Rewards of War (butterfly0408/CutePhoenix)

((Oh he is sly, but perhaps he is being even a little.... tooo sly :p Time to throw a wrench into his plans! Bwhahaha!))

Eden was speechless a few moments, just looking at him before suddenly... she burst into laughter. Thunderous laughter right in his face a few moments before she rose her hand to stop herself and stepped back a foot to give them both some room.

"I'm... I'm sorry Zane. But... well...... that is the corniest thing that may ever have been said to me." She burst into another fit of laughter then and went back to the task of preparing for their picnic. Taking up the pack he had hanging off the side of the saddle, she checked it to make sure she was correct in thinking that was the food. It was. As she walked with it towards the spot along the bank, she went on, "You know I have heard lines like that a hundred times before? But never to me. It's what the men of court always say to Alicia after they have greeted me with a proper nod and kiss the air above my hand the move along to her and let them know by the way the touch her and stoke her skin what they want from her."

She set the basket down and turned to look towards him, "If you really are interested in me Zane, understand that I'm not like most maidens of court. I am not like my sister. I just want you to be yourself with me. I don't want an act to pretend like ours is some grand affair." Her lips curled into a smile, "If you REALLY are interested Zane... you'll be my friend first before professing such superficial words of love for me."

Once more, Eden suddenly proved she wasn't just some dumb blue blooded prissy princess. She was smart and she wanted more then what her sister did. A quick love affair and a one night stand was not what Eden wanted. But, she had just told him exactly what she did want. A friend. She didn't have many of those. Perhaps that was the best way to her heart and to win her over. But would he loose his own heart along that path?

((I hope you don't mind I am making it a bit hard to Zane to get in her pants. But I really want him feeling at least something for her before she starts giving in fully. I want them connected on a deeper level in the long run. It will only make the betrayl she feels later when she finds him with Alicia all the more devastating.))
 
((Nah, it's perfect. So I don't mind at all.^_^))

While outwardly, he listened to her speak with a smile, he was cursing in his head. God, she was sure being a tough one to crack.

"Well, if you say so." Zane replied, making it seem like he understood what she was saying. Though, he was a bit annoyed on the inside. Serena had already gotten Alicia into bed, but here was Eden, shooting down every line, and turning his come ons right back against him.........He was barely getting anywhere. She was only in the position she was in now because he snuck off with her clothes, and even then, it took some persuasion to get her to come out.

"What's for lunch?" he then asked, really wanting to change the subject. This was certainly gonna take quite a bit of time.
 
She looked at him, a little confused as she put the pack down, "Shouldn't I ask you? You ARE the one who brought it." Sitting herself down upon the bank, she opened his packs and pulled the food out. "It seems you have forgotten that you packed some bread, cheese, a little bit of chicken it seems..." she pulled out a large bundle of strawberries and a bowl of was seemed to be whipped cream, "These will need to be kept someplace cooler until we get to them." As she put them back in the back, she paused to smell them, "Mmmm, they smell fresh! I hope they taste just as such!" Placing them behind a rock where it was nice, shady, and cool, she reached back into the other bag and pulled out the final item, "Wine?" she raised an eye brow in his direction. "Isn't it a bit early for wine?" She suddenly seemed to comfortable and natural. When she was seeing him at a friend, she was more of herself. The other way though, the way of seeing him as a potential suitor, left her awkward and fumbling.
 
((Hehe..........I forgot.........))

"Sorry........I guess my mind just blanked out there for a minute." Zane replied, laughing lightly when she pointed out he brought the food.

"Well, not neccesarily, as long as we exercise a little restraint." he then added, coming over to join her.
 
Eden started doling out the food between them, giving him just a little more of each thing as she split it up. "Here you go," she smiled warmly as she handed it towards him before she went to her own food and started to pick at it. "So yesterday, you heard all sorts of stories about me. I think it only fair now that you share with me stories about you. Fair IS fair."
 
"Well, I wouldn't mind at all. But aren't you worried I might embelish a little to make myself look good? Afterall, all those stories, I heard from your mother, not you. I may be blind, but I don't seem to see my mother around to dote on her baby boy." Zane replied, laughing lightly. Yea, Narissa doting on her son...........very likely to happen.
 
She smiled a bit, "Well.... you can lie if you want now, but when if I were ever to come across your mother like you did mine, I can find out for sure if you lied or told me the truth. So you had best be truthful now so it will not come back to haunt you later." In truth, Eden did not know if she'd ever meet his mother. She didn't even know who she was really, come to think of it.. "Is you mother and father ever at court?"
 
"Well, my father died when I was very young. And my mother............Well, she's not big fan of huge gatherings, so she really tends to stay to herself. She goes out on occasion, but it's not too often." Zane replied, making it up on the spot.
 
"I'm sorry about your father," she said, truly sympathetic about it. She didn't know what she could do if she had lost one of her parents at a young age or even now. It had to be hard on him. What that kind of thing must do to a child. She tried to lighten the mood a bit, moving to sit a little closer to him as she smiled, "So come on... share your stories. Or will I have to make a trip all the way to your mother to get even steven with you?"
 
"Well, I could tell you how I would run around the castle naked as a kid whenever it was bathtime, or how me and my sister would play war in the garden by throwing apples at one another." Zane replied, laughing as he did so. His stories weren't entirely false. His early childhood was quite normal and fun. Though, as he and Serena grew older..........that's when Narissa more or less brain washed them.
 
She laughed a little, "It sounds like you were a handful, you and your sister." She sighed a little. It was so much the same for her and Alicia as well. "Alicia and I use to play like then when we were little. Before we moved back into the palace. I suppose that was what made things change."

She was not sure if he knew their story. Well, he knew it from Narissa's point of view, but he was about to hear it from a none tainted point of view. "It's all such a confusing story really. Especially since everyone tells it different in every different court. I'm sure you've heard some version of it.... want to hear the true one?"

((Let's see how hearing the truth about his mother affects him :p))
 
((Yes, lets.^_^))

"Sure, I'd love to. I suppose it is to be expected that it's different depending on how you ask You know, one person tells the story, then the next person says it but changes a few things and so on and so forth till noone really knows what happened." Zane replied, shrugging lightly at the last part.
 
"This land was ruled by my mother's family first. My father came in and took control of it first. My grandfather and uncle were casualties of the war and mother was father's prisoner. That didn't stop them from falling in love however. But social standings almost did. The court no longer really saw mother as a princess or even worthy of a king. She didn't either she confessed to me more then once. There was another woman that wanted to form an alliance through marriage with my father," she did not say the name, but it was clear she spoke now of Narissa. "She saw my mother as an road block to what she wanted even though my father tried his best to protect her. She had men kidnap my mother and drag her into the woods where they were going to kill her. If not for my father coming across them before the plans could be carried out, mother would have died and father no doubt would have married that other woman that tried to kill his one love. The incident left a lot of bad blood between the woman and my parents. War broke out not long after they were married. My family lost power not long after I was born. I can't even remember living in the castle from that time. We were cast out, but father refused to lay down to his enemy. He lead a rebellion and when my aunt joined us with her forces, he finally was able to take back the kingdom and we returned to the castle."

The mood of her story started to change then. She was still going on, but it wasn't about her parents anymore. She did not even realize she was confessing to the weight she felt on her shoulders. "I was just about 6 then. Over night I went from being a normal little kid climbing trees, skipping stones in the lake, getting dirty all the time... to a princess. Not just a princess! The future QUEEN. I had no idea what I was going to do. I suppose it had an effect on me. Suddenly realizing that one day this whole kingdom was going to look to me..." she sighed a little. This was the first time she was saying all these things she felt on the inside out loud. "I stopped climbing trees. Forgot how to skip a stone. Had to make sure there was never a speck of dirt on my clothing..." She was getting very pensive at this point, staring off into space a little towards the water.
 
"Must have been hard. Having your life change so drastically like that. Even more so cause you were a child at the time." Zane replied, sounding gentle and understanding. Though, in his head, he was thinking about her story about his mother. Narissa had told him something completely different about Laine and her family. In her stories, she painted Laine as the despicable one.
 
"I suppose so..." she sighed a little, feeling like she was getting closer to him and so she spilled even more of her soul to him. "You know, I remember one time when I was younger, my mother screaming in the night. I was worried and so I went to see she was alright. I found her crying in my father's arms, and him whispering that it was alright. Then she got up and came over to hug me. She hugged me like she had almost lost me. It wasn't the last time. I heard her and her nightmares lots of nights. Saying things. And one time, we were out in the woods, just walking. We were attacked and mother told us to hide. A man confronted her, Alicia and I saw it all." She stared into space, seeing it all happening. "I thought he was gonna kill her. I just know that woman sent him. I know it..."
 
"What happened then?" Zane asked. Of course, he wasn't really curious about it or anything. It was a show of compassion, a show that he was someone she could talk to about these things. He wasn't really all that surprised his mother was being spoken of like this. Two sides to every story. But in all honesty.........he was beginning to believe Eden more than his own mother. He knew the kind of woman she was. Sure, she had filled his head with lies about Laine and her family, but he wouldn't put it past her to twist things around out of some vindictive grudge she had. He would not deny his mother was like a spoiled little child in that regard. When she wanted something, she'd do anything to get it, and if she didn't get it, she'd basically throw a tantrum.
 
She shook her head a little, "Well, Alicia and I jumped on that man's back. Oh what was his name? I know that. He was the one that Narissa had placed in power here over out land after she left to return to her own home. Something with a J. Oh things get fuzzy after that time. My aunt showed up. The one night my mother and father vanished. Next thing we know we are back in the castle. Mother and father have been very good at keeping the truth of what ever happend in that time from us. Which can only mean it was not good."
 
"Yes, I imagine so. I understand why though. Parents trying to keep their kids safe and away from the bad things in the world. It does sound like your lives were made rather crazy, but I'd imagine they tried their best." Zane replied.
 
She sighed a little, "I suppose so, but that was then and I wish they would let me know now. I'm no longer a child and I will need to know things like this when I am queen." The mention of her being queen once more darkened her mood. The thought of that day one day coming always depressed her. It was just... if she was lonely now... just think how lonely she'd be when she was queen.
 
Zane just looked at her a moment, concern on his face.

"I'm sure they will........someday." he warmly said, reaching his hand out to gently rest on hers as he gave her a warm, caring smile.
 
She looked down at his hand a moment before looking up at his face. If the look on his face was fake, she had no idea. She really believed he was concerned for her. Believed that he was there for her right now. She attempted to crack a smile on her face, but the look of loneliness and sadness was still right under the surface.
 
"You know.......we should probably finish our picnic before the ants carry it off." Zane said with a smile. He wasn't trying to change the subject, so speak. Though, he did want to see her cheer up a bit, and figured that talking about something a bit more cheery would help.
 
Eden went to smile more brightly, but it failed. She was always one you could read like a book. "Yes, of course. I almost forgot about lunch. How silly of me." Pulling two cups from the pack, she poured a cup of wine, handing it to him first before pouring herself one as well. "Cheers..." she said in a mild toast before raising the cup to her own lips to drink.
 
Zane laughed lightly at the toast before sipping, taking a bigger drink than what most thought was proper.

"You know.........I've never been too big on doing that whole dainty little sip thing when drinking wine. I mean, I'm not trying to get drunk or anything......but those little sips don't really work for me. Doesn't give me much of a taste." he said casually, just trying to start up a little small talk and relax things a bit.
 
She laughed a little, smiling as she looked at the wine in her cup. It didn't even look like she had taken any of it down. She glanced back up at him. "I'm a princess... everything I do it suppose to be dainty." There was a pause as she looked back down into the cup, then back at him, nipping her lower lip a moment before just taking a big swig of the drink. Looking more like she was drinking ale from a mug in a tavern. By the time she came up for air, she had taken down even more then him. The look on her face was priceless, she looked a little dizzy already. "That was a mistake. Wine goes to my head very quickly."
 
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