There's nothing very loud music cannot fix. Usually.
'I can't freakin' believe this!'
Larmina growled in her darkend bedroom and shoved the first pillow that had the misfortune of being in range of her rage. She couldn't get the breakfast conversation with 'Auntie Dearest' out of her mind, despite how loud she tried to crank up her digital music player. Her aunt's words replayed in a continuous loop in Larmina's head.
"A debutante ball has been a tradition of all Arusian royalty...a very special moment, to announce..."
Larmina smirked, savoring the feeling of cutting of her aunt in mid-nostalgic delusion.
"…..to announce I'm on the market like a piece of meat. Today up for grabs in the BIG, FAT ARUSIAN SPECTACLE is Lady Larmina! Larmina is quite a fighter but you're all here for her very big…"
Larmina laughed aloud when she remembered the look on Auntie's face when she turned around, stuck out her chest, implying that her body language was attempting to complete her sentence.
"Very BIG Title…I can't even remember half of it."
Allura's mouth contorted, trying to muster the words to nip Larmina's tirade and anticipated vulgarity, but the younger royal was far from finished. Raising her fork in the air like a scepter, Larmina got up from the lovely and completely ruined breakfast and began to sashay around the table. "Wait, am I doing this the right way? They kicked me out of finishing school before we got to the 'Get-Yourself-A-Prince' walk!"
The conversation eroded exponentially from that point, just as nearly every recent conversation between the two last living members of the ruling house of Arus.
"I don't recall asking you", Allura icily replied. The exhausted queen plucked her napkin out of her lap and deposited it firmly upon the table, never breaking her gaze across the table at the younger princess-the strawberry blonde defiant teenager glaring back at her. "Arus needs a return to its traditions, a semblance of what makes us 'Arusian'. You and I, Larmina, this Castle..." Allura raised her hands in a sweeping gesture to encompass the sunlit dining room and the modern Castle of Lions beyond, "and the secrets of Voltron ...we are probably the only ties Arus has to our proud past. There are ..."
So it began.-the litany of traditions that Queen Allura, one of last of the heirs of King Alfor, went on to describe that fell on deaf ears. Allura began to name the beautiful queens of Arus, their courts, the legends, the noble knights. Yet, just a few feet away across the table, all Larmina heard was...blah, blah, blah, stuffy tradition, blah blah blah, I SAID SO, blah blah blah, PRINCES, blah blah blah expectations.
The E-Word. Just thinking of the word made Larmina shudder and search for another pillow to launch. She hated that one more than any of them.
Expectations.
'Your mother loved such traditions, Larmina. She would tell me the stories of the times before war. The pageantry, the dresses, the..."
This called for another pillow.
Yeah, play the dead mother card, Auntie…
"..the way you can kiss my butt..". At that point Larmina bolted upright from the table pushing the breakfast plate forward and the chair back with one swift and simultaneous move. How dare she speak of her mother as if she knew Queen Orla better than her own daughter? Just the very thought of her Allura intruding on this sacred space enraged Larmina.
"YOU aren't my mother. " With this observation, Larmina left the room leaving an unfinished breakfast, a flustered Queen and a slightly bemused royal advisor in her wake.
By leaving the breakfast too soon, she had missed the frustrated queen spitting verbal venom into a coffee cup.
After several minutes of allowing the queen to wrangle her ward on her own, the completely forgotten third party in the room took a bemused sip from his coffee and set down the cup with a deliberate clink onto its matched saucer. The royal advisor could not resist the opportunity to voice the obvious.
"I think that went rather well, compared to prior incidents." Coran dabbed his thick and now greying moustache with the corner of a crisp cloth napkin that had previously occupied his lap. Years of diplomacy and protocol could not temper the memories of another royal Arusian female's antics. Countless reminders, interventions …spankings...
No good.
However, the current Arusian female in question was not in his direct charge. Now the royal Arusian that caused him many sleepless nights, many strong drinks and a few headaches found herself in charge of another headstrong royal protégée .
During his studies at the Academy many years ago, Coran had learned about ancient Terran religions that believed in a concept called karma. Ah, yes! Karma! A fascinating concept! Coran thought to himself as he finished the remnant of his coffee. The fruits of cause and effect ...reaping the harvest that one has sown from his or HER action in the past. Professor Denare would be proud! I just found it here on Arus!
He couldn't stop the soft chuckle that escaped his lips.
Allura's head snapped around to face Coran."What could be so humorous at a time like this, Coran?"
Coran got up from the breakfast table. "Nothing at all, your highness" keeping his newly found insight on ancient Terran religions to himself. "If you will excuse me, I fortuitously have a large backlog of security audits to conduct this morning."
Allura curtly nodded to her most trusted advisor as he left the dining room. Years of measuring the timing of his stride told her the precise moment when she could finally let loose a few words she'd heard Lance use on special occasions.