Chapter Text
Joe stood at the stern of the ship watching as his hometown slowly grew smaller in the distance. Nile and Quynh had been standing beside him, waving goodbye as the ship left port, but had since decided to settle inside and escape the breeze off the sea. No one had bothered him for a little while. He was not sure if the ship’s crew were leaving him to his thoughts, perhaps worried that he was mourning leaving his city behind or growing increasingly apprehensive about what was to come.
If anything, Joe was getting more excited. He had been more on board with this idea than anyone, possibly including himself, had expected. When his parents had come to him to ask if he would be willing to travel overseas for a courtship, he had said yes initially mostly out of an obligation. He had known this would be coming for a while. His eldest sister was ready to step up as queen as soon as his mother decided she would retire and his second eldest sister already had two children. Joe knew his contribution to the family would more likely lie in creating a useful alliance through marriage than any other contribution as the now fifth in line to the throne. And at least he was not being immediately married off to someone he did not know. As was customary, he would travel to this new land for three months, to court and be courted by his prospective future spouse before one of them could decide to propose and the other could choose to accept. Whilst returning home in three months time unwed was not a particularly appealing prospect in terms of the possible teasing from his sisters, it meant he did not have to worry about being tied to someone he did not like. He had also been fairly sure that he did not have to worry about that as soon as his parents mentioned who he would be courting.
Joe did not think it was possible to be in love with someone you had never met. He protested strongly when Nile even called his interest in the new King of Genova, a “crush”. But Joe could not deny that he had only heard good things about the man. Nicky’s coronation had been something of a rush after his father died. He was the second son who had not been expected to inherit the throne until his elder brother passed away a few years before. As such, there had been rumours about cousins or other family who it was feared may try to stake a right to the throne if it was not occupied as quickly as possible. The short period had not allowed anyone from kingdoms more than a day’s travel from Genova to be in attendance and Joe’s parents had instead sent Nile a few weeks later with their good wishes and offers of any assistance that Tunis could offer.
Nile had been heavily involved with the bookkeeping of Tunis before taking on the role of Joe’s right-hand woman (Nile insisted the role was called Chief Advisor and objected when Joe introduced her as “Nile, she knows far more than me and so tells me what to do”). Her assistance had been greatly appreciated by the new king with him having inherited Genova in a slightly chaotic state. By Nile’s reporting it seemed that the previous king’s declining health and devastation at the loss of his eldest son had meant that records and reports had been increasingly forgotten in the final years of his reign. Nicky had wanted to ensure all was in order and had, according to her, been very appreciative of Nile’s help in the matter. He seemed particularly concerned with ensuring that no one had been overcharged the tax they owed due to the disorder, but also that any who had tried to take advantage of the bookkeeping predicament had paid their fair share. When the final budgets and ledgers had been produced, he had set about using Nile’s assistance to find ways to fund projects which had been languishing. Just before Nile had left, he had set about trying to establish a school using a large part of the palace which was currently unoccupied.
Nile had returned to Tunis with great stories of the new king’s patience, kindness and hard work. Joe had heard her say many times that the king would not take his leave to head to bed if the bookkeepers or advisors were still working. He was willing to listen to all opinions but also quick to dismiss those that would see taxes raised for the poorest. When Joe had asked for more stories of the new king, Nile had told him how Nicky knew the name of every person who worked in the palace.
“He once arrived late to a meeting because he had been to the kitchens to wish the cook a happy birthday. He had told her to go home and he would make himself something for dinner and she had refused. He said he had not been expecting her to protest so much and had to show her that he was capable of finding things in the kitchen before she was content that he would not starve that evening if she was to go home.”
Joe thought his continued questions about the new king was him taking an interest in the important affairs of strategic kingdoms just across the sea. Nile considered it to be more than a casual interest in the king, leading to her previously mentioned “crush” comment.
At that point, however, Joe had not been aware that there were additional discussions about Nicky going on that Joe was not a party to, although he also featured in them heavily. Whilst Nile’s assistance in helping to ensure that the new king’s accession ran smoothly, it had been suggested to her that a further way Tunis could offer assistance was in providing a way to strengthen the alliance between their two kingdoms. An alliance with Tunis would improve Genova’s position in the surrounding seas and knowledge that Tunis fully supported the new king would likely silence any remaining grumblings from other prospective claims to the throne. Nile had returned to Tunis with an offer of a courtship between the new King of Genova and the Prince of Tunis which she presented to the Queen and Consort.
It was then a few days after Nile’s return that Joe had been asked to meet with his parents in his mother’s office. He had been slightly on edge before the meeting, knowing it would be about business as otherwise his parents would have asked to meet in their private living quarters or simply brought up the matter at dinner. His parents had presented him with the options to attend this courtship and, with their blessing and hope for its success, he had agreed. The arrangements had then been swiftly made for him and Nile to leave for Genova the following month.
It had not initially been planned for Quynh to accompany them.
Although not technically related to him by blood, Joe considered Quynh to be just as much his sister as if she were. Quynh’s parents had been nobles who had travelled to Tunis long before she was born to help establish trade links with their kingdom. Having settled in Tunis and become firm friends with the Queen and Consort, they had felt no reason to leave once those links had been established and their newly born daughter had grown familiar with the place. When they had tragically passed away in an accident shortly after Quynh’s third birthday and no close family could be found who wished to take her in, Joe’s parents had decided to raise her as part of their family. Being only seven when she came to live with them, Joe could barely remember a time when she had not been his family. Quynh could often be found following Joe around as a child and as they had grown their many shared passions, particularly for the arts, had led to them continuing to spend much time together.
When the news that Joe would be leaving, for a period of three months to possibly, hopefully, much longer, Quynh had been unable to hide her sadness. Joe had sought to comfort her with insistences that he would write and she could visit. His mother had been unable to watch both her children’s sadness, however well Joe thought he was hiding it, and suggested that Quynh accompany him, at least initially. Although it may have just been an excuse, strengthening her knowledge of trade and familiarity with other royals would be useful for any future role Quynh would play in Tunis. As Joe was staying for three months and would be a guest of the Kingdom of Genova it was not expected that he would take any staff beyond his advisor with him. Joe was comforted by the prospect of having an additional person he knew around him, particularly one he valued as much as his sister.
The journey to Genova was going smoothly and on track to last only a few days if the weather stayed calm. Joe and Nile had arranged to have breakfast in Joe’s room of the ship to go over any background or useful protocol to know for this new kingdom. Nile had decided that the best way to prepare for this was for her to prepare a series of pieces of paper with clues on one side and answers on the other which she was using to quiz Joe.
Quynh entered the cabin, having clearly just woken up, and sat down at the table with breakfast and paper strewn across. Picking up one piece, which contained the names of Genova’s previous few kings, she asked, “Are you discussing the new king?”
“If Joe had his way” Nile grinned. “We are reviewing the important information to know before we arrive if you would like to join in our discussion.”
“I think I am fine, thank you” Quynh replied.
“Then why are you here?” Joe asked.
“They said this was where breakfast was” Nile replied, reaching out to take a plate and beginning to add food to it.
“This is where our breakfast is certainly” Joe replied, reaching out to take a piece of bread directly from Quynh’s plate, “but I do not think it is where breakfast is for those who do not wish to contribute to the discussion.”
“I was willing to join the discussion about the new king” Quynh retorted. “I hear he is good with a sword.”
Joe had not heard this mentioned by Nile so turned to her with a questioning glance. Nile shrugged.
“I did not know that.” She replied. “I think I have told you everything that I know of the new king by now.”
“The head of his guard told me” Quynh replied.
Joe’s eyes narrowed in confusion “And how do you know the head of the guard of Genova?”
“She came to visit about a year or so ago. Whilst you and Nile were journeying to attempt to negotiate with Algiers. She was about to be promoted and decided to travel around a few kingdoms to see if there were any new skills she could learn from them” Quynh explained. “She was with us for a few weeks and we stayed in touch writing since then. When I heard that you were to be courting the king of Genova, I wrote to ask her about him. I could hardly let my brother go off to be married to some man I know nothing about. If it was anything useful, I was planning to tell you but she simply wrote back that he was good with a sword but better with a bow and arrow. Her letters are… not always as long as they could be.”
“Or particularly helpful” Joe muttered.
“But nonetheless you can both find out more for yourselves when we arrive later” Nile answered, reaching for another card.
Joe was back on the deck of the ship to watch as they docked in the port of Genova. The colourful houses rose up from the water against the backdrop of luscious green trees. The whole harbour was full of noise with work being done to several ships and smaller boats coming and going. Joe watched fishermen bring in the day’s catch as the gangplank was laid down. A slightly dishevelled looking man appeared at the bottom, looking up at the ship expectantly. Nile rushed down the gangplank to embrace the man who gave her a small smile.
Once Joe and Quynh had joined them on solid land, Nile introduced them, “Joe, Quynh this is Booker, one of the King’s advisors.”
“Please call me Sebastian.” the man replied, sounding almost pleading. Nile simply laughed at him and took the man’s arm to walk the two of them towards the city with Joe and Quynh following behind.
Near the exit of the port of the city, two men stood speaking to each other. The man facing towards them appeared to laugh at something his companion had said. Although the laugh was not loud enough to be heard over the noise around them, Joe could still see the amusement light up the man’s, admittedly very attractive face. Joe noticed the small creases of laughter at the corner of the man’s eyes before being confronted with beautiful green eyes as the man’s gaze met his. Joe was reminded of the sea he had spent days looking out over on their journey, deep and almost a mix of colours as the clouds passed overhead. The joy in the man’s eyes seemed to be the sun glancing off the sea’s waves. Joe barely resisted the temptation to turn around to look back at the man as their group continued to walk past.
They had just walked out of sight of the two when Nile hung back from Booker to fall into step beside Joe. “I see you have already caught the eye of the king” she joked. Nile laughed as Joe quickly spun around but found a wall blocking his view back to the harbour.
The palace was fortunately not too far into the city, maintaining a tactical position looking out over the harbour. Once inside, they were led to their new quarters in a quiet, secluded wing of the palace. The door to the quarters was directly off one side of the covered corridor which looked down over one of the smaller courtyards that Joe had seen on their brief journey through the palace. The quarters contained a large central room in which they could receive guests and had several other private rooms coming off, including a study and bedrooms for each of them.
“It is tradition for the Court and King to receive you all after you have arrived but the King thought you might like some time to settle in beforehand” Booker told them. “If it is acceptable to you, they will meet you in the throne room in two hours.”
“Thank you.” Nile nodded in agreement and Booker bowed slightly before taking his leave.
Having taken the time to settled into their rooms, with the assistance of servants who had already begun bringing their items up from the ship, the three reunited in the central area just before the two hours had passed. Joe was ready to head for the door when Nile stepped in front of him and held up a formal coat. Whilst the coat was beautiful, with fine, intricately sewn details, Joe’s childhood standing uncomfortably wearing similarly starched materials led to him attempting to rush past her.
“You have to wear this,” Nile stated, attempting to look stern whilst clearly amused by Joe’s childish behaviour.
“I refuse to,” Joe responded, trying to sidestep around her but not being fast enough.
“It is expected,” Nile said, choosing to emphasise this by thrusting the coat towards him.
Joe adopted a fighting stance in front of Nile. “We are no longer in Tunis; are you going to make me?”
“I will not. But there are others that might.” Nile replied, nodding behind him. Joe had been so focused on Nile that he had not paid attention to Quynh sneaking up behind him and grabbing him by the waist to hold him in place. Unable to fight back due to his laughter, Joe was soon wearing the hated coat, which may have been more comfortable than he would want to admit, and they were ready for their introduction to the King.
The throne room was a grand, marble floored room, not large enough to hold a ball in but more than fitting for its purpose of receiving guests and petitions to the king. At the other end to where they had entered, the King and a few members of the court stood waiting to greet them. As was custom, the King stood in the centre in front of the throne with a few on either side of him. Booker stood to one side, looking slightly bored with the proceedings. At the opposite side of the group, a lady dressed in a dark uniform also worn by other guards appeared to wink towards Quynh as they approached.
The approaching three stopped at a short distance and a page proclaimed the names of each of the people in the room. Nicky turned slightly to smile at Nile when her name was called but, despite looking towards Joe at his name, Joe did not appear to be rewarded with sharing the same warm gaze that they shared down at the harbour.
Once introductions were over, the formal arrangements slowly dissolved. Quynh stepped away from his right to approach the lady who had been introduced as Andy. Nile walked left towards the group Booker appeared to be part of.
Joe felt slightly like the seas had parted to lead him to Nicky who now stood slightly apart from the others in front of Joe. Trying to show his warmed smile, Joe approached.
Up close the man was even more handsome than Joe had even dreamed to expect. From Nile’s description of his interest in books, Joe had presumed that the man had perhaps devoted himself more to study than to action. However, the finely tailored cut of his shirt demonstrated that that was not the case, seemingly designed to highlight the strong lines of his shoulders and arms. Joe was sure that given how beautiful Nicky was, it should have been the first thing Nile mentioned when discussing him. He wondered how anyone could talk about Nicky for more than a few moments, as Nile had done at Joe’s request, and not see it fit to discuss the rich colour of his eyes or distinguished features of his face.
The two stood in silence for a few heartbeats. Joe could not quite seem to make his brain stop thinking of how he would capture Nicky’s face with charcoal long enough to begin the conversation. Although clearly trying to hide it, Nicky’s slight twitch of his fingers appeared to betray his increasing discomfort at the silence and any linger warmth had appeared to seep out of Nicky’s eyes as Joe approached.
Nicky coughed. “How do you like Genova?” he asked.
“It is…” Joe had seen very little of the kingdom so far on his walk from the ship to the palace and so felt his answer may be influenced by the man before him. Joe smiled slightly “… not quite what I expected.”
Nicky seemed to consider this before nodding, “Well at least you will be leaving soon.”