Mei Ruan May 14th, 20xx

Akseli stood in front of me in a righteous rage, having tired of being put on standby and had come to see me about becoming Cai’s aide.

“Linus, what are you doing here?”

As his wings fluttered excitedly around him I couldn’t help but notice how the left moved a few milliseconds slower than the right. He probably hadn’t completely recovered from his injuries but the realization only made me wonder how he had the energy to come to the palace and raise a fuss.

It was hard to believe that this was the same person that had taken a month’s isolation when he’d scratched his palm on my Fluttermoth’s saddle. My wallet ached when I remembered how many gifts I’d had to send over to appease the fairy and for a brief, dishonourable moment, I wondered if it would be possible to get any of them back.

“ Even if you don’t like me, don’t you think this is a bit cruel? If you delay any longer it won't just be you that needs to deal with people's gossiping."

His voice that pitched high and higher with every word made me wince in annoyance and I held up a hand to silence him.

“What exactly do you want me to do Linus? His Highness isn’t even here right now, and it's not like you’re all that willing to bind yourself to him.”

I didn’t think Cai had any intentions of truly using Akseli as an aide and it wasn’t like I was all that happy about having my ex hang out with my current fiancée either. When the time was right I figured I could come up with a reason to avoid welcoming him into the palace, whether it was having his highness reject him as an aide or letting Zera spread word that I found it uncomfortable to have him around and convinced the prince to let him go.

Whatever it took really.

As long as we gave the Linus family appropriate monetary compensation I figured the issue should die down relatively quickly, even if my reputation took yet another hit.

Akseli seemed to read my unspoken thoughts and riled himself up again, flying a few inches closer to me and glaring me down with, what I felt was unwarranted, desperation and anger. And he repeated his request, a bit more forcefully this time.

I supposed that could be one of his good points though, he’d never been the type to expect others to give him what he didn’t ask for.

While I was aware that his highness had been raised differently and didn’t want him to change for my sake; I did wish that was one trait of male fairies he would pick up. It was impossible to guess what he wanted, and he rarely made what he liked and disliked clear. Things would be a lot easier if he would just tell me instead of running away to another world so often.

“Pardon my speech for a moment me- General. But I- …. This is really my last chance. I need to become his highness’s aide.”

For a moment I theorized that he may have been hit especially hard by the impact of Cai’s magic, and had become obsessed but he didn’t have the telltale hazy expression of someone under the effect.

His wings suddenly flared out and his voice pitched itself louder with bruised pride once he fully realized the extent of my reluctance to help him.

“Honestly, I only came to you because I figured it would be easier to convince his highness with your help but it’s not like I don’t have any confidence in my qualifications. I’ll just wait here until his highness returns and remind him of it then.”

He began to drift out of the room, probably to secure lodging for himself somewhere nearby but let out a small shriek when I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him behind myself.

“Ge-Mei.. w-what are y-“

“Quiet”

I shut him up before he could verbalize any ideas that had probably popped into his head and grabbed my wand tightly as the magic in the air began to spin. I glared at the spot on the ceiling that the magic seemed to concentrate on. While I was no expert, I could identify a transport spell when I saw one.

It should have been impossible to transport into the palace, never mind directly into the inner quarters as we were in but I didn’t have the luxury to question how.

A slender arm, adorned with a silver bracelet and ring set first flopped down, followed closely by a lanky torso and a fluffy head of golden and silver hair. A prominent horn slightly broke the impact to a familiar face and the even more familiar green and gold wings flailed around him as he made contact with the firm mattress.

For a moment I could only be relieved that I had pulled the bed into my office and had managed to break his fall but that relief turned into horror as the previously still body began to writhe in pain. Heavy pants on pain soon filled the room, and the occasional groan broke the suffocating silence.

I let go of Akseli, whom I’d been holding behind myself and ran towards who I could now identify as Cai, giving out orders even as I moved.

“Go to the kitchenette and grab a towel and a bowl of warm water.”

I stood over Cai and could only watch over him in an attempt to find out If anything was wrong but that made itself all too clear to me in the next few moments.

The golden swirls on his wings slowly thickened and began to take over the entire surface, then thinned back to their originally decorative presence. But even that wasn’t all that odd, he would be far from the first to go through a change of wing colour with age, although doing so at his age was a bit odd.

The problem started with the skin on his forehead repeatedly breaking and revealing a silver horn that looked sharp enough to draw blood. It would then retreat into his forehead and the skin would knit itself back together before the process repeated itself.

A small shriek echoed from behind me, and the sound of water and a metal basin falling to the floor shook me out of my horror.

“Wh- What’s wrong with him?!”

Akseli’s face showed all the horror I was feeling but he didn’t have the sense to hide.

Now wasn’t the time to reproach him on it though.

“Stop playing around Linus. You said you were confident you could gain his trust and become his aide? Well now’s the time to prove it.”

I got up, reluctant to leave Cai’s side but realizing it would be more helpful if I went out to get help. The royal infirmary would have been helpful to us right now, but they had yet to swear loyalty to either of us since the prince had yet to come of age and I hadn’t had a coronation yet. While I didn’t think they would refuse to help, I also knew that everyone in the queendom would probably have heard of it by the next morning.

IF word got out that the Prince’s goblin side had started to show itself, never mind the witches being aggressive at the border, we would also have to contend with the possibility of the goblins coming back to claim ownership of him.

“Stay by his side and make sure he doesn’t harm himself. You can use a calming spell right?”

It was a low-level trick that loosened the muscles in the body and made it slightly harder to move, while it didn’t completely steal one’s consciousness it could allow one to let it trick them into going to sleep.

Akseli nodded furiously and brought out his frail wand that was more decorative than practical. He began to chant it over and over again, needing to use it multiple times for magic of his quality to affect the prince but I didn’t stick around to see the exact number.

Taking a deep breath, I loosened my light armour and left a gap in my side then called for one of my guards.

“About half-way to the Aslan household I’ll need you to attack me enough to cause alarm to others.”

The reluctance on their face warmed my heart quite a bit, but I didn’t have time to commend them on their loyalty and flew out to the stables at quickly as possible.

I’d ignored a few 'leaks' of the information that I was planning an inspection of a few places, so I didn't think my sudden trip out of the castle would raise any suspicions.

The plan was to fake an attack on myself as close to the Aslan territory as possible and go to them for aid. The Aslan’s were just as known for their medical skills as they were for their heavy alcohol collections, but that was another point altogether.

I flew as fast as I could to the stables and saddled my Fluttermoth quicker than I think I ever have and began to fly towards the south. The commoner’s isles were there as well as it being the Aslan’s domain.

Calling would have been risky as all calls that went in and out of the palace were monitored by specialists and we didn’t have a code in place for her to know to discreetly bring medical help to the palace.

I urged my Fluttermoth on, hoping I could make it there and back before anything worse happened.