QT Prompt #3: Children with either Gen or Attolia or both. Just them interacting with them. - by and-then-therewerenone.

When something smacked the king in the face, he didn't even react.

He never reacted unless he meant to, of course – learning how to turn into stone was important for the royalty of Attolia. And no one around here was overly fond of him anyway, so it wasn't like being struck was really all that shocking. And the last time he'd been hit in the face, he'd ended up getting his oldest friends thrown in his dungeons, so he thought perhaps he shouldn't react until he had a grip on this situation.

He turned his head to the side and faced his attacker.

Who turned out to be a four-or-five-year-old boy, clutching the object's twin in his chubby hands.

"Sorry!" cried the child, stumbling over his shoes as he went to retrieve his toy. But as his hand reached out to grab the ball – it disappeared. Looking up in surprise, he saw the man holding his ball – tossing it up and catching it again. "That's mine," he said, more in surprise than anything else.

"Is it?" said the king. "Do you know who I am?"

"The king?" guessed the little boy, looking him up and down.

"Who do you belong to? Baron Andes?"

"That's my grandfather," said the boy.

"Well," said the king. "I'm not just the king. I'm a thief. And that's what thieves do – they take your things and make them theirs."

"That's stealing," said the boy. The king nodded, still throwing the ball and catching it. His other hand stayed at his side. "My mam says stealing is bad."

"Hm," said the king. "She probably has a point. Would you be mad if I took your ball?"

"Yes," said the boy, nodding, putting his hands on his hips.

The king used to have a smile that slipped out easily and would cover his face. Children found it infectious. Now, though, he tried to hold back the grin. "Well, I think I want it more than you do," he said reasonably.

The little boy stared at him in confusion for a moment before noticing the smile that was starting to crawl up the side of the king's face. He lifted his head in triumph. "You're joking," he decided.

The king caught the ball. He bent slightly, as though he was about to tell a secret. "I'll tell you what," he said. "I'll cut you a deal. I'll give you the ball back if you can something for me."

"Like what?" asked the boy warily.

"Well," said the king, holding out the toy – which the boy immediately reached for. The king pulled it back. "Well," he said again as the boy looked on with irritation. "It has to be something I can't do for myself, doesn't it? That's how trading works. And I'm very capable, if I do say so."

"I don't know," said the boy suspiciously. "Mam says you're tricky."

That gave the king pause. "Does she? Here's the trick! I have trouble with juggling."

"Juggling?"

The king held up his previously limp hand to reveal not a hand, but a hook. "Yes, I can only juggle one-handed, and that really doesn't count, don't you think? So if you can juggle for me, I'll let you have this ball back."

The boy's brow furrowed. "But I can't juggle. I don't know how. But I want my ball back."

The king pretended to think for a moment, and then leaned forward, holding out the ball and letting his grin finally show itself. "Would you like me to teach you?"

/

The queen of Attolia found them half an hour later, with the child Andes triumphantly juggling with two balls. The king of Attolia sat on the floor in front of him, looking more relaxed than she'd seen him in a year.

"Soon you'll be able to do it with three," said the king to the child. "But perhaps we should take that slowly."

"Will you show me, Your Majesty?"

"Chances are," the king replied, "there is a man or two at your own villa who can show you, since I am a bit far away – and busy. But I will be checking up on your progress when next I see you, make no mistake." He had a serious tone of voice, but the child only smiled and dropped one of the balls.

"Julius," said the queen. The king didn't react, but the child looked up, surprised to see her.

"Your Majesty," said Julius, bobbing a little bow and nearly falling over himself. He was from a family of vipers, but he was intoxicatingly cute.

"Your mother and father have been looking for you for half an hour. You wandered away."

"Oh!" said the boy. "I should…"

"Probably," agreed the queen, smiling gently. "I'll have one of my attendants take you. Actually, I'll have all of them take you, wouldn't that be fun?"

"Yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically. The queen motioned for her attendants, and they quickly engulfed the happy boy, leading him back to his family – who, to their credit, actually were worried.

The king finally stood up off the floor, brushing himself down one handed. Then he turned to face his wife, and the two of them stood there alone. The queen glanced over his shoulder as the door shut behind her.

"Did you know," asked the king, "that the Baton Andes' daughter thinks I'm tricky?"

"She must be very insightful," said the queen.

"Well, she is the only worthwhile one in the family, currently," agreed the king. "Though I have high hopes for Julius."

"So you taught him to juggle to hone his senses," said the queen, and only the king would know it was a joke.

"No," he admitted. "I just thought it would be fun." And then he stopped. "My queen, is something wrong?"

She quickly put her hands to her side, and her face smoothed. "I wasn't aware you liked children."

"I like some children," said the king, turning away to fix his clothes, which had become wrinkled from the floor. "Clever ones, or sweet ones, or ones that try to pickpocket you even when they know they'll never get away with it. I like clean children," the king added. "I don't enjoy cruel ones or…"

"I'm pregnant," said the queen.

The king stopped, slowly turning back to his wife with a strangely blank expression. Several seconds ticked past as they considered each other. And then the king opened his mouth. "Apologies," he said, "You did…"

"Yes," said the queen, face smooth. "I just said I am going to have your child."

He did not react, just continued to look at her, and she lifted one eyebrow challengingly.

And then his smile nearly split his face. "My dear," he said, dropping his eyes to her stomach. And then he said it again for good measure. "My dear." He took two steps towards her.

She drew herself up tall. "It will probably be terrible, of course," she said. "I will get fat and irritable, and our tempers will wear thin."

"Which should truly shock our attendants," said the king. "Us, with tempers."

She didn't smile at the quip. "And the child will probably be practically drowned in intrigue, and of course it will become sick, as babies tend to do. Small children are quite monstrous, and since it is yours, I expect the entire palace to be at wits' end," she finished.

He nodded along with every word she said, stepping closer to her still. "Are you as excited as I am?" he asked her, still smiling.

She dropped her eyes and looked at the ground, a tiny smile working its way over his mouth.

Even more so, she thought.