Disclaimer: I do not own The School for Good And Evil

Chapter 3: Resolution

"Where's Agatha?"

"My prince, be patient. She is scheduled to be at your ceremony at noon today. You will see her there."

"But I want to see her now," said Tedros, ceasing his pacing to glare at the man deemed 'adviser to the king'. He knew full well that he sounded petulant but he honestly couldn't care at the moment. "I didn't see her when I woke up. What if something happened to her?"

"Rather than that," said the man, "should you not be thinking about the sort of rumours that will be surfacing about you spending time in your princess' quarters outside of wedlock?"

The flush that crawled up Tedros' neck was fast and furiously red. "That's not- I mean we weren't doing anything. She was there when I went to bed, that's all. And I thought it was my room." If his adviser thought that such a question would distract him, he was quickly proven wrong. "I'm going to look for her," he declared, hopping off the podium despite the frantic calls of the man dressing him.

"My prince, be reasonable," soothed the adviser. "The princess is no doubt being prepared for the coronation. We had a traditional dress made for her. She should have been getting the adjustments made on her dress all morning to be on time."

"She hates stuffy dresses," he said. Tedros slowed down with that thought and gave a weak chuckle. "She'll give the seamstress a run for her money."

"That's more like it." The adviser patted Tedros' shoulder and led him back to the podium.

The prince gave him a meaningful look. "I'd still prefer to see her before the coronation."

"It is tradition to wait till the ceremony."

"No. That's marriage. Could one of you get Agatha for me?" he asked, addressing a pair of twittering maids by the door. They nodded, curtsied, and quickly left the room.

"My prince-"

"Quiet now." Placation was one thing, but Tedros was anything if not one to worry after his princess and he would not be lied to by an old stuffy man that had no doubt given his father terrible advice. "I'm almost done with this, and when I finish, I shall set off to look for Agatha myself. I trust nothing has happened to her?"

He watched the man fumble with his scrolls. Colour schemes and blue town maps peeked out from around the man's arms. "Not at all. I am sure she merely went to the kitchen for breakfast."

"I should hope she made it seeing as she doesn't know where the kitchen is." The adviser looked like he was going to faint. "I will see you with my princess next, understand?" he continued coldly.

The old man squeaked his understanding and scampered out of the room. Tedros tried to calm himself. Their story was finally over; completed. He wasn't supposed to lose his princess so soon after The End, was he?

Even after the suit had been put on, his cape clipped to his shoulders, the unsettling feeling lingered. Where was she?

Without his permission, his mind conjured up the image of Agatha riding off into the sunset, leaving him behind with a broken kingdom to rule alone. His mother and Lancelot stood by his side, mourning his loss with him and the fake betrayal left a dry taste in his mouth. He moved to open the door, Excalibur strapped to his waist, and threw it open with a flourish only to be bombarded by a pink blur.

"Teddy! How have you been?"

"Sophie!" he cried, struggling to balance her and traded the feeling for spinning her in place. "You're here!"

"I am." She pulled away with a grin, her fingers still laced decided around his neck. "They told me I had to wait until an hour before your coronation to be come in but I wasn't having that. We're best friends! I thought I would have been treated like an honoured guest. Honestly, Teddy," she said, using the tip of her index finger to tap his nose, "I'm disappointed."

"Sorry, Sophie. They didn't know you were coming. Neither did I, actually. What are you doing here?"

"Well, you said I could visit and frankly the School for Evil was beginning to bore me. The stench in the castle is unbelievably putrid, but that won't be a matter for long. I just sent out the plans for renovating the School for Evil and let me just say, it's going to look fabulous once the engineer is done working on it!" She ran a hand through her hair. "As much as I'd like to stay for weeks here, though, I'll have to be off tomorrow. I've got a lot more planning to do."

"I'll be sure to let them know to take extra good care of you while you're here." He pulled away from her. "You wouldn't happen to know where Agatha is, would you?"

"I haven't seen her yet, but I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Have you asked Reaper?"

"I haven't even seen the devil," he said, although he hadn't tried very hard to look for Agatha's black cat either.

"Have no fear, Teddy dear. I'll find her." She patted his head. "You look absolutely dashing, by the way."

"Thanks." Tedros shuffled uncomfortably in place. "You know, I'd much prefer to look for her myself. I don't exactly trust those at the palace."

"I know, but don't fret. I will be on my best behaviour and have her ready to be presented by the time your coronation rolls around. You just focus on preparing yourself for the ceremony."

"You don't think she left on purpose, do you?"

Something softened in the green of Sophie's eyes. "She's worked too hard to run away now. Aggie probably just got lost, that's all."

And with that, she was gone, flying out the door just as hurriedly as she had flown in while leaving a new feeling in his chest. Her snakeskin cloak fluttered behind her and Tedros' hand lingered on the hilt of his sword. He could trust Sophie with Agatha, that much he knew, but the rest of the kingdom was not as honourable.

The next couple hours passed in a blur. The maids from earlier had not returned with Agatha and Sophie was nowhere to be seen. New men and women that entered his chambers to ask him pertinent coronation inquiries avoided any and all questions concerning his beloved, and the anxiety that Sophie had sated flared up dangerously. Bells rung through the kingdom, letting all residents know that the gates to the palace would be open for his coronation. He snuck to the window, watching swarms of people rush in through the gates. A woman going the opposite way caught his eye and he realized it was none other than Sophie, her beautiful blonde hair a beacon amidst the dark colours and dusty cobblestones of Camelot. She swam through people, head darting left and right in a way that denoted a light concern rather than the worry that mounted in him. Suddenly, she was waving her arms high up into the air and jumping a bit. The people parted around her, no doubt thinking her crazy but another figure ran up to her instead, the pretty pink of a pinafore peeking out from under a brown cloak.

The two embraced and Sophie's patted the top of the other person's head, swiftly removing the cap and revealing a bob of familiar, black hair.

"Agatha," he breathed, pressing a hand against the glass as his heart settled down. She was safe.

As if hearing him, Sophie's companion lifted their head and glanced up to the palace window where he was and waved. He flushed, relief warm in his chest, and leaned against the window frame as Sophie escourted Agatha back into the palace. In a flurry, he straightened his clothes and tried to relax himself although it wasn't doing him much good. When Sophie whisked her into the room, Tedros rushed over to hug her.

Agatha let out a gasp in shock as she was engulfed in his arms. "Where were you?" mumbled Tedros into the itchy brown cowl of Agatha's cloak. Her hair pressed against his cheek tight enough to leave marks; he was sure of it. While his memory of that morning was blurry, he knew that it involved him feeling very at peace with Agatha, and Tedros was glad that that same feeling of peace washed over him now that she was in his embrace.

"Out," she breathed against his shoulder. Agatha had never stressed gentleness or overly affectionate feelings between them but he could tell by the soft words that danced past his arm that she was trying to be as delicate as possible, even though she was anything but. "I wanted to explore. I was just going to head back to prep for the coronation but I decided to put you out of your misery first."

"I thought something happened to you." Her hands came up to hug him back slowly. "I-"

"I'm fine, Tedros. Just a little bit of a mix up and then they wouldn't let me back in. Sophie found me."

He looked up sharply. Sophie was still standing by the door, her violet scales draped over her shoulders regally. For half a second, he felt like a boy being caught stealing from a cookie jar. But the vibrancy he saw in her green eyes held nothing but affection. There was not a hint of jealousy.

"You don't have to thank me," said Sophie when she noticed him staring, "but I am expecting it."

"Thank you," said Tedros, not for the first time grateful that Sophie was on his side.

"Yeah. I had to stomach the urge to ruin it, but I did my nails last night and didn't want to break them. Plus, I'm actually looking forward to this coronation." Then, with a familiar, sweet smile. "You'll make a great king, Tedros."

"Thanks."

"Tedros?" Agatha pulled away from him and looked him over. "Well don't you look royal."

"I am royal."

"You'll be more than royal in about an hour," she said, before a bit of her nose scrunched up at something. "Your cape is very furry, by the way. How many white coat foxes did Camelot kill to make that?"

"As far as I know, these are all fake fur." He tried to catch a bit of the white fluff by his collar from the corner of his eye. Agatha seemed concerned for some reason or another about it. He hoped it wasn't that she was against killing animals. He'd known many princesses like that, and if that were indeed the case, then he might have to do some serious trading with coastal kingdoms and villages that specialized in plant growth. Just imagining the possibility of an increased number of vegetables made him shiver..

"Perhaps goose down?" she offered. "It looks like this collar of yours was made from white rabbit skins."

Tedros crinkled his nose. "I did not need that image, Agatha."

Agatha and Sophie laughed together. "Considering that I taught you everything you know about fashion, that was pretty good," said Sophie.

"Really?"

"Mhmm. But Tedros is right; it's fake fur, so no allergies for you."

"You're allergic to white coat foxes? How is that possible?"

"Technically, I'm just allergic to their fur and considering that I've only ever seen one in my entire life, I think I'll be okay in Camelot. They're more of a northern animal, or so I've been told."

"How does a white coat fox just randomly turn up in a village like Gavaldon?" asked Tedros, finding his princess' allergy more comical than worrying. White coat foxes were ridiculously rare as they hardly ever traveled down from the north for anything.

Smoothly, as if it had been her intention all along, Sophie leaned forward and took Agatha aside. "Who knows. It just sort of happened."

"What-"

"Um, I'm in charge of making her look good, Teddy," Sophie said pointedly, "We'll see you at the ceremony."

"But-"

"We will see you there," assured Agatha, stepping away from Sophie and pressing a quick kiss onto his cheek. "I'll be okay."

"So," he started slowly, "that means you're willing to put on that cupcake of a dress that they've set up in your room for the coronation?"

"What?" Agatha choked out as Sophie tugged her back again..

"Okay, then," drawled Sophie, ever eager for damage control. "I will handle the dress and you will have to handle those puffy pants on your own."

Tedros looked down at himself. "My pants are not puffy. They're traditional."

"Traditionally puffy maybe. Fashion changes, dear, tradition or otherwise." Sophie grasped Agatha's hand and led her out the door. "See you later."

They left the room and to his right, the vanity mirror reflected a blond youth with dark under eyes. The reflection's clothes were a smooth with the exception of the blue and gold that crinkled over his chest. Still, their exchange had left him visibly disturbed and the worry, the mere thought they had left him with, lingered.

Could his pants really be that puffy?

The ceremony itself was full of more pomp and circumstance than she had imagined. With Sophie at her side, she and the rest of Tedros' broken kingdom bonded together to celebrate the crowning of their only heir. Guinevere had only ever had one child with Arthur. Any other potential ones had, according to the records, been miscarriages.

While Agatha had been disappointed that Guinevere could not attend her son's coronation in person, she had a sneaking suspicion that the woman had still found a way to be there; if not physically than in spirit.

While Tedros vowed to be loyal to his kingdom and do other kingly things, Sophie nudged Agatha's shoulder.

"It almost sounds like he's marrying his kingdom."

"He might as well be," Agatha whispered. "He couldn't leave even if he wanted to now. He's bound to Camelot as their king until he dies."

"Guinevere was bound too, but she left."

That much was true. Agatha could not deny that Camelot's last queen had broken her vow to remain loyal to both king and country, despite remaining loyal to the Good in her heart. "He's made his choice."

"Yeah, he has." Sophie's arm squeezed hers. "He's lucky."

"Very." Agatha sighed. "He knows what he wants to do for the rest of his life at sixteen even though we're still just children."

Sophie shrugged. "Sure, but would you really want to know that if you had to wear that fur monstrosity over your shoulders?" Agatha rolled her eyes. "Exactly. In comparison, I have mine, which makes me look like a devilish beauty." Agatha glanced at the cape that trailed along the gown. "Don't you think?"

"Certainly," agreed Agatha, stifling a snicker when Tedros' eyes drew towards her. He frowned and she did her best to smile and wave politely to her prince, who appeared very put out at not being apart of their conversation. But it didn't matter, not truly.

Everything was as it should be. Sophie was at her side, in life and spirit. Her friend had the freedom to go where she pleased and be at peace with herself. And Agatha had a life with a young king to get on with. She had a long way to go, but she was happy. And happy was all she'd ever needed.

Thanks for coming along for the ride! I hope you enjoyed! If you have some time, feel free to leave a quick comment or review in that lovely box below. Until next time!