A/N: Another story for TPP! This time it takes place before Fine and Rein get Prominence and talks about a tradition in the Sunny Kingdom as it appears in my canon. I hope you enjoy~.
Disclaimer: I do not own FBNFH.
Every princess born into the Sunny Kingdom is allowed to go on their very first excursion to another kingdom once they turn eight.
On their birthday, Princess Fine and Princess Rein would be asked to choose a kingdom to visit. Present in their party would be the kings and queens of all the other kingdoms. Traditionally, the princess would voice her choice to her parents then go and ask the rulers of their chosen kingdom if they may visit.
Months prior to their birthday, Queen Elsa and King-Consort Truth (as well as many servants who wanted to help their majesties) tried to lead the girls into choosing kingdoms they thought would be the most beneficial.
With Fine, her parents spoke about how delicious the food in the Jewelry Kingdom was and how many varieties of sweets were there! This was enough to convince Fine that she wanted to visit the Jewelry Kingdom and her parents were very pleased. It would do well to strengthen the ties between the Jewelry and Sunny Kingdoms even further and this excursion was a good way to show the Jewelry Royals that even future generations were still quite taken with their culture (no need to point out that Fine's main reason to go was simply for the food and not much of the rest of the culture).
With Rein, it was a little harder...
...okay much harder.
She loved fairy tales about romance and handsome princes. They hoped that showing her a portrait of Prince Shade of the Moon Kingdom would convince her to go, but upon seeing the portrait Rein saw red. She began screaming and throwing a temper tantrum about how she would absolutely not go to the Moon Kingdom if Shade was there. It came as quite a shock to her parents! They couldn't figure out what the problem was. It wasn't until Lulu burst out laughing when she was present for one of Rein's tantrums, a week before the twins' birthday, that they got their answer.
"The two met before already your majesties!" Lulu said between fits of laughter. "And let me tell ya! It wasn't the sorta fairy tale like meeting Princess Rein was hoping for!"
During a meeting with Queen Malia, she brought her son with her, but he had been by his mother's side the whole time! And the only one present for the meeting was Fine since they couldn't find Rein anywhere. Or so Elsa had thought...turns out before the meeting Shade had snuck off and ran into Rein. Unfortunately their meeting turned quite...sour. Lulu explained how Shade insulted Rein and, in rage, she slapped him as hard as she could before screaming at him and running off.
After explaining, Lulu broke down in a fit of laughter again while Rein began to playfully punch Lulu, saying it "wasn't the least bit funny!"
"That might explain why he seemed quite dazed during the meeting." Truth mumbled.
"But come now, honey! You shouldn't let one bad meeting with Prince Shade ruin what could be a grand time in another beautiful kingdom!" Elsa tried to coax Rein.
"I said no!" Rein roared.
"Don't yell at your mother!" Elsa frowned. "Now you are going to the Moon Kingdom and that's that!"
Rein burst into tears and threw another temper tantrum. Allowing herself to fall to the floor, Rein began to beat her little fists and feet on the floor screaming and crying "I don't wanna! I don't wanna!"
But Elsa wasn't about to give in! Rein had to do this for the good of their kingdom!
As Rein and Elsa were about to get into a screaming match, Fine bolted out of the room in search for their uncles.
"She's been queen for how many years now? And she still can't be punctual? I don't wanna stay here longer than needed." Rumor huffed.
He had arrived from his kingdom a day ago to have a meeting with Elsa set for today at a specific time. Two hours later, however, and Elsa was still not here.
"I didn't come all this way to wait for her, if she's not here in the next five minutes I'm going back home immediately."
"Now, now, she's been a bit preoccupied lately. The twins excursion is coming up after all." Oswald said.
"Oh yeah that's a thing here..." Rumor sighed. "I suppose if she's busy making preparations for my nieces I can forgive her...I'll give her an hour, then I leave."
"...I'm sure she'll appreciate the generosity." Oswald giggled.
"Uncles! Uncles!" Fine came running towards them.
"Fine!" The two said.
"C-come quick...!" Fine wheezed.
"Whoa, whoa, take a breath then talk." Rumor crouched down to her height.
"Yes, we aren't going anywhere no need to force yourself to speak out of breath." Oswald smiled.
"B-but Rein!" Wheeze. "Rein a-and..." Wheeze. "...mama..." Wheeze. "Fighting!" Wheeze. "Rein's...crying!"
"What!?"
"What the hell's going on in here? It sounds like you're about to send her to the guillotine." The last person Elsa expected to show up (and the one person Elsa least wanted to see right now) showed up with her dear brother Oswald and her darling daughter Fine in the doorway: Huey Tlatoani Rumor.
"Brother!" Truth gasped. Rumor smiled at his brother, warmly, before pushing him and Elsa out of his way to get to Rein with Fine taking initiative and running ahead of him herself. Fine helped Rein stand up before taking out her handkerchief. She asked Rein to turn towards her and began dabbing at her tears. A kind yet rather fruitless effort as Rein kept crying.
"What's wrong, chiquitina?" Rumor crouched down and asked.
"Tio Rumor! No quiero! No quiero!" Rein sobbed.
"No quieres que?"
"Was she just speaking in Temictlian?" Elsa asked, displeased.
"Yeah, and?" Rumor glared.
"U-um!" Truth spoke up before the two began fighting. "Rein doesn't want to visit the Moon Kingdom."
"Is this about that excursion thing that's tradition here?" Rumor asked.
"That's right." Truth nodded.
"Okay, cool, then she doesn't have to go if she doesn't want to. Problem solved."
"But it's the best place to go!" Elsa insisted.
"I'm sorry, weren't you the one that said the princess got to choose where she could go? This isn't your choice, dearest sister-in-law. It's your daughter's."
"But the Moon Kingdom is the best choice."
"Says who? Sand, sand, and more sand? I wouldn't wanna go either."
"There's more than sand there! Beautiful ruins, the star springs..."
"Yeah, like an eight year old wants to go and look at some dumb rocks and water that tells you if your love returns your affections. She's eight with no betrothed let alone a boyfriend."
"Truth told me that you and him would go exploring the old ruins in your kingdom all the time when you were her age though."
"I'm not entirely sure if you understand this concept but, sharing blood does not always mean you share the same interests. Sure, Truth and I liked to go explore ruins because we were interested in history and lore."
"But this is important to her future!"
"Are you so sure about that? Is it important to Rein's future or yours?"
The two sibling-in-laws continued to stare each other down. Meanwhile Truth and Oswald glanced at each other. Should they diffuse the situation? Unfortunately for them both Elsa and Rumor seem to be the most stubborn people in the universe. Their words would probably have little impact on making them change their opinions on which one was correct.
And who should they side with anyway? Elsa has a point. Although chances are slim, if Rein does eventually inherit the Sunny Throne she would need to start building and strengthening alliances now, especially with how the Wonder Planet has entered an era of competition. Tensions are high and insulting someone you've been friends with for ages could break such pacts and, if things continue to go downhill, fling you into a war. Although Moon Malia is kind, would she see Rein's refusal to visit her kingdom as an insult?
On the other hand, Rumor had a point too. This is Rein's excursion and she should pick what she wants. If she went to the Moon Kingdom, odds are she'd be unhappy the entire time. Not only could that also be seen as an insult, but it could definitely cause Rein to resent the Moon Kingdom and Shade all the more.
"Ah, um...Can't we all go together to the Moon Kingdom later?" Fine spoke up.
"Oh! What a marvelous idea." Oswald jumped in. "The annual Festival of the Moon Bird is soon right? I'm sure Rein would be more keen on visiting the Moon Kingdom if she had Fine by her side. And if the whole family goes then even if Queen Moon Malia is insulted about Rein refusing to go now she'd certainly love the idea of the entire Sunny Royal Family coming down to their humble kingdom."
"Hah! The kid's smarter than Elsa!" Rumor smirked. "And a great big sister too, looking out for her younger twin."
Rumor patted Fine's head.
"Very well." Elsa conceded. "Then how about visiting-"
"Nope!" Rumor cut her off. "This is Rein's choice, stop trying to lead her into doing what you want. Let her think for herself!"
"I was only going to offer a suggestion!"
"Yeah, yeah, you probably said the same thing when you told her about the Moon Kingdom and look how that turned out. You tried to force her to go."
As the two in-laws continuing their bickering, Oswald and Truth gently pushed their respective siblings out of the room. They could scream their lungs out at each other outside of Fine and Rein's room.
"See? Uncles Oswald and Rumor's helped solve the problem! Now don't cry anymore." Fine smiled. Her handkerchief was soaked through at this point so she took her jacket sleeved and used that to dry Rein's remaining tears.
"O-okay." Rein sniffled.
"Eh-um, How's about lookin' at some books about other kingdoms! Maybe ya can decide with your sister where you want to go!" Lulu suggested. When Rein nodded she began looking through the books Camelot had brought for the twins lessons earlier that day. Lulu hoped there would be some about other kingdoms, but unfortunately as Camelot had been faithfully serving Elsa since the queen was but a tot, the books were mostly about either the Jewelry or Moon Kingdoms.
'I bet Rein was ready to lose her mind if Camelot's been talkin' 'bout the Moon Kingdom all day.' Pushing them to the side she continued to dig and finally found one book about another kingdom, the Windmill Kingdom. Specifically, it was a book about heroes who grew up in the kingdom.
"Here, there's this!" Lulu handed the book to the twins. They opened the book and began reading, Rein's eyes began to sparkle upon hearing the word "heroes". Soon, Rein was happily absorbing the entire book herself. Much to the relief of Fine and Lulu, it was like she was never crying to begin with.
As the minutes passed with Rein reading her book, Doretta (Fine's personal maid), came into the room with tea and snacks. Lulu helped her serve them, but Rein continued to pay more attention to the book in her hands, only taking the occasional sip of tea.
A few hours later, Rein finished the book and announced, "I'm going to the Windmill Kingdom!"
A week passed by in the blink of an eye and it was finally time for the girls' birthday ball.
Rein was giddily preparing for the ball, quite excited to get the permission of King Randa and Queen Elena to go and visit their kingdom of heroes!
Once Oswald and Rumor heard of Rein's choice they told the girls to absolutely not breathe a word of it to anyone. Their uncles knew that Elsa loathed both the Drop and Windmill Kingdoms so Rein expressing an interest in going to the Windmill Kingdom would be...disastrous.
Of course, if Rein asked Randa and Elena and they agreed, it'd be too late for Elsa to object. Not only would it be incredibly insulting to King Randa and Queen Elena, but there's no doubt Rein would burst into tears and throw another tantrum, both of those things would make the kingdom and herself look bad, so they doubted she'd stop Rein after she got consent.
After the twins were finished dressing Rein urged Fine, Lulu, Doretta, and Camelot to hurry.
"Let's go! Let's go!" Rein grabbed Fine's hand and she bolted out of the room and towards the ballroom.
"Don't run!" Camelot yelled after her before perusing them with Doretta and Lulu closely following.
Once the arrived in the ballroom the girls had to receive everyone's greetings and presents. Although both gratefully accepted the gifts and greetings, Rein was very obviously impatient for the main event to begin. She was practically vibrating with anticipation!
After the twins had greeted everyone, people began dancing and enjoying the ball. Fine and Rein were encouraged to enjoy themselves, Fine went straight to the refreshments and began chowing down on her favorite foods. Typically, Rein would try to make conversation with others her age or dance (even if her skills were lacking compared to the other princesses), but this time she stuck close to her parents and continued to ask if the party was almost over yet.
Fine and Rein would not get to ask the rulers of the respective kingdom they've chosen if they could go visit until the ball was nearing its end. As their choices were considered to be the final event.
When Elsa shooed her away telling her to go enjoy herself, she decided to glue herself to her uncles' sides instead, asking them the same question every so often.
Unlike her parents, they didn't bother trying to tell her to go enjoy herself since she clearly cared for nothing, but the final event at the moment. Instead, Oswald would occasionally tell Rein that the party would end soon.
Rumor tried to distract her ever once in a while by performing little tricks or grabbing some of her favorite food for drink room the refreshment tables nearby.
After what seemed like an eternity to Rein, the ball was reaching its end. Fine and Rein returned to their parents side. First, Fine was asked to make her choice. She ran over to Queen Camellia and King Aaron and just barely remembered to keep decorum once she arrived in front of them.
She curtsied and asked, "may I go visit the Jewelry Kingdom, your majesties?"
"Of course, Princess Fine." Camellia responded, feeling triumphant that her kingdom had been chosen. Although it was technically 'a given' she still felt like she had won.
Elsa and Truth didn't even finish their sentence when Rein bolted towards King Randa and Queen Elena. Completely forgetting decorum, Rein looked up at them with sparkling eyes and genuine excitement, "May I go to the Windmill Kingdom!?"
A hush fell over the ballroom. No princess in the history of the Sunny Kingdom had asked to go the Windmill Kingdom before! Eventually, a noise echoed through the ballroom, it was Rumor trying (and failing) to stifle his laughter as he looked at Elsa.
Elsa went completely pale and looked like she was ready to keel over. Despite what had happened, Elsa clung to the hope that Rein would change her mind and visit the Moon Kingdom and if not then perhaps the Seed or Flame Kingdoms!
But this...this was the worst possible decision Rein could have made! She couldn't tell if she was shocked or angered. Heck, she was so out of it she didn't even notice Rumor practically dying form laughter at her dilemma.
King Randa stared down at Rein who was looking at him with a big smile on her face. This was the last thing he was expecting, with Elsa's obvious hatred of him and his kingdom he's surprised that she would let her daughter ask such a thing. Of course, a quick glance at Elsa showed him that, ah, Rein clearly didn't get permission from Elsa to ask.
He then glanced to his wife who was smiling at Rein, she probably wasn't expecting it either, but she also didn't seem to mind it.
"Very well." Randa finally gave his consent.
"Yay!" Rein bounced up and down.
The silence broke as the crowd began to clap in congratulations for the twins getting permission.
Oswald glanced at his sister, it would take some time to calm her down...
A/N: Translations of Temictlian aka Spanish:
Chiquitina – little girl, an affectionate pet name
Tio Rumor – Uncle Rumor
No quiero! - I don't want to!
No quieres que? - You don't want to what?