After the Escape

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Jasille frowned as Henley told him where Thea had gone. He had an obligation to his king, but after all the help Thea had been, he couldn't just let her get into danger like that. Besides, it wasn't likely that he would be able to repair the crown. They would need a blacksmith and a jeweler, most likely, but if he took the crown to anyone, they would surely know who they were.

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Jasille said, "Where is the jeweler? I'll help her." He found his sword and strapped it to his belt, deciding that even if she was capable, he couldn't let her go unescorted out into the night.
 
Henley put a firm hand on Jasille's shoulder, "if something happened to you both, your king in my hands alone would seal a fate you would not wish upon him. I cannot let you leave him again." Henley said, though this choice weighed heavily on him. He would not be able to hide the king or get him to safety, he needed Jasille.


Thea approached the guard in front of the jeweler's shop, smiling as seductively and mysteriously as she could. She was unaccustomed to this sort of play, but she had seen it enough in the tavern with the whores. The guard looked her up and down, his eyes settling on her chest for a long moment. "Is the jeweler in?" She asked and the guard grinned, "no love, just me.""then you can help me? Or must I wait for him?" She inquired.
"i could help you with right many things...But the jeweler will not be available for a while.
Thea sighed, letting heaving breasts move before his eyes, she could tell he liked what he saw, " then I will wait. Do you mind? I'd hate to distract you from your duties.""i can manage, but you should wait here, off your feet." The guard said while motioning to a chair. As she went to sit in it, he sat first and then pulled her into his lap, "now then, we can both rest a bit."She tried not to react too afraid of him and giggled as she allowed his hands around her waist, his fingers grazing close to her breasts.
"A drink? " she asked, pulling a bottle from her bag. He nodded as one hand moved to her thigh and the other to her breast.
She poured the wine into a small cup and looked down as the powder she'd taken from henley's shop dissolved into the red liquid.
He drank it down quickly, his hand moving between her legs as the other hand tried to find a way into her top. As he groped around her chest, pinching her nipples, he tried raising the skirts of the dress. He slid his hand up her thigh, squeezing and caressing roughly as he did, then he stopped.
A strange look crossed his face and his eyes started rolling back in his head. She pulled his hand out of the top of her dress and stood. The guard was out cold.
 
Jasille grumbled as Henley told him to stay, and was half-tempted to simply push him away and run into the night, but he wanted to keep the healer's trust in him. He relaxed and took his sheath off of his belt before he sank into a chair.

Holding his head in his hands, he let out a heavy sigh, wishing that there was a better way to handle all of this.
 
So dependent was the jeweler on his guard outside, he used a fairly modest lock to his shop. She quickly made it through the lock, thanking all the times she escaped before at the inn for the experience. She looked through everything and it did not take long to see the bright gem under a special glass lens. She snatched it, stuffed it in her bodice and then grabbed a small ring close to it. She put the ring on the guard on the way out and locked the door.

"Thea has always been like that. Wanting to go with you is more about helping you and your king, than getting away. Think she risked so much to help you when she came for me. It's her nature. Impetuous and stupid as it is."
The door swung open and a very different girl walked through the door. But when she smiled at them, she looked more like the girl who had left. She dug into the bodice, where two fasteners met and pulled the jewel from the crown out.
 
Jasille looked up when the door opened, and almost asked why a stranger was at Henley's door, when she smiled at them. "Welcome back," Jasille said, not sure whether to stare or to look away. He wasn't sure which would be more offensive to Thea, and settled on the latter. Before he could embarrass himself, he heard Dimaethor calling for him.

Standing, Jasille went to the bathroom and helped his king into some clothes. After he was dressed, he led him to the sitting room, showing him to a seat. It was improper for him to sit while his king sat, so he stood beside the chair. Dimaethor smiled at Thea, looking the part of a king even in borrowed clothes and wet hair. "What is the plan?" he asked, glancing over at Henley.
 
Thea felt slightly torn, she wanted to either stand with Jasille or sit with Dimaethor, neither action suited. Jasille was a brave Elvish knight, she was a barmaid. Dimaethor was a king...She a commoner. She stood away from them all, feeling a little inadequate. Henley scolded her for going after the jewel, Jasille said nothing, only looked at her and then away. Had she upset him too?

Henley weighed the options. "One more day for his grace to recover. I will get another couple of horses and then we set out together at dusk tomorrow. As long as your fever stays down and you feel well, highness. I'm not such a good cook. Let Thea make you something delicious and eat a good meal, what do you say?"
 
Even though it didn't show on Dimaethor's face, he was secretly annoyed at being called 'His Grace'. He told himself that the healer only called him that because he didn't know that elven custom was to call him 'Your Majesty', but he was still slightly annoyed.

"Food would be lovely," he said, remembering his courtesies. "Thank you." He bowed his head as would befit a king before he said to Jasille, "Ser Jasille, bring my crown."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Jasille answered, leaving the room. He fetched Dimaethor's resplendent crown, bringing it back silently.

Dimaethor took it into his hands, looking sad at the absence of some of the emeralds. "When I retake my kingdom," he said, "we will smelt a new crown. One of silver and onyx."
 
Thea tried to hide her embarrassment and disappointment. She thought the young king would have been happy that his crown could have been repaired. He didn't seem to have noticed at all. She was not very good at hiding her emotions though. "Well, let me not delay in fixing the king something to eat!" she said sarcastically as she walked into the kitchen of Henley's home. She moved around the potions and things to find something to make. There was some venison left in the house from the last kill she'd made. She went to work to make a pie filled with the tenderest cut of the venison, potatoes and other root vegetables. She took great care to be sure the crust was flaky and buttery, decadent for the patrons in the inn, though she assumed the king would be less than pleased.

She found a good bottle of wine in the cellar and poured into one of his finest glasses. Once everything was complete, she served a slice onto a pretty plate and put it all on a tray. As she approached him, she felt her ire kick up as he looked at her with a bored, dull look. "Your Majesty... your dinner." She sat it in front of him and went back into the kitchen without another word

Henley tried not to react. Thea would likely challenge both the king and the knight more than they had bargained for. She was too young and inexperienced to know better and too proud to care to know better.
 
Dimaethor looked surprised as Thea made a sarcastic remark and left, his blonde eyebrows rising. "Did...did I offend her?" he asked, looking to Henley. "If I did, I did not mean to..." he said, raking a hand through his hair.

When Thea brought him a meal of pie and wine, he was about to thank her before she quickly ran from the room. Dimaethor jumped to his feet and followed her to the kitchen. "My lady, I do not know what I have done to offend you, but, please, let me remedy that. I am sorry, my lady."
 
Thea was not accustomed to how she should act to someone of his lineage. She had never even met a lord in the tavern. "Twice I've risked my life for you. The second time was for that crown of yours. So that it would be whole for you when you could put it on your head when you stood before your kingdom once again. I do not know you, nor do I know your knight. I helped you both because I had the decency to wish better for you than I could ever wish for myself. Perhaps, you should learn the same decency yourself." Thea's eyes burned with tears, something Henley had rarely seen in her darkest hours. He often wondered what motivated her to do for others and he had his answer. If she was not able to have more for herself, then she only wanted to see others have what they could. It touched him and endeared her more to his heart.
 
"I...I did not know," Dimaethor said softly as Thea told him why she was so upset. "No one told me, and I had assumed the emeralds were lost forever. "I...I apologize, my lady." He bowed his head, looking less like a king and more like a sixteen-year-old elven boy. "My knight, Ser Jasille, has probably told you that I am the youngest elven king to ever reign...I don't have the graces my father did, or the proper training...I'm just a boy. I...I didn't know, I swear," he said, looking back up at Thea, tears in his eyes.
 
Thea felt incredibly bad all of a sudden, she did not mean to make him upset. She never could hold back her feelings and this time was no different. "I'm sorry." She said and she reached out for him, hugging him. She felt his stiffness in the embrace and let go of him quickly. "I'm sorry, I should haven't done that either."

Henley walked up to them. "It's been a trying day for us all. A lot of changes... and as you pointed out, Thea, they do not know us much at all. You can relate to the young king, you're not much older than him yourself. We have a long journey ahead of us, let's eat this wonderful meal and rest... in a few hours, rest will be a distant memory. Does that suit you both?"

Thea nodded her head, but looked to the king, "Your majesty, I should not have spoken that way to you. I apologize, I did not mean to upset you." She looked to Jasille and smiled, "Perhaps you will help me understand my duties to the king, as I have no experience with kings or elves, Ser."
 
Dimaethor tensed the moment Thea hugged him. As king, no one dared touch him without his permission, which he hadn't given since his coronation. Kings did not need hugs or comforting, they were supposed to be strong and fearless. When she finally released him, he relaxed, the tears gone from his eyes.

When Jasille and Henley entered, he looked to them, a king once more. "Yes. We should eat." He sat back down before the tray, using the silverware to cut a bit-sized piece for him. Eating it, he looked up at Thea, giving her a smile. It was not elven castle fare, but it would suffice.

Jasille also looked to Thea as he answered her question. "I would be happy to. Would you care to talk in a room that is more private, my lady?"
 
She chose not to watch Dimaethor eat her food. She was not privy to expensive meats or understood how to make more elegant food. She also didn't want to take his reaction as something negative, so she focused on her own meal. After they ate and Jasille offered her so help in understanding what her duties here, she was grateful for the break.

They walked into the bedroom and she spoke up, "I know I should not have spoken to him like that or embraced him. I feel as if I have made a horrible mistake since I walked in the door from the jeweler's shop. I thought that he would have been happy to know that his crown could be made whole. I thought you would have been." She looked down. She wasn't asking for some great appreciation for what she had done, but she didn't expect it to seem to not matter to either of the elves. Her head cocked to the side and she narrowed her eyes at Jasille, "What do elves think of humans?"
 
Jasille listened to Thea's words silently, understanding where she was coming from. With a sigh, he said, "I do appreciate that you brought back the emerald, and I am sure that His Majesty does as well. But...after the Hundred Year War, elves don't trust humans anymore, and every act of kindness is seen as hidden treachery or deceit. And though His Majesty is too young to have been alive during the war, he was still raised by his father, and holds some of his prejudices...as for how to behave around His Majesty...well, that's different..."

He looked down at his hands before he glanced back up at her, and said, "Refer to him as Majesty. Stand unless invited to sit. The same goes for touching. After his mother and father died, he...he retreated into himself. He doesn't like being reminded that he has people who care about him now...also...His Majesty is used to always being in charge and having everyone agree with him. He is not used to conflict, and...if you provoke him, he will likely begin to cry...if he does, the best thing for His Majesty is to find me...he trusts me, more than anyone, and will likely calm down easier with me around." He ran a hand through his hair, sighing softly. "Understand?"
 
Thea did not know anything of the war or of how to expect an Elfish king to act. So she did as she always had, she nodded dutifully and took it to heart. "I will address him as his Majesty, I will agree with him or seek other words to use when I do not. I will not touch him. I will not sit unless asked in his presence. I understand." She looked at Jasille and found herself needing to look away. She too often stared at both of them and knew it to be rude. She had just never seen anything like either of them, they were graceful and beautiful. Even the way they spoke seemed to please her ears as much as the way they looked pleased her eyes.

"I should get some other clothes on. I don't feel comfortable in this. I'll be ready to go whenever we set out to leave, Ser. And please...I am no lady, there's no reason to call me that."

She had other questions, especially how the other elves would feel with she and Henley accompanying the King. There was a lot of ground to cover before then and most of that ground was filled with humans.
 
Jasille nodded as she stated that she wanted to dress in something else. However, when she asked that he not refer to her as 'my lady', he couldn't help but shake his head. "I cannot, my lady. I am a knight of the elven kingdom. Every woman is a lady, in my eyes." He got to his feet and left her to her privacy. It would be immodest to watch her dress.

He went to the sitting room, where Dimaethor was sitting awkwardly near Henley. When he saw Jasille, his face immediately lit up. "Ser Jasille," he said warmly, as if he hadn't seen Jasille in a long while. "Help me to bed, Ser."

Jasille nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty." He let Dimaethor stand before he took him to the spare bedroom he was to sleep in. Helping him get dressed for bed, he made sure that he was alright before leaving him.

Returning to the sitting room, Jasille seemed to relax before saying, "Is there any tea, Henley? I'm wound a little tight, and I need something to relax..."
 
Thea dressed back into her usual attire. She planned to sleep on the couch in the far corner of the lab again. It was more comfortable to her than her previous bed so it did not occur to her to sleep in a bed.

Henley smiled. "I think I have just the thing. Let me see if I can remember where I put it. My dear lost love had quite an affection for Alasian tea! I found it much too bitter...and he would cringe when I added honey to it." He reached high into a cabinet, thinking fondly of the past as he pulled the tin down. "Here it is! I assume you know this well? He had to pay a dear, dear price for this from a merchant quite a distance away. How they smuggled it from your kind... I do not wish to know. But I have sometimes seen Elfish weapons in the larger city's marketplace. I suppose there were still some good relationships out there between your kind and my own."

Henley boiled the water and cut back the heat as he had watched his lover do many times before. Some nonsense about if the boil was too long, the leaf did not taste the same. He made the cup just as he would have years ago and sat it before Jasille. "I do hope it is to your liking... If you're like me, I could get some honey to go in it." He smiled warmly at the elf and walked back to the cabinets to find honey, just in case.
 
As Henley told him about the tea's origins, Jasille listened with a gentle smile on his lips, enjoying the story. "Yes, I suppose there are good relationships between our kind," he said, smiling gently. He himself held no ill will between elves and humans. The Hundred Year War was long past now, and no one was alive anymore that had fought in the war. As far as he was concerned, it did not matter the mistakes of their ancestors. All that mattered was the here and now.

Thanking Henley graciously as he was given the tea, Jasille asked, "You said that you had a lover...? And...that he was male? Not that I mind, not in the slightest, I'm simply curious. I...I prefer men as well, in fact," he added, blushing some now. To calm his nerves some, he took a sip of tea, and made a face at its taste. "Gods above," he breathed. "Honey would be lovely."
 
Henley's smiled widened. He brought the honey over to him and set it before him. He then sat across from Jasille in a large, comfortable chair. "Yes. My lover was a man. A wonderful man... he fell ill years ago, I tried everything in my power to save him. But I failed. He passed anyhow, no matter my best efforts. Ohh, it still makes me angry that I couldn't save him. That's when all of this took over my home." Henley gestured all over the room. "It was much, much worse until the girl got brought here. She helped me, at least some. The town had turned their back on me. Believing that he and I were only lonely men that were friends, it became obvious after his passing it was more than that. Then the friendship with a young girl... can you imagine the scandal there? I've heard elves were much more... open to men loving one another. Not humans. I should be cast out as a demon for what they think of me." Henley watched Jasille lift the cup to his mouth.

"I have milk too, should you need it. I know I always did. It's good to have someone to speak with. It's been far too long." Henley said with another warm smile on his face.

"Thanks!" Thea said as she exited the room, hearing the last part of the conversation.

He laughed, knowing he did not need to explain the context of the comment. "Go to sleep, little girl." he said and watched her walk far off to the corner and lie down. After a moment he sighed, "So tell me... any great loves of your life?"
 
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