The Prince of the Republic

Chapter Four

"Royal Milk Tea Cookie!" Oyster Cookie cried up to her son, who was slowly making his way down from the shattered roof, landing on the ground with a soft thud. "Oh, darling boy, what did that dragon do to you?"

"Did it try to eat you? I heard dragons eat Cookies!" Mulled Juice Cookie asked, intrigued.

Royal Milk Tea Cookie shook his head, unclasping his cloak to readjust it before snapping it back on. "No, it didn't try to eat me," He said, simply. "It made a deal with me, actually."

"A deal?" Oyster Cookie gaped. "What deal would a dragon make with a young Cookie?"

Royal Milk Tea Cookie took a deep breath, readying himself for the conversation he would have to bear. "The dragon told me that the legend that it was talking about, the legend of the knight's son, was about me... and that it was true."

The elders gasped at the news. "The lower city myths about a poor child dropped at the doorstep of a high-ranking home," Vanilla Sugar Cookie started, amazed. "It's true?"

Oyster Cookie had all eyes on her as her colleagues came to realize that the mysterious arrival of an heir to the throne truly was a surprise– her son wasn't hers at all!

Royal Milk Tea Cookie continued, ignoring the growing divide. "The dragon is in search of my mother– my real mother," He spared a glance at Oyster Cookie, who looked ashamed, "who broke her promise with the dragon. If I can find my mother before the dragon rips through all of the Cookie kingdoms, it will spare everyone else and only take the Soul Stones of Oat Milk Cookie."

No one was quite sure what to say. Royal Milk Tea Cookie had only just earned his place within the Convocation, and now he had to decide whether to sacrifice his true mother or allow other Cookies to get hurt, including himself. Cookies had started to crowd the Convocation as they discussed the events unfolding around them, and elder Baumkuchen Cookie wanted to stop the gossip potential quickly.

"Why don't we gather someplace more... concealed from the prying eyes of the Republic's citizens, hm?" The masked elder suggested, concerned about the privacy of their conversation.

"Oh, yes, of course! Let us return to Oyster Manor and discuss our plans further." Oyster Cookie gestured for the Pearl Legion guards to escort the many elders back down the street toward her and Royal Milk Tea Cookie's home, while simultaneously dispersing all of the gathered onlookers.

The walk felt longer than it initially had this morning, and Royal Milk Tea Cookie felt as though he might explode from the stress he was under. First, his childhood friends are engaged to each other, then a dragon wrecks his first day as a representative of the Republic, and now he isn't even a child of Oyster Cookie! It was as though the whole of Earthbread suddenly had turned its back on the young Cookie. Approaching the pearl gates felt comforting and sickening as all the elders made their way inside, taking their seats around Oyster Cookie's dining table to discuss the matter at hand.

Sablé Cookie spoke first, unsurprisingly. She had voiced plenty of concern about Royal Milk Tea Cookie years before, and now her doubts had been confirmed. "So, the elephant in the room," the young elder began, twirling her hair in her fingers. "Royal Milk Tea Cookie is not your true child, Oyster Cookie?"

The grey elder stiffened, looking over at Royal Milk Tea Cookie, with guilt in her eyes as she began to confess. "It's been twenty-one years of lying to you all, and I suppose I should come clean."

It was a cool evening when Tea Knight Cookie arrived at the Crème Republic. The ocean had been kind and the dark cloak that the knight wore seemed to cause no suspicion as he made his way out of the dock and toward what appeared to be the center of the main city. A cobbled path led up toward a large town hall, and several different paths split off toward intricately constructed homes, each carrying a different crest on the gate blocking the entrance to the homes.