Nate stared up at the likeness of this 'Vanessa and Captain Jones.' While he didn't recognize them, he did find a strange similarity. Around Vanessa's neck was Poseidon's Nautilus shell. There was nothing else like it in the world. He'd recognize it anywhere. He'd even seen it around Ursel's neck. The most fascinating thing to him was that despite the fact that Vanessa was clearly a woman... she was wearing Ursel's earrings and make-up. Even her dark eyes were the same as him. Swallowing, Nate glanced down at his legs. It made him wonder if Ursel become human once himself. His knowledge of the surface seemed to suggest that he had. He felt a little light-headed at the thought. Had Ursel been the reason for the war his father dreaded? From the head of the table, Sean asked him curiously. "Do you know them?" Nate looked at Sean and shook his head slowly. If these people had caused Sean's family problems, he certainly didn't want to ruin his chances with him by saying that he did.

Walking back to his seat, Nate locked his jaw as pain shot up his legs. He tried to stay as composed as he could though. Taking his seat, he exhaled softly to himself in relief. It felt better when he wasn't standing. Across from him, Princess Verlaine told them all in a solemn tone of voice. "I know I should feel nothing for a savage like Captain Jones... but I feel for them. To find love and have it so easily taken away. It's almost cruel. Why do you keep such a picture, Highness? Doesn't it seem... Morbid?" Beside Nate, Anslo piped in a bit sourly. "Many have asked the same thing. Even I have asked him to take it down. It's a disgusting piece. A pirate and a witch... both are savages that should have been hung side by side. Not displayed like... Well, like-" Sean cut in a bit sternly to finish off. "Like they were human?" Anslo bowed his head a little, his voice dropping to a gentler tone as he said. "Some would argue that." Sean leaned on the table, glaring at Anslo in a challenging manner as he told him seriously. "I don't care. Say what you want. Think what you will. I don't see them that way. Pirates are nothing more than sailors rejected by the crown. Witches are no more than independent and free-thinking women rejected by their village or town. Humans."

Anslo opened his mouth to clearly disagree, but Sean cut in before he could. "I don't care what others believe. You wanted me to think rationally. To have a well-rounded education. THAT is what education has taught me. If the crown suffers the people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy, and then punish them for those crimes to which their first education disposed to them. What else is to be concluded then? That these false delusions come from me teaching them to think and act this way toward others? I will NOT allow that to happen in MY kingdom. Sometimes stories are just that. And while I love a good story... My education is what allows me to separate fact from fiction. So, I'm sorry if the painting offends you, Anslo. But to me it is nothing more than a reminder that there are people out there that suffer from these false labels that people have put upon them. And because of it, they act as the labels put upon them!" Anslo bowed his head more, uttering out politely. "Very well said, Your highness. My apologies."

Nate watched Sean relax back in his seat a little awestruck. He felt a strong connection to that line of thinking. Across from him, Princess Verlaine asked with a warm smile. "Sire? Where did you learn to think such a thing?" Sean smirked a little, blushing guiltily as he mumbled out. "One of my teachers forced me to read this book called 'Utopia.' He told me that if I was to be a good king that I should start there." Sean removed a top off the thing in front of him to reveal food. Nate's stomach growled just smelling the strong smell of crab. Lifting the top off to reveal his own food, he inhaled deeply. He had eaten crab many times in the ocean. Nate found it interesting that there was no need for the mini tridents. The belly of the crab was already open and even if it hadn't been, he could have opened it with his hands and a good rock. Scooping the meat out in his hand, he began to eat. The second the meat touched his tongue, he smiled. This didn't taste the same as the crabs in the ocean. It tasted sweeter and it was warm. He loved it. Leaning over it, he started to eat quickly. Only stopping when Princess Verlaine began to giggle.

Looking up, he saw her staring at him with wide eyes, causing him to stop. Everyone was staring at him like they were stunned by something he was doing. Licking his fingers, he noticed that they all were using the mini tridents to pick up the meat. Sean chuckled, showing him the mini trident as he told him nicely. "Try using a fork. It's less messy. There is no rush to eat it." Anslo mumbled something next to him, then brought the strangely carved vessel to his lips. Nate winced, expecting it to blow out more of the black stuff. Only to watch as the black stuff puffed from the top of the little vessel. Did it not blow bubbles above water? Nate reached out to wave a hand through the black stuff, causing Anslo to lean away as he gruffly asked. "What are you doing? No. Once was enough, thank you." Running his hand through the black stuff, he brought his fingers to his nose to smell them. The smell was horrible, causing him to snort. Sean then asked him gently. "Have you never seen smoke?" Nate shook his head.

Next to him, Anslo muttered out softly. "Well, the pirates must have kept him below deck as a... Carnal companion. I hear they do that." Princess Verlaine raised an eyebrow, questioning him a bit confused. "A what?" Anslo waved a hand nicely to her, quickly telling her sweetly. "Nothing, Highness. I apologize for even bringing it up at this time." Nate didn't understand what that meant either but didn't dwell on it. His focus was going to the way Sean was eating. It was torture watching him eat small portions at a time. The way his lips slid over the ends of the mini trident had Nate forgetting how to breathe. The way Sean licked his lips of the glossy stuff the food left on his lips made him lick his own lips unconsciously. When Sean looked up at him with those bright blue eyes, Nate jerked his head to look down at his food. Picking up the little golden mini trident, Nate stabbed it into the crab so hard it made Anslo jump. Nate winced, giving Anslo an apologetic smile as he lifted the crab to bite off one of the long legs. Once again everyone stared at him like he was doing it wrong.

Tearing a leg off, Nate set the body back on the plate and removed the leg from his teeth. The others had finished the meat in the crab shell and were pushing the plates away for the people along the wall to take. When a person came to take Sean's, Nate grabbed the person's arm to stop them. Forcing them to put it down, Nate showed Sean his crab leg. Sean nodded, watching him closely. Nate brought the leg to his teeth and broke the shell open. Then pulling it out, he peeled the shell to reveal the meat in the legs. Sean gawked at him and so did the person next to them. Nate pulled the meat from the leg to eat it with a smile. Nate blushed as Sean tore a leg off his own crab and tried to crack the shell with his own teeth. When he couldn't do it, Sean set the crab leg on the table and put his mini trident over it before applying pressure with his hand. When it cracked, Sean picked it up to pull out the meat. Anslo and Verlaine blinked before waving their crabs back to try. They all began to laugh as they tried to crack the shells of the legs and chatted about how they didn't know there was meat in the legs.

Seeing Sean have fun with it made Nate's heart overflow with joy. Afraid to touch him with others watching. Nate moved his foot beneath the table to touch Sean's timidly. Sean leaned back to look under the table briefly before his eyes rose to meet his. Nate couldn't breathe as he stared at him with a neutral expression. He wanted him to like him so much that his heart ached for him to understand. Sean gave him a small warm smile and Nate bit his lower lip nervously. Did he understand? It was so hard to tell. It was easy for Merfolk to express feelings... but did humans express emotions that way? Looking over Sean's clothing, Nate wondered if he had dressed himself in enough colors to attract him. He had thought he had when he saw his reaction to him before. Now he wasn't so sure. After they finished eating, the people by the wall washed their hands with something called a 'warm wet towel.' Then Verlaine excused herself because she wanted to write a letter that she wanted to send to her mother. Which she intended to send out before changing her clothes to join them on their trip to the village.

This left them with time to kill while they waited on her. So, Sean offered to take Nate on a tour of the castle much to Anslo's distaste. Anslo didn't trust him with knowledge of the castle. Sean ignored him though and took him around anyway. Behind them, two guards tailed them at a respectable distance. Sean showed him where he studied and the many rooms around the wings. At his room, Sean stopped him from going in and blushed out. "Not this one. It's my room. And... it's personal. Moving on." Sean started walking, but Nate stayed put and crossed his arms stubbornly. He couldn't imagine Sean's grotto being any different from his own back home. Sean sighed nervously, mumbling out as he trudged back. "Fine..." Sean opened the door and gestured Nate inside. Nate entered, listening to Sean tell his guards to stay outside the door. Then Sean closed the door like he was sick of being followed. The room was better than Nate imagined. The room was gorgeous. The other rooms he'd been shown had lots of white, pink, or sea green coloring with gold accents as Sean had described. This one was a soft blue.

Everything was done in blue from the curtains to the furniture fabric. The wallpaper had a sandy beach moral with a bright blue sky. The ceiling and furniture structures were all dipped in gold. Which made the room look so grand. The large row of windows in his large room had a breathtaking view of the beach and endless ocean. Walking passed a piece of furniture that Sean had called a dresser earlier, he saw rows of shells from small to big. Sean leaned back against the door, looking nervous as he told him shyly. "I collect shells that wash up on the beach. I find them... relaxing." Nate raised an eyebrow at him. He understood having them for their looks and colors... but relaxing? Sean finally moved away from the door, picking up a large shell. Coaxing him over to the window, Sean turned him to face the ocean and told him excitedly. "Here. I'll show you. Look out at the ocean and listen." Nate stared out the window but couldn't hear anything. Sean put a hand on his shoulder, causing Nate to inhale jaggedly. Behind him, Sean put the shell against his ear and whispered to him. "Listen. Can you hear the ocean?"

Nate forced himself to look out the window and was a little surprised to hear the crashing waves as if he were on the beach. Turning to look at the shell, Sean smiled as he told him. "Cool, huh? Whenever I need something calming and it's too dangerous to walk the beach... I listen to these. People think it is easy to be a royal... but they don't understand. It's just a fancy prison..." Nate watched Sean turn away to put the shell back, saying in a grim tone of voice. "I make one mistake and my kingdom will pay the price for it. Nothing I do is because I want to... The way I dress. The places I go. The things I do. My entire life is mapped out for me... and as much as I enjoy it at times... It's very lonely. I can't trust anyone around me to be interested in anything but their own personal agendas. And... as a royal, I'm too admired by people to be normal." Sean glanced over his shoulder with a sudden embarrassed expression as he added. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to burden you with that. It's just easy to talk to you when... Well, when I think you're listening and not going to lecture me about... being a melodramatic royal."

Nate walked up to Sean, putting a hand on his shoulder. He wanted to tell him that he understood those burdens himself. The only difference between them was that Sean was going to be crowned the king of his kingdom. While he was still subjected to his father's oppressive rule. Sean gave him a little sad smile, telling him softly. "Thank you. I shouldn't be this vulnerable... but the closer my coronation gets, the more I feel like I'm being dragged to my father's crown... and no one here cares what I think... My worries mean nothing to them. I feel like a calf that is being dragged to slaughter. I don't want to screw up... but I'm barely keeping myself together..." Nate noticed Sean's hands were starting to shake on the edges of the dresser top. Growing worried about him, Nate gently turned him to face him. Sean turned easily, but kept a hand gripping the dresser. Nate put a hand on Sean's chest which meant that he wanted him to breathe. Sean glanced down at his hand but didn't understand.

Giving him a warm smile, Nate leaned in slowly to put his forehead to Sean's. Nate felt Sean's heavy breathing slow down under his hand. Brushing his head against Sean's lovingly to bring his lips to his ear, he tried to sing and grimaced when he realized that he couldn't. He didn't know what to do without his voice. He started to lean back, until Sean's hands suddenly started to wrap around him. Pulling him close, Sean hugged him. Smiling, Nate wrapped his arms around him to hug him back. Sean shook a little in his arms, but after rubbing his back for a time, he eventually settled down. When it felt like Sean was pulling away, Nate reluctantly dropped his arms. Sean leaned back slowly, whispering to him nicely. "You know... Most people are afraid to touch me... They act like it's a crime." Nate heard Sean sniffle and turned his head toward him. For a split second they both froze. Turning his head had brought his lips within inches of Sean's. Nate was afraid to breathe on him, and his mind and heart were torn between what to do. He wanted to kiss him, but he was afraid to at the same time. He didn't want to scare him off.

Plus, Mark had been the only one to kiss him. He'd never really tried kissing anyone. Sean seemed to lean in a little before quickly pulling away as he cleared his throat and stammered out. "Well... Shall we continue on to the garden? I'm afraid there isn't much more for you to see in my room." Nate exhaled the tension that he had. He told himself to find Mark later. He'd need more help than he thought in the kissing department. To Be Continued...