Chapter 2: Prince Auden and Princess Unity
There was a commotion at the door. Trundle's brother, Bumble, walked in like he owned the place. Not that Garnet minded. The children tackled him while he was setting down his pack, tired from working in the mines all day.
"Oof," he groaned. "You wee ones have grown a bit of muscle since I saw you last, huh?" The children giggled.
"No," they chorused.
"No?" he echoed, surprised.
"No! We saw you yesterday!" A girl shouted.
"Oh, that's right," he scowled dramatically. "My memory's not what it once was." The children erupted in peals of laughter.
"Don't say that," Garnet said from the table. "If you're getting old, then what hope is there for me?"
"You're still young, and you get younger every time I look at you," Trundle said dutifully. Garnet smiled at him indulgently. Bumble sat down next to Trundle.
"Telling stories again?" he asked, knowingly. "If I can interject, I have a good one." He didn't have a good one; he had one they'd heard thousands of times before. Garnet gestured for him to start, anyway.
Prince Auden hurried through dark corridor after dark corridor. Smatterings of light shining through holes in the walls blind him more than guide him. They aligned with eyes, nostrils, ears, buttons, and baskets of royals, nobles, peasants, cats, dogs, dragons, Elves, Men, goblins, and above all, Dwarrows, painted and hung on the other side. As the kitchens approached, the smell of dust blew away, and the scent of sausage rolls greeted him.
"Finally," he mumbled, and rubbed his stomach while it growled. A high-pitched giggle carried through the wall. Affronted, Auden passed a cobweb and stopped at an ancient bronze statue of a mule. It stood in an archway between the palace's secret passageways and its kitchens. He grabbed its hindquarters and a hoof, and heaved it out of the way, revealing his presence to the girls in the kitchen.
This particular kitchen was rather small, twenty feet by twenty feet, holding merely one clay oven, twelve feet of storage, a row of prep tables, and a fire pit in the corner. The young Dwarrow women wore maroon aprons to compliment the orange walls. Presently, they were gathered around a small figure eating sausage rolls by the fistful. Curious, Auden drew closer. A girl his age with black hair tied back smiled cheerfully. She wore a thick red coat with golden tassels. On her head sat a matching Himachali hat. It all complimented her pretty brown skin very well.
She must have arrived with the Rau envoy that morning. Auden's mother, Queen Lapis of Rau, and his father, the King Consort, met with them before dawn and hadn't let out even past noon. Unable to continue listening to boring politics unfed, young Auden had slipped out of the room unseen and run straight to the kitchens.
"Welcome, your highness! Would you care for a sausage roll?" A chef smiled sweetly at him. Just then, a Dwarrow in a long coat and a scarf tied around his head marched around the corner and into the kitchen.
"Your highness! Princess Unity! Where have you run off to?" He called. The young girl looked shocked. She jumped off her stool and fled through the exit behind the mule. Auden shoved a basket of fruit on the floor to distract him and ran after her. They ran through corridor after corridor, behind stairwells and under bridges until they finally stopped for breath.
"Why did you run?" panted Auden.
"That was my guard, Something. If he saw me speaking to the Weich prince, he'd be cross." Princess Unity fretted.
"A matter of little consequence," Auden declared. "You are the crown princess, are you not?"
"It is so, but…" she trailed off. Auden stuck out his hand. "Prince Auden of Weich. A pleasure to meet you."
Princess Unity took his hand and smiled.
"If you share your sausage rolls, I'll lead you back to your room and not tell anyone we met today," Auden offered, eyeing the delicious sausage rolls in her arms. She agreed, and the two munched on the rolls, giggling and whispering conspiratorially about various counselors' ludicrous braids. Before too much time had passed, Auden fulfilled his end of the bargain. They bid each other farewell, and that was the last time they saw each other before the news broke out: Weich and Rau were going to war.
Weich had summoned their southern neighbors to discuss traditionally honored trade agreements and their impact on the coming year. Rau had not appreciated being summoned by a foreign entity, ally or not. So, when Weich asked for a trading port they'd been promised, Rau refused. Unaware of her blunder, Queen Lapis of Weich perceived an unprompted sleight-and returned in kind. When asked how many units of supplies Weich would send Rau in Mirtul, she reduced the number by 50,000. Rau had then canceled the joint Greengrass celebration they had already agreed to host that year. In turn, Weich canceled the Feast of the Moon at the end of the year. The meeting went on like this well after their children left, and only stopped when Prince Auden's father, Tramire, choked on his wine and accused the entirety of the Rau envoy of poisoning it, one at a time. King Samarth declared war over the offense.
The war lasted for fifty years, which, for a human couple, would have brought Auden and Unity well into old age, but as Dwarrows, they had just reached their prime marritable years. Per their peace treaty, Prince Auden and Princess Unity would be married. Their parents believed the upcoming ceremony would be the first time their children would meet, and neither Auden nor Unity were inclined to say otherwise.
With two months left before their "first meeting", Queen Lapis invited Princess Unity to familiarize herself with the inner workings of the palace. She was expecting a welcoming feast, but Queen Lapis was curt and punctual, with barely a greeting before the tour began early in the morning. They walked brusquely through hall after hall, courtyard after courtyard, greeting staff members, counselors, and military officers. After a brief reprieve at lunch, the Queen introduced Unity to their hosting materials, which she would be expected to make use of at the Midsummer feast, when they would publicly announce her engagement to Prince Auden.
She had just been left to look over the fine place settings in a musty storage room, for the Queen had other business to attend to, when Auden rushed into the room, locking it behind him.
"Princess Unity, my old friend," He turned, cape swooshing at his knees, a heartwarming smile on his face. "You've grown into a beautiful woman." Princess Unity blushed at his forwardness. Auden had grown into a handsome young Dwarrow, auburn hair swept back and woven into a single five-strand braid. His face was handsome, and not too rugged. He was not too stocky, either; for a dwarf, he was quite tall.
Princess Unity had grown tall and willowy, herself, with long black hair woven into a simple braid, and blue flowers in a crescent moon on her forehead. She had grown into her chubby cheeks, and out of her awkward habits of movement, the very picture of grace.
"Prince Auden, I finally have the opportunity to thank you for keeping our secret all these years," she said. "You sheltered me from something's scorn."
"Ah," smirked Prince Auden. "And how would you thank me?"
Princess Unity walked around the table separating them, and beckoned for Prince Auden to lean over so she could whisper in his ear. Prince Auden did, turning his head and cupping his ear. With his face turned away, Princess Unity ran swiftly to the door, unlocked it, and joined the bustling crowd of laundry ladies, giggling.
Back in the storage room, Prince Auden was delighted to know that a game was afoot. They played this way for several days, Prince Auden catching Princess Unity alone, begging for a token of her affection, both wary of being caught. Neither ever mentioned the war between them. It would come up eventually, and it would be hell to sort out, but for now, they knew their duties. Now, for the first time in a long time, they could forget the past and look forward to a bright future.
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