Knight's Curse

Part 3: First memories

For some time, about the first or second year, days blurred together.

The baby princess would wake up around the same time as the sun. The sun would shimmer over her dark, short fluffy hair and her brown eyes would seem golden. He would just sit by her and listen to the princess displeased cooing. Then eventually the nanny would also wake up, she would carefully open the door and tell say he may leave.

He always wanted to stay, but the nanny did not want him there while she was feeding and changing the little one. Tonga, who never really was taught these things, was sad and confused, but left to get some sleep. Then he would sneak into the guard's chambers and climb in his bottom bunk. However, he would never fall asleep before Fiji woke up and he had listened to her schedule and tried to match hers with his. Then, once the other knights had left for their posts, he would go to sleep, then he would do that for most of the day.

In the afternoon he would wake up when his comrades returned from training or posts and they would all go to dinner together. Once they left for the bar, he would return to the princess' chamber and listen to Nanny read a bedtime story and sing Swedish lullabies. Then the nanny put the baby to sleep and Tonga sat down on his chair between the door and her cradle.

If she cried, he let her be. If it took too much time, he would pick her up and her face would always light up. He would hum to her old melodies, mostly drinking song as he did not know a lot of lullabies, but left the lyrics out. Once he fell back to sleep, he would be too scared to put her back down, so he would sit back in his chair and just hold her like that for a couple of hours. Then would eventually put her down, as Nanny would be pissed if she walked in and saw he was holding her.

The roles of genders were still harshly imprinted in many of the older citizen, but no one really cared about what they had to say. The new ideologies was stronger and more important to most of the younger generations. Being one of the few younger in the minority, Nanny did not care much for a knight holding a baby. His job was to guard her. Neither did she care much for Fiji, who despite disliking the baby, came by every now and then. Females should not be knights, Nanny always mumbled under her breath. It did not matter that she surpassed most of the other knights, including the males, and even had a great chance at being promoted again, as long as Old Zal kept it to himself. But Fiji never stayed long.

It got both easier and harder once the nanny was gone. Tonga got to move into the outer chamber and was on watch 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was hard, but he was also very much the boss of his own hours and activity. At least on paper. In reality, Princess Ankylo was very much in charge and she drove her tiny troop harder than any commander or sergeant Tonga had ever had.

When the Nanny's job was done, Ankylo's little troop consisted of one private knight: Corporal Tonga, her door guards: Private Willis and Futana during the daytime and private Cook and Kiribati during the night time. A royal cook-in-training, nicknamed Fluff and Miss Miller, the maid who fed the baby princess and cleaned the room and lastly her teacher, Prof. George. They were nicknamed "The Princess Troop" and they all very quickly started loving the small child and would continue to do so for the next fifteen years.