-~-

In a garden, locked in silence, pale pinkish-white flower petals continued to drift to the ground in a manner that only mocked happiness.  The couple of twining birds that had knocked the petals asunder received a ferocious glare from the young man seated underneath one of the trees.  Cooing and trilling their soft, distinctive melody, the twiners flew off, side by side, tails entwined, as if one creature, not two.

Heero Yuy of Marenia, the crown prince and only true ruler, watched the birds fly away with a soft sigh.  Even though he was only eighteen, it had been just a short time ago that the revelations had come thick and fast; why this garden, so much like something that should be seen on the Hoshi Islands and not in this land was a prominent feature of the palace, why he looked so much different than many other Marenian nobles, with his dark brown hair to their light brown that faded to blonde, and various other smaller things. 

At that moment, someone cleared their throat, very quietly, from the entrance to the garden.  Heero looked in that direction and caught a glimpse of pale blonde hair, almost white, and vivid sea-colored eyes. 

“Prince Heero…” the boy said quietly, looking at Heero.

“Yes?” Heero asked, standing.  He dusted extra petals off of his tunic as he stood, not wanting to hold a messy appearance.

The other boy straightened his green-and-gold naturemage’s robe.  “Um…your highness…I’m sorry to intrude, but…”

“Quatre, we’ve known each other since we were young.  There’s no need to call me your highness, or even prince,” Heero said, trying his hardest to keep his tone gentle.

Placing a delicate hand on the bark of a nearby tree, Quatre turned slightly to look at Heero.  “Consider it…an…added mark of my loyalty…I’m just so grateful that you rescued me…and told me to forget my past…”

Heero sighed.  “All right.” He sensed that if he let the topic go any further, Quatre would fall into a bit of depression, and that was the last thing he needed around here.  “What did you come here to tell me?”

The naturemage’s head snapped up, and he blinked.  “Oh yes!  Trowa sent me to tell you that that one lioness in your menagerie finally had her kits.  Three.” Quatre said, offering Heero a shy smile. 

Heero didn’t smile, but his eyes sparked for a moment.  “Let’s go take a look at them, why don’t we?  I like to keep an eye on things in the menagerie.” Heero personally thought that perhaps seeing the lion cubs would help to calm Quatre down, and if not, Trowa, the beastmage that watched the lions, had a good chance of doing so.  Even if the court pretended not to notice, all of them could see the two mages sneaking looks at each other.  Although same-sex relationships were rare in these lands, they were not necessarily frowned upon—there were many different sayings and such related to that sort of thing and whenever Heero heard the rather stuffy nobles say things about ‘wrongdoings’ and ‘pushes in the right direction’ he was very quick to sternly reprimand them and remind them gently of Marenia’s policies on such things.  It was the only way.

In fact, Heero was sometimes tempted to tell Quatre, Trowa, or both to stop staring at each other during long noble dinners and simply get on with it.  However, such a thing was beyond what normal tact could cover, even for someone at his volatile age of eighteen, so the prince let it slide.  For now.

Quatre’s eyes sparkled at the mention of the lions and he nodded.  “Come along!  Trowa probably won’t let us stay too long but we should be able to get a nice long look at them,” the naturemage said, gently but quickly.  Heero nodded and followed Quatre as the boy led him through levels of palace and finally out into the royal menagerie.  At the far end, the large enclosures of grassland and flat-bottomed trees stretched out, a very good replica of the grass plains of Azzirika.  This enclosure was for the lions, and further on ones fenced by a wall of magewill housed other grassland animals, such as the fantastic zebras and even a set of shy cheetahs. 

Quatre pointed over to one tree and held a finger up to his lips, signaling Heero to be silent.  Stepping carefully into the grass, Quatre led Heero across the field and to the tree, underneath which a lioness was stretched out, three cubs curled against her side, all of them asleep.  It made a rather nice picture.

A tall shadow removed itself from the shade of the tree.  Trowa, the beastmage, walked towards Heero, wiped his palms on his long blue-and-gold robe, and then turned to look at the lions.  A small smile crossed the generally stoic boy’s face as he looked at his charges, reassuring himself that they were still fine before turning to the prince.

“Heero.” He greeted simply.  “As you see, the cubs were born, no complications.”

“I had no doubts in your abilities, Trowa.” Heero said, quietly, not wanting to wake the large cats.  From across the fields, the great palace bell rang six times, the tones gentled and softened by the distance.

“Six bells already!” Quatre said quietly, his eyes widening.  “I had no idea it was so late!   We’d better get back to the palace and wash up before time to eat!”

“That’s a good idea.  I could use some fresh clothes.” Trowa supplied simply.  Heero nodded his acceptance to the idea, and the three boys set off across the menagerie, leaving the lioness and her cubs to sleep the evening away.

-~-

“No, Marie—like this…” Zechs said quietly, only a hint of his frustration slipping into his stately voice.  Teaching his best friend’s child to use her emerging magic powers was at times boring—and at times perilous.

“I can already light candles,” The indignant eight-year old spat at Zechs.  “What’s the good with reverting to that?”

“If you practice enough, as you’ve been instructed, you can move on to bigger spells in time!” Zechs said sternly, some of his iron control finally slipping.  Sighing, the archmage tucked a wayward clump of pale hair behind his ear.  “Go on.  Do it again.”

Mariemeia scowled, obviously wanting to move onto something bigger and better NOW, such as lighting full fireplaces without a word, or using fire against an enemy.  Candles were so tedious—and so easy!  Without another thought, Mariemeia lit the candle, not even turning to look at Zechs.

The man extinguished the candle using his own magic power.  “Okay.  Again.”

Just as another stinging retort made its way to Mariemeia’s lips, the bell rang.  Once, twice, six times in all.  The girl resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at Zechs and ran for the door.  She was out into the hall in a flash, and away to look for the returning prince, before another word could be said.

A side-door of the mageroom opened, and another mage peeked in, blinking his deep blue eyes slowly, as if getting accustomed to the light, even though the room was rather dimly lit.  At last he seemed to get his bearings, stepping out of the room he’d been in and closing the door behind him, pausing for a moment to straighten his black and gold robe and ginger-colored hair before turning to look at his friend.

“Treize…your daughter is…impossible.” Zechs finally managed to get out.

“What was it this time?  Refusing to practice, sneering at the spells, or did she deliberately mess something up?” Treize said in an all-too-calm voice.  Raising one of his stately forked eyebrows at the other archmage, he moved to sit in one of the chairs even as Zechs poured glasses of wine for both of them.

“Refusing to practice.” Zechs said, taking a sip of his wine, and then sighing. “Nothing like a good glass of wine after a day of dealing with children.”  The blonde mage confided to his friend with a slight chuckle.  Sitting a bit straighter in his chair, he turned his ice-blue gaze on his friend.  “So how went the scrying?”

“Ah—well, Zarisnia is being quiet at the moment, which is good, though if they stay quiet too much longer they’re probably planning something…and two of the dragons and their dragonbounds are coming here from the mountains.  I think they have something to discuss with Prince Heero.”

“Two?” Zechs voiced in an incredulous tone.  “Every time I’ve seen a dragon and their ‘bound, it’s been just that—one.  They’re so…high and mighty.  Kind and polite enough, but not appearing in any great number.”

Treize shrugged, finishing the last of his wine, which he had been decimating slowly throughout the conversation.  “Perhaps we should follow my daughter and warn Heero of the dragons.”

“A fantastic idea.” Zechs said, finishing his own wine.  The glasses vanished, and reappeared, fully cleaned, on the wine rack, even as the archmages left the room.

-~-

Heero heard Mariemeia long before he saw her, and as soon as he saw the small, redheaded bundle of energy, he started walking towards her.  Running up to him, she immediately launched into a tirade about the unfairness of being forced to practice stupid spells over and over again.  Behind the prince and his friend, Quatre and Trowa smiled at the antics of the young girl.  Apparently unafraid of Heero’s vicious temper, she told him about all the various injustices she’d suffered through that day.  Heero nodded at her comments as he moved slowly and subtly towards the magerooms.  Sure enough, Zechs and Treize soon came down the hall they were in, and despite her protests, Mariemeia was collected by her father and the two men apologized to Heero before walking off, Treize noting that he’d like to talk to Heero later.  Quatre and Trowa moved to rejoin their friend, who now headed towards the bathhouses. 

“She’s a handful, isn’t she?” Quatre said wonderingly.  “Pure energy…I can’t even remember the days when I was like that…”

Trowa nodded in agreement, but Heero remained silent and still, walking doggedly, apparently not caring to join in this conversation.  Quatre, noticing this, gently changed the subject.

“I wonder what Treize wanted to see you about, Heero?” the blonde mage mused softly.  “Well, I’m certain we’ll find out soon enough…ah!  Here we are!”

Indeed, they had reached the bathhouses.  The three boys stepped in, choosing to take the private baths, and collecting bathing things before moving in that direction.  Changing out of his clothes, each boy lowered himself into a bath, basking blissfully in a rare moment of relaxation.  It didn’t last long; they soon had to leave the water, dry off, and change into clean clothes that had been set out by the servants.  Quatre shook his head gently, dislodging water from his fine blonde hair, and forcing Trowa to playfully comment that Quatre reminded him of a wet dog.  Quatre laughed at the joke and Heero’s eyes sparked for a moment.  It was enough; the three boys were good friends and knew when the others were amused. 

“Where to tonight?” Quatre added suddenly.  “Upper dining hall, or the lower?”

Heero considered.  The dining halls weren’t classed by height, but by rank; nobles, royals, and mages could eat in the upper; anyone could eat in the lower if they so wished, but the usual crowd consisted of the knights, squires and pages training at the palace, as well as the magelings. 

“Lower.” He said after a moment’s thought.  He didn’t want to have to deal with the mages and nobles looking down at him and making disapproving noises deep in their throats. “Definitely lower.”

“All right.” Quatre said, not arguing with his decision in the slightest.  The three boys walked in an easy silence, despite the occasional sparrow or crow circling down to chirp or caw a greeting at Trowa.  He replied to them mind-to-mind, his eyes becoming a slight bit brighter as he spoke to them silently.  Soon enough, the birds wheeled away, and the three boys entered the lower dining hall from the door that connected to the practice yards.

-~-

As soon as Heero stepped into the door, the conversation within the room died a bit, but came back full force as soon as they realized he was there to eat and not to make some important announcement.  Heero followed the example of his two friends and grabbed one of the nearby trays, nodding as he accepted meat and vegetables and hot bread from the servers.  He followed his friends to their usual table and the three sat down to eat.  The silence was broken occasionally by one asking the other for a food item, or such, until finally they’d had enough to eat and sat, chewing thoughtfully as they engaged in conversation.

“So…how goes the rest of the menagerie?” Heero put in, keeping his voice low, as usual.

“Well, the giraffes are having a bit of a problem with ticks, and their ancestral memories show the presence of some tick-eating birds.  I’m going to put in a request to get a few flocks of those birds for the menagerie.” Trowa explained simply.  You could often get the boy to speak volumes if you mentioned his animals, no matter how briefly.

“I’ll make sure you get them.” Heero promised his friend.  At Trowa’s nod, Heero looked around at the dining hall, which was clearing out a bit.  “I think I’m going to go see what Treize wanted.  Don’t wait up for me.”

“All right!” Quatre said.  Both boys watched as Heero put up his tray and moved through the door into the palace halls.

Before long, Heero had reached the magerooms and knocked politely on the door.  A deep voice Heero recognized as that of Zechs rang out from within.

“Come in.”

The prince followed the command, opening the door and entering.  Inside, Zechs, Treize, and Mariemeia were seated around a table, eating their own dinner of roasted pheasant.  It looked and smelled delicious, but Heero wasn’t tempted.  He was on business.  Besides that, he’d just eaten.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” he began, speaking in one of his blandest tones.  “But you DID mention in passing that you wanted to speak to me, Treize…”

“That I did.” Treize said.  Standing, the black robed mage looked at his daughter.  “No playing with the food.  Behave while I’m gone.” Turning to Heero, the mage smiled.  “This way, prince.  It shouldn’t take long.”

Heero nodded as he was guided into a small room off of the main mage room.  Unlike the other room, which was finished, this one was bare rock with a pool of water ringed by jagged rocks in the precise center of the room.  Sconces on the wall held torches, which flared low, providing little light compared to other rooms in the palace.  Beckoning Heero over to the pool, Treize put out the torches and cast a spell on the pool.

Stepping carefully over the rocks, Heero didn’t look at the pool until he was near it, and then had a shock.  Instead of looking into water, he was looking at fields, red-gold with autumn, from far above.  The sun was moving westward, so Heero estimated that this was the same place and time.  He turned towards Treize, barely managing to jerk his gaze away from the crystal clear scene within the water.

“Is this a portal?” the young prince managed, and Treize chuckled.

“No.  A scrypool.  Just a very nice one.” The archmage said, dipping a fingertip into the pool and letting droplets of water splash down, creating ripples in the picture that faded quickly.  Leaning forward, the older man nodded towards the pool.

“Look.”

Heero leaned forward, and saw that the image was tilting crazily.  It almost made Heero sick, but the image settled just in time.   The Worldsclaw Mountains were visible in the distance, and the prince could just make out two shapes coming towards them from the direction of the mountains.  As they grew nearer, Heero could glimpse the dim glow of sunlight on scales, sending off the odd sparkle when it reached a gemscale, and saw the powerful motion of beating wings.  One alone would shock him but there were two—

“TWO dragons?” he asked incredulously.  Treize nodded towards the picture.

“Look again.”

Heero gazed into the picture again, and saw what he’d missed before—humans, doll like from this distance, balanced perfectly on the shoulders of the dragons they rode without need of riding straps or equipment.  Only one kind of person could manage that kind of dragon flight—

“AND their ‘bounds?” Heero said again.  “They mean business, wherever they’re going…”

“You can tell, you’ve seen those mountains.  Look at where they’re headed.” The archmage said in a bland tone.

Heero looked again at the picture, lining up the mountains.  By his estimates, the dragons were heading roughly south-and-west—

Right towards Marenia.

Heero’s mouth went dry.  If they decided to attack there was nothing he could do.  They’d carry off cattle and horses, smash the palace and the towns with their great tails, all while their ‘bounds laughed merrily at the destructive joy their dragon counterparts were feeling. 

Treize seemed to sense Heero’s mood.  “Stop worrying.  We’ve been on good terms with the dragons; they wouldn’t attack without some kind of written warning.  It’s just not their way.”

That broke Heero of some of his anxiety, mainly because it was true.

“They’re probably coming to tell you about something that happened beyond the Claws, or perhaps they want to work out some sort of treaty.  You never know.” Treize continued.

“When?” Heero asked, once he was feeling better about the prospect of dragons.

“Around midwinter.” The archmage answered quietly.  He looked at the prince’s face, the reflection of the scene vividly coloring his face and eyes.  Heero’s eyes widened imperceptibly, before settling to normal.

“Right when I become a full knight…and when I’m crowned king.” The prince said in his flat monotone.  Treize nodded and dispelled the scryspell, simultaneously lighting the torches as he did so.

Heero looked at the black-robed mage.  “I think I’m going to go to the practice yards now.” He said.

And then he left.

-~-

That night, Heero did what was probably the single most foolish thing he’d ever done in his entire life.

He went out into Maren City after dark, and not the nicer parts.  No, he went into the darker parts.

Looking for adventure?  Possibly.  Looking for trouble?  Definitely.  With one hand on his money pouch and the other on his dagger, Heero wandered into the dark alleys with no more reason than he really wanted to act foolish for once.  The young monarch seemed to make an effort to stick to the well-lighted paths, but inevitably wound up in a dark alley with a dead end.  Sighing, Heero turned to leave, and found his exit blocked by three large men.

“Well, ‘ere’s a pretty one.” One said.

“Yeah, he oughta bring a nice price on the blocks!” a second roared gleefully, charging towards Heero.   Sighing, the boy dealt the man a sharp snap kick to the face and levered him over his shoulder, going for a low kick at another man’s legs even as he saw the first get up in his peripheral vision.

Heero felt his energy drain and realized that the third one was probably a mage of some sort.  Aiming a kick at the man in front of him, and at a much more painful target, Heero almost felt himself give out.  He watched in no small amount of chagrin as the man caught his foot, berating himself even as the man heaved him towards a wall.

Then, three or four things happened at once.  A dark shadow landed behind him, and he felt two swift objects flash by his head, burying themselves in the throats of the man he’d been attacking and the amateur mage.  At nearly the same time he felt himself hit—no, get caught by—the same dark shadow that had landed.  Fully intending to get a knife between his ribs, he was surprised when the mysterious stranger braced him so that both of them hit the wall, sharing the impact.  The prince felt himself put down gently, then saw the first man, who was now struggling to get to his feet, receive a sharp blow to the back of his skull with the pommel of a nice dagger.  Something was dropped onto the man’s body and the shadowy stranger walked back over to Heero.

“You okay?” the stranger asked, offering him a hand up.  The prince accepted it gratefully and stood, almost collapsing from the lack of energy.

“Ah, he caught you with an energy drainer.  Won’t do that again.” His savior said, his hood falling back from the motions.  In the dim light that filtered down into the alley, Heero could make out long bangs that fell over the other boy’s face.  Heero was slightly shocked to see that it was only a boy.

“C’mon, we’re going back to the Dusty Dragon.  I’ve got a few questions to ask you.” The shadowed one said, tugging him along.  Heero allowed himself to be guided to the back entrance of a small pub and inn called the Dusty Dragon and led up a set of narrow but well-kept stairs.  The other boy pushed him into a room and closed the door, lighting the candles with a wave of his hand and pulling off his long black cloak.  Heero gaped at the long braid that was now visible, as well as the boy’s violet eyes.  Either one was unusual; both in one place was downright unheard of.  Moving to take off the black leather gloves that were fitted to his hands like a second skin, the other boy spoke again.

“Call me Duo.  I’d like to know what a noble like you is doing in a place like this…” Duo said, snapping the gloves against his hand.  “And I’d also like to know your name.”

Heero glared.  He wouldn’t give this boy anything; he didn’t have to, and he didn’t want to, besides.  Before he could move to say he wouldn’t, he felt Duo walk behind him, and then saw the boy walk around the other side of the chair, holding his dagger and money pouch.  Putting them down on a table, the violet-eyed boy shot him a pointed glare.

“Don’t mess with the king of thieves.  Tell me your name and business.  You’ve seen my work.”

Heero swallowed.  Well, he could give the boy a fake name.  Running over his small vocabulary of words from other languages, he finally came up with one that’d suit him.  “Kishi.”

“What’s that?”

“Kishi.  My name’s Kishi.  And for your other question…I just…I felt…I felt…penned up.” Heero said, finally managing to get it out.

“Penned up, eh?” Duo said, sitting in a chair.  “I’m surprised you aren’t trying to walk…or rather, crawl out of here.” Knocking an apple from a bowl on the table with his elbow, Duo grabbed it and took a bite.  “I must say, I’m not the most favorable of companions.”

“I trust you.  You saved me, and even if you just saved me so you could steal my things, well…” Heero said quietly.  He couldn’t explain the feeling of trust; it just was.

“I see.” Duo said, a bit quiet, then grinned.  “Well, I’ll tell you what, Kishi.  If you want to get away from your penned up, stuffy, boring life, just meet me at the edges of the city any night you can, at least until I teach you some street smarts.”

Heero nodded, and watched in surprise as Duo walked over to him and rested a hand on his shoulder.

“For now, let’s go down and get some ale into you; it’ll give you enough energy to get where you’re going, and sleep will do the rest.”

Thus started a long-lasting friendship.

-~-

Autumn faded into winter, and as the months passed and the forests died in a blaze of color, Heero spent more and more time visiting Duo.  Before long, he’d confessed his identity to the thief monarch and watched Duo take the news with barely more than a blink of his eye.  In fact, Heero sometimes suspected that Duo had known all along and was just keeping up the pretense of ‘Kishi’ in order to humor him. 

Heero had even brought his friends to the Dusty Dragon once or twice; Quatre did extravagant naturemage tricks with bits of plants and such, and Trowa called in birds to land neatly on his shoulders, to the amazement of many.  They took to the pub life immediately and seemed to humor Duo, for he brought out a side of their friend that was seldom seen.

It was true; oftentimes Heero was most open while he was sitting in front of the big fireplace in one of the Dragon’s drinking-rooms, next to Duo, and laughing over some long-forgotten tale one or the other had heard somewhere or another, or in the thief-king’s rooms, where they practiced street fighting and knife arts and many other things.

So, it naturally came as no surprise that Heero showed up at the Dusty Dragon one week before the trials of knighthood and monarchy.  The regulars didn’t know his true identity, but they knew him all the same; so when the boy showed up at the back door of the Dusty Dragon bundled up against the raging blizzard, the only reaction of the inhabitants was to grab his elbow and steer him to Duo’s chair by the fireside.

“Kishi!” Duo shouted upon seeing his friend.  They’d mutually agreed to keep Heero’s true identity a secret.  A chorus of questioning voices met his ears as he stumbled towards Duo’s table.  The thief grabbed his wrist and then looked at Heero, concerned.

“Thief-god-and-trickster, but you’re COLD! C’mon, let’s go to my room and get you warmed up.” Duo blurted out.  Heero nodded slightly and the braided boy bustled him upstairs and into his rooms.  Flicking a wrist, Duo lit the waiting wood in the fireplace, as well as the candles. He motioned Heero over to the fireside even as he retrieved two blankets of fairly good quality and a package wrapped in brown shop-paper and tied with white string from a cabinet in the room.  Putting the three items down beside his friend, Duo made one more trip to a locked cabinet in a corner.  Unlocking it, he pulled out a bottle of fine spiced wine and two glasses.  Kicking the cabinet closed and hearing it lock automatically, Duo turned and scampered across the room, putting the items down by the fire.

“C’mon, get those clothes off!” Duo said.  Heero obliged as well he could, moving his half-frozen limbs about and unfastening the heavy winter clothing, leaving on his tunic, shirt, and pants.  Duo motioned and the discarded clothing flew to a rack in the corner to dry out.  He poured some of the wine into the two glasses and handed one to Heero, making sure the boy could grip it well before letting go.  Hesitantly, the prince took a sip of his wine and felt the warmth of the spices course through his body.

“Good stuff, eh?” Duo asked, halting his speech to take a large swallow of the wine.  He put down his glass gently and draped one of the blankets across Heero’s shoulders, then wrapped the other about himself.

“Yeah.” Heero said, taking another swallow of the wine.

“So, end of this week and you’ll be the king.  The big man.  The monarch of all Marenia.” Duo said, an odd tone in his voice.  The boy’s expression was somewhere between sad and confused as he said the words.

Heero looked at his friend questioningly.  Duo’s expression brightened the second Heero’s gaze reached his face, and instantly the thief turned away slightly and picked up the package wrapped in paper.

“I…I got a few gifts for you.  Open this.” Duo ordered, pushing the package at his friend.

Heero barely had enough time to put down his wineglass before he was forced to take the package.  Untying the string with fingers that almost refused to cooperate, he proceeded to rip off the paper.  The first thing he saw was a fine black leather sword-belt.

“You’ll be needing that, from what I hear about Marenian customs.” Duo explained softly.  “Keep going, there’s more.”

With a questioning look, the prince drew out a fine dagger in a sheath to match the belt, and a pair of arm-guards made of beautiful high-quality black leather with silvery plating, studded here and there with blue stones, the bright sapphires that were one of the marks of royalty in Marenia.

“I saw those in the market and decided to buy them for you.  These three things aren’t ALL of your presents—but...well...” Duo hesitated, and then took another sip of his wine.  The room fell into silence.  Duo inclined his face away from Heero slightly, falling into darker thoughts.  As he thought, he turned his head towards Heero and saw the boy still admiring his gifts.  A smile crossed his face, albeit a bitter one.

Heero stared at his gifts, completely and totally dumbfounded.  Duo had said that these weren’t all, but the number of gifts wasn’t the big thing; it was the fact that they actually had a use.  A number of fawning princesses had sent him small trilling-birds that sang Marenian anthems beautifully, but the birds weren’t happy, and if they weren’t given to Trowa to put in the menagerie, they soon died.  Sure, he’d received gifts with purpose before, but they soon outlived that purpose.  A beautiful plant from Quatre livened his room up and did help his spirits, but after a while it grew commonplace.  A set of enchanted books from Zechs and Treize worked well for a while before they became annoying. 

However, these were things he’d use every day until they wore out—things with which he’d always remember Duo. 

It was a good feeling.

He looked up and saw that the violet-eyed boy was sitting, unusually silent, his good-natured face set in a sad smile.  He looked towards the window, and cocked his head in that direction.  “Doesn’t sound like you’ll be able to get back to the palace tonight, Heero.  You’d better stay here.” The thief informed him.

Heero jumped slightly, startled.  “But…But I…”

“If they argue, make up an excuse!” Duo suggested.  “You can have the bed…I’ll sleep here.”

The prince started to argue—but noticed that his friend was already half-asleep.  Sighing, Heero moved to the bed and curled up, falling asleep quickly.

-~-