King Eirik went through the day with his sorrow well hidden behind a political mask. He saw to the daily affairs of the castle, managed the court cases, the tax reviews, all the royal duties the High Queen couldn't be bothered with. He was informed his usual evening meeting with the queen was cancelled in lieu of their meeting this morning. She had more important matters to attend to.

Which meant it was finally time.

"Father!"

As Eirik entered his daughter's wing of the palace, the girl ran towards him. He leaned over and gave her a long hug, the first real smile of the day cracking on his face. "Fiona! How was your day?"

The princess pulled away, her light blonde hair was done in immaculate braids and she was in a different dress than she'd been in at lunch. "Breakfast was late this morning. Tutor Jacob made me do sums before I ate."

"How onerous."

She grinned, her nose wrinkling. That was her favorite word for describing her tutor. "It was onerous. But after lunch I got to go see Bridget. I even got on her all by myself!"

"Really?" Eirik said impressed, Bridget was a large horse. Even though Fiona was tall for her age, it would have been quite the climb. "All by yourself?"

She nodded but then looked down. "Yes, but I did fall a few times. I ruined my dress, Vai was cross."

"I am never cross with you, Mistress Fiona," Vai said and Eirik looked up as the handsome man had made his way over.

Fiona spun around. "Yes you were! You made your cross face like you're making now."

Vai, who had been pressing his lips together, struggled to relax his features and Eirik laughed. "One dress is a small price for such a feat."

His daughter smiled at him. "If I can finally take her out to practice, I'm sure I will be able to ride with Mother by my birthday."

Eirik's smile faltered and Fiona pressed, "Really I'm sure I can but the stable master won't let me out riding. How can I practice if I can't take Bridget out of the stable? Will you please tell him to let me? Please?"

Fiona squealed as Eirik swept her up onto his shoulders. "Ah, I'm afraid there's a ban on princess's riding horses right now. There's a horrid case of the princess pox going around, nope, best not have you out catching it."

"The princess pox isn't real! Besides if it only gets princesses sick then I'm safe 'cause since I'm the only princess so I can't catch it from anyone. You can't trick me, I'm not a kid anymore." She patted his head.

Eirik closed his eyes, chest tight, but opened to see his daughter leaning over, her upside down face smiling. Her blue eyes sparkled with happiness. Gods he didn't want...

He reached a hand into his pocket. "Oh, not a kid anymore? Shame, I brought something for my kid daughter too...."

She wiggled, dropping from his shoulders to his back then lightly onto the floor. "What is it?"

"Tell you what, tell me three things you learned today and I'll tell you what I've brought."

She stood up straight, hands behind her back, reciting, "One, I learned that 'countries' has an 'i' in it, I learned the different types of clouds, and...and I learned how to calculate area." Fiona bit her lip. "Or I tried to calculate area. Tutor Jacob says I have to practice that again tomorrow because I calculated my room's area to be 'the size of a closet'."

Eirik choked back a laugh and pulled the candied ginger he'd swiped. He'd tasted it himself and now handed it to his daughter who gleefully ate the treat. She held her sticky hand up, glancing about for somewhere to clean it.

Finally, she glanced pleadingly at Vai who sighed and turned around, no doubt off to fetch a moist towel. Fiona carefully held the offending hand away from her second dress of the day. "What did you learn today?" she asked.

Her father sat down on the hallway floor. Too many things. "I learned that meetings are onerous."

"You always learn that. What did you really do? What did you and Mother talk about today?"

Without thinking, he frowned. Fiona was so desperate for Lyra's approval, so desperate for her love. Eirik gave her all he could, but it didn't stop her admiring the queen. "I didn't meet with the queen today. She was very busy, probably meeting with her generals."

"Are we still winning the war? I heard that the Duskar navy was winning. Do they have better boats than we do?"

Eirik sighed. "Yes, generally they do. But don't worry, I've never seen your mother lose a fight yet."

His daughter grinned and he gave a wane smile. They were quiet for a moment and then Fiona glanced back, making sure they were still alone and whispered, "Everyone was a bit weird today. Vai wouldn't leave me alone for even a minute."

Eirik reached out and Fiona sat at his lap, her hand still carefully extended. He ran his fingers through her hair, slowing undoing the careful braids. "There was a bit of a scare. Remember how I told you on your last birthday that being a princess could be dangerous." She nodded. "Sometimes when people are angry, they blame the people in charge."

"Like you and Mother."

"Yes, and sometimes even the whole family. Sometimes those people are too scared to fight honorably and try to hurt in secret, but your mother is too clever for them. Even if they try to slip in the palace like mice, she will keep us safe. Today someone tried to poison some food but that's why the queen has tasters and they found the food before anyone got hurt."

"Wouldn't the taster get hurt?"

"The queen has a lot of talents. You know how good she is with medicine, she taught Vai everything he knows."

Fiona nodded solemnly and Eirik felt the familiar frustration of watching her admiration grow with every word he said. The truth would crush her, would make her realize the hell she'd been born into.

He had tried so hard when Fiona was a baby to believe Lyra would love her daughter as much as he did. That maybe the baby would thaw her icy heart but if anything it made her more distant.

She'd only had Fiona to supply an heir. When she found out it was a girl she became the closest thing to depressed, Eirik—or he found out, even Vai—had ever seen her. After two days of either protectively holding the baby or demanding it be taken away, she settled on avoiding Fiona. When Eirik's affection became obvious, she'd told him he was responsible and had left as soon as the doctors allowed.

Since then things had been...a bit contradictory. Anyone close to the queen knew she wasn't one for affection, but in her daughter’s presence she was more tolerable although extremely strict and demanding. While seeming uncaring for her daughter, she also demanded the best performance from her. Criticism or praise given solely on performance, the distance only making Fiona's pedestal of her mother grow ever higher.

Via returned and frowned at Eirik as he wiped the sticky hand clean. Eirik unbraided the last plait and combed Fiona's hair with his fingers. The same pale blonde as Lyra's.

"I'll put her to bed, Vai, you best attend to the queen."

Vai, ever the professional, gave no indication of his opinion, merely nodded and left father and delighted daughter.