Hey guys~ Wow it has been forever since I wrote a chapter of this. You can really thank AmWatchingYou for this! I had hit a wall on it and she kept at me until I started thinking about it again -laughs- Here you get a lovely montage of Søren failing, enjoy!

Søren was still trying to figure out what he had said to Elias when an older pompous looking man appeared, giving him even more clothing to put on. The look on his face was one of disapproval but Søren paid him no mind as he struggled to figure out the strange articles of clothing he was now expected to wear.

"I am here to assign you a task. I was told you are quite good in the physical department and a bit lacking in... well. That physical strength is your strong point. I thought perhaps you could help out in the stables. Come along."

The man continued to talk about boring things that Søren didn't care about and so he largely ignored him as they walked through the castle, mainly taking in the details of this new place. It actually reminded him a lot of the palace at home except less made out of natural formations so much as forced into smooth shapes and perfect angles that Søren found unsightly. The air also had so many strange smells he wasn't used to. Some were pleasant but some made him physically ill as they walked briskly down staircases (which he found very intimidating at first and went down rather slowly) and through way too many hallways to be justified. Walking was so much harder than swimming! It didn't help that he'd just done all that fighting and was still hung over, either.

Søren was actually enjoying all the fresh air until they got closer and closer to these 'stables' the man had been talking about. Oh lord the reek made his stomach churn and he wanted to puke again. The fancy man walked over to talk to some guy as Søren glowered at the creatures who were housed in the stables. Horses... so far his only experience with horses had been being tossed over one while highly intoxicated and violently jostled about on it. Needless to say he was hardly fond of them. He made a face at one.

The stuffy man returned to him. "It's all arranged, then. You shall be working here. Go speak to Erlend and he will give you further instructions on your duties here." He gestured towards the man he had just been speaking to.

Søren crossed his arms tightly. "I refuse to work with these beasts."

The man's jaw tightened and he visually prickled. "I would think, sir, that you are pushing His Majesty's generosity in honoring you with a job at all."

"I never asked for a job! And there's no way I can get along with these things, they're evil!" He would not be demeaned in this way!

Once again the tightening of the jaw. "They are hardly evil. I'm sure you'll get along with them just fine. I will have Erlend show you. Erlend! Bring that horse over!"

Erlend looked at the horse in question and shrugged. It was a wild one but if he wanted to see it... He grabbed its reign and dragged it over, steadying the majestic stud repeatedly to calm it. "He's a handsome one but he'll need some serious discipline to tame him."

Søren's companion knew immediately he had made a poor choice. "Ah, well surely this one is the exception to what is the norm."

"Oh, of course! The rest are very disciplined. We wouldn't accept less. This one is new and if he can be broken in he'll be a fine addition." Erlend patted the horses side and it suddenly reared up, whinnying loudly. "Easy, easy!"

But the horse would not be calmed. It danced backwards then forwards nervously, pulling at the reign sharply. It tugged its head sharply and reared up again. The stuffy man quickly backed away and Søren tensed. He looked into those black, demonic eyes and knew this creature was one of the darkest of all evils. As the horse came down he did the only logical thing. He punched it in the face.

Erlend tugged at the horse's reign again, getting it under control as it stumbled. "What is the matter with you? Who punches a horse!"

Søren cracked his knuckles. He'd do it again, a hundred times if he had to! Once Erlend had the horse safely away he returned looking extremely angry. "I don't think you did any damage, though I'll have to check, but I'm going to say it would most certainly be best if you stayed as far away from this place as you possibly can. And so help me if I find you out here harassing the horses I'll take care of you myself."

Sighing very loudly the boring man returned to Søren's side. "I am so sorry about this. I did not realize he was mentally unsound. I shall find something else for him. I do hope the horse is alright."

Erlend grumbled and turned away abruptly, walking back towards the stables. The connoisseur of dullness turned a sharp look onto Søren. "We shall try placing you elsewhere."

Søren didn't know what they were all so worked up over. He had just possibly saved both of their lives! Still, he was pleased that he wouldn't have to deal with these atrocities. If they were all betrayed by them it was their own fault.

They trekked back towards the castle, taking another path with too many hallways and staircases (going up this time, which was immeasurably worse and exhausting). His misery was interrupted. "Let me think... We have few positions open at the moment. We did recently have to get rid of one of our chefs. Arthur Kirkland, English, which meant he couldn't cook worth a damn."

Søren got the impression that this man thought just about anyone could cook better than this guy. "Um... I can cook."

"Can you?" It was asked with an extremely incredulous air, an eyebrow was raised higher than Søren was aware they could get.

"Oh yes." He could cook. Maybe. He could try anyway. What was cooking?

"Very well, we shall see what can be done with you."

And so they were off to the kitchens which were vast and smelled so good Søren could hardly believe it. His mouth was watering in seconds. Once again the master of disinteresting found someone to speak to, letting the chef know that while Søren claimed to know how to cook, it was highly unlikely and to just give him an easy job if his hunch proved correct. With that he left, assuming he was now free of his burden.

As Søren was approached by what he guessed was one of these 'cook' things, he couldn't help but note how large his arms were. He belonged on a battlefield, not in this mystical haven of good smells. He was hardly paying attention so when he was asked if he could make a simple loaf of grovbrød he simply nodded and found himself left to his own devices as others hustled and bustled on their own busy tasks.

Totally lost as to what was expected of him, Søren began to walk around a bit aimlessly. There were all these weird things... white powders, ground up herbs that made him sneeze when he smelled them, knives that seemed like poor weapons when they were all sheathed the way they were. It wasn't for a few minutes that he suddenly realized the entire place was filled with food. The variety of fish particularly caught his attention, made his mouth water all over again.

After finding a couple of particularly tempting specimens, Søren slunk off to a corner and started eating happily. It wasn't as fresh as he was used to it being but still, not too bad. He had finished a couple of them off when he suddenly found the cook man standing in front of him looking rather angry. He smiled at him. "Something the matter?"

The chef's face went incredibly red and he pointed to the fish Søren was happily munching on. "What do you think you're doing with those?"

"Eating them! Why, what else would I do with them?" Maybe the fish were meant for someone else.

"Those were part of dinner! Can you actually cook or are you just here to eat, you lazy bastard?"

"Well, what else would you do withfood? I mean it's just laying around everywhere..."

"Make things with it!"

"Make..." Søren tilted his head slightly. "How?" Did he mean like accessories or something? Not much could be done with fish unless someone wanted to go through the painstaking effort of peeling off their scales and doing something with them.

"They really sent me an idiot this time. That bastard, dumping me with you! You can't stay in here! Someone go get that pompous bastard and bring him back to get rid of him— Would you stop eating that!"

Søren munched on the fish, watching the cook with a blank look on his face. He was the one that sounded stupid, not handing out this perfectly good food. The cook ranted angrily and someone finally ran out of the room quickly to fetch the man. Not too much later he arrived looking more than a little irritated. His mood was hardly sweetened when the chef began screaming at him until he was red in the face about not bringing him people who couldn't do anything but eat their supplies.

Chewing happily on some fish bones, Søren followed the incredibly dull fellow away from the kitchen with a friendly wave. He still didn't understand what the big deal was but he felt much better now after having eaten, even if it had created a fuss (for some reason).

Suddenly he found a bucket being shoved into his hands, water sloshing out to soak into his shirt. "I assume you can at least figure out how to scrub the floors! Now stay out of trouble and out of everyone's way!"

With that Søren found himself utterly alone. How odd. Why did that strange man keep giving him tasks to do? He had no idea. Something Elias wanted? Strange. As he had said earlier, he'd hardly asked for one. Actually he found all of this mostly pointless for him. He hadn't done much of anything but fight before coming up here.

How...how did cleaning work? Søren set down the bucket and reached in to pull out a brush. He grimaced. The water felt wrong. It was hard to describe, it just did. Like it was too smooth. Søren stared at the brush, then at the bucket of water, then at the floor. Clean... clean. Clean? He dropped the brush on the floor, water scattering from where it landed. He tilted his head then determined it looked clean enough to him. All done! They should really think of living underwater instead. There was some corrosion maintenance to take care of as well as general wear and tear repair, but no one did anything like this.

Job completed, Søren sat down and began to try and remember again exactly what he had said. He remembered the sense of urgency, of saving Elias. Bringing him onto the beach... Whatever he had said had been unimportant to him, probably something meant to sound comforting. It hadn't stuck in his memory at all. Instead of remembering he fell asleep, pressed uncomfortably against the hard wall.

An undetermined amount of time later he was roughly shaken. The man he had come to dislike very much was frowning down at him. "You haven't cleaned at all!"

"Mm? Yes I did. Besides, don't you have more important things than making sure some big old castle has clean floors? They'll just get dirty again." He yawned, cracking his neck. Now his body was stiff in a way it had never been before and he didn't much care for it.

"You are the most frustrating-!" The paragon of tediousness took a deep breath. "I shall find a task you are...suited for. Until then please just try to stay out of the way!" He gave Søren directions to the soldier quarters, not bothering to make sure he knew where that was. Hopefully he'd get into a fight and the soldiers would run him out or he'd just wander off and never come back to darken his day again. He had better things than to try and find a task for a good for nothing.

As he turned to leave Søren called out to him. "Hey, you! I want to talk to Elias! Where can I find him?"

The man whirled around. "You shall refer to him as his Majesty Prince Elias, and if he desires to see you then he shall summon you. Now go make yourself scarce!" With that he stomped away.

Søren scratched the back of his head. "What an asshole."

He sighed and looked out the window. The sun was already pretty low in the sky. He must've been sleeping for a long time. With a sort of misery he started wandering around, mapping the place out for future reference. Overall he was ignored, just another face among many. It was sort of nice actually, being invisible for once. But it was also lonely. Søren found himself outside and began to walk towards the sea. He climbed cautiously down a rocky area. He was clumsy at it, never having had to do such a thing in his life and at one point he fell, scraping his hands and knees painfully. It didn't help that it was already dark now, the stars and half-moon his only guides.

Once he reached the water's edge he stripped down and entered until it came up to above his waist, water stinging his wounds pleasantly. The waves felt good, rocking him with their soothing motion. It took some of the weight off of him. Gravity worked much differently outside of water and his body felt a discomfort that had once been unknown. Aching and alone, Søren was starting to wonder if this had been worth it.

No, that was a defeated way of thinking! One day on the land wouldn't be enough to have him running back home. Even if there were things he missed already that didn't mean there weren't limitless things to explore. He'd make the best out of his situation. Today he'd already learned that he hated horses, didn't know how to cook (whatever that was), and that he didn't seem to clean up to standard.

"Prince Søren!"

Søren turned his head abruptly, eyes searching the dark water for the source of the familiar voice. "Tino?"

A moment later Tino's form became distinct in the low light. Søren laughed aloud and waded out further, kicking his feet to remain still. It was difficult without his tail but he managed. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Tino came closer, taking Søren's hand. "I'm so relieved to see you my lord! I've been worried sick."

"Ah, you don't need to worry about me Tino! What are you doing here, anyway?" It was definitely a pleasant surprise to find him here, though.

"I wanted to check on you, talk to you. Berwald is doing damage control and making excuses for your absence." At least Tino hoped he was. He wouldn't be surprised if he was actually making things a thousand times worse. He seemed to love messing up Søren. "How...how have you been getting along?"

"Mm... well... Not the best day but it could've been worse. I got to fight some guys. That was pretty fun. The rest of the day was sort of a bust. Also I can't remember what I said to Elias when I saved him and apparently he won't believe it was me until I do."

Tino sighed. Of course Søren would forget something so completely important. "So Elias isn't being friendly?"

Søren smiled. "Oh no, we're friends!"

"Y-you are?" Tino's eyes widened. That was good news actually.

"Yep, sure are! He acts a lot like Berwald! You know, always the kidder, acting all unfriendly when he doesn't mean it." He laughed cheerfully even as Tino's heart sank.

"Oh..." Søren really was terrible at reading people. "U-um... Listen, Prince Søren, there is something you must know! I have talked to Ari and-"

"You talked to him? Kind of a strange one, but he sure is cute. Sort of like you! Are you going to make some sort of deal with him? Hey! Get yourself some legs and then you can hang out with me!"

"N-no, nothing like that! I was talking about your contract with him. Prince Søren, he'll break it and give you back your tail! You just have to be willing to come back." Tino only hoped he hated it up here.

"Oh?" It was sort of a relief to know he had an out, but... "That's pretty nice of you to find out for me but I'm definitely not ready to even think about if I ever want to go back. It's only been a day!"

"Please, Prince Søren! You're the crown prince. You're not just abandoning your family, you're abandoning the entire kingdom! You have to be responsible sometimes, even if it's not very fun. How do you think everyone will feel once they have heard you've run off because you felt like drinking all day?" Tino may have looked timid—and could be around Berwald—but he was strong. It was why Søren had decided he liked him so much.

"...Well when you put it like that... But that's not the only reason I left y'know. It's not like I don't know I'm acting selfish. But come on, look how many brothers I have. They don't need me, and I know father doesn't really want me to inherit the throne. Maybe I sort of want to figure out what I feel like doing with my life, not just what I'm told to do. If I really decide I can't stand it up here, I'll come back and never complain about it again."

Tino didn't know what to say to that. Sometimes Søren said things that made Tino realize that he actually thought about these sort of things. Søren was irresponsible but he wasn't a bad sort, really. Even if he was going to drive Tino to an early deep sea grave. "Alright... If you really have to then go ahead. Though we won't be able to cover for you forever."

"I know, I'm not asking you to." Søren grinned at him, grateful for his concession. "Just tell them there was nothing you could do."

That was definitely the truth. "Prince Søren, if you insist on staying up here I think you need to at least get close to the prince. Er, get closer to him. To try and prevent him from marrying while you're still thinking things over."

"Make him like me more?" Søren had definitely never thought about it but... "So you think I should try to get him to fall in love with me? Kind of extreme don't you think?"

"What?" Tino absolutely couldn't figure out Søren's jump in logic. He hadn't meant romantically, he'd meant make it so that Elias at least didn't hate his guts so he could be in the same room as him!

"Well, I dunno if he'd go for that but I guess I could always give it a shot. He seems like the type that doesn't really fall in love but sure, yeah! I'll give it a try." If nothing else it would be sort of fun, maybe. Not that he'd actively ever tried to do that before. "I need to figure out how to get to him, though. Søren, crown prince and son of the great Germania, does not wait on others for an audience!"

He was sure that Elias wouldn't mind seeing him anyway, it was just all the other people that were getting in the way.

Tino wasn't sure if he should wish him luck or cry. He was definitely leaning towards crying. "R-right... I'm sure you can do it. I-I'd like to keep in touch with you to see how things are going. Can you meet me here again tomorrow night around the same time?"

"Sure, no problem! Hey uh, thanks for coming out to see me Tino. I really appreciate it. It perked me up a bit." Søren flashed him a bright smile.

"...It was nothing. I am just glad I can help in any way possible. Please take care of yourself and...and don't do anything too hasty? I will see you tomorrow night. Next time I might bring Berwald." Then again, that might be its own disaster.

"I'd like that! And you don't have to worry about me, I know what I'm doing. See you later."

Tino gave him an uncertain look then nodded and sank below the surface. Søren paddled back towards the shore. Tino's visit had made him feel so much better. He grabbed his clothes, throwing them over his damp skin. They clung oddly and he didn't like it at all. Why did they all wear these things anyway? It was much more comfortable and natural to wear nothing at all unless it was some form of armor.

Søren returned the castle and grabbed himself another fish from the kitchen for dinner. He couldn't at all remember where he was supposed to go to sleep and so wandered around for a while, finally ducking into an available bed after stripping again. Huh... this was sort of comfortable. Much softer than what he'd slept on at home. Sort of warm and fluffy and... yeah, he liked this a lot. He smiled and snuggled deeper into the bed.

Feeling more at peace, he fell into a deep sleep. The woman whose room it was, a guest and the youngest niece of one of the higher ups at the castle, arrived late in the night, sometime before dawn, after a forbidden tryst with a soldier that had lasted through most of the night. She gasped loudly when she pulled back the covers and slipped beneath them in the dark only to find herself in bed with a stranger. When he woke up, regarded her sleepily, then asked if she'd like to have sex, she screamed bloody murder.

And so Søren's first day as a human was concluded.

AN: For the record I like horses -laughs- Also, I finally decided to throw in a reference to Arthur in the story just because the English do have some Germanic blood in their background.

grovbrød - A common type of bread in Norway.