Home Ground (Darshian Tales #4) by Ann Somerville

Author:Ann Somerville
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mm, gay romance, darshian tales
Publisher: Ann Somerville

Home Ground: 14

Wepizi was relieved to see his young friend arrive promptly. There was something about the prince’s manner which made him think Neime wasn’t handling things as easily as he appeared, and it was a mighty responsibility he’d taken on. But the lad seemed calm and cheerful, and Juimei greeted him with affection, cuffing him gently and asking how things were going. The infirmary was one of their greatest worries, but though two more injured had died in the night, not unexpectedly, the other patients were stable. “I’ll come and inspect things, if you think it’s wise. Let people know we’ve not forgotten them,” the prince said.

Neime grinned. “I think that would really help. But I’m starving—breakfast was ages ago. Do we have to queue?”

Wepizi shook his head. “Rank has its privileges.” He whistled up a couple of the newly inducted ‘special couriers’ to bring them soup and bread.

Neime stared after the boys curiously. “What are they wearing?”

“Badge of office,” Juimei said cheerfully. “They’re all in his highness’s service, oath sworn and everything.”

“Seriously? What a wonderful idea. We should keep it as a permanent thing when this is all over.”

“Let’s get through this first. Give me your report.”

Wepizi’s attention was taken up with two grois having difficulty over one of the warehouses they were clearing, so he had to let Juimei and Neime discuss the infirmary on their own. But he kept a watch on them out of the corner of his eye, because he was worried about the strain on two civilians taking so much responsibility without any experience of such a disaster. Much to his surprise, the prince was blooming under the pressure, and while Neime might be struggling a bit, he drew strength from his master, where just a scant week before, it had most definitely been the other way around. He’d seen it before—people rising to challenges and discovering their true worth—but he’d seen it too often go the other direction, where so-called leaders had collapsed completely, unable to cope at all with so much stress.

He’d honestly have thought the prince would have been of that type—but he was very glad to be proved wrong. That business with the children and the sashes—inspired, truly inspired, and it wasn’t just the children who got a lift from it. He saw parents talking to their sons and daughters and admiring the simple bits of pretty cloth, pleased at such personal recognition from the governor and the son of the king, even with all their worry and sorrow. This was what the prince had taken such a long time to understand. At least he’d worked it out in time.

Their runners returned with the food—both the prince and Wepizi spent a couple of minutes talking to the children, asking how they were, and how they were managing. A small thing, but they could only do so much, and Wepizi believed in the ripple effect. Tiny kindnesses could create more goodwill than was obvious at the time, and with so much misery, every opportunity to boost morale was precious.

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