Princes and Soldiers Don't Mix [AU, Caiden]

[Snow]

Prince Zel walked the hallways of the castle, snapping out orders to the guards to increase the patrols along the western boundary.

"There's been three too many invasions from our enemy. I demand that you keep them out," he growled to the captain of the guard, Captain Ferneye. Captain Ferneye quickly saluted and hurried off, giving orders to his men. Even though Prince Zel hadn't been born in the castle and wasn't even of complete royal blood, the guards had soon come to terms with Zel's multiple personalities. With the help of Shrike, of course. And maybe those cupcakes Kitten made that always seemed to pop up just when a guard went missing... Oh well. If the guards didn't want to answer to him, they could answer to Shrike or maybe even Kitten.

Just then, he noticed a new recruit guard. He was absolutely, adorably cute. Not the kind of cute that Zel might have just used to describe a girl. No, this guy took cute to a whole other level. He noticed Ferneye was talking to the guy. Now he had an excuse to learn the guy's name.

Striding over, Zel asked politely, "Ferneye, you didn't mention that we had a new recruit." 

Ferneye, startled, quickly regained his composure and bowed. "Ah, yes, well, I was going to introduce you to him tomorrow. You seemed, uh, quite busy-" 

"Your job is to report to me any new recruits we have. Now, recruit, would you tell me your name?" Ferneye made a point to slip away and begin instructing the other guards.

[Midna]

It was his first day on the job, his very first day, and already he was feeling just a bit out of place in the richly furnished castle. Tall, muscled guards at least four inches taller than him walked the hallways in gleaming armor, carrying swords and the occasional axe. He tried his best to stay out of their way; they could probably snap him in half like a toothpick if they wanted to. And these were his new comrades, the ones he was expected to trust with his life, and vice versa.

Not for the first time that day, Caiden wondered just what exactly he'd gotten himself into.

He wasn't a warrior, not by a long shot. But he was fairly good with a bow, and one of the few people he'd ever looked up to had recommended that he enlist as an archer. 'They could really use your skills,' he'd said, 'and you'd do great there.' It was mostly that advice, and the fact that his sister was a medic in the army as well as one of the best doctors around, that had helped him make up his mind to join. It was also an excellent excuse to get away from his parents, although they weren't exactly thrilled when he'd told them.

His eyes picked up one familiar figure making their way towards him. Even though the man was his superior, he couldn't help but feel relieved. At least it was someone he knew; Captain Ferneye and the man he looked up to were friends, and they'd met a few times. He made sure to stand extra straight and try not to look too worried as the captain stopped in front of him. "Recruit," began Ferneye, "You'll be staying with the other archers in Barracks Eight, and shadowing Corporal Kyunn until you get your bearings. She'll meet you in the mess hall at seven tomorrow morning. Curfew is at eleven tonight, and wake up call is at six. I'll show you around-"

He stopped mid-sentence and stood up straighter as they were joined by possibly the only one who was shorter than him in the entire hallway. Caiden wasn't quite sure how to react; he didn't really recognize the guy, but the captain had bowed and was definitely looking at him with respect, and was that the slightest bit of fear?

It suddenly dawned on him who the stranger was, and his face turned a shade or two paler. Oh Nayru, had he messed up already and accidentally insulted the royalty by not bowing when he was in the presence of the prince? Not sure whether to salute or bow or just stand there and pray he didn't get punished too harshly, he went with a short and fast bow that was actually more like a nod and not actually what he probably should have done in that situation. He'd missed the non-existant course on addressing royalty.

The prince didn't seem to mind thank Nayru, or maybe he just hadn't noticed. He was being very polite, although Caiden could tell that he was a little miffed at the captain. Then the prince asked him his name, and he suddenly felt tongue-tied. His face turned slightly pink, and he replied with a slightly embarrased smile, "It's Caiden, your Majesty. Caiden Reyas." And the captain was gone, great. Under any other circumstances, he probably wouldn't have minded talking to the cute, younger teen. But this was the prince, not someone from his hometown.

Farore, had he just mentally called Prince Zel cute? Today was not his day by any means.

[Snow]

Zel grinned and waved off his bow. "Don't be so formal with me," he said, still grinning. "I like to keep my relationships with my guards fairly casual. You can just call me Prince Zel, Caiden. After all, isn't it so much easier to talk to someone when there's no 'Your Majesty' this and 'Your Majesty' that?"

Personally, the young prince found all that formal stuff to be a load of horse crap. "Your Majesty" everyone called him. Couldn't they call him by his title and name? Even just his name was fine. He wondered briefly if any of the guards had told him anything. He really did not want to have to punish anyone within the first six seconds of meeting this cute soldier. Looking at the mark on his shoulder, he noticed that this person was an archer. Even better, since the archers spent a lot of time around Zel. Maybe he could order the incredibly cute Caiden to walk with him everyday....

"Oh, that's right," Zel suddenly remembered, "you don't know the way to the assessment arena, do you? I could show you there. All new recruits get an assessment, just to see if they need any training in there chosen area of the guard."

[Midna]

He relaxed a little at the prince's words, feeling extremely relieved. He wasn't in trouble yet, thank Nayru. Now if he could only stay out of trouble for the rest of the day. It kind of surpised him that the prince didn't want to be called 'Your Majesty' and the other titles that people called rulers. Usually when he'd met people of power, they demanded that. Then again, he hadn't exactly met anyone very high up in power, so they were probably just boasting.

"Yes, Your- Ah, sorry, Prince Zel." And he'd messed up again, great. It might take him a bit to actually get it right, and it didn't help that he was getting so unbelievably tongue-tied in front of the prince. It was probably because Prince Zel was royalty. Yeah, that was probably it.

...Assessment? He hadn't heard about an assessment. Dear Din, what if he failed? Would they send him home? He wasn't sure that he could stand the looks on his parents' faces if he returned home a failure. Caila would understand, but they would never let him forget about it. All of a sudden, he was nervous again. What if he did fail whatever it was? He'd just have to try his best...

His expression turned sheepish. "No, I don't. Thank you. So, what's in the assessment, if you don't mind me asking?"

[Snow]

Zel giggled flirtatiously and took Caiden's hand, leading him towards the assessment area. "Don't worry, you can't fail the assessment. It's just a test to see how much you know. The one for archers is similar to the commoner game 'Hit The Target'." 

Oh dear Din, this kid was getting the prince to be a flirt. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because the kid was absolutely adorable. Maybe it was because he was holding the cute kid's hand. "I'm glad no one told you about the assessment. It's a rule of mine that the other guards can't let a rookie know what to expect before I tell them." As they entered the archers' assessment arena, Zel stopped and released Caiden's hand, if a little reluctantly.

"Right. You need to hit as many targets as you can around the arena. Some of them are hidden and some of them move so you need to fast and accurate. You cannot move forward from where you stand, though you may turn around, back away, or move sideways. Begin."

Zel stepped back until he was at the far side of the arena, pretending to not be watching Caiden. He'd found that most people did better when they believed that Zel wasn't paying attention.

[Midna]

Oh good, it didn't sound like the assessment would be anything too bad. He'd played "Hit the Target" before, mostly training by himself. Usually he was pretty good at it, although he could be better at hitting moving targets. At least he wouldn't be able to fail it. So the guards couldn't tell the rookies about the assessment, got it.

...And Prince Zel was holding his hand. His face turned a few shades pinker at the realization. When did he do that? He hadn't even noticed, being so worried about the assessment. Apparently when the prince had said something about keeping his relationships with his guards casual, he really meant it. For Din's sake, they'd only known each other for a few minutes, and the prince was acting like they'd been friends since birth or something.

There was also the slight possibility that Prince Zel was actually flirting with him, but he brushed that idea out of his mind. Why would he do that? Caiden was just a guard, and nothing special really in his own mind. Although, the idea did give him a strange feeling that he tried to ignore. Probably just nerves. The prince was't even wearing gloves, and neither was he.

They made it to the arena, and Prince Zel drew back after explaining what he was supposed to do. Caiden nodded, looking around for the targets. Luckily he'd brought his bow and about fifteen arrows with him. He took a deep breath to try and focus; it was also lucky that the prince didn't seem to be watching him, he'd never be able to focus if he was.

He drew the first arrow, aimed, and shot it at a still target. It hit right in the center, and his confidence started to grow. The second shot was faster, and he didn't take nearly as mcuh time to aim, but he still hit the bullseye. On the next one, he wasn't quite ready when he shot, and the arrow missed the center by a couple inches. Eyes narrowed, he made sure that he was really ready before he fired from then on.

The moving targets were a bit harder, and he could have done better on some of his shots, but he was satisfied when he finally lowered his bow. Every target had an arrow on it, every arrow had a target, and none were extremely close to the outside of the target. In fact, most of them were either on the center or close to it. Feeling proud of himself, but not too proud as he had messed up a few times, he looked over at Zel. If it was an assessment, and it was, then he'd probably be getting judged on it.

[Snow]

Zel watched the assessment through narrowed eyes. He usually watched from the corner of his eye, pretending to be looking at a piece of dust or a beetle that was slowly crawling up his leg. When Caiden had finished, the prince surveyed the targets. He hadn't missed a single one; all of the targets had an arrow in them. Most of them were in the direct center, but the silverette noticed that the moving targets were off a bit. One of the still ones also was off-target, but it was close enough to the center. The prince stepped forward.

"I noticed that you had a bit of trouble with the moving targets. Don't aim for them, but instead where you think they'll go. Anticipate their moves. And never shoot unless you're ready, okay?" Prince Zel looked into Caiden's eyes for a split moment, then smiled in a silly fashion and saluted him. "Rookie Archer Caiden, you are officially part of the Royal Guard!"

Personally, Zel was excited about this. Since Caiden was now an official archer, Zel could order the cute archer to walk beside him everyday. Then an idea struck him, and he grinned.

"You're good with a bow," Zel said, backing away and grabbing two practice swords, "but how good are you with close combat?" He tossed a sword to Caiden, and held his own practice wooden sword in a lazy, offhand fashion. Most thought that holding the sword that way was a bad idea, but Zel had long since figured out that if he held his sword a certain way, he could trip his enemy and land a blow to his back before jumping out of reach.

"This isn't part of the assessment, by the way, I'm just curious. Even if you aren't good with a sword, I'd like to see if you know how to use one. A bow isn't any good in close combat, remember. You get first strike."