10: Matters of the Heart

“Thavine. Mmm… may I have a word?”, asked the young Prince Clan nervously. He was quite unsteady. Indeed, delicate matters were playing in his mind. Never had he acted as such. Curiosity began to rise in Thavine.

“Well, of course. What is it, Clan?”

Clan could not find the right purrs to answer her. When he finally came to his senses, he only managed to answer, “Mmm. Do you like flowers?”

“Well, depends on what flowers they are… I mean lilies are wonderful but they make me… Wait. Why are you asking this?”

“Out of curiosity, Thavine. Mmm… You are after all my sister. I trust that it is my duty to know and learn about you.”

“to know and learn? About me?”

“why.. yes. You”, Clan desperately hoping that his real intention was kept hidden.

Thavine was looking at Clan with a rather suspicious face on her, perhaps a bit of surprise. Then, out of a sudden, she said,

“Wait! Oh God! It cannot be…”

“What is it?”

“You! You have met a lady mimiao, have you not? Come on Clan. Tell me. Has my silly brother has his heart fallen for someone?”

“What?? I mean, what nonsense are you talking about? What heart?”

“You cannot fool me. Look at you. You are blushing.”

The young prince quickly ran to look at himself in the mirror. Thavine could no longer hold her laughter. She laughed out loud; looking at the way Clan was behaving. Annoyed by her, Clan forced himself to purr out an explanation of his awkward action but before he could start, Thavine cut him off and said,

“Come on, out with it. Do I know this very lady?”

“Yes. No, I mean, I am not in love.”

“Well, well. I could not recall saying anything about love, dear brother. Hmmm…”

“I did not… I mean… No. I meant to say that I was not… You know… There is no lady or whatsoever. There is one but…… ”

“But what, Clan? Have your ego got in the way of your senses, like usual?”

“What ego? You are the one with the ego and, and your evilness! 

Yes, making assumptions, not to forget, your constant mockery over me. Here I am, asking you about something and you accused me with such… There is no word for such things!”

“My goodness! Clan! Yes, I may be at fault for the littlest fun I have made of you but…”

“Littlest, you say?”

“Wait. Let me finish. Yes, I never meant any of it. You are my brother, Clan, the only brother… And mmmm… my duty, of course to enjoy every power I have as an older and eldest sister to you. You do know that I care so much about the great and brave young prince that goes by the name Clan, do you not?”

Clan did not smile at Thavine’s attempt of humour. Ever since they were small, Thavine had always managed to find a way to make him smile after a playful argument or what their father called it as “clawing chattering”. 

After a while, Thavine gave up the effort of talking words of comfort to Clan, thus, she walked out of her room, leaving Clan behind. All of a sudden, a smile appeared on Clan’s face. He was amused by his sister’s departure. He finally, made her annoyed.

“Hmmm… that was fun”, thought Clan to himself. However, the cheerful thought was cut short with others, of love.

“Sanea… I… no, it has nothing to do with love.”

Clan was heading out to the door when he suddenly bumped into a wooden box. It was carved with beautiful patterns and the colour was slightly unusual. Never have Clan seen such beautiful thing. The box was opened and inside lay a cloth.

“What is this?”, asked Clan to himself while taking the cloth out of the box. He felt something in it. His curiosity swelled as his paws felt something familiar behind the cover of cloth. He opened it and he was right. 

It was a dagger. 

He looked and looked again at it, and he realized its origin.

“Thavine has an Elmish dagger?”

 *