A/N new cover edited by me with beautiful art from astrijursen (why do artists have such keyboard slam names??)

Dinner was uneventful for the longest time.

Fern picked at her food.
Her plate consisted of totally bizarre things she had never heard of.

She enjoyed some of them, but neglected her plate for there was a much important matter.

That was staring down Oak from across the table.
He started it.

"Are you going to eat that or are you just going to stab it with your knife like an animal?" He scoffed.

Elm, from the head of the table grunted.
"Oak..."

There was a woman next to Fern, whom she hadn't noticed before. And she was staring.

"You're the bride?" She asked.

Fern nodded, not wanting to accept the statement.

On the other side of her was Thorn. He hadn't spoken an entire word the whole dinner. In fact he looked down at his plate as if it were more interesting than the silent family drama all across the table.

"Thorn, what are you doing?" Fern asked, leaning over to him.

"I am not to interact with my superiors." He responded and continued staring into the abyss of his plate.

"But like, you can at least look at them, right?"

"Tsunami..." he began.
"My eyes are not made to look into yours or anyone else's at this table."

"Well then I'm sure it's funner at the staff dinner in the regular dining hall."

Thorn nodded.
"Indubitably."

Suddenly a voice from behind them chimed in.
"Well, then, I suppose that'd be a lovely place to visit, Thorn?"

Thorn turned around to see who it was and gasped. To Fern, the young man who stood there looked exactly like a younger version of Elm.

He was tall, and more muscular than Thorn but less than Oak. He had long brown hair and firey eyes.

"Basil!" Thorn shrieked.

'Basil' raised an eyebrow.
"Why so surprised? I am part of the family, aren't I?"

Thorn shook his head.
"No. Get out." and the way he said it did sound strict, sure. But also hushed and concerned.

Basil leaned forward.
"You're in no place to force me in or out of anything. I'm grown now, Thorn."

Thorn calmly, and without another word got up out of his chair and looked at Basil.
"Sit down, Prince, unless you know your limits."

Basil smirked.
"I have no limits."

Thorn looked mildly surprised as Basil sat down in his seat.
He turned to Thorn
"It pains me that such a strong willed young man like yourself has been rotting away here all this time."

"I hardly call myself a young man." Thorn replied, making no further hustle of Basil's surprise presence.

Basil growled
"Well, you certainly haven't been pushed and hit enough to understand your place in the world. At least not when I was last here."

"You sure fixed that problem."

"Don't you know your actions have consequences? If you stand up for a stubborn, stupid, worthless boy you get hit like one too!" Basil snapped.

Thorn reached out to Basil.
"You were never worthless."

Basil disagreed, clearly, and shook his head, laughing.
"My potential was taken away from me, courtesy of that wretched child."

Basil, standing up, pointed across the table to Oak. He smiled wickedly.
"Hello, brother."

Oak froze. He stared into those hypnotic eyes of Basil's.
He looked beyond stunned at the young man's presence and shook his head slightly as if it were all a dream he could wake up from.

Elm dropped his knife and it clattered loudly against the table.

Everyone seated turned to look at the king, but not in the eye, never directly.

Elm locked eyes with his son, who didn't shy away at all.
"Father, it goes without saying that I've missed you so." Basil drawled, waving his hands dramatically.

Thorn was still in the room. He was in the doorway, waiting to see what would unfold. And he looked a personification of the fear that Basil should be feeling.

"How did you get here, war criminal?" Elm asked.

Basil chuckled.
"Father, I walked, with my own two legs, through the fire empire, through no mans land, the forest, you name it! All out of love for my little brother! Your beloved son!"

No one at the table spoke. They mostly kept their heads down, but the direct royal family watched intently alongside Fern.

"And," Basil twirled his fork on his plate, causing a horrible screeching sound to ring through the air.
"I'm not a war criminal. Think, if I was your General instead of your son you'd be overjoyed with my progress against the other kingdoms!"

He looked to Oak and smiled widely, Basil threw up his arms theatrically.
"The best part; there are no criminals in war! Everyone is innocent because everyone is guilty!"

He slammed his hands against the table.
"Be glad I play on the side of the war that I do. And know that every day when I take my sword to the battlefield I think of you, and how much I hate that my actions benefit you in the slightest."

Basil was in a way, terrifying. His expressions would often shift halfway through sentences, from disgusted scowls to insane grins.

Elm seemed to radiate a burning hatred of his own, hatred for his wayward son.

Basil picked up on this in less than a second.
"There it is..."
He breathed out, way too calmly for the moment.

Basil stretched, putting his feet up on the table.
"Yesterday I was training my skills and I was hit by the sudden realization of why you hate your own child so. You hate Sage, the baby brother because he's afraid, but you hate me because you're afraid. I came all the way out here to tell you that."
He gave a self satisfied smile.

"Nonsense." Elm argued.

Basil waved a finger at him.
"You're scared of me because I'm the ideal son you wanted so badly and then...you realized you didn't want that. You didn't want a son who was just like you, dangerously like you!"

Elm shook his head, looking down on the brunette boy and his wild eyes.
"You're nothing like me."

"Woah, woah, woah, that's my line. That's my fact to deny." Basil claimed, leaning forward.

"For one, I would never treat Sage the way that you do. He's just a boy!" He continued.

"He's not just a boy anymore. Because of my help." Elm claimed and Basil stopped what he was doing.

Basil seemed to scramble back into a respectable sitting position and he leaned across the table, pleading.
"Please let me see him, where is he?"

Elm didn't gesture or speak, he left Basil to seek out his brother alone. He watched his face search that of everyone else until his eyes landed on Sage.

"Sage! You're so grown up!
I wish I didn't have to go I-" Basil stopped again as he took note of Snow, next to Sage.
"Mother! You look as beautiful as ever!"

Finally, smiling and almost tearing up he moved his glance to Oak.
"And-"

His look of joy slipped past him. He shook his head.
"No..."

"No..."

Basil tightened his fists
"You make me sick..."

Oak looked upset, but clearly it wasn't the first time he had heard this.
"Why would you come to my wedding if I disgust you so?"

"I wanted to see you...if just one time...I want to look you in the eyes and find out if you're truly happy."

Elm yelled
"Of course he's happy!"

"Shut up!" Basil snapped, whipping around to face his father.

Elm prepared to get up out of his chair, taking the first step towards Basil.

"Oh, oh, what are you going to do?
You lay a hand on me and everyone of status in the kingdom sees it!" Basil smirked.

Elm hesitated. His son was right. He raised his voice to ensure everyone heard him say
"I would never hurt you. You caused me much pain by running away, but I would never hurt you."

Basil slowly nodded. His twisted smile reminded Fern of Cypress.
"Oh, so that's how it is..."

Basil continued after a pause.
"You know who else you wouldn't hurt? Your slave- Thorn!"

Thorn was still standing in the doorway, listening.
"Come over here and tell all the nice men and women about your life!" Basil invited with far too much enthusiasm.

Thorn's hands clutched his jacket close to his chest. He didn't turn around or leave.

"Actually, I heard he's been demoted! You should have fired him...but you know if you let him go he'd turn your whole country against you."

Elm looked enraged, he didn't speak, but listened with an ice cold heart.

Basil gestured to Thorn. And the smile on his face wasn't cruel or dangerous anymore. It was genuine.
"This man, he's more powerful than you want him to be. And that power is in words, charisma."

That infuriated Elm, and he couldn't hide it this time.
"That man is nothing! He stood up for you when you were younger, but that doesn't make him a hero."

"Doesn't it?"

Elm shook his head in disapproval.
"You disgust me, Basil.
But you are born into royalty and that means no matter where you go your blood runs bluer than everyone else's. Thorn is disposable, he does what you ask of him day after day until he dies and we get a new one with less emotions."

Thorn swiftly strode forward, just behind Basil's chair.

"Thorn?" Fern let slip.

Thorn ignored her.
"I'm sick and tired of you..." he growled under his breath. He was looking down but there was no doubt that the comment was directed at Elm.

"Thorn?" Basil whispered.

"Basil, get out of my way!" Thorn snapped.
And Basil obliged as if Thorn were the Prince and Basil his servant.

"You!" Thorn pointed to Elm.

My eyes are not made to look into yours or anyone else's at this table he had said.
But that was all gone now.

"You think you're so much better than everyone else, we're all your pawns, huh?" Thorn accused.

Elm shook his head.
"You are my pawn, you belong to me." He claimed.

"I belong to me!" Cried Thorn, clutching his violet jacket close to him with a tight gloved hand.

"All men are created equal," he continued.
"We stand on the same level before God. I walk through the same halls as you, I eat off the same plates as you..."

The man paused. He looked around the table and then back to Elm's hateful eyes.
"The difference is that I raised three princes and you didn't." Thorn said.

"They're my sons!" Elm growled, and Fern could see his grip on the table tighten in frustration.

"Then why can't you raise them like a father?" Thorn yelled, quaking with emotion.
"Give me one good reason!"

"I'm a busy man-" Elm started but Thorn cut him off.

"We're all busy! There's a war out there!"

Elm's brown hair fell over his eyes as he yelled
"A war you're not fighting!"

Thorn looked surprised for a second, he tightened his hands into fists.
"Idiot! Blame me for not enlisting!
I have enough scars, I have enough darkness plaguing me- so get out of my business, maybe, maybe, I would fight if I weren't so busy making sure your kids don't die after being in a room with you for five minutes!"

"You're raising my children as if there is no war, like a nanny.
If I wanted a nanny there'd be one!" Elm hollered.

"A nanny would raise your kids better than me! I've never done this before and it's really weird being a father when you aren't a father; I'm bad at it- sure- but I'm an enormous step up from you!"

"Thorn! Woah!" Basil said, Fern could almost see stars in his eyes, Basil leaned forward absolutely stunned.

Thorn's voice quieted.
"And what of your wife?"

Elm didn't say anything. He just scowled and kept his eyes on Thorn.

Thorn searched the table for Queen Snow. He gently pointed in her direction.
"Snow is beautiful! But she wouldn't know that would she? Because you've never told her!"

Fern loved seeing Elm's offended, shocked expression. And she could tell all three of the princes did too.

In the momentary silence Fern heard the sound of ruffling pages. The woman next to her was writing this all down.

Fern smiled slightly.
Perfect.

Elm put a hand to his head and sighed. He gestured to Thorn and tried to smile.
"This man is clearly a drunken mess; he-"

Thorn laughed and as he often did ran a hand across his rings.
"I haven't touched a drop, after all I've gotten quite used to the dirty water from the stream in the courtyard. Not sure my stomach could handle anything new-"

Suddenly Thorn jerked back, putting a shaky hand up to his face with a startled expression.

Elm stood looking more enraged than ever with his hand outstretched towards Thorn.
He had hit him.

Fern looked to Basil. Basil took a breath but didn't say anything (for once), he just watched Thorn to see what he would do next.

"Well..." Thorn wiped his face with the back of his glove.
He smiled.
"That was all I needed...

As Thorn started to leave Elm called out
"Where are you going?"

"I'm not waiting for you to fire me, I'll be gone before breakfast tomorrow." Thorn waved a hand.

"Wow..." Basil started as Thorn disappeared.
"Wow!" He wheezed, turning to Elm he beamed
"I came here to ruin your day but I got one upped by big brother Thorn." Basil clapped slowly a few times.

He straightened his back and gave a half wave to the large table.
"Evening, everyone, thanks for the entertainment!"

"This'll make quite the story!" Muttered the scribing woman next to Fern.

Fern ran a hand through her hair. Wow.
"Can I excuse myself?" She asked.

Everyone at the table was flabbergasted and nobody answered her.

"Haha, yeah, thanks." She laughed as she dipped out the door.

Fern ran down the hallway as soon as she was out of view of the table. She saw Basil turn to look at her as he went the opposite way. She followed the sound of clicking boot heels.

Fern stopped to catch her breath when she saw Thorn a few feet away. She wondered what he was doing so she half hid herself behind a marble pillar.

Thorn was in front of the door to the staff's dining room.
The door opened and Carnation stepped out.
"Thorn are you okay? A-Are you crying? Your face is really red...what happened?" She asked, leaning down slightly to meet his eyes.

Fern hadn't noticed but Carnation was right, Thorn was crying a lot. How hadn't she noticed? Did that make her insensitive or Thorn more strong than she had previously assumed?

Thorn didn't think Fern was insensitive at all, and he liked to think he was good at making his feelings go away. No...no, that wasn't it. He was good at putting them to the side for a while.

But...

Thorn laughed weakly at Carnation's concern for him.
He took her hand in his own.

Why should anyone be concerned for him?
If he wasn't concerned for his own well being nobody else had to.

They better forget him when he goes...

All these feelings. Thorn told Elm all about how he felt and it was like a weight off his shoulders, maybe it was time to be honest to everyone.

'This man, he's more powerful than you want him to be. And that power is in words, charisma.' Thorn laughed again, this time to himself. Basil was wrong, Thorn wasn't good with words.

So he tightened his grip on Carnation's hand and the two shared a kiss, fulfilling unspoken thoughts of years upon years.

When their kiss was over Thorn's hand slipped through Carnation's and without a word he continued striding down the hallway, not staying long enough to see her reaction.

Carnation stared blankly into space, she let herself almost melt into the floor. Her face was streaked with tears now too.
"Thorn..."
She took a breath.
"I love you!" She called down the empty hallway.

Thorn didn't hear.