Chapter 234: Chapter 234

234 Family Time

Shasta had never felt such peace and happiness before. Lawrence was on the far left, then Victor, Anna, and Shasta; all holding hands as they walked. The closer they got to the banquet hall, the more people they saw. The hallway that connected to the main palace courtyard was near it, so they had to wade through the crowds a bit to get there.

The children were in awe of the various dresses and clothing styles being worn by the diplomats, dignitaries, and their servants. Victor was fascinated with the swords that the guards of the Fire Nation’s representative had. That, and their strange hats that his father said were called turbans.

Anna was in love with the dresses that the women were wearing. A woman on the arm of the newly arrived Sai diplomat was her favorite. Upon seeing them, Shasta knew that both Skye and Tidas would be happy about their arrival.

The assassin last year had tried to say he was from Sai, but Tidas’ investigation proved he was from Meccano, but nothing else. He’d sent word to their Senators of the plot and requested a diplomat be dispatched to help with coordinating relations better.

‘So this is the man? I thought Tidas requested Genie be their representative? Wonder why they turned him down and sent this guy instead?’

“What do you think Shasta? Which one is your favorite?” Anna said in an overly excited tone.

Snapping back, Shasta quickly replied; “To be honest, I really liked Princess Skye’s dress a lot. But I do like that lady’s dress too.”

Shasta pointed to a young woman wearing a deep-purple halter mermaid dress that shimmered when she walked. Anna’s eyes went wide as she spoke in a shrill voice; “Purple is my favorite color!”

Victor looked over to Shasta; “Do you know Aunt Skye?!”

.....

Shasta smiled gently; “Yep. She and your Uncle Tidas are my best friends actually.”

Lawrence frowned slightly; “What about me?”

Shasta couldn’t stop herself from giggling at his downtrodden expression. He was intentionally being cute, and it was working. She smiled at him with affection in her gaze as she said; “I was hoping you’d want to be someone more special to me than a friend, but if that’s wha-”

“No, no, no; I want to be special! Special is good with me-better! It’s way better..” Lawrence coughed as he finished his nervous rant.

Shasta laughed along with his children. They didn’t understand why their father had just rambled about being special, they just thought that he’d looked funny doing it. The King of Ruscovic was hardly ever frazzled.

After they’d made their way to the courtyard, Shasta and Lawrence played duck-duck-goose and tag with the twins until they started to yawn. It was quite late, and a couple hours passed their usual bedtime. Even so; suggesting sleep incurred a lively debate about the importance of sleep.

As they argued with their father, Shasta yawned as she sat watching from her seat in the grass. As soon as Victor and Anna saw her, they conceded. Saying it was rude of them to keep Shasta up past her bedtime. They did make her promise to play with them at the Summer Games tomorrow.

Once Lawrence said she’d be with them the whole day as their escort, they exploded in cheers and happy dances that made Shasta want to squeeze them. ‘They really are just too cute!’

As the they walked back, Victor challenged Shasta to a race. As she tried to explain that there were too many people around, he’d taken off without listening. He was small and fast; Shasta nearly lost sight of him seconds after he took off. Without another thought; she hiked up her skirt, and took off after him as Lawrence scooped up Anna and followed behind them.

Shasta bobbed and weaved through the crowds, but didn’t see Victor. Panic started to rise within her as she strained her ears to listen for his voice, or the mention of a kid. Her heart pounded as she jogged along the way she thought he would’ve taken.

Right as she was about to start calling out his name, she heard a loud crash sound; metal and glass hitting the ground. The next thing she heard was someone yelling at a child for being reckless in a thick accent.

Looking a bit further down the hallway with the help of her trait, Shasta saw Victor sitting on the floor in front of one of the Fire Nation servants. There was a tray on the floor with shattered plates and food next to them. ‘The man must’ve been coming out of another hallway with the tray when Victor ran into him.’

‘WHAT is he saying about him needing some real discipline?!’

Shasta had instantly started to push her way through the crowds as she watched the man raise his arm to go to hit Victor! As he motioned to bring his arm down, Shasta used her Tank trait to instantly cut through the sea of people, and slam into the man with force.

He flew back a few feet until he crashed into some other guests, which made Shasta wince a little. She didn’t think he’d get tossed so far, but she really couldn’t hold back. ‘I’ll be hearing about that from Magnus later..’

Shaking her head, Shasta turned back around to check Victor. He was staring as her with a mix of shock and awe. After a couple seconds he finally blinked a couple times and yelled; “That was awesome!”

Shasta huffed at him; “No, it wasn’t. If you would’ve listened to what I was saying before, then this most likely wouldn’t have happened..”

Victor looked down with a pouty expression; “Ijust wanted to keep playing until they got back to the room. You’re really fun.. I know you and daddy said you’d be with us tomorrow..”

The boy’s head shoots up to lock tears eyes with Shasta; “B-But! Daddy says he’ll spend time with us all the time, but then he can’t! Daddy said your job is important like his, so..”

Shasta’s voice was gentle and soothing; “You think I’ll get busy like your dad does and not come tomorrow?”

Nodding his head, Victor sniffles before he says; “We really like you! We really want you to come home with us! Daddy does too! He talked about you all the time!”

Shasta’s ears perked up; “Wait? Back to Ruscovic?”

Victor nods in the positive right as Lawrence and Anna come running over. Victor was still sitting on the floor, and Shasta was crouched down in front of him. It wasn’t until he was close to them did he see the man on the floor and a bunch of angry nobles behind them.

“Are you two ok?! What happened?! Why is he on the floor?!”

Lawrence had a panicked expression, and Anna stared at the broken objects and downed man with fear. She then yelled out their names and starting to cry. Victor and Shasta immediately got up, and started telling and showing her that they were fine. After setting her down, Anna hugged Shasta, then clung to her brother. She was still crying as he explained how Shasta had come to his rescue.

As Lawrence listened to his son’s story, he stared at Shasta with love in his eyes. She had not only won them over instantly, but protected his son without restraint. They wound up singing and spinning a lot when they played the game. Which just further cemented the feeling in his chest: Shasta was meant to be a part of their family.

The rational side of him told him that he was crazy for thinking that after only a few hours together. ‘I need to take this slow.. They’re just children and I can’t risk them getting hurt.’

As soon as the thought would creep into his head, the feeling in his chest would overwhelm it. Lawrence knew Shasta, and he knew how she felt about him. His children were a part of him; his best part, or so he’d always felt. They made him want to be a better person, and a better king. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for them...

Lawrence’s greatest fear was that Shasta and his children wouldn’t get along. Watching them now; he felt stupid for even giving a touch of credence to the notion. ‘Of course they love her.. I’m such a fool sometimes, haha.’

Right as they were about to leave, the Representative from the Fire Nation came up from behind them. He looked at the scene, then looked over to his groggy servant. After Lawrence explained the gist of the situation and had his son apologize as well. The man named Abdul apologized for the rashness of his servant, then snapped his fingers.

One of the guards from before was suddenly at his side. Abdul nodded his head at the distant servant, prompting the guard to walk over, grab him, then drag him past. By the time they’d reached near the group, the man was fully conscious, and screaming for mercy.

As they were about to disappear around the corner, Victor jumped forward; “Wait! Please don’t hurt him! He, he didn’t do anything! Shasta stopped him! So... Can’t you just yell at him instead?!”

Lawrence put his hands on his son’s shoulders, but the man nodded to him and spoke with a thick accent; “It is sweet that you feel empathy for a person that tried to hurt you, but it is not a good way for a future king to think..”

Lawrence narrowed his vision at the man; “How is compassion a bad thing?”

The man flashed a small smile before he replied; “Because is gives your enemies a chance for revenge. A smart king knows this, like your father. He still hunts his brother, yes? These things are known..”

Abdul trails off as he waved his hand at his guard to continue. The man being dragged begins to scream again as he disappears around the corner, making the children cringe. Shasta sees it and steps forward with a hard look in her eyes.

Her tone is deadly serious as she says; “I’m sure being sent flying across the room was a fairly decent punishment in and of itself. It would put the children at ease to know that the man will not be physically harmed more than he already has..”

Abdul stared at Shasta a moment before catching her meaning and saying; “Ahh, yes. He shall simply be chained up until we leave. We will not damage him and drive his price down for when we return home. He is a fairly competent servant, he should fetch a-”

“Well! Thank you for being so understanding, but we really must get the children to bed. I apologize for the incident again,” Lawrence spoke curtly as he cut off the diplomat.

Abdul flashed a knowing smirk before nodding respectfully, and walking away. Lawrence and Shasta both were trying to keep their tempers in check. He noticed their anger, and was smart enough to drop it. He needed to be on his way, anyways..

After getting back to his quarters, Abdul went out to his courtyard where the servant was now strung up. His shirt had been ripoed so his back was showing. His face was bloody and swollen from the guards. He was still begging and pleading, but he could only mange a strain, small voice through the pain.

Abdul walked around the man to a small table set out with various whips. Some had plain tassels, some had spikes ranging in all sizes. He grabbed one with tiny spikes for maximum pain. He walked around and showed the servant what tool his punishment would be given with, causing the man to scream and cry even more.

A dark grin stretched across Abdul’s face at the sight of the man’s fear as he said; “Let us begin your punishment...”