Leape

In which a bunny decides to give a heart attack

10

Penn stared in shock at the mirror image of himself. "Who... are you?" he wondered aloud after a minute of surprise.

The boy in front of him broke into a grin—and this was where Penn noticed a difference. Penn had never needed braces—or, rather, he had never wanted them, and his two front teeth were perpetually slightly turned inwards, angled at each other. It was ever so slight, barely noticeable, but Penn could see that the other boy's teeth were perfectly straight.

Lucky duck... he thought, brushing a shock of hair out of his face. The boy in front of him stretched out his hand to Penn, friendly and open.

"I'm Finnian, son of Angus, Duke of Ebonshire. And it looks as if you've fooled everyone here into thinking you're me. Got a secret?" This last part was said with a wink, and a snort of laughter sounded from behind Finnian, where Lethia popped up.

"Finn!" she cried with a smile, elbowing him. Finnian cast her a slightly surprised look, but returned the grin.

"What? It's a valid question!" He turned his attention back to Penn. "On a more serious note, I've been informed you guys need some help—finding some sort of murderer?"

Penn slowly nodded, Lethia bobbling her head along. "Yes! Like I told you, the Queen's life is in danger and—" she was cut off by a strict look from Finnian.

"Don't mention that here. If the Queen really is in danger, I wouldn't put it past a guard to be the one to be the threat. There's been some... unrest in the Kingdom recently." Finnian's gaze flickered towards the shelves of books behind Penn, not focusing on any of them.

Is he having a flashback!? Are we gonna go back in time or what? Penn wondered, watching Finnian closely. The Narrator's voice echoed through his brain, a chortle and half-scold coming along with an explanation that, no, this "incredible King Arthur book" would not have such a childish thing in it. The Narrator thought very highly of the author, whoever it was.

Finnian's gaze cleared, and he locked eyes with Penn again. "What do you know about the people you saw in the garden? I was going to go out there last night, but my gut told me no—it's unfortunate I wasn't there to take down the murderers themselves." He scowled down at the table, contemplating what could have happened.

Penn cleared his throat, somewhat apologetically. "Finnian—"

"Finn. Just call me Finn."

"Finn, what if Lethia and I figured out who it was who was going to kill the Queen, and then you could go on with your normal civic duties?" Penn asked finally, gesturing at the last bit, trying to get the words out of his brain.

A violent headshake came from Finn. "Absolutely not—" he leaned forward, lacing his fingers together, a hardened look about the squire "—if there's going to be some mystery solving, I plan to be helping with it. Especially if it's involving the Queen." Penn thought he heard his mirror murmur something about how "that's what Sir Lancelot taught me, anyways", but didn't comment.

"So..." Lethia trailed off, an excited air slowly building up around her. "We're gonna solve this mystery together? Who's going to kill the Queen?"

Finn grinned, excitement swallowing up any fear or hesitation. "Let's do it." With that, he plunged his hand in the center of the table, Lethia putting hers on top of his before both of their gazes flitted to Penn.

This could go really bad, really fast... he thought, trying to rationalize the whole situation still.

Hey! You remember what you said last time, right?!