The Courtship of a Queen & Her Knight

Sweet Dreams (Are Made by Him)

"So as you can see, Your Maj- I mean Bean... I mean, ah... oh dear, not again."

Odval paused in his lecture (for the third time now mind you) and frowned when a soft snore filled the silence of the space. There was Bean, the Queen of Dreamland, with her head barely supported by her hand, eyes closed, mouth open, and quite frankly asleep. Again, or rather for the third time now. Odval sighed with exasperation: clearly this was a losing battle. The complex societal structures of the kingdom and its citizens were just too much for the exhausted monarch to handle.

Rolling all three of his eyes, Odval cleared his throat loudly. When that didn't work, he promptly picked up a heavy tome and dropped it onto the table with a loud thud.

That proved to be enough to startle Bean awake.

"Woah! I'm awake! I'm...! Oh, hey, Odval."

Perhaps she spoke too soon. As quickly as Bean shot upright with eyes wide open, she soon began to droop back forward into slumber.

"Bean! Wake up!"

"Yeah! Yes... I'm here, umm... Odval. Yes, I'm..."

Bean struggled to sit up straight, fluttering her eyelids and rubbing her face to try and wake herself up, but it was proving to be a lost cause. Her eyelids were as heavy as rocks, dark bags had formed under her eyes, and even with the help of Bunty in the morning (who managed to persuade Bean to wear a lovely mint green dress today) couldn't coax the look of dishevelment from the queen's appearance. Bean was in a rough state and if she didn't get a decent sleep soon, the madness that took hold of King Zøg could quickly get a hold of his daughter.

"Your Majesty. I am trying to help you to rule this kingdom properly, but I cannot be expected to do this if you keep falling asleep," Odval reprimanded lightly.

Bean groaned and wiped her eyes again.

"Oh, I know, and I'm sorry, Odval. I, ah... didn't get a good night's sleep last night."

"So I heard," Odval replied tightly, the ex-prime minister frowning. "Night terrors, from the sounds of it."

"Yeah, something like that," Bean admitted, slumping back into her chair with her eyes half open.

"Have you perhaps tried-?"

"Yes," Bean interjected with another sigh. "Bunty and I have tried everything save for beating my head into concussed consciousness, which I haven't ruled out. Still, nothing seems to be working. I just can't seem to sleep through the night and... whatever it is that you're trying to teach me, Odval, no offence, is not the most exciting topic. It's really not helping how tired I am."

"Well, Dreamland needs -as you yourself pointed out- a readily available and responsible ruler. It is not imperative that we find some remedy to lull you into a sound sleep."

Bean only grunted in agreement, her tired eyes nearly closed again.

"Know any angels?" she mumbled.

Odval only gave his queen a confused look, but this was quickly forgotten as the man sighed when he saw that Bean had, in fact, fallen asleep again.

"This won't do..." Odval muttered to himself as he considered the sleeping queen.

She looked so exhausted, so innocent, and nothing like the cold-eyed ruler who had stared him down a couple of days ago with the promise of a slow and agonizing existence lest he betray her and the kingdom again. The mere thought of Bean's words: the assurement of Sorcerio's untimely demise and Odval's lifelong imprisonment caused the triclops to shudder.