"Excuse me," Ariel said as he moved through the crowd, bumping shoulders with strangers. "I'm sorry — my bad!"
I was sure I saw him, he thought as he skirted the space between two groups that were standing in the middle of the street, unmoving. That had to be him, right? Who else has a frame that big?
"I swear I saw something! Just off the coast," a villager exclaimed. "That's why the Queen blocked off the waters edge!"
Ariel stopped in his tracks at the mention of his mother. His ears perked up, and his head turned toward the voices just a few feet away in the crowd. He had found himself in front of a pub, half outdoor, half indoor. The outdoor crowd was quieter than inside, where another band played fast, upbeat music. There was laughing and singing inside and this lot probably avoided that for some peace and quiet. But this young man wasn't giving them that.
A few of the other villagers brushed him off, joking and hollering at his expense.
"And the Golden Gal?" He continued, the desperation in his voice grating even Ariel's nerves. "She never docked after her trip back from Garyn! She's the head ship of the biggest merchant guild from Avelle! Why do you think that is?"
"Aye boy," an older man at the table said, his voice gruff and dangerous. "The royals here are lenient, but what'll you do if the royal guards catch you spreading lies about the fruit queen?"
The Fruit Queen.
That's what his mother was known for — a rather silly name if one doesn't know the story.
Despite being a young, beautiful queen to a king who seemed disinterested in ruling, his mother stepped into the role rather easily. Ruling suited her. One of the first things she did to secure her place in the country was learn about its people and what their main problems were. Before she turned eighteen, she disguised herself as a commoner and would often roam the streets. She eventually found out that the main problem in Avelle was famine. They had all this rich soil but the plants weren't growing and so the entire country relied on Garyn — a separate kingdom — for its food source.
So she learned about plants.
And in her studies, she found the Kingdom simply wasn't planting the right seeds.
After their marriage, his mother went out on her own every day and planted fruit trees and tropical vegetables in the streets for anyone to eat. And within months, when the fruits were ripe and ready for harvest, the little girl by the fruit trees was revealed as the queen of Avelle.
And ever since then, the people rallied around her.
The story was special to him, and seeing the way they spoke up in her defense, even all these years later, touched his heart. Of course, that wasn't the last thing his mother did for the people but it was the best thing she could have done at the time.
All at the age of sixteen.
Ariel touched his hand to his chest, resting his palm just above his heart.
His mother was a good person.
He had to trust there was a good reason she moved the trial location.
"Ariel?" A voice called.
Ariel snapped to attention, turning around for the sound of the voice. Then, to his right, at the far corner of the bar, he spotted her.
Lexi.
She stood from her seat at a table, waving him toward her with a bright, drunken grin on her face. And beside her was the very person he'd spotted from the start, that had started his journey away from the girls in the square — Valen. He was hunched over his drink, his thick, dark hair grown out and pulled back into a loose bun at the back of his head. His five-o'clock shadow was slightly uneven and clearly recently shaven, giving him a rugged, manly look that made Ariel's heart skip a beat.
He swallowed those feelings quickly and trudged toward their table. He wouldn't dare let himself make Valen feel uncomfortable, no matter how he looked with that sullen, quietly-masculine expression. After the first trial, the three of them had become much closer than before. He even felt like that wall between him and Lexi had slowly begun chipping away.
"Ariel!" She cried out, wrapping him in a bear-hug. Her cheeks were bright red and her body warm from the drink.
"What are you guys doing here?" Ariel asked, allowing Lexi to mess up his perfect curls.
"We came early to see the festival!" Lexi exclaimed. "We're staying at the tavern across the way — we wanted to experience the festival before we're tossed back into those goddessforsaken trials. But what are you doing here!? Sneak out for a night on the town?" She looked around, her eyes scanning the crowd. "But you came alone? That's not much fun."
"I…didn't come alone," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck in discomfort. "I sort of…" he paused, whispering the words, "...snuck the princesses out…"
"WHAT!?" Lexi and Valen exclaimed in unison.
"And you left them alone?" Valen asked, his expression stern.
Ariel grimaced, "They're fine! They're adults." Then he whispered, "And Starblessed, mind you. They saved Forsyth and they definitely don't need me to save them. Besides, they're with Selma and in disguise."
Lexi and Valen paused for a moment and then Lexi asked excitedly. "So where'd you leave Maren?"
"Oh," Ariel rolled his eyes, his hand, "she's dancing with Cora in the town square having the time of her life. Honestly, the way those two look at each other, they could stand to be a little less obvious-" Then, he caught his tongue before he continued breaking his friend's heart — or breaking his other friend's untold secret. One he wasn't sure she even knew herself. He stared at Lexi who had all but shrunken over her drink. "Lexi, I'm sorry–"
"It's fine," she said with a somber smile. "I've known since we were at the Academy. I thought I could just let sleeping wolves lie but then the Star Court gave me the chance to be a prince candidate and… well…I couldn't help but find some hope again. But while I was out there in the mountains, it seems like the princesses became…closer." Her mouth tightened into a thin line.
Ariel's heart sank for his friend. Lexi was probably the only one amongst the prince candidates who genuinely cared for either of the princesses, even if she was only truly hung up on Maren. This was the only way for her to make her feelings known, and yet somewhere along the line, she lost to someone who wasn't supposed to be in the running for Maren's heart.
His fists balled at his sides as he thought, But she's losing because her focus is all wrong.
"You still have a chance," Ariel said. Lexi's head snapped up and even Valen slowly turned his attention toward him. "This whole time your focus has only been on Maren. She loves Cora, it's easy to see. But they're…connected — they're Starblessed. If you do what you're here to do, you could easily cultivate a relationship with both of them. That's the way to Maren's heart — through Cora. But it can't be about Maren when you do it. It has to be about her."
Then, his eyes slid over to Valen, who sat there, quietly taking in their conversation. He was so quiet it almost irritated him.
"Don't you have anything to say?" Ariel asked, his voice laced with annoyance.
Valen slowly took another sip of his drink, each slurp grating a new nerve in Ariel's neck before he set the wooden mug down. "I'm not particularly interested in becoming emperor so I'm not particularly interested in the princesses romantic preferences. I'm just here to ease my father's mind." He leaned back in his chair. "Besides, one of my sisters prefers women as well. It's not exactly shocking to me that someone could like the same gender."
Ariel blinked.
Lexi blinked.
Those were the most words they'd ever heard Valen say in one go. And they learned… a lot about him from it.
"Well, that's great to hear!" Lexi said, sliding her arm around his neck, feigning a grin. "C'mon, Ariel, let's forget about this discussion and have a drink together."
Ariel knew the nature of that toothy smile. As if to say, 'I don't want to talk about this anymore.'
But if she wanted Maren, he knew that could be the only way.
He didn't see another path.