Once Upon A Time

Chapter 5

The trio headed into the side of the castle, where the knights stayed, and began hunting for armor. Shawn took off in the direction of where spare or broken armor was kept, and Hunter and Sean patiently waited in the main room until their comrade finally reemerged.

"This is the smallest I could find, kid," he said, holding the breast plate up against Sean's chest, looking over it with a critical eye. "Hmmm...well, it's not toooo big...definitely not too small...but gray really isn't your color at all," he said thoughtfully, nearly to himself. "Ah, well...here, take these, go into that room, and put them on. We'll wait," he said, piling Sean's arms full with the breast plate, steel-plated leg guards, metallic boots, and chain mail, nearly enough to make Sean lose his balance and topple over backwards. He waddled heavy-handedly back to the room Shawn had directed him to, leaving the other two knights to wait for long minutes by themselves in the knights' common area. Just when they were growing worried and started to head back to check on him, the door creaked open and Sean creaked into the room, wobbling his way over to where they stood, Hunter barely concealing his laughter. At least the armor wasn't too small... When Sean finally stood in front of them, Shawn looked over the armor with the same critical eye he had earlier, then fastened the chain mail correctly around his neck, and then pulled a helmet from the table he had set it on. Pulling it down over Sean's head, he smiled.

"Ah...we might make a knight out of you yet."

"I can't see," came the muffled voice from within the metal top. Shawn hid his laughter as he pulled the visor up, which quickly came right back down again. Brow furrowed in thought, he pulled it back up, and again it fell down. "This might be a problem," he muttered as he tried one last time, and one last time the visor fell down over Sean's eyes. "Well, so much for that idea," he muttered, pulling the helmet back off, leaving Sean gasping for breath. "Alright, so you can't work with helmets...we can get around that," he said, going back to the chest where the armor was and coming back with a helmet shaped differently than the last one. "This is a helm...much smaller than helmets, but also provides better protection, AND you don't have to fool with the visor, so it should work." He pulled the helmet over Sean's head, and the bard looked around through the tiny slits in it and smiled behind the mask.

"Sweet," he whispered. The other two knights looked at each other, puzzled at what he meant, then shrugged as Hunter held three fingers up in Sean's line of vision.

"How many?"

"Three."

"Alright, good," he said as the three began walking back out into the field.

"DAD! Jesse stole my last cookie!"

"Did NOT!"

"Did SO!"

"Not!"

"Whoa, hold on!" Sean yelled, trying to get their attention. He looked at Jesse, mouth covered with cookie crumbs, and then at Kaitlin, who was pouting. "Jess..." Jesse looked at him, completely innocent.

"It was on the plate, and I didn't see her name on it."

"But I went and GOT the cookies, so I should have got the last one." Sean put his head in his hands; he couldn't remember the last time they'd given him such trouble going to bed, but when they had junk food, they both seemed to be quiet, so he decided to play the role of the diplomat and bring peace to the squabbling siblings. Of course, that diplomacy might turn him into a martyr when Terri found out what all he had let them do.

"Okay, guys, calm down...there are plenty more cookies in the kitchen." He stood up, taking the plate and heading for the door, when he turned to look at them. "Now if you guys promise not to try to strangle each other, I'll go get some more." Both kids smiled.

"We promise," they both chirped at once. He sighed and walked downstairs into the kitchen, wondering what would be destroyed by the time he got back up to Kaitlin's room. When he reentered, miraculously, both were still alive and neither had even moved from their spots. 'Something's up' his mind said, but he ignored it as he sat back down on the chair beside the bed and put the cookies on the bedspread.

"Dig in," he said absently. They grinned and dived for the cookies as he went on with his story.