A True Hero

2 - Strange Visitors

My dress for the banquets was white and sleeveless and had a golden sash drawn tightly around my waist. I wore golden slippers, and despite my mother's command, I took the hair that framed my face and tied it back with a golden bow. Sighing as my lady-in-waiting scolded me for not doing my hair right, I walked to the ballroom to meet Prince Richard.

"Good evening, Princess Nicolette," he said, and his brown thick hair dripped with sweat.

"Good evening," I responded, stooping a bit to hold his arm. He walked me to the dining room, where my four younger brothers waited for me.

The oldest of the four was Zac, age fifteen. He had wavy blond hair as well, but had blue eyes and was much taller than I was. He knew more about running a kingdom than I did. Then the twins Austin and Alex, both age thirteen, but Austin loved to say that he was two minutes and twenty-two seconds older. Both had straight, dark brown hair and blue eyes. The youngest, and sweetest, of the four, was Kyle, who had just turned ten. He was a ginger with a head full of curls and chocolate brown eyes, a spitting image of my father.

Each boy had already taken a seat at the table, sitting according to age. I took my seat by Zac, who winked and whispered in my ear, "He seems like a real winner!" I smirked and smacked his hand. My brothers had to accompany me during the banquets to learn the "etiquette of royalty".

Prince Richard took his seat across from me, looking down the long row of siblings. "You certainly have a....lovely family," he ventured, smiling at each of the boys. They each attempted to smile back, except for Austin, who insisted on flaring his nostrils at the poor man. Richard looked bewildered.

At first, he tried talking about political and diplomatic things, even too complex for Zac, so he changed topics to famous wars in Arkiva history;  he was a real history buff. It was nice that he took the time to learn about our kingdom's famous wars, but he was boring.

After my dinner with Richard, he kissed my cheek, which I really had to stoop for, and went to the waiting room. Next, I had dinner with Prince Bill. I had to stand on my tiptoes to take his arm. He pulled my chair out for me and made sure I was set before taking his own seat. He was a little more interesting, but all he could talk about were his cars and hunting trips. He sometimes got so gory in his descriptions of the deer he hunted, I wanted to puke. His voice made it worse. Despite his politeness and manners before he ate, he inhaled his food like it was oxygen. When it was over, my brothers and I prepared for the third and final prince.

"These guys are jokes!" Alex exclaimed once Prince Bill was back in the waiting room.

"Tell me about it," I mumbled.

"Hey!" Zac scolded. "These guys may be the bottom of the barrel as far as princes go, but Nikki has to choose one. Their home kingdoms have powerful armies, and we need a way to protect them and us from Nightmare's monsters." He and the rest of my family often called me Nikki instead of Nicolette. In fact, he had started it when he was little and couldn't pronounce my name right. Zac, even though he was two years younger than me, was ready to rule a kingdom. My parents even gave him the diplomacy position when he was thirteen. He should've been getting ready to lead millions of people, not me.

Suddenly, there was an urgent knock coming from the east wing of the castle, where the dining hall was. Standing and smoothing my dress, I went to greet the visitor. It can't be Prince Diddimus, I wondered. He would've greeted me in the banquet hall. 

 Opening the door, I stood face-to-face with a blue puffball in a large mask covering his whole face. Only his yellow eyes were revealed through a narrow V-shaped eye slit. He had a long dark blue cape and shoulder pads with gold trimmings on the side. On his left, he carried a sword scabbard with a rusty silver blade. On his right shoulder was the fabled warp star. I gasped in surprise. This guy was a Star Warrior. Behind him, a battalion of troops and a few other GSA soldiers stood saluting me.

"Good evening, Princess," the Star Warrior said in a deep voice, bowing to me. I liked his accent. It sounded Hispanic. "We were summoned by your father. May we come in?"

"Of course," I replied, opening the door all of the way. "We are in the middle of a banquet, but I'm sure the king and queen wouldn't mind postponing for a bit." Nodding, the warrior stepped inside followed by his troops. My brothers stood in their seats to greet the visitors.

"Nicolette!" my father yelled. "You are making Prince Diddimus wait! Why aren't you..." he stopped short when he saw the troops.

"Good evening, your Majesty," the blue Star Warrior greeted, shaking hands with my father.

"Good evening, Meta Knight," my father replied in relief. "I'm so glad you made it on such short notice." Meta Knight chuckled, then signaled to his troops to follow my father out.

"Nice to meet you, Princess-?" he started, pulling out my chair.

"Nicolette, but most people call me Nikki," I nervously chattered, practically tripping over the chair. He wished us well, then left to find my father, just as Prince Diddimus came in. Since I didn't understand what the Prince even had to say, I let my brothers do the talking and imagined why there were Galaxy Soldiers here. Meta Knight seemed to be a high ranking soldier, as he appeared to be leading a battalion of troops. He also seemed very courteous and polite. 

What could be wrong? I wondered. Why is my father calling in the most skilled warriors in the galaxy?