The royal visit

Kaedan, Kalon, mother and I are all seated for breakfast this morning, since it is mother's rule not to eat until the five of us are complete, we are all silently waiting for a crucial member of our family. My Father.

"I'm sorry for the delay." Father walks in.

Speak of the devil.

We all greet him.

"There was an urgent meeting that I needed to attend." Father takes his seat at the head of the table. "I hope everyone had a pleasant night?"

A chorus of hums and replies follow. I remain silent.

The chef and kitchen staff bring in an array of food, setting them down carefully, one after the other.

We all say a prayer to The Light for what he has blessed us with then the workers start to serve bowls of soup, fruits, and meals prepared with choice and prizes vegetables among other things.

A special meal which includes a large portion of grilled meat is lain before me.

My father's holding up his nose in disgust.

The vast majority of elves in Yavanna don't eat meat. But then again, I've never always been like everyone else. They say there's always an unconventional one in every family, a quirky one.

Kaedan throws a large chunk of meat in his mouth, chewing loudly.

Looks like there are two in mine.

"The Light help me, can't you both just eat a normal and proper meal, instead of, of that!" Father exclaims.

"Khan, sweetheart. Let them be dear, we all have the freedom of choice. Besides, Karina always looks radiant no matter what she eats." Mother gives me a warm smile.

The Light bless your soul mother. She always has my back.

"Whatever,." Father grumbles. "Before I forget, I wanted to let you know that the bow you used on the day of the accident is a new model my that my finest scientists and technicians have been working on. I wonder what it was doing in your training room because it's a limited edition, only a few of them have been made."

"It's fine father. I really don't want to talk about it." I focus on my meal.

I feel satisfied after I'm done with the first meal then I go on to dessert. Just as I'm about to scarf down the reminants of my pastries and pudding, my father speaks up again.

"As you all know King Aragon, his son Iston and his entourage will be coming to Yavanna. We've been planning this for months now". He says to me and my siblings.

I'm licking the pudding off my fingers when I stop midway.

Father scowls.

Apparently licking your fingers at dinner is inappropriate. Oh gimme a break.

"King Aragon, of the Sylph?" My sister Kalon asks.

"Yes, King Aragon of the Sylph. Don't you pay attention to anything?" Father snaps. "He'll be here in three days time."

My siblings and I give each other a knowing look that we've all forgotten about his arrival.

Father continues. "And we are going to host them here at the palace, so everyone should be on their best behavior and carry out their duties and responsibilities as expected." He looks at me.

I deliberately avoid his gaze.

"Karina, have you done everything I asked, made all the necessary preparations? Need I remind you how important this visit is?"

I have no idea what he's talking about. I totally forgot all about it. Hey, don't blame me it's been rough couple of weeks.

"Umm can you just run me through it all one more time just in case I missed anything?" I try to hide how nervous I am.

Father pinches the bridge of his nose and takes deep breaths. "You my dear, are in charge of Prince Iston's welfare. Your siblings are free to assist you but you will make sure everything goes smoothly during the time of his visit and carefully plan the several activities both of you will do during his stay here."

"Yup, got it". I say. "Just making sure you remembered".

Oh bother.

"Karina darling, as a matter of fact your father and I won't be the ones to welcome His Royal Majesty and the Prince." Mother uses a napkin to dab the sides of her mouth.

"Oh, If not you, who then?" I ask utterly dumbfounded.

Father is clearly irritated. "You, It'll be you Karina and if you paid any attention you won't be asking me this question right now."

"Yes, it's all coming back to me now," I sigh.

"Don't be too hard on her love. She's had a tough couple of weeks, you know with being admitted in the hospital and all." She looks in my direction and her soft brown eyes catches mine.

"Maybe she hit her head a little too hard that's why she can't remember anything about the royal visit, yes that must be it." Father has a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Sweetheart, you need to start learning how to welcome and host foreign dignitaries. It's part of your training as Ayaba." Mother says softly.

Ayaba means queen if you're wondering.

I wipe my fingers on the napkin on my lap. "I'm sure it won't be difficult to do. I mean putting finishing touches on the preparations."

Of course it'll be difficult to do, Heck! I haven't even started yet. I've been schooled about receiving and hosting dignitaries my entire life but I've never been left alone to handle one all by myself... not to talk of the Sylph. That's a whole new level. Their culture is so different from ours.

"Kaedan, Kalon and I will see that he enjoys his stay." I try to hide the nervousness in my voice once more. I can't mess up, not this time. I'm not going to give him another reason to think I'm inadequate. At least I owe it to mother to do a good job.

"Well I've got to go now. Go over the necessary preparations and all,. Now, if you'll excuse me I have training to attend. Mother, father." I bow as I take my leave.

Oh dear. That was horrible. I'll make sure to stop by Kaedan and Kalon's room to talk later.

After making a quick stop to my room to change into some workout clothes, I walk gracefully to the training room.

Because of the explosion, the training room on my floor has been under reconstruction. So we had to use another.

I peer into the room, no one is in sight. Hmm, guess he didn't show up after all. I sigh disappointedly.

"Oh you're here." Erlan appears from the corner of the room.

I twirl around. "I thought you weren't going to show up?"

"But I said I would." He replies.

"Yeah but when I didn't see you, I thought you changed your mind." I absentmindedly twirl a finger around my hair".

"Karina, Karina Karina, If I wasn't going to come, I would have told you yesterday when you came over to my place. That means if I tell you I'll do something then I will. On my honour." Elan's palm is facing his chest and the other in the pocket of his pants.

"I'll always keep that in mind next time then." That's a huge relief.

"Good, now let's do some warm-up stretches."

We do some triangle poses, planks, hand to toe touches and squats.

"So today what we're going to be doing is hand to hand combat."

"Okay..." I drink from my water bottle not sure where he's going with this.

"I'm sure you have an idea of this topic but I'll still explain. Hand to hand combat is a physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range that does not involve the use of ranged weapons. We use different fighting styles which I will teach you. While the phrase "hand-to-hand" appears to refer to unarmed combat the term is generic and may include use of melee weapons such as knives, sticks, batons or improvised weapons such as entrenching tools."

After hours and hours of training and practice my entire body is sore and in dire need of rest. Erlan sees how tired I am and not only calls it a day but gives me a some time off from training to rest and for that I'm eternally grateful.

I use the teleporter next to the training room and I rematerialize in the teleporter on my floor.

I run myself a warm bath, that'll help my aching muscles and tell KARIS to play some soft music. Elva is spending the week with her family so I'm on my own till she gets back.

I walk into my bathhouse, take my sweaty clothes off, lower myself into the warm water, silently moaning as the water hits my skin and tired muscles and I just lie down there listening to the very soft music in the background and not thinking about anything.

Not the visit, my father, nothing. Absolutely nothing.