The Boy and His New Life

The Royal Party

I just thought the first part of the song worked for this story. Idk. It just reminded me of it. Lol.

"So, there is a certain birthday coming up next month..." King Lune looked up as he took a bite of his food.

Cor noticed he had the teasing glint in his eyes and it only made him more confused. "Whose, father? Is it Dar's or Darrin's? Yours?" he asked.

"No, silly!" Corin laughed. "It's ours! Didn't you know?"

"Well... no... I never knew when my birthday was and I never knew about parties for them until I came here, when we celebrated Bree's. Hwin had explained a little to me."

Corin gaped at his twin. His brother had a tough life, he knew that, but he never realized that Cor was missing so much about common knowledge or how much of his childhood he had missed. He didn't know how exactly Cor's life was, for the only things that he knew about it was that he was found and raised by a fisherman and a detailed story of multiple viewpoints of the escape from the Calormen to Narnia. Of course, Cor and his girlfriend (though they both hated it when he called them that), Aravis, both ended up in Archenland rather than Narnia. Other than that, he didn't know how Shasta lived his life.

He was certain their father knew more about Cor's life as Shasta, because King Lune constantly seemed to fret over little things that he seemed to fear would make Cor have a breakdown. Corin was more observant than most thought he was, and noticed small clues that indicated that it was not a pleasant life. The fact that Cor constantly freaked out over little things, the few times he started bawling over a couple mistakes he made and was literally begging to be forgiven over nothing, the way Cor still flinched every time someone set a hand on him, and now all the common things that all children should know, Cor barely had a clue.

"Is that bad?" Cor's face grew red.

"Huh?" Corin blinked back into reality. "What? Oh! It's not your fault! It's just... that's sad..." Corin realized he had made his brother uncomfortable. Even if they tended to quarrel and bicker, Corin would never want to actually hurt his newfound twin, nor would he let anyone else for that matter.

"I think what your brother is trying to say is that no child should have been robbed of their birthday knowledge," King Lune came to Corin's rescue. The boy nodded in agreement, glad that his father knew him well enough. "Perhaps you would like to be the one to pick out the decorations and pick out the desserts?"

"But wouldn't Corin want to do that? It's his birthday too..." Cor looked at his younger twin. Another thing about Corin's brother was the fact that he was constantly worried he was getting in Corin's way and he didn't want to make Corin feel like he was no longer important; but in reality, he was technically doing Corin a favor.

"Pshaw!" Corin waved a hand. "I've already done it for twelve years. You should do it for a change. After all, it's a special birthday for you because it will technically be your first one."

"Well, as long as you're sure..." Cor began slowly.

"Definitely. I'm not one for planning anyways. That is more like your forte," Corin added.

"Then it's settled," King Lune confirmed.

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The next morning, after all their lessons were done, Cor was taken off to plan the birthday party while Corin bounced off to cause some sort of ruckus to keep him occupied. Cor was certain he'd hear about his little adventure later. For now, he was occupied with the task that was set before him.

"Cream or nutshell, your Majesty?" a maid asked, holding up two different napkins that were basically the same color. There was, at least, very little difference.