And You Know That I-

The sun was setting. Sundaze blaze oranges, lilac purples, and cherry blossom pinks with streaks of rosy reds flourished in the sky. The colors were so vibrant that even the moon wasn’t bright enough to shine through. Fireworks could never illuminate the sky like this, now could they? They’re transient. A short-lived burst of ferocious blazes into the calm of navies, blacks and white sparkles was what they were. At least the sky could stay in an artistic attire of colors for more than a mere few seconds. 

Reinhart took his gaze off the sky and glanced at his friend who was sitting next to him. Alexander seemed to be infatuated with analyzing the sky as well. Reinhart looked at the ground and smiled. The golden-orange glow from the sky was shining onto Alex’s profile. The two sat in-between the battlements on the roof of the tower gazing at the setting sun. Words could only be exchanged after the sun had fully set. A rule in which each of them had wanted to break a time or two. Alas, they still followed suit with their promise of not doing so. There wasn’t a more golden rule than that one in their book. 

 A long day’s work had come to a close. Being the two highest-ranking servants in the castle wasn’t the joyride they had hoped it would be. Sure they got the perks of favoritism from the king, but those perks just meant being trusted with doing more of the king’s dirty work. The other major “perk” was that most of the other servants in the castle hated them. Unsurprisingly, the other servants were jealous of them and had their own sob story as to why they should be the king’s favorite. However, the king’s discretion had picked Reinhart and Alexander as the stars to be magnified. 

The sky was no longer illuminating the world with light. The moon took its rightful place as the centerpiece of the night sky with its knights, the stars, guarding it. Not a cloud was there to block their glimmer. Reinhart looked over at Alex as though he was waiting for him to speak the first word. The thing was, he was the one who had the most things to say. Alex flashed a cheeky smile. “You go on ahead. Spill your guts to me already.” Reinhart relaxed his stiff posture.

“I started my morning off on a good foot as I told you earlier. I actually got a decent bit of sleep, but what I never had the chance to tell you ‘cause of all the crap we ended up having to do was that before we met up, I was interrupted while getting the king’s morning tea.”

“Let me guess. It was Sebastian who interrupted you?”

“Yes, but interrupted is a major understatement. It was more like assaulted because was happened was that he decided to ‘run into me’ and knock the tea set into the floor shattering all of it. The pitcher, the cups, the saucers-all broken. I was so frustrated with him. I get that he hates me and I get that I’m not too fond of him either, but you know that I-”

“Wanted to kick his shins and throw him in the dungeon?”

“Yes! Precisely that! I may be a relatively non-violent person, but sooner or later that prick is gonna earn himself a one-way ticket to the dungeon, and I’m not gonna be the one that lets him out. Cause I know that the king is gonna get fed up with all of his crap mysteriously breaking. Like last week pinhead broke the table in one of the meeting rooms and the carpenter still hasn’t made a new one. But I think the king knows about that one cause every meeting he’s had for the past two months was in that room and then suddenly he was like ‘Rein how about you set up the red room for meetings for this month’ and I stood there for a moment. The red room was supposed to be redone with new window curtains and furniture, but Sebastian was in charge of those renovations so that didn’t happen. That meant that I had to...” 

Alex had a gentle smile on his face. He let Reinhart continue on with his rant without saying a word. He knew that this was his only chance to be able to get his frustrations out. A benevolent person like him would never physically harm someone unless he was ordered by the king to do so. He also knew that he was the kind of person keeps his emotions smothered and suppressed. That’s the main reason why they do this after sunset talk. Well, that was the main reason in Alex’s mind; he was the one that first suggested they do this. He knew something had to change after Reinhart’s emotional outburst a couple of months ago. There was no way he could let him continue to pent up his feelings behind a wall that simply was strong enough to hold them. He wanted to be his reservoir in which those feelings could flow into.  All the feelings that he had thrown behind the floodgate were able to be released during this period. 

“-So in conclusion, there are about fifteen people in this castle alone who need their shins kicked.” Alex snickered in response. 

“Are you sure I’m not one of them?” He teased.

“You’re the only one that keeps me sane around here. Without you, I’d have probably been thrown into the dungeon and if that happened then that means I’ve lost the battle against Sebastian which would send me straight to hell. If I lost against Sebastian, it would be as though I committed one of the deadly sins.” Alex smiled. Everyday Reinhart would adorn him with appreciation comments. Whether they were explicit or hidden amongst three layers of chalky words didn’t matter. He had tuned his mind to seek out the real meanings beyond the face-level value of the words. 

However, Reinhart did that as well. He, indeed, knew that this period of abstaining from doing work even if there was something he could technically do at this time, was something more than mindless chit-chat. He knew that Alex wouldn’t be honest with his feelings at any other time of day. Some people will spout out the answers to any question in their first waking moments of the day where they’re in the transition from being sound asleep to vividly awoken. Alex wasn’t like that. Even on days that Reinhart came to his room to wake him up, he wouldn’t answer his early morning questions. There was no way he could chance saying something he could regret. Alex thought of the sleep-awake transition state was one of the most vulnerable times of the day. Manipulation could be easily used on someone in the midst of morning haze. That was his philosophy on it. 

In actuality, it was his philosophy on sharing feelings in general. The more someone is able to understand your emotions, the more knowledge they have to construct a manipulation plan. Emotions were what drew the blueprint to the inner workings of the mind. Alex wasn’t the king of person to let people know how he was truly feeling. He was the jokester type who laughed at all his troubles and made jokes about them. He was the kind he would always focus on others’ feelings on a situation rather than his own. It was the same here. He wanted Reinhart to spill out all his emotions of the day and be able to console him on them, but he was always more hesitant when it came to revealing his own. Reinhart was the only soul who realized that. He was the only one who could see through that facade of cheeky smiles and laughs. 

But, he wasn’t pushy or forceful when it came to getting Alex to speak. If he were like that, Alex wouldn’t hang around him. Rather he scatters hints and sly comments throughout their conversations like a tree scatters its leaves in the waves of autumn wind. Alex picked up on that. He was good at noticing the little things Reinhart would say to try to get him to speak his mind. He knew Reinhart well enough at this point that he wasn’t trying to manipulate him. The two had been friends for seven years. Seven years of Alex’s analysis of Reinhart had put him in the benevolent, non-manipulative category. Despite that, he was still ever-hesitant with admitting his feelings.

Alex did notice the relieved expressions Reinhart gleamed with after he would talk about his day. It made him feel as though talking through the troubles was worth it. If it improved the way Reinhart felt, he figured that he must talk about emotional situations sometimes. That’s when he realized that he had never talked about himself throughout the conversation they had. Reinhart was the one instigating topic after topic. During a moment of silence in their conversation where their eyes had ventured out into looking at the dusky sky, he said, “I’ll tell you about my week tomorrow. You’ll like that, won’t you?” He looked at Reinhart and smiled.

“Really? It’s been a while since I’ve gotten an update on your adventures.”

“I know, but the anticipation will all be worth it.”