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THUD!
Ren startled awake.
The boat was headed down a narrow river, the oddly peaceful air still remaining as Alistar cursed out the rock she had run into. Weeping willows framed the sides of the river, draping leaves into the boat. Cherry blossoms floated through the air. Ren held his hand out. The delicate pink flower landed in his old and weathered hand, gently settling.
Inspecting it closely, the petals were laced with specks of darker pink like fire sparks. He turned it around in his hand, smiling, before letting it go back into the wind. It floated high up into the sky, far from where he could see.
Then Ren realized they had stopped moving.
"My knight," Ren turned for an explanation.
"OH! RIGHT! Yes my liege we are moving now! Just wanted to give you a gentle wake up!" Alistar pushed the boat away from the rocks with great haste, fumbling the oars. His face was flushed a (characteristically, at least as far as Ren had seen,) bright red all the way up to his ears. Likely from the exhaustion of travel. They moved rapidly down the crystalline river as they set right back to work.
The shades of green passed through Alistar's hair, tousling it softly as the sunlight streamed through it. Ren sat up. Alistar's magnificent and knightly toned arms too, stood out, rippling as the shade swayed in the wind. Though the sun was not every blessing - just like the moon knight themself, the darkness revealed beauty and power as well. It revealed the sheen of their perfectly maintained armor and weapons, not to mention the dark pools in their eyes. As though Ren could ever forget those eyes. Much deeper than any of the water around them. Slices of the pure blue of the Moon Night uniform. It felt like the power of the Moon Nights, and all they had to teach was taken in through those swirling black holes. Not destroyed, but never to leave. Every time Ren had the opportunity to gaze into those eyes, he felt more and more certain that Alistar was surely his finest knight.
Still, a king must be attentive to their people's needs, regardless of the beauty he may be experiencing in the moment.
"Shall I take over rowing for a while?" Ren stretched his hands above his head, "Just so you may get a chance to rest, I would hate for you to collapse before Soluna."
Excluding the latent narcolepsy symptoms of course. Ren did not hold such things against Alistar.
"My liege! I am bound to serve you! I will not-"
"There is no one else around my friend," Ren grabbed at an oar, "Besides, would you defy an order of your king?"
Alistar attempted to grab the oar back, but Ren held firm, "Well of course I mean no disrespect your Majesty, but I assure you I have had an adequate amount of rest and there is no need for you to exert yourself."
"Well you wouldn't mind me paddling one would you?" Pulling the oar away from Alistar gently, Ren smiled, "Besides, it is surely a good idea to keep me in shape for when we get back, no?"
Alistar sighed, and relented, "You have been indulging a bit much in the taverns my liege."
"A bad habit of mine to be sure. Now shuffle over."
After a bit of awkward moving around on the small boat, with a fair bit of apologies and giggles, the two sat side by side. Ren began rowing, looking at Alistar to check his timing. Her ruffled beard framed their face in such a way to accentuate their lovely smile. An important trait in any knight. It sparkled with the drops of water that flew past as they rowed.
Their speed started out at a crawl, clumsy and unfocused. Ren quickly learned the pace however. Soon the pair were speeding down the river, laughing as Ren sneezed when the leaves wouldnt stop brushing his face, and giggling as Alistar hit no less than seven rocks in a row.
"Alistar, my dearest companion, it is important to remember the oar is not a sword. You are not, ah, required to attack anything with it," Ren said through restrained laughter.
"Well, say these rocks were enemy combatants in disguise my liege," Alistar began smugly before his oar thud against another rock, "AGAIN? REALLY?"
Ren howled.
As the weeping willows petered off, they slowed to the widening river. Alistar pulled a map out of his armor. It was tucked away safely somewhere in there, impressive considering how tightly it was clearly designed to fit. All Moon Knights had custom armor, but Alistar's always seemed to draw Ren's eye. perhaps because of the sheer girth - a large degree of strength lying just under it, but well made enough not to be bursting. Ren wondered what his loyal Moon Knight looked like underneath the armor to require a set of such an impressive stature. Alistar slumped over, still holding the open map in aer hands.
Another episode. None the matter, Ren grabbed the map and the other oar.
Ren wasn't really sure what Alistar had grabbed the map for, the river had no significant bends for some time. Though, now that he thought in the restful air, their previous pace might've made them reach them much sooner. A wise forethought from his wonderful right hand. Ren on his own however, was much slower than their teamwork, and even slower than Alistar working by himself. Funny that. Ren never had the head for complicated physics, but he did wonder what the reasoning behind their teamwork doing so well was. Perhaps it was simply the magic of the sky, woven together intrinsically and supporting every part of itself. Ren smiled, yes that was surely it. The oars dipped into the now darker water. Like pulling a spoon through soup, creating ripples as he went.
They were almost certainly quite far from the Red Kingdom now (Still an uninspired name in his humble opinion as a king,) the flatland bare no resemblance to the rocky mountains and calm but large sea in the area.
He hoped it had not been too rough of a change for Cherri. He was more glad than ever that he had sent Moon Knight Apo along to escort her, their close companionship was obvious to anyone with eyes. They seemingly even built the Red Kingdom back up together. Their bond one of that to create a home - Ren understood that well. They seemed to almost complete each other, Cherri seemed so happy.
That wholeness hopefully was a soothing balm to the burn of being away from home. For so long, for so suddenly. Ren looked up past the yellow daffodils decorating the sides of the river, towards the bright blue sky and blinked back tears. He confessed to Alistar the first night of the truce that he had nearly forgotten what a sky without smog looked like. Ren couldn't stand the same idea for his daughter, choked out instead of blooming free.
Alistar snored even louder than usual, turning over to lay against Ren's leg. He smiled. He wished he could run his hands through his knight's soft hair, but it would require him to stop rowing and he felt the need to keep pace. A peaceful knight. A knight at rest. Ren hoped Cherri appreciated the beauty of this too, and not just the fighting aspect while training.
"WHUH?!" Alistar sat up, letting out a shout, "What happened? Hold on, give the oars back."
Alistar grabbed for the oars as Ren grinned wickedly, sitting all they way back to keep it out of her grasp.
"Alistar, my finest knight and companion, you will not be getting these back till I am done with them. I am enjoying rowing, and you can check the map."
"Absolutely not! This is not becoming of either of our stations!" Alistar glanced around, "Besides, I'm faster anyways, you should let me do it my liege."
"Not a chance," Ren sniffed smugly, knowing he had won as Alistar pouted, "Say, would you like to hear the story of Cherri's first time riding a horse? I don't know if I've told you,"
"Many, many, many times you Majesty," Alistar sighed, slumping back, "Tell me again while I read."
"Well it all began when she started flying kites out of her tower to avoid her work in princess training…"