"Is there any particular reason why half the footmen are covered in feathers?"

Eker snuck a sly glance at his friend as he tried keeping up with his ground-eating strides.

"Is there any particular reason why half a battalion is accompanying us?"

Hanadan smirked but didn't slow down. Eker himself knew that the veritable crowd of armed goons the other man had summoned to surround them couldn't exceed fifty people. However, he was still mourning the loss of the relative freedom and privacy he'd enjoyed until a little while ago and wasn't about to accept this new state of coddling without complaining as much as possible.

"Your Majesty's safety is of utmost importance to us," came Hanadan's predictable reply, "which means there is a perfectly obvious reason. I can't say as much about the feathers."

Eker sighed and rubbed his hands together in an attempt to get the blood running again. He'd forgotten his gloves in the carriage and personally returning for them was out of the question. He also didn't want to make a servant do it, especially after what he'd already put them all through. Not to mention that he would have had to jump and holler to draw anyone's attention, seeing that he and Hanadan were closed in by bodyguards.

"They've been very busy getting everything ready this morning," he said. "I suppose they didn't have time to see to their attire."

"Since when are feather duster components part of a footman's attire?"

Eker scoffed and clasped his frigid hands together within the folds of his billowing sleeves.

"Do you really want to spoil the surprise?" he complained. "We've been doing our best to organize the events today, but since it constitutes a first of sorts, there have been some setbacks."

"What kind of a first?" demanded Hanadan suspiciously. "Are you going to force the hunters to play the gratitude game? Or pay each other compliments? Or write down what they secretly think about each other?"

"Your disdain for such exercises will be overturned once they prove their efficacy. As a government, we need to nurture a healthy environment, and that is not possible when everybody hates everybody else's guts!"

"And you think holding hands and talking about childhood memories will magically erase all that resentment?"

"No, but it will make it more awkward for them to backstab each other afterwards." Eker frowned, reluctant to admit the current lack of results. "At least, I hope so," he muttered.

They went on in silence after that, each of them presumably preoccupied with his own slew of troubles. Eker knew he'd had it rough of late, but wasn't foolish enough to envy Hanadan, especially considering that he'd just thrust an undesirable promotion on him, without prior notice or any possibility of a refusal. In truth, he'd been thinking of how he could bring his trusted friend closer to him and give him the authority to actually help with the whole governing and ruling debacle, but he was starting to regret taking the first opportunity that presented itself. Was Hanadan angry with him?

Once again he snuck a glance in his friend's direction, but couldn't make out any overflowing emotions apart from the stubbornness displayed in the set of his jaw and the worry betrayed by the crease on his forehead. He hadn't even touched his gourds since exiting his own carriage at the main gate.

Then again, perhaps it was all in Eker's head. The gods knew he'd done his own share of excessive worrying. It certainly didn't help that some of his precautions had proved themselves justified, as had been the case when he avoided the ambush a few minutes before.

He'd directed the staff to prepare the most nondescript carriage available and had them stop well before reaching the main gates, at which point they exited the road and went into hiding. They found a little clearing, just out of the way enough so as not to attract immediate attention, yet still have a relatively good view of the road and the emblazoned carriages passing along. As an added bonus, the manor house itself hadn't been visible, which did wonders for Eker's nerves. He barely remembered the place from previous visits and doubted he'd ever stayed the night, but on the few occasions when he'd actually been forced to go, the mere sight of that gauche monstrosity filled him with dread, most of it stemming from the overwhelming presence of the then owner, the former queen. Even now, when he might get away with calling himself an adult, just thinking of that woman brought on heart palpitations.

To give credit to his own mother, despite all her scheming, she'd always kept Eker as far away from the queen as possible, since the woman was bound to resent the offspring of her unworthy competition. Eker's mother used to scare him with tall tales of the queen's exploits in relation to naughty children, and he'd actually believed her for longer than he was now willing to admit.

Now, after both the queen and his mother had been removed from his day-to-day life, all he wanted to do was be able to sigh in relief, but he'd found that a new equally disturbing nightmare had popped up in the meantime. At the moment, its manifestation consisted of the incessant giggling drifting through the army of silently glowering men surrounding them.

It seemed that all the women who were vying for the second throne had conspired to await his arrival at the estate gates, and he'd barely managed to avoid them by tailing Hanadan's carriage as soon as it showed up. Eker wasn't about to admit that he'd cowered on the floor, with the curtains firmly shut, while the only footman he'd brought along made the necessary arrangements for them to enter Tzeru.

However, no sooner had they been allowed to proceed than the women also started pouring in, so Eker had abandoned any lingering tatters of pride, ditched the carriage completely, and made a run for Hanadan, who welcomed him with a veritable armed guard.

Out of the corner of his eye, Eker spotted one of those men detaching himself from the rest and hesitantly approaching Hanadan. A whispered conversation ensued, and Eker did his best to pretend that he wasn't eavesdropping even while priming his ears to make out as many words as possible.

"...about the game," said the guard, who could be none other than Karuss. Eker had been a little disappointed when the man had acknowledged him with a pretentious, yet distant bow upon arrival. He'd really thought they had forged a bond on their way to the Golden Glade the day before, and he wanted to let the other man know how much he'd appreciated his novel input on certain topics. Despite his menacing appearance, Eker was convinced that Karuss was far cleverer than he usually let on, and that was bound to be the case, since his employer wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Do you want to ask him?" whispered Hanadan back. "Don't forget you're taking part, so it's against the rules."

Karuss's subsequent reply was unintelligible, but Eker suspected profane words had been uttered. He decided that his stance was unnaturally innocent, so he turned his head just enough to make out the quietly arguing individuals. However, something else caught his attention instead and he halted so suddenly, that the man who'd been shadowing him came within a hair's breadth of plowing into him. Consequently, they both froze in the act of staring at each other, tips of trembling noses almost touching. 

A merciful throat clearing put an end to the increasingly awkward situation as Hanadan stepped in to pat both men on their respective shoulders.

"Your Majesty," began his friend in a solemn tone he must have known Eker hated, "I have been remiss in my duties and it has therefore slipped my mind to introduce you to your new bodyguard. Interim bodyguard, that is," he corrected, turning a slightly terrifying smile in the other man's direction, "until the captain of the Heavenly Guard returns."

Eker blinked and took a step back to better assess this new addition to his entourage, who seemed no more excited about the prospect than the king himself.

"Priar," prompted Hanadan, "why don't you introduce yourself?"

The new interim royal bodyguard narrowed his eyes at Hanadan in a way that alarmed Eker, who'd never seen anyone openly defy his friend.

"You just did."

Galvanized into action by the increasing tension as well as the female giggles catching up to them on the road, Eker surged forward and clasped Priar's hand, shaking it perhaps a bit too forcefully with what must have been an incredibly dumb smile on his face.

"An absolute pleasure to meet you, Priar. I thank you for offering to take on this responsibility in service of our country. The hour is growing late, though, so let us proceed."

As soon as they did, Eker almost glued himself to Hanadan's side and cast a wary glance at the trailing pair of bodyguards before whispering urgently to his friend:

"Did you blackmail the man into accepting that position?" However, since the question had obviously been rhetorical, he went right on: "Because that doesn't reflect very well on me, and I want to hear the truth: am I that difficult to work with? What if everything I stand for is seen as a joke because I haven't got an ounce of Essar's charisma or the loyalty he commanded? What if-?"

"You know, I could have cultivated Essar's friendship instead," interrupted Hanadan, "since he wasn't that much older and we attended many of the same clubs at the Academy, not to mention it had been my father's express request. But I didn't, and you know why? Because while you don't have his charisma, he doesn't have your humility, or sense of responsibility, or drive to make our kingdom actively better. You may be detached at times, but you are not an idiot and certainly not malicious."

Eker blinked in befuddlement, then croaked out his hesitant thanks.

"Besides," said Hanadan, "one of my uncles was bound to take advantage of the situation sooner or later and push their own men to get closer to you. The current option is one of the least threatening."

"Very reassuring," muttered Eker, finally stepping away from Hanadan and once again glancing at the two following close behind. The short exchange had been uttered low enough so as not to be easily overheard, but Eker still flushed slightly as he quickly studied the two men's expressions.

While Priar looked positively thunderous, Karuss's mien landed somewhere between apprehension and resignation. Shifting moods aside, there obviously wasn't much love lost between the two, and their gaits were somewhat awkward since they had both endeavored to outpace the other while still maintaining their respectful distances from Hanadan and Eker.

"We're almost here," announced Hanadan, and the king started. He hadn't paid much attention to the road or its heavily forested environs as they'd approached the Tzeru hunting lodge, but he could now make out the thinning tree crowns beyond their protective buffer of soldiers.

Sure enough, the ones walking straight ahead began parting and falling to the side, allowing Eker and his close entourage to approach their destination with formal pomposity.