18...

                        MEETING

,,,,In the sleep they here banging on the door , Madin wakes up first . He walk to the door and unlock it without thinking . What his eyes meet shocks him .

" Where is he ?" The king ask walking in, leaving some knights and guards  out .

Madin remain standing dazed without a word . The king passes him on the doorway. The noise wake Arthur up ,,

Arthur,  "Father !?" He says surprised, sitting up on the bed .

" Yes , am your father king Anthony, you are definitely not dreaming. Did you really have to come to this point?! Running away ? A whole king to be ?!"

" How.. did you.. fin.. " Arthur tries to formulate a question but the king cuts him.

" How did I find you? Oh son you know how we work , you can't really be meaning that you thought I wouldn't find you if I wanted to .  For him we were unable to find him because we thought he was a girl!" He says referring to madin.   " Come on , we are going back before people find out that you came to the point of doing something so shameful , no one knows that you ran away and I don't want anyone to know !"

" No , am not going back . " he argues.

"Arthur..! " the king starts but Arthur cuts him .

" Father , I've told you already I want to be with him, and if I can't be the king because of him then I don't want to be. Let my brother be ."

" You mean you want to throw away something you have always wanted to be because of him ?! How can your brother be ?! You are the eldest son ! I took the initiative to look for you because I care and trust that you are the right person for that position  , come on , let's go back to the palace , let's talk about this at there."

Arthur,   " Am n.."

" We are taking him with us !" The king say referring to Madin.

" How can I be sure that you are not going to do something terrible to him ?"

"I know what he means to you and for that reason I will not."

Arthur,  " I don't want him to stay in the dungeon either!"

King,    " okay "

"What if you don't keep your promise?"

" Don't you trust me anymore, Arthur? "

" Father, just so you know if you do anything to him then... "

" Oh heavens, what has come over my precious son! I said I will not "

" Okay "

They set off , Madin and Arthur sharing one horse . After a long journey they arrive. 

There were elder members already sitting  waiting in the palace for a big talk . They all arise when the king and the prince arrive walking to the royal chairs joining other family members . Madin was led to sit among other elders , recieving weird looks.

"Please have your seats ." The king say sitting too.

After a minute the meeting begin with the king thanking each one of them for being there and other small talks .

" I know what is happening around the palace is something very new but we can always adjust to the changes , it's a changing world and for that reason we should not be rigid and refuse to acknowledge the changes we can't prevent .

My son here is going through something that we don't have power over it , and for that reason we have to accept it ! I know you have already heard , when he thought he had found a wife to be , it turned out that it was a boy who was forced by an evil woman to come here as a young girl for her own benefits ,, we already have her in custody because we cannot entertain such deeds in this kingdom!"

Madin is shocked to hear that his aunt is around the palace in custody .

The king continues. " To be honest, the days that this young boy came here as a girl and a maid of prince Arthur, that was the period I saw Prince Arthur genuinely happy , and when a person is happy it enables them do their duties well , and even after he knew that his servant was not a girl but a boy , he still fought for him , which clearly show that his emotions for this boy are genuine, not because he is a girl or boy but just as a person ! I have been training this boy from a younger age and each of you know that he is an able future king ! For that reason am not going to change my mind of him being a king because he has found love which seem  unrealistic to many people ."

One old member stand . " My lord , are you trying to mean that you are going to allow him to be with that boy in that way ?!"

Everyone look like is eager to hear the answer.

The king answer "I don't see any reason why not , he want to be with him , the boy is a human being not an animal, so why not . Through this I have come to realise , it doesn't matter who you are with , as long as you are happy."

Another stand . " My lord , I have always been assured of your decisions but don't you think this has gone too far ?!"

Another.  " Yes MY lord , especially if you want him to be the king then how are they going to produce a heir that will take over the kingdom after him?!"

The king , " I already thought of that . Beside the boy , prince Arthur will have a woman alongside, who will give him a heir ! Don't many people have more than one wife in this kingdom? "

" Father I don't w..." Arthur start ,  wanting to refuse his father's decision but he's cut sharply.

King ,  "YOU shut up! You have no say in this ! Don't you think am being fair enough to you ?! You will do as I say or otherwise you will not like what my second decision on this will be ! Do you understand me ?"

" Yes , father "

Prince Arthur answers, scolding himself for trying to fight when his father is doing his best to help him . He look towards Madin whose eyes are cast down.

As some of the elders are still arguing the noise from outside stop them .

" We want freedom! We want freedom to love whoever !! Love is love ! We want freedom!! "

When they run out to see what is going on they find a crowd of people , some men holding hands with men and some ladies too holding hands with other ladies .

As I said there was this kind of love in this kingdom but they never knew it was love actually, they knew love existed between men and women.  But when they heard the prince fell in love with a boy and he is refusing to let go , they were opened their eyes , they realized it was love they were feeling too and for that reason a lot of confessions have happened during that period . And because they don't want to be punished for this they came to ask for freedom to be with whoever they love .

" Am sorry if this will offend most of you but am the king and am going to make my decision. As I said earlier happiness is the priority, so love whoever you want!!" The kings say . The crowd scream in happiness . Some are obviously offended thinking that this is something so bad and unreasonable .

The prince goes to Madin hugging him . They are both happy . They go near the crowd , the prince wave at them as if saying  , 'hello my fellow weirdos. '

After sometime people start dispersing and the palace come back to the normal state again .

☆☆☆☆☆