Memento Mori

43

"Vor langer Zeit, in einem weit entfernten Königreich, lebten ein König und eine Königin. Der König war schön und gütig. Alle liebten ihn. Aber die echte Herrscherin des Reichs war seine Frau, die Königin." Erik looked between the two girls in front of him who were fidgeting to get comfortable in their beds. As it was Yuliya's turn to choose a story for the night, he was not at all surprised that she chose Snow White. She loved this story, Erik couldn't think of a time where she didn't want it read to her, was it Liesel who first got her obsessed with this story? He couldn't even remember!

Regardless, noticing Edie give a small huff, he waved a hand her way. Sitting up with a small groan, she turned and helped Erik sort out her pillows before flopping back down. A satisfied sigh came from her then, accompanied with a small smile too. The small building they inhabited had enough space for them, but their bedroom was the small level which had been built up, and could only be reached by the ladder attached to the wall.

Presumably it was meant to be used as attic space, storage, just anything but a bedroom for two nine year old girls. They made do though, the mattresses they had had also been padded out with just about anything, more pillows, more covers, anything. They looked comfortable enough, and it wasn't like they'd get cold in the winter, seems winter was a chance thing here on the island. Even in the rainy seasons it was still hot. The thin covers they had on were more often than not found kicked off and hanging over the ledge side come morning. Although there was one time where Erik had been woken up to one literally falling on him in the middle of the night, and that was because Edie was being a fidget, nothing new.

"Wie mama," Edie sniggered, even going as far as nudging her sister. Although hiding her smile against her teddy, it was so clear that Yuliya was smiling, largely.

Erik raised an eyebrow, even going as far as sitting up straight and crossing his arms. The laughter from behind him had him looking over his shoulder, Liesel was cleaning up after washing the dinner things up. They'd ate, just sort of wasted the evening, and before she knew it it was bedtime for the girls. She held her hands up, tea towel in one hand as she just continued to chuckle. "Ja, Edie. Genau wie mama."

"Bitte geh, papa." Yuliya moved away from nestling against her bear to look at Erik pleadingly. After all, she had yet again chose this story, and here Edie was interrupting to be sneaky, and Liesel joining in.

"Bevor sie Königin wurde, arbeitete sie in der Schlossküche. Sie war sehr arm. Aber sie war auch sehr schön und lustig, so verliebte sich der König in sie, und er heiratete sie." Erik sighed, yet he smiled slightly when Yuliya grinned and readjusted the hold she had on her bear to look up at him properly. "Not like mama, Edie." Erik could see she was about to comment, and he thought he'd beat her to it.

"Ja, I have never worked in a kitchen. I've been poor, sure..." Liesel scratched her head in thought, in the end she ended up muttering to herself and pottering around to put things away.

Yuliya sat up suddenly though, teddy and all, "But you are pretty and funny, mama!" Liesel peered around the small kitchen area to look at her with a smile, that warmed her to know her daughter thought of that.

"Yeah, no wonder papa married you."

"We're not married, Edie." Liesel rolled her eyes and leaned down to put plates away in a small cupboard.

Edie looked offended and looked Erik up and down, he just looked at her confusedly. That was a very serious look to come from someone who was literally close to sleep five minutes ago, and someone so small. Someone so young shouldn't have that expression. "For shame, papa. For shame."

"Excuse me?" Erik asked and encouraged both girls to lay back down and settle. He swore when Liesel put them to bed, they weren't this bad. Was this just because it was him? But then usually they weren't like this. Maybe it was just because they'd been apart for a small number of days? Maybe they were just making up for lost time.