Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

108. Suitor vs Mate

 "Well, Yules. You must make a wish on that peach before one of the foxes walks off with it." Cal warned as he walked to Dartion. He handed the dark elf a peach. "A single wish can tell you a lot about a man."

"I don't need wishes. Such are a child's fancy." Dartion looked at the peach but made no move to bite into it.

"I man without desires... no... a man who doesn't think his desires are outside of his reach." Cal scratched his chin. "Then I would never curse you with everything you desire. I hope you never get everything you want."

Dartion looked at the peach and then back to Cal. "A curious thing to say to someone you just handed a wish."

"One wish is powerful thing, it can grant a lot of happiness to hope for something you could never have. But if you get everything you desire then eventually you'll run out of desires. Sounds like a dreadfully boring life to me. I can't imagine a worse hell then mixing immortality and boredom." Cal said.

"Immortality and boredom? So by hoping that I'll never get everything I want, you are in a way wishing that I'll live a long and happy immortal life full of desires. Well then," Dartion tilted his head back enough for his hair to part and he met Cal's gaze, "Then I wish that you'll also never get everything you desire." He bit into the peach with a wolfish grin.

Cal returned the wolfish grin, "We really must play chess sometime."

"Yes. Something less..." He looked at the many people putting away weapons. "... dangerous would be nice."

"I foresee many not-dull moments in our future." Cal propped his hand on his hip.

"You have an interesting way of seeing things. I guess you'd have to if you wanted to be a Guildmaster in this day and age." Dartion observed.

"Not today. It's my day off." Cal turned to Yullian. "Speaking of which. Fancy pants! It occurs to me that you aren't a native, so I'm going to do you a curtesy. Your guards are cute, but this city isn't dangerous because of the outstanding guard patrols. Every member is a warrior of some caliber. I once saw a barmaid take on four Great Ones during the age of raids and win."

"Sound advice, I had no idea that so many warriors existed in the Kingdom of Calphian." Yullian brushed his hands off.

"Calphian is neither dirt nor walls, Calphian is a people. Being able to defend ourselves is just one of our many qualities." Cal smiled.

"An admirable quality for an elven city. I guess if you can even call it an elven city anymore." Yullian stood straight with his hands behind his back in a dignified manner.

"It's got an elven queen and elven people. What more do you want?" Cal asked.

"How about an elven king?" Yullian put his hand on his chest.

Selene froze, waiting for Cal's jealous rage.

Cal had broken a wall when he thought about his own brother hitting on her. He was prone to drastic actions when they involved his family. Like when he slaughtered a Dravenkin hunting party or got in a fight with Shayley when she made Ophelia cry. Now this man had blatantly admitted to pursuing Shayley. This was going to be a bloodbath. Only... it wasn't?

"HAHAHA! You're going to need thicker skin if you want to court a Dravenkin, bucko." Cal slapped his leg. "You ever hear of a Dravenkin Negotiation? It's where you each want something and then you beat the other in to the ground. The winner makes their case and the loser has to maintain consciousness long enough to argue and accept terms or the winner gets to decide everything unopposed. Courting is soo much worse, I've had to ban it in the guild until further notice."