Ring of Mushrooms

16

A few days doesn't make the pain go away. It's all still so weird, everything you used to know is gone. It's hard to process it all. You found yourself filling the pages with doodles and notes. Describing mundane things on the glorious ivory-colored parchment. You desperately tried to throw yourself deep into it.
Your thoughts spun and frayed. You thought back to the palace. Imagining the halls and luxurious satin clothes. You knew nothing of the intricacies of the royal tailors. Yet you found yourself entranced by the idea of a playful seamstress.
You threw yourself into writing a new world. Explaining the halls of the castles. Little Silver rested on your lap in between running around like a maniac outside. Today he had been much more sleepy, wanting to stay cuddled up under the covers and have you hold him.
You gently shook him awake. Letting him rub the sleep from his eyes. You stretched, and the knot in your back popped and picked up the tired boy. You found Lilia in the kitchen asleep at the table with a box of thread, his half-complete needlepoint squished between his cheek and the table.
You tapped his head. "It's your turn to watch him."
You ran off cooking. You let your collection of story's mix together until a new true plot is formed. A mythodical sound let you find out the murder method, a plot to over throw the queen. A simple plot, you gutted the fish. Should it be gory? You didn't;t want a distasteful amount of it, perhaps something subtle.
Lilia whined as he carried the small basket of laundry. "Silver is in bed laying down."
You nodded, a baby? An affair? Would a love scandal be too cliche, maybe there was a way to make it much more unique. You let the fish cook as you fetch the bread.
A royal tailor and a queen. No, perhaps an apprentice working under the royal tailor. The queen is with child, and they find out that the king was killed! The seamstress was put in charge of mourning clothes. She finds out about the pregnancy and helps the queen hide it. The king was poisoned and there's a plot to kill her too! Oh, this was a good starting point. There was room to make it work!
You forgot you were cooking and burned the fish.
You wondered how Lilia had such an iron stomach. He took big bites as he explained complex meetings and royal rules. He laughed at the basic poison but helped give you an idea of what happened in the royal kitchens. In turn, you helped him make  thread cards for his latest project that will continue to take up a portion of the table and his free time.
You tried getting Silver to eat but he hardly even looked at it. You tucked him back under his sheets. You ran your fingers through his hair, your fingertips brushing his forehead feeling his warm head. He dozed off as you read him the start of your book,