*****
Orion had planned on giving his brothers a short, two-minute tour of the palace when they got there, but it ended up lasting over five hours. Both Rick and Joshua insisted that they meet all of Orion’s friends. They found Jose, Shane, and Chris in the courtyard, training to become warriors.
“Hey guys!” Orion called as he trotted up to them.
“Hey, look!” Shane turned at the sound of Orion’s voice, “Orion’s back!”
“Oi, amigo!” Jose called as he and Shane bounded over to their friend. “We seen you coming off the ship. Did you really go to Lunspae?” he asked. Chris walked over with less enthusiasm than the others.
“Yea,” Orion nodded, “and I learned about my mother and my brothers, Ricky and Josh.” Orion gestured behind him, where Rick and Joshua were standing. Addressing his brothers he said, “These are my friends, Shane,” Shane nodded, “Jose,” Jose smiled and waved, “and Chris.” Chris crossed his arms grumpily. Orion proceeded to tell his friends everything he had learned from his mother, including how he was to be the emperor of Lunspae in a few, short years. “What’s wrong, Chris?” Orion asked when he had finished, noticing that Chris seemed rather upset.
“So what does this mean, Orion?” Chris asked. “That lunimorves and telblecs are the same?” Noticing Orion’s confusion, he added, “I mean if your mother is the empress of the lunimorves and your father is the king of the telblecs, and if you become the king of both...” his voice trailed off as he became lost in thought.
“Then the war will finally be over!” Shane shouted, whooping and thrusting his fist into the air above his head. “That’s great! And your seventeenth birthday is only a month away!”
“That means that the war will end in three years!” Jose was picking up on Shane’s excitement.
“But will you go back?” Chris asked, not sharing their excitement. “Back to Lunspae, I mean.”
“Yep. I don’t know how long I’ll stay here, but I’m going back,” Orion replied. Clouds began to form above them as rain began falling, lightly at first and getting heavier. “Why don’t we go inside before we drown?”
“Wow, this place is huge!” Joshua exclaimed after they had gone back inside.
“Yea,” Rick agreed, wringing out his jacket, “but the layout is similar to home. We shouldn’t have too much trouble finding our way around.”
“Especially with me to show you the way,” Orion joked. “Let’s go to my rooms.”
“Hey Orion, where are we gonna sleep?” Joshua asked.
“Oh,” Orion took a moment to think, “I can get you guys your own rooms. We have plenty of spare guestrooms you could use.”
“How about a tour of the city tomorrow, Bro?” Rick commented.
“Hey, that’s a great idea! Except-” Orion blushed, “I’ve never actually been in the city, so I couldn’t give you a tour.”
“That’s okay, we can go exploring together,” Rick smiled, “How about you guys? Do you want to join us?”
“Nah,” Jose answered, “I’ve got work to do. If I don’t catch up on my homework, I’m gonna have to give up training.”
“I’ll take you up on that offer,” Chris said.
“I’d like to go, but I’m supposed to help Teddy and Kevin with the chores,” Shane looked down.
“Chores?” Joshua asked. “Don’t you have servants to do the chores?” Shane blushed.
“Josh,” Orion leaned over to his brother, “Shane, Kevin, and Teddy are servants. Their parents have been working here at the palace for years, and they, he motioned towards Shane, “will become full time servants once they’re adults, unless they complete their training before then. Jose and Chris both have warrior parents.”
“Oh, oops,”Joshua glanced at Shane, “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay,” Shane answered, slightly embarrassed.
“Where are Kevin and Teddy, anyway?” Orion asked, “I haven’t seen them since I got back.” They had reached his rooms and seated themselves on the floor. “Cards, anyone?” he said, handing a deck to Joshua.
“They’re probably out with their girlfriends,” Chris answered with a note of jealousy in his voice. Shane chuckled. Orion felt a stab of jealousy, too. After all, the only girl he had liked enough to call a girlfriend had dumped him not too long ago. He wondered if he’d find another girlfriend when he went back.
A loud knock interrupted them.
“Come in!” Orion called, not really paying attention to the servant coming through the doors. Joshua had just dealt him a winning hand.
“Your Majesty,” the servant bowed.
“What do you want?” Orion was annoyed that his card game had been interrupted.
“Your father, King Frederic, wishes to see you in his rooms right away.”
“Can’t it wait? I’m in the middle of something.” Orion returned to his cards, putting them in order. The servant said nothing, but Orion knew that he shouldn’t keep his father waiting. “Sorry, guys,” Orion laid his cards down and got up, “but I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you later!” Orion and the servant headed out the doors, down the hall, up a flight of stairs, down another hall, and finally stopping in front of King Frederic’s doors. The servant knocked.
“Enter!” came King Frederic’s stern voice.
Just like I remember, Orion sighed as he stepped inside. But this time, he’s not going to boss me around. I am, after all, a lunimorf prince, too.
“Your Majesty, Prince Orion to see you,” the servant announced.
“Yes, now go.” King Frederic didn’t get up from the couch, which was facing the opposite wall. The servant bowed and left, closing the doors behind him. Orion watched him go, and stared at the doors after he left. “Come here, Orion.” This was the moment that Orion had been dreading. Orion hesitated, yearning to rush out the doors, but he took one step further in, and then another, until he was face-to-face with his father.
“Orion.” King Frederic didn’t sound too angry, nor like he was suppressing it. “The time I’ve spent on Lunspae made me realize many things.” He looked up at Orion, but Orion remained silent, trying his best to hide his fear, so King Frederic continued, “One of those things is that I have very little control over you like I used to.” Orion blushed and remembered how he had fought his father, ran away to Lunspae against his wishes, and landed him in the dungeon for a month. “Yes,” King Frederic said calmly, reading Orion’s mind, “you ought to be in serious trouble.”
“Ought to?” Orion snapped to attention. “You mean I’m not in trouble?”
“No,” King Frederic sighed, “you’re not.” Sensing Orion’s confusion, he explained, “You see, another thing I realized was that you are your own person, and a teenager for that matter. And teenagers,” King Frederic spoke up before Orion had a chance to voice his confusion, “are prone to rebellion.” He looked down. “Not only that, but-” he hesitated, “I was wrong not to tell you about your mother. I shouldn’t have kept your lunimorf heritage a secret. Whether others knew or not,” he looked up at Orion, “you should have, but you didn’t. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair. I thought I was protecting you by not telling you, but I was actually hurting you more.” He paused, trying to swallow what he just said. Still, Orion said nothing.
“Now then, Orion,” his father became stern, “I don’t like the fact that you’ve brought your brothers here. It’s not that I don’t want them. After all, Josh is my son, too, but you and I both know of the dangers that Olhoe presents to a couple of young lunimorves. I don’t know how many people won’t accept those two as your brothers, but they are in danger from those who don’t. I want you to keep an eye on them at all times while they are here, understand?”
“Uh-huh,” Orion nodded, “Mother said the same thing. She said to stick together at all times out in the city-,”
“Who said anything about the city?” King Frederic cut Orion off. “You are not
allowed in the city, Orion.”
“I wasn’t allowed to go to Lunspae either.” Orion crossed his arms. King Frederic sighed and placed his fingertips on his temple.
“Alright,” King Frederic knew he wasn’t going to be able to out argue Orion, “you can go as long as you take some warriors with you.”
“But-,” Orion started.
“You’re my son, Orion. Fro as much as you don’t believe it, I don’t want you getting hurt,” King Frederic looked him in the eyes. Orion remembered all too well the day he had snuck out of the palace on Lunspae and was attacked. He gazed at the floor. It brought back memories of Sandra, both good and bad.
“Oh, and another thing. You’re going to be king someday, Orion.” King Frederic met his son’s eyes. “In just over three years, you will become king of Olhoe and Lunspae. I’m sure Empress Anita told you what we had decided?” Orion nodded.
“Ricky wasn’t too happy about it, though.” He half smiled.
“Well, it wasn’t Rick’s choice to make. However,” King Frederic became serious, “I will not crown a prince as king who is afraid of something as silly as a little fire. You’re going to have to work hard to-”
“But I’m over it now.” Orion interrupted him.
“You are?” King Frederic looked at him in surprise.
“Yea, watch!” Orion was excited. He spread his fingers and raised his palm towards the fireplace, where cold logs lay on a cold metal stand. He gathered his energy and formed a fireball, floating just beyond his fingers, and shot it at the fireplace, igniting the logs and creating a large, warm fire. He watched it for a few minutes waiting to hear praise, but he only heard the crackling of the fire. He turned around to see his father staring, open-mouthed, as the flames danced in and out of the logs.
“Well, what do you think? Neat, huh?”
“Wha-? How in the-? What did you just do?” King Frederic couldn’t take his eyes off the new fire.
“I made a fire.” After his father didn’t respond, he added, “Josh taught me that.”
“He did?” King Frederic finally tore his eyes away from the flames to look at his son. “What else did he teach you?”
“Well, I can turn the fire different colors.” To demonstrate, Orion changed the fire green, bright pink, and blue before letting it burn it’s normal yellow and orange. “I can also heal, levitate small objects, and make light pictures. I can change things into other things, but I’m not real good at shape shifting, yet.”
“Shape shifting. Uh...” King Frederic was still trying to take in the idea that his son created fire from nothing, and made it change colors.
“Yea, shape shifting.” When King Frederic still said nothing, Orion explained, “You know, changing shape? Turning into animals and such?”
“Oh, yea.” King Frederic was still trying to take it all in. “Well, it sounds like your year on Lunspae really did you some good.”
“Yea,” Orion agreed. “That wasn’t a full year, though, but can you imagine how much I’m gonna learn when I go back?” Orion was excited at the very thought.
“Go back?” Frederic hadn’t expected this. “I thought you came home to stay.”
“Nope. I’ve only come to visit for a few days, then I’m going back.”
“But-” Frederic couldn’t hide his disappointment as he tried to think of a way that would make Orion want to stay here. “Your seventeenth birthday is less than a month away, Orion. Why don’t you stay for your birthday, then you can go back?” King Frederic looked into Orion’s eyes as he thought this over.
“Well, I was really looking forward to celebrating my birthday with my brothers,” Orion said guiltily, “Josh and I want to have a double birthday, since we were born on the same day.”
“They can stay here, too,” King Frederic said hopefully, “and the three of you can go back to Lunspae together.”
“Really?” Orion’s eyes lit up with anticipation, “You’d let my brothers stay here, too?” King Frederic nodded. “Okay, but on one condition. I’ve never really liked those dull balls you arranged, and I don’t think Ricky and Josh would like them either. I want the party to be what I want, not what you want, deal?” He eyed his father, so sure that he would be enraged by this, but he wasn’t.
“Deal.” King Frederic smiled. “So what do you want, Orion?”
“I want a party that I can have fun at. I want the entire kingdom to be invited. I want a live band, horseback riding, tawttuwy ball and other activities, and snacks like candy apples, cotton candy, chips and pretzels with dip. I want the party to last all day, so make sure that everyone will have the day off of work and school. I want to end the party with a feast. Let’s see,” Orion thought for a moment. “I want everything to be served. Roast pork, steak, ribs, fish, pheasant, duck, turkey, chicken, goose, and venison. Also, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, all kinds of rice, casseroles, stuffing, and several kinds of pasta. For desert, I want pies. Apple, cranberry, blueberry, banana cream, chocolate mousse, cherry, and lemon meringue. As for my birthday cake, I want an ice cream cake, with layers of chocolate crunch, fudge, and vanilla ice cream. I also want-”
“Orion, do you expect me to remember this?” Frederic stated standing up with one hand on his hip and the other on Orion’s shoulder..
“Huh? Oh, right.” Orion had forgotten where he was. “Well, I’d like to do something different.”
“It all sounds pretty different to me.”
“That’s not what I mean.” Orion said exasperated. “You know how, at a birthday party, the one having the birthday gets all the presents?” King Frederic nodded. “Well, I’d like to give gifts out this year.” King Frederic gave him a quizzical look, so Orion continued, “Instead of receiving presents, I’d like to give everyone a gift for coming to my party. I figure a gift package for every family based on the age and gender of the kids and adults ought to do. I want there to be stuffed toys for toddlers, blocks and toys for older kids, a marble brush set, a tool kit, and a number of royal coins, based on how many people are in the family.”
“Like I said, Orion,” King Frederic sounded weary as he fell back onto the couch, “How am I supposed to remember all this?”