonful of broth to cool it before sipping it. "At least I won't have to burn my skin off slaving on the hearth."

"Really? He isn't..."

"The Crown Prince isn't the brightest tool in the shed, it seemed to me." He made sure his voice only reached the three of them and no one outside their little group. "He seemed a bit immature, but kind enough."

"That's so surprising!" Fredericka exclaimed. "Especially after the stories we heard yesterday..."

"What stories?" He asked, giving the girl his full attention.

Fredericka flushed and started stammering, making Amber give her an exasperated look as the other girl took over the conversation. "See, we were cleaning the floors of the East Wing of the palace, where the guestrooms are."

"And they made us clean the already pristine rooms!" Fredricka complained, apparently having found her voice back.

Ignoring her companion, Amber continued, "And there were some Perions servants with us too, supervising. They sparked a conversation with us, surprisingly, and it was actually very pleasant. When we were telling them about life in Sythia, they started us telling us about their own experiences..."