Page 79 of Badmouths & Bards

“I believe these are warriors from the Pernimas Dynasty. See? The blue hue to their armor and the filigree depicting the purple moon here,” Kerith pointed to the intricate design on an unconscious warrior.

Tala knew shit all about the Pernimas Dynasty, other than they heavily worshiped the Moon Maiden and they reigned over all water helfen and their water planes. Which meant they technically ruled over Casimine and Ameriden—whatever that meant. Not many empires as large as the water helfens were still standing after hundreds years of war and continuous births of new ages. Helfens were unique in that matter, as they’re kingdoms outlasted even the most devastating of wars and calamity.

“I could have told you that,” Casimine hummed.

Tala rolled her eyes. “Yeah? Can you also tell why the fuck these guys invaded using a ring as an arcane gateway?”

Kerith frowned, but managed to catch the ring when Tala tossed it his way.

“Oh, I can’t,” Casimine said with a slight bite to his words. His eyes narrowed as he practically stomped over to Ameriden’s frozen body. “But this bastard might.”

A snap of his fingers and Ameriden was free. He nearly tripped over a fallen Pernimas solider, before catching himself awkwardly. He glanced around, most likely searching for the guy he was about to knock out when he caught Casimine’s stern gaze. Tala hadn’t ever really seen Ameriden sheepish before so it was rather surprising to see him wilt under Casimine’s gaze.

“What?” Ameriden asked.

“Really?” Casimine huffed. “You’re going to act innocent after all of this, Amer?”

“Casi—”

“Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry, Prince Navin of the Pernimas Dynasty!”

Tala’s jaw dropped. When she collected her jaw and looked to Kerith, he was at least in a more concealed version of surprise than her.

At least the Valiant Circle spies didn’t know about that one, she thought. I’d fucking kill Cercel for not telling me that the mission was this fucking important… ah, fuck, I fucked a prince!

“Was this the thing you were trying to tell me?” Casimine asked. How he was able to convey disappointment in a way that cut through the bone still escaped Tala. “You know, before you choked like a first year bard auditioning for the production of a Wintersona Ballad?”

“I didn’t choke,” Ameriden denied.

Casimine crossed his arms.

Fuck, he’s good.

“I just…it never felt like a good time,” Ameriden admitted.

Tala could get on board with that. There was some sense of solidarity in knowing that Tala wasn’t the only one in their three-way relationship who sucked at communicating. Granted, she was far worse than Ameriden was, considering she was willing to shut the door behind her once the mission was over.

“We’ve been together for years, Ameriden. I’ve trusted you with so much of me, what was different about this?” Casimine asked. “Did you think I wouldn’t understand?”

“No!” Ameriden tripped over his words for a moment. “I—I trust you, Casi, you know I do! I just…I just didn’t want to have to explain where I came from and I didn’t want that to change your mind.”

“Change my mind?”

“Casi, when we met, you told me you wanted to be a bard more than anything. It was your dream to honor your family. And you were kind enough to include me in that dream and I followed you. I would follow you to the middle of the Ordia and back if you asked me to… but I knew if I told you who I really was and why I had left home, you would change your mind. Not about me, but about your dream. If you knew there was an army of water hanfen waiting for me to reach a point of fame so they could find me again, I knew you would stop,” Ameriden sighed, stepping forward and taking Casimine’s hands into his own. “I knew you’d give up your dream and I didn’t want that for you or me.”

Tala only had so much information to work with, but with what limited pieces she had, the story was starting to take shape. She didn’t know why Prince Navin had run away, only that Ameriden wanted to stay with Casimine, even if that meant that his empire would discover him and come running. She could only assume that somewhere along the way, the Pernimas Dynasty had discovered Ameriden’s true identity and had sent the ring—the one that had opened an arcane gate after Ameriden had touched it. That didn’t explain how they managed to find him though, considering they had arrived early. It also didn’t explain why his family hadn’t employed a diviner of some kind to find Ameriden unless—

“I would have preferred you told me so we could avoid going to prison for reckless endangerment of the monarchy. Or, you know, starting a potential war.” Casimine sniped. “The Pernimas Dynasty is massive, Ameriden, and this continent is in its infancy, you know what happened when we went to war with the earth hanfen five centuries ago.”

“I know, I know, and I’m sorry!” Ameriden exclaimed. “I didn’t think they would follow me here—we didn’t even announce we were coming here, so I thought I was safe.”

“Why did you run away?” Tala asked, breaking their intense conversation with genuine curiosity.

“I…” Ameriden swallowed. “I was in line for the Consort Trials.”

Casimine gasped, but Tala had no idea what that was. When she glanced to Kerith—the spy monk had started blending into the crowd of attendees who were slowing starting to shake off Casimine’s spell.

“The Consort Trials is an ancient custom. Each of the four elemental hanfen are required to send their best men or women to an island in the middle of the ocean. Once there, each chosen hanfen is set to perform a series of tasks in the hopes of being chosen by the reigning ruler of a dynasty.” Casimine explained.