The Queen sat patiently beside her husband who was reeking profusely, and snoring quite loudly while Kraken lay nestled at her side. The baby in her belly shifting against the soft purrs that rumbled out of the feline and into her womb.

Against all odds, she had grown rounder, and remaining in bed had allowed a healthy glow to return to her face. Everyday Ainsley would silently pray that the child in her would continue its regular spins and kicking of her ribs. Secretly she felt that the reason for her improved condition was thanks to Kraken’s constant presence. The fast growing kitten’s steady loving aura and silky soft fluffiness had become her rock for an hour or more of each and every day. Not to mention his antics that never failed to amuse her. He would occasionally appear in her bedchamber with a fresh bread roll with a few bites taken out. Sometimes he would prowl beneath the covers until the Queen would wiggle a foot and send him into a panic, making her giggle like a young girl again.

Today was one of the days he was bringing a smile to her face.

The long black tail was swishing over the King’s face, dusting him with every snore until a long groan rumbled through the man.

“What the- oh. It’s Kraken.” Norman rubbed his face with trembling hands as he slowly peeked up at his wife who gazed down at him with an arched eyebrow.

“You have some explaining to do, husband.” Her soft voice did nothing to stop the piercing pain in Norman’s temples.

“I… er… I’m sorry? I don’t exactly remember what happened…” He tried to raise himself up but a wave of nausea sent him over the edge of the bed with a great heave into his chamber pot.

“Oh, don’t worry. I gathered a few helpful witnesses to relay to you what all happened.” The Queen smiled brilliantly when the King had finally righted himself on the bed, and had accepted the cup of water his wife offered.

“Shall we start with Ruby?” The King slowly drew himself up and opened his dry mouth to protest, when Ainsley called out quite loudly to the hallway.

The Head of Housekeeping entered looking tired, annoyed, but also somehow… amused. She brought with her a tray filled with toast, bacon, and fresh fruit.

“Good morning your majesty, I hope you feel more like yourself this morning.” Ruby laid the tray over the King’s lap then proceeded to curtsy. After she rose, she proceeded to stride back to the foot of the bed with her hands clasped in front of her.

“Thank you Ruby. His majesty is still somewhat sickly, but I’m sure that might be the case for the remainder of the day. Could please tell his highness what transpired during your night?” The Queen requested her radiant expression making the King wince.

“Of course your grace.” Ruby curtsied again before her eyes gained a distant look as she proceeded. “Last night I was awoken by a series of rambunctious noises that drew me out of bed to investigate. I proceeded to find a trail of oddities all over the castle, though none of which can measure up to what in the world happened to the front and eastern gardens- I have no idea how-”

“Perhaps Ruby, you could relay to his majesty what happened when you found Captain Antonio?” The Queen cut in smoothly.

Ruby nodded firmly, her lips pursed.

“We found Captain Antonio face down in the centre of the banquet hall. We were greatly concerned, particularly given that he was barefoot without a tunic on. I summoned physician Frederick Durand, and after rousing a couple of the Knights we managed to carry him to his cottage. He awoke, sat straight up looked around and said; ‘Good evening everyone, please leave me be and bar my mother from the room.’ Then resumed his sleep while sitting up.”

The King wanted to laugh, but managed not to as Ruby curtsied once more and excused herself.

“Well my love, that isn’t so bad-” Norman began to say.

“Lord Fuks, could you please come in and give your account of last evening?” Ainsley’s angelic demeanor never wavered.

“How many people are outside waiting to act as witnesses?!” The ruler of the country felt his stomach clench painfully.

Lord Fuks entered with a joyful spring in his step. The Chief of Military wore a black tunic and a red vest freshly pressed. The fine silks of his garment shimmered in the light of the bedchamber..

“Good morning Sire, my oh my do I have some stories. I apologize my Queen, they may make a gentlewoman such as yourself blush.”

“I will be alright, but thank you for your concern Dick.”

Lord Fuks turned back to the King who was already shooting dirty looks at the elder.

“Last night after several bottles of wine were consumed, Mr. Howard proceeded to trash the counsel room-”

“He what?! Oh… Oh wait… I do remember that. He was explaining why he loved Daxaria?”

“Precisely! Yes was showing every ailment and political flaw of our nearest countries. It was a very heated discussion, albeit a hard one to follow by that point. However one thing that most certainly happened, was he drafted an official letter to each country explaining why they were… lacking compared to Daxaria.”

“Gods he didn’t send hawks with those did he?!” The King was now wide awake.

“Not for lack of trying. I managed to see each missive into the fire.” Lord Fuks’ eyes were sparkling as his voice warbled.

“Thank Gods for that….” The King began rubbing his face feeling immense relief wash over him.

“Sire, that was the beginning of the night.”

Norman’s head throbbed against his widened eyes, but he couldn’t help himself.

“What… else… happened?”

“Did your Head of Housekeeping tell you about your new lawn decorations?”

The King glanced briefly at Ainsley who smiled even wider.

“Mr. Ashowan goaded mage Lee to perform a series of… creative magical challenges. Your majesty is now the proud owner of ten new fountains. One of which can be turned into a source of hot bubbling water that refreshes but does not burn thanks to Mr. Ashowan. We all took a dip, and it was a wonderfully relaxing time. Until that is, that you all grew very hungry.”

The King had his mouth firmly covered with his hand while the Queen was working very hard not to laugh in a very unladylike manner.

“The Captain consumed half a loaf of bread, then ambled off to put the remains somewhere outside, and when he returned he was also missing his goblet. He then muttered something about sleeping where he worked to save time and departed. Mr. Howard went and began collecting bottles of wine from the cellars and carrying them around for whatever reason. He would growl like a dog anytime Mr. Ashowan went to take them away. I believe he went outside to get away from our beloved cook, and you can spy him, if you like, out your window still asleep amongst the flowerbeds.”

Mortified, Norman prayed that they had reached the end of the evening’s adventures. Lord Fuks knew otherwise.

“Your majesty then wanted to try flying, and Mr. Ashowan obliged by levitating a sling made out of a tapestry for you, which is also how you managed to get back into your chamber here. He ran out of magic apparently just outside the chamber door and passed out, promptly dropping your grace onto the floor. Ruby, the Knights, and myself did our best in returning you to your chamber. Strangely, by the time I had returned with help, Mr. Ashowan had disappeared without a trace. He is now awake and working in the kitchen once more. Albeit he seems a tad under the weather himself.”

Ainsley slowly turned to her husband, who didn’t have the stomach to face her.

Lord Fuks bowed and excused himself, declaring he needed to return to his own bed for a well-deserved nap.

“Ainsley, I am so very sorry. I will never-” The ruler began with notes of deep regret.

“Lady Jenoure, could you please come in?”

“Son of a mage!” Norman snapped as Lady Jenoure strode in wearing a rich deep purple gown with a jeweled belt settled on her hips, that matched the jeweled pendant that hung from her necklace.

“Good afternoon your majesty. My Queen has asked me to relay to you my part in the evening. I must say you all made my job both difficult and entertaining to keep some secrets hidden away. For starters, getting Mr. Ashowan down to his kitchen so no one would be the wiser pertaining to his involvement with your highness.”

Norman was nodding slowly, and trying to stop himself from being sick once again.

“Mr. Ashowan was returned safely, and I commandeered your ‘Lady Jenoure to-do-list’ that apparently you had been scribbling for me to review in the morning. I am sorry to say I am not able to relay who my contacts are in Troivack, nor do I know who they are sending over as a potential suitor for me.”

When the Viscountess saw the look of confusion on the King’s face, she clarified.

“These were some of the questions or requests you had scrawled for me. I regret to inform you sire, that I have no idea what topic number three meant. It was a single word: ‘costumes’. Though it could have something to do with mage Lee having two sticks tied around his head shouting at Mr. Ashowan, ‘I’m the Green Man see?!’ but I’m uncertain.”

She curtsied apologetically much to the King’s horrified embarrassment.

“Is that… all…?” He asked weakly.

Annika took her time pondering the question. It really wasn’t all that important that the King knew about the random objects they had moved around, or that he had tried to wake his son up to tell him he loved him.

“No your highness.”

Lady Jenoure proceeded to curtsy and excuse herself from the chamber, leaving the King and Queen once again alone.

Norman slowly bit into the toast and chewed, even though he had a hunch it would come back up in the near future.

“To be perfectly honest Norman, if I weren’t bedridden and routinely bored, I would be furious. However this has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time.” Ainsley rubbed her bump slowly with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Who all knows about this?” The King asked already fearful of the answer.

“Well… Ruby, Lord Fuks, Annika, all of the men that you were ‘meeting’, a couple of the Knights that had to carry you to bed, and a couple more that had to carry the Captain.”

“Is that all?”

“Well, anyone who looks at the massive influx of fountains may be perplexed, but we could write them off as gifts for Eric’s birthday. Mr. Howard is passed out in the front flowerbeds surrounding the statue of the Gods, which is harder to explain. Not to mention the statue in the front that has a half-eaten loaf of bread shoved under the arm of the first witch, and a goblet precariously placed atop the green man’s head.”

“No one has removed him from the gardens?”

“No one knew where he was until an hour ago. We’ve already taken care of it.”

The King nodded despite the movement hurting him.

“Sleep my dear. We will have a lengthier chat once you awaken.” The Queen gently stroked her husband’s back before moving the tray off his lap and over to her side of the bed.

Without another word, the King slunk down into his sheets, grateful to curl up in agony and curse himself out in peace.

*

Fin vomited for the third time at the end of the garden path and straightened himself unsteadily. Hannah, Peter, and Sirs Harris, Taylor, Lewis, and Andrews all watched from the kitchen doorway concerned.

“I wouldn’t want his flu.” Sir Lewis shuddered.

“I have doubts that it’s the flu.” Sir Harris remarked blithely. “It might have something more to do with Mr. Howard being passed out in the pansies.” The new addition to the kitchen Knights added with a rueful smile.

They all continued watching as Fin slowly made his way back to the kitchen, his complexion looking only slightly paler than an olive green.

“I’ll get the vegetables ready, if you could all…” Fin paused as he leaned on one of the wooden fence posts in the garden. “If you could all please leave the kitchen for a minute.”

Everyone exchanged glances and filed out without another word.

By dinnertime, the cook was feeling marginally better, though the headache portion of his hangover had hit sometime during the soup course of the evening.

He was in the final stages of sending out a dessert of fruit salad drizzled with honey and the juice of freshly squeezed oranges from Kasim’s greenhouse, when Hannah burst in through the castle door bright eyed and rosy cheeked.

“Fin, you will not believe what rumors are going around!” The petite blonde was bouncing up and down, and alternating between covering her smiling mouth and biting her lips shut.

Fin took a deep drink from the cup of water he had been nursing for the day, and fixed her with his most patient expression. He still looked greatly annoyed, but it was the best he could do.

“Why would I care about the rumors going on? It isn’t any of my business.” When the final footman had disappeared with the dessert, Hannah stopped bouncing, and began twisting her torso back and forth making her soft pink skirts swish about her ankles coyly.

“You should care because the rumor is about you and Mr. Howard. Everyone is saying you two are lovers and that you both had a courting date last night!” She succumbed to laughter then and there as Fin felt a tic in his right eye appear.

“Of course we have all been assuring people that is not the case. It also helped Peter let people know his own preferences, once he saw that no one seemed to have an issue with it. I don’t even think anyone here in the castle is a part of the Acker religion, but isn’t this hilarious?!” Hannah’s chatter rushed out of her mouth in an effort to not interrupt herself with peals of gaiety.

“Why… does everyone care if I am gay or not?” Fin managed slowly as Kraken appeared at his side and gently began pawing his leg in an attempt of gaining some good chin scratches.

“Well, to be honest… a lot of the maids have a crush on you. That being said, a lot of them are also really excited for you and Mr. Howard. They seem to be die-hard supporters of your relationship.”

“I don’t have a relationship with Mr. Howard, aside from that of Cook and pain-in-the-ass King’s assistant.” Fin drawled while refilling his water cup again.

“We’ve been telling people that! I mean we all know you like Lady- Ladies.” Hannah cleared her throat daintily as the cup that had been at Fin’s lips lowered. He looked ready to strangle her.

“What were you going to say just-”

“Oh would you look at that, I better go and finish my own dinner before someone clears my plate for me. See you tomorrow morning Fin!” Hannah scurried out of the room quickly.

After staring at the closed kitchen door for several moments of silence, Fin pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a garbled unintelligible groan of frustration.

Slowly, he bent down and picked up Kraken. He pet the familiar slowly while ignoring the sweltering heat of his hearth at his back.

“I swear to the Gods, I should never drink again.” He muttered as Kraken gazed lazily up at his witch. “At the very least, I doubt anyone suspects me of being a spy now.”

Kraken said nothing, but registered that the redhead was feeling all kinds of conflicting emotions. The feline couldn’t waste too much energy worrying about him though. The kitten had his own problems as of late…