okay based on my original impression of the timeline here's the thing i started writing today that no longer feels up to date. about 600 words of young simon. spoilers below etc etc
"Give Ratha back! Give me Ratha back!"
"Shut up, Your Highness," the soldier holding Kris' right arm snarled. "That Rathalos belongs to Vermeil now."
"No, no!"
The soldier dragging at Kris' left arm was gentler, not that it made a difference. The crystallization meant that the way it was bent sent pain shooting up all the way to Kris' shoulder, and his heart stumbled over itself at the thought that someday, the Crystallisis would spread that far.
"Easy kid. You're going to see the Queen, first."
Kris kept struggling until they had dragged him not to a grand throne room, but a small, cluttered space full of books, pages, and desks. In the middle of it was a woman, tall, blonde, with cold eyes like crystal. She turned to face the commotion and her eyes lingered on Kris, calculating. He let himself be dragged to a stop and practically hung between the two soldiers, trying to catch his breath.
"Is this the Rathalos rider?" she asked.
"Yes, Queen Clarissa. We captured them near the Blightstone Woods."
"Let go of him," Clarissa ordered. "He's just a child."
"Your Grace, he went for my dagger and--"
"I said to release him." Clarissa's voice was as cold as her eyes. But she wanted him let go? Could she possibly be on his side? Maybe she'd listen and let him have Ratha back.
"Yes, Your Grace," the soldier on Kris' left said, letting go so that Kris' crystallized wrist could swing forward, sending crackles of pain through him. He grit his teeth and held it close to his body, then cradled it as his right hand was released shortly after.
"What will you do now?" the left soldier asked. "Will we send word to Azuria, asking for--"
"Don't be ridiculous," Clarissa said. "Look at this child. This is no Prince."
Kris' shoulders hunched, and he was all-too aware of the way his sleeves were too short and he was growing out of the clothes he had left the village with. No, Kris was in no way a Prince--but that meant that he wasn't the one they'd intended to capture. Maybe he and Ratha could go free.
Maybe then, Kris could find the Prince of Azuria first.
"Then who--"
Clarissa stepped forward, and Kris backed up when he felt the soldiers on either side of him tense in preparation that he might attack their Queen. It made him feel like a Feral Monster, and his heart went out to Ratha, wherever he was being kept.
"What is your name?" Clarissa asked.
Kris didn't want to speak. He just wanted Ratha back. But there was no one else to convince these people of what he wanted, so he had to stand tall like one of the adults and try to do it, himself.
"Kris," he said, letting his hands fall to his sides and meeting Queen Clarissa's eyes.
She tilted her head, eyes flicking to his crystallized wrist. "Kris? How unfortunate--your hand, is it crystallized?"
Kris wasn't from Vermeil, but maybe if she thought he was, then she'd be more sympathetic. He just nodded. Something about his name being said in such close proximity to the word 'crystallized' made his stomach churn.
"Tell me, Kris," Clarissa said, and it made him fidget uncomfortably, "where did you get that Rathalos? We understood that there was only one--that it belonged to the Prince of Azuria."
Glenn, Kris thought. Amara's son.
"What do you want the Prince's Rathalos for?" Kris asked.
