Queer Kingdoms: A Story About Love And Acceptance.

Chapter Three

I stumble back into the hallway.

As my sight clears, I see the Princess staring at me, her hands covering her mouth.

She is wearing traditionally prince's clothes, a deep grey coat with a teal sash across her front with black slacks and teal shoes, an off-white crown perched on her head.

The colors of our flag and the colors most of the castle wear are, as you probably have guessed, are black and teal.

As I bend down to pick up the lush, she rushes forward and starts to gush apologies.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God, I'm so sorry. I was throwing things in nervousness and then you came in and I'm so so so sorry! Please, I didn-"

I cut her off by kneeling with plush in hand, asking with a soft smile on my lips, "I do believe this belongs to you?"

A look of disbelief, continuing with a burst of laughter spouting from the mouth of the Princess.

As her laughter dies down, she replies, "Yes, thank you, Sire. Would you like to enter?"

I nod, answering, "Yes, please. I have gone through many events here now and would very much like to do the task I came here to do."

She raises an eyebrow, queering, (ha ha...queer.) "And what is that?"

I walk past him, saying to him, "I am your personal knight. I am here to join you in the quest you will partake in few days."

She sighs in relief, "Great. I thought I would go alone. I guess you are a present without the wrapping paper."

I look down at myself and look back at her, "I guess I am."

It is quiet for a few minutes after that, until I ask, "So, because it is customary in our land to not tell your name to anyone other than close friends or family, you may just call me Sire, or Knight. What would you like me to call you?"

She smiles and replies, "Call me Vic or Prince. Those work. They are what most people, including family and friends, call me anyway."

"Vic. That works..."

It is quiet again, but one question still lingers in my mind.

"So, now, Princess, what would you like me to do?"

She cocks her head and answers, "It's Vic, and what I would like you to do? Well, we can try to get to know each other for now, I guess."

I question, "But I am supposed to protect you. That 𝐢𝐬 my job."

A look of thinking crosses her face for a few moments and as it clears, she says, "Well, you're protecting me by being polite and talking to me. That's protecting me from hurt and disappointment, is it not?"

I slowly sigh and reply, "Affirmative, Princess. Let us go on with the chatter people do."

She raises an eyebrow and questions, "When was the last time you were just not in school?"

"Well, I 𝑎𝑚 a knight so I have been in schooling since I was just of six. It was year long training, so we did not get any days off to do silly riff-raff. The first day I stopped as two weeks ago."

She groans and places her head in her hands. She looks back up from her palms and asks, "How old are you, Sire?"

With a straight face, I reply, "In Late-March, I had passed the age of fourteen."

"You're fourteen? I'm fourteen! We still have time to change the way you speak!"

She continues on, "To be more like the children on the place called Earth, you have to talk like I a now. You can talk in your proper voice around, like my parents or officials. That's how I work."

She rambles along, talking about the society on Earth and all about the people there, while I ponder, "How will this work?"

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A/N: It has been great writing this. I'm just going to address some things that may be confusing.

1. The knight is gender-queer, going by them/them, he/him, she/her.

2. Why Vic goes by Princ instead of Princess will be explained in other chapters.

The way they both identify is important later on.

3. They live in the fictional land of Ohima, a different land than Earth.

4. For more info about the characters, read our other fic, "The Characters of Queer Kingdoms"