Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As Avalyn walked into the guards mess hall, the whole room went quiet and all rose to their feet with a cacophony of scraping chairs and benches. She gave a shaking smile to all the uniforms, stepping subconsciously into Mikhail. Mikhail gave a low rumbling chuckle to her reaction and led her to the officers table at the head of the mess hall. Centered were two throne chairs in remembrance of the sovereigns. Avalyn doubted they had ever been occupied.

When they made it to the table, Mikhail pulled out the queen's seat and she sent a quick prayer that she wouldn't trip and fall. An inaudible sigh escaped her as she managed to sit gracefully. She rearranged her skirts so they sat neatly and to keep her nervous fingers moving. When she looked up they were still standing and staring, "Please, sit. Eat. Don't wait on my account. I'm sure many of you have already stood many hours today, and it's much too warm outside for that.”

There was a chuckle that ran through the guards as they did as their princess bid. It had indeed been very warm, and their livery was dark and their armor heavy. It was a blessing that the summers sweltering heat finally broke a couple days before. Now it was bearable and sentries could stand normal shifts rather than change out more constantly. A thought occurred to her and she turned to Mikhail sitting on her right, "Do you believe it would help if we created a summer uniform for the palace guards?" She was aware that many had passed out due to the high temperatures.

Mikhail paused, his wine goblet almost touching his lips, as he thought about it, "It might," He said, surprised by her concern, "How would you change the uniform?”

She reached over and touched Mikhail's tunic, the fabric was soft and thin to the touch, "What is the material they use? They don't have the nice material you do.”

"Durable cotton." He replied, "My uniforms are supposed to be nicer.”

"Yes, that much I know. What if the summer uniform was somewhat inverted? White for black, lavender for the plum purple, gold would look nice with them too…" her thoughts started to trail off, "We could even have them made with thinner material. It's only decoration anyways."

General Aleric had made an appearance that evening as well, and spoke loud enough for most of the room to hear, "I think that could be a wonderful, and appreciated change of pace for your guardians, Princess.” The chatting guards were silent a moment as they tried to listen, then the whispering picked up as those closest relayed what the topic of conversation was. A servant then placed a plate in front of her.

"Thank you." She murmured with a small smile, the servant, unused to royalty beamed and bowed deeply and trotted away, "I will speak with my father tonight and see if he will approve of the project." She looked down at her food, it was a red steak and boiled vegetables and rice. Immediately she went for her vegetables and she nearly moaned aloud. They were wonderfully soft and buttery. She chewed slowly, trying to savor all that she could.

"This is amazing." She admonished as she took another bite, "This isn't the same cook as in the palace, is it?" Mikhail, whose mouth was full, shook his head. She continued to eat excitedly, "It's no wonder all the guards are so large. Eating like this and all their training. How many enemies do you think I'd make if I stole him away?”

Mikhail froze and looked beyond her, she looked on her other side to the chair right beside the King's chair to General Aleric, who looked like he was about to commit murder. His office was on the top floor of the current building they were occupying, "Perhaps Princess I can convince you instead to just come visit me more often. With the harvest coming in, I'll be needing more help with inventory." Avalyn gave him a secret smile and nodded in agreement, "It might even draw your father out more often when he realizes his daughter has gone missing.

"It drew him out tonight." Mikhail added in a conspiratorial tone.

"You lie.”

Mikhail shook his head and pointed to Avalyn's head with his fork, "Gave her that. Seems like he and I are of similar thought. The Princess likes to blend in a little too much.”

Aleric stared surprised, "I remember your father requisitioning that for their first anniversary, they had yet to ascend to the throne, so it was quite perfect, but even after becoming sovereign, she wore it all the time.”

Avalyn tried to imagine her mother, wearing the precious jewel upon her head all the time, simply because it was a gift special from her father. It made her love the gift a little bit more.

After she had finished both her vegetables and her seasoned rice, she found she was too full to eat her meat. She stared at it and took a deep breath and cut a piece and popped it in her mouth. Her mouth watered heavily as it seemed to melt in her mouth, and she realized she actually moaned aloud.

"I can't take another bite." Without the slightest hesitation, Mikhail stabbed it and took it off her plate, "What are you doing?" She cried aloud.

Despite his mouth full he spoke, "I'm not going to let you waste it.”

"I didn't say you could have it. Give it back!" She reached for it and he moved his plate out of reach.

“No."

"Royal command.”

He thought a second, “no."

She lunged and he shoved his plate again further out of reach, they wrestled, her desperate and futile.

"I want to eat it.”

"You said you couldn't. Why do you share with everyone but me?”

"Because you're a chubby pig! You're the reason I'm so small!" Insult or not, Mikhail barked out, laughing hard. Knowing it was mostly truth.

"I'm not a chubby pig." He laughed.

She poked his stomach hard and he bent over laughing, "This says otherwise." She took the opportunity to take the plate and sit back properly in her chair. She stabbed his stake, smaller now from his consumption and placed it on her plate. She thought about placing his plate on her other side, out of his reach but she saw his look from the corner of her eye and knew the safest thing to do would be to give it back.

When she looked out, she froze. The guards had all gone silent watching the scene between the quiet and shy Princess and the cold hard Knight Commander. Beside her General Aleric was wheezing.

"I can’t believe you called him a chubby pig! HA!" He slammed his fist down on the table and roared, no longer able to contain it. The guards out of fear and respect coughed and struggled to swallow their fits of laughter. Some were not as successful as others. The Princess turned red in the face and looked over at Kai who seemed to be in good humor, shrugged.

000

Later that evening, Avalyn found herself playing cards with several guards and had a few chess tournaments, after Mikhail of course had made sure each and every guard, aside from the Royal Guard, met and introduced themselves to her. She won most chess games, until she played against Aleric.

"So what do we do now?" She asked the group, holding her cards to her chest.

"We show our cards." The gentleman who spoke looked smug as he placed his cards down for everyone to see, everyone else followed suit. Avalyn was last to place her cards down and the group moaned and complained when they saw her hand.

"Did I win?" Excitement making her voice rise.

"Yea, ya won." The man beside her drawled, "I think she's a'hustlin' us. Check 'er sleeves." Avalyn laughed and put her arms out for inspection.

"I have no idea what I'm doing!"

The guards around chuckled. ”Beginners luck,” one said.

"Alright, Princess, the night is late, and you have an early day tomorrow." Mikhail said, coming over, clearly dismissing everyone. He held his hand out and she took it. With little effort he pulled her to her feet off the floor.

"Good night, everyone." She said sweetly, with a small wave. They smiled back and chorused their own farewells.

"That was a lot of fun." She told Mikhail after they were out of the vicinity, "We should do it again sometime.”

Mikhail was silent and nodded.

"What's wrong?”

He looked at her confused, "There is nothing wrong, Your Highness, I'm just thinking about the work I need to get done tonight." Avalyn nodded in understanding.

“Did I keep you from your chores?”

Mikhail looked at her worried face, her brow was furrowed as she eyed him, “No. Of course not.” He couldn't really share he had a bad feeling about something. Though of what, he didn't know. But it hadn't gotten progressively worse throughout the day.

"If you're sure.” Though she didn’t really seem convinced.

Mikhail stopped in front of her doors, and bowed, "Always am. Good night, Princess.”

"Good night, Lord Knight Commander." With that he turned on his heel and made his way towards his offices. She herself went in search of her father in his chambers. She wanted to see to this uniform business.