A KINGDOM OF DEAD HEARTS [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 26: A TEACHER IN TROUBLE

Airin spent the next few days just wandering around with Prissa, quiet and austere, followed a few steps behind her. She would warn Airin of rooms or bends or corners or walkways she should not venture in. Her question about Xander's abode had clearly put Prissa on edge.

Her chambermaid became quieter, as well as more rigid and nervous now.

Her eyes brightened when she realized there was a small, unused room close to her bedroom. An idea came to her and she turned that room into a classroom. Prissa was not keen on it, but did not find a strong enough reason to stop her because the room was literally dusty and empty. She promised Prissa she would not venture anywhere else in Halgard's palace complex if she could have the room for her origami class.

Prissa thought for a moment, realizing that it would make her job easier by having to watch Airin only in one room. The chambermaid huffed her agreement.

On her first day of "class" she just sat on the floor in front of the room, ready with some paper. Some children would pass by, and she would use her best preschool teacher's voice to entice them to learn paper folding.

They hesitated, but Airin's smile convinced them to try. Soon she was surrounded by some children as old as ten and as young as three years old learning how to do some simple folding. Goldfish and frog folding.

The news of her origami class reached Lyanna, and the princess came once or twice to the room with her nanny.

She taught Lyanna how to fold origami, but the kind of paper that they had in Halgard was rough and rather inflexible, thus not that easy to work into an origami folding. But they made do and made different animals. Lyanna was happy. Her nanny, whose name was never told to Airin, just stood and watch, arms stiffly crossed, side by side with Prissa. Once in a while they whispered to each other, with eyes fixed on Airin.

Lyanna was back like the Lyanna in her universe. Gentle, smart, and sometimes stubborn. She brought four friends from the palace to learn origami too, those were the children of the palace officials.

Prissa was not happy, and Lyanna's nanny too, that Airin conducted an informal class like that to children whom in their eyes were not in the same league as their dear Princess Lyanna.

Airin did not care, she had to do something or she'd go nuts from boredom.

But after a couple days, trouble started brewing.

That morning, as she was busy showing some more difficult base folds to a couple older chidren, an angry man barged in the room and started shouting.

Airin was startled. She rushed to stand up and instinctively extended her arms to shield the four children who were her students that morning.

"You witch!" shouted the man. "What have you taught my daughter? She has been busy folding all kinds of weird paper shapes! Soon after my baby son got sick! You witch!" he was hysterical.

Origami. Witchraft. Baby son sick. Those three formed an argument in Airin's mind, and she shook her head in disbelief and shock. "No! Listen, Sir, please. Origami is not witchraft. It's got nothing to do ... nothing ... with your son being sick!" she tried to sound calm, but her voice broke nevertheless.

The furious father did not care. He charged forward as the children started crying and Airin readied herself to defend them and herself. She stepped backward with the children followed behind her. "You are a witch! Dark witch! Evil!" the father started flailing his arms trying to grab Airin.

Airin screamed as she saw the hands of the man almost grabbed her hair, the screams of the children got louder, and she started trying to push the man.

"Stop! Please! Don't you dare touch the children!" she screamed and used her body and one arm to shield the children, and the other arm to shield her face. The children wailed louder. The man kept barging forward, until suddenly a loud thudding sound was heard.