�My prince!� said Ian bowing low before him.
�Please call me Arene. I thought I might accompany you as you tour the palace,� he said.
�It would be an honor,� replied Ian barely believing what he was hearing. �The prince himself wants to accompany me?� he thought to himself.
�Excellent!� said the prince, �Then where will we begin?�
Arene left the decision to Ian, but Ian in disbelieving confusion was speechless for a moment.
Arene, still smiling said, �I�m more than willing to show you around my father�s house and answer any questions; you need only tell me where you wish to begin.�
Ian didn�t know where to begin, but he eventually settled on the grounds. And so they began their trek. It was a beautiful sunny day over the palace, and they walked about the palace itself for quite some time. At one point the prince pointed at a window high up on the palace wall. �That is your room,� he said.
Ian was surprised. No one had ever implied that anything belonged to him before; it was a new feeling for him. And the room seemed so high when he looked down from the window, but he had neglected to look up from it. His window was only three quarters of the way up the wall. When Ian asked how the palace was built, the prince only replied that if one abided in the palace he abided in the king. Ian was confused, but afraid of sounding ignorant, he remained silent for sometime after that. Eventually they found themselves at the stables; there the prince introduced Ian to the horses treating them more like friends rather than simple animals. The prince asked Ian if he wanted to ride, and Ian accepted. So they picked out two horses and rode side by side to the far edges of the palace grounds. Looking back, Ian could see the top of the palace much better. There appeared to be three towers around the top of the castle, and from what Ian could see of it, he was certain it would be more than a days walk just to travel all the way around it. The entire day seemed to pass like a dream to Ian; there were many times he thought he might pinch himself but decided not to for fear that he would wake up back in the shackles of the slave traders. He began to feel more at ease and more at home with the prince, and he wondered if he could ever feel the same way about the king. The prince had an unusual way of making Ian forget all that he was, but this too was confusing to him. It left his heart wondering what he was.
At one point Ian asked, �How far does your father�s rule reach?�
�There isn�t a piece of land he doesn�t rule however he chooses,� replied the prince. This answer obviously confused Ian, so he continued, �The land is called Calleen, and it's made up of many large island contenents. This is the main one, Etherea. Calleen is an ancient name that has long been forgotten by many, and so has its rightful king. Usually the only ones who actually remember him are the lords and nobles who rule the smaller portions of land within the kingdom. But my father allows them to rule their holdings however they choose. Many of them worry that he�ll visit their village and take that freedom from them for they refuse to honor the rightful king of the land, but that is a very dangerous thing for them with or without my father�s displeasure. No one would dare attack my father�s palace, and it is rare that any village or city under his protection is attacked. And no one has ever successfully sacked any of my father�s protectorates. The protectorates are the land holdings that have been pledged to my father by the lords that rule them. My father has visited other villages in the past where the lord had been less than honorable toward him. Often those lords would react in sheer terror, sometimes even fainting upon looking into my father�s eyes. My father was there for a friendly visit, but they could not stand his presence. Many of those villages have been lost because my father�s presence was not welcomed there.�
Ian thought it strange that a king would choose to rule his land in such a manner. The land was the king�s why doesn�t he just take it from those who would not recognize that?
�The banquet should be starting soon; shall we?� the prince said with a nod back to the palace.
�We won�t be late, will we?� asked Ian.
�No, of course not; that wouldn�t do for the guest of honor now, would it?� replied the prince.
And with that they rode back toward the stables where they left their horses with a groundskeeper. �Hurry, Alton, or you�ll miss our guest�s party!� said the prince to the groundskeeper.
�And that�ld be shame indeed,� replied the groundskeeper, a middle aged, brown bearded gentleman dressed for work in the fields. He smiled and nodded to Ian.
After the prince made introductions, Alton hurried to the stables with the horses.