Table 16 complete!
Title: What Is Lost, Must Be Found
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni & Lizzie
Table/Prompt: 16/ no more crying
Words: 516
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: When Lizzie loses her precious locket, Soma and Agni come to the rescue…
“Ssh… Don’t cry, Miss Elizabeth, we’ll find it,” Soma soothed.
“Bu…but…”Lizzie sniffed back her tears as she daintily dabbed under her eyes with a tiny piece of cambric and lace, she called her handkerchief. “Ciel gave that to me for my birthday… and now I’ve…” Lower lip trembling, Lizzie hiccupped a few times as the tears coursed down her cheeks. “And now it’s raining…”
Soma sighed. “No more crying, Miss Elizabeth. Please… Your locket’s probably somewhere in the back garden. Agni and I will go look for it, but you have to stop crying, okay?”
Lizzie nodded. She silently accepted the cup of tea Agni handed her and sipped it. It was spicy and milky and tasted as exotic as the two Indians, who now resided in her fiancé’s London townhouse. “Mister Agni…?” she said softly.
“It’s chai, Miss Elizabeth.”
“It’s just the thing when it’s cold and rainy and miserable out,” Soma added.
“Indian tea,” Agni said.
“Oh…”
Soma smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse us?”
“But it’s raining out, Prince Soma and you’ll get all wet…”
“It’s okay, Miss Elizabeth,” Soma said. “It may be cold out, but it’s not as bad as the winter monsoons.”
“I thought you didn’t like when it rains…”
“I don’t,” Soma smiled, “but I also hated it back home in India, and I used to do anything I could so as not to be stuck in the palace for days on end. I would do anything to go outside and play in the rain.”
Despite her upset over losing the heirloom locket, Lizzie found herself smiling as pictured the prince sneaking out of the palace to go play in the rain.
“I promise we’ll be quick,” Soma added and getting up, he called out, “Come, Agni,” before heading out back.
Lizzie finished her tea, and setting the cup down, she hurried over to the window and watched them scour the back garden for signs of her locket. She felt bad as they were soaked to the skin within minutes and the longer they remained outside, the more she feared for their health. Just when she was about to go outside and brave the rain in order to get them come back inside, she saw Soma straighten up and hold something aloft. It was her locket, and she watched as Agni rushed over to him and together they hurried back inside.
Lizzie met them at the kitchen door. “Thank you, Prince Soma, Mister Agni.”
“You’re welcome,” Soma said as he handed it to her. “If you don’t mind…?” he said, running his hand down the front of his sopping wet sherwani.
“Oh yes…” Lizzie colored prettily. “I’ll wait for you in the front parlor…”
“Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. I’ll be back as soon as I can with more chai,” Agni said as he brought his hands together and gave her a slight bow, before hurrying off after the prince.
Lizzie smiled and headed back to the front parlor to wait. As she sat there, sipping her chai, she thought she and Ciel were very lucky to have such good friends…
Title: Silken Strands
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ a lock of hair
Words: 468
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma loves playing with the long strands of Agni’s hair…
Soma snuggled up next to Agni, and running his hand over his beloved’s chest, he felt the two remaining long silky strands of Agni’s hair. While Soma thought they suited his beloved’s good looks, Agni saw them as a reminder of his past. And even though he would have preferred to cut them off, as a way of putting his “previous life” behind him, Agni kept them as Soma seemed to like playing with the silky strands.
Tonight was no exception. Soma, taking Agni’s long locks in hand, lightly dusted his beloved’s collar bone with them. Agni chuckled, a deep rumbling in his chest, and when Soma shifted his position to look up at him, Agni leaned in and kissed him. As he deepened it, Agni rolled Soma onto his back, blanketing him.
Breaking the kiss, Agni lightly traced mehndi that decorated Soma’s left side with his fingertips. The prince laughed, tensing slightly as it tickled. Agni slid down his beloved’s torso, leaving butterfly soft kisses in his wake. Down by the prince’s hips, instead of pleasuring him orally, Agni took a long lock of his hair, tracing the mehndi again with it. Soma’s laughter grew louder as he squirmed under his beloved ticklish ministrations. While it was good to hear his beloved laughing again, Agni knew he could only tease Soma so much, before he got angry. Shifting carefully between the prince’s legs, Agni pleasured him orally.
Soma made little sounds of pleasure as his beloved sent him closer to his peak. Agni had a way of making him feel loved and cherished like no one else did, and it added a certain spice to their sharing kama. He moaned softly, cumming hard, when he could no longer hold back. Agni quickly entered him, instead of slowly taking his pleasure from the prince, not that Soma minded. Agni’s long strands of hair were tickling him, while the they shared kama and the last thing he wanted to do was laugh. Thankfully it wasn’t long before Agni came as well.
After they had cleaned up, they lay together in the darkness, the silk sheets cool against their naked bodies. Soma snuggled up next to his beloved and as he reached for Agni’s hair, his beloved moved to stay his hand. “Please, my prince,” Agni said softly. “If you do that again, I have the feeling we’ll be up to great the dawn while we share kama all night long.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Soma impishly whispered.
Agni chuckled. “Yes and no… No, because sharing kama with you is fun… Yes, because even if you don’t, I’m an old man, who needs his sleep,” he teased.
“Aaah… so that is why your hair is so white…” Soma mused playfully.
“Indeed,” Agni said as he held his beloved close…
Title: No Reservations
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ light a single candle
Words: 346
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma makes Agni some lunch
Soma lit a single candle, placing it on the table. Agni raised an eyebrow as the romantic feel of things seemed out place at lunch time, but all he got was a shrug in reply from his beloved prince. Setting a plate of cold curried chicken salad in front of his beloved khansama, and bringing his hands together, Soma bowed his head. “This is my way of thanking you, Agni, for all you’ve done for me.” He stood back and to the side the way Agni would do, so that he could attend to his needs.
“You’re welcome, and thank you, my prince for this feast.”
Soma smiled. “You’re welcome, Agni,” he said as he poured him a cup of tea. “Now eat,” he added with a touch of princely imperialness and they laughed. At twenty, Soma had grown into a fine young man, having long ago abandoned his selfishness under Agni’s gentle guidance. The lines between master and servant had blurred along with it, with the prince helping around the townhouse because it was the right thing to do and not because he was bored or wanted attention.
“My prince.”
“Yes..?”
“I would love it if you joined me, “Agni said.
Soma opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it while he thought things over. “Thank you, Agni,” he said instead, as he took a seat next to him at the table.
Agni smiled, and taking a bit of chicken in his fingers, he held the morsel to Soma’s lips. When the prince opened his mouth to protest that he was not a baby any more, Agni fed him the chicken.
Soma shook his head at him as he chewed, and keeping his mouth shut he waited until Agni ate the next bite, before saying something. “Thank you, Agni, but I made that for you.”
Agni swallowed. “But it’s my wish to share this with you, my prince, my Soma…”
“If that is what you desire, my Agni, then so shall it be…”
“Indeed…” Agni said as he fed his beloved another bite…
Title: Maturity
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ unnoticed
Words: 315
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma tries to go unnoticed during the curry competition as he sorts out his feelings…
Author’s notes: Special thanks to Jen for suggesting a title. And yes, I really like this arc & this particular scene from it. ;p
Soma hung back from the others as he stood there, watching the curry competition. He went unnoticed in the crowd, despite his native dress, blending in with the sea of faces that eagerly watched as several chefs vied for the royal warrant by making the perfect curry. Soma hoped to catch a glimpse of Agni as he desperately wanted to see him and more importantly, he wanted to get him alone for a few minutes so that he could ask him why he abandoned him, despite Ciel’s and Sebastian’s claims to the contrary. But when his fellow Bengali’s turn arrived, Soma found it too painful to watch and he slipped away, wandering around aimlessly under the guise of admiring the English people’s idea of what India was like.
While he walked around, Soma tried his hardest to make sense of things. Having met up with Meena, he learned the truth about her feelings and he wondered if Agni felt the same way. As he sorted his feelings out, Ciel came over to him and shamed him into going back to watch Agni compete. When the competition ended, Soma walked over to Agni, who fell to his knees because of his own private despair about wondering if Soma would ever forgive him for leaving him. The awkward silence that fell between them hurt them both until Soma broke it. “I did nothing but complain and never once did it occur to me to understand Meena’s feelings… or yours.” He sighed softly. “Who could love such a selfish brat? But you, Agni, you stayed by my side, even when we were parted and for that, I’m grateful… Will you come back to my side and be my khansama again? Please, Agni…?” Soma held his hand out to him and Agni tearfully took it.
“If that is what you desire, my prince… So shall it be…”
“It is…”
Title: One Fish, Two Fish…
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ a picture of a fishbowl with a bed & a person on it in the background.
Words: 747
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma lazes in bed while recovering from an illness…
Author’s note: Khichuri is Bengali comfort food, made from rice and lentils. It can also have other vegetables added to it as it's a type of "hash." It is also eaten with many different variations in other parts of India as well.
For Kat, who suggested Soma have a dream…
Soma sat up in bed, adjusting the pillows behind him, before flopping back, exhausted, against them. He was convalescing after a long bout of illness, the cold English winter giving him a nasty cold that had turned worse. But now that he was beginning to feel better, he was bored out of his mind, being confined to bed for the most part. Reading just made him sleepy and Lizzie’s daily visits had come to an abrupt end once her mother found out she was visiting him in his bedroom without a proper chaperone. Agni, however, spent as much time with him as he could, but even that wasn’t enough to alleviate Soma’s boredom.
Sighing softly, he looked over to the right for his book, when something caught his eye. Across the room, on the table next to his reading chair, was a crystal bowl filled with water and decorative sand and a water plant of some sort. But the best thing of all about the crystal bowl was the pair of bright orange fish that swam lazily in it. Soma recognized them as the fish they had seen in the window of the bird-seller’s shop during one of their trips to the market, before he got sick. “Thank you, Agni…” he said softly even though his beloved khansama was busy downstairs, looking after the townhouse.
Sometime during the afternoon, no doubt when he had come in to check on him, Agni had left it there. Soma figured he must have bought during his daily trip to the market that morning. He was glad Agni had, as the fish were fun to watch and oddly soothing as well. It was not long before Soma drifted off to sleep again, only to be awakened a few hours later by his beloved khansama.
“Agni…?” Soma said sleepily as he sat up.
“Yes, my prince?” Agni said as he fluffed the pillows behind Soma.
“Thanks for the fish…” He yawned. “They’re really pretty.”
“You’re welcome, and you’ll also need to thank Miss Elizabeth when you’re feeling better. She suggested I get them when I saw her this morning and told her how much you liked them.”
“I will.”
Agni nodded and brought the tray with Soma’s dinner on it over to him. “I made you some lentil soup. Light, yet filling, as Mister Sebastian would say,” he said as he lifted the cover off the bowl.
“Thanks…” Soma leaned forward over the soup bowl and took a deep breath. Pretending he could smell it, he said, “Mmmm… good,” before picking up his spoon. It was warm going down and no doubt full of a special blend of spices, designed to help him get better, but the prince could barely taste it. Besides, he barely had much of an appetite, so he only ate enough to ease some of the emptiness in his belly.
Agni waited patiently for him to finish, but it seemed his beloved prince could only eat a few mouthfuls. He wondered if Soma was getting a sore throat again and was about to ask him if he was feeling okay, when Soma pushed the bowl away.
“Thank you, Agni. I feel kind of tired.”
Agni, placing his hand on Soma’s forehead, said, “You feel a bit warm. Maybe you should sleep.”
Soma nodded and a few minutes later, he was resting comfortably in bed. Agni had lit a couple of candles and they cast just enough light for him to see the fish swimming lazily in their bowl. His eyelids grew heavy, and after giving up the fight to stay awake, Soma soon drifted off to sleep again.
He woke the next day when Agni brought him a bowl of khichuri for breakfast and gently shook him awake. Soma yawned and picked up his spoon. “Agni…”
“Yes, my prince?”
“I had the strangest dream last night… I dreamt I was a fish.”
“A fish?” Agni smiled at him.
“Yeah… like one of the pretty orange ones in the bowl.”
“I see.”
“You were a fish too.”
Agni chuckled.
“Don’t laugh. It was fun being a fish, although, I don’t think I really want to be one.” Soma ate a spoonful of khichuri. “If we were fish, I’d never eat your delicious curry again…”
Agni laughed. “We’d probably end up in someone’s curry.”
“Yeah…”
“Are you feeling better today, my prince?”
“Very much so, Agni,” Soma said between bites. “Thanks for looking after me...”
“It’s my pleasure, my prince.”
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni & Lizzie
Table/Prompt: 16/ no more crying
Words: 516
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: When Lizzie loses her precious locket, Soma and Agni come to the rescue…
“Ssh… Don’t cry, Miss Elizabeth, we’ll find it,” Soma soothed.
“Bu…but…”Lizzie sniffed back her tears as she daintily dabbed under her eyes with a tiny piece of cambric and lace, she called her handkerchief. “Ciel gave that to me for my birthday… and now I’ve…” Lower lip trembling, Lizzie hiccupped a few times as the tears coursed down her cheeks. “And now it’s raining…”
Soma sighed. “No more crying, Miss Elizabeth. Please… Your locket’s probably somewhere in the back garden. Agni and I will go look for it, but you have to stop crying, okay?”
Lizzie nodded. She silently accepted the cup of tea Agni handed her and sipped it. It was spicy and milky and tasted as exotic as the two Indians, who now resided in her fiancé’s London townhouse. “Mister Agni…?” she said softly.
“It’s chai, Miss Elizabeth.”
“It’s just the thing when it’s cold and rainy and miserable out,” Soma added.
“Indian tea,” Agni said.
“Oh…”
Soma smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse us?”
“But it’s raining out, Prince Soma and you’ll get all wet…”
“It’s okay, Miss Elizabeth,” Soma said. “It may be cold out, but it’s not as bad as the winter monsoons.”
“I thought you didn’t like when it rains…”
“I don’t,” Soma smiled, “but I also hated it back home in India, and I used to do anything I could so as not to be stuck in the palace for days on end. I would do anything to go outside and play in the rain.”
Despite her upset over losing the heirloom locket, Lizzie found herself smiling as pictured the prince sneaking out of the palace to go play in the rain.
“I promise we’ll be quick,” Soma added and getting up, he called out, “Come, Agni,” before heading out back.
Lizzie finished her tea, and setting the cup down, she hurried over to the window and watched them scour the back garden for signs of her locket. She felt bad as they were soaked to the skin within minutes and the longer they remained outside, the more she feared for their health. Just when she was about to go outside and brave the rain in order to get them come back inside, she saw Soma straighten up and hold something aloft. It was her locket, and she watched as Agni rushed over to him and together they hurried back inside.
Lizzie met them at the kitchen door. “Thank you, Prince Soma, Mister Agni.”
“You’re welcome,” Soma said as he handed it to her. “If you don’t mind…?” he said, running his hand down the front of his sopping wet sherwani.
“Oh yes…” Lizzie colored prettily. “I’ll wait for you in the front parlor…”
“Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. I’ll be back as soon as I can with more chai,” Agni said as he brought his hands together and gave her a slight bow, before hurrying off after the prince.
Lizzie smiled and headed back to the front parlor to wait. As she sat there, sipping her chai, she thought she and Ciel were very lucky to have such good friends…
Title: Silken Strands
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ a lock of hair
Words: 468
Rating: M
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma loves playing with the long strands of Agni’s hair…
Soma snuggled up next to Agni, and running his hand over his beloved’s chest, he felt the two remaining long silky strands of Agni’s hair. While Soma thought they suited his beloved’s good looks, Agni saw them as a reminder of his past. And even though he would have preferred to cut them off, as a way of putting his “previous life” behind him, Agni kept them as Soma seemed to like playing with the silky strands.
Tonight was no exception. Soma, taking Agni’s long locks in hand, lightly dusted his beloved’s collar bone with them. Agni chuckled, a deep rumbling in his chest, and when Soma shifted his position to look up at him, Agni leaned in and kissed him. As he deepened it, Agni rolled Soma onto his back, blanketing him.
Breaking the kiss, Agni lightly traced mehndi that decorated Soma’s left side with his fingertips. The prince laughed, tensing slightly as it tickled. Agni slid down his beloved’s torso, leaving butterfly soft kisses in his wake. Down by the prince’s hips, instead of pleasuring him orally, Agni took a long lock of his hair, tracing the mehndi again with it. Soma’s laughter grew louder as he squirmed under his beloved ticklish ministrations. While it was good to hear his beloved laughing again, Agni knew he could only tease Soma so much, before he got angry. Shifting carefully between the prince’s legs, Agni pleasured him orally.
Soma made little sounds of pleasure as his beloved sent him closer to his peak. Agni had a way of making him feel loved and cherished like no one else did, and it added a certain spice to their sharing kama. He moaned softly, cumming hard, when he could no longer hold back. Agni quickly entered him, instead of slowly taking his pleasure from the prince, not that Soma minded. Agni’s long strands of hair were tickling him, while the they shared kama and the last thing he wanted to do was laugh. Thankfully it wasn’t long before Agni came as well.
After they had cleaned up, they lay together in the darkness, the silk sheets cool against their naked bodies. Soma snuggled up next to his beloved and as he reached for Agni’s hair, his beloved moved to stay his hand. “Please, my prince,” Agni said softly. “If you do that again, I have the feeling we’ll be up to great the dawn while we share kama all night long.”
“And that’s a bad thing?” Soma impishly whispered.
Agni chuckled. “Yes and no… No, because sharing kama with you is fun… Yes, because even if you don’t, I’m an old man, who needs his sleep,” he teased.
“Aaah… so that is why your hair is so white…” Soma mused playfully.
“Indeed,” Agni said as he held his beloved close…
Title: No Reservations
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ light a single candle
Words: 346
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma makes Agni some lunch
Soma lit a single candle, placing it on the table. Agni raised an eyebrow as the romantic feel of things seemed out place at lunch time, but all he got was a shrug in reply from his beloved prince. Setting a plate of cold curried chicken salad in front of his beloved khansama, and bringing his hands together, Soma bowed his head. “This is my way of thanking you, Agni, for all you’ve done for me.” He stood back and to the side the way Agni would do, so that he could attend to his needs.
“You’re welcome, and thank you, my prince for this feast.”
Soma smiled. “You’re welcome, Agni,” he said as he poured him a cup of tea. “Now eat,” he added with a touch of princely imperialness and they laughed. At twenty, Soma had grown into a fine young man, having long ago abandoned his selfishness under Agni’s gentle guidance. The lines between master and servant had blurred along with it, with the prince helping around the townhouse because it was the right thing to do and not because he was bored or wanted attention.
“My prince.”
“Yes..?”
“I would love it if you joined me, “Agni said.
Soma opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it while he thought things over. “Thank you, Agni,” he said instead, as he took a seat next to him at the table.
Agni smiled, and taking a bit of chicken in his fingers, he held the morsel to Soma’s lips. When the prince opened his mouth to protest that he was not a baby any more, Agni fed him the chicken.
Soma shook his head at him as he chewed, and keeping his mouth shut he waited until Agni ate the next bite, before saying something. “Thank you, Agni, but I made that for you.”
Agni swallowed. “But it’s my wish to share this with you, my prince, my Soma…”
“If that is what you desire, my Agni, then so shall it be…”
“Indeed…” Agni said as he fed his beloved another bite…
Title: Maturity
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ unnoticed
Words: 315
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma tries to go unnoticed during the curry competition as he sorts out his feelings…
Author’s notes: Special thanks to Jen for suggesting a title. And yes, I really like this arc & this particular scene from it. ;p
Soma hung back from the others as he stood there, watching the curry competition. He went unnoticed in the crowd, despite his native dress, blending in with the sea of faces that eagerly watched as several chefs vied for the royal warrant by making the perfect curry. Soma hoped to catch a glimpse of Agni as he desperately wanted to see him and more importantly, he wanted to get him alone for a few minutes so that he could ask him why he abandoned him, despite Ciel’s and Sebastian’s claims to the contrary. But when his fellow Bengali’s turn arrived, Soma found it too painful to watch and he slipped away, wandering around aimlessly under the guise of admiring the English people’s idea of what India was like.
While he walked around, Soma tried his hardest to make sense of things. Having met up with Meena, he learned the truth about her feelings and he wondered if Agni felt the same way. As he sorted his feelings out, Ciel came over to him and shamed him into going back to watch Agni compete. When the competition ended, Soma walked over to Agni, who fell to his knees because of his own private despair about wondering if Soma would ever forgive him for leaving him. The awkward silence that fell between them hurt them both until Soma broke it. “I did nothing but complain and never once did it occur to me to understand Meena’s feelings… or yours.” He sighed softly. “Who could love such a selfish brat? But you, Agni, you stayed by my side, even when we were parted and for that, I’m grateful… Will you come back to my side and be my khansama again? Please, Agni…?” Soma held his hand out to him and Agni tearfully took it.
“If that is what you desire, my prince… So shall it be…”
“It is…”
Title: One Fish, Two Fish…
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Table/Prompt: 16/ a picture of a fishbowl with a bed & a person on it in the background.
Words: 747
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Summary: Soma lazes in bed while recovering from an illness…
Author’s note: Khichuri is Bengali comfort food, made from rice and lentils. It can also have other vegetables added to it as it's a type of "hash." It is also eaten with many different variations in other parts of India as well.
For Kat, who suggested Soma have a dream…
Soma sat up in bed, adjusting the pillows behind him, before flopping back, exhausted, against them. He was convalescing after a long bout of illness, the cold English winter giving him a nasty cold that had turned worse. But now that he was beginning to feel better, he was bored out of his mind, being confined to bed for the most part. Reading just made him sleepy and Lizzie’s daily visits had come to an abrupt end once her mother found out she was visiting him in his bedroom without a proper chaperone. Agni, however, spent as much time with him as he could, but even that wasn’t enough to alleviate Soma’s boredom.
Sighing softly, he looked over to the right for his book, when something caught his eye. Across the room, on the table next to his reading chair, was a crystal bowl filled with water and decorative sand and a water plant of some sort. But the best thing of all about the crystal bowl was the pair of bright orange fish that swam lazily in it. Soma recognized them as the fish they had seen in the window of the bird-seller’s shop during one of their trips to the market, before he got sick. “Thank you, Agni…” he said softly even though his beloved khansama was busy downstairs, looking after the townhouse.
Sometime during the afternoon, no doubt when he had come in to check on him, Agni had left it there. Soma figured he must have bought during his daily trip to the market that morning. He was glad Agni had, as the fish were fun to watch and oddly soothing as well. It was not long before Soma drifted off to sleep again, only to be awakened a few hours later by his beloved khansama.
“Agni…?” Soma said sleepily as he sat up.
“Yes, my prince?” Agni said as he fluffed the pillows behind Soma.
“Thanks for the fish…” He yawned. “They’re really pretty.”
“You’re welcome, and you’ll also need to thank Miss Elizabeth when you’re feeling better. She suggested I get them when I saw her this morning and told her how much you liked them.”
“I will.”
Agni nodded and brought the tray with Soma’s dinner on it over to him. “I made you some lentil soup. Light, yet filling, as Mister Sebastian would say,” he said as he lifted the cover off the bowl.
“Thanks…” Soma leaned forward over the soup bowl and took a deep breath. Pretending he could smell it, he said, “Mmmm… good,” before picking up his spoon. It was warm going down and no doubt full of a special blend of spices, designed to help him get better, but the prince could barely taste it. Besides, he barely had much of an appetite, so he only ate enough to ease some of the emptiness in his belly.
Agni waited patiently for him to finish, but it seemed his beloved prince could only eat a few mouthfuls. He wondered if Soma was getting a sore throat again and was about to ask him if he was feeling okay, when Soma pushed the bowl away.
“Thank you, Agni. I feel kind of tired.”
Agni, placing his hand on Soma’s forehead, said, “You feel a bit warm. Maybe you should sleep.”
Soma nodded and a few minutes later, he was resting comfortably in bed. Agni had lit a couple of candles and they cast just enough light for him to see the fish swimming lazily in their bowl. His eyelids grew heavy, and after giving up the fight to stay awake, Soma soon drifted off to sleep again.
He woke the next day when Agni brought him a bowl of khichuri for breakfast and gently shook him awake. Soma yawned and picked up his spoon. “Agni…”
“Yes, my prince?”
“I had the strangest dream last night… I dreamt I was a fish.”
“A fish?” Agni smiled at him.
“Yeah… like one of the pretty orange ones in the bowl.”
“I see.”
“You were a fish too.”
Agni chuckled.
“Don’t laugh. It was fun being a fish, although, I don’t think I really want to be one.” Soma ate a spoonful of khichuri. “If we were fish, I’d never eat your delicious curry again…”
Agni laughed. “We’d probably end up in someone’s curry.”
“Yeah…”
“Are you feeling better today, my prince?”
“Very much so, Agni,” Soma said between bites. “Thanks for looking after me...”
“It’s my pleasure, my prince.”