Thousand and One Night - 2/?
Title: Thousand and One Night
Chapter/part: 2/?
Characters list: To see all go Here
Chapter Characters: Orlando, Christian
Warnings: Au
Disclaimer and general info: Here and later General information.
Chapter’s note: betad by Kaz and Inwe
Previous Chapters: Intro, Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Christian went into his Master's bedroom, to see if the Prince was there and awake. He thought he had heard him sneak out the night before. It was a good thing that the Prince's room was so close to the hidden passageway that took him outside the palace.
In the past few years, ever the Prince had confided in him, Christian had helped him to widen his experience of life. Christian didn't like the way Orlando's father forced his son to live, so he gladly helped him.
They had more or less grown up together. He was only a few years older than the Prince. Christian's mother was one of the palace cooks and he had lived his whole life there. When certain events had occurred and Christian had been given a choice of serving the Prince or being put to death, Christian had chosen to live.
Whenever Christian's mother worked she could not keep an eye on her son and, being a child, he had gone and explored the palace. There had not been so many children there and the guards had mostly ignored him, so he became bolder. One day he had found the way to the Prince's quarters. Finding a small person there he had been extra curious. Christian had sneaked forward and lifted the fabric that covered the person.
Feeling the air on his face the Prince had awoken, became scared and started screaming. People came running and among them the Marjahdan. Christian tried to get the boy to stop screaming but had only succeeded in making the boy scream even louder.
The Marjahdan had pushed Christian away, scolding him as he did so. Christian didn't understand what was so terrible about what he had done. He became scared, and it hadn't gotten any better when he was taken to the kitchen and his mother began scolding him as well. Very soon her tears had been running down her face and she had kneeled in front of the Marjahdan, begging.
Many agonizing minutes passed as the Marjahdan had deliberated and seemed to come to some sort of a decision. He had told Christian's mother that he would not do anything until the day after, and when that day came he had given them two choices. One was that Christian would start working in the palace. Alan, the Marjahdan's adviser, had pointed out to his employer and to Christian the benefits of becoming the Prince's personal slave. Though if he ever slipped up and told anyone what the Prince looked like he would be killed. The other was that he would be killed at once because he had broken many rules, especially the one where no one was ever allowed into the Prince's rooms or to learn what he looked like.
So Christian had made his choice and, from that day onwards, he had been assigned to be the Prince's personal slave, sworn never to reveal what the Prince looked like. What the Marjahdan hadn't counted on was that the boys would become close friends and that Christian would never say anything about Orlando living a double life.
Being so close to the Prince, over the years Christian had learned a lot about Orlando's idiosyncrasies, which had been very useful on several occasions when Orlando had not come home and Christian had been the one under the veils, pretending to be the Prince. That had only worked because Christian had a similar body build and height.
Now, to his relief as he opened the curtains that surrounded his Master's bed, he saw that the Prince was there. It wouldn't have been good if he had needed to pretend to be the Prince today, as today was the day that the Marajhdan had decided the first suitor would present themselves to the Prince to see if they were worthy. Christian had initially suspected that he might need to stand in for him, and had begged the Prince not to disappear, at least for the first week. Orlando had promised he wouldn't need to… but sometimes the Prince didn't hold to his promises. There had been occasions when the Prince had disappeared for several days on his adventures.
After confirming that his master was in his bed, Christian went to the closet to choose clothes. He tried to find light ones, as the day promised to be hot. Knowing from personal experience how hot it could get even under layers of sheer fabric it was best to make it as endurable as possible. Finally he chose a pair of harem trousers with an intricate pattern in gold threads, a shirt made of the finest silk thread, and a caftan that also had an embroidered pattern. To match the clothes he also chose one gold and one black veil. Carefully carrying the clothes back to the bed, he laid them down on one of the corners then, continuing with the morning rituals, he went to fetch a tankard of fresh water.
During his preparations Christian had thrown frequent glances at the Prince, who hadn't moved, let alone shown any signs of waking. Realising that the Prince must have been back late, Christian tried to let Orlando sleep for as long as he dared, delaying the moment he absolutely needed to wake Orlando. He knew that he couldn't stall it for much longer.
Finally, unable to delay any further, Christian shook the Prince gently, trying to wake him. Lying on his side, the Prince grunted but didn't wake. Christian brushed away a few strands of the long, curly hair that was hiding some of the Prince's beautiful face, and then brushed his fingers over Orlando's cheek, delighting in the smoothness of the skin. He was envious that the Prince could have such tanned skin despite having spent so much time under the veils.
Orlando's eyes fluttered open.
"Good morning, my Prince," Christian greeted.
"How many times do I need to tell you that you don't need to be formal with me?" Orlando asked in a very sleepy voice.
"At least one thousand times more, Master," Christian replied, smiling. It was the same everyday, but in every other respect, at least when they where alone, they ignored the rules that etiquette demanded in the bond between Master and slave.
"What day is it today?" Orlando asked as he turned to lie on his back.
"You know that full well…" Christian accused. "It's the first of probably many borings days, that you - we - have to endure to please your father and find the perfect person to marry you off to."
Orlando growled and drew his sheet over his head. He wasn't looking forward to this like his father was. Since he had begun to live his second life, he was no longer the patient, good-natured Prince he had once been. If he complained or changed his behaviour, though, he would expose himself and lose the little extra freedom he had found. And that was the last thing he wanted.
Orlando knew this search would not find someone that he could trust, let alone loving for the rest of his life… because he believed he had already found the one. Right now that was a big problem. He had met him through his double life. The only chance he had at all lay with him trying to figure out how to get the person an audience with the Prince. Orlando sighed heavily. He hadn't come up with any ideas on how to do that.
"I heard that." Christian pulled the sheet away. This was no time for Orlando to hide. "You need to get ready before they send the guards for you."
"Please, let me sleep? I'm tired." Orlando tried to pull the sheet back over his head.
"How would it look like if you did not show up the first day? They wouldn't think you weren't taking it seriously or cared at all. Then maybe you don't get a say at all as to who is chosen." Christian held the sheet tightly. "I don't think you want Omar to choose for you, or Alan."
The thought of that made Orlando surrender. "Yeah, yeah… Just rub it in… Let's make me presentable, then," he finished, sitting up.
Any other Prince would have expected Christian to do everything for him, but having worked with Orlando for several years, Christian knew how independent Orlando was and what Christian had already done in laying out the clothes would be enough.
Often during the mornings, while Orlando dressed, the Prince would tell Christian some of the things he had done when he had sneaked out, but this morning he was silent.
"Do you want me to brush and fix your hair?" Christian asked.
"Only if there is not much time," Orlando said.
Christian took the brush, and stood behind Orlando. He carefully started to loosen the braid that held most of Orlando's long hair under control. It took time to fix as it hung down to his waist in curls. If Christian drew it straight it reached even lower. For the umpteenth time, Christian thought what a shame it was to keep it tied up and as hidden as his master. Brushing and fixing it was one of the tasks he loved.
"How do you want it today?"
"Do it as loosely as possible, I can't see there will be any risk of it falling down. I'll probably mostly sit still."
Christian took strands and rolled them before fastening them around Orlando's head. Finished, he helped the Prince with the veils.
"Ouch!" Orlando protested, swatting Christian's hand away. "You don't need to pierce another hole in my ear."
"I'm sorry, but if you had stayed still it wouldn't have happened." Christian kneeled in front of the Prince. "You keep fidgeting… you know what your Father thinks about that."
"But I can't help fidgeting! I want to be outside!" Orlando changed position again. "You know how I get when I have to be locked up in this castle. And I hate to be hidden!!"
Christian knew his master's feelings only too well. "You can probably sneak out again tonight," he tried in a calm voice. "I've heard that there's a circus here. They have made camp at Valatar and I would think that they will be here for some time."
Orlando nodded and, with the prospect of having new things to explore, he sat still.
Christian lifted the veils to check if he had indeed pierced another hole in his Master's ear. The pin had only scraped the ear but he could see one drop of blood. Carefully he wiped it away. Orlando's face was pale with tiredness. Orlando's father would not have been happy to see his son so tired on the first day of Audience, but here the veils were an advantage, hiding that fatigue as well as his looks. Being this tired Christian knew that, if he didn't watch out, Orlando might fall asleep during the day and that wouldn't be good. When Christian was expected to be a shadow to the Prince during parts of the day, he would have a chance to look out for Orlando to stop the Prince from falling asleep because it would be all too obvious if he did.
Christian concentrated on his task and, having made sure that the bleeding had stopped, he let the veils fall. This time he was more careful when he fastened the last of the pins. He rose and took a step back, so he could check that the Prince was presentable.
Nodding, he said, "Now you are ready."
"Thanks," was the short reply.
Christian went to the door, advising the Palace guards that the Prince was ready to be escorted to the dining room.
Chapter 3