Chapter 8: This Wasn't My Idea; I'm Just Here For The Food.
By the time I had been in the castle a month, I came to understand its routine and that of its inhabitants. There was no routine. Every day the royal family was doing something different, and though I tried to maintain my own routine and eat at the same time every day, that was difficult to keep up sometimes.
Despite this new lifestyle - or perhaps because of - I seemed to be thriving. Even I had thought myself a little too thin, but surrounded by endless cuisine as I was, I had filled out a little. Surveying myself in the mirror one day, I noted with satisfaction that my curves had grown a little softer. As for my breasts, well...anything larger would look funny on my small frame, so I didn't mind. I kind of liked their shape, actually.
Someone rapped on my door, and I dove for my robe with a yelp. "Yes?" I called after hastily tugging it on.
The door swung open and Junior came scurrying in. "Commere, Rosie," he said, giggling as he took my hand and started tugging.
"I'm not dressed," I protested, latching onto the nearest bedpost with my free hand.
Junior didn't seem to be concerned with my bathrobe, but I wasn't about to be dragged around the castle in nothing else. That was just asking for trouble.
"Whatever it is, it'll just have to wait until I'm decent," I said firmly.
I shooed him out, shimmied into my dress and pulled on my slippers, then joined Junior in the hall. Giggling again, he took my hand and yanked me out of the castle. "I wanna show you something," he said as we moved down the front steps. I had been to the front gate before, but now that I didn't plan to leave, it wasn't important anymore. Besides, it was kept locked, and no one was allowed in or out without the king's permission.
Junior led me over to the bridge that extended over the river of lava that encircled the castle. "Down there," he instructed, pointing.
I looked over the side of the bridge and saw nothing but lava. "I don't see anything," I said, frowning.
"Look closer," he urged, nudging me.
I did so warily, though I didn't lean very far over the stone railing. "Closer," he persisted.
"What are you up to?" I asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," he responded, folding his hands behind his back and smiling at me, the very picture of childish innocence. Not the least bit convincing, if you ask me.
"Now I know you're up to something," I muttered.
Junior stomped his foot and pouted. "Am not," he insisted. "Just keep looking. It's a surprise - trust me."
It being a surprise, whatever it was, I had no doubt. That was the problem. Despite my misgivings, I rested on the railing, chin propped in my hands as I stared down at the lava until my vision started to blur. I kept expecting something to jump out at me - one of those lava-proof plants, perhaps - but nothing happened.
Finally, I hopped down and said, "Junior, there really isn't any..."
I trailed off as I looked around. Junior had disappeared - but I wasn't alone. He had probably been there the entire time, but I hadn't noticed thanks to Junior; King Bowser himself, sitting off on the nearby steps. He was facing away from me, hunched over with his chin in his hands, and didn't seem to be aware of me. I started to head quietly inside...but something in his posture made me pause.
His demeanor was so droopy, so dejected, that I could only call it one thing. The king of the koopas looked depressed.
A surprising thought, given how confident he seemed most of the time. Curiosity got the better of me and I moved closer, until I was standing a foot or so away. Close enough to see how downcast his expression was, how his half-closed eyes were distant. He had a habit of not noticing me, so I didn't think he would, but his eyes suddenly shifted in my direction.
"What do you want?" he asked gruffly, though without the usual force. He sounded tired, unenthusiastic.
I gave a shrug, feeling bad for disturbing him when he obviously wanted to be left alone. "Nothing, I...Junior and I were playing a game."
That was fairly true. Junior had been playing all right...I just didn't know at what.
Bowser gave a grunt and waved his hand, dismissing me. "That's nice. Go. Play."
I gave a nod and took a step back. I was about to turn away when he made a sound that made me pause again; a long, slow sigh. The kind of sigh someone only released when they were truly sad. And maybe a little lonely.
Again I felt surprised. Loneliness wasn't an emotion I would have expected from him, but...maybe I had misread his character. Sometimes a person acted like they had all the confidence in the world, but that wasn't how they truly felt, deep down.
Of course, I could be completely wrong and it was an upset stomach that was bothering him, or something. I still felt I should offer some tiny degree of comfort, so I stepped closer and, for the briefest of moments, rested my hand on his strong shoulder. I then, surprised with myself, hurried back inside.
I spent a few hours in the library, though I wasn't interested in Darkland history at the moment. Koopa fiction was actually quite exciting, and I picked up an adventure story I had recently found and read for a few hours. I then wrote another letter to my parents, which went flying away with the mail paratroopa.
Later that evening, I was called into the king's bedchamber again. Bowser lay sprawled on his bed, one clawed hand pressed to his eyes. "Another headache?" I guessed.
He let out a pained grunt and nodded. Glad that I was properly dressed this time, I padded over to the piano and sat. Only when I started playing one of the lullabies, he stopped me. "You played that one already," he grumbled.
I paused, fingers resting on the keys. I wasn't sure which song he had fallen asleep during, so I tried another, but he disregarded that one, too. "I'm afraid I don't know any others, your Highness," I apologized.
"I don't care," Bowser groused irritably. "Make something up."
I hardly needed to do that, since I knew many songs aside from lullabies. I thought about each one for a moment, trying to decide which was the most mellow and soft. And then, after debating internally with myself, I started playing something else entirely; a song I had written myself, years ago. Since it was mine, I knew how to play it fast or slow, and I reduced the tempo to a crawl with ease. Bowser didn't immediately order me to play something else, so I took that to meaning he didn't hate it...too much.
It wasn't a long piece, so I added a few extra notes here and there, drawing them out from time to time. I glanced at his kingship; he had removed his hand from his eyes and lay with his arm dangling over the side of the bed. "That's a little less boring than what you usually play," he commented, eyes on the ceiling.
I had to smile; that was the closest thing I would ever get to a compliment.
The song couldn't be stretched out much longer, so I wrapped it up, tacking on a series of low, descending notes at the end. When the last one faded, I looked to see that he had drifted off to sleep. Satisfied, I got up to pull the velvet blanket over him again. As I leaned over to lay it around his broad shoulders, a wisp of smoke slipped from his mouth. I recoiled a little as heat touched my face and a smoky smell filled my nostrils.
It wasn't a bad smell, like I thought it might be. It reminded me of the warm smoke wafting from coals leftover after an outdoor cookout. A rich and good kind of smell. I actually kind of liked it.
Feeling weird and silly to be thinking such things, I scurried back to my room and went to sleep. The next day, Junior again grabbed me and claimed there was something I just had to see. Just like yesterday, he shoved me to a place where there wasn't much to see at all and disappeared just as mysteriously as before. Again, Bowser happened to be nearby, only he was in better spirits. I didn't ask what brought about the change of mood before hurrying on my way.
I didn't see Junior again until the following day, when he - you guessed it-pulled me along and then vanished just as Bowser was walking by. This time he mentioned that his plan was finally coming together; I told him I was glad for him and he went on his way, looking pleased.
By now I had figured out what was going on. I hadn't forgotten Junior's blunt declaration that his father should marry me - a childish fancy, to be sure. But that child had obviously taken a fancy to the idea quite a bit, and was taking measures to nudge us together. I was both embarrassed and saddened. I felt sad for Junior, having no mother to love him, which was clearly something he wanted very much. But he was going to have to settle for me being friend and nursemaid, because I wasn't ever going to become his mother.
And for goodness sake, I didn't even like his kingly parent.
Well, I guess I had grown to like him, just a little bit. No, more like I had learned to tolerate him. Yes, that was it.
Over the next few days, Junior continued to make sure our paths crossed more and more frequently. When he wasn't pushing me into rooms seemingly at random, he was coaxing his father, who was too busy with his secret plans to notice what was really happening. I humored Junior and spoke politely to his royal Highness whenever we just 'happened' to bump into each other.
His kingship must have grown used to me, because he grew more chatty. He started describing his past exploits, plus his lofty plans for the future. Said plans changed often, it seemed; sometimes he thought he wanted to conquer each kingdom one by one, but then he would think that seizing control of the entire planet would be quicker.
Lofty goals indeed...just not very well thought out. Even on the occasion that one of his plans succeeded, he didn't prepare for the off-chance of his nemesis coming up with a way to stop him, so I had learned from the records. Conquer first, hash out the details later was his motto. I had to admit, he had a mind for elaborate schemes...just lousy follow-through.
Despite this, he was fiercely driven to see a plan through to the end, for good or for ill. He was so full of determination and passion, I couldn't help admiring him for it. Just a little bit.
"What about you?" he asked me one afternoon as we strolled through the courtyard together.
"Me?" The question took me completely by surprise. "Um..."
Well, my current goals were to exchange information between our two kingdoms in hopes of forging a positive relationship. Only, I suddenly realized, he knew nothing about it - he never caught on to the fact that I was a princess - and would probably not appreciate it if I suddenly told him I had done this without his permission. Way to make a plan and not consider the consequences, I told myself sarcastically.
"Right now, my main goals are to keep you and Junior happy," I faltered.
I cringed a second later; I only meant to say I wanted to keep Junior happy. I have no idea why I included King B in this statement.
He chuckled for a moment. "Don't you worry about me; I'm a big boy."
As he spoke, he slapped my shoulder with a clawed hand, in what I assume was supposed to be a friendly gesture. I stumbled and nearly fell on my face. "My apologies, your Highness," I said, gritting my teeth to contain my annoyance. I did a one-armed curtsy; my other was feeling a little tingly. "By your leave."
I turned to go. "What was your name again?"
How nice of him to forget. Again. "Rosabelle," I responded, rubbing my sore shoulder.
"Rosabelle," he repeated, sounding thoughtful.
Honestly, I had never much cared for my full name. It sounded pretentious to me, and it matched my sisters' names; Clarabelle and Lulubelle. Cute, huh? Yeah, it kind of makes me throw up in my mouth, too.
But hearing my name spoken that way, in his low, rumbling voice...an odd shiver rippled through me. Flushing, I darted away and went looking to see if the koopalings needed help with target practice or something.