Dawn- An age of Darkness

The people inside the room didn't look much different than the pictures on the walls but they did have some differences like: some had thick eyebrows, while some had thin: some had thick hair while others had curvy. That was basically all the difference. 

"What the hell are they talking about?" Alisa whispered.

"Shh!"                             

Alisa was abruptly silenced by the old man. It was evident that she couldn't understand the language but I didn't even notice any difference in speech: not once.

Was this the reason she was so quiet from the moment she got into Alfeim?

"Hmm, is something the matter?" The king looked at us with kindness. I still couldn't differentiate if this was an act or not.

"No, you're Excellency, she can't understand the old elven tongue so," the old man said.

"Oh? Pardon. I didn't realize that I've been talking in the old dialect.… You. Where have I heard your voice before?" The king pondered.

"It's been a long time, kind Grabbizzo." The old man bowed again.

That's a fancy name.

The king thought for a moment before blowing my mind. "Aren't you that pirate from Honkihote?"

Pi-pirate?

"Pirate? Didn't you say you were a sailor?" I said. Was I surprised? No! I was flabbergasted!

I was startled beyond compare. 

The old man… a pirate?

"Aren't they the same thing?" The geezer chuckled silently.

How would they be the same thing? 

He liked the stuff the pirates fed us and he even told me about how he used to party like the pirates. I could finally see why. This geezer was a bag of mysteries. 

"I doubt that," I said. But I still calmed myself down. This wasn't worth the commotion. And besides, I didn't really care about what he did in the past anyway. It's the future that mattered and judging from that smirk of his, I was not so sure anymore. Did we even have a future?

The old man unsheathed his sword and I could guess what would come next. He didn't talk like a pirate, he didn't walk like a pirate and he never behaved like a pirate- well maybe sometimes. So it was a hard thing to swallow even more than the whole thing about Jowy and Lianne being royalty. But it didn't matter.

"That sword… So you've succeeded." The king smiled and looked at us from this throne. "Finally, a legend class blade." He was definitely excited if nothing else.

There was some uproar in the room. Whispers of all sorts were audible. One particular whisper drew my attention.  "Isn't this bad, do you think Vronine would just let that feeble man slap him?"

I could speculate what would happen next but I didn't know what our future had in store. So I just rolled with it. It's not like we had something to lose other than our lives.

The geezer flashed a smile and looked dead ahead. "As promised you're majesty. I believe you'll also keep yours-"

"You're still stuck on that? That was just a joke old man, get over it!" A Jowy lookalike from a corner came in front of the throne. He was exactly like Jowy, except he was a little taller and his hair was wavier. His muscles looked a little puffier too. Okay, so maybe he didn't look exactly like Jowy.

"What is going on?" I whispered.

"That's the prince who laughed at me when they learned about my family's treasure hunts. But a promise was made that if I could find any mystic weapon then I'd be able to slap him once."

"Talk about a wild deal!" I said aloud.

The old man gave me a stare but he didn't say anything. The princes all stared at me too. 

Maybe I shouldn't have said that aloud.

"Silence, Vronine, elves do not break oaths." The king stood up. 

"Hmph! whatever father. But I won't stay quiet. If he dares put a finger on me, then I'll have him executed."

The crown prince sure seemed to be full of himself. Were princes even allowed to be able to talk like that?

My knowledge basically stemmed from historical dramas, movies, and games. And in those things, princes were basically buttering up their parents to get better chances at the throne. But I guess since this guy already had dibs on the throne, he was saying anything he pleased? Or was it that I was missing something else?

"Why is he talking like that to the king," I whispered.

"He's the crown prince and has all official power. The emperor is in name only," Lianne whispered. 

I didn't think she was listening but she was. Lianne didn't seem all that hung up about hiding her identity and behaved normally. I couldn't really picture her the same as I did before. I really couldn't. And yet, I couldn't really say anything to her either. 

Damn! More politics!

It was like we were watching a family quarrel with popcorns in our hands except there was no popcorn. I wanted to eat some too.

"We can discuss that at a later date. First comes, the celebrations." The king clapped his hands. I guess he didn't want to do this in front of us.

Two soldiers came in and the king gave the order for celebrations.

"Very well then you're majesty." The old man clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword. 

"Let us continue this discussion tomorrow." The king smiled.

We were led to a waiting room. I guess the geezer had more than enough patience. I guess wisdom came with age and the geezer was pretty wise too. So maybe this was okay.

We could only play the waiting game now though. No matter how strong we were we couldn't just force the elven royalty and, I and the geezer definitely knew that. 

***

If I wasn't wrong, this might have been the guest room. There were a lot of cloths hanging here and there and all of them had embroidery- in golden threads that is. 

"Old man-"

"Yeah?"

Something was bugging me from the moment I knew of their identity. "Then you knew Jowy was a prince?"

If all the princes and even the king looked like Jowy, then surely this would have been obvious to someone who had previously seen a prince or met the king?

"My memory has gotten a lot weaker in the last few years so-" The geezer tried to run away as usual.

"Stop making excuses, damn it!"

"Well- I would you look at that-" He tried to chuckle his way out.

"Answer me, geezer." 

He finally gave up. "I did. From the moment I laid my eyes on him, I knew." He actually gave up a lot easier than I thought. Maybe even he was a bit shaken from all this. "But yeah, I was kind of surprised too when we met him that day at the deck." He started his sarcastic laughter. "I almost drew my sword."

"What is going on?" Alisa pondered. 

You can understand gods and not elves? 

I didn't understand what she didn't understand but I didn't really want to explain everything, and yet, weirdly, I was still giving her the gist. Was something wrong with me?