"Farewell your Majesty." A young man with dark hair said before turning to the young woman at the King's side. "And farewell your highness. It has been a pleasure." He lifted the princess's hand and kissed it lightly before turning at entering his carriage. His green eyes carried a look of disappointment as he walked away from the two royals.
"Good bye." The king and princess called as they waved after the young prince's departing carriage.
"You know darling, eventually you have to let some man court you." The two were now making their way back up the walkway to the palace.
"Yes I know father, but I'm really not all that interested on getting married as of right now." The princess said. She was starting to wonder how many times her father and her were going to have this conversation concerning marriage and what not. Couldn't he simply understand the fact that she was not ready to get married to some prince yet?
"Tifa, you know that you are passed the age of when you should have wed." King Lockheart sighed; he knew that it was going to be a battle trying to make his daughter see that she need to get married.
"I know, but I'm not ready to just marry someone right now." Tifa replied tiredly. "Father I know that this is causing a bit of stress for you, but trust me I will be fine."
"But you still need someone in your life to take care of you and provide for you." King Lockheart was beginning to tire from this continuous argument they seemed to have every time Tifa refused another chance at a man courting her. "I'm not going to be around forever you know and when I'm gone I want to make sure that you are in good hands."
"Oh father, you know that I can take care of myself." Tifa sighed.
"Of course, but I know you will get lonely." He said trying to convince her to see things his way. "You hate being alone and when I'm gone no one will be here."
"Yes there will!" She said a bit defiantly. "The servants will still be here and so will the guards. Everyone who works in this castle is still going to be here. So I won't be alone."
King Lockheart sighed. His daughter just did not want to make things easy on him about this whole topic. "Yes they will, but I'm saying you need someone that will love you unconditionally for the rest of your life. That will stay by your side and keep you happy.
"Don't worry father." Tifa said. "I promise when I find the right guy I will let him court me."
"Good because I would like to see my grand kids before I kick the bucket." He said laughing.
"Father!" Tifa's eyes were wide. She couldn't believe her father had just said that. Honestly she wasn't getting married any time soon and he was already talking about her having children. Finding the whole idea crazy she started laughing with her father as well.
"Well now that we have that settled. I have some wonderful news for you that I am sure you will like." He said as she finally stopped laughing and was paying attention to what he was saying again.
"Really!" She said excitedly. "What is it?"
"Your cousin Aeris is coming to stay with us for awhile."
"Seriously!" Tifa was ecstatic. She had not seen her favorite cousin since she had been married. "When is she coming?"
The king laughed at his daughter upbeat and excited attitude. "She's coming tomorrow afternoon."
"What?" She exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me sooner!" Tifa was beginning to pace around the room they were thinking of all the things she had to do for their arrival.
"Calm down." He said laughing at how worked up she was getting. "I have already prepared a welcoming dinner for them. All you have to do is prepare their rooms and then everything will be finished."
Tifa stopped pacing. "Wait. Theirs?" Confusion flitted across her eyes. She thought that only Aeris was coming.
"Yes theirs." The king said. "Aeris husband, Zack Strife, is coming as well."
"Oh." She started laughing. "I probably should have guessed that. I'll just have to give them a different room than the one I usually give to Aeris."
"Yes, I agree. You will also need to prepare another room besides that one though." Seeing that Tifa was confused about this as well, he decided to explain why before she had the chance to ask. "Zack's younger brother will be staying with us too."
"Oh, okay." Tifa said. "Well where shall I put him."
"Put him in the room straight across form yours." He replied. "That way you can show him around the castle if he gets lost. Seeing that he's never been here before, he will most likely need a little bit of help finding his way around here for a little while."
"Alright." Tifa said. "I'll help him out in everyway that I can. Now I must go father and make sure that everything is perfect for when our special guests arrive. Oh I just can't wait to see Aeris! Thank you so much for letting them stay with us." Tifa gave her father a huge hug.
He returned the hug laughing the whole entire time. He loved when his daughter was happy. "Alright now you go get everything done and we shall talk later."
"Okay." She said and practically ran out of the room to go get everything ready.
'This is going to be so much fun, I can't wait.' She thought while making her way up the stairs two at a time. 'Aeris and I have so much to talk about and catch up on.'
Tifa decided to put Aeris and Zack on the second floor to have their privacy. As for Zack's younger brother, she put him across the way from her room on the fourth floor. It took her quite a while to finish fixing up the rooms the way she liked them. She couldn't quite come up with a setup that she completely liked. After hours of working, she was finally finished and quite happy with the end products of her work.
"You are putting quite a lot of work into this, aren't you?"
Tifa spun around from the just finished room that Aeris and her husband would be occupying.
"Of course!" Tifa said, her eyes sparkling with excitement at her newly finished work. "Aeris is my favorite cousin and deserves nothing, but the best. Besides I have not seen her in such a long time and I would like her stay to be as comfortable as possible." Her eyes clouded over a bit. "Do you think she'll like it?"
Her father laughed at his daughter's determination to please her cousin.
"Don't worry. I'm sure she will love it." He said smiling down at her. "Did you finish the other room for Zack's brother?"
"Yes, but I don't know him so I wasn't sure what to do with his room." She sighed. "I hope he likes it."
"I'm sure he'll like his room just fine, but now I think you need to get some rest." He said. "You don't want to be all tired when your cousin gets here now do you?"
"Of course not." She said lightly. "I was actually about to head to bed before you came and we started talking."
"Well then, I shall let you get some sleep. Make sure that you are awake and ready to greet our guests around 12." He said as she started walking towards the stairs to get to her bedroom.
"Don't worry I will." She sleepily said. "Good night father."
"Good night."
Tomorrow was going to prove to be one crazy day.