PeaceMaker

Adia watched the exchange between Dominic, Boris, and Kalmin, as she leaned back in her chair, eyes calmly observing them. 'He plans to go somewhere without Boris following?' she thought to herself, 'isn't the whole point of a guard to follow unconditionally? Or is there a power dynamic that's shifting now that Dominic is back from war?'

Her ears picked up a conversation Hendrickson was holding from across the table with those that sat beside him.

"I wonder how he's going to react now that his highness is going to start pushing him away?" Hendrickson whispered, "It's about time that that scrap gets taken out of power. He is undeserving of it with that big attitude of his haha."

Adia pursed her lips, her eyebrows raising slightly as she stared at the exchanges between Dominic and Boris. 'Dominic is letting him go?' she pondered, 'for what?'

"Doesn't that mean that the prince is scared of some scrap off the street?" another advisor named Charles spoke up with a mocking tone, "so scared that he's hurriedly trying to get rid of anyone that can challenge his power? Isn't that pathetic?"

Adia scoffed slightly as she noticed Dominic look over at the council members. 'A pathetic prince huh? Scared of losing his power…' she mused, 'if that's really what's going through his head then how foolish is he to act all high and mighty when we first met when he's such a fickle person?'

"Mind following along, Litian?" Dominic called out, to which Adia followed his gaze to Litian, observing her reaction. 

Litian immediately stood up from her seat, walking towards Dominic immediately. "Yes, your highness," she replied with her head high. 

Adia's jaws clenched slightly as she watched Litian walk to Dominic's side. 'I can basically see her wagging tail…' she thought to herself, 'a cowardly prince and some power-hungry commander who runs after him at first sight… no wonder they were so close from young…'

She observed the expressions on each of their faces as Dominic and Kalmin walked away with Litian leaving Boris standing behind them as the doors closed. She let out a sigh as she felt a pang in her heart. 'What an idiot you are Boris…' she thought to herself, 'to follow a prince that would abandon you after leaving you…'

Her eyes followed his perplexed expression as he walked back to his seat. 

"Looks like his highness is doing better with Litian now," Hendrickson spoke up, his words soon followed by laughter. 

Adia clenched her jaw as Boris walked back without responding. 'Say something back!' she hissed to herself as she clenched her fist. She was barely listening as she heard someone reply in Boris' place. 'Why aren't you saying something??' she pondered, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground as Boris sat down. 'Don't just let them-'

"Excuse me," Adia muttered as she stood up from her seat, unclenching her fist as she posed a smile on her face. 

Boris looked up at her. "Where are you going?" he asked, his eyes locking with hers.

She peered at him for a moment, the disappointment in her eyes bubbling down as she took in the expression in his eyes. 'You clueless man…' she pondered as she smiled. "Just to the restroom. I'd hate to leave when the meals get here, so please excuse me."

"You don't know where you're going through, do you need someone to escort you?" Boris asked, his eyes turning to a maid that walked into the room, carrying some utensils in her hand, "you can ask her to lead the way for you."

"No," Adia snapped back, turning away from Boris as she pushed in her chair and bowed her head. "I know where the bathroom is on this floor." 

She stepped back before turning away and walking towards the door. She hesitated as her hands laid on the door handles. 'Should I stay back?' she mused, her eyes looking down on the door handles. 'No…' she answered, pushing open the doors, 'if he can lead a kingdom for a year, he can take care of himself for a few minutes in a dinner.'

She stepped outside of the room and closed the door behind her, looking up at the ceiling as she let out a sigh, letting the silence in the hallway settle in. "Finally out…" she murmured as she began walking down the hall, 'those loud bastards were starting to affect my train of thought… next time I won't listen in on their gossiping. It's irritating…'

She continued down the hallway. "Now where is that restroom…"

She strolled down the halls, looking at the design of the hallway and the occasional pictures hung up on the walls. 'So this is how they decorate the halls of a palace huh… I've been here for like 2 days or 3 now and I'm still not used to it. So much white and gold in one place all around me,' she mused as she looked up at the ceiling, 'and that ceiling is so high up… how did they even build it? Have giants clumber away at blocks of marble 30 feet up in the air? And how much gold is even i-' 

"Where are we going Kalmin?" 

Her thoughts were immediately cut off when she heard Dominic's voice off in the distance.

"You'll see in a minute your highness," she heard Kalmin reply.

"I hope you won't take too long leading us," Dominic responded. 

Her steps slowed to a stop as she listened to their conversation. 'It's the prince and those two…' she pondered as she quickened her steps and silenced her already quiet steps. 'Why is that guy leading them away from the dining chamber?' 

She followed them for a few more seconds before looking back at where she came from. 'I can go to the restroom as I promised… or I can follow them and figure out what's up with that earlier…' she mused, weighing the choices in her mind. 

A smile grew on her face. She already knew what she was going to do. She followed them quietly from a couple of feet behind them at a distance in which she couldn't see them, but she could hear their steps and their voices. 

She was curious, especially after she'd heard the words from Hendrickson and the others. 'Those loud bastards…' she thought to herself as she grinned, 'if they had just stayed quiet then maybe I wouldn't feel the need to follow then now…'

She rounded the corner, still following and listening to their steps. 'Time to see if those snakes and their exaggerated words are true.'

She knew they weren't. Something about the expressions on the prince's and Boris' face didn't show that of someone that was deliberately trying to get rid of Boris. 'The prince was confused and it seemed like the separation was the work of that long-haired person,' she noted. So it didn't look like Dominic was trying to get Boris dismissed because he has held power before. 

'If he was like that, then Boris wouldn't have become a temporary successor as he did,' Adia chuckled, 'he would have just hogged all the power to himself. That's something that Hendrickson should know also… so why did they say all of these cruel words?'

She stifled a light chuckle. 'If it wasn't me but someone else from back home, they would have attacked the prince on the spot,' she remarked remembering her thoughts from earlier, 'convincing bastards almost got the best of me.'

She waited for them to go by for a minute before continuing into the room, stopping outside and listening for soundS. She heard the sound of something creaking open and steps slowly disappearing. After another minute, she followed into an empty room and looked around, spotting a door in the corner of the room. She paused and listened for any sound on the other side of the door before softly pushing it slightly open and slipping into the staircase, quietly walking down.

Once they came out of the staircase, she waited for them to enter into the hallway and keep walking before she continued to stalk them as they walked, listening to the occasional questions of where they were going from the prince and Kalmin's reply. 'They've been walking for a while… are they lost or something?' she pondered, 'that's not possible, they know this place better than I ever will, especially someone who was born in the palace would be able to help long-hair if they got lost.'

She looked up at a painting on the wall of another unfamiliar face before focusing forward. 'That said… where are they going and what are they going to talk about? And WHY IS IT TAKING SO DAMN LONG!' she groaned, 'are they actually walking somewhere or just walking randomly to somewhere they don't even know? Just gonna pick a random room to talk in?' she hesitated and then dismissed the thought 'doubt it… long-hair looks like someone that knows what he's doing… then why is he-'

She flinched a thought hitting her a second later. She stopped and then listened for footsteps. There were none. 

"Pfft-" she scoffed, as she listened to silence. "Hah… ahahahahahhaha! HAHAHAHAHA!" she hunched over, bursting out into laughter, wiping away the tears that had formed in her eyes. 

"Hah…" She looked up at the hallway and grinned, "That smart long-hair… he knew."