White Swan

White Swan:
There were two of them, standing in the middle of the masquerade, one wearing all black, his hair three different shades, black, white and grey fell softly down his back. His name…Ari. Beside him the other eye-catching person his friend, Sylvian. Unmistakably, they were, without a doubt the most sought for people to be seen with. The mysterious Ari, descendant of the Lyvon family, the son of an eight-hundred year old noble family while Sylvian was the heir to the Eon family, a newer family bearing only three generations of nobility but had gained enough wealth to be considered on par with the Lyvon family. The two were wealthy, wealthy and powerful, but remained wallflowers. As beautiful as they were, they were untouchable, the people feared them. The girls in the ball gown flourishing in the night could only stare, wanting to reach out, but fearing the consequences of doing so.
Ari left the ballroom, soon followed by Sylvian, with a trail of stares following them. The pair stood on the wide balcony, this was after all, the palace ball. Despite having the princess of the nation in the room, all eyes turned to stare at the pair. The princess, Princess Belladina, first princess to the king of Fieore was not in the least disappointed or frustrated that the attention was not on her, in fact, she too, watched the pair leave. Sylvian was her goal, Sylvian the seeming other half of Ari. While Ari wore nothing but black, Sylvian wore nothing but white, his was silent and had a constant aura of authority while Ari although stoic, was still reasonably friendly.
It was only too much of a pity that the person that Belladina wanted a dance with was the one that no one could get. It wasn’t right for a lady to ask for a dance, all she could do was approach him. Her nimble steps carried her lightly to the balcony, everyone’s eyes. She glided behind him, behind her the eyes of numerous men and women watched on. They held their breath. The princess took careful steps, appearing to be as gracious and gentle a lady as any to catch his attention. Such was not her luck though, Sylvian wasn’t easily moved by the status of the flirting young lady in front of him. He despised girls that flaunted their power and this was definitely one of them. He looked towards Ari, a silent message being sent across, Sylvian played the weak prince while Ari the righteous friend. Ari took him by the arm while Sylvian acted faint.
“Forgive us Princess Belladina, it appears as if Sylvian is feeling unwell today, please excuse us,” Ari apologized.
The princess was a little dumbfounded, she’d basically been wagging her tail giving him the get-go signal only to find that the person she was after wasn’t feeling well. What’s more, was that although it was very good, it was still acting, he wasn’t actually sick but needed a good excuse to get away from her. Faking sick was definitely the best way to go about it.
Belladina balled her hands into a fist, she wouldn’t let him get away with this. Someone actually dared stand against her, the princess of Fieore.

Inside the ballroom, there was much discussion, it wasn’t as if the princess had been rejected, but the princess had finally show interest in someone only to be denied a dance. A few giggles and a few snickers, the court ladies were vicious.
The princess walked back into the ballroom in frustration, she would have him, no matter the cost.
Meanwhile, Ari and Sylvian escaped the people’s notice as they focused their attention on the princess.
“Ari, food, we can’t leave without eating any food,” Sylvian whispered.
“Are you really the heir of a rich family, get your chef to make it, we need to get out of here unless you want to the princess’s plaything,” retorted Ari.
“How do you think my family gained wealth? We have a few guards on the outside to give the illusion that we’ve got heaps of money, but the reality is, we only have two servants to save money.”
“You penny-pincher, don’t make me laugh how can you even live like that!”
“You don’t need to know, I’m sick of burnt gruel for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I need some real food.”
“Fine, I’ll get you a few tarts along the way is that ok?”
“Yup, thanks Ari, I want strawberry tarts.”
Ari dragged Sylvian to the dining table where that was more food than what could possibly be eaten and grabbed a few tarts just as he said he would, along with a few other tidbits and headed out of the palace. It would have been rude to reject a ball invitation so both of them had dress up to go but in the end, even before the clock had stuck ten the pair were back in Ari’s home feasting on tarts, cold meats, pastries and more. The only good thing they’d gotten out of the ball was the food. Ari sighed, how had he ended up stuck with this money grubbing friend who only showed his cool side in public but in reality was nothing close the word cool.
‘He couldn’t touch the word cool with a ten-foot pole’.
“I’m staying here for the night ok?” Sylvian declared and marched to Ari’s room to flop down on his bed and tried falling asleep.
“Prince my foot, which part of him is prince-like, where am I going to sleep if you take up the entire bed?”
“On the floor, like a dog.”
Ari sighed wondering if Sylvian had forgotten that this was his house.
Meanwhile Belladina began thinking up possible methods of avenging herself. The music of the evening was too loud to let her think and men continuous asked for a dance. The men didn’t see Belladina they only saw her title, she didn’t want to dance with someone like that. That was why Sylvian Eon interested her immensely, he didn’t see her status or her pretty jewels, just her. She retired of her room, tired from the night of constant chatter and noise, tomorrow she would visit the Eon’s mansion. Her train of thought drifted away as drowsiness took over her. Her eyelids fluttered close and breathing stabilized, the princess was finally asleep.
By the time the sun rose in the morning, Belladina was already up, she dressed and adorned herself with her usual pieces of jewellery, afterwards she fetched her horse and had him saddled. She roade her way to the Eon’s family mansion, a tall overbearing building with numerous guards guarding it from theft and the. As far as she knew, no one had ever broken into the Eon’s family mansion, now she could see why. She announced herself at the gate and was led all the way into the down the long winding entryway to the house. She knocked on the door and found herself face to face with a servant. The servant looked a little confused, she would have refused Belladina entrance if she hadn’t been wearing the right with the royal symbol on it. The maid saw her in, Belladina was surprised by what she saw when she went in, it was customary for a noble household to have dozens of servants, but this household only had one serving, there was no other servant to ask if she wanted to put her coat down or remove her gloves. The interior was also much plainer than the exterior, there were no special carvings, paintings, sculptures nothing of the sort. What was wrong with this family?
An elegant lady walked towards her.
“Princess Belladina, pray tell what you’ve come to my humble home for?” the elegantly lady asked.
“I came to see Sylvian, but it appears he’s not here,” Belladina replied.
“No, my son is at the Lyvon house as usual today, he usually spends the night there if he’s not here.”
“Is it alright if I wait here?”
“It wouldn’t bother me, but Sylvian usually stays at the Lyvon mansion for at least three days before he comes back.”
“Then I will take my leave to the Lyvon mansion.”
“Please allow me to escort you to the front gate.”
The lady of the house need to personally escort a princess? A servant could have done that, but seeing as there was only one maid that did everything out the front and probably only one round the back, she had to do it.
Belladina was slightly surprised to know that Sylvian usually went to Ari’s house, she would have thought it was the other way round, but seeing as Sylvian’s house had only one visible servant it was understandable.
Belladina exited the Eon mansion and rode her way to the Lyvon mansion. It was a bit of a ride so Belladina was excited when she arrived. Unlike the Eon mansion, the Lyvon mansion was much grander, being an eight-hundred year old family. She entered the mansion just as she did with the Eon mansion and inside she found was even more spectacular than the palace. The design, lush carpets, polished silverware, she found that everywhere she looked it was more carefully designed than the palace itself.  Being the princess of a country she was given priority and when she asked to see Sylvian and Ari, she found herself waiting in a grand sitting room. Sylvian and Ari emerged a few minutes later groggy from sleepiness. They were dressed messily in half-hearted formal attire and needed some water to freshen themselves. They weren’t wearing masks though, even Belladina had to admit that both men were exceedingly good looking.
She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. To begin with, she didn’t have anything to say to them. She blurted out the first thing she could think of to save herself embarrassment.
“A-as the first princess of the Fieore kingdom, I order you to accompany me as body guards to the neighbouring kingdom Chyisanthium to sign the trade contract that we’ve agreed to.”
It was well known that the pair had military prowess to asking them to accompany her wasn’t too much of a big deal.
“Is that an order, are you insisting on having us go?” asked Ari.
“I am, this is a royal decree,” Belladina replied.
“When do we leave.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow! If we have to leave tomorrow then please excuse us we have numerous things to pack.”
Belladina had originally just planned to bring her usual bodyguards, but when such good-looking men were around you, why ask bulky overgrown men to accompany you? She knew that the two would have to start packing otherwise she’d have no body guard on her journey. She left them to pack and let herself be escorted back to the palace with hassle to tell her father shed found two body guards.
Sylvian and Ari immediately arranged for things to be packed. It was a royal decree, they couldn’t disobey, but it was unreasonable to expect them to travel for two weeks without having a thing packed. Ari arranged for a large sum of money to extracted from the bank to keep with them in person while Sylvian threw anything he deemed important into a suitcase. The entire packing process took about five hours, they needed servants and horses arranged as well. Luckily they were at Ari’s house not at Sylvian’s. Sylvian’s house provided no service of servants except for one and therefore would have taken a lot longer than five hours. They’d packed some food, clothing, weaponry of sorts a few materials for the horses, some apples, a brush, cuff links, anything that could be looked over they had one day to remember. The intensity inside the Lyvon house was even more than normal and so was the noise level. Ari’s entire family was curious as the what the pair were doing, but since it wasn’t the norm to be curious about what one another was doing, they let Ari finish what he was doing.
By the time the sun fell, most of the arrangements had been made, they hoped that nothing would happen while they were with the princess. Sylvian lay his sword that he’d had a servant retrieve from him beside him and stored the mask he was wearing on the night of the masquerade into a pocket of the jacket he was to wear tomorrow. Ari slipped his sword on the nightstand and his mask beside his pillow. Both waited in anticipation for the day to come.
There was no original use in waiting though, both of them fell asleep faster than they could imagine. They spent the night restless, tossing and turning in a fitful sleep.
Day came too fast for them though, a majority of the night had been spent on trying to get last minute preparations done. The clock hadn’t even struck seven yet when the princess arrived, she was sitting in the carriage waiting for them when she saw them come from the stables on their horses. They looked like a princes on a black and white horse. Both wore their mask and rode alongside the carriage.
“You won’t sit in the carriage?” she asked.
“It is not proper for a grown man to be near a young unwedded woman,” replied Sylvian.
Belladina knew this was true, but nonetheless still wanted to anyway.
They rode three days to Chyrisanthium, the impatience evident on Belladina’s face as she tried continuously to persuade Sylvian to ride with her.
The palace of Chyrisantium was beyond what any of the trio had ever imagined. The palace was glaringly white and impeccably clean, the servants were strictly trained and perfect in executing their duties and without a doubt every single detail, down to the very last strand of grass was in no way imperfect. It was a colossal with charming gardens, even more charming servants and an unfortunately hideous king. Ari, Sylvian and Belladina kneeled and curtsied in front of the king of Chyrisanthium. The looked at the king with a somewhat respectful appearance on their face. Their emotions were in turmoil though. Despite the fact that they had such expressions on their faces, the trio really wanted nothing more than at that moment to turn around and hurl up their breakfast. The appearance of the king really was an overwhelmingly disturbing sight.
“Greetings to the king of Chyrisanthium, Belladina from the kingdom of Fieore is here to renew the truce that was set for five years,” Belladina reported respectfully.
“Rise child, you must be tired, we’ll discuss these matters tomorrow, for today my servants will lead you to your quarters to rest,” the king replied.
Belladina smiled shakily. Belladina at the front, the three of them followed a servant to their respective rooms. There was quite a commotion as the three of them ran straight for the bathroom to hurl.
“That fat pig of a king, I’ve got better things to do than to see how much fatter you’ve gotten these five years. Just sign the bloody contract so I don’t have to stare at how much oil you haven’t washed off yourself!” Belladina quietly howled.
Sylvian and Ari had no comments. That disgusting king really wasn’t worth words. After cleaning themselves up, Sylvian and Ari hurried to Belladina’s room.
“It had to be us that you had to bring? Do you want us to die looking at that king? He obviously isn’t fit for human eyes! Get your other guards to follow you next time, at least they don’t have beauty standards like I do, I stare at Ari all day how do you think I feel when I see that pig of a king!” Sylvian hissed quietly and angrily.
Belladina understood completely, but she shrugged, she couldn’t help it now. Just as she was about to give a stark reply, Belladina’s door burst open and a relatively average-looking girl bounced in.
“You must be the princess of Fieore! It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m first princess of Chyrisanthium Karin, it’s a pleasure to meet you!” the girl blasted.
Karin smiled at Belladina.
“Likewise, my name is Belladina,” Belladina smiled covering her ears.
Karin smiled and turned to look at Slyvian and Ari. Her eyes lit up like stars at night. Only, saying that would be an offence to the stars.
“These guys are handsome! How about you give them to me?” Karin beamed.
“Oh sorry, these two are nobles from Fieore, I’m afraid they need to go back and inherit their estates, they’ve got family there too,” refuted Belladina.
“That’s fine, they can just move here, they’ll get the biggest properties and lots of servants and the best land, what do you say handsome?” Karin coaxed.
“That’s difficult to resist-” Sylvian began.
Ari came and nudged Sylvian. “Thank you for the generous offer princess Karin, but our family mansions are there too and we can’t bear to part with them,” he chuckled.
“We can build a replica here,” insisted Karin.
“Then our long-standing family history would be useless,” Ari gently refuted.
“Ahhhhh!! I don’t care, from now on you are mine! Both of you!” Karin yelled.
Ari and Sylvian turned to look at each other. They had the same thoughts in their minds.
‘This is dangerous…let’s make a run for it.’
Turning their heels on the room, the duo ran like nobody’s business.
Belladina’s eye widened…did they abandon their protection target. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand, but what were they planning on accomplishing? It wasn’t like you could simply run away in the enemy’s castle. Karin and Belladina snapped out of their confusion and began sprinting after the pair.
“I’m really sorry but they really are my guards, I’m afraid I can’t let you have them,” Belladina huffed.
“There’s nothing I can’t have. They’ll have to be the beginning of my ikemen collection!” Karin retorted.
Two insane girls ran after two handsome guys. Soon afterwards it became a crowd of people as people began gathering to help princess Karin get her new interests. Ari shook his head.
“Ari, we’ll have to fly, I want to die with a whole corpse, not get crushed under the feet of those hundred or so people,” Sylvian wailed.
“In there, no one will find us in there!” Ari yelled, grabbing Sylvian by the wrist and dragging him into an unused corridor of the palace. Running towards the window Ari and Sylvian spread their arms. For a moment they appeared as if they worshipping some kind of a heaven until countless shimmering feathers began covering their arms. The glossy pearl black and glassy white feathers covered Ari and Sylvian’s respective arms. Their bones creaked as their bone structure changed. The skin that covered their bodies began sprouting feathers. Necks elongated, mouth turned to bills. Feet webbed and turned a shade darker. Before long their entire bodies were covered with feathers. Ari and Sylvian had shed their human skins and morphed themselves into the king of beautiful birds, Swans. The black swan and the white swan, so different, yet so similar. The pair flapped their wings a few times.
“My wings are stiff, I would go about like this more often if I didn’t have to worry about getting eaten every time I do,” Sylvian grumbled.
“Don’t complain, you didn’t get shot in the stomach when you went about in this form, I did. Isn’t that how we met. I'm still considering whether or not I’m grateful for that,” Ari snorted.
“Who cares, let’s get out of here first!” hurried Sylvian.
The rumbling of feet was getting closer and the door slammed open. Two inelegant princesses whose dresses had been torn to shreds and simply wore their undergarments running around the palace appeared in front of the two unmistakably beautiful swans.
“Swans? What are they doing in here? I need to find Sylvian and Ari first before this Karin finds them,” Belladina gasped. Sweat stuck to her forehead as she leaned on a pole for relief. Karin was not far away, she had collapse against the wall panting for breath.
Sylvian snorted, he very inarticulately grasped the knife he had worn hidden in his blazer (that now sat in a pool of clothing on the goung) and etched a note into the thick, luxurious carpet.
Ari noticed and after watching the last stroke completed his nodded to Sylvian who waddled towards the window, gathering speed. Though inelegant, the small length of the room still provided enough of a run way for Ari and Sylvian to boost themselves into the sky. Belladina’s eyes ran over the area of ripped carpet. She approached it and read the message aloud.
‘In the end princess Belladina, I can’t stand being chased after. Ari and I are leaving ahead of you. Your footmen are men from Ari’s household, they’re competent guards (we picked them for that reason) so we’re leaving first. We’ll be going back to Fieore before you.’
Belladina smiled triumphantly while Karin sulked in a corner.
In the distance a black and white swan seemed to be bickering with each other. People rubbed their eyes failing to believe that lay in the icy winds of the sky as the two beautiful swans soared overhead.
“Treat me to some food once we get back to your place,” Sylvian demanded.
“Is food all you ever think of?” Ari replied.
“No, but I’m hungry, I had to run away from a dozen hundred servant, use morphing states and on top of it haven’t gotten any sleep for three nights straight guarding. I deserve it. So feed me,” Sylvian grumbled.
Ari shook his head. There was no way this was the elegant prince of the court. Despite that though he was his good friend so in the end all he could do was roll his eyes and begin making a list of what to eat once he got home without worrying about the troubles that he’d left far behind in the Chyrisanthium kingdom.