Chapter Text
Alan should not have woken up this early.
It wasn’t that he wished he had more sleep. He preferred to wake up earlier on days when he knew he would need some extra focus. There was something about the sunrise and the crisp morning air, something about the first notes of birdsong and the dew on the grass that he couldn’t help but find empowering.
He supposed it was the tranquility of it all, a sense of peace he could almost smell as people were still enjoying their final cycles of sleep, no doubt tucked warmly under their blankets. The world almost seemed to whisper a few final secrets before the night truly withdrew. Alan always felt some special, quiet power in it as he watched the transition happen. He knew to treasure those moments when he found them – it was so rare to have something that made him actively want to sit still.
There was a more obvious, practical side to it as well. Things didn’t have the chance to get complicated that early in the morning. The only places where anyone really had anything to worry about were bakeries. The life of a baker sounded nice. Alan always smiled when he managed to spot the smoke rising from a baker’s chimney during their preparation for the morning bread rush. The work was simple yet artful, hard yet peaceful. Bakers had the power to support and provide, and they had routine to fall back on whenever things got difficult. Alan wondered how often bakers got to see the sunrise.
But today, Alan should not have woken up this early. He always made a point to get up early for music exams, but a part of his routine was to go to the practice room and do some simple warmups. Nothing too complicated, but enough to sharpen his attention and remind his fingers of how to behave. But this was the first piano exam he was doing at the magic academy. The practice room was already reserved – the exam had to take place somewhere, after all. He wouldn’t have access to the room until the exam itself began.
So Alan was reduced to pacing in his room, stretching his arms, and muttering to himself about rhythms and harmonies. He wasn’t worried about his performance. Even if he somehow did manage to fail, the certification he was trying for wasn’t all that important to him. It was all a formality – the certification didn’t define his skill and he didn’t care to prove himself to the Sorcier Musical Institute. But none of that stopped him from being antsy without his instrument.
A couple of hours went by, and things were only getting worse. This was a particularly low point. Alan had planted his face on his desk and drummed out, with his fingers, the entirety of three of the pieces he would be performing – the shortest of which took six and a half minutes to play. Enough was enough. He got up and began to pace once again.
The knock at the door stopped Alan in his tracks. He glanced at the sky outside, and then at his clock. He wasn’t late, not even close. He had already made arrangements to account for his absence from this morning’s classes, which still hadn’t started. So what was this about?
Alan opened the door and found himself face to face with his good friend and brother’s fiancée, Lady Katarina Claes. She was staring distractedly down the hallway, rather than at the door she was knocking at. She was evidently too distracted to notice that the door had already opened, as she was still knocking. Fortunately, she did notice she had missed the door, and so her fist stopped just short of hitting Alan in the chest. She froze, and turned to face him, already grinning apologetically.
“Morning, Katarina,” said Alan, already fighting to keep his expression neutral. Katarina never made it easy.
Katarina withdrew her hand and began to scratch her head idly. “Good morning, Prince Alan!” She laughed sheepishly.
“Is there something I can help you with?” Alan was happy to see his friend, but he needed to keep his focus. Best to get to the point right away.
“Oh, I was just stopping by to wish you luck on your piano exam. Not that you need it, exactly,” said Katarina. “But still, I imagine it would be nice to have! That is today, right?”
“Yeah, it’s this morning,” said Alan.
Some of his frustrations must have come through in his tone. “Is something wrong? I thought you liked morning timeslots for your exams.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal, really,” assured Alan. “The exam’s in the practice room, so I don’t get to use the piano there to warm up. It’s throwing me off a bit, is all.”
Katarina nodded sagely. “That sounds tough.” She looked up. “And that’s giving you nerves?”
Alan shrugged. “I guess? It’s not that bad, I just don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t think I’d call that—”
“I know!” Katarina cut him off, eyes alight. “I’ll walk you to the exam! You’ll be moving, so it won’t feel like you’re doing nothing, and we’ll be talking, so you’ll be too busy to get nervous. It’s the perfect plan!”
Alan stared at Katarina for a moment. There was no way it could be that simple. And even if it did help him keep calm, it still wouldn’t be compensating for the warmup time he was missing. Alan cast a long glance over his shoulder, eyeing his painfully empty desk. Come to think of it, he wasn’t compensating for any warmup time on his own, either. Maybe Katarina was onto something after all. He smiled. “Ah, why not? Sure.”
“Great!” said Katarina. “Do you have everything you need?”
“I’ll be performing all of my pieces from memory,” replied Alan. “So, yes?”
“Alright, then.” Katarina grinned deviously, grabbed Alan’s wrist, and yanked him unceremoniously into the hallway. “Onward!”
Alan was feeling better from the moment he tasted his first breath of fresh, outdoor air. The conversation was helping too, of course, though he let Katarina do most of the talking. He would give brief replies and offer the occasional thought, but Alan was more than happy to sit back and let the cheer in his friend’s voice wash over him like the warm morning breeze.
They had opted to take a long, meandering route through the school gardens to help kill the remaining time before the exam. Alan was glad that the flowers were in full bloom – they were quite a sight to behold, they smelled exquisite, and they provided enough cover for Katarina to chase various bugs without being caught in the act. When Alan had suggested that maybe the two of them were a few years too old for all the bug chasing, Katarina’s only response had been to hand him a cricket, which Alan had naturally accepted. That had proven to be a surprisingly good decision – the cricket’s chirping was soothing to listen to, and holding the cricket had given his hands something to do besides itch for a keyboard.
Katarina eventually tired of her hunt for bugs and decided that her and Alan’s next order of business would be to sit on a bench in the garden and have a joke-cracking contest. Alan noticed that most of Katarina’s jokes relied on a certain level of wordplay, most of which wasn’t even all that clever. There was the occasional failed pun where Katarina would tell her joke, but realize after she said it that the words she was trying to connect didn’t sound alike in the slightest. It wasn’t too bothersome, but it seemed to disturb Katarina when it happened, so he made sure to announce extra points for creativity any time it came up. Many of Alan’s own punchlines fell flat, but he would always make a show of consulting with the cricket that was still in his hands, demanding to know why their plan hadn’t worked. That always made Katarina laugh, and she called out extra points for devious scheming.
Katarina was clutching her sides, laughing at Alan’s latest attempt at humour, when they were interrupted by a visitor.
“Lady Katarina! Prince Alan! There you are.”
Alan looked over and saw Maria picking her way through the garden towards them, holding something small and boxy which had been wrapped in a handkerchief. “Morning, Maria,” he greeted.
“Okay,” wheezed Katarina, trying to recover, “that was actually really good. You get five points for that one.”
Alan gasped theatrically. “Five entire points? Are you sure?” It was more than Katarina usually offered, so the strategically correct move would be to not argue, but what did strategy matter? The negotiation was the best part of the contest.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at,” said Katarina with a mock sternness, “but you won’t be talking me down that easily.”
“Five points for what?” asked Maria, tilting her head curiously.
“I challenged Prince Alan to a joke-cracking contest,” explained Katarina, smile still apparent in her voice. “It was his turn before you got here.”
Maria smiled. “That sounds lovely. How many points do each of you have in total?”
“Hmm.” Alan considered, then shrugged. “I haven’t been counting. Have you?”
Katarina shook her head. “Nope. No clue over here, either. Sorry, Maria.”
“That’s quite alright.” Maria’s smile hadn’t wavered in the slightest. “I’m glad I finally found the two of you. I wanted to wish you luck on your piano exam today, Prince Alan. You practice so much, I’m sure you’ll do very well.” She raised the box she was carrying. “I also made some snacks for you to try once the exam’s over.”
“Oh,” said Alan. He hadn’t been expecting this. “Thank you, Maria, that’s very kind of you.” He stood to accept Maria’s lunchbox, but realized he was still holding the cricket. He almost released it, but inspiration struck first. “Hey, Maria, listen to this.” Alan raised his cupped hands so that Maria might be able to hear comfortably.
Maria eyed his hands carefully, but ultimately decided to lean towards them, listening. They held still for a few seconds, waiting. Alan glanced over at Katarina and was surprised to see her watching them warily.
That was an odd look for her. What was that about? The glint in her eye gave him a bad feeling, so Alan took a breath to speak, and—
The cricket chirped, and Maria burst into a fit of giggles.
He had almost forgotten the bug! Alan chuckled – Maria’s reaction was even better than he had hoped, and he had to hide his distraction somehow – before kneeling in the grass and releasing the cricket. “Off you go.” He stood back up and brushed himself off. “I can only take credit for holding it, Katarina was the one who caught it.” Alan looked back at Katarina, whose expression had returned to its normal, cheerful state as she watched the cricket bound through the grass. Maybe she had just been worried that the cricket would jump out at Maria. In fairness, that could have ended very poorly. Now that the cricket was gone, there was nothing left to worry about. Katarina no longer looked worried. Mystery solved.
Alan shook his head lightly, trying to clear it. Whatever he saw had probably meant nothing. He turned back to Maria. “Probably best to keep this between the three of us, bug chasing is usually frowned upon among our crowd.” Maria was easily the safest person out of anyone to tell about their bug-chasing antics, but it was still smart to be careful. The chances of her relaying the information to anyone who might actually take issue with it were slim, but not none.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.” Maria passed Alan the lunchbox. “I appreciate you showing me, though.”
“Ah, I’m glad to see Katarina and I aren’t the only ones out here with good taste,” joked Alan.
Maria pointed to the lunchbox that was now in Alan’s hands. “I hope you like the snacks, most of them are new recipes for me.”
Alan laughed. Maria had a truly remarkable talent for baking sweets, she didn’t have anything to worry about. “I’m sure they’re all lovely, but don’t worry, I’ll let you know exactly how lovely that is once I do my research.”
Maria smiled once again and gave a shallow curtsy. “Thank you, Prince Alan.”
Alan sighed inwardly. It felt awkward, but Maria’s curtsy was probably the closest thing to proper etiquette he had seen all morning, including his own behaviour. He glanced at a nearby clock. “I should probably get going. There’s still a decent bit of time before the exam starts, but I do want to be early.” Alan turned on his heel.
Katarina jumped to her feet. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Alan stopped and pointed over his shoulder. “To my piano exam?”
“Hold up, I said I’m walking you there, didn’t I? Don’t take off without me!” Katarina strode over to catch up. “You coming, Maria?”
“Of course, Lady Katarina!”
Alan smiled as the three of them left the garden. It wasn’t the pre-exam warmup he had hoped for, but it would do. It would do just fine.