It was a lazy day for the Kings. Boz had gotten up before either brother was even awake. While it was still a little awkward to sleep in the same room as the kings – on the couch, no less – Boz was only doing it to do them a favor. If it meant the kings would sleep peacefully through the night so they won't be grumpy in the morning, he'd gladly do it.

Boz had gone downstairs. He was almost a master of going down the stairs with crutches. Only two more weeks, and the cast could finally come off. Boz could barely wait. The skin beneath the cast itched a lot and sometimes, Boz wanted to rip it off, but did not do so. That would be counterproductive. He'd just have to grin and bear it.

Today was a day off from guard training – if he continued at the rate he absorbed all the knowledge from the classical subjects, he was going to finish that part of the quick course in a month or two; after the exams, he could then focus fully on the physical aspect and hopefully throw himself back into the training.

Boz had been reading the Great Book in the throne room, so he wouldn't have to carry it up and down the stairs with him. He was making significant focus – that is, it didn't feel like he was stuck on the same page if he closed the book. He was getting there, but still very much at the beginning of the book.

Boz was tempted to skip ahead to chapters that were more interesting: the king lineage and how they decided who was going to be king.

Mikayla passed him – she was going to the kings for their first defense course. After the mummy, Mason felt like they needed to learn how to protect themselves. That was a smart idea, but it was inevitable that the kings would blunder, and Boz wanted to witness that.

They walked up the stairs together, into the kings' bedroom. They were still pretty lazy, but that was about to come to an end.

"It's time for your mummy defense course," Mikayla said, drawing their attention. The kings stood up and walked next to the pool table.

"No 'hello'?" Brady said, "No 'good morning'!? No 'I love you'?"

Mikayla ignored the comment, while Boomer looked at Boz.

"You're joining us?"

"No, I'm watching," Boz said. He already had enough training in a day. Now, it was time for a little fun.

"Today's lesson is about the hidden weapons all over the castle," Mikayla said. She masterfully ignored Brady bringing out his 'weapons'. He had no idea what he was talking about – with a bit of training, soon they'd see everything in the castle as a weapon.

Brady wanted to show off, or something. When Mikayla pointed out the pool cues as potential weapons, Brady grabbed one of them and started mimicking Mikayla's moves. He wasn't particularly good at it. He smashed the vase, which broke into a thousand pieces.

"Just focus on the defensive moves I taught you yesterday," Mikayla said. Brady laughed.

"I can't hit a girl!" Brady said. "Especially one with perfect—"

Boz tuned out at that point – he did not need to hear what Brady had to say about Mikayla. Luckily, she didn't take it, and she demonstrated why she was the one who was going to teach them. She had hit Brady's right shoulder, and both Brady and Boomer groaned in pain, both reaching for the same shoulder.

Mikayla and Boz were both confused.

"That's our twinstinct," Brady explained. "Sometimes Boomer can feel my pain."

That was interesting. Especially as Boz had never experienced that with Boomer. Questions arose. Was that common with twin kings? Could this even happen with king triplets? If so, why hadn't Boz ever felt their pain? Why were Brady and Boomer feeling each other's pain while Boz, who stood right there, did not feel anything?

Boomer decided to try some tricks with the cue. He hit something, too, and it wasn't the shoulder. The brothers winced and fell to the ground, holding their crotch.

This might be a long session.

Eventually, seeing Brady and Boomer hurt themselves over and over again became stale, and Boz left the kings' bedroom. It stopped being funny and started to become rather pathetic. He was sure they did not notice how he left.

He didn't necessarily care that he knew. He had better things to do.

In the throne room, Boz went directly towards the vault. He stood in front of the door. Behind this door, some documents containing the most recent events in the island's history lay on the shelves, between dangerous artefacts. For safe keeping, of course, not because its contents were dangerous.

Boz glanced around – he saw nobody. He double-checked, even looked into the hallway leading deeper into the castle, but saw nobody. Good – now nobody was going to brand him a criminal and traitor when they saw him open the vault.

But he was a guard in training, not a king. And though he knew the code, the door wouldn't open. Of course it didn't – every now and then, they changed the code for security purposes. Boz had the code from the future memorized, but didn't know the current code. Boz sighed and shook his head at the door – now what? He couldn't ask anyone to open the door and take those documents with him.

the next best thing was to open the great book and look there – to study the history of Kinkow, and maybe better understand the island and its culture. Later, he could find out why Lanny was such a bitter person and whether he was born like that or made like that.

On his way back to the bedroom, he passed the kings. Brady and Boomer have had enough of the beating and wanted to go to the village. Boz was invited, but declined. When he said he wanted to read, the brothers promptly turned their backs to him and continued their way. Given they were almost allergic to reading, this strategy worked perfectly.

He also crossed Mikayla. They greeted each other in passing, but she looked at him weird. Almost suspiciously – like he would often look at Lanny. That was odd.

Boz shook it off and continued his way to the top. In the bedroom, he sat back on the couch, placed the Great Book in his lap, and looked for the history of Kinkow. It took him a while to reach those pages, but it was all the more rewarding to read the chapter title.

Some papers had been folded and placed between these pages; papers, which Boz unfolded. He couldn't believe his eyes. This was exactly what he'd been looking for. So they weren't in the vault, but they were stored in the Great Book. As the book was big enough not to fear these pages falling out, it was still weird to know they weren't stored in the vault yet.

Armed with the documents and the Great Book, he could now piece together how Kinkow operated and how Lanny not being king fit into that picture.

As Boz scanned through the records, he realized how little he knew of Kinkow. Even after years, his mind was still set on Mindan traditions and values, which were not necessarily the same as Kinkowian traditions and values. There were similar holidays, but other than being two tropical island monarchies, there was little these two nations had in common.

Kinkow wasn't even strictly speaking a monarchy – it was codified into law very early that twins would rule together, in a diarchy, until one made the decision to step down or if the people were informed on who the older twin was. Most royal twins looked more like one another than Brady and Boomer and often shared the skin color. Tradition prescribed that the queen should name the children when both are born (and should not even see them if she wished, lest she recognized the eldest) to ensure both can rule and one would not be jealous of the other.

Of course, ruling twins could lead to disaster. Kalakai and Malakai were such an example; a case Boz hadn't heard of before. The founding twins; the first Kings. Kalakai turned evil and turned on his brother. They could never overcome their differences. Kalakai also was the true creator of the 'Dark Side of the island, though he didn't do much with it and died before he could do something.

Zadoc, on the other hand, a powerful Shaman, harnessed the power of the Dark Side and made it the dangerous place it is today. He tied himself and his magic to the Dark Side, which made him vulnerable to the Light Side King Malakai put in place by simply being 'the good king'. He turned to stone and remains a warning to others. Without him, the Dark Side might be pretty tame, if you didn't count the separate threat the Tarantulas formed.

But no threat to the island was bigger than Kaita the Bat-Rider. Many stories circle the island, claiming the mummy could be as old as a thousand years. His medallion, the one thing that could bring him life, could presumably plunge the island in a hundred years of darkness – but only if Kaita used it. In Zadoc's hands, for example, it would be useless. With the spit of a king, he could be resurrected.

These documents provided the real story of recent history, as compared to the many stories that many people on Kinkow gave their own spin, based on their own faulty memories.

Kaita had been killed in battle before, by a king lost to history. His trusty guard of Tarantulas crafted the bat medallion specifically for Kaita; it was supposed to give him his power back and restore him to his full health. While Kaita was resurrected, he was not, in fact, at full health, but still strong and menacing enough. He grew the Dark Side and plunged Kinkow into war. It lasted years. Kinkow's best fought against Kaita's Tarantula warriors and Kaita himself, when he was feeling cocky.

The lowest point in the battle came three months after the princes were born. Mason was ordered to take the boys to the mainland for their own safety; the documents never specified how many princes, nor did it mention that one got washed away in a storm. On Kinkow, the situation was dire without Mason, one of the best guards. Kaita and the Tarantulas broke through the defenses and came into the castle.

King Kunu and Queen Annabella fought bravely. Kaita took the King's life first, and then the Queen's. They both put up their best fight, and they even managed to wound the already weakened Kaita. As he drew his sword from the Queen's lifeless body, prince Kari struck the Bat-Rider. Kaita was lethally wounded and forced to retreat. On the Dark Side, he was mummified once again to save his life, the bat medallion lost in the castle, thinking of revenge.

But prince Kari wasn't too well, either. Not because of battle wounds, but because he was generally of ill health and got sick easily. Yet, there was nobody else to take the throne. Prince Kari became King, making his wife Queen. Not much later, she would pass away in childbirth. She used her last words to name that baby Lanny.

Without their leader, the Tarantulas were still a threat, but there was no more war. King Kari had ample time to bring the kingdom back to a more peaceful time. As he was building relationships with the separate tribes of Kinkow and strengthened relations with the other islands, he apparently was not very present for Lanny's upbringing. Even back then, the prince seemed to have a proclivity for mischief.

King Kari's health declined. He confided in Mason and the Shaman. One of his last acts as King before he transferred stewardship to Mason and the Shaman was to make Brady and Boomer his heirs. He reasoned that the boys were born before Lanny was and that Kunu was king before Kari. Furthermore, Brady and Boomer were twins, and the island always leaned more heavily to twin kings, if available. As Lanny was younger and not a twin, it seemed he did not stand a chance.

King Kari died one month before the twins were picked up from the mainland and brought back here. In that month, Lanny became more withdrawn, moody, and all-around mean to anyone who dared to talk to him as if he weren't a royal.

Boz shook his head. Had Kari not told his son about these ideas? Or had Lanny lived his entire life believing he was going to be king, only to learn that his uncle had twins living on the mainland who were going to take the place that was rightfully his?

Either way, it must not have been easy. Missing his mother all his life, barely having his father there, too. All alone, bar the company of that creepy fish monster. Boz could see now how Lanny was bitter, learning that he not only wasn't going to be king but losing his father as well. No wonder he lashed out; no wonder he wanted Brady and Boomer dead – if their death brought him a little comfort and stability.

Other papers have been added in, such as finances, birthdates, and other mundane things. Boz only took a quick glance at those before putting them all away, back in the Vault. He left the vault with more knowledge, but feeling worse about himself and feeling nothing but sympathy for his cousin.

When Boz walked into the throne room, the coffee table was completely destroyed. Only Mason or Mikayla could have done this – they were the only ones in there.

"Thanks, dad," Mikayla said, "you destroyed my social life and the furniture."

"I don't know my own strength," Mason commented. Boz thought it best not to be involved in this conversation. If Mason destroyed the coffee table, it was completely intentional. Though Boz wondered why the coffee table needed destroying, he didn't necessarily want to ask.

"Hey, Boz," Mason then said when he noticed the young man. "How are you doing?"

"I can't wait to get this cast off," he responded. "I'm itching to get back to the arena."

"That's what I like to hear!" Mason said, with a loud laugh. Boz followed suit. If he could jump without losing his balance, he would have done so – that's how excited he felt.

"Can't wait to fight again, huh?" Mikayla then said with an undertone that didn't sound right. Again, Boz had the feeling that she was suspicious, though he couldn't guess how.

"Yeah," he said, trying to shake it off. It was getting hard. His gut told him that Mikayla knew about his secret – which was impossible because Boz hadn't said anything that could make her suspicious. How, or even why was he now under scrutiny.

Boz got a little reprieve when Brady and Boomer, and not much later Lanny, ran into the throne room. Brady stopped next to Mikayla, an old-looking piece of paper in his hand.

"'Hey, guys!" he said. "We need your help to figure out the riddle, so we can all get our wishes."

Boz frowned. Our wishes?

"This is my chance to become king!" Lanny exclaimed. When he got weird looks, Lanny recovered by saying he wanted to be King Kong. But Boz did not give him a weird look – there was just pity for the boy who grew up believing he'd be king. He almost wanted to hug him, if Lanny weren't the person who would throw every person who even thought of giving him a hug into the dungeon.

Mikayla took the paper and read it out loud, so Boz – who couldn't see it from his current position – could hear what it had to say, too.

"Through the jungle of skulls, across the temple of trolls, where lava and land intersect, you'll find the coins underneath the X."

Mikayla and Mason shared a brief glance and simultaneously, they laughed. Boz chuckled – Mason's laugh was infectious. He didn't laugh at the kings for falsely believing wishing coins existed. Though, with everything else that existed on the island, he didn't blame them for falling for what apparently was a scam. Boz could see their excitement drop when Mikayla spelled out that such coins did not exist.

"I guess I won't be getting my wish…" Brady trailed off, his hand reaching for Mikayla's hair.

She turned, keeping her hair safely out of reach. "You're already Kings, what else could a person want?"

"A clean underwear tree," Boomer said with conviction.

Boz did not know what to think about that. A clean underwear tree. It did sound like something Boomer would want, from his experience' with his brother, but it was still kind of weird to hear him say it with such determination. Luckily, the Boomer Boz knew in the future understood that washing clothes was a thing.

Disappointed, the kings went to their bedroom and Boz decided to go the local village bakery, to place a special order for tomorrow.