Royal Courting: The King’s Summon: A Preview
[A brief peek at the first chapter of The King’s Summon, in which Lucian converses with a dear friend.]
[This is not beta read, please let me know if you see any typos.]
Lucian pauses as he takes a look around his bakery. He stops and leans against the counter, taking a moment to admire the scene.
The morning sun comes in rays through the windows, sunning his plants and warming the wood floors. The spring breeze meanders through the open door and just barely rustles his hair about his round cheeks. The distant sound of horseshoes on the path and the other businesses opening their doors signals the awakening of a bustling town. The—
“Mr. Hensley! Mr. Hensley!”
Lucian turns quickly to the sound of clattering and a call of his name outside his bakery, followed shortly by a bleat of surprise. He has only a moment to process before his first arrival in standing in the doorway, his dark hair bouncing in sweet curls around his flushed face and little tail flicking quickly to and fro as he recovers from his crash, bike now laying against the side of the building.
“Oh, Callum,” Lucian sighs, rushing to the boy to brush the dirt from his sleeves, “You have to be careful! Your mother spent a lot of money on this uniform, there’s no telling how much that school will make her pay for another…”
The young faun only blinks up at him with wide blue eyes. He shakes some leaves from his unkempt hair and the fur of his ears before holding out the hot mug he’s brought with him, wrapped in a cloth to keep it from burning his hands.
“Here, Mr. Hensley. Your coffee.”
Lucian’s eyes soften as he takes the mug, removing the covering from the top and watching the steam rise.
“Thank you, Callum.”
The mug is set aside to cool for now, and Lucian quickly returns his attention to the faun boy who’s just collided with his bakery.
“You’re not hurt, are you?” He asks, plucking a stubborn twig from Callum’s nest of hair and rubbing over a scratch on the fresh nubs of his horns.
“No, I’m okay,” Callum replies quickly, brushing off his uniform jacket, “Just in a rush. I woke up late, that’s all. I grabbed my books and I was out the door, I didn’t even have to eat breakfast…”
“…Is that why you’ve left home without shoes?”
Callum pauses and looks down, groaning at the sight of his bare hooves on the wood floors.
“Aw, man! I’m gonna get an earful from the headmaster…”
Lucian feels a bit bad for giggling at the boy’s plight, but he can’t help it. He misses when his problems were that simple.
“You don’t have to bring me coffee every day, you know. I appreciate it, but I’ll survive without it,” Lucian assures him.
“Yeah, I know,” Callum replies with a shrug, absentmindedly toying with the leaves of one of Lucian’s plants, “But Ma says it’s a nice thing to do, especially since you don’t have magic.”
“Oh, well—“
“She says that making coffee ‘n’ stuff without magic takes a lot of time that you don’t have, since you have to work so hard and stuff. Is that true?”
“Er, y-yes, but—“
“She wonders how you do anything without magic, yanno. She says it’s really impressive that this place has stayed open so long when you—“
“Callum! I mean…I understand, Callum. Thank you. Here…”
Lucian takes a loaf of bread from his display, handing it to the boy with haste.
“Can’t have you going on an empty stomach. Run along, and quickly, you’re already running late.”
Callum takes the bread without hesitation, immediately digging in and thanking Lucian through a mouthful of it. In an instant he’s out the door and back on his bike, disappearing down the path. Lucian watches him go only until he’s sure he won’t crash once more.
[This is a work of original fiction. You can find out more here. Feedback is always highly encouraged and appreciated.]
dividers by @cafekitsune
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“You just wrote your medieval fantasy setting to have medieval gender roles and homophobia and prejudice because you secretly fantasize about being able to be sexist and homophobic in a land with no PoC without any pushback! It’s fantasy, there’s dragons and wizards, it doesn’t have to have prejudice unless you, the writer, want it like that! In *my* D&D setting, there’s no sexism or homophobia, so that gay transgender women of all races can be holy knights fighting to protect the good kingdom from the endless hordes of the evil dark race that has threatened its borders for a thousand years!”
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Here's some fanart of “What was stolen”! My good friend @beeextraordinary123's medieval fantasy Sonamy fic that I've been reading 🦔⚔️👑
(Here's the snippet i based this painting on cuz I really like it!!):
and here are some doodles and small paintings to test designs !! ( note: these designs have been updated!!)
You can read the fic in AO3 , Just a heads up tho: Audience is teens and up and Amy and most of the characters are +20 yrs old in this fic,so while It doesn't have anything NSFW or explicit in it,some scenes are steamy.Thought i'll mention it in case that sort of thing makes anyone awkward and/or prefers to avoid it.
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