Our Tangled Roots; Rhaegor

[Rhaegor]

Rhaegor

the playboy

"How out of character," comes the young man's frail but toying voice after he receives her eye roll. "You plan every aspect of your life, virtually, anyway." Here, he punctuates his jibe with a loving tug of her forelock, the warmth of his sickly breath billowing around her equally sick face.  "But, I'm glad you came. I can't be that much of an accident - you love me, or at least you claim to."

Relenting, Rhaegor lays back and perks his ears to catch Will's words, just in time for her to roll her head atop his shoulder. Although their bodies are not adult-like but not near enough to to no longer be foal-like, they fit together as well as they day they were born; of course, the puzzle would be complete with the missing piece of their youngest brother, Sviko, but he had taken to the mountains in the Cove in the name of health. To be honest, Rhae couldn't begrudge him that decision; after all, look how things turned out for the two wanderers.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rhae scoffed, though it turned into a cough which sends her head bouncing wildly until his lungs settle. A clearing of his throat. "We are the picture of nobility, sister princess." But, his aching body tells him otherwise. So, the feeble prince carefully readjusts his position beneath Warlight, getting as close to her as he can while still maintaining comfort. With his mouth against her skin, he thanks the gods for her closeness, just as their mothers thanked the gods for the same upon many previous occasions.

After enough time that Rhae dozes off, Will's weight shifts. Roused by the change in his sensation of gravity, Rhae lifts his head just enough to watch as she snatches a fallen feather of his. For a moment, he questions her motive for this, thinking the feather but a stinky, disease-riddled thing; but then she places the admittedly gorgeous thing in his mouth, and explains herself. Mouth full, Rhae's words fail to communicate how deeply he appreciates her, and her love for him; but his eyes say it all, and more.

Obedient, the younger brother reaches and deftly tucks the golden feather into his sister's ebony mane; with only one adjustment, he resettles back into their original position, admiring his handiwork and her beauty from where he lay. As to her joke about him dying, he decides not to retaliate; if he is going to die, it would only be the right and just thing for him to let her have the last word. He owes her that much at least.

Brows creasing, Rhae suddenly voices a random thought that occurs to him out of the blue, reminded of someone in particular because of his sister's befeathered mane.

"Hey Will," he starts, "Is mother older than uncle Svedka? I was just thinking about how alike we are to them."

And then, more quietly: "I miss them. Mothers, I mean, and Svedka, too. How are they doing?..."

"Do you think maybe you could take me back there with you, for a visit? Only if you are able to, I mean..."

...my name on your tongue and your tongue on my...

@[Warlight]