Breakfast at the castle was, at least from Damian's point of view, weird. He had never seen people eat such things so early in the morning. The sausages were definitely not something he would recommend, specially not the spicy ones they prepared at the village but… somehow, he couldn't object to see Tim eating them.

So while breakfast was weird, it was still enjoyable enough for Damian not to think about what he was eating -at least not too much. It was one of those mornings, where Tim would nibble on bread distractedly while Damian tried to eat all the warm food available -how had it gotten so cold so fast?- and sneak glances at him.

It was kind of nice and peaceful, and if there was something Damian wasn't expecting was for a soldier to open the door and announce that the Lord and the Lady of the castle had arrived. Although it was Damian's fault for not expecting it; nice things like that could never last.

But it couldn't be. Timothy said he'd have at least a couple of months before their arrival! Maybe they missed their son. Given Tim's expression, though, that didn't seem likely: it wasn't the kind of expression one would imagine on people who was about to me somebody who they had missed dearly. In fact, Damian had started to feel on edge before Tim seemed to process the guard's words. Finally, Tim looked up.

"Damian, you can finish eating here. I'm going to meet them."

Without another word, Tim followed the soldier to -Damian guessed- the main room where they'd met for the first time.

Damian didn't know what was going to happen to him now, but it was clearly something neither Tim nor him were prepared for, and he didn't like the sound of that. It wasn't like Damian had a lot to pack before leaving, but if their plans had changed maybe they'd want to go to the court right away. Before Tim managed to convince them to take Damian with them.

Although even if their relationship with Tim was cold, there was no way they'd leave right away. They hadn't seen their son in almost a year! Damian sighed and poked his sausage with the knife, allowing himself to glower at it while he was alone. He probably wouldn't be there for much longer. He wasn't even sure he'd be allowed to remain as Tim's servant until Tim's parents left, or even speak to him. Tim was clearly satisfied with their current arrangement, but who knew if his parents would accept it. If Tim thought they'd support it, why would he be so tense?

He wasn't going to be able to eat his sausage worrying like that, specially if there was no Tim to distract him. Preposterous and inedible northerner breakfast.

Tim arrived soon to the room where his parents were waiting and stood on the door for a minute before anybody noticed his presence. Finally, his father looked up from the table they were sitting at, and smiled tightly. Jack Drake, Lord of the castle. Most servants probably didn't even remember his face.

"Tim! It's good to see you. How have things been around here?"

They both looked exactly as Tim remembered: mostly healthy, with their skins slightly tanned from all the time outside, and neither of them were really paying attention at Tim. Tim often found himself wondering how would his life be if he spent more time with them, but as soon as they were in the same room together, he stopped wanting to. He always missed them, but once they were there and Tim realized how little things changed it was even worse.

"Father, mother, how did you get here so soon?"

Tim's father blinked, surprised by the change of topics, but his mother was unfazed.

"The matter why we travelled to Krypton's court resolved itself sooner than expected."

Tim took a breath, still hoping to manage to appear calm. Did that mean that they were leaving sooner than expected, too? Well, that was just great. Except that it meant that Tim would be alone again, and he had been preparing himself, but he hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Damian had been his only company -the only thing going on in his life- for a while, and Tim had hoped for at least a couple of months more with him. Of course, his parents had always been coming and going as they pleased, and if Tim made a scene because of Damian they'd suspect of something. Tim hadn't even known the original reason why they had left, though; nor the reason why they were planning to leave to visit the king again. If he wanted to both avoid making reproaches and acting weird he'd need to be careful.

"I'm sorry, I was just surprised." Tim's father still looked puzzled by Tim's reaction, but he didn't seem to care much so Tim guessed he could venture some questions. "Are you leaving before New Year? I'd need to know if I need to plan the festivities too or not."

"Oh, don't worry, our plans about visiting the King's court remain the same."

Silence fell on the room for a minute as relief flooded Tim, and he was about to excuse himself and return to his breakfast when his mother cleared his throat and glared at Jack.

"Ah, Tim, before you go, there was something your mother and I wanted to tell you." Jack's smile was strained enough to give Tim chills, and his mother's calm expression wasn't any better. Tim couldn't remember the last time he had seen them looking like that. "Son, you are growing up, and it's about time you get out of the castle and start seeing more of the world."

That was… a really promising start for something that was going to be terrible. Tim had no doubts about it.

"I guess." Tim allowed himself to hope for an instant. "Am I going to accompany you to King Bruce's court, then?"

His parents' nervous laughter was like a bucket of icy water dropped on his head.

"Well, you are going to a court, yes." This time it was his mother talking. "Congratulations, Tim, you are engaged."

Icy water bucket had been an understatement. Did engagement mean something else now that Tim wasn't aware of? Engaged to who? Nobody had told Tim that he was going to marry, or that anybody had been planning his marriage.

"To a prince, too!" Jack had taken Tim's silence as encouragement to continue talking. "Kon-El of Krypton is practically your age, and it's a seriously beneficial match for everybody. King Kal-El was incredibly helpful, even though we don't have any daughters, and it was about time we got some real connections to the royalty! You'll be marrying him in Metropolis before spring comes."

Tim's mother nodded in approval, and really, what was going Tim to reply? That nobody had asked for his opinion? That they were marrying him off to some guy he had never met in a country he'd never been to? Who was this Kon-El guy, anyways? From the sounds of it, they weren't even going to accompany him during the wedding. There were so many things wrong with the whole issue…

…and it wasn't like Tim could do anything about it, was it?

"I see." Tim straightened his robes. "Well, I'll go finish breakfast then. I'll see you later. Excuse me."