Ad Libitium {Aember}{Bitter Anodyne}

[B I T T E R Anodyne]

Ad Libitium - At One's Pleasure​

Kicking out his legs, and wincing, though there was no blow, the boy turned around, peeping around the vast library, in case his stern teacher was around. She would be the fact that he had shuddered when he had swung his legs to stretch them, 'A prince should not act like a common ruffian!' He wasn't doing it on purpose, honest, it was just...Sitting in a wooden chair for hours on end, listening to an old lady talk was not his idea of fun. Prince Tobias blew his brown bangs upwards, grey eyes looking bored. He wanted to go out into the courtyard, watch the knights fence and practice, and wishing he was just a tiny bit older to be able to lift the sword without too much difficulty. Or go to the stables, and watch the grooms tend to the mounts, proud beasts that were breed carefully for the best results. Anything than in the stuffy library, reading dusty old books and tomes that made him sneeze from the dust.

The young prince was scrawny for his age, though his parents were sure he would be able to 'fill out and grow up'. Meetings, battle plans, there was so much he had to do, to fill in his father's shoes, or rather, crown. But right now, all he wanted to do was...Be a kid. Sure, dreaming of being a knight that rode into battle was cool, but he rather do something, instead of dreaming about it. A hand on the rough stone walls of the castle, he peered out the window, bright sunlight shining on his face. It took three blinks to clear the dots that had sprung up in his eyes; it was so bright out today! Maybe he should go to the garden, it was so...big, and with the plants, it was much more interesting than walls. And the small pond that reflected himself...It felt like there was more than one person with him. Servants were always too busy, and no one was exactly his age, they were too young, and would just mope around doing childish things. The ones his age and up...Were always doing something; dusting, cleaning, cooking... There was just no time to play with the Prince. On the rare occasion that he caught someone on a break, they would have been whisked away, assigned with a job or something. The squires trained, and he had to wait until he was big enough to fence and hold a sword; until then, he would be humiliating himself trying to swing a simple sword around.

Pushing open a wooden door that lead outside into an enclosed, but large garden, surrounded by walls, yet the walls were hidden by lush vegetation. Tobias rolled up his tunic, a royal blue one, with gold embroidery thread decorations, his pants a more durable brown fabric, still of high quality though, picking up a nicely sized stick. He might to be allowed a real sword yet, but this could work!

The boy ran on the stone paths of the garden, heading towards the pool, snatching up a rock, before chucking it into the water and watching the liquid ripple. Ah... There was nothing to do... Falling onto the grass, he traced patterns of the clouds in the sky with his stick, humming a song to himself. The musicians in the castle were good... Too bad Tobias didn't know where they were, or he'd demand a song. "It's so boring!" He shouted up into the air. Ha, as if that would change his predicament.