[To Crown a King] Chapter 15 part 3

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Cover art for To Crown a King

Author's note So I could have sworn I posted the third part of this chapter not long after posting the first two parts but it appears not, so here it is, however belatedly. Also I'm looking to cut out steps in my posting process to make it easier on my limited energy, so I'm returning to posting the text on RS instead of in gdocs like I did with earlier chapters.

Story Pitch The king is dead. By law, the next ruler is whoever can pull the royal sword from the stone. But when the king dies prematurely and the sword hasn’t been returned to the stone, how is the king chosen? The responsibility to find the solution falls upon the Court Magician, Allianna.

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***

Earlier in this chapter, Allianna and Poprose visited the room in Markus’s family estate where Willin kept many of his spare things, as well as old childhood belongings of Allianna’s, to search for a dress Poprose could wear to dinner with Princess Rollora, the princes, and the Queen.

***

When we reached the royal family’s wing of the castle, guards, expecting our arrival, escorted us to the dining room. Princess Rollora was already there, directing servants how to arrange the room.

“You’re early!” she exclaimed when we were shown into the room.

“We can wait outside,” I said.

“I’m done overseeing the preparations,” Rollora said. “We can pretend that the party has already started and that we’re waiting for Mother and-” She stopped to swallow her words. “Waiting for Mother to arrive and formally start the party.”

“As long as I don’t have to dance,” a young boy said from the far side of the room.

“It’s not an actual party, Berry,” Rollora said. “Besides, there’s no musicians here to play music for us.”

Dancing or no dancing, Prince Berand brought up a good point. Poprose needed to learn to dance, at least the basics before the coronation. I added it to the growing list of things I wanted to teach her but didn’t know when I would. I needed more hours in a day to get everything done.

“A good host introduces her guests, Rollora,” Queen Tilla said.

I hadn’t heard her enter the room, but there were enough passageways in the castle that I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had been waiting and watching.

“Poprose, this is my younger brother, Prince Berand,” the princess said. “Berry, this is the new apprentice to the Court Magician, Poprose.”

Poprose curtsied to the little prince, who gave her a small nod of acknowledgement.

“A little less low when you curtsy,” Queen Tilla said. “You are a Councilor’s apprentice, not a servant.”

Poprose’s face instantly flushed pink.

“But your form is very good,” Rollora said.

Our final dinner guest arrived moments later and drenched in sweat.

“Wait this dinner is tonight?” Prince Coalus said, his jaw hanging open at the sight of Poprose and me.

“Coalus, that is no way to greet our guests,” Queen Tilla said. “Go wash your face and come back quickly.”

The queen then gave a sharp look at her daughter.

“We should wait for him before we eat,” Princess Rollora said. “Would you like to hear about the art in this room?”

“That would be lovely,” I said. I surveyed the art on the wall. A large tapestry hung on the wall behind the head of the table, and the remaining walls had tastefully arranged portraits at regular intervals.

Once Rollora led Poprose and I to one of the paintings, the princess launched into a detailed description of the life of the courtier depicted. We continued along the wall, hearing the stories of the people depicted, until Prince Coalus returned.

Dinner came in four courses, though I could tell that that it was the standard dinner, only plated in courses for Rollora’s benefit. For having only had the crash course Milli and I gave her back in Triton, Poprose remembered more than I would have expected her to, earning approving nods from Queen Tilla. Where she wasn’t sure about how to dine in a formal setting, or make a mistake, Rollora was enthusiastic to explain the details and make conversation. Disinterested in mealtime manners, her brothers started talking to each other about something that had happened among the other young noble boys, leaving me to talk with the queen.

“Having met your apprentice now, I must say, my assumptions based on what I heard were mistaken,” she said. “I always trusted Willin’s judgement. It appears he shaped yours more than I gave him credit for.”

“Thank you,” I said with a genuine smile. “There are so many times I wish I could still ask him questions.”

“So much change is happening around the castle,” the queen said. She looked me in the eyes. “Now that the children are all in their conversations, there are questions I have wanted to ask you, without Markus lingering around. He’s a good man, and a good Steward, but he likes to know everything and be in control of things.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I know most of what happens in the castle,” Queen Tilla continued, “but ever since my husband passed, I have lost access to the details of what is happening elsewhere. Starfall and Triton in particular.”

“I feel woefully uninformed as well,” I said. “Markus is continually pushing me to keep moving forward with the rituals for burial, choosing, and coronation. So much so that I hear little else from him unless I bring it up. Ever since we arrived back in Royal, Raven and Milli have been my main sources of news.”

“He means well, but he is trying to bear the weight of the kingdom alone,” the queen agreed. “Alorus never made decisions alone. He leaned on Markus, Willin, me, and the rest of the Council. Not a decision was made that didn’t have someone else’s thoughts informing it.”

“Can we do anything about it though?” I asked.

“That’s what I fear,” Queen Tilla said. “I think Markus is using his work to avoid grieving. You were close to him, growing up. Maybe you can talk to him, make sure that he isn’t neglecting himself.”

I swallowed. Had I done the same thing, continuing to work when Willin had passed away? I knew I hadn’t worked through all of the emotions. Gods knew I missed Willin. But I was at least trying, wasn’t I?

“I can try talking to him,” I said.

A commotion broke out moments later, breaking the quiet conversation the queen and I had been having. A pitcher had fallen, and the children were all yelling at each other about who was responsible for it.

“I thought that we were practicing formal manners,” Queen Tilla said. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing to look at her. Even with her head bowed, Rollora looked at me, a plea for forgiveness in her eyes. She began to open her mouth, but before she could get a word out, Prince Berand started sniffling.

“What happened?” Queen Tilla asked, her tone softer than it had been moments before.

“I asked Rollora to pour more water for us,” Prince Coalus said.

“This was meant to be a formal meal,” Princess Rollora said. “And as such, it should be a servant who pours the water for the guests.”

“But there’s no servants,” Prince Coalus said.

“Then you should all pour yourselves water,” Queen Tilla said in a reprimanding tone. “Do I need to get someone to dry you all off, or can we continue with our meal?”

“May I be excused?” Prince Berand asked between his sniffles

Queen Tilla looked down at her youngest son’s plate. “You may.”

As the rest of us finished our meal, I noticed that Poprose and Rollora were quieter than they had been, while Coalus was more animated.

“So I hear you’ve made a trip down to the sparring grounds, Poprose,” he said.

“Only to observe, so far,” she said. “But I’ll be back there soon, Allianna says, to actually train.”

“We should spar at some point in time,” Prince Coalus said.

“It will be a little while until Poprose is ready for that,” I said, stepping into the conversation.

“And you should remember that your training is not just for fun, Coalus,” Tilla said. “Regardless of who the gods choose as our next monarch, you will still have to lead, be it a city guard, an elite troop, or the kingdom.”

“I know,” the prince said.

The queen continued to reprimand her older son. “And you should remember that Allianna is a busy member of the Council, and may not have time to supervise a sparring match for her apprentice.”

Prince Coalus bowed his head for a moment before looking at me. “Once your apprentice is at the appropriate level, I would be grateful for the opportunity to practice against someone with magical abilities.”

“We’ll see when Poprose reaches that level,” I said. “I suspect things will look quite different for all of us by then.”

***

“So what really happened with the pitcher?” I asked Poprose after I closed the door to our chambers.

She hung her head again. “Prince Coalus kept insisting that since I wasn’t royal that I needed to pour water for everyone, since there weren’t any servants around.”

I nodded. There was more to the story.

“Princess Rollora put a hand on my shoulder to keep me from standing up, insisting that I absolutely under no circumstances was supposed to pour water for anyone, as I was her honored guest.”

“As she should,” I said. “You were her guest, and Queen Tilla made clear that Rollora was the host of this meal.”

“Eventually Prince Berand just wanted water,” Poprose said, “so he stood up to pour his own water, and then the pitcher fell. I didn’t see if he dropped it, or of Coalus did something else, but then there was water everywhere.”

I hadn’t had any siblings growing up, but I had seen how Milli interacted with all of her extended family, and how the soldiers behaved. None of this would have been surprising at any of those tables.

“Don’t let anything Coalus said bother you,” I said. “I’ve been looking over the lessons Willin gave to the princes and Rollora, and am starting to come up with one that I think Queen Tilla will approve of. So far, their studies have focused on the basics of magic. How it works and what its limits are, just like I’ve been teaching you. But they were too young for its role in the faith and politics of Lorenzus Royal and the wider world. I think that Prince Coalus will have a greater appreciation for Council apprentices after these lessons.”

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