25 Moods ~ Prince Nolryn
Jul. 29th, 2007 08:52 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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yrae
Title~ Schizophrenia, Yay!
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ 25 Moods Challenge =D So it's not technically one story, just a whole bunch of little snippets all focused on Nol. I was going to do Shizaaqa and use it as a characterising excercise, but then I got stuck on 'happy', which is number one of the list. Oops.
Anyway. I did change a couple of the moods for my own reasons: Pleased was too much like happy, so I turned that into guilty, much more fun >) Hollow/blank... Nol doesn't do hollow/blank. The only time he's ever been blank in his life was when Naraan died, which was obviously what I'd already done for bereft. I was at uni with the full intention of using my four hours there to plough through the list of moods, wrote bereft, got depressed, and spent the rest of the time looking at GW screenies instead. The next one on the list was flirty, and I couldn't write that after just killing Naraan >< So I turned hollow/blank into bored instead. It's sorta related to hollow/blank >> Sorta kinda not really ^^;
Angry and enraged were HARD, because again, Nol doesn't DO angry. Irritated, fine, plenty of things irritate him: peasants, foreign royalty, heatwaves, being overcharged, Kazinian wilderness, blade archers. None of it makes him properly angry tho, so those were bloody tricky. When it happens tho? Damn~ he can be scary o.o;
*shuts up and posts the damn thing*
~ ~ ~
1. Happy
Nolryn’s jaw dropped open as he took in a breath of wonder. He heard Nimay do the same beside him, and even Mongrel was… well, he was behaving, that was enough.
‘Wow,’ he breathed, though even he could barely hear it over the buffeting wind on the cliff top.
‘So, what’s your reckoning?’ Gylepi had his arms crossed over Dizzy’s neck as he grinned out at the little red building blocks of Ni-Yana stretched out below. ‘Impressive?’
‘That,’ Nol said, pointing at the city with one forceful finger, ‘is the best thing I’ve seen in months.’ He shook his head and laughed, hardly believing that he was looking back at his home once more. He could even see the door to his own bedroom. ‘Ni-Yana has never looked so good.’
‘I promise you,’ Gylepi said, seriously but for the grin still plastered over his face, ‘However many times we stop off up here before actually going home, you will never tire of that view.’
2. Sad
Nolryn sighed and dropped his quiver to the ground with a wooden clatter. He crossed his arms and rested heavily back against the wall of the archery range, only half-seeing the targets as he waited for one to free up. He could easily just use his princely wrath—or even just Ownly wrath, now—but he wasn’t in the mood right now.
Naraan would have just whipped out his bow now and planted an arrow in all fifteen middle reds and left everyone to gawk at him. The image normally made Nolryn grin, or laugh outright if the archer was doing it right in front of him, but now…
He dropped his eyes to the ground before letting them droop closed. His brow creased as he clenched them tighter and he hid his face with one hand.
‘Too soon,’ he told himself behind a shaky breath. ‘Too soon.’
3. Guilty
Nol took a deep breath and flexed his fingers as he stood at the heavy oak door leading to Majesty’s study. He stared at the brass knob, his brow set resolutely as he reached out to turn it, but his fingers hovered for a few moments before he pulled away again.
He bit his bottom lip and swore silently at himself, resting his back against the wall next to the door. ‘You brought this on yourself, you know.’ He banged his head on the stone a few times, rolling his eyes downwards to the brass door knob.
He took another deep breath and pushed himself back from the wall, then reached out for the door for the umpteenth time that morning. He’d have to face up to it sooner or later.
Just as he pulled his hand back again, the door swung away from him, and a pang of guilt made Nol shrink back as he came face to face with the king.
‘Morning, Majesty.’ Nol grinned sheepishly.
Majesty folded his arms, somehow managing to look down on his son despite being the shorter of the two. ‘Good morning.’
4. Angry
‘What? No! I had nothing to do with that!’
‘You had everything to do with that, Nolryn. I put you in charge.’
‘What does that have to do with anything? They’re supposed to be the experts.’
Majesty rubbed the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. Nolryn folded his arms and scowled. ‘I’m not accepting the blame for this, Majesty.’
Majesty sighed and dropped his hand into his lap. ‘Whether you accept it or not, the blame is going to be thrown at you anyway. You were in charge, Nolryn.’
‘Did you tell them that? Why were they ignoring me completely?’
King Mithé slammed his fist on the table and drew himself to his feet, making Nolryn jump but not back down. ‘That is up to you to figure out. You were in charge, which makes it your fault, your problem, and your responsibility to fix.’
‘It was not my—’
‘Enough! You are royalty. It is always your fault, whether you like it or not.’
5. Confused
Nol blinked after Nimay as she stormed out of the ‘Thrai. ‘What was that for? What did I say?’
Melraan shrugged. ‘That phase of the moon, probably.’
‘I’m sorry? What does the moon have to do with anything?’
The swordsman took a deep breath and smiled knowingly. ‘Ah, young Highness, there is much you have to learn about the world.’
Nol cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms. ‘This’ll be good.’
‘Once a month,’ Melraan began philosophically, ‘women go a bit… weird. Get angry at nothing, burst into tears for no reason. The best thing is to just leave them be for those few days. Nothing you can do will make it right.’
The prince blinked slowly. ‘Right… Sort of like how cats go funny on a full moon?’
Melraan waved his hand from side to side. ‘Sort of, but I wouldn’t mention it like that to them. Don’t mention it at all, actually.’
‘Right…’
6. Tired
‘Highness?’
Nolryn forced his eyes to crack open and focus on the messenger girl at the door. It was still dark, but the faintest hint of predawn allowed him to see. He gave a questioning groan to show he was awake, though just barely.
‘Majesty requests your presence in his office.’
Nolryn stared through the darkness at the messenger’s silhouette as he digested this information. ‘Oh, Lin’s blood,’ he croaked quietly. Apparently he wasn’t even allowed one morning’s recovery from the mission this time.
He yawned widely and dragged himself into a sitting position, resting one elbow on his knee as he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm.
‘Sorry, Highness,’ the messenger girl said meekly from the door.
Nol yawned again and shook his head, then rolled his shoulders and cringed at the stiffness still in them. ‘No, I’m up, I’m up. Does he want me official?’ He cleared his throat to try and get the croak out of it. ‘What’s it about?’
‘The mission. He said he wants to check some things with you and General Rau.’
Nolryn nodded and dropped his legs over the edge of the bed. ‘Tell him I’ll be there in… some amount of time. Then I’m going to shoot him and go back to bed.’
7. Shocked
A line of perfectly rounded white stones ahead marked the border between Raykin and Kazin, almost glowing against the otherwise dank, greyish landscape.
Nol frowned, not remembering such a distinct border from his first journey up here when he was seven. He must have been asleep in the saddle at that time.
He swore under his breath when he finally recognised the round, white stones for what they really were.
Skulls. Human skulls, faced towards Raykin. A poignant warning to any who dared enter the northern kingdom.
‘Welcome to Kazin!’ Rau spread his arms to encompass the drab landscape, then turned around in his saddle to the two new recruits. ‘I wouldn’t worry too much. They’re only dangerous if you’re innocent.’
‘I was definitely asleep when we crossed the border last time,’ Nol mumbled.
8. Irritated
Nol clenched his teeth to keep from yelling his frustration, at least until the door had been closed behind them.
‘I’m going to bring my sword in and cut her head off next time,’ Rau muttered through equally gritted teeth.
‘Only if I don’t shoot her between the eyes first,’ the prince returned, then kicked at the carpet with barely restrained frustration. ‘What is wrong with Kazinians? Why can nobody accept the blame for anything that happens in this Aeia-damned empire?’
‘What if we get the Silronan General in the same room with her? Then they can at least figure out which of the two takes the blame.’
Nol shook his head. ‘They’ll both just blame Shizaaqa then.’ He sighed heavily and cast his eyes to the ceiling.
Rau scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. ‘The army guys are going rogue because they’re not being paid enough. Where in Lin’s sweet name is the money going if not to the army?’
Nol raked his fingers through his hair with an irritated growl. ‘I don’t care, I really don’t, but if it’s not going to the army by tomorrow evening, I swear I’m going to shoot that woman.’
9. WTF!
The only warning Nolryn had was Melraan’s eyes suddenly widening at something behind him, before he was firmly clobbered in the back of the head by a weighty beer glass.
‘Ow! Aeia’s blood! What in Lin’s—OW!’ The beer glass cracked against his fingers as he reached up to feel for any blood, but it was early enough in the evening that he still had sense enough to grab his assaulter’s arm before a third blow could be struck. He sprang to his feet and spun around, twisting his attacker’s arm as he did so.
‘What in Lin’s sweet and holy name was that for?’
The man appeared a few years older than Nolryn, and his dress showed he was nobility, though the prince didn’t recognise him. He glared up through red eyes, but the pain in them wasn’t from Nolryn’s grip on his wrist.
‘You killed my family,’ he snarled. ‘Prepare to die.’
‘What?’
10. Triumphant
‘Rejoice, gentlemen.’ Nol grinned as he thumped his glass on the table and slid onto the bench. ‘I can boil eggs.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ Naraan said after a slight pause. ‘And you’re telling us this for a reason?’
‘Well, you told me I’m going to have to cook on the missions, right?’
The three archers stared at him. Gylepi steeped his fingers against his nose. ‘And your contribution is going to be boiled eggs.’
The Own’s newest recruit shrugged defensively. ‘It’s a start. The kitchen’s going to teach me how to toast bread tomorrow. Don’t look at me like that!’
Gylepi smacked his forehead. ‘Should have expected this, I guess. Pampered Aeia-damned royalty.’
Garuk cleared his throat carefully. ‘We could always just cut him out of the roster.’
‘Kurae will kill you.’ Naraan shook his head and laughed, then lifted his glass to Nol. ‘It’s a start, I guess. To the eggs!’
11. Scared
Nolryn could see the dark shapes moving behind the trees up ahead and he unslung his bow from his shoulder, one hand ready on Mongrel’s reins.
As the black horses rounded the corner, it was immediately obvious that the Own was outnumbered. Without bothering to sling his bow back over his shoulder, Nolryn yanked Mongrel’s reins to wheel his horse around and just run, but his General stopped him.
‘Hold,’ Rau ordered, quietly but clearly.
Nolryn’s eyes widened as they darted between his General and the approaching black horses, but there wasn’t time to argue with words now. The decision had been made and it was too late to run.
He whipped out an arrow and nocked it into his bow, taking deep, slow breaths to steady his heartbeat, his mind and his aim. Arrows clanged into the swords of the red shirts in front of him, though he refused to look at the flashing steel. He’d see too many arrows that would otherwise hit him.
‘Blue shirts!’ Rau shouted. ‘Archer, rear left!’
‘Someone is going to die,’ Nol found his mind muttering, but as his arrow twisted through the air, he shook his head to expel such thoughts from it. ‘But not if I can help it.’
12. Bereft
Way back when Nolryn was still in Raykin, so very long ago now, he’d always thought he would feel hot and angry if one of the King’s Own were to be killed in Kazin. He’d been scared, back then, of what he might turn to if he were to lose any one of them. Gylepi. Garuk. Nimay. Melraan. Even Kaen.
Never did he think it could be Naraan. Naraan was always the most confident, the strongest, the boldest, not to mention the best shot. Nolryn had been closer to him than to Majesty for so long, especially during his childhood. He’d been a mentor, a teacher and a friend. He had always been there, a more reliable constant than Majesty could ever be.
He whispered something he couldn’t hear himself—a curse, a goodbye, a thank you… it didn’t matter—Naraan was gone.
13. Flirty
Nolryn rested back against the bar as he set his empty glass on it, not ready for another just yet. He was content to just idly watch the game of dagger toss going on in front of him.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’
The prince cocked an eyebrow and turned to the girl to his right. She was grinning and holding up a few gold pieces, and Nolryn couldn’t help but be refreshed by her confidence. People at the ‘Thrai were always ridiculously nervous speaking to him for the first time. He shrugged to himself. Why not? Nimay had already said no.
‘Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?’ he asked, reaching for his back pocket.
‘I guess so, but you weren’t looking my way at all, so I had to make the first move, didn’t I?’
Nolryn grinned and slapped his coins onto the counter, turning around to beckon Kal over. ‘So, what’s your poison?’
‘Lin’s blood,’ the girl gasped, covering her mouth with one hand as her eyes locked on Nol’s right shoulder, or more specifically, the royal insignia branded onto it.
‘Don’t serve that here, I’m afraid,’ Nol told her, trying to wave away her sudden stupor. ‘I can do you a Liquid Sunset, though. That’s the next best thing. I’m Nolryn, by the way.’
The girl shook her head with a disbelieving laugh. ‘Oh, sure, you tell me that now.’
14. Serious
‘They’re being kept in these cells here.’ The spy ran a finger over the map of Assiraz’s dungeons. ‘Thankfully not the most heavily guarded, but they’re still three levels down.’
Nolryn clasped his fingers under his chin as he frowned at the map. ‘How easy is it to get from one level to the next?’
‘Well, impossible, I would have thought, but apparently Majesty has other ideas.’
‘Mmm,’ Nolryn and Rau murmured together.
The spy cleared his throat. ‘You’ll have to get from one end of the floor to the other to find the stairs leading down to the next, and it is one bugger of a maze between stair cases.’
‘What about the guards?’ Rau asked.
The spy grimaced and laced his fingers behind his head. ‘Yeah, they’re what make it impossible. If they hear the slightest noise, they’ll get every guard from the levels below up to where they are to suss it out. About two hundred in total.’
Nolryn bit his lip. ‘How good are they?’
‘Best in Kazin. Most of them either own or have owned a black horse. What are you guys like at stealth? They’re only ever in groups of between five and ten, so as long as you can take them all quickly and quietly, you should be okay.’
Nolryn was shaking his head, looking at the maze on paper with pursed lips. ‘I’m not doing this, Rau.’ He glanced up at his General. ‘I’m prince before I’m an Own rider.’
Rau nodded slowly as though he was turning things over in his mind. ‘We’ll figure out something for you, but I agree, you’re not going down there.’
15. Silly
‘Nol?’
‘Mmm?’
‘That’s a tiger.’
The prince grinned. ‘I know.’
‘We can’t eat a tiger!’ Gylepi protested as he stared at the huge cat. It still looked more powerful than their horses, even though it was dead.
‘Why not?’ Murali folded his arms. ‘Kurae said if it moves, kill it.’
Gylepi shook his head. ‘He’s also told us every time that predators aren’t good eating.’
‘They taste like what they eat,’ Garuk agreed.
‘Well, he said he wanted a challenge.’ Nol slung his leg over Mongrel’s back and dropped to the ground, frowning at the tiger with hands on hips. ‘What do tigers eat?’
‘No idea.’ Garuk dismounted and stood beside Nolryn. ‘Looks strong enough to take down a horse, though. How do you plan on getting it back?’
Nol shrugged and shifted his weight to the other foot, then glanced from the tiger to his restless stallion. ‘Drag it?’
Garuk shook his head and slapped Nol on the shoulders. ‘No wonder Kurae hates us.’
16. Bored
Nol flopped down on the couch, holding his beer out to prevent it from spilling. He passed the bottle to his lips and took a swig, then grimaced as he dropped it to his side. ‘It’s warm.’
Nimay shook an ‘I told you so’ finger at him from her position face-down on the floor.
Nolryn took another swig from the bottle regardless. It was moisture, and it was mildly cooler than the ambient temperature. ‘I hate heatwaves. Why don’t we have any of those giant fan-waving people Shizaaqa has?’
Nimay rolled over onto her back and shrugged, then looked over and pointed at him.
‘Maybe I will.’ He sighed, curling his lip to blow air up at his hair. ‘I don’t suppose you can cool the place down a bit with the stone?’
His eyes widened slightly as she held up her right hand in readiness, raising questioning eyebrows at him.
‘Actually… no.’ He shivered, though Nimay hadn’t done anything. ‘I’ll just be happy melting, I think.’
17. Incredulous
Nolryn barely waited for Majesty’s muffled ‘Come in’ as he knocked on the study door.
‘I just saw Larind arrested in the archery range,’ he said breathlessly. ‘What was that all about?’
Majesty rested back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. ‘So, they’ve finally taken him in, have they?’ His tone suggested he was talking to himself.
‘What do you mean “finally”? What don’t I know this time?’
The king raised an infuriating eyebrow. ‘What makes you think you should have been told?’
Nolryn shrugged and spread his hands. ‘I don’t know, maybe because I’ve known him since army training, because I’ve been in First Company with him since we passed the final exams.’
King Mithé shook his head. ‘Those are precisely the reasons you weren’t told, Nolryn. Remember that murder late last year? Kenda?’
‘The blade archer?’ Nolryn asked, already shaking his head. ‘You’re not serious. You think Larind was involved?’
Majesty nodded solemnly.
‘But…’ Nol felt his mouth go dry as he prepared to ask his next question. ‘The penalty for murder…’
‘I don’t like it either, Nolryn, but I can’t make any exceptions simply because you know him.’
Nolryn shook his head. ‘Apparently I don’t.’
18. Confident
Nolryn yawned widely and shook his head to try and keep himself awake through Majesty’s speech, then occupied himself instead with picking at something that had caked itself onto his coat.
‘Weren’t you going to be doing a speech too?’ Gylepi asked.
Nol nodded as he picked at his coat. ‘I do one every year.’
Gylepi shrugged. ‘You just don’t look like you’re about to get up and talk in front of the whole city.’
Nol brushed the spot on his coat, figuring it wouldn’t show up from the top of the wall anyway. ‘How do you mean?’ he asked. ‘Don’t make me get the crown. I hate the thing.’
The taller archer shook his head. ‘That’s not what I meant. Don’t you get nervous at all?’
‘Absolutely petrified. Look at me, I’m shaking.’ He held out one perfectly steady hand, then shrugged and folded his arms. ‘Crowds have never bothered me. It’s the foreign royalty where you have to be particularly careful picking your words.’ He yawned again and squinted at the sun to gauge the time. ‘Is he done yet?’
19. Fierce
Gylepi’s shoulders slouched as the four archers of the King’s Own entered the archery range. ‘Oh, Lin’s blood.’
Nolryn folded his arms. ‘Look, some of them are even sharing targets. I hate the range after a heatwave.’
‘Mmm,’ the other three archers intoned.
‘Princely wrath?’ Garuk suggested.
Nol nodded. ‘Princely wrath. How much of a bunch of bastards do we want to look? All four targets?’
‘Definitely,’ Murali agreed. ‘I haven’t shot an arrow in a week.’
‘My thoughts exactly.’ Nol strode forwards, carefully eying off the targets as he wandered along the line until he reached one kid who couldn’t have been much more than thirteen years old. ‘Off,’ he said clearly.
‘You can’t order me around,’ he heard the kid mutter as he pulled another arrow from his quiver.
‘I can and I do,’ Nol returned. ‘Now, off.’
The kid loaded and fired his arrow. ‘What, just because you’re older than me, you think you…’ He trailed off when he turned around, his determined expression slipping as his face began to lose colour.
Nolryn glared hard at him, then inclined his head just slightly towards the range’s exit.
The kid nodded. ‘Sorry, Highness,’ he mumbled, then bolted.
Nol kept his face dark as he watched the kid run, only cocking an eyebrow when he shifted his gaze to the other Own archers. ‘Power is fun,’ he mouthed with a grin.
20. Despondent
Nolryn shaded his eyes and squinted out to the horizon. ‘Is that people?’ He stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony, crossing his arms on the balustrade as he squinted into the sun. ‘It is, look. Were we expecting anyone?’
Majesty stepped up beside him, one hand up against his brow. ‘Not for a week or so, at least. I was going to break the news to you tomorrow.’
Nolryn slumped down and thumped his forehead against the polished stone. ‘Not Llayans, please not Llayans.’
‘The wood export ministry.’
He groaned heavily and covered his head with one arm. ‘The entire ministry? What, one or two of them won’t do the job?’
‘Apparently not.’ Majesty sighed, and Nolryn hoped his father’s irritation was with the Llayans and not with him. ‘They want more money.’
‘They always want more money,’ Nolryn mumbled, lifting his head and resting his chin on the stone balustrade. ‘I can see parasols. Those are Llayans, all right.’
21. Drunk
Nolryn frowned and steeled his gaze as he placed his glass atop the pyramid growing in the middle of the table. ‘Masterpiece,’ he declared. ‘I challenge anyone in the pub to do better.’
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Gylepi agreed, passing his glass to his lips. He tipped his head right back and almost fell off the bench before he frowned up into it. ‘Empty. Whose shout?’
‘Must be ‘may,’ Nol decided, taking Gylepi’s glass and adding it to the pyramid. ‘Where is ‘may?’
Gylepi grinned. ‘Across from you.’
Nol blinked up from the glass pyramid to see Nimay waving at him, one eyebrow cocked.
‘There you are! It’s your round, by the way. I bought new clothes! Do you like my new clothes? I’ll have a Snakebite, thanks.’
Melraan was frowning at him as Nimay got to her feet, shaking her head with mirth. ‘Why do you need to buy clothes? You’re the prince. You’ve got piles of money.’
‘Yeah, but I can’t wear money.’
Melraan looked down at the gold chain around his neck, hooking a thumb under it with a broad grin. ‘I do.’
‘Yeah, but you’re Kaen.’
‘…I am?’
‘…Aren’t you?’
‘I don’t think I am. Where’d ‘may go?’
‘Buying clothes, I think.’
22. Enraged
It wasn’t often the prince wished he’d been a swordsman instead of an archer, but right now, arrows just weren’t violent and bloody enough. He nocked three arrows into his bow and almost threw them at the target, ignoring the nervous shuffling behind him. If they knew any better, they would just leave him in peace, like everyone else in the archery range had done.
‘Highness?’
‘Don’t even try it,’ the prince muttered through gritted teeth as he knocked three more arrows into his bow.
General Rau cleared his throat with determination behind him, but Nolryn had loosed his arrows and spun on his heel before the swordsman could get another word out.
‘Unless the lot of you have come to tell me what in Lin’s sweet and holy name you were doing last night, do not even try it.’
The half-dozen Own riders who had gathered looked at the ground, at each other, at their designated spokesman, anywhere but the narrowed, stormy eyes before them.
Rau cleared his throat again. ‘Defending you.’
The prince tightened his grip on his bow, feeling his bottom eyelids twitch. ‘Specifics, Rau.’
‘There are rumours you’re going to be alone for your hrai-dani. It escalated from there.’
Nolryn flinched and felt his face grow hot. He whipped an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow, his left hand quivering as he glared down the shaft at his General. He had no intention of letting it go, but it seemed an effective way of just getting them out.
The Own riders and collectively stumbled backwards.
‘Sorry, Highness,’ Rau mumbled, then made an undignified exit from the archery range with the rest of the Own riders.
23. Sarcastic
‘Lynnlita thinks Raykin would greatly benefit from moderating the consumption of alcohol. She is certain Nolryn agrees.’
Nolryn stood with his mouth half-open for a moment, finding himself in the rare position of being speechless. ‘I’m sure you do,’ he said finally.
Lynnlita waved an elegantly disgusted hand out over the crowd below them. ‘Well, just think about how much more placid and dignified these people would be without the effects of alcohol. It saps away the life of this otherwise fine kingdom.’
Nol shook his head and tried to keep from laughing. ‘Oh yes, calm, dignified, with the gentle clink of one glass of 4021 cabernet merlot against another… a perfectly decadent evening.’
‘Nolryn does not sound so certain.’
‘Well spotted.’
24. Disgusted
‘So… what is it, exactly?’ Melraan asked once the serving girl had left.
Nolryn stared into his bowl with much the same expression. ‘I ordered beef, but this is… erm…’
‘It’s grey,’ Gylepi provided.
Nolryn sighed and picked up his fork, prodding at the greyish stew. The movement in the mixture caused a cloud of steam to rise from it, filled with a smell that made his stomach curl up in the same way as his top lip. ‘It smells dead.’
‘It is dead.’
‘I know, but it’s not supposed to smell dead.’ He shook his head and left his fork in the grey mess. ‘I’m not eating that. I don’t care if I look like pampered royalty; I’m not eating it.’
‘Good,’ Melraan agreed, pushing his bowl away. ‘Our illustrious leader has spoken.’
25. Ill
‘Where are some Kazinians?’ Nol complained. ‘I need to shoot something.’ He spluttered, sniffed and groaned, then swore when Mongrel shook his head.
‘What in Lin’s name was that?’ Melraan asked after a slight pause.
‘A cough, I think. Or a sneeze. Probably both.’ He gave three sneezes in quick succession and was halfway through a forth before it mysteriously flew off. He held up one finger, but there was no tickle in his nostrils. ‘It’ll be back, believe me. This entire half of the empire must live with a blocked nose. How do they do it? Why would anyone choose to live with a near-perpetual cold?’
‘Search me,’ Melraan said through a yawn that disintegrated into a dry cough. ‘Why haven’t they come up with a cure for it yet?’
Nol shivered and buried his nose into the fur collar of his cloak. ‘I’ll ask Shizaaqa about that when we get there.’
‘You do that.’
Nolryn sneezed abruptly. ‘See?’
Author~ Annarti
Disclaimer~ Still mine
Notes~ 25 Moods Challenge =D So it's not technically one story, just a whole bunch of little snippets all focused on Nol. I was going to do Shizaaqa and use it as a characterising excercise, but then I got stuck on 'happy', which is number one of the list. Oops.
Anyway. I did change a couple of the moods for my own reasons: Pleased was too much like happy, so I turned that into guilty, much more fun >) Hollow/blank... Nol doesn't do hollow/blank. The only time he's ever been blank in his life was when Naraan died, which was obviously what I'd already done for bereft. I was at uni with the full intention of using my four hours there to plough through the list of moods, wrote bereft, got depressed, and spent the rest of the time looking at GW screenies instead. The next one on the list was flirty, and I couldn't write that after just killing Naraan >< So I turned hollow/blank into bored instead. It's sorta related to hollow/blank >> Sorta kinda not really ^^;
Angry and enraged were HARD, because again, Nol doesn't DO angry. Irritated, fine, plenty of things irritate him: peasants, foreign royalty, heatwaves, being overcharged, Kazinian wilderness, blade archers. None of it makes him properly angry tho, so those were bloody tricky. When it happens tho? Damn~ he can be scary o.o;
*shuts up and posts the damn thing*
1. Happy
Nolryn’s jaw dropped open as he took in a breath of wonder. He heard Nimay do the same beside him, and even Mongrel was… well, he was behaving, that was enough.
‘Wow,’ he breathed, though even he could barely hear it over the buffeting wind on the cliff top.
‘So, what’s your reckoning?’ Gylepi had his arms crossed over Dizzy’s neck as he grinned out at the little red building blocks of Ni-Yana stretched out below. ‘Impressive?’
‘That,’ Nol said, pointing at the city with one forceful finger, ‘is the best thing I’ve seen in months.’ He shook his head and laughed, hardly believing that he was looking back at his home once more. He could even see the door to his own bedroom. ‘Ni-Yana has never looked so good.’
‘I promise you,’ Gylepi said, seriously but for the grin still plastered over his face, ‘However many times we stop off up here before actually going home, you will never tire of that view.’
2. Sad
Nolryn sighed and dropped his quiver to the ground with a wooden clatter. He crossed his arms and rested heavily back against the wall of the archery range, only half-seeing the targets as he waited for one to free up. He could easily just use his princely wrath—or even just Ownly wrath, now—but he wasn’t in the mood right now.
Naraan would have just whipped out his bow now and planted an arrow in all fifteen middle reds and left everyone to gawk at him. The image normally made Nolryn grin, or laugh outright if the archer was doing it right in front of him, but now…
He dropped his eyes to the ground before letting them droop closed. His brow creased as he clenched them tighter and he hid his face with one hand.
‘Too soon,’ he told himself behind a shaky breath. ‘Too soon.’
3. Guilty
Nol took a deep breath and flexed his fingers as he stood at the heavy oak door leading to Majesty’s study. He stared at the brass knob, his brow set resolutely as he reached out to turn it, but his fingers hovered for a few moments before he pulled away again.
He bit his bottom lip and swore silently at himself, resting his back against the wall next to the door. ‘You brought this on yourself, you know.’ He banged his head on the stone a few times, rolling his eyes downwards to the brass door knob.
He took another deep breath and pushed himself back from the wall, then reached out for the door for the umpteenth time that morning. He’d have to face up to it sooner or later.
Just as he pulled his hand back again, the door swung away from him, and a pang of guilt made Nol shrink back as he came face to face with the king.
‘Morning, Majesty.’ Nol grinned sheepishly.
Majesty folded his arms, somehow managing to look down on his son despite being the shorter of the two. ‘Good morning.’
4. Angry
‘What? No! I had nothing to do with that!’
‘You had everything to do with that, Nolryn. I put you in charge.’
‘What does that have to do with anything? They’re supposed to be the experts.’
Majesty rubbed the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger. Nolryn folded his arms and scowled. ‘I’m not accepting the blame for this, Majesty.’
Majesty sighed and dropped his hand into his lap. ‘Whether you accept it or not, the blame is going to be thrown at you anyway. You were in charge, Nolryn.’
‘Did you tell them that? Why were they ignoring me completely?’
King Mithé slammed his fist on the table and drew himself to his feet, making Nolryn jump but not back down. ‘That is up to you to figure out. You were in charge, which makes it your fault, your problem, and your responsibility to fix.’
‘It was not my—’
‘Enough! You are royalty. It is always your fault, whether you like it or not.’
5. Confused
Nol blinked after Nimay as she stormed out of the ‘Thrai. ‘What was that for? What did I say?’
Melraan shrugged. ‘That phase of the moon, probably.’
‘I’m sorry? What does the moon have to do with anything?’
The swordsman took a deep breath and smiled knowingly. ‘Ah, young Highness, there is much you have to learn about the world.’
Nol cocked an eyebrow and folded his arms. ‘This’ll be good.’
‘Once a month,’ Melraan began philosophically, ‘women go a bit… weird. Get angry at nothing, burst into tears for no reason. The best thing is to just leave them be for those few days. Nothing you can do will make it right.’
The prince blinked slowly. ‘Right… Sort of like how cats go funny on a full moon?’
Melraan waved his hand from side to side. ‘Sort of, but I wouldn’t mention it like that to them. Don’t mention it at all, actually.’
‘Right…’
6. Tired
‘Highness?’
Nolryn forced his eyes to crack open and focus on the messenger girl at the door. It was still dark, but the faintest hint of predawn allowed him to see. He gave a questioning groan to show he was awake, though just barely.
‘Majesty requests your presence in his office.’
Nolryn stared through the darkness at the messenger’s silhouette as he digested this information. ‘Oh, Lin’s blood,’ he croaked quietly. Apparently he wasn’t even allowed one morning’s recovery from the mission this time.
He yawned widely and dragged himself into a sitting position, resting one elbow on his knee as he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his palm.
‘Sorry, Highness,’ the messenger girl said meekly from the door.
Nol yawned again and shook his head, then rolled his shoulders and cringed at the stiffness still in them. ‘No, I’m up, I’m up. Does he want me official?’ He cleared his throat to try and get the croak out of it. ‘What’s it about?’
‘The mission. He said he wants to check some things with you and General Rau.’
Nolryn nodded and dropped his legs over the edge of the bed. ‘Tell him I’ll be there in… some amount of time. Then I’m going to shoot him and go back to bed.’
7. Shocked
A line of perfectly rounded white stones ahead marked the border between Raykin and Kazin, almost glowing against the otherwise dank, greyish landscape.
Nol frowned, not remembering such a distinct border from his first journey up here when he was seven. He must have been asleep in the saddle at that time.
He swore under his breath when he finally recognised the round, white stones for what they really were.
Skulls. Human skulls, faced towards Raykin. A poignant warning to any who dared enter the northern kingdom.
‘Welcome to Kazin!’ Rau spread his arms to encompass the drab landscape, then turned around in his saddle to the two new recruits. ‘I wouldn’t worry too much. They’re only dangerous if you’re innocent.’
‘I was definitely asleep when we crossed the border last time,’ Nol mumbled.
8. Irritated
Nol clenched his teeth to keep from yelling his frustration, at least until the door had been closed behind them.
‘I’m going to bring my sword in and cut her head off next time,’ Rau muttered through equally gritted teeth.
‘Only if I don’t shoot her between the eyes first,’ the prince returned, then kicked at the carpet with barely restrained frustration. ‘What is wrong with Kazinians? Why can nobody accept the blame for anything that happens in this Aeia-damned empire?’
‘What if we get the Silronan General in the same room with her? Then they can at least figure out which of the two takes the blame.’
Nol shook his head. ‘They’ll both just blame Shizaaqa then.’ He sighed heavily and cast his eyes to the ceiling.
Rau scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully. ‘The army guys are going rogue because they’re not being paid enough. Where in Lin’s sweet name is the money going if not to the army?’
Nol raked his fingers through his hair with an irritated growl. ‘I don’t care, I really don’t, but if it’s not going to the army by tomorrow evening, I swear I’m going to shoot that woman.’
9. WTF!
The only warning Nolryn had was Melraan’s eyes suddenly widening at something behind him, before he was firmly clobbered in the back of the head by a weighty beer glass.
‘Ow! Aeia’s blood! What in Lin’s—OW!’ The beer glass cracked against his fingers as he reached up to feel for any blood, but it was early enough in the evening that he still had sense enough to grab his assaulter’s arm before a third blow could be struck. He sprang to his feet and spun around, twisting his attacker’s arm as he did so.
‘What in Lin’s sweet and holy name was that for?’
The man appeared a few years older than Nolryn, and his dress showed he was nobility, though the prince didn’t recognise him. He glared up through red eyes, but the pain in them wasn’t from Nolryn’s grip on his wrist.
‘You killed my family,’ he snarled. ‘Prepare to die.’
‘What?’
10. Triumphant
‘Rejoice, gentlemen.’ Nol grinned as he thumped his glass on the table and slid onto the bench. ‘I can boil eggs.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ Naraan said after a slight pause. ‘And you’re telling us this for a reason?’
‘Well, you told me I’m going to have to cook on the missions, right?’
The three archers stared at him. Gylepi steeped his fingers against his nose. ‘And your contribution is going to be boiled eggs.’
The Own’s newest recruit shrugged defensively. ‘It’s a start. The kitchen’s going to teach me how to toast bread tomorrow. Don’t look at me like that!’
Gylepi smacked his forehead. ‘Should have expected this, I guess. Pampered Aeia-damned royalty.’
Garuk cleared his throat carefully. ‘We could always just cut him out of the roster.’
‘Kurae will kill you.’ Naraan shook his head and laughed, then lifted his glass to Nol. ‘It’s a start, I guess. To the eggs!’
11. Scared
Nolryn could see the dark shapes moving behind the trees up ahead and he unslung his bow from his shoulder, one hand ready on Mongrel’s reins.
As the black horses rounded the corner, it was immediately obvious that the Own was outnumbered. Without bothering to sling his bow back over his shoulder, Nolryn yanked Mongrel’s reins to wheel his horse around and just run, but his General stopped him.
‘Hold,’ Rau ordered, quietly but clearly.
Nolryn’s eyes widened as they darted between his General and the approaching black horses, but there wasn’t time to argue with words now. The decision had been made and it was too late to run.
He whipped out an arrow and nocked it into his bow, taking deep, slow breaths to steady his heartbeat, his mind and his aim. Arrows clanged into the swords of the red shirts in front of him, though he refused to look at the flashing steel. He’d see too many arrows that would otherwise hit him.
‘Blue shirts!’ Rau shouted. ‘Archer, rear left!’
‘Someone is going to die,’ Nol found his mind muttering, but as his arrow twisted through the air, he shook his head to expel such thoughts from it. ‘But not if I can help it.’
12. Bereft
Way back when Nolryn was still in Raykin, so very long ago now, he’d always thought he would feel hot and angry if one of the King’s Own were to be killed in Kazin. He’d been scared, back then, of what he might turn to if he were to lose any one of them. Gylepi. Garuk. Nimay. Melraan. Even Kaen.
Never did he think it could be Naraan. Naraan was always the most confident, the strongest, the boldest, not to mention the best shot. Nolryn had been closer to him than to Majesty for so long, especially during his childhood. He’d been a mentor, a teacher and a friend. He had always been there, a more reliable constant than Majesty could ever be.
He whispered something he couldn’t hear himself—a curse, a goodbye, a thank you… it didn’t matter—Naraan was gone.
13. Flirty
Nolryn rested back against the bar as he set his empty glass on it, not ready for another just yet. He was content to just idly watch the game of dagger toss going on in front of him.
‘Can I buy you a drink?’
The prince cocked an eyebrow and turned to the girl to his right. She was grinning and holding up a few gold pieces, and Nolryn couldn’t help but be refreshed by her confidence. People at the ‘Thrai were always ridiculously nervous speaking to him for the first time. He shrugged to himself. Why not? Nimay had already said no.
‘Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?’ he asked, reaching for his back pocket.
‘I guess so, but you weren’t looking my way at all, so I had to make the first move, didn’t I?’
Nolryn grinned and slapped his coins onto the counter, turning around to beckon Kal over. ‘So, what’s your poison?’
‘Lin’s blood,’ the girl gasped, covering her mouth with one hand as her eyes locked on Nol’s right shoulder, or more specifically, the royal insignia branded onto it.
‘Don’t serve that here, I’m afraid,’ Nol told her, trying to wave away her sudden stupor. ‘I can do you a Liquid Sunset, though. That’s the next best thing. I’m Nolryn, by the way.’
The girl shook her head with a disbelieving laugh. ‘Oh, sure, you tell me that now.’
14. Serious
‘They’re being kept in these cells here.’ The spy ran a finger over the map of Assiraz’s dungeons. ‘Thankfully not the most heavily guarded, but they’re still three levels down.’
Nolryn clasped his fingers under his chin as he frowned at the map. ‘How easy is it to get from one level to the next?’
‘Well, impossible, I would have thought, but apparently Majesty has other ideas.’
‘Mmm,’ Nolryn and Rau murmured together.
The spy cleared his throat. ‘You’ll have to get from one end of the floor to the other to find the stairs leading down to the next, and it is one bugger of a maze between stair cases.’
‘What about the guards?’ Rau asked.
The spy grimaced and laced his fingers behind his head. ‘Yeah, they’re what make it impossible. If they hear the slightest noise, they’ll get every guard from the levels below up to where they are to suss it out. About two hundred in total.’
Nolryn bit his lip. ‘How good are they?’
‘Best in Kazin. Most of them either own or have owned a black horse. What are you guys like at stealth? They’re only ever in groups of between five and ten, so as long as you can take them all quickly and quietly, you should be okay.’
Nolryn was shaking his head, looking at the maze on paper with pursed lips. ‘I’m not doing this, Rau.’ He glanced up at his General. ‘I’m prince before I’m an Own rider.’
Rau nodded slowly as though he was turning things over in his mind. ‘We’ll figure out something for you, but I agree, you’re not going down there.’
15. Silly
‘Nol?’
‘Mmm?’
‘That’s a tiger.’
The prince grinned. ‘I know.’
‘We can’t eat a tiger!’ Gylepi protested as he stared at the huge cat. It still looked more powerful than their horses, even though it was dead.
‘Why not?’ Murali folded his arms. ‘Kurae said if it moves, kill it.’
Gylepi shook his head. ‘He’s also told us every time that predators aren’t good eating.’
‘They taste like what they eat,’ Garuk agreed.
‘Well, he said he wanted a challenge.’ Nol slung his leg over Mongrel’s back and dropped to the ground, frowning at the tiger with hands on hips. ‘What do tigers eat?’
‘No idea.’ Garuk dismounted and stood beside Nolryn. ‘Looks strong enough to take down a horse, though. How do you plan on getting it back?’
Nol shrugged and shifted his weight to the other foot, then glanced from the tiger to his restless stallion. ‘Drag it?’
Garuk shook his head and slapped Nol on the shoulders. ‘No wonder Kurae hates us.’
16. Bored
Nol flopped down on the couch, holding his beer out to prevent it from spilling. He passed the bottle to his lips and took a swig, then grimaced as he dropped it to his side. ‘It’s warm.’
Nimay shook an ‘I told you so’ finger at him from her position face-down on the floor.
Nolryn took another swig from the bottle regardless. It was moisture, and it was mildly cooler than the ambient temperature. ‘I hate heatwaves. Why don’t we have any of those giant fan-waving people Shizaaqa has?’
Nimay rolled over onto her back and shrugged, then looked over and pointed at him.
‘Maybe I will.’ He sighed, curling his lip to blow air up at his hair. ‘I don’t suppose you can cool the place down a bit with the stone?’
His eyes widened slightly as she held up her right hand in readiness, raising questioning eyebrows at him.
‘Actually… no.’ He shivered, though Nimay hadn’t done anything. ‘I’ll just be happy melting, I think.’
17. Incredulous
Nolryn barely waited for Majesty’s muffled ‘Come in’ as he knocked on the study door.
‘I just saw Larind arrested in the archery range,’ he said breathlessly. ‘What was that all about?’
Majesty rested back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. ‘So, they’ve finally taken him in, have they?’ His tone suggested he was talking to himself.
‘What do you mean “finally”? What don’t I know this time?’
The king raised an infuriating eyebrow. ‘What makes you think you should have been told?’
Nolryn shrugged and spread his hands. ‘I don’t know, maybe because I’ve known him since army training, because I’ve been in First Company with him since we passed the final exams.’
King Mithé shook his head. ‘Those are precisely the reasons you weren’t told, Nolryn. Remember that murder late last year? Kenda?’
‘The blade archer?’ Nolryn asked, already shaking his head. ‘You’re not serious. You think Larind was involved?’
Majesty nodded solemnly.
‘But…’ Nol felt his mouth go dry as he prepared to ask his next question. ‘The penalty for murder…’
‘I don’t like it either, Nolryn, but I can’t make any exceptions simply because you know him.’
Nolryn shook his head. ‘Apparently I don’t.’
18. Confident
Nolryn yawned widely and shook his head to try and keep himself awake through Majesty’s speech, then occupied himself instead with picking at something that had caked itself onto his coat.
‘Weren’t you going to be doing a speech too?’ Gylepi asked.
Nol nodded as he picked at his coat. ‘I do one every year.’
Gylepi shrugged. ‘You just don’t look like you’re about to get up and talk in front of the whole city.’
Nol brushed the spot on his coat, figuring it wouldn’t show up from the top of the wall anyway. ‘How do you mean?’ he asked. ‘Don’t make me get the crown. I hate the thing.’
The taller archer shook his head. ‘That’s not what I meant. Don’t you get nervous at all?’
‘Absolutely petrified. Look at me, I’m shaking.’ He held out one perfectly steady hand, then shrugged and folded his arms. ‘Crowds have never bothered me. It’s the foreign royalty where you have to be particularly careful picking your words.’ He yawned again and squinted at the sun to gauge the time. ‘Is he done yet?’
19. Fierce
Gylepi’s shoulders slouched as the four archers of the King’s Own entered the archery range. ‘Oh, Lin’s blood.’
Nolryn folded his arms. ‘Look, some of them are even sharing targets. I hate the range after a heatwave.’
‘Mmm,’ the other three archers intoned.
‘Princely wrath?’ Garuk suggested.
Nol nodded. ‘Princely wrath. How much of a bunch of bastards do we want to look? All four targets?’
‘Definitely,’ Murali agreed. ‘I haven’t shot an arrow in a week.’
‘My thoughts exactly.’ Nol strode forwards, carefully eying off the targets as he wandered along the line until he reached one kid who couldn’t have been much more than thirteen years old. ‘Off,’ he said clearly.
‘You can’t order me around,’ he heard the kid mutter as he pulled another arrow from his quiver.
‘I can and I do,’ Nol returned. ‘Now, off.’
The kid loaded and fired his arrow. ‘What, just because you’re older than me, you think you…’ He trailed off when he turned around, his determined expression slipping as his face began to lose colour.
Nolryn glared hard at him, then inclined his head just slightly towards the range’s exit.
The kid nodded. ‘Sorry, Highness,’ he mumbled, then bolted.
Nol kept his face dark as he watched the kid run, only cocking an eyebrow when he shifted his gaze to the other Own archers. ‘Power is fun,’ he mouthed with a grin.
20. Despondent
Nolryn shaded his eyes and squinted out to the horizon. ‘Is that people?’ He stood up and walked to the edge of the balcony, crossing his arms on the balustrade as he squinted into the sun. ‘It is, look. Were we expecting anyone?’
Majesty stepped up beside him, one hand up against his brow. ‘Not for a week or so, at least. I was going to break the news to you tomorrow.’
Nolryn slumped down and thumped his forehead against the polished stone. ‘Not Llayans, please not Llayans.’
‘The wood export ministry.’
He groaned heavily and covered his head with one arm. ‘The entire ministry? What, one or two of them won’t do the job?’
‘Apparently not.’ Majesty sighed, and Nolryn hoped his father’s irritation was with the Llayans and not with him. ‘They want more money.’
‘They always want more money,’ Nolryn mumbled, lifting his head and resting his chin on the stone balustrade. ‘I can see parasols. Those are Llayans, all right.’
21. Drunk
Nolryn frowned and steeled his gaze as he placed his glass atop the pyramid growing in the middle of the table. ‘Masterpiece,’ he declared. ‘I challenge anyone in the pub to do better.’
‘I’ll drink to that,’ Gylepi agreed, passing his glass to his lips. He tipped his head right back and almost fell off the bench before he frowned up into it. ‘Empty. Whose shout?’
‘Must be ‘may,’ Nol decided, taking Gylepi’s glass and adding it to the pyramid. ‘Where is ‘may?’
Gylepi grinned. ‘Across from you.’
Nol blinked up from the glass pyramid to see Nimay waving at him, one eyebrow cocked.
‘There you are! It’s your round, by the way. I bought new clothes! Do you like my new clothes? I’ll have a Snakebite, thanks.’
Melraan was frowning at him as Nimay got to her feet, shaking her head with mirth. ‘Why do you need to buy clothes? You’re the prince. You’ve got piles of money.’
‘Yeah, but I can’t wear money.’
Melraan looked down at the gold chain around his neck, hooking a thumb under it with a broad grin. ‘I do.’
‘Yeah, but you’re Kaen.’
‘…I am?’
‘…Aren’t you?’
‘I don’t think I am. Where’d ‘may go?’
‘Buying clothes, I think.’
22. Enraged
It wasn’t often the prince wished he’d been a swordsman instead of an archer, but right now, arrows just weren’t violent and bloody enough. He nocked three arrows into his bow and almost threw them at the target, ignoring the nervous shuffling behind him. If they knew any better, they would just leave him in peace, like everyone else in the archery range had done.
‘Highness?’
‘Don’t even try it,’ the prince muttered through gritted teeth as he knocked three more arrows into his bow.
General Rau cleared his throat with determination behind him, but Nolryn had loosed his arrows and spun on his heel before the swordsman could get another word out.
‘Unless the lot of you have come to tell me what in Lin’s sweet and holy name you were doing last night, do not even try it.’
The half-dozen Own riders who had gathered looked at the ground, at each other, at their designated spokesman, anywhere but the narrowed, stormy eyes before them.
Rau cleared his throat again. ‘Defending you.’
The prince tightened his grip on his bow, feeling his bottom eyelids twitch. ‘Specifics, Rau.’
‘There are rumours you’re going to be alone for your hrai-dani. It escalated from there.’
Nolryn flinched and felt his face grow hot. He whipped an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow, his left hand quivering as he glared down the shaft at his General. He had no intention of letting it go, but it seemed an effective way of just getting them out.
The Own riders and collectively stumbled backwards.
‘Sorry, Highness,’ Rau mumbled, then made an undignified exit from the archery range with the rest of the Own riders.
23. Sarcastic
‘Lynnlita thinks Raykin would greatly benefit from moderating the consumption of alcohol. She is certain Nolryn agrees.’
Nolryn stood with his mouth half-open for a moment, finding himself in the rare position of being speechless. ‘I’m sure you do,’ he said finally.
Lynnlita waved an elegantly disgusted hand out over the crowd below them. ‘Well, just think about how much more placid and dignified these people would be without the effects of alcohol. It saps away the life of this otherwise fine kingdom.’
Nol shook his head and tried to keep from laughing. ‘Oh yes, calm, dignified, with the gentle clink of one glass of 4021 cabernet merlot against another… a perfectly decadent evening.’
‘Nolryn does not sound so certain.’
‘Well spotted.’
24. Disgusted
‘So… what is it, exactly?’ Melraan asked once the serving girl had left.
Nolryn stared into his bowl with much the same expression. ‘I ordered beef, but this is… erm…’
‘It’s grey,’ Gylepi provided.
Nolryn sighed and picked up his fork, prodding at the greyish stew. The movement in the mixture caused a cloud of steam to rise from it, filled with a smell that made his stomach curl up in the same way as his top lip. ‘It smells dead.’
‘It is dead.’
‘I know, but it’s not supposed to smell dead.’ He shook his head and left his fork in the grey mess. ‘I’m not eating that. I don’t care if I look like pampered royalty; I’m not eating it.’
‘Good,’ Melraan agreed, pushing his bowl away. ‘Our illustrious leader has spoken.’
25. Ill
‘Where are some Kazinians?’ Nol complained. ‘I need to shoot something.’ He spluttered, sniffed and groaned, then swore when Mongrel shook his head.
‘What in Lin’s name was that?’ Melraan asked after a slight pause.
‘A cough, I think. Or a sneeze. Probably both.’ He gave three sneezes in quick succession and was halfway through a forth before it mysteriously flew off. He held up one finger, but there was no tickle in his nostrils. ‘It’ll be back, believe me. This entire half of the empire must live with a blocked nose. How do they do it? Why would anyone choose to live with a near-perpetual cold?’
‘Search me,’ Melraan said through a yawn that disintegrated into a dry cough. ‘Why haven’t they come up with a cure for it yet?’
Nol shivered and buried his nose into the fur collar of his cloak. ‘I’ll ask Shizaaqa about that when we get there.’
‘You do that.’
Nolryn sneezed abruptly. ‘See?’
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Date: 2007-07-29 11:56 am (UTC)MY NOLLY <3
I love guilty and silly, but sarcastic was my favourite - almost more for Lynnlita's way of speaking than the Nolly's presence, even! :O Absolutely love his reaction there, though. You can almost picture his expression X3
Very strange to see Nolly in crankier moods. I don't think he's really built to pull them off properly ;D though aiming a bow at someone was pretty I-mean-business.
WTF ... cracked me up XD;; You win meme.
"Cccchhhello! My name is ()! Jyuu killed my father! Prepare to die!"
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Date: 2007-07-29 02:47 pm (UTC)Since waaay back at the beginning of Nol's creation, he was always going to be hard to anger, but once he got there, you~ don't want to be in the same buiding as him. Or the same city. Same hemisphere, even. I've never actually had the chance to take him to that limit tho, so that was scary T_T Fun, but scary~
...I couldn't resist XD I was trying to think of something that'd make Nol have NO idea what was going on, and I saw someone on my flist with the icon keywords 'My name is Inigmo Montoya...' and I just couldn't resist XDD
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Date: 2007-07-29 04:46 pm (UTC)*grins* These were lovely, me dear. My favourite's definitely 'tired', though. Grumpy princeling. And the sarcastic one. Have to agree with the Lyssa there.
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Date: 2007-07-30 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-30 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-31 11:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-30 04:10 pm (UTC)Of course, confused made me giggle like a silly thing too X)
WTF! Is... very wtf?! I wanna know more about that!
Flirty is rediciously cute :3
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Date: 2007-07-31 11:36 am (UTC)WTF... buggered if I know XD Probably blaming some law or some official and therefore Nol for his family's death. I don't know~ I'm just the author! Don't ask me anything! XD
Flirty was tricky too, cos I can't imagine him really flirting with anyone but Nimay, but every time I tried that she just burst out laughing and completely ruined the mood in the first line, damn her XD