Prince of Dragons

Chapter Twenty-One

While Alaban worked on making himself more presentable, I decided to partake in a nice cool drink—non-alcoholic, mind you—and ordered something called the Frozen Surf, which was apparently a blueberry based drink that had been ground into some sort of slush-like consistency. It was definitely a first for me, but it was incredibly delicious and definitely hit the spot for me as I sipped it and looked around the busy room—taking note of the smiles and jovial conversations that were floating about.

After about thirty minutes, I noticed that someone had approached me quietly—either they were shy to approach, or there was some nefarious reasoning why they had to subtly come up to me. So I brought my guard up, and acted like I didn't see him.

Two more minutes passed, and I felt a hesitant tap on my shoulder, causing me to glance over towards the elven man who approached me. He was taller than me by a couple of inches, and—for an elf—was quite broad in stature. His long brown hair was curled and pulled back into a long ponytail, and a barely noticeable blush was splashed across his tanned cheeks as his sea foam green eyes looked at anything and everything but me.

Amused, I raised a brow and gave him an awkward smile. "Hi, can I help you?"

The elf's sea foam gaze snapped towards me, and a shy smile formed on his lips. "Oh, uh, yeah. Y-You, you're prince Drakell, right?"

I nodded my head and turned my body towards him, half leaning on the bar behind me. "That is indeed me. And you are?"

"My name is Kirall. A-Actually, my wife is the one who recognized you. She heard about you bringing the lost prince back home, and has been...well, let's just say she admires you. Her birthday is coming up, and I was wondering—if it is no trouble for you, of course—I-I don't know, be willing to give her an autograph? Perhaps a little happy birthday note? I-If it isn't too much trouble, of course, because if it is, then I can just leave..."

I blinked, completely caught off guard as I stared at the other man. I was both flattered and confused, because something like this hasn't...well, happened to me before. Sure, I knew people admired me, but not once had I been approached for an autograph. So this was absolutely new to me and all I could really do was stare and blink like some kind of weirdo.

"O-Oh, um...sure. Do you have a piece of, uh, paper, or something?" I finally managed to stammer, after about fifteen seconds of looking like some kind of weird fool.

Kirall immediately perked up and nodded his head, excitedly reaching into his satchel to pull out a crumbled piece of paper and a—relatively fancy looking—quill, and handed them both to me, a large smile now on his face. "I am so happy that you're doing this. She's been a big fan of you for a while, and that whole gallant mission of bringing the lost prince home after so many years...you're her idol. In fact," I grabbed the pen and began addressing the letter, "she was separated at birth from her own twin sister, and has been looking for her ever since she became of age, so you've given her hope that she'll one day find her again. Oh, and her name is Syra—if you need to know who to address the note to."

When he mentioned his wife and her search for her sister, I slowed my writing and glanced at him, feeling some kind of understanding fill my core. "I've spent sixteen or so years looking for my little brother," I admitted softly, tearing my gaze away to look back at the paper, "and by some luck of the gods, I finally found him. I'm glad I was able to give your wife some renewed hope in finding her sister, and...well, I'm sure she will be blessed by the gods too, one day. Just let her know never to give up."

Kyrell nodded vigorously. "I will definitely tell her you said that. And again, thank you so much for this, it's going to really make her day when she sees you took the time to notice her."