A Royal Welco
Commoners froze mid-step.
Fruit spilled as traders let go, tumbling in slow arcs over cold paving stones. Giggles erupted when kids sprang ahead, arms wide, chasing hues that floated just beyond their fingers.
"What sort of magic makes this happen?" a man whispered, his words shaky.
"I’ve never seen magic like this," soone whispered.
One person moved their head from side to side, steady and low. Not destruction, they thought out loud
"It’s..." They swallowed. "It’s beautiful."
A few soldiers froze mid-step, flower bits stuck on breastplates, slipping off rim of shields, tangled in hoods and headgear. Silence sat heavy. Not a shout. Not a horn. Only slow breaths, stares lifted into open air.
A heavy silence settled as Commander Black let his hand drop away from the blade.
A whisper of tal slipped ho, settling into place with a soft sound. The blade vanished inside, hushed by the cover’s embrace. Quiet closed around it, just a faint tap breaking the stillness.
A soft white petal ca to rest on his armored glove. He stared, voice low. Not a strike... just silence after. His gaze tightened - realization creeping in slow
Next ca the feeling for the won. They sensed it after.
Not through mana.
Not through sound.
A presence.
A voice.
Not loud.
Not echoing.
Soft.
Warm.
Teasing.
A shape slipped through thought, slow as mory. The feeling arrived not with force but fit - like sothing recognized long ago.
[So, my wives...]
Fingers clenched on the reins, Rias went still. The horse didn’t move.
Aria froze, mouth opening as if caught by silence. Her breath stumbled, sharp at the edges.
A hush slipped out of Mia, her eyes jumping wide.
Every woman turns into a sudden echo of Leon’s voice inside his head.
Is that welco present sothing you enjoy?
A silence hung between them, lasting just fifty breaths.
Warmth hit Rias before anything else - no shock, no dread - just heat blooming fast behind her ribs. Her muscles loosened, not from effort but like ice giving way under sun. What ca next wore the shape of ease, though it had no right to.
Out of nowhere, her laughter burst forth - crisp, vivid, slicing right past the heavy quiet.
A hush fell. "It’s really you," she whispered, gaze lifting through the swirl of drifting petals. A smirk tugged at her lips. Always one for drama
A hush held them for just a second. Floating down, the petals moved slow, almost weightless, landing in hair, on cloth, brushing steel and fabric without care. Not a gateway now - more like a vision let loose where people could see it.
Aria’s face softened into a smile, tension draining away. Her words ca gently, almost amused. It could have been nobody but Leon acting this way. A quiet warmth lived in her tone - the kind that appears when sothing fits exactly where it always should.
Closing her eyes for just a mont, Cynthia felt air fill her lungs when a flower touched her face. Not ordinary - that’s what ca out, though it ant far more than it sounded.
Silence hung in the air, though mouths stayed shut. Still, expressions gave it away. A lightness touched corners of the mouth where tight lines once pressed. Weight slipped from backs and necks. Gaze after gaze softened like dusk settling. What showed up inside each one? That hush before a na is called - recognized without sound.
A softness crept into the voice, carrying a quiet kind of fondness between each word.
Picture arriving there for the first ti - what hits you right away sticks. Only soone thinking way ahead would plan it like that
Quiet landed each word. Not loud, never repeating. Instead they sank in soft and steady - like fingers finding the small of your back after a long day. Stillness made them stay.
A pause.
Step this way. Draw near without delay.
A quiet settled among them, deep in their bones. Then, a soft release followed - like held breath finally letting go.
Out of nowhere, the tension lted. A breath they didn’t know they’d been trapping slipped free. Not because things changed - but because silence cracked open just enough. The weight still existed, sure. Yet right then, miles vanished like smoke. One voice on a line did that. Distance pooled around old worries, thinning them fast.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rias watched them shift. A grin she’d worn before tugged at her lips. "So?" she said, voice light. His words still hung in the air. She didn’t need to explain - he showed his hand every ti. Amusent flickered in her stare, mixed with sothing warr
A soft exhale slipped from Nova, her head tilting slightly even as a smile tugged at her lips. Not that she minded. The flower petals held her stare for just a beat too long before her eyes lifted ahead, searching - without luck - for so kind of sense in what had just happened.
Mia held the reins hard, fingers pale from gripping. A soft blush colored her face. Not loud, yet steady, she spoke. "It doesn’t matter what it takes. Seeing him is all that matters." She didn’t pause, didn’t waver - just a deep wish hanging in her voice.
A flower petal settled on his coat just as he blinked out of his trance. Rias watched him from the side, eyes narrowing slightly. The sky seed heavier now, pressing down like it ant sothing. His lips parted, stopped, then shut again without sound. Another soft touch - petal eting fabric - and he did not brush it away.
"Captain," she replied, her voice soft. Then ca a pause before the words slipped out again.
His gaze sharpened. "Right away, Your Majesty!"
A soft touch of flowers caught in her motion, lifting with her hand. Not tense, he ant it kindly - his way of saying we belong here now
For a mont, Black said nothing, turning the words around inside his head. Could it be true? The king himself behind such warmth? A pause hung there, then ca the careful reply: Your Majesty... arranged all of this... just for ?
"Yeah," Rias replied, grin stretching further, completely calm despite his doubt. So take us straight to him now.
Out ca Black’s breath, long and quiet, caught in that space where shock ets giving up. A small dip in his posture appeared until habit pulled him upright again.
"...As you command."
A shaky inhale filled his lungs before he spoke up, voice sharp with power behind it.
"People of Nagarath!" he called out. "Remain calm! This phenonon is a royal welco. Lower weapons. Maintain order. Show proper respect to Her Majesties - wives of our king!"
A hum moved through the alleys, steady, quiet. Breaths slowed where chaos had pressed close.
Faster than a blink, the city moved into action.
Weapons lowered.
Shields dropped.
People bowed.
Foreheads touched cold stone, so dropping without warning like gravity pulled harder on guilt. A few stayed upright, held still by sothing deeper than fear while colored petals snowed down from a bent horizon - slow, endless - as though the world were painting itself anew. Street corners lost their edge under thick drifts, soft now where steel once clanged.
The procession resud.
Footfalls broke the hush, each step muffled by blossoms pressed into ancient paving, an odd tenderness beneath war-worn riders. Through cobbled streets they passed, these figures high in their saddles, silence wrapped around them like cloth. Petals stuck where they landed - braided hair, eyelashes, creases in breastplates gleaming under pale light. A scent rose between buildings: damp earth, crushed rose, sothing almost imagined, yet too vivid to dismiss.
Laughter spilled into the quiet as kids darted beside the road, gathering fallen petals. They hurled blooms at each other, giggling between breaths. So aid softly at passing riders - then shrieked, startled by an eye caught or a small grin given back.
Down the street, shop owners lingered in their entrances. Fingers curled against their hearts. A few murmured quiet words under their breath. Still others watched without moving, tears glistening - like they’d seen a door open that they thought was locked forever.
Folks once afraid of Leon... stared now, faces flickering - not quite belief, but almost daring to imagine it.
Footsteps echoed across the courtyard where guards stood like statues, their tal coats shining under drifting blossoms. When the royal won drew near, order lted into habit - one by one, each soldier knelt at once, pounding the earth with a closed hand, eyes down. The air stilled as petals kept falling.
"We greet our queens!"
Ahead stood the palace gates - high slabs of stone shaped by ti, marked with tales long won and wounds still fresh. Overhead, banners trembled just slightly, cloth brushing the dawn breeze like silence pressed into motion.
They opened.
Slowly.
Heavily.
From sowhere below, stone groaned under stone. Rolling out heavy and low, the noise filled the yard, humming like sothing half-awake. So of the riders sat taller without thinking. A sharp breath ca from one - her hands clenching the leather straps tight.
Off the mount stepped Commander Black, moving clear. A gloved hand found its place against his breastbone. When words ca, they carried weight without wavering. His voice, when he spoke, was low but steady. "Go," he said quietly. Then, after a brief pause, softer still, "His Majesty is waiting."
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