Chapter Text
“What am I going to do? Alistair won't even let me talk to him. I should have known I couldn't pull off this stupid prince wish.” Jowan groaned, pacing in the courtyard below the castle.
Lily was trying to get at the inside of a banana with her muzzle, getting more frustrated when she just squashed it. She gave up with an annoyed huff that sounded similar to what it would in her real form.
“Surana?”
“You know what you should do?” The genie asked, leaning against a wall with her arms crossed.
“What?” Jowan asked hopefully.
“Tell him the truth.” Surana declared as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, raising an eyebrow.
“No way! If Alistair found out I was really some crummy street rat, he'd laugh at me.“
“I haven’t met his Alistair, but didn’t you hang out together and it went fine? Don’t you think you should just be yourself?”
“That's the last thing I want to be. Okay, I'm going to go see him. I have be smooth, cool, confident. How do I look?“ Jowan stood rigidly, trying not to fidget with his shirt cuffs that felt too constricting.
“Like a prince.” Surana stated bluntly.
Jowan took one last deep breath, stepped onto the carpet and rode it up to the balcony, staying just out of sight.
“Prince Alistair?” He called out.
“Who's there?” The prince asked in a suspicious tone.
“It's me—Prince J—. Ahem,” He hurriedly modulated his voice. “Prince Jon.”
“I don’t want to see you.”
“Please Alistair. Give me a chance.” He climbed over the side of the balcony railing. A curtain hid the prince from view, but he heard a mabari growl before it slipped through the curtain and advanced on him.
“Just leave me alone.” Alistair said dismissively.
“Down puppy! I have a mabari just like you, her name is Lily.” Jowan soothed in a calm tone, bending down to make himself look smaller, and subsequently making his turban fall off. “Maybe you could meet her sometime.”
Alistair’s silhouette sat up in bed. “Wait, wait. Do I know you?”
“Uh, no, no.” Jowan replied, hastily pulling his turban back on just before Alistair pushed the curtain aside.
“You remind me of someone I met in the marketplace.”
“The marketplace?” Jowan squeaked, standing up. “I have servants that go to the marketplace for me. Why I even have servants who go to the marketplace for my servants, so it couldn't have been me you met.” He rambled nervously, feeling like a complete idiot the whole time.
“No, I guess not.” Alistair said, sounding…disappointed?
“Aren’t you going to compliment him?” Surana’s voice drifted up from below. Jowan latched onto the opportunity to change the subject.
“Um, Prince Alistair.” Jowan stuttered. “You’re very…”
“Pretty.” Surana muttered, and Jowan didn’t even think before he repeated the word to Alistair.
“Pretty!”
“Pretty?” Alistair raised an eyebrow, and Jowan was utterly mortified.
No no no, he was making a complete mess of things! He wasn’t here to woo the prince, he had just wanted to make sure he was okay, and maybe to be friends. What had he been thinking?
“Handsome. I meant handsome.” Jowan hastily corrected, cursing Surana over and over in his head. Being locked up in the lamp must have made her cranky.
“Hmm. I'm rich too, you know.” Alistair drawled.
“Yes.” Jowan agreed.
“The son of a king.”
“I know?”
“A fine prize for any noble to marry.”
“Uh, right. Right. A noble like me.” Jowan said a bit uneasily, feeling the tension in the air.
“Here we go…” Surana said from below.
“Right, a noble like you. And every other stuffed shirt, swaggering, peacock I've met! Just go jump off a balcony!” Alistair snarled and turned to stalk away.
“What?” Jowan stuttered.
“Aren’t you going to stop him?” Surana wondered.
“Shh!”
“Remember what I said about being yourself?”
“Yeah, right!” Jowan hissed.
“What?!” Alistair whirled around to face him.
“Uh, you're right. You aren't just some prize to be won.” Jowan amended. “You should be free to make your own choice.”
Alistair shared a confused look with Duncan.
“I'll go now.” Jowan stepped up onto the ledge and onto Carpet.
“No!” He heard Alistair gasp.
Jowan popped his head back over the ledge. “What? What?”
“How—how are you doing that?” Alistair asked in an amazed tone, walking over to look over the edge.
“It's a magic carpet.” Jowan explained.
“Oh, I remember seeing it when father rode it. It’s…cool.” The prince admitted in a grudging tone, reaching over to touch one of it’s tassels. Carpet wrapped it around Alistair’s hand in return, making the prince chuckle in surprise. It heartened Jowan to hear it.
“You, uh, you don't want to go for a ride, do you? We could get out of the castle, see the world.”
“Is it safe?” Alistair asked, but his mind seemed to be already made up, as he was already clinging over the ledge.
“Sure. Do you trust me?”
Alistair’s head jerked up to look at him.
“What did you say?”
Jowan extended his hand to him. “Do you trust me?”
Alistair grinned. “Yes.”
The prince took his hand and Jowan helped him down. Carpet took off right away, knocking them back and into sitting positions. The cool wind air whipped their hair around their faces.
He heard Alistair gasp as they flew over the castle wall and into the sky. He watched as Alistair looked around one last time to see Ferelden disappearing from sight.
Despite all the wonders around them, Jowan’s gaze kept being drawn back to Alistair, and felt like a bunch of butterflies were in his stomach every time he saw the way the prince was looking right back.
Wanting to make this the best experience Alistair ever had, he pulled out all the stops, pointing out things of interest as they flew along. They flew in and out of the clouds, startling a few birds, and over the coastline of Antiva - Jowan playfully scooping up some water and sprinkling it on Alistair, making the other man laugh openly. Jowan gaped for a moment, in awe of the man’s beauty.
He never wanted the moment to end.
Alistair seemed to have spotted a herd of wild horses below and eagerly pointed them out to him. The carpet descended to fly beside them, so close that Alistair was able to reach out and touch the mane of one.
They then passed through some trees, where Jowan reached down and plucked an apple, placing it in Alistair’s palm with a smile. The prince stared at it for a moment before closing his hand around it.
Carpet hovered over a lake, where they could see the reflection of the moon. Fireworks burst in the sky as they landed on the rooftop of a building.
“It's all so magical.” Alistair said in a wondering tone.
“Yeah.” Jowan replied quietly, but he wasn’t looking at the fireworks. Alistair turned to return his gaze.
“It's a shame Lily had to miss this.” He said casually.
“Nah. She hates fireworks. She doesn't really like flying either.” Jowan froze as he replayed Alistair’s words. “That is...oh no! “
Alistair reached over and yanked off Jowan’s turban, making strands of hair fall into his face.
“You are the man from the market! I knew it. Why did you lie to me?“ Alistair asked accusingly.
“Alistair, I’m sorry.” Was all Jowan managed to get out around his tight throat.
“Did you think I was stupid?” Alistair threw his turban at him.
“No!” Jowan hastened to assure him.
“That I wouldn't figure it out?”
“No. I mean, I hoped you wouldn't. No, that's not what I meant.” Jowan mentally smacked his forehead.
“Who are you? Tell me the truth!” Alistair reached out and grabbed onto his arm in a firm grip, as if he thought Jowan would try to escape.
“The truth?” Jowan froze. Anything but the truth. “The truth...the truth is...I sometimes dress as a commoner to escape the pressures of castle life. But I really am a prince!” Jowan asserted, pulling his turban back on. The feather fell over his face, but it was ignored.
“Why didn't you just tell me?”
“Well, you know, um...royalty going out into the city in disguise, it sounds a little strange, don't you think?” Jowan asked putting the turban back on. The father fell over to tickle his face.
“Not that strange.” Alistair replied with a charming grin, erasing his previous look of suspicion.
Then Alistair reached over again to move the feather aside, before scooting over to sit closer to him until their thighs were touching. Jowan froze in surprise, and looked at the prince’s face out of the corner of his eyes. Alistair’s cheeks and ears were red, and Jowan’s breath was stolen as he realized that Alistair was…what, flirting with him?
As Jowan pried his eyes away and looked up to the sky, he gave up on the pretense that he was only doing all of this to check on a friend. He was so doomed.
They stayed that way, sharing space and heat, until it got to be a little too chilly, and so they headed back to the castle.
“Good night, my handsome prince.” Alistair teased, stepping onto the balcony. “Oh wait, that’s me, isn’t it?”
“Um. Sleep well, prince Alistair.” Jowan managed to get out, blushing at the reminder of his foot-in-mouth disease.
They stared at each other for a minute, before simultaneously leaning forward ever so slowly, until Carpet suddenly jerked from underneath him, making him stumble forward into Alistair. They could have avoided their lips meeting, but neither tried. Alistair’s were soft and warm.
They pulled apart, both blushing and looking awkwardly away and back again, until Alistair finally turned to walk away. He stopped midway, turning slowly to look back at him with a shy smile, before disappearing behind the curtain.
Carpet slowly descended, but Jowan kept his gaze firmly on the balcony until his eyes couldn’t see so far up anymore.
“I think…for the first time in my life, things are starting to go right.”
And that’s when rough hands grabbed him from behind.
“Hey! What?” Jowan exclaimed, but a gag was tied around his mouth, muffling his words.
“Lily! Lily!” Jowan looked around to see that Lily had been chained to a tree and a bit placed in her mouth. She was trying her best to gnaw through the chains. Jowan struggled to break free himself.
“Hold him!” A guard ordered, and shackles were snapped around his feet and hands. Carpet was stuffed in a bag that was then tied closed.
“I'm afraid you've worn out your welcome, Prince Joe.” Jowan looked up at see Loghain standing over him, looking smug. “Make sure he's never found.” He ordered as he walked away. Jowan glared at his back.
Then he was hit over the head, and lost consciousness.
The next thing he knew, he was sinking quickly in water. The chains on his feet had been tied to a rock. His turban and lamp were floating away from him, and he tried in vain to grab the lamp so he could rub it and call Surana.
He lost consciousness once again, but not before mentally taking back his comment about things going right.
Jowan woke up coughing water out of his lungs.
“You scared me, shem.” Surana spoke from where she hovered beside him.
“You saved me?” Jowan asked in a croaky voice.
“Well it wasn’t wasn’t easy - I might have bent the rules a bit.” Surana admitted.
“Thank you, Surana.” Jowan looked gratefully over at the genie, who looked at him awkwardly for a moment before patting his arm.
“Well, you still have to keep your promise, don’t you? I couldn’t let you die.”
Jowan chuckled, shaking of his head.
“Whatever you say.”