First Impressions (Last Forever)

Chapter 1

(A King's Quest fanfiction typed entirely by The Chosen Storyteller )

The scene was perfectly set with the ship waiting by the dock, the beams of sunlight seemingly set on the king and princess holding up the line by contorting their hands in a disturbing mass while the queen and prince looked on having gotten through their farewells with dignity intact... Painting-worthy.

It wasn't as though Rosella leaving Daventry was a shock. No one acknowledged it, but she was like her father in that she needed to see the world. She had seen as much of her home kingdom as she could but would like to experience new cultures and meet new people. Slay a creature terrorizing a village. Maybe even create a business of finding and returning increasingly nonsensical lost items. The point was: she had been thinking about it a lot.

So, when it was time for Graham's farewell, he simply held her hands rather than make a speech because his throat was dry, and he felt like he'd sob his way through. Fortunately, nineteen years had been enough time for Rosella to learn the translation.

"I love you too, Dad." Rosella told him smiling tenderly in contrast to planting her feet, prying her hands from his. "I'll write every opportunity, so you better sit down when my letters come in! I'll pretty much be making a script of every event as it happened unless I'm preoccupied in a sword fight."

He wasn't ready. He was the one who's barely held back tears finally leaked, causing him to pull her into a hug in front of the irritated soon-to-be-passengers and a startled Vee and Alexander. But the only one who wasn't bothered was Rosella, who simply returned it and didn't ask why as Graham let go reluctantly.

The castle returning to the atmosphere before they had kids was difficult adjusting to. Even with just Rosella growing up within these walls there was always some article of clothing or toy along with the slightly less conventional training weapon scattered in the floor, energetic footsteps, accidental shouting, birthdays and real weapons clashing against the training dummies.

The arrival of letters was like having fresh air back in his lungs, and Graham didn't even mind if there wasn't an elaborate tale inside as long as he had confirmation the kids didn't forget their parents. It was immediately evident Rosella and Alexander had their own styles: the former really did make scripts using all the space she could, lots of exclamation points so even through ink Graham heard her voice. Then the latter was overly formal, didn't ramble and even through ink Graham could sense when he was self-conscious keeping contact like this because random words were slightly crooked unlike his usual handwriting.

Letters only offered so much, and annual family meetings were agreed on every few months. But as the years went on, Princess Cassima became Alexander's reason to stay in the Green Isles and Rosella threw herself into adventuring, so the meetings ended up delayed. When the meetings did happen...

"I'm pregnant."

Graham's fork froze halfway to his mouth, food landing on the table.

Vee briefly choked on her drink in silence.

Alexander continued eating, determined to make this as normal of a family dinner as possible.

Now Graham looked back over Rosella's recent letter, specifically a certain part. The weather delayed both ships, but Alexander arrived first. When Rosella arrived, she wouldn't be alone.

...And Gart is growing up more every day! I don't know where he gets this energy! I told him he's going to meet his grandparents for real, and I know he's going to love you two! He'll probably want to roughhouse, so can you tell the guards to do that carpet-flattening precaution you did when I was a child? Also, make sure you move any breakables out of the way because the little guy sometimes doesn't know his own strength-

"Look at you." Vee said approvingly, barely holding back a grin. "You haven't forgotten how to hold a baby, well, either that or you've been preparing for this."

The baby was balanced perfectly, cooing and squirming. He was unlikely to know what was going on around him, but of course with Vee watching and quietly admiring the sight he kept reaching for Graham's hand or arm. The addition of Vee's cooing mixing in had him wanting to jump out the nearest window hopefully above the iron fence, by the by.

"Gart wants his grandfather's attention."

"Please, don't look too deep into-"

The baby continued to grasp at his hand, which Graham knew meant as little as it did when Rosella or even Alexander were that age. First of all: the baby was barely three weeks old. Secondly: Graham was not going to be as joyous about this as he was with either of them since, at that point, his first-time father emotions were all over the place. Thirdly-

The baby's whole hand wrapped around two of his fingers.

"Can you take him?!" Graham asked with [REDACTED] composure.

Vee simply shook her head, now just leaning closer to them and dreamily watching the baby while smoothing down his fine hair.

Graham swore he saw three pairs of eyes from the crack in the door and realized there was nothing else to do but wait for the horrible embarrassment to run its course.

A pair of arms circled his neck loosely. "You can't wait to see them, can you?" Vee asked with the most knowing tone.

Graham tensed at that, hurriedly crumpling the letter. When he looked over his shoulder, Vee was smiling with an extra smugness standing there in a slightly more formal dress for the occasion. But he wasn't so weak as to confess just because of beauty in his line of sight, absolutely not.

"It'll be difficult having another energetic child running around, but aren't you curious to see how Rosella is raising him? This is our chance to know once and for all if she retained our own parenting methods." Vee attempted to reason with him, stubbornly believing she had a chance.

"What if that's what I'm worried about?" Graham retorted.

It didn't even make a dent in Vee's confidence or overall good mood. Said "retort" suddenly felt like throwing a ball of paper at a fortress.

Actually, Vee acted as if she didn't even hear him and stepped forward to wrap her arms around his neck. Graham wasn't folding... Immediately. He held his breath, steady until she pretty much led him to the wall next to the door.

"Can I change your mind?" Vee asked, eyelashes fluttering.

Graham forced his eyes to move to the side; he was surprised they didn't make the noise of broken glass from the struggle. As he replied, he cringed unable to decipher his own murmurs.

"One more time?"

"You... Can't..." A finger pressed to his lips, not as smooth as it used to be but leaving that area tingling all the same.

"That's all I needed to hear." Vee told him, eyes twinkling. "I bet I can raise your energy."

"Is this an official bet? Should I grab my wallet, or-" Graham's shaky words were cut off by terrible, involuntary squeaks he was sure he hadn't made since the first time her lips landed on his neck. He slapped a free hand to his mouth, especially when she didn't do anything scandalous at all. She was only nuzzling. Calm down.

With her face so close to him, eyelashes and hair occasionally tickled that spot along with her nose. So, Graham was doomed from the start, but whatever, chuckles escaped his throat encouraging Vee to continue.

And then a third person cleared their throat.

That got their attention; Vee pulled her lips back from his jaw joining Graham in being petrified making no effort to distance themselves even with the guard standing in the now open doorway.

It was one of the new guards, so they couldn't blame her for being unsure how to summon them. Still, she stood with perfect posture; arms folded behind her back. "Princess Rosella's ship has arrived. Just thought you should know." And with that, she was gone but not without a hint of noise behind her helmet like teeth connecting in a grin. The door shut with actual noise this time.

Vee held back a sigh, pecking his cheek before stepping back. "Well, that should suffice. I shouldn't hold you up; Alexander and I will wait for you in the entry hall."

Graham was left alone, still holding the letter. He did need to dress for the day, but before that he carefully smoothed and placed it in a drawer atop the rest of Rosella and Alexander's letters. Both in separate piles for convenience to retrieve when fatherly worry activated.

"I wish Cassima could visit, too."

"Oh, I didn't know how to word it in my last letter but... She finally found a loophole to temporarily place someone else in charge of her duties-"

"Is she okay?"

"Well-"

"Alexander, is she okay?"

"She-"

There. That was the perfect spot to strike, and Graham did just that staggering down the hallway like a drunkard and clutching his head. He made sure extended groan noises when passing his mildly confused family. One could argue Vee and Alexander were both naturally curious and therefore would react to anything slightly out of the ordinary, wrong, they obviously took the bait and worriedly asked questions. Graham didn't miss a beat.

"Well, my shirt was caught on a nail in the dressing room, you know, I don't know why someone thought that was a good idea-"

"Didn't you try to do some 'renovations' when I moved in, even though all the guards warned you the stone was too tough?" Vee reminded him.

Graham just stared back for a moment at her perplexed face, then to Alexander's that was still concerned.

"So, I managed to free it from the nail. I think I used too much strength, and fell backward into-"

"Father, the minor details don't matter." Alexander cut in, examining his forehead. Hopefully not noticing the haphazardly applied dirt smear getting rinsed by a bead of sweat.

Graham just shut up then, both from Alexander either surpassing his acting ability or the panic brought on by Vee's concern fading fast as she crossed her arms.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door to break up the scene and make everyone nearly jump out of their skin. There were no guards in the hall right now to announce the visitor, fortunately the doors flew open dramatically as the one posted outside took over seamlessly standing there dramatically with the afternoon sun gleaming off his armor.

"Princess Rose-" The guard was promptly bumped aside – accidentally, of course – by Rosella herself barreling inside.

They were supposed to have met her on the dock. Graham's plan blew up right then and there, but while Rosella was throwing herself at Vee and pulling Alexander by just a thread into the heartwarming group hug he managed to run.

"WHY DO YOU EVEN TRY ANYTHING PLEASE STOP-"

Graham lifted his face from his arms at the sound of a knock on the bedroom door during his sulking. He hadn't sulked in a while, and there's some things best done in private. He could see the doorknob wiggling, signaling him to begrudgingly sit up and fix his mussed hair and wrinkled clothes to be vaguely presentable.

Like he'd ever been presentable in... His whole life. Let's be real.

"Dad..." A familiar voice called, drawing out words ominously. "Are you hiding from me?"

The door was creaked open, letting some light from the hall in. In the center of the light, hair and eyes always brighter than a pathetic flame, Rosella stood holding out her arms expectantly. No explanation, build up... Either give in for the mandatory hug, or run. As if she wouldn't give chase. She respected his privacy pushing the door closed with a foot but wouldn't leave without her hug.

He must have been consumed in his own storm cloud, because Rosella approached as if ready to bring him in but dropped her arms back to her sides when he looked up at her. He hated seeing her smile replace itself with concern, especially for the person who craved family bonds and yet made a fool of himself avoiding it.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Rosella asked just like she'd done many times throughout her childhood.

Pointless question. She inherited perceptiveness, and while it drove Graham insane wondering just how much she knew because she smiled too much and wouldn't give it away... There was some comfort from not having to explain too much. But in this case... Yes, he probably had to explain a lot to everyone at the dinner table tonight and knew he deserved cringing.

Graham stopped clawing at the blanket under his palms, instead patting it. Rosella understood, completely disregarding any regal form now that she was back home with a forceful flop.

Graham forced himself to look away, trying to shove the words out. With a calm, quiet voice he gave a very in-depth speech about his feelings that should work for now.

"What?"

He buried his face in his hands, the ensuing groan not as quiet as his very moving words.

"You were mumbling." Rosella said through a groan of her own. She attempted to say something else but cut herself off when a hand reached out and placed itself on top of her head.

It was a move that came naturally, although Graham was sure its origin was within fourth or fifth look at her after her birth and belatedly questioning how two dark-haired people... Meh, it probably wasn't important. He'd been crying so much at the time; the real medical anomaly was how he could see at all.

The length of her hair changed frequently, but right now it went down to her shoulders. Graham was able to make it swoosh. She rolled her eyes and cracked a smile, while the tension in his jaw was lessening.

"I'm happy to see you." Graham confessed, again, quietly. But with her leaning her head on his shoulder, knowing she could hear encouraged him to go on. "I'm glad we can have these visits, but when it comes to the changes..."

"Changes like my son?"

Shame instantly lit his face on fire watching the realization wash away the tenderness from earlier. He reeled his hand back, holding it and turning away as much as he could feeling her clumsily sit back up as well. She probably looked offended or upset in some way with him, but he thankfully missed it. He honestly wouldn't have been able to take it if she ended up hating him over this visit.

When the door creaked, Graham knew it wasn't Rosella leaving because she remained next to him. He could hear the smile return to her face as she gave a gentle instruction for the visitor to come in. There were tiny footsteps scampering on the floor, giving a quick flash in his mind of little Rosella. But when she, in the present, grabbed his head and turned it for him to the visitor he could see a wide-eyed boy staring up at him looking eerily similar to his mother at five. Shorter hair obviously cut by someone with a nervous hand, but there was no trace of his father in his looks. Although, to be fair, only Rosella was absolutely sure what Edgar was supposed to look like.

Graham was sure his tongue tried to curl and roll down his throat, Rosella was radiating anticipation over the official first impression and the boy himself was seeing more faces and sights than what a child might be able to handle at once. So, it was dead silent.

The boy seemed to connect Graham with whatever description Rosella gave but had to be sure before throwing terms around. He grasped two of Graham's fingers and realization sparkled in his eyes, and Graham was finally struck with a real headache.

TBC