Chapter Forty-Eight: Coronation Jitters

It was a week before Jonathan's Coronation. Almost all anyone was willing to talk about was what they would be wearing to the coronation, but Aly had other things on her mind. Namely, those other things were Thom's health. It had not slipped her notice that he was not, despite what he promised her, getting better. He was much worse, and he looked worse every time she saw him. Aly tried to push Thom to the back of her mind. He was with Si-Cham, thanks to Alanna talking him into it. If anyone could help Thom now, it was Thom's old teacher.

Aly tried to put a smile on her face as she played with Kahlan. She was kneeling on the floor playing with a toy that Jonathan had given Kahlan when there was a knock on the door to the Naxen suite.

"Come in." Aly called from her spot on the floor. She looked up as the door opened, and Jonathan walked in.

"Jon, hello," Aly said, "Kahlan, look who it is!"

Kahlan turned to Jonathan and smiled, then gave a small laugh. Jon smiled at her, but Aly could see that the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Is everything alright, Jonathan?" Aly asked, getting off the floor. Kahlan whimpered, so Aly scooped her up in her arms.

"I was hoping to talk to you and Uncle Gareth about something."

"Gareth is out riding. Now that he is no longer Prime Minister or King's Champion, he has much more time to relax." Aly said. "Can I help you alone?"

Jonathan nodded, but looked unsure. "Yes, I think you can help...I don't know."

"Have a seat." Aly said, motioning to the couch they were both standing next to. The two sat down. "Now, what's on your mind?"

"The coronation." Jonathan said.

"It's going to be a big day for you. An important day, and an exciting day for you." Aly said, "Why don't I get the feeling you are excited?"

"Because I am not sure that I will make a good king." Jonathan said.

"Why would you think that?"

"I'm too young, for one thing." Jon said.

"You're twenty, that's not too young in my opinion." Aly said, "You are a young adult."

"None of the nobles support me, and there are bad omens for the beginning of my rule."

"Don't tell me you believe those omens are anything real that you should worry about." Aly said.

"You don't?"

"Omens are for priests and the paranoid." Aly said. "I am neither. I say that if the Gods didn't want you to do king, your father's suicide attempts would have failed."

"But how do you explain Roger?"

"My son that I love being prideful and stupid."

"The ruined crops?"

"Bad weather," Aly shrugged, "And before you say that the Gods decide if the weather is bad or good, let me remind you that every king has bad weather during their rule. Any other omens you want to throw at me?"

"The Market Day Riot."

"That was just some paranoid commoners."

"Are you sure that is wasn't paid assassins?" Jon asked.

Aly glared at Jon. "If they were paid, they wouldn't have let you get away because they would have planned for every possible escape route and had someone waiting to kill you at each one."

"I only got out because of George."

"Jonathan of Conté, listen to me very carefully because I am only going to say this once." Aly said sternly, "There is no such thing as good or bad omens, and there is no such thing as luck. There are only good and bad circumstances. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Aunt Aly." Jon said.

"Good," Aly said, "Now, moving on to the part about none of the nobles supporting you…what are Gareth, Gary, Thom, Alanna, Raoul, Myles, the Provost, and I?"

"Alright, so there are a few nobles who support me, but what about all the rest?"

"Just be the good king that those of us who do support you see in you, and they will pledge allegiance to you, and they will do so with their tails between their legs." Aly said, "Anything else making you doubt that you will make a great ruler?"

"My dad made a mess of things by being the Peace Maker, but I am no conqueror like my grandfather. How am I suppose to rule if I think my father made mistakes and I know I can't match up to my grandfather?"

"Jonathan, both your father and grandfather were both very good rulers," Aly said. "But I won't deny there were people who didn't like that your dad's main focus was peace. Just like I won't deny those who disliked your grandfather because of how he ruled."

"Like you?" Jon asked, "Mom and dad always told me you hated him."

"I did not hate King Jasson." Aly said, "I just didn't like all the choices he made."

"Like the one that forced you to marry Alanna's father?"

"No, I did not like that choice of his at all, at least, not at the time." Aly said.

"What do you mean, at the time?" Jon asked.

"Well, if I had gotten to marry Gareth when I was nineteen, Alanna would not have been able to pull off her charade, and her dreams of being a lady knight would not have come true. The one thing that made her charade easy was that Alan care more about his books and scrolls than he cared about Alanna or Thom."

"So…my grandfather made it possible for Alanna to be a knight?"

"In a way," Aly said, "What I think you need to do, Jon, is go off of how you have already led people."

"I don't understand." Jon said.

"When Alanna was being tortured by Ralon, what did you do?"

"Gary, Raoul, and I beat him up."

"But you gave him fair warning before hand." Aly said, "Alanna told me that you put a stop to their fight on her first night in the palace and that you requested that Ralon meet with you in private after supper."

Jon nodded.

"And then you proved your skill as a warrior in the Black City with Alanna." Aly said, "Then after, you showed that a citizen can take confidence in you, by not telling Alanna's secret to the whole palace, even though you knew that women were not allowed to train."

"Alanna had already proved that she was a good warrior, plus she was my friend." Jon said, "I couldn't just have her tossed out because the Gods willed for her to be a girl."

"What about when we were at war with Tusaine?" Aly asked, "Alanna was taken hostage, and your father had strict orders about staying on our side of the bank, but you decided to go across and save Alanna and the other squires."

"And my father yelled at me for it." Jon said.

"But you both knew you were in the right." Aly said, "And we wouldn't have gotten our peace treaty as easily if you hadn't crossed the river. You also showed amazing leadership when you were able to convince such a big crowd of people to disobey orders and cross."

Jonathan was silent for a few minutes.

"If you need any more proof that you will make a good king, look at the past months. You've been acting as king ever since your mother died, and Tortall is still in one piece." Aly said, "And now you have the Dominion Jewel, which will give people confidence in your rule."

Jon smiled at Aly. "Thank you, Aunt Aly. It's good to know I have a couple votes of confidence."

Kahlan crawled off of Aly's lap and on to Jon's. He smiled at her and gave her a kiss. She smiled back at him and then quietly said "Ja", which was how she said Jon's name.

"It looks like you have another vote of confidence right there, too." Aly said.

Jon gave Kahlan a second kiss.

"Are you alright now?" Aly asked, "Do you have the same confidence you have in yourself that we have in you?"

"Yes, I do, thank you." Jon said. He looked down in time to see Kahlan rub her eyes. Aly noticed too.

"Would you like to put Kahlan down for a nap?" Aly asked. "I am sure she'd like to have you do it."

Jon nodded and picked up Kahlan before walking into the nursery.

Review Replies

spazzysassyangel: You aren't a big Thayet fan? Really? Why not? I am glad you liked my chapter though...

xXthenextbookwormXx: Congratulations, you have been hired as Kahlan's baby-sitter for the remaining chapters of this story (their are only four or five left though, so don't get too excited) I had planned on having Kahlan being spoiled, but I wasn't sure who would do the spoiling...Alanna might very well spoil her a little. And the training regimen at the age of 2 is a given. I am not doing too much with Neal in this story, but there will be a little of him in a later chapter. I am thinking I will do a sequel (if I can ever get it all planned out) and if I do it there will be a lot of Kahlan/Neal, but not romantically. I think it would be weird since they grew up together in the palace for them to be romantically inclined to each other. They will have a brotherly/sisterly relationship going for them, and of course there would be mischief. :D

SeekDreamsAndFindHope: Hmm...not quite sure how to reply to your review since you didn't really know what was going on because you haven't read the quartet in a while. On the road from Sarain to Tortall, Thayet and Buri had a bunch of children refugees they were trying to take to safety, and while the children were with them, Thayet and Buri taught Alanna how do to a lot of child care including holding babies and changing their diapers. I am glad you liked the chapter, though! You shouldn't have been too lost during this chapter, because this was never in the quartet, so not reading it for a while shouldn't matter too much here.

Soraya the All Speaker: Definition of Working Order: Able to function as good as normal in the next chapter...I need him for a big part. I am glad you liked the last chapter...I always loved the fitting too.

elfsquire: Yes, Liam is with them, but I am having a hard time incorporating him into the story, that's all

Trisana Sarrasri: Yes, Alanna is amazing. I am glad you liked the last chapter.

AnjaliT2624: Thanks for your review! It made me smile.

sonotalady: I know the last chapter was short, and so was this one. I am wrapping up this story, and when I do that I have a hard time with the writing, so it usually showcases my less than perfect work...sorry about that. But the next chapter should be at my old standards, because it has a big event in it, and I usually do pretty well with those kinds of chapters.

Mistyrious One: Thank you for your review. It made me smile.

25kait25: Yep, I reply to all my reviewers, because I value my reviewers more than anything. I am glad you liked the last chapter.

LittleMissGiggles'94': Glad you liked the chapter...and I have a pretty big event in the next chapter, so you should like that.

silver cat 777: Thanks!