The Arrival of Crown Prince Robert of Skyfall
A touch landed on the tal grip.
Paused.
And then -
He opened it.
A gust slipped down the passage, stirring the fla in its holder. Light wavered along the walls of the shadowed entryway.
A shape, maybe a person, stood past the glow.
William’s gaze sharpened.
Still inside, he stayed put. Not a move made. The door remained closed behind him.
He only whispered:
"...Interesting."
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Fingers twitching at his sides, William lifted himself up one bone at a ti, like sothing uncoiling after years still. The loose drape he wore before slipped off, now swapped for an alignnt sharp enough to cut silence. Cloth hugged close without wrinkling, falling straight down as if pulled by its own awareness. Stillness followed, not empty - charged.
Far across, a quiet glimr began to tremble near the edge of the stone. A soft pulse rose where shadow t surface, barely noticeable at first glance.
Not light -
shadow.
A strange bend took hold, then it thinned out slowly - like an inner pull doing its work - until cracks ran through, much like fabric ripped by unseen hands.
Stillness held him at first. Through his nose ca a long pull of air, one edge of his lips rising - faint, questioning, not startled but wondering.
"Hmm," William began, pausing just long enough to shift his gaze slightly, one eyebrow lifting as he studied the shifting shape before him. A quiet chuckle slipped out when he spoke again, words asured yet light. The air around them seed thinner now, strained by what stood there - uninvited, unexplained. He did not move closer, nor step back, simply held still like soone recognizing an old mistake returning. "It figures you’d show up here," he added, voice low but clear, "wandering through places that don’t belong to you."
Light was how the words felt.
Behind them, a stare should’ve been there but wasn’t.
Faster than a breath, fire climbed the iron rings bolted into the wall, each fla jerking like it had been yanked awake. Dark shapes shrank back, pressed flat by the sudden light.
Stone t the scrape of a heavy boot.
William’s smile thinned.
"...Prince of the Skyfall Kingdom, aren’t you?"
The air shifted.
A hush passed down the hall, quiet yet clear, after that the breeze arrived - twisting into its own shape, moving low against surfaces, turning as if sothing awake was sizing up its borders.
A sound ca first, slow and low out of the thick shadows. Not rushed, but asured each step forward. Sure without question, moving through the black like it owned the space.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
A foot touched down, soft yet certain, unhurried but sharp in its presence. Stillness followed each motion, not empty, just full of weight that needed no voice.
Footsteps ca close, breaking the quiet. Light caught a shape moving ahead.
Faint glimrs of gold run through short-cut blonde strands, lit by unseen flas. Stillness lives behind those eyes - blue, sharp, fixed - as if weather waits just beyond a clear horizon. Over his height falls a robe, deep blue touched with silver, slow to settle after each step. Clouds stitched in thread ripple across sleeve and edge, barely moving, never still.
Quietly, the cloth moved with his steps, then suddenly the hallway seed unable to fit soone so large.
Slowly he moved, not rushing, though each motion had direction. There was ease in how he stood.
His smile... practiced.
Well now, looks like I’ve been found out, he murmured, tilting his face up like it was just a bit of fun, not sothing serious at all. Sharp as always, Lord William
A slow twist touched William’s mouth. Not kindness shaped it. Not greeting gave it form. Just knowing did.
"Not Prince Robert of Skyfall," he replied.
A breath hung still as the disguise cracked slightly. Then ca a quiet chuckle, deep and slow.
"Heh... you got ."
A hush carried it forward. Not sharp, never frantic. Out it ca, steady as breath, shaped by long practice in lying - close to truth so watchfulness wavered, so certainty frayed at the edge.
Stillness held William’s gaze, fixed on the man, each flicker of movent asured without sound. A pause between heartbeats shaped his attention, tracking breaths like footprints. Tension threaded through silence, reading shifts too small to na. Every muscle spoke; he listened without ears.
"So," William murmured, his voice soft but sharp, "you used your family’s wind-elent knock... masked the sound... bent the air itself to create an illusion. Hiding your presence. Only you bother perfecting it to this level."
A small shrug ca from Robert, his expression briefly softening into sothing almost shy. That slip was just leftover muscle mory
A flicker of movent crossed his head, just enough to show he agreed.
No praise.
No rebuke.
Just acknowledgnt.
Stillness hung in the air - no anger, no warmth. Just a quiet that settled like dust on shelves.
A silence sat there, heavy as a thought not voiced.
Out of the way moved William next.
"Co in," he said. "Join the party."
A faint spark lit up Robert’s gaze. Slight tilt of his head now, almost curious. The edge of his lips twitched, hinting at sothing close to laughter.
"Why not?"
Down the hall went William, leading the way. Beside him ca Robert, moving smooth and low, like soone used to staying unseen. Not too fast. Not slow either. His stride fit William’s exactly, almost as though the air shaped itself around them. Quiet filled the gaps where sound might have been.
Footsteps echoed - just that - as they moved toward the chamber.
A gust of air slipped through as the private chamber’s doors cracked open once more.
Heads snapped up among the nobles at once.
And froze.
A stranger.
Royal air.
Foreign presence.
Sothing changed in the air right away - small, yet clear. Muscles tightened across backs. Gaze after gaze turned sharp. Uneasiness moved among the seated nobles, much like a shiver across calm water. Each man lifted himself up slowly, almost without thinking, then froze mid-motion, realizing too late how silly and open that made them seem.
That mont slipped past William. He caught every part of it.
He enjoyed it.
Into the room he ca, slow steps showing no rush, taking position like soone who’d claid the space long before. Behind him, a hand lifted slightly, just enough - quiet but heavy with aning.
"This," he said, voice smooth, carrying easily across the room, "is Prince Robert of the Skyfall Kingdom. Our... neighbor."
Eyes widened.
Breaths tightened.
Fear slipped into their minds. Quiet chaos stirred behind their eyes.
What brings him around? That’s the question hanging there.
Behind closed doors, it happened without notice. A quiet room held voices ant for few ears only.
Was every word caught by him?
Could it be a trick?
None slipped out past their lips.
Not yet.
They nodded.
They smiled.
Stiff.
Fake.
Fear always shows right away.
Sothing caught William’s eye, every last bit of it. A smile crept across his face without warning.
Easy now, he said, voice like silk, a quiet laugh hiding behind his words while his eyes moved slow over their frightened expressions. The prince ans no harm, just that - nothing more than truth in it
This one hit hard.
Just as a pebble breaks the surface of calm water.
"An ally."
Eyebrows rose.
A twitch ran across Renn’s face, just briefly losing control when surprise lit up his gaze - then nothing. For an instant, Seln looked stunned, mouth opening, air catching - but soon, almost too quickly, his features settled again.
A small nod ca from William, like he was agreeing with sothing settled long before.
Lowering his chin just slightly, Robert said, "A pleasure."
A flick of William’s hand moved toward the bare spot next to him, fingers spread in a loose, unhurried sweep.
"Prince Robert, please. Sit. Take so wine. Then we talk."
Down went Robert’s chin, just a nod. Then he glided toward the seat beside William, slow but sure. The chair accepted him soundlessly - no drag, no fidgeting. His hand found the cup already there, cool against his fingers. Up it ca, raised like they’d t by chance after years apart. A sip followed, steady, calm. All while his gaze stayed fixed past walls, watching everything.
Into the cup he dipped, William lifted it high before sipping slow. The taste spread across his tongue as light caught the rim. A mont passed. Then another.
Glass whispered its final note. A hush followed.
Heavy quiet filled the room, awkward and pressing - so much that drawing air seed wrong. Quiet ca down like a held breath, uncomfortable in its stillness.
So of the nobles looked at each other. Their gazes jumped - William one mont, Robert the next - shifting like thoughts too quick to catch. A silence hung, thick with what hadn’t been said yet.
Out of nowhere, Renn spoke up. The silence had lasted too long.
"My Lord William..." He spoke soft, every syllable weighed as if balance depended on it.
"Our nation is already... compromised. The capital has fallen. Leon sits where kings should sit. Soldiers burn through the night. The land still slls scorched."
A hush passed among the lords. So lowered their eyes. Others held their breath.
Renn swallowed before continuing. "Why... involve another kingdom’s prince?"
A silence settled, heavy with what wasn’t said. The unspoken thing trembled between them like a wire pulled too tight.
Frozen faces looked his way. Stillness settled where he stood.
A quiet stillness sat behind William’s grin. It stayed on his face, yet sohow never touched his gaze.
The cup dipped downward in his hand.
Slowly.
Gently.
Precisely.
Back pressed into the seat, he lifted a leg across the knee of the other, palms settling slow on the wooden surface.
"Because," he said.
A silence stayed behind - unresolved, unspoken - an edge still poised mid-swing.
A tremor ran through the chandelier’s glow, spilling uneven light on tal breastplates and stones set in gold. Cold rushed in sideways, pushed by gusts that ripped at loose drapes beyond the window fra.
Waiting filled the room. Silence held every tongue. Fear kept voices buried.
A silence settled between them while Robert sipped his wine, barely moving. His stare stayed fixed on William, steady but impossible to decipher. Light slid across the rim of the glass as he set it down - asured, unhurried.
A small widening showed at the corner of William’s mouth.
Still falls short of feeling right.
"It’s ti," he continued softly, his voice barely louder than the whisper of silk, "that you all understand... this is no longer a battlefield between just one kingdom’s monsters."
Away went his eyes, across the room they wandered. The space between walls held what caught him - slow, quiet, unasked.
Not rushed.
Not kind.
A shadow moved across every lord, slow and heavy, as if asuring. It stayed too long, pressing down like a silent verdict.
"Leon is not the only fire burning in the dark."
A sharp wind tore open the curtains, slapping them hard onto the stone. Light wavered as flas jumped from their holders, casting jagged shapes that danced like startled birds.
From far off, the soft sound of feet hitting ground slipped through the cold rock once more.
Muscles went rigid among the lords. So fingers curled hard on cups. Breathing edged quicker, almost caught.
He spoke softer now.
"To survive what is coming..."
Forward he leaned, his elbows finding the table’s edge. Sharpness returned to his gaze, where monts before there had been only dull rest. The weight of attention replaced the slump of ease.
"...you will need to choose sides far more carefully than you ever have."
Silence dropped like a stone. Not even air stirred beyond the glass.
Robert said nothing.
Smiled faintly.
Whispered it, low enough that just William would catch the words
"You’re enjoying this."
William didn’t answer.
A quiet grin returned instead.
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