Allegiance

Chapter 7

"Good morning, sweetie!"

Merial greeted Tessia as she walked into her family's suite. Merial, Alduin, and Virion were all at the table in the living room area, with breakfast sitting on the table. Merial and Virion were eating while Alduin was too busy looking over the papers in his hands that outlined the subjects of today's council meeting. Since the council members would be staying in the floating castle for a few days, they decided it would be a good idea to knock some meetings out of the way.

"Good morning," Tessia replied happily, with a bright smile.

Merial was about to take a bite of her omelet, but she stopped, with the fork inches away from her open mouth, and her eyes narrowed curiously on Tessia. She lowered her fork, looking Tessia up and down, seeing her daughter's enthusiastic aura.

"Did you have a good workout?" Merial inquired suspiciously.

Tessia nodded joyfully, her lips curved in a smile, "I did."

"Good, you must be hungry," Alduin said, not looking up from the paperwork in his hand, too consumed with preparing for the council meeting. He gestured to the table, "Why don't you come and eat."

Tessia beamed excitedly, "Actually, I already have breakfast plans."

At that, Alduin's gaze left the papers, and he and Virion both looked at Tessia curiously. "You do? With whom do you have plans and where?" Alduin asked.

Tessia thought for a moment about how to answer this question. She didn't want to tell them she would be hanging out with a boy she had randomly met at the floating castle since they would object to her doing so, saying he could be dangerous. Plus, she knew her family was interested in discovering who this new white core was, and she didn't want to put Arthur on their radar. She decided the best thing to do was to keep her answer short and vague and hoped they wouldn't pry.

Tessia smiled happily, "I'm actually going to Xyrus with a friend. We're going to get some breakfast and walk around a bit." She shrugged casually, "You know, just hang out."

Alduin curiously raised a brow, thinking about what friend she could be referring to. He knew she didn't have many friends since she didn't like it when people treated her as a princess and not as a person. Plus, the few friends she did have were in Elenoir. He processed this information until his brows raised as a realization set in.

"Ah!" Alduin said with a warm smile. "Kathyln, I presume. You two haven't seen each other in a while."

Tessia shook her head with an innocent smile, "No. No, we have not."

Tessia didn't like lying to her father. However, in her mind, she didn't. Alduin had just made a statement, and she agreed with him. Merial, however, continued to eye Tessia curiously, seeing something was off.

"You mean you don't want to join us in the council meeting?" Virion jested. "I'm sure it will be fun."

"Oh yes, I'm sure it will be," Tessia said sarcastically. "But I think I'll pass." She gestured to her room, "If you don't mind, I'm going to go get ready."

Virion smiled warmly, "Go ahead."

Tessia proceeded to walk to her room while Alduin went back to reading his paperwork, and Virion continued eating his breakfast. Merial, however, watched her daughter with interest as she elatedly entered her bedroom and closed her door.

With her door closed, Tessia walked over to her bed, pulled out multiple forms of clothing from her dimensional ring that she had packed back in Elenoir, and threw them on the bed in a giant pile. Like a badger digging through dirt, Tessia quickly began to look through the pile of her clothes, trying to find something cute to wear. She hadn't expected to go out on an outing like this while she was at the floating castle, so she mostly packed formal attire. And the more clothes she tossed to the side, the more concerned she began to grow, seeing she didn't have anything good to wear.