((Yeah. That's true.))

Roxas had eventually succedded in getting himself lost in the castle. 'This isn't good...' he thought, looking around. He headed off in a random direction, hoping this would eventually lead back to his room. Luckily for him, a maid found him wandering and led him back to where he was supposed to be. Once in his room, he didn't even get a chance to sit down before two maids came in and told him he needed to change. One seen the confused look on his face and she told him that he needed to attend the meeting since he the prince of a neighboring country. The other pulled out what he was to wear, which was red and gold. He knew those were the colors of Sora's kingdom, so he remained silent as he was dressed. They fixed his hair into a more suitable style and not it's normal messiness and led him to the council room where he entered. He was greeted by people he's never met before and he just smiled politely and only spoke when he was spoken too. That way, there was no risk of him messing anything up.

Axel stopped as he looked at his father and gave him a slight glare." Son," said his father. "I had no idea that she would be attending this council meeting. It caught me completely by surprise." This time he really did glare at his father. Axel wasn't dumb, and didn't like people to pretend that he was dumb, even if it was indeed his own father. "Father, I wish not to be rude, but do not take me for a fool. I am well aware that you orchestrated all of this." His father looked dumb struck. The princess approached the two men that were in the middle of the room, and bowed deeply at them."Welcome. To our castle darling. How was your trip?""The trip was quite pleasant. Very good weather for riding.""That's wonderful," said his father as he shoved Axel forward."Well I have some council advising to get to. I'll let you two get acquainted."Axel watched his father leave through the crowd. "Cowardly bastard," thought Axel as he looked at Kairi. Before he was about to speak the announcer announced that Prince Sora of Destiny Kingdom was here. "Thank god," thought Axel. "Princess, if you would please excuse me." Before she could answer Axel left and disappeared from the crowd.

Roxas frowned lightly. He didn't like how his appearance was announced to the room. That resulted in everyone turning and looking at him. But that attention didn't last long, in which he was thankful for. He wandered around aimlessly in the room, not really wanting to be here. But every once in awhile, he would be stopped by someone he didn't know and chatted with them for a bit before disappearing again. He finally managed to make his way into a corner without anyone following him, which he was glad for. Maybe he could get through this without much trouble from anyone else.

Axel lost sight of Sora as he was swallowed by the crowd. It had just dawned on him that his father had told him that it was going to be a small gathering for himself and the council, but from the crowd that was here it might as well had been a banquet. "Another reason I hate my father," thought Axel as he looked for Sora again. He was suddenly grabbed the arm lightly. Spinning around he looked at who was holding his arm. It was Princess Kairi."Silly goose you ran from me. Come lets go out to the gardens." Axel saw his father as he was about to retort and say no, but as soon as he saw his father he said,"It would be my honor to escort you to the garden." Axel and Kairi walked to the garden where they sat down and looked out towards the moonlit area.

((Could you take over Kairi right now since Roxas is sort of in the corner, please?))

(Yeah. Alright.)

Kairi smiled lightly as she took in the sight of the gardens. "Your garden is beautiful." she said. She turned her attention to Axel once she finished her examination. She knew he probably wasn't too thrilled with the idea of marrying her, but she wasn't going to let that bother her. She was determined to marry him and she wasn't going to slip away. Besides, they've known about this for a long time now, so there was a part of her that was hoping that Axel's obvious distaste for their marriage was just a show.

Axel grappled with his emotions with being with Kairi out here. It was true that he did find her mildly attractive in a brother like way, but never as more than that. Had it happened under different circumstances where they weren't forced to be married together to preserve their countries then maybe it might have been happy, but as of right now Axel was seeing this union as nothing more than that. "Thanks," replied Axel as he looked at Kairi. "The gardeners work really hard, and they do a good job at what they do." Axel paused for a moment before he added," Anyway, I probably should get back to the council members they are meeting after all." He got up and looked at Kairi as he bowed and left.

Kairi smiled lightly, glad to be spending this time with Axel... Even if he didn't seem to want to be here. But the smile faded from her face when he stood up and said he had to leave. She wasn't ready for him to leave yet! But as she opened her mouth to say something, but he was already gone. She frowned lightly as her gaze dropped to the ground as she sighed. 'He can't avoid this forever...' she thought, standing up. She wasn't allowed into the council meeting, so she was just going to spend the time waiting for Axel to be done with the meeting.

Axel sighed as he looked walked towards the council meeting hall. Walking into the meeting hall he sat down at the head of the table next to him father. His father took one look at him and rolled his eyes before he leaned over and whispered"What happened with Princess Kairi. You know with her being here you are exempt from attending council meetings to entertain your future wife." Axel gave his father a pointed look as he got up from the table. "That bastard had planned everything right down to crossing his "t"'s and dotting his "i''s"" thought Axel as he walked out the double doors as he slammed the door closed as he stalked out into the main ballroom. Glancing over at Kairi he looked at her as he went passed her.

Kairi was surprised, to say the least when Axel came out of the council room. She had been expecting him to be in there a bit longer. Not that she was complaining, of course. She smiled lightly as she pushed her way through the crowd to him. "That didn't take long." she said, grabbing hold of Axel's arm to stop him from walking away. She wasn't going to let him slip away again. Not if she could help it.

Axel turned around to see who was gripping his arm again. It was Princess Kairi. Axel couldn't tel her that he was only with her because it was decreed by his father so he stood there as he turned around to look at her. "Father wanted me to spend more time with you tonight and tomorrow. So would you care to go on an afternoon ride with me tomorrow after my swordsmanship lesson?" Hopefully this would appease her for a little while.

Kairi smiled and nodded eagerly. "Yeah! That sounds great~" she said, extremely thrilled that Axel had actually invited her to go horseback riding. She didn't care if his father told him to spend more time with her. All that mattered was that they were spending time together.

Axel closed his eyes as he inwardly grimaced. The woman's voice was grating on his nerves, but deep down he was glad that he could make her happy. "My lady," said Axel as he took Kairi's hand in his own and kissed it. "I bid you a good night." Axel turned on his heel thoroughly ready to retire for the night.

Kairi smiled lightly. "Good night.." she said, somewhat unwilling to let him go. But she sighed lightly and turned and headed off into the crowd, looking for someone who would talk to her. It wasn't that hard to find someone, to be honest.
Roxas saw Axel heading for the door, so he took that as a sign that he was able to leave as well. He was tired of people he didn't know talking to him and telling him about his father, both good and bad things. All he could really do was nod and escape the conversation as quickly as possible. So he was glad when he left the crowded room.

Turning around as he heard someone behind him he saw Roxas exiting the main ballroom as well. Stopping he walked back to stand next to the blonde as he said,"How did you enjoy our first court event at the castle. I am sorry that it was so busy it wasn't supposed to be this busy, but my father brought Princess Kairi here." Axel sighed as he looked down at the blonde as the moonlight hit off of the blonde's hairs and it made Roxas' eyes sparkle. Axel coughed as he said,"Is there anything that you want to do tonight before you retire?"

Roxas shrugged. "Well... It was loud." he said. That was definitely was the first word that came to mind when he thought of the event. But now that he was out of the room, the hallway was relatively quieter. When he heard the question though, he shrugged again. "I don't know... Why would you recommend?" he asked. He didn't really know what would be fun do do in the castle at this time of night, but he was curious as to what Axel thought.

Axel thought for a moment he was used to giving directions, but the only reason he was used to it was because that was what he was being trained to do. Axel thought and thought until he said,"We should go to the gardens. They are beautiful by moonlight." "and you would look lovely with the stars as your backdrop."

Roxas smiled lightly and nodded. "Alright. That sounds like a good idea to me." he said. He was sure he had seen the gardens from a window during his earlier wanderings, but he didn't know how to get out to them. So he was glad to be going now. "Lead the way."

Axel took Roxas by then hand as he led him to his favorite garden that was behind the palace. There were all different kinds of plants and trees out there as well. They were special trees though instead of flowers that bloomed off of them precious jewels and gems were blooming instead. There were rubies, sapphires, and even rare tanzanite flowers as well. Axel sat down near the fountain that was made out of silver and platinum.

A light blush spread across Roxas' face for a second when Axel had grabbed his hand before it faded. He looked at all the different flower and trees in complete amazement. The flowers here in the garden were completely unlike anything he's ever seen before. He would love to come back here in the morning and see what they would look like in the sunlight. He smiled happily when they stopped in front of the fountain. "It's so pretty out here."

Axel looked up at Sora as he took in the sight of him. He was right to assume that he would look good against the backdrop of the moon and water. [B]"The gardeners work really hard, and we harvest them once a year to trade with other countries, including yours and Princess Kairi's. Essentially our whole treasury is out here for all to view. "It's gorgeous in the morning though and when the sun is at its peak we should spend some time here tomorrow, you, myself, and I suppose Kairi as well after my ride with her." Axel stood up from where he was sitting and looked at Sora/Roxas again as he said,"Well I need to be retiring for the night. My day starts rather early. Would you like an escort to your room?"

Roxas was silent for a few moments, distracted by all the sights. He almost didn't hear Axel speaking at first. But he blinked and turned his attention to the other. He nodded and smiled lightly. "Yeah. That sounds good to me." he said. He didn't know much about Princess Kairi, and thankfully Sora didn't either. That was good because he wouldn't end up saying something stupid. But he didn't mind spending time with her. And at least this way, he'd be able to help Sora's country. He stood up as well and nodded again. "Yeah. If you wouldn't mind walking with me." he said, almost sure that he'd end up getting himself lost.

Axel bowed to Roxas as he walked next to him. He went forward, but then paused as he came to stand next to Roxas again. "Where was your room again. I was never informed." Axel put his hand behind his head and laughed nervously.

Roxas shrugged lightly, realizing he had no idea where he was supposed to sleep. "Honestly... I have no idea." he said, dropping his gaze to the ground, suddenly very embarrassed. He knew he probably should know, but now he felt like an idiot that he didn't.

Axel looked at the blonde as he slapped his hand over his forehead. "Well," started Axel as he looked around."I guess we should find it. Let's go on an adventure." Axel grabbed Sora/Roxas' hand as he started to go down the hallway looking for the guest quarters.

Roxas nodded and followed after Axel silently. He wracked his brain for the slightest hint of where he was supposed to be staying, but nothing came to mind. He knew it would have helped if he's been to his room more than once. The only time he was in there was when those maids dressed him. And he was so surprised then that he wasn't paying much attention to where he was. "Hey... Why do you keep holding me hand?" he asked after a short pause. Not that he minded. But he was curious.