Yeyan's sincerity seemed to have gotten through to the prince, who let out a soft snort and laid back down, exhaustion obvious as his small body trembled.
The last keeper had died a month ago, so it's possible that was the last time he was fed yeyan mused. The boy must have survived on the small spring in the back kitchen till now but he was obviously barely hanging on. If he had been assigned later, he would have found an intact corpse instead. The court is turly cruel to those it has abandoned.
Yeyan turned and walked out of the main hall, he could feel the confused eyes of the prince on him but he had no time to waste. He already knew where the kitchen was thanks to the wondering he had done when he was searching for the prince so he headed to it.
The prince needed warmth right now. The hall was too cold and he looked too weak to be moved and he wasn't sure if should even try to do so.
The kitchen was desolate as expected but it was still functional. Wood was not hard to find but he had to look nearly everywhere to find a spark starter. He dragged the biggest iron pot he could move to the spring and washed it clean, after which he filled it with water and sat it down on the stove.
Yeyan then went on a hunt around the pavilion to find anything useful left. He found some grain, dried meat, salt and wine in the kitchen cellar. The amount was pitifuly small and scattered as if the place was ransacked to prevent someone from having it. He took his find and placed it in the cleaned part of the kitchen. He lit a second fire and placed a smaller iron pot on it, filled it half with water and put in the washed grains, salt, cut dried meat and wine to make a makeshift porridge. He left it to stew and headed back to the hall. He went to check on the prince and also make sure he knew he (yeyan) had not left him behind.
When yeyan entered the hall dragging starked pots, he met a very confused looking prince.
" I did not mean to leave you like that, you just seemed cold so I went to get something to warm you. " he explained to the prince who at him as if he were going to be abandoned again.
" I would never leave you. I promise you that much on my dao . "
Prince yuan wu claimed down after the promise from yeyan. He had really thought for a moment that the one who brought him comfort had run away. He could feel himself dieing and didn't want to be alone. This person made him feel safe, unlike the others who only hurt him.
Yuan wu watched as the now dirty boy placed pots filled with bits of wood all over the hall. Yeyan also used his qi to lit the long dead artifact lamps bringing light to the hall.
Yuan wu winced as the light as he had been in the dark for too long, he let let out a low growl toward the boy to state his dissatisfaction but also knew the light was needed by the boy to work. His growl had gotten the boy's attention who understood his dissatisfaction but smiled at him with his dirt covered face.
For some reason his heart started acting strenge and his tail was moving funny, his face felt hot and his ears started tingling. He suddenly found the boy annoying and turned his back to him. Humph.
Yeyan who was found annoying thought the little kittin prince was cute, even when covered in the dirt.
He went back to work closing the lattice windows and blocking holes with clot torn from drapes in the hall. He looked upon his work with satisfaction, no holes to be found but his smugness didn't last long as he remembed the food on the fire in the kitchen and broke into a run back to save the food.
Fortunately the porridge was only a little burnt. The grain was still hard and uncooked, so he added a lot of water and went back to the hall. In his hands he carried an iron pot filled with burning fully lit wood.
Yeyan filled every pot he had placed there before and faned them to blaze, bring warmth to the hall. He closed the main gate after the smoke was let out.
With the place now warm, yeyan turned his attention back to the prince. He first took a few tentative steps towards the prince, who turned to face him again his embarrassment from before gone.
The prince stered at the boy before him and knew he wanted to come closer to him. . Yuan wu felt no threat from the boy and gave a soft grunt of permission. The boy seemed to understand and came to sit by his side but not too close. He gave him warm water with herds in it which made the pain in his body lower.
The boy also brought him watery porridge which he didn't want to eat but had to under the suddenly hard look from the boy. He was covered in cloth from who knows where and put to bed gently, something that had not been done in a long time. There was also a lullaby sung by the boy to give him peace.
Yuan wu really want to protest, to act out and misbehave, to be guarded against the boy. but he really couldn't, every time he looked at those eyes he suddenly didn't want to disobey the boy. He was definitely being bewitched, but why was he allowing it?