Thirty-two (1/2)

A/N: Sorry for the mistakes....

King Sooman denied all charges with a misleading grin. He knew so long as he was under the protection of the convened council, he wouldn't be touched. Nothing was accomplished during the seven hours of talks. But, then again, nothing had been accomplished in the centuries of fighting that had occurred between the two kindoms. Death attempts on both sides were nothing new, though none had occurred for over a hundred years.

Taecyeon was in charge of military matters, representing the Drain with a Var warrior of equal ranking oppisite him. Kyuhyun persided over the whole affair, doing his best as ambassador to keep the peace, though all brothers knew he would like nothing more than to spill King Sooman's blood for his insults to the royal Draig family. He was tired from is night of love play with Sungmin. It seemed his wife wanted to try out every one of his fantasy sketches, not that he cared to complain. In fact, he had a few more ideas to draw for him.

After the meeting, it took another four an a half hours to insure that Sooman and his men were gone. A thorough search of the castle reveled nothing and the high alert was taken off the village so that the villagers could again leave their homes using caution.

Kyuhyun knew that soon they might be facing another war with the House of Var. Wars were terrible affairs for their kind. They could last fifty to a hundred years with much death and seldom any clear progress or victory. At the end they would have an uneasy truce while each side replenished their warriors and concentrated on rebuilding the population.

Kyuhyun came home late that night, exhausted to the bone. Sungmin was just finishing up his translation of the Lithorian document. He looked as if he had been there all day. But, yawning, he didn't complain. Glancing at Kyuhyun, he said, "The Lithorian are requesting the explortation of ore and wilddeor meat. This is an outline of how they wish our representative to give their representative. I have outlined all the important facts for everyone.""Tedious lot, aren't they?" Kyu laughed. "You still want the job?""How often do they write?""Once about every five years to renegotiate.""Then yes, I want the job." Sungmin smiled. "But I am putting in for a vacation in about five years and will need it approved of in advance.""We'll see." Kyuhyun leaned over and kissed his nose. "Come on, let's get some sleep. We both look like we could use it." "What I didn't get from this is what we get in return for the trouble," Sungmin said, shaking the frustrating documents at him. "The best chocolate the galaxy has to offer," Kyuhyun admitted with a playful smirk, "and some other things.""Chocolate, you say?" Sungmin grinned. He hadn't forgotten his last experience with it, but thought that maybe it was time to give it another try----on a lesser scale. "And the new Lithorian ambassador, I am afraid I need to test this chocolate before I can endorse this proposal.""Coming right up." Kyuhyun disappeared into the kitchen only to return with the red foil bad from the refrigerator with sungmin's name on it. Falling on the couch, he laid his head on sungmin's lap and handed up a piece. Sungmin took it between his lips and sighed, "You're right. This is well worth their tediousness."

Kyuhyun grinned. Sticking a second piece between sungmin's lips, Sungmin smiled, leaning over to bite. As he did, Kyuhyun kissed him and he was again lost. "Maybe we don't need to go to sleep quite yet," Kyuhyun murmured to sungmin's chocolate flavored mouth. Sungmin just laughted, continuing to kiss him.

The warriors cheered good-naturedly as the four Princesses, wearing dark breeches and tunic shirts, aimed knives at the pratice post. Junho was the first to throw. He did fairly well as each knife made it into the center. The gathered soldiers clapped and stomped. Junho glanced at Chansung, trying to act like he didn't seek his approval. A white bandage slashed across his arm but he looked well.

Sungmin gulped nervously. He didn't think there was going to be such an audience. Looking at Kyuhyun, He watched him nodding at him. Sungmin had already confessed to him numerous times that he had never thrown a blade. Wooyoung came up to him, urging him to aim at his target.

Sungmin threw. The first and second were too short, the third too long, and the fourth hit the post with the hilt, and the fifth hit it with the blade, but it wasn't forceful enough to stick. Embarrassed, he glanced at Kyuhyun. He merely grinned at him, not caring if he could throw a blade or not. To sungmin's surprise, the watching soldiers cheered for his effort, charmed by his reserved smiles and shy looks.

Heechul threw next and managed to hit the post on his turn, though they weren't centered. He curtsied impishly as he received his cheeres.