The encounter with Lyra left Aiden feeling like he had spiders crawling under his skin. Her blind devotion was a cage, gilded and beautiful, but a cage nonetheless. He needed a distraction, something to ground him in a reality that wasn't defined by a weeping half-dragon's oath of fealty.
His feet, seemingly with a mind of their own, led him to the Crystal Caverns. It was a lesser-known part of the castle, a natural cave system beneath the west wing where massive, raw crystals jutted from the stone walls. The air here was cool and still, and the crystals hummed with a low, almost inaudible energy that vibrated in his bones. It was a place for quiet contemplation, a place where warriors came to sharpen their focus.
Or so he thought.
As he approached the main cavern, he heard voices. One was unmistakably Talia's—sharp, clipped, and impatient. The other was male, deeper, and sounded... nervous.
Aiden slowed his steps, moving behind a massive pillar of rose quartz.
"...just thought you might be hungry," the male voice said. "It's a long shift."
"I'm not," Talia's voice snapped back. "And I don't need you thinking for me. Go back to your post, guard."
"But the Captain said—"
"I don't care what the Captain said. If I see you loitering here again, I'll tell him you were harassing me. Now get lost."
There was a moment of silence, then the sound of boots scuffing stone as the guard retreated. Aiden peeked around the pillar. The guard, a young man with a fresh face, walked away with his shoulders slumped in defeat.
Talia stood with her back to Aiden, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. Her fiery red hair was a stark contrast against the cool, blue tones of the crystals. After the guard was gone, she let out a frustrated sigh. Aiden watched as she bent down and picked up a small, wrapped parcel the guard had left on a rock. She unwrapped it, revealing a piece of dried jerky, and with a huff that was equal parts annoyance and resignation, she took a bite.
Aiden leaned back against the pillar, a slow, bewildered smile forming on his lips. He had seen this behavior before, not in real life, but in the cheap, tattered storybooks he'd read as a boy to escape his lessons. The girl who was harsh and cruel on the outside but secretly soft on the inside.
Is this a tsundere? he thought. I have an actual, living, breathing tsundere in my castle.
This changed things. This was a variable he could work with. Her anger wasn't like Lyra's obsessive devotion or Eira's cold calculation. It was... performative. A shield.
He needed an excuse to talk to her. He couldn't just walk up and say, "I saw you being a softie." He scanned the cavern and spotted a bucket of soapy water and a rag sitting near the entrance, likely left by the cleaning staff. A perfect, ridiculous excuse.
He grabbed the bucket and the rag, walked into the cavern with a purposeful stride, and began vigorously scrubbing a large amethyst cluster near where Talia was standing.
The sound of wet rag scraping against stone echoed in the quiet cavern.
Talia spun around, her hand flying to the hilt of her sword. "What in the seven hells are you doing?"
Aiden didn't look up, focusing intensely on his work. "These crystals are looking a bit dusty. Can't have the royal mineral collection looking shabby, can we?"
Talia stared at him, her expression a mixture of disbelief and fury. "You're the prince. You don't... clean."
"It's a hobby," Aiden said, finally looking up at her with a deadpan expression. "Keeps me grounded. Now, were you just having a friendly chat with the help? Making friends?"
Her face flushed a brilliant shade of red, matching her hair. "He was in my way. I was telling him to move."
"Right," Aiden drawled, tossing the rag into the bucket with a splash. "Is that what you call it when they give you food? 'Being in your way'?"
"You're a real bastard, you know that?" she snarled, her hand still on her sword.
"I've been called worse," he said, shrugging. He decided to push his luck. He was here for a reason, after all. "Speaking of dangerous places, I was wondering about the Spine Mountains."
Talia's posture immediately changed. The flustered anger was gone, replaced by a wary, professional stillness. "What about them?"
"Hypothetically," Aiden continued, leaning against the crystal he had just 'cleaned'. "If someone wanted to, say, take a little trip up there. What would they need to know? Besides the obvious 'don't get eaten by frost trolls' part."
A humorless smile touched Talia's lips. "They'd need a death wish, for starters. The Spine isn't a place for 'little trips.' The passes are treacherous, the winds can shear a dragon from the sky, and the clans that live there are nastier than the weather."
"And the poachers?" Aiden asked, keeping his voice casual.
Her eyes narrowed. "What poachers?"
"The ones who hunt dragons. For their scales and heartstones."
The air in the cavern grew cold. Talia's friendly neighborhood tsundere act vanished completely, replaced by the fierce dragon rider he'd heard about. "Where did you hear about that?"
"A little bird told me," Aiden said vaguely. "A very sad, half-dragon bird. So, what do you know about them?"
For a long moment, she just stared at him, her jaw tight. She was assessing him, weighing his words. Finally, she said, "They're ghosts. They hit fast and disappear. They know the mountains better than anyone. Even the King's patrols are useless against them."
"Would a dragon rider be more useful?" Aiden pressed.
A dangerous glint appeared in her eyes. "A dragon rider would be a target. A big, slow, flying target." She took a step closer. "Why are you asking me this, Aiden? This isn't hypothetical, is it?"
He had pushed too far. He could see the wall going back up, thicker than before.
He decided to retreat, but not without one final parting shot. He gave her a slow, knowing smirk. "No reason. Just making conversation." He picked up his bucket. "You know, for someone who acts like she hates everyone, you're surprisingly bad at getting rid of them."
With that, he turned and walked away, leaving her standing there, speechless and fuming.
As he walked back down the corridor, bucket in hand, he allowed himself a small, genuine smile. The conversation hadn't gone exactly as planned, but he'd learned something important. Talia hated the poachers. And underneath all that spitting fire and sharp edges, she might just be an ally.
He chuckled to himself. "Yep. Definitely a tsundere."