Chapter Text
“Hey Wil, can you hand me the epli?”
Wilbur glanced down at the bowl of fruit sitting in front of him, his eyes skimming over the bright red skin of the epli that sat on top. He almost reached out to grab it so he could toss it to Tommy, but then he paused.
Turning his head, Wilbur looked across the sitting room and saw his little brother stretched out across the couch, his golden hair nearly shining against the shimmering silver of the velvet couch cushions. Tommy’s boots had been abandoned near the door, and Wilbur noticed he was wearing one black sock and one blue sock as he kicked his feet over the edge of the couch’s arm. To say the least, he looked comfortable as could be, and clearly didn’t want to get up himself to get the epli to snack on.
Which gave Wilbur an idea.
“Make me,” he replied evenly, leaning back in his own chair.
Tommy sat up so he could meet Wilbur’s eyes over the back of the couch, and frowned. “Wha- don’t be a bitch! Just toss me the epli!”
Wilbur smirked and ran his fingers over the grooves in the silvery wood of the table he was sitting at. “I said to make me give it to you.”
Realization dawned in Tommy’s eyes, and he let out a loud groan as he fell back onto the couch. “C’mon Wilbur, I don’t wanna practice right now, it’s hard!”
“Tommy, if you don’t practice it’s never going to get easier,” Wilbur reminded him.
“I know, you tell me that every single day,” Tommy grumbled, dragging his hands down his face. “But I just don’t feel like it right now!”
Wilbur shrugged. “Guess you’re not getting the epli then.” He continued to eye the fruit in the bowl in front of him, watching Tommy from his peripheral vision.
His little brother was stubborn, Wilbur would give him that. But Tommy was also lazy. Even though he was fifteen and far too tall to be carried around, he still tried to get Wilbur to give him piggyback rides all around the palace. Admittedly, while Wilbur did end up giving him those rides more often than not, he wasn’t going to give in so easily on this. If Tommy wanted the epli, either he was going to have to get up and grab it himself, or he was going to need to practice his Voice.
He watched the internal debate play out across Tommy’s face for a few moments. It was painfully easy to read Tommy’s expressions, and Wilbur knew that was something that was going to have to be trained out of him eventually.
But for now, at fifteen Tommy wore his heart on his sleeve. And because of that, Wilbur knew the second Tommy decided he was going to try and practice his Voice.
Eyes fluttering shut, Wilbur watched as Tommy repeated the breathing exercises he’d taught the boy so long ago. His body sunk into the couch cushions as he relaxed, and Wilbur waited with a hopeful smile as Tommy’s eyes flickered open again.
”Give me the epli,” Tommy ordered, his Voice holding a strange echoing quality that bounced off the walls of the room.
Deep inside his chest, Wilbur felt a tug. It was the urge to reach out and grab the epli so he could toss it in Tommy’s direction. His hand hovered, halfway stretched out to the fruit bowl, but it was all too easy to ignore the command and pull his hand back to his lap.
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Wilbur teased with a smirk.
Tommy scowled. Guess he was going to have to show his little brother how it was done.
Closing his eyes, Wilbur took a steadying breath. He let the ocean inside of himself settle, doing the same breathing exercise as Tommy to clear his head.
In for four, out for eight. Rinse and repeat until the waves stop crashing in your head.
The waves lapping at the edges of his mind slowed, their rhythmic push and pull growing softer and softer until it disappeared completely.
Then, he opened his eyes.
”Come take the epli,” Wilbur ordered. His Voice wasn’t just his voice as he spoke. It was thousands of Voices layered on top of each other. The Voices of his ancestors, Voices that reverberated through your skull with commands that forced their way into your very cells. A siren’s command filled every part of your body, so it was impossible to do anything but obey it.
As soon as Wilbur let his Voice slip from his lips, Tommy’s eyes glazed over, and he jumped to his feet to rush around the couch. He stumbled towards the table and snatched the apple out of the bowl. Then, once the fruit was in his grasp, his eyes cleared up, and he blinked a few times as he came back to himself.
Realizing what Wilbur had done, Tommy frowned and slapped his arm as hard as he could, the sharp sting making Wilbur yelp in pain.
“You’re such a bitch boy, Wilbur!” Tommy snapped, taking a vicious bite out of the epli with a loud crunch! “You just like to show off that you can do the freaky voice thing way better than I can!”
“The only reason I can use my Voice better is because I actually practiced it growing up,” Wilbur told him, chuckling at Tommy’s childish frustration as he stormed back over to the couch. “It wasn’t always this easy for me, and it won’t get any easier for you unless you practice.”
“But it hurtsssss,” Tommy whined, dramatically dropping onto the couch and taking another bite of the epli. “It makes my throat all scratchy when I try to do it!”
Well, Wilbur knew all about how painful practicing your Voice could be. As a child, it wasn’t at all uncommon for him to have lost his voice completely from practicing so much the day before. So many nights had been spent whispering commands at Niki, the two of them huddled under the blankets on his bed as he tried to perfectly mimic her pitch and tone.
Niki’s pitch was always steady, never wavering like Wilbur’s did. It took far longer for her throat to get scratchy from using her Voice, and whenever she used even the simplest command on Wilbur, it was near impossible for him to fight against it.
Tommy didn’t stay up night after night practicing commands until he couldn’t speak at all. He rarely took Wilbur up on his offer to practice mimicking his pitch and tone. In fact, he didn’t have that much of a desire to learn how to use his Voice at all. No desire to learn, and no desperation to have something for himself, to hold onto one tiny piece of their mother and prove that he had something inside of him that made him valuable.
No, Tommy didn’t have any of that desperation because he knew how valuable he was. Wilbur supposed that kind of confidence came with being the Crown Prince, because there wasn’t a single person in the palace that didn’t treat Tommy like he was made of gold.
Wilbur was decidedly… not thought of in the same way.
Before he could spiral into that train of thought, the door to the sitting room opened, and Wilbur grinned when he spotted a familiar head of pink hair walking through the door.
“Niki!”
Tommy bolted upright from the couch, beaming at Niki when he spotted her in the doorway. “Hi Niki!”
Making her way into the room, the folds of her skirt swishing around her calves with every step, Niki waved at both brothers as she settled herself at the table across from Wilbur. “Hi guys. What are you both up to?”
“Wilbur’s being a bitch!” Tommy immediately declared.
Niki giggled while Wilbur rolled his eyes. “He’s being dramatic. I’m just trying to get him to practice-” he paused, glancing at the door to make sure no one was nearby, “well, you know.”
Her eyes widened in understanding. “Ah, I see. Why does that make Wilbur a bitch, Tommy?”
“Because I just wanted my epli and he wouldn’t hand it to me,” Tommy groaned, tossing the half-eaten fruit above his head. “This is cruel and unusual punishment for a child. He’s starving his own little brother for his amusement!”
“You had a giant stack of pancakes for breakfast this morning,” Wilbur argued.
“Yeah, but that was hours ago! I’m a growing boy, Wilbur. Need plenty of calories if I’m gonna be the king!”
Wilbur rolled his eyes again at his brother’s antics. “You’re ridiculous.”
“No, you’re ridiculous! And you’re ugly!”
“Excuse you! That’s a low blow,” Wilbur gasped, although he wasn’t actually offended by the jab.
Tommy rested his chin on top of the couch cushion, looking back at him with a shit-eating grin. “Just sayin’ the truth, man. Sorry if you’re too obsessed with your dumb face to hear it.”
Letting out a short laugh, Wilbur stayed still for a moment, staring down Tommy and letting him bask in a sense of false safety. Then, after a beat, he dove for the couch and Tommy screeched.
“Wait! I’m sorry-” Tommy was cut off when Wilbur grabbed him in a loose headlock, holding Tommy against his chest as tight as he could without hurting him. “Let go of me!” He yelled, kicking his legs out and trying to pry Wilbur’s arms off of him.
“Not until you take it back,” Wilbur said, laughing at Tommy’s pathetic attempts to break his grip.
“Never! Fuck you!” Tommy shouted, and Wilbur hissed when Tommy blindly smacked him in the face.
In retaliation, Wilbur smacked the top of his head, and Tommy gasped in a way that was definitely over-exaggerated for how hard he hit him.
“THAT HURT!” Tommy screeched, slapping Wilbur’s arm hard enough that Wilbur could feel the red mark it left behind. “You’re such a bitch you piece of shit ugly asswipe I’m gonna kill you-”
“Uh, Tommy?”
A new voice in the room startled both Wilbur and Tommy out of their fight, the two of them freezing as they looked up at the same time.
Standing in the doorway was a shorter boy with a mess of brown and blonde hair, the colors popping up in uneven chunks that he insisted was natural despite how strange it was. As soon as Tommy spotted the boy, he gasped in delight, shoving Wilbur away and scrambling to his feet.
“Tubbo!” Tommy cried out, practically jumping on his best friend and wrapping his arms around him. “Where have you been? I’ve been so bored today.”
“Unlike you, Mr. Crown Prince, I actually have a job I need to do,” Tubbo snorted, shoving Tommy back.
“Ooooo I’m Tubbo and I’m so busy and boring all the time,” Tommy teased, doing a poor imitation of Tubbo’s voice. “What are you doing here then if you’re so busy with work?”
“Because you are my work right now,” Tubbo said, grabbing Tommy’s wrist and tugging him towards the door. “You’re twenty minutes late for your lessons.”
Oh. Wilbur probably should’ve checked the clock.
“But I don’t wanna do stupid maths problems with Foolish,” Tommy complained, dropping his head on Tubbo’s shoulder. “I don’t even know why I need to learn maths in the first place. Kings don’t do maths!”
“A king should be well-versed in a variety of subjects,” Wilbur reminded him. “Like languages, literature, history-“
“And maths too, I know,” Tommy said, cutting him off with a loud groan. “Y’know, I’d practice my Voice if I could use it on Foolish so I could make him do my problems for me.”
Wilbur and Niki both tensed at that.
“Tommy, you know you can’t-“
“Yeah, I know,” Tommy huffed. “I can’t let anyone know I’m learning how to use my Voice, believe me, I’m well-aware of that. I was just saying it’d give me a lot more motivation to practice.”
“Well, you can’t or else the Themis Ambassadors will get really pissed at you,” Tubbo said, pulling Tommy to the door. “Now c’mon, we gotta get going. I got other shit to do that’s more important than dragging you to your tutor.”
“But as my personal servant shouldn’t you make me your number one priority?”
“I will punch you.”
“That’s called assaultin’ a royal, big man. That’s not gonna be- OUCH!”
Wilbur snorted as the boy's voices faded down the hall, knowing the incredulous look Tommy probably gave Tubbo when he hit him.
Turning his focus back to Niki, he saw she was still staring at the door, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“He’s really not taking this stuff seriously, is he?” Niki asked softly, a crease forming between her brows.
“He’s only fifteen,” Wilbur reasoned, ignoring the dread pooling in his gut.
Niki glanced back to him, her silver eyes glimmering with something far too knowing. “You weren’t like that when you were his age.”
And that was the truth of it, wasn’t it? When Wilbur was fifteen, he’d already dedicated himself to his studies and his practice of his Voice. He threw himself into learning everything he could about Eldingvegr’s history, its economy, its culture—everything he needed to know to be Tommy’s advisor.
“I’m glad he’s not like me,” Wilbur said after a moment. “I never got to complain about my classes, or goof around with my friends, or just be a normal fifteen year old. You know that.”
Something sad flashed through Niki’s eyes. “Yeah, I know, Wil. And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Tommy gets to have more of a real childhood.” She paused, pointed nails tapping against the wood table. “I just worry about what kind of a leader he’ll be.”
Wilbur stiffened, because he also had the same worries, but didn’t like to put a voice to them.
“He’ll be fine. I know he will,” Wilbur reassured her, even though he wasn’t convinced of that himself.
Niki sighed and stretched out a hand between them, the silvery-pink scales on her palm glinting under the lights above their heads. Silently, Wilbur placed his hand in hers and she squeezed it gently, the thin webbing between her fingers soft against his non-webbed ones.
“You know what I’m going to say,” Niki told him, staring at their hands.
Wilbur kept his eyes on the table. “There’s no point in going over it again.”
“I know there’s no point. It just-” she paused, squeezing his hand harder this time. “It just frustrates me. Because I think even Tommy would agree that you would be a much better fit-”
“Niki,” Wilbur cut her off, pulling his hand out of hers. “I said there’s no point in going over it again. I’m never going to be king. I have no birthright to take the throne. I was always going to be an advisor, and I’ve accepted that.”
“But don’t you want more?” Niki asked, frowning at him.
Yes. Wilbur had to bite his tongue to keep the answer from spilling out of his mouth, because yes he wanted more. Of course he wanted more. He wanted to be more than the bastard prince. He wanted to be more than a mistake his mother made before she married Tommy’s father.
But that wasn’t the role he had been cast for in his life.
“It doesn’t matter,” Wilbur said instead. “When Tommy turns eighteen he’ll be crowned King, and I will be his advisor. He’ll be a good king, I’ll make sure of it.”
Although Niki didn’t seem pleased at this, she seemed to understand that he wanted to change the subject, and decided not to push it.
“Themis has been getting antsy lately,” Niki said after a few moments, pulling her hands back to her side of the table.
Now that caught Wilbur’s attention.
“How so?”
“I’m not sure. They’ve been asking for reports more often, and the ambassadors have been pulling me aside for more meetings on how the two of you are doing,” Niki admitted, dropping her voice despite the fact that they were the only two in the room. “I feel like there’s something more going on that they’re not telling me.”
“Like what?” Wilbur pushed, frowning at her. “Like they’re concerned about our alliance?”
“Possibly, but I don’t know why they would be worried about that changing. Our alliance has been secured ever since Tommy was born,” Niki said, fiddling with the cuffs of her blouse. “Have you noticed anything unusual with the King Regent?”
Leaning back in his chair, Wilbur thought over his past few interactions with Eret. “They haven’t seemed to be acting unusual. Maybe more stressed, but that’s to be expected in the windy season.”
Humming, Niki nodded. “I’m probably just being paranoid.”
Wilbur’s frown deepened. “Don’t brush your instincts off like that. If Themis is acting strange, we need to keep an eye on them.”
“But it’s not like there’s anything we can do even if something odd is going on. The ambassadors only tell me limited information because they know I’m biased towards you and Tommy,” Niki said, huffing a bit. “Though I don’t know what else they expected. I’ve been here so long that I barely remember Themis. Sure, I’m an emissary for the planet in title, but Eldingvegr is more of my home than Themis has ever been.”
“At least you’ve been there,” Wilbur muttered. “I don’t think they’d let me and Tommy on the planet even if we wanted to travel there.”
Niki snorted. “Definitely not before Tommy is crowned. They might invite the two of you to the planet after his coronation to reaffirm the alliances, but I’m not sure about that.”
Talking about his mother’s home planet was always a strange experience because of how disconnected Willbur felt from the place. Despite the fact that he’d lived there for the first few years of his life, he had been far too young to remember any of it. He might have been able to use the siren’s voice, but there was little else about him that would qualify him as a ‘siren’. But then again, if you were to ask anyone in the palace if he was Eldingvegrian, the answer would most likely be a resounding no.
He was just… Wilbur. A prince in title alone and nothing more.
“Keep an eye on the ambassadors and let me know if they do anything else unusual,” Wilbur said after a few moments, staring at his hands. “I’ll watch Eret, see if I notice anything off with them.”
“I will,” Niki nodded, giving him a reassuring smile.
Suddenly, a soft dinging sound cut their conversation short. Pulling out a small, circular disc from his pocket, Wilbur set it on the table before tapping the top of it.
“Prince Orpheus, the King Regent requests your presence in the observatory,” an attendant’s voice said, echoing out from the small disc that was glowing a soft shade of blue.
Taking a breath, Wilbur nodded. “I’ll be right there.”
The disc went dark again, and Wilbur put it back in his pocket. Then, he pushed to his feet, ignoring Niki’s concerned look.
“Do you want me to come with?” She asked, also rising to stand.
“They probably want to speak to me in private, so I don’t think you can tag along,” Wilbur said, although he so badly wished he could bring Niki with him. It wasn’t that speaking with Eret was unpleasant. Wilbur had known them since he was a child after all. But having Niki by his side always made him feel more steady on his feet. Her presence kept his shoulders straight and head held high, because he knew she would tell him off if he were to shrink in on himself.
“I’ll go train then. Come find me afterwards,” Niki said, reaching out to squeeze his arm.
Wilbur gave her a grateful smile. “I’ll give you the full report on what they say.” It was said as a joke, but they both knew Wilbur would tell her everything no matter what.
With that, she dropped her hand, smoothed out the wrinkles in her pale blue skirt, and left the room. Now alone, Wilbur smoothed out his jacket, absently thumbing at the silver embroidery settled over his heart, before shaking himself off. He had a meeting to attend.
The clicking of his boots against marble echoed off the cavernous walls of the palace with every step. A few servants passed him, all dipping their heads in customary respect, but offering no greetings for him. Only when he was with Tommy did servants greet him as they passed by, and only because they had to greet Tommy first, so then it would seem odd for them to greet Prince Theseus and not Prince Orpheus.
It stopped stinging long ago.
Soon, Wilbur found himself stepping into the observatory. Enormous windows stretched from floor to ceiling, letting light bathe the room in varying shades of pink. In the center of the room stood the orrery—a model of the solar system Eldingvegr was located in. Gold and silver rods stretched out with models of the different planets settled on top, rotating slowly around a flickering orange replica of their sun. The metal glimmered in the dim light coming through the windows, and in front of the orrery, Wilbur spotted Eret.
“Wilbur,” they greeted, turning at the sound of his footsteps. “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
Wilbur bowed his head at Eret, before stepping up to join them in front of the orrery. “I was told to come as soon as I could.”
“Oh, well I wish the attendant had specified it was nothing urgent. I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything,” Eret said, folding their hands in front of the billowing peach chiffon of their dress.
“You weren’t,” Wilbur replied quickly, keeping his eyes on the multi-colored model of Eldingvegr as it slowly moved in front of his gaze.
Eret hummed. “That’s good.”
Past the solar system model, Wilbur could see the barest pinpricks of stars twinkling against the purple-pink sky outside the windows. On the horizon, Wilbur could see the sky shifting from pink to something more akin to the same shade of peach as Eret’s dress, and knew that if he was facing the other way, he would see the horizon shifting to a darker shade of indigo.
“So, I was simply calling you in to ask for an update on how Tommy is progressing with his studies?” Eret asked after a few moments, shifting to face Wilbur fully.
Wilbur frowned, looking at Eret and meeting their pure white eyes. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to ask his tutors that? Especially considering his primary tutor is an old friend of yours?”
“I’ve spoken to his tutors. But I also wanted to get your perspective on how he’s progressing.”
“Oh.” Wilbur blinked, still confused as to why Eret would want his opinion on this, but figured it wasn’t worth questioning. “He’s progressing fine, I think. He’s still young, so he’s not always the most diligent, but I’m sure that’ll improve as the years go on.”
Eret nodded, and for the briefest of seconds, Wilbur thought he saw a frown flash across their face. But it was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, their features smoothed back out with that eternal youth of theirs Wilbur still struggled to understand.
If a stranger were to try and guess how old Eret was, they would probably say they were somewhere in their early adulthood—mid twenties by human standards. But Wilbur had known Eret since he was a very young child, and they had always looked that way. Although Eret’s true age was unknown, most of the rumors estimated them to be somewhere in the ballpark of one hundred and fifty years old.
“I’m glad you think so. I know some of his tutors are worried about his tendency for insolence,” Eret said, chuckling lightly. “Foolish isn’t worried though. In fact, I think he gets Tommy off topic during their lessons more than Tommy himself does.”
“I’m sure if Foolish taught him literally any other subject besides maths, then Tommy would never be late to his lessons,” Wilbur huffed, a small smile crossing his face.
Eret nodded. “I certainly think that would be the case.” They paused for a moment, turning away from Wilbur and back to the orrery. “How are you holding up personally, Wilbur?”
“Me?” Eret nodded again, and Wilbur furrowed his brows. “Um, I’m alright. My lessons are rather minimal these days, but I like to believe I’m progressing well with learning about our trade agreements and alliances.”
“What have you been learning about most recently?” Eret asked.
“I’ve been told to brush up on the current imperial powers that pose potential threats to us. I’ve been familiarizing myself with both the Antarctic Empire and the Essempi Empire, although it’s far more difficult to find information on the Antarctic Empire than you would expect.”
“I would imagine that’s because the Antarctic Empire is so young.”
Wilbur nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been gathering. The Essempi Empire is still relatively young as well, but the Antarctic is far more closed off than Essempi is.”
“Essempi is young, but very powerful,” Eret said, a strange tightness to their voice that Wilbur couldn’t understand the meaning of. “What do you know of it so far?”
“I know that it’s currently being ruled by Emperor Dream XD III, and that he only took up the throne a few years ago when his father passed. I know that he has already taken far more planets than his father or grandfather did this early into their reigns, and I also know that he’s said to be known to play dirty to get what he wants.”
Eret’s brows pinched. “Yes, that’s what I’ve heard about him as well.”
Glancing at the King Regent, Wilbur noted the tension lining their shoulders. “Dream hasn’t made any threats towards us, has he?”
Immediately, Eret shook their head. “No, of course not. Dream’s no fool, and he knows better than to get on Eldingvegr’s bad side.”
“Even a man as powerful as Dream has to rely on us for blaziphane,” Wilbur muttered, snorting a bit.
“Blaziphane was the only reason his father was able to live for as long as he did, and I’m sure Dream intends to outlive him by many more years,” Eret agreed, muscles twitching in their jaw. “Don’t worry yourself too much about Dream, or about Essempi in general right now. You still have a few years before you need to be perfectly up to date on all of that.”
“You called me in here because you were worried about Tommy’s studying when he still has several years-”
“You and Tommy have very different roles in store for you, you know this,” Eret said, cutting him off. “Besides, you’ve always been diligent in your studies, even when you were Tommy’s age. You deserve to relax sometimes, especially since you’re so young.”
Wilbur huffed. “I’m an adult.”
“You’re nineteen. That’s hardly an adult,” Eret teased, flashing him a warm smile.
It certainly didn’t feel like Wilbur was anything less than an adult. Like he’d said to Niki, he never felt like he’d actually gotten to have a real childhood. Wilbur was never a child of Eldingvegr like Tommy was. He was the bastard prince, the boy who technically had no right to stay on the planet after his mother had died. But he was still the brother of the future king, which meant enough to let him stay in the palace and retain his title as prince. But he was hyper aware at all times of how unwelcome he was. He didn’t have the leeway to cause problems, to be insolent. This planet was the only home he’d ever known, and yet he was always going to be a guest on it.
Still, he wasn’t going to complain about any of that to Eret. They were one of the few people who didn’t treat Wilbur like an unwelcome guest in the palace, so at least there was that.
“I suppose,” Wilbur acquiesced after a few moments.
Humming, Eret pushed their dark, curly hair out of their eyes, before their smile faded.
“Have you been holding up alright?” They asked in a much softer voice this time. “I know the windy season can be difficult for you.”
Tensing, Wilbur’s eyes flickered to the windows once more. A tree near the window trembled in the powerful wind gusts that were blowing past the palace, and if he pressed his ear to the glass, he knew he would be able to hear the near deafening howl of the wind as well.
A ship taking off into the sky.
A loud screech as the wing of the shuttle is ripped off entirely.
Panic filling every fiber of his being as he watches the shuttle careen to the side, disappearing into the horizon.
His own screams being drowned out by the screaming wind-
Shaking himself out of the memory, Wilbur shoved down the buzzing in his chest and forced his attention back to Eret.
“It’s been fine. Just trying not to focus on it,” Wilbur explained, coughing to clear his throat.
Eret made a sympathetic noise, and reached out to pat his shoulder. “Let me know if you need anything, Wilbur. As your parent’s advisor, obviously it has been my duty to ensure the planet continued to thrive after their… accident, but I also like to think my duty has always included ensuring both you and Tommy are safe and whole as well.”
Wilbur flashed them a grateful smile. “I know, Eret. You’ve been wonderful to us.”
Although he wasn’t sure why, Wilbur could’ve sworn something horribly sad flashed over Eret’s face at this.
✧☾✧
During dinner that evening, Eret’s sadness didn’t seem to let up.
Because of the windy season, there were no ships coming to and from Eldingvegr, meaning there were no dinners planned to host diplomats and ambassadors. Instead, dinner was a quiet affair, with only a few people present.
It was Wilbur, Tommy, Eret, Niki, and Foolish. The first time Eret had invited their old friend to join in on their private dinners, Wilbur had been confused. But even though Wilbur had never been tutored by Foolish like Tommy was, he got along with the man quite well. He was similar to Eret in that he didn’t seem to think any less of Wilbur, but that might also have been due to the fact that Foolish wasn’t from Eldingvegr either.
Foolish didn’t speak much of where he came from. Wilbur only knew that he and Eret had met a very long time ago, and that Foolish had been traveling between planets for a while before Eret invited him to Eldingvegr.
Right now, Foolish and Eret were speaking in low voices over their food at the head of the table. Niki was sitting on one side of Wilbur, while Tommy sat on the other.
“Did you ever have to learn how to do something called a ‘logarithmic function’, Wilbur?” Tommy asked, frowning at him with a fork halfway to his mouth.
Wilbur frowned. “Uh, I believe so? But it was a while ago, so I couldn’t tell you what they actually do.”
Tommy groaned, taking an exaggerated bite of his food. “I was gonna ask if you could help me on my homework but I guess you’re useless.”
“Tommy, helping you on your homework usually means you trying to get me to do the problems for you,” Wilbur huffed, elbowing his brother.
“Excuse me, that’s called cheating which is something I would never do,” Tommy shot back, scowling at him.
“Oh yeah, definitely not,” Wilbur teased. “You’ve definitely never begged me to write an essay for you before.”
Of course this was when Foolish decided to chime into the conversation. “Huh? Cheating?”
Face going bright red, Tommy let out a nervous laugh and quickly shook his head. “What? I wasn’t talking about cheating, that was Wilbur! He’s such a wrong’en, trying to convince me to cheat on my homework-”
“You are such a little liar!” Wilbur exclaimed, punching Tommy in the arm.
“Ow! I’m not a liar, you’re a bad influence!”
“I’m telling you not to cheat, you brat!”
“And I was just asking for help-”
“Boys,” Eret cut in, pinching the bridge of their nose. “No bickering at the dinner table. We’ve talked about this before.”
Huffing, Tommy slumped back in his seat. “Fine.”
From his angle, Wilbur could see Tommy holding a hand up under the table, and when he glanced down he realized Tommy was flipping him off.
He shot Tommy a dirty look, and when Eret turned back to their food, he punched Tommy in the arm again. Tommy yelped while Wilbur smoothed out his face to the picture of innocence, ignoring the suspicious look Eret shot his way while trying not to snicker. On his left, Niki just seemed exasperated, which he also expertly ignored.
“So,” Eret suddenly said, startling Wilbur and Tommy both to attention, “the wind is going to die down tonight it seems, though it’ll only be a few hours before it picks up again.”
“Are we going to try and get any ships off planet during the window?” Wilbur asked, straightening up in his seat.
Eret nodded. “We’ll see if we can send off a shipment of blaziphane that we collected before the season began, but weren’t able to process in time. If the window isn’t long enough though it’s not a problem. The shipment can stay here till the season ends.”
“Why are we taking the risk though?” Tommy jumped in, surprising Wilbur.
Mirroring Wilbur’s surprise, Eret blinked a few times. “What do you mean?”
“I mean if the blaziphane can stay till the season ends, why are we even bothering trying to ship it off during the window? We know the predictions aren’t always accurate, and if the ship takes off and is still in the atmosphere when the winds pick up again-”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Eret reassured him. “If it seems like the winds might pick up again before the ship can get out of the atmosphere, then we won’t launch it. And again, it’s not necessary, but we were supposed to send out a shipment to Themis before the windy season picked up, so it’s already late.”
“Themis has plenty of blaziphane from us though. I don’t think it’s worth risking an entire fuckin’ ship instead of just making them wait a few more weeks,” Tommy scoffed, frowning now.
“Themis is our most closely allied planet,” Wilbur pointed out, Niki’s words from earlier about the ambassador's strange behavior echoing in his mind. “If the risk is low enough, it’s better to try and get the shipment to them as quickly as possible.”
“Especially considering how Queen Myrina’s doing,” Foolish added. “She’s been sick for a while, so they’re pretty antsy about getting their hands on more blaziphane.”
Niki and Wilbur both frowned at this.
“Lord Foolish, what do you mean that Queen Myrina is sick?” Niki asked, tightening her grip on her fork.
Foolish’s eyes widened, and he glanced at Eret who was sighing into their hand.
“Oh, uh, I thought you guys would’ve known about that,” Foolish said, chuckling awkwardly. “Um, can we pretend I didn’t say that?”
“Why wasn’t I informed of this?” Niki pushed, ignoring Foolish’s request. “I’m an Emissary of Themis, why wouldn’t I be told if the Queen was ill?”
“Lady Nihachu, you know we have no control over what the Ambassadors do and don’t tell you,” Eret reminded her, a quiet warning underlying their words. “You’ll have to take that up with them, not us.”
“Then why wasn’t I informed of this?” Wilbur jumped in, frowning at Eret. “I’m supposed to be kept up to date on exactly this kind of stuff.”
“Again, the Ambassadors control most of the information we receive from Themis. I assumed if they wanted you to be aware of it, they would’ve told you,” Eret explained. “If you want any more information on it, you’ll have to go to them. As you all are aware, Themis likes to keep their political affairs private.”
“But why keep it from us?” Tommy asked, still frowning. “Our mum was literally part of the Themis Royal Family. Queen Myrina is related to us, right?”
“She’s your aunt,” Niki murmured.
Tommy nodded at that. “Exactly! Don’t we have a right to know if our aunt is sick?”
“It’s more complicated than that, unfortunately,” Eret said, folding their hands in front of them. “Yes, you are related to Queen Myrina by blood, but the sirens don’t consider either of you to be proper sirens. Neither of you were raised on Themis, moreover you’re both only half siren rather than full siren. Not to mention, you’re both male, and the Themisian line of succession defaults to the women first.”
Wilbur knew that. Of course he knew the sirens didn’t give a shit about him and Tommy, but he was surprised that Tommy hadn’t seemed to realize that until now.
Swallowing down a lump in his throat, Tommy’s eyes fell to his plate. “Oh. I see.”
“You’ll understand it a bit more when you’re older,” Foolish reassured him, trying to give Tommy a kind smile. “It’s not, like, a personal thing against you. The sirens are kinda just like that.” Pausing, Foolish glanced at Niki. “No offense, Lady Nihachu.”
“None taken, Lord Foolish,” Niki muttered, twisting her fingers into the napkin in her lap.
An awkward silence fell over the table after that. Foolish went back to eating, pointedly not looking at anything but his food. Wilbur could tell that Niki was angry, with the way she was eating her dinner just a bit too quickly, and how her eyes were glowing a bit brighter than they usually did, but she was doing her best to hide it. Tommy had gone oddly quiet, with his brows furrowed as he picked at his food without the same interest he had in it before.
Eret, meanwhile, had that sad look on their face again. Wilbur caught their eye several times, and realized that they were staring at both him and Tommy. It made him squirm in his seat to feel their empty white eyes on him, and he wondered what could be going through their head.
It wasn’t long before Tommy excused himself from the table, and Wilbur found he wasn’t very hungry anymore either, so he did the same. Niki, unsurprisingly, followed suit, so the three found themselves walking away from the dining hall and to their rooms.
“I just don’t get it,” Tommy muttered as they turned down the hall to the residential wing of the palace. “I thought the sirens were allied with us because of me.”
“They are,” Niki told him. “You’re part of the Royal bloodline for both Themis and Eldingvegr, so you’re at the crux of the alliance they have. But just because you have siren blood doesn’t mean they actually consider you a siren.”
Tommy sighed. “Guess that makes sense. Still feels weird.”
They stopped walking when they reached the door to Tommy’s room, and subsequently Wilbur’s, since their rooms were right next to each other.
“Are you two gonna go talk about secret shit in Wil’s room?” Tommy asked, frowning at the two of them.
Wilbur snorted. Tommy knew their routine far too well.
“You’re welcome to join us,” Niki offered sweetly. “Though you’ll probably be bored by our conversation.”
Huffing, Tommy shook his head. “No thanks. I had enough political talk at dinner.”
As he turned the doorknob to his room, Wilbur held out a hand.
“Come say goodnight to me before you go to sleep, gremlin,” Wilbur reminded him, ruffling his brother’s hair.
Tommy smacked his hand away with a pout. “I’m not a baby. I don’t need you to tuck me in.”
“Who said it was about you? Maybe I just wanna talk to my precious, adorable, tiny brot-“
“I will slit your throat in your sleep,” Tommy deadpanned.
Wilbur chuckled. “I’d like to see you try.”
“That’ll be my way of saying goodnight. I’m gonna go in there and kill your ass-”
Before Tommy could finish, Niki opened the door to Wilbur’s room and dragged him inside, with Tommy glaring at him before the door shut once again.
Wilbur knew that despite his protests, Tommy would come say goodnight to him no matter what. Not only because it was their routine, but also because it was the windy season. Even if Tommy didn’t say it out loud, Wilbur knew it bothered him more than he let on, just like it bothered Wilbur.
Right now though, Wilbur wasn’t focusing on the wind howling outside his windows. Instead, he followed Niki to the center of his room, where his bed had been perfectly made up by the servants after the mess he’d left it as this morning.
Dropping his wrist, Niki tucked her skirt under her as she climbed up onto the bed, and Wilbur settled himself next to her. Immediately, the smile she’d had on for Tommy fell from her face.
“There’s something weird going on,” Niki said without preamble.
Wilbur nodded, his own grin fading as he thought back to that disaster of a dinner. “Yeah, no shit. I get why maybe me and Tommy wouldn’t be told about Queen Myrina being sick, but for you not to be told is just-”
“It’s not normal,” Niki agreed, biting her lip. “I guess this makes sense as to why the Ambassadors were asking me for more information. If something happens to Queen Myrina, they’ll want to ensure our alliance with Eldingvegr stays secured through the transfer of power.”
“Who’s next in line for the throne?” Wilbur asked, wringing his hands in his lap.
Niki furrowed her brows. “I believe Queen Myrina’s first born daughter is, well, her name is Myrina too, but her second name is Hannah. She should be the one getting ready to inherit the throne.”
“Do you know much about Hannah?”
“No, I don’t. I’m sure she’s been preparing her entire life to take the throne though, and I’m pretty sure she’s either around our age or a few years older.” She paused, narrowing her eyes. “I don’t see why Hannah would want to dissolve our alliance, so it still doesn’t make sense to me why the Ambassadors are acting so strangely about this whole thing.”
Humming, Wilbur dragged his hands through his hair as he let out a quiet sigh. “I can’t help but feel like there’s something we’re missing here. Eret’s definitely acting off about something, butI can’t tell if it’s just the stress of the windy season or something more.”
“What did you two talk about during your meeting?” Niki asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“They just wanted my opinion on how Tommy was progressing with his studies, and they also asked how my own studies were going,” Wilbur told her, fiddling with the ends of his jacket. “On the surface there was nothing unusual about our conversation, but they just seemed sad about something.”
“Sad?”
“I guess? Something was bothering them, I could tell that much.”
Humming, Niki absently poked at the thin webbing between her fingers. “It might just be the time of year. The windy season brings up bad memories for them just as it does for you and Tommy.”
Wilbur stared at her for a moment, noting how she was keeping her eyes on her lap. “Do you actually believe that?”
Hands going still, Niki let out a soft sigh and shook her head. “No. The timing of that with Queen Myrina is just… it’s too strange to ignore.” There was a beat of silence, the webbing points of her ear twitching like they always did when she was thinking deeply about something. “I fucking hate this, you know?”
“Hate what?” Wilbur questioned.
“Being left out of these discussions. Having all these politics go over our heads like no one trusts us. I’ve spent my entire life being told I’m here on behalf of Themis, but Themis clearly doesn’t trust me like they trust the Ambassadors, so it makes me wonder what I’m even supposed to do here.”
Wilbur couldn’t stop himself from scoffing at that. “Yeah, trust me, I know what that feels like.”
“I wasn’t trying to say you didn’t,” Niki clarified, glancing up to meet his eyes. “That’s the reason I’m telling you this. You’re the only one who gets it.”
All of Wilbur’s frustration faded as quickly as it appeared. Shoulders slumping, he leaned against Niki’s side, and she looped her arm through his. Outside the window, Wilbur could still hear the rushing of the wind, although it was quieter than it usually was.
“Do you remember when we were kids, and during the windy season you could never sleep, so we’d sit on your bed and try to sing loud enough to drown out the wind?” Niki asked after a minute of silence.
The memory made Wilbur smile. “And then if we sang too loudly, we’d wake up the staff, but because it was siren singing we’d just accidentally enchant them so they’d all be standing outside my room like they were sleepwalking?”
Niki snorted. “Yup. The Ambassadors were convinced I had a gift for singing because of that, not realizing half of that was your power too.”
“I remember that!” Wilbur laughed. “And then they kept asking you to sing at events and you’d have to make up excuses for why you couldn’t.”
“I told them I had stage fright,” Niki explained, grinning now. “One time I even made myself cry when they were trying to get me to perform for a banquet.”
“They never realized your gift was actually in acting rather than singing,” Wilbur huffed.
At this, Niki’s smile faded. “They still have no idea how much I’ve lied to them. They know my loyalties lie with you and Tommy more than they lie with Themis, but I don’t think they realize the extent.”
“It’s their own fault,” Wilbur muttered, focusing on the warmth from Niki’s side. “If they wanted you to be loyal to Themis, they should’ve given you more of a reason other than ‘it’s your duty’.” A beat passed, and Wilbur straightened up to look at Niki directly. “Whatever’s going on now with Themis and Eldingvegr, I want you to remember that you’re with us, okay? Me and Tommy.”
Niki nodded, giving him a grateful smile. “I know, Wil.”
Another moment of silence hung between them. And then, Niki pulled herself away from Wilbur’s side and pushed to her feet.
“I should go back to my room now,” she said, straightening out her skirt. “I’ll try to learn more about Queen Myrina from the Ambassadors tomorrow. Maybe you should try and do the same so we can see if they give us different information.”
“That’s a good idea,” Wilbur agreed.
Outside the window, there was the sound of a loud thud!, and Niki glanced out to the pink and purple sky with a soft frown.
“Do you want me to make you sleep before I leave?” Niki offered, glancing back at him with worried eyes.
It was a tempting offer. Niki knew Wilbur always had trouble sleeping during the windy season, and this wouldn’t have been the first time she used her Voice on him to make him sleep because there wouldn’t be any way for him to sleep otherwise.
But still, Wilbur forced himself to shake his head. “No, I still need to say goodnight to Tommy.”
Nodding in understanding, Niki flashed him another smile. “Alright then. But let me know if you change your mind.”
Then, with one final wave, she left the room with the door clicking shut softly behind her.
Now alone, Wilbur let out the shaky breath he’d been holding ever since he spoke to Eret earlier that day. Things were so confusing right now. There was his worry about Tommy’s future role as king, there were the strange things going on between Themis and Eldingvegr, there was Eret’s peculiar sadness, and on top of it all the windy season was making him incredibly anxious.
There was an uncomfortable itch under his skin that he couldn’t scratch. A twist in his gut that told him something was wrong. Something bigger was going on, and it wasn’t going to be very long before Wilbur found out what it was.
At least he had Niki by his side to help him figure this out. Tommy was still too young to fully grasp the strange machinations that came with the Royal Courts and interplanetary politics. If Wilbur told him his worries, the kid would just think he was being paranoid for no reason.
Maybe Wilbur was being paranoid. But his gut told him he had plenty of reason to be.
Several minutes after Niki left, Wilbur forced himself to his feet to change into his pajamas. Leaving his delicately embroidered coat laying haphazardly over a chair, he tossed his boots to the side and ran his fingers through his hair to get rid of the last vestiges of gel the servants had put in it to tame his curls.
Once changed, he sat on the edge of his bed rubbing the lenses of his glasses with the edge of his shirt to try and get out the smudges. As he was doing this though, he was interrupted by a soft knocking on his door. Except it wasn’t from the door Niki had left through. It was from the door that connected his and Tommy’s rooms to each other.
“Wil?” Tommy called out from the other side. “You still awake?”
“Yeah, I’m here. You can come in,” Wilbur replied.
The door was gently pushed open, revealing Tommy standing in the doorway already dressed in his pajamas. His own golden curls were sticking up in every direction, and even without his glasses on, Wilbur could see sleep tugging at the corners of his eyes.
“Are you going to bed?” Wilbur asked, settling his glasses back on the bridge of his nose.
Furrowing his brows, Tommy wrapped his arms around himself and shook his head. “I, um, was trying to sleep. But I actually wanted to ask if…” he hesitated, biting the inside of his cheek. “Can I sleep in your room tonight?”
Tommy’s voice was so small compared to his loud teasing from earlier in the day. This was the version of Tommy that very few people saw. The version that was mostly reserved for Wilbur alone, and sometimes Niki, depending on the situation. Not the chaotic and loud-mouthed Crown Prince, but the boy who never wanted to admit his fear of the wind, the boy who was soft-spoken when asking for real favors from his brother, the sensitive kid who Wilbur had practically raised.
“Yeah, of course, bud. You know you can always come in here if you want,” Wilbur said softly, pushing to his feet and padding over to the doorway. “It might be easier for us to sleep in your room though, just because your bed is a bit bigger than mine is.”
“Okay then,” Tommy nodded.
Resting a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, Wilbur turned off the lights in his own room as they passed through the tiny passageway that connected their rooms. In Tommy’s room, Wilbur could see the trees in the window had stopped shaking in the wind, which made sense since Eret said the wind was going to die down for a bit tonight.
The routine between them was well-established at this point. Wilbur stretched himself across Tommy’s bed first, and then held his arms out for his little brother. Tommy dove under the blankets, squirming until his head was resting on Wilbur’s chest, and Wilbur readjusted so his chin was on top of Tommy’s head.
As the two were getting comfortable, there was a knock at the normal entrance to Tommy’s room, and they both paused.
“Who is it?” Tommy called out.
“It’s me, dipshit,” Tubbo yelled back. “Can I come in?”
“You gotta call me Your Highness first!”
“Oh fuck you, man,” Tubbo said, ignoring Tommy’s request as he opened the door.
The servant boy paused when he spotted Wilbur, but only blinked once before shaking himself off. Different servants had found the two brothers sleeping in the same bed plenty of times before, so it wasn’t anything surprising. If anything, it was almost odd that Tubbo did a double take at it, but Wilbur figured he was just surprised.
“What have you got for me, Tubsters?” Tommy asked, not bothering to lift his head off of Wilbur’s chest.
Tubbo held up a tray that had a pristine glass of water settled on it, along with a small dish. “Sleeping pills. Eret told me to give them to both you and Wilbur tonight.”
Wilbur furrowed his brows. “Why?”
“I dunno. They said they had a feeling you two might have trouble sleeping tonight,” Tubbo shrugged, setting the tray down on Tommy’s nightstand. It was then that Wilbur saw there were two dishes on the tray, each one with a singular white pill in the center of it.
Huh. Wilbur supposed that made sense considering the wind was supposed to die down tonight. Eret knew the two of them better than Wilbur gave them credit for, which meant they also knew it was almost more upsetting for both of them when the wind died down for a few hours compared to when it was howling constantly for days on end.
“Thanks,” Tommy said, rolling over to press his face into Wilbur’s shirt.
Tubbo frowned. “Aren’t you going to take them?”
Tommy didn’t look back at Tubbo. “I dunno, maybe? Wil and I are talking though so I’m not gonna take them right this second.”
For some reason, Tubbo’s frown deepened. “I mean, it takes a few minutes for them to kick in, so maybe just take them now-”
“Tubbo,” Wilbur said, cutting the boy off. “We know how long it takes for them to kick in. Don’t worry about us.”
Tubbo’s jaw clenched at this, and he stared at the two of them for a moment, like he wanted to argue.
After a few seconds though, he sighed and dropped his shoulders. “Fine. Just make sure to take them so you guys get some sleep.”
With that, he turned to head back to the door. There was a certain hesitance in his steps though. Like he didn’t want to leave, but knew he had no other choice.
He paused at the doorway. “Night guys,” he called out softly.
“Night Tubbo,” Wilbur waved.
“G’night Tubbitch,” Tommy said, his voice muffled by Wilbur’s shirt.
Wilbur didn’t miss the way Tubbo squeezed his eyes shut at that, almost like he was trying to keep himself from flinching. But he didn’t say anything more, and with one last look at the two of them, shut the door behind him.
The lights dimmed automatically, and Wilbur glanced out the window at the permanent twilight sky, the trees now standing almost perfectly still for the first time in weeks. There was no constant hum from the screaming wind, and it made something ache in Wilbur’s chest.
“I don’t wanna take the sleeping pills,” Tommy mumbled into Wilbur’s shirt. “They make me all groggy in the morning.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to sleep without them?” Wilbur asked, rubbing small circles into Tommy’s shoulder.
“I will if you sing to me.”
Wilbur snorted. “So that’s why you wanted to sleep with me tonight. You just wanted to use me for my voice.”
Surprisingly, instead of teasing him like he expected, Tommy softly said, “It’s just too quiet when the wind dies down, and when you sing all the loud shit in my head just… goes away.”
Warmth bloomed in Wilbur’s chest at this, and he squeezed the arms he had around Tommy’s shoulders just a bit tighter. “That would probably be because siren singing is known to calm people down and draw them in.”
“No, I think it’s just because you’re a really good singer,” Tommy huffed, his eyes fluttering shut.
Despite the unease that had made itself a home in Wilbur’s chest and under his skin because of the lack of wind outside the window, he found himself smiling at Tommy’s comment.
Holding onto the warmth Tommy’s words had given him, Wilbur opened his mouth and began to sing.
The song Wilbur sang wasn’t in Common. It was a song written in Old Themisian, one that sirens had sung as lullabies to children for hundreds of years. Wilbur had faint memories of his mother singing it to him when he was little, and when he found out that Tommy didn’t have those same memories since he’d been so young when she died, he begged Niki to teach him all the words so he could sing it to Tommy in her place.
Because despite Tommy being the golden child of Eldingvegr, having the respect of the entire Royal Court and a bright future ahead of him as the king, Wilbur would always have one thing Tommy did not—memories of their mother. And that was the one thing Wilbur thought Tommy deserved more than anything.
So he did what he could. He tried to teach Tommy how to use his Voice, and he sang him the same lullabies their mother sang to him. Even though Tommy didn’t talk about either of his parents often, Wilbur could tell he was grateful for the lullabies all the same.
Wilbur sang and sang and sang, watching the faint stars twinkle in the dusty pink sky outside the window. Slowly, Tommy’s breathing evened out, and it wasn’t long before there was light snoring rumbling against Wilbur’s chest.
Once he finished the song, Wilbur tugged the blankets up a little further on Tommy’s back. Even though the calming effect of a siren’s singing didn’t work on the singer themselves, Wilbur still found himself feeling far more relaxed than he had before.
Sinking back into the mattress, Wilbur’s eyes fluttered shut. With Tommy’s soft breathing echoing in his ears, he felt himself drift off to sleep.
✧☾✧
The sound of an explosion woke Wilbur up.
Bolting upright in the bed, Tommy yelped at the sudden movement.
“What the fuck, Wilbur?!” He yelled, grabbing his nose where Wilbur had accidentally hit it.
Wilbur didn’t respond to Tommy. His eyes were on the window, gaze searching for the source of the explosion. When he found what he was looking for, his heart dropped into his stomach.
“Oh my god,” Wilbur whispered, blood turning to ice in his veins.
“What? What’s-” Tommy cut himself off when he spotted it as well. “Oh fuck.”
Not much had changed since Wilbur had fallen asleep. The sky was still pink, the stars were still barely visible, and the wind hadn’t picked back up again.
But actually, the sky had changed. Because although the stars were barely visible, Wilbur could see the giant armada of battleships sitting in their sky as clear as day. And in case there was any doubt for what their intentions were, another missile shot out from one of the ships, causing the tree Wilbur had been staring at earlier to explode into a thousand different pieces.
They were under attack.