I was at my desk, staring at a blank piece of parchment. I needed to write that apology to Voltaire. First, I was trying to figure out how to send it to him without having to shove it through the approval of His Majesty. He would make sure I was being sincere in my apology and I didn't have time for that, all I wanted to do was get it written. I started whistling and was given a happy surprise when Gilbird joined in and when I took a break to catch my breath, he would tweet to me and then he would stop to give me a chance. Very fun.
'Dear-' No! Don't put dear! … 'Voltaire, I am sorry. The More Awesome Than You, Prussia. P. S. You don't know-' Don't put that! I grabbed a different piece of parchment and began again, rewriting what I had written. 'Dear-' Damn it! Well I could just get France to write me an apology to give to Voltaire. I put my pen back to the paper to write again. 'Francis, I need your help. I have upset Fritz by swearing at Voltaire, a French-' What was Voltaire? Besides a French bastard? … '-writer. Fritz urges me to send an apology as soon as possible. I am asking for you to write that letter of apology. You know how to get a French man to forgive. I have only ever interacted with you. I don't upset you or Antonio much if at all, that I know of. When, if you do, write this short letter of apology then I would request you send it back to me. I shall rewrite it in my own words perhaps and then send it to Voltaire and everything will be fine. Your Friend, The Awesome Me.' I put the quill down. I reread my letter to see if I liked it.
'Dear Francis, I need your help. I have upset Fritz by swearing at Voltaire, a French writer. Fritz urges me to send an apology as soon as possible. I am asking for you to write that letter of apology. You know how to get a French man to forgive. I have only ever interacted with you. I don't upset you or Antonio much if at all, that I know of. When, if you do, write this short letter of apology then I would request you send it back to me. I shall rewrite it in my own words perhaps and then send it to Voltaire and everything will be fine. Your Friend, The Awesome Me.' It's great! I rolled it up and tied it with a small string and handed it off to Gilbird. He tweeted, saluted me, and hopped onto my hand. He grabbed it with his feet. I stood and walked over to the window, opening it.
"Deliver that to Francis, make sure no one sees you, and bring his reply as soon as possible. You heard Fritz, I have three days until I am forced to present him with a proper apology."
"I tried to tell you just writing 'Sorry' wouldn't work." I nodded.
"I know. He wants me to write it with feeling, and Francis is the only way I'm going to get a letter any where near a sincere apology for swearing at that heretic." He turned around, threw out his wings, and jumped off my hand. "Good luck!" I called to him. I watched him flap his wings until he was high in the air and out of sight. I stood there for a few more minutes before turning around and heading out of my room. I had been strictly forbidden to leave my room after Fritz finished playing with me and I had tried to sneak that one word past him. I'd received a long scolding for that and for not being sincere.
I headed to the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of beer before heading to Prince Frederick's room. He was flipping through pages of a hand written pamphlet. He sighed. "I'll never read this whole damn book! What the hell is Henry thinking!"
"That you're a Prince of Prussia. Prussians are too awesome to be whining about such trivial things such as reading books."
"Is it just me or did you just sound like Dad and Henry?"
"What's it about anyway?" I asked, popping open a bottle. He looked over immediately, smiling.
"Something about the royal protocol or something. He's giving me lessons on how to be a king or something. Just like Dad is. Except Henry leaves me to it and Dad takes hours on his lessons."
"What do you intend to be king of?" I gasped, beaming. "Are we going to conquer someone?! That would be awesome!"
"Um… I don't really know. Dad's the King of Prussia, he should be doing all this himself. He's got me reading treaties and shit like that. I just wanna tell him that- that it's not fair! I mean you get to play around all day while every day I slave away at books and shit and have little time to play."
"You know, Fritz teaches me too. I don't just play around all day."
"You know what? I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna march straight up to him and say 'I'm done'." I smirked.
"No you're not." He glared at me.
"And why is that?"
"Because you're afraid he'll not listen or scold you or something. I've heard you say this every other week since you turned thirteen. In fact I remember you skipped out on one of your first lessons and Fritz was not pleased."
"Something about responsibility." I raised a brow as I handed him the open beer bottle. I grabbed the other one.
"You still remember?"
"Yeah, I could swear my ears bled and I'd never be able to sit again."
"I get into worse trouble than you do, you idiot. Did you know I snuck into your mother's chambers?" I got beer spat on me.
"You what?!"
"Kesese. Don't worry. She wasn't in there. I am also never doing it again." I popped mine open and took a big swallow of it. "I'm grounded." I chuckled at the look on his face.
"Okay first off, when did you sneak in there. Second, what was it like in there. Thirdly, lastly, how long are you grounded?"
"How long? Two weeks. Sucks if you ask me. Doesn't Fritz know I can't be contained for long?" I smirked at him.
"What about my other two questions? You will answer them." I coughed a laugh before nodding.
"Fine. I guess I should answer your questions. I did it yesterday and I didn't see much because I hid under the bed. I wasn't stupid enough to actually stay in sight in that room. Why don't you know what it is like? You are her son."
"Yeah well Mom never sends for me into her chambers. I go to Dad's chambers every other two days."
"I get called every other day to Fritz' chambers."
"So what was the real reason you came here?"
"To drink with a friend. I've got nothing but time on my hands."
"Which means you can't sneak me into a friend's party." He groaned.
"Hey, I can do anything. I'm awesome."
"I don't wanna get you into more trouble."
"How much trouble are you in?"
"None, I've been good."
"Then just leave the castle and if questioned, tell them you are the Prince. Nobody questions a Prince unless they want to lose their life." I think. Fritz isn't really that type of person. Nor am I for that matter.
"The party's at midnight. When does Dad go to sleep?"
"How should I know? I don't sleep with him. I'm sure he doesn't stay up that late though. He has duties to fulfill. That's why he's the king. Well actually, he's the king because I made him the king."
"So is that a yes? You'll take me?"
"Yeah. I'll take you there and then I'll go back home. I can't possibly get in trouble for that. And if you're so worried about the King's decision or whatever, just use your power to rearrange the time and day." I said, finishing my beer. He'd drank only half. I heard the door open.
"Prince Frederick, I hope you're doing your studies while you talk to Gilbert?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm reading." He said, looking at a random place on the page. He'd been staring at me while we talked. Prince Henry stared hard at him but when he didn't budge, he turned to look at me.
"I must ask you to leave him alone if you intend to bother him and feed him beer while he's still trying to read. He's still got four hours left until he can play with you."
"Bah! He's the Prince of Prussia! He can play with me when he feels like it, you old dummie." He gave me a warning look before leaving. I spat my tongue out at him as he left, closing the door behind him. "You were right. You're expected to learn for too long. Fritz didn't have to learn about how to be a king. He's just winging it."
"Are you sure? I heard that Dad's dad was an Elector or something. He's called the Soldier King."
"Soldier King? Fritz is the very first King of Prussia. I swear it. I never met his father. I don't care to either."
"Gilbert?" That was the Queen of Prussia. I stood up and opened the door. "Oh, there you are." She put her hand to my cheek and as a reflex I smiled. "I need you to come tell me if the dining room looks good. I can't decide."
"Yes My Queen. Bye Frederick. Good luck studying."
"I'll come get you when I'm done!" He called as I closed the door.