a king walks among us
”Not at all. Only a fool would do that.” El Rey holds no expression of the flesh, but within he ponders the nature of such a question if it is not a proposition, particularly if it is stated in such a way. His ear swivels to follow the sound of the laughing citizens, but they are no more than that. His attention is trained on the antlered stranger. His duty is met if there is nothing wrong with the city around him, if there is no one to protect, if there is no crisis to which attention is needed. He has time for a conversation, he supposes.
But El Rey would rather put down this stallion than let him go off to heckle another citizen.
”I was only remarking that you must feel safer than most, despite everything going on.”
He had next to no experience with what one might call a “trick question.” But his past rung like a bell at these words, for the black stallion knew not if his escape was of any greater importance. No one talked about Sevettas or nobility here. Things had gone sour as a rotten lemon and it was no secret that the sovereign had been kidnapped. As a protector of the court, he was to know of such things, and to report suspicious activities. Such was his duty. His responsibility. His life.
For all of his suspicions, El Rey held no social tact whatsoever, and wouldn’t have known what to say had he thought this man truly concerning, beyond the threat he carried in his greeting. No proper greeting I have ever heard. He said, ”I do not feel any more or less safe than before. It seems the nature of my existence is to be in danger. But I have never suffered the consequences.” He paused. ”Do you feel unsafe?” Perhaps I could help, he nearly adds, but this man seems to invite violence. Rey does not yet know enough of the scents between courts to realize he is not Denoctian at all.
@Lysander
”in blood the blade, to its golden hilt, I’ll drown,“
I pledge you now, to death they all are bound,
