A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 94: Bonding: Failure or Success?

Okay, that was horrible. Once breakfast was finished, Andrew fumed that he wasn't allowed to go off where he wanted to be and was instead going to be dragged around all day with his family.

     Wow, how lame.

     Not at all! I love my family so freaking much!

     This is coming from the supposedly psycho girl who craved a proper family for fourteen years, finally got it, and will never let it go. She made that promise a very long time ago, and it still stands true.

     As they clambered onto the carriage, me going invisible and slipping in when the children weren't paying attention, they were curious as to where they were going.

     Uh, my king. I think there's something missing here.

     Have you seriously never been on an outing with your kids?

     Since they didn't seem dressed up enough, I zapped their clothes into something it seemed royalty would wear.

     Lars was loving it, being the only cheery one here. Välene was surprised at the pretty dress she was wearing, the first gown for an occasion she had ever had, having only used standard dresses the maids made for her whenever she grew. Andrew flipped.

     That's all he did. He literally just freaked out.

     I already could guess what his problem was. I'll have to pull him away later, the "disguise as commoner" thing might not go so well with him.

     It's not like I'm going to completely pull him away from it, oh, no.

     It's just that I would have to take him on a more personalized tour that would serve as a very good lesson for him.

     Since the king was already used to it, he didn't even pay attention.

     "Father, is this...?" Välene started.

     "From Knight? Yes, she always does this," he glanced over to her with a wry smile, then looked back out the window.

     "Is this why you've been more sparkly than usual?" Lars was playing with his hair, which was neatly combed. To counter him messing it up, I reached over and pulled his hands down. He was shocked that something was touching him, not registering that it was me. Since the three children were sitting on one bench and the king was opposite of them, there was plenty of room for me to be hidden. So I just sat next to him.

     "Uh, yes?" The king...he didn't understand why he was called "sparkly." One would usually accept "handsome," but from a seven year old boy he would have to suck it up and take "sparkly" for now.

     "So cool!" Lars laughed to himself.

     Välene opened up as Lars opened up, so she was already smiling as well, if only a light lift at the corner of her lips.

     Andrew-well, actually, we already know how he is. He's moody. Moody, I tell you. He could rival Kagame whenever she had to dump one of her boyfriends for committing some manner of infidelity.

     Since this was a carriage going down the main street, and not just any carriage but the royal carriage with the whole ensemble around them, there was a lot of attention. For one thing, this fact is awfully important: carriages are not allowed on this main street that runs from south to north.

     Flags were raised even higher, people had an even better time, the festival seemed to be the brightest this country had had in a long time with the threat of the war seemingly lifting from over their heads.