Notice: For anyone worried about why this wasn't showing, don't worry, I fixed it (hopefully). I accidentaly left out a few lines that are going to be really important later, so I just needed to edit this and then re-upload. Sorry for the confusion.

A Dance with Destiny

Chapter Seven: Swords and Words

Following the attack by the old ones nearly two months ago, Griff spent the majority of his time training. Whether it be jousting, sword fighting, hand-to-hand combat, archery, or spear fighting, Griff did it with gusto. The old ones are advancing, he would tell himself every time his bones ached and his arms threatened to give out. I can't afford to look weak. Mewni needs a strong king if it is to survive.

Speaking of kings, King River had been especially quiet and subdued since that night. The official story had been that there was a surprise monster attack and that the knights had given their lives to protect the king, which gave them some honor in death. Sir Steffon Harding was raised to Captain-General of the Kingsguard, and Sir Mandon's spot remained empty.

Every night, Griff would keep a lantern in his chambers and read up on the Mewman kings and queens, studying his forbearers, so that he would not make their mistakes. He was up to King Galaxa, the greedy old lecher.

The passage went as follows:

Butterfly Ruler #42:

King Galaxa Butterfly

King Galaxa was born in six-hundred-three ABC* to Queen Solenia and King Nalbert. He ascended to the throne in six-hundred-thirty-one ABC, after the deaths of his mother and father in a pox. He was quickly wed to Princess Moria Morgandy of Abertrand, and together they had one daughter, the Princess Selene Butterfly, in six-hundred-thirty-three ABC.

King Galaxa began his reign as a strong and willful young man, but that quickly gave way to corruption and misrule. Because Queen Moria was a frail woman who nearly died in childbirth, King Galaxa sought the attention of other women. By six-hundred-thirty-four ABC, Galaxa had already sired a natural born son with his cousin, Bethany Butterfly. They named their son Sol, who would later take on the name Dragonfly on his eighteenth birthday.

King Galaxa was a heavy partaker in tourneys, balls, feasts, and festivals. The greatest festival in recorded history, the Festival of the Rising Son, was believed to be hosted for his son Sol's coming of age. Indeed, it was there that King Galaxa gifted his bastard son with the sword Vengeance, which had been used by the first Butterfly king, King Cosmos.

It was Galaxa's great love of festivals and parties that caused the realm great strife. The king was frivolous in his spending, and nearly drove the realm into debt by the time of his death. The king would often borrow from another kingdom, only to refuse to pay his wages back at another time. It is believed by many that the other kingdoms were prepared to wage war on Mewni, had the king not died when he did.

In six-hundred-eighty-nine, the king had grown so fat and bloated that he could not be moved from his bedchambers. Flesh worms and maggots infested his rotting skin, and the medical experts claimed it was the worst case of gout that had ever been seen. The king died half a year later of diabetes, but not before he made the grandest mistake of his reign: he legitimized all his bastard children.

After the king's death, Princess Selene took the throne, and began the long and arduous task of restoring Mewni to its former glory. (See page three-hundred-fifty-two for the reign of Queen Selene.)

Great Bastards of King Galaxa:

Sol Dragonfly

Quasar Moonbeam

Noris Fealbottom

Arion (Baseborn.)

Morganna (Baseborn.)

Eurogog Leminhook

Sherra Segrove

Brelen Blackfyshe

Hellena (Baseborn.)

(For more information on Sol Dragonfly and the War of the Usurper, turn to page nine-hundred-and-two.)

Griff scowled and turned the pages. Under the light of his lantern, he could barely see, but he pressed on; he could not afford to be the same kind of ruler as his ancestors. Foolish pig. He had to have known what damage he would do when he signed that document.

He turned to page nine-hundred-and-two.

Claimants and Pretenders

The War of the Usurper

After the death of King Galaxa in six-hundred-eighty-nine, Mewni faced a perilous question—who would inherit the throne of Mewni? While many flocked to Princess Selene, King Galaxa's rightful heir, other looked to the king's son, Sol Butterfly, citing his great battle prowess and the fact that the king passed the sword Vengeance to him, skipping Selene.

In six-hundred-ninety-four, the first War of the Usurper—also called the Dragonfly Uprising—broke out when Sol announced his claim on the throne of Mewni. Half the realm flocked to Sol, while the other half supported Princess Selene.

The war lasted only a year, with the decisive battle of the Bloody Ford deciding the victor. Sol led his men into battle bravely, but was struck down by his brother-in-law, Sir Robert Santigar, followed by his sons, Quasar and Meteoro. The rebels scattered, and the loyalists were found victorious.

After the battle, the Dragonfly usurpers fled Mewni, hiding out in separate kingdoms, far from the reach of the Butterfly monarchs. It was during another of these rebellions that the famed sword Justice would be lost as well, when Prince Mimas Butterfly disappeared at sea in seven-hundred-fifteen.

For several more decades the Dragonflys would pester and plague the Butterflys, until the Captain-General of Queen Moon's Kingsguard, Sir Mandon Gergenson, slew Luna Dragonfly in the sixth Dragonfly Uprising in seven-hundred-fifty-seven. Luna's children, Mercury, Quasar, and Castillo, fled Mewni with their tails tucked between their legs.

Griff closed the book and turned out the light. The Dragonflys are still out there, he thought as he closed his eyes. Defeated for now, but how much longer until they mount another attack?

-o-

The next morning after breakfast, he joined the king in the training yard. King River wore little more than furs over boiled leather and was equipped with a single-bladed war axe. By comparison, Griff was sporting smoke-grey plate with gauntlets, grieves, a codpiece and gorget, and a steel helm that was heavy and irksome, but served him well enough.

"Your Grace," he said, blocking a strike from the king with his oak shield emblazoned with the star of the Butterfly family, "if I may ask, why are we using live steel? Normally we train with wooden weapons."

Griff swung out with his longsword. The king blocked it with the wooden handle of his axe. "Because," he said, thrusting at Griff with the butt of his handle; Griff ducked under it, "in the tournament, you won't be using wooden swords or axes or maces; you'll need to learn to handle the feel of steel in your hands."

Back and forth they went, on and on for what seemed like hours. Every once in a while, a household knight would come by or a stable boy would rush past, and once Griff even saw a flash of Higgs's orange hair, but then it was gone, and Griff's attention was back on the king.

"Your Grace," Griff said when they stopped to rest for a quick meal; they ate bread and cheese and a piece of mutton. Griff had discarded his armor and pulled off his tunic; he was only dressed now in a black pair of breeches. His chest and back had little white lines that used to be scars. One he had gotten from wresting a Griffon; another was the result of a nasty fall down a thorny hill. He poured the rest of his water satchel over his chest, letting the cool liquid sooth his sweaty body; if he had poured it over his head, it likely would have washed the dye out of his hair.

"Yes?" the king asked, between bites of cheese topped on mutton.

"May I ask you something?"

"You just did."

Griff cracked a smile. "Another question, I mean."

The king shrugged. "Go ahead."

"A few days ago…you said that you wished you had a son like me." He looked up at the king. "Was it true?"

The king sighed and put his food down. He stared off for a while, sadly. After a moment or two, he said, "It was."

"Why?"

The king sighed again. "Please don't misunderstand me, Griff, I love my daughter to death but…she isn't like me. Sure, she is wild and energetic, but she's a deal more mature than me, but also slightly more reckless. You, on the other hand, are loyal and brave and chivalrous. Your true father, wherever he might be, should be proud to have a son like you." He let out a deep sigh. "I had a son once, you know. My wife was pregnant with twins, and my eldest, my son, was stillborn. They buried him before they let me see him. We lost one of the midwives, Dooria, to the forest and monsters, and I never got to see my son. I hope he looked like me."

The prince thinned his lips. I do, he hought helplessly. He wanted to reach out and touch the man's hand, but that would not be proper; he was Griff, the king's squire, not Cosmos, the heir of Mewni. Then something else came to his mind. He doesn't know. He doesn't know what Mother did. That brought a strange sense of relief to him; he enjoyed the king's company, and had been uncertain if the king had known what had happened to him. Now he knew. His thoughts traveled to the man who had raised him from a babe and carried him on his shoulders when they were traveling. He missed him, and his monster mother, and all five of his sisters, and Dooria.

I'll come home soon, he promised, if I live that long.

"Have the librarians made any progress?" he asked after a long silence.

The king nodded. "Hardly. Only thing they've found so far are a few children's stories and one mythology book. With what little they have, its almost like they're just stories."

"But they're not," Griff said, determinately.

"No, they're not," the king agreed.

"Have you entered my name in the list?" he asked.

"I did. I couldn't guarantee your place or your opponent, but you will be a runner."

Griff gave a small smile. "Thank you, Your Grace."

He spent the rest of the day with the king, fighting against one another. By the time he laid back in his bed he was sore and aching, his hands and legs shaking. In the last few weeks, he had grown a bit of muscle, and his ability with the sword and shield were greater than most of the other squires. Still, there was always another, greater fighter, as his father used to say.

"I'll not lose," he said to himself in the darkness of his chambers. "That knighthood will be mine."

* ABC stands for After Butterfly Colonization, and is basically how the Mewmans remember the year, much like how we use BC or BCE to distinguish the year.

A/N: Okay everyone, what'd you think? If you liked it, please leave a review telling me what you thought. Follow and favorite to be alerted to when I upload. Next chapter, Griff entours the tournament. Stay tuned.

Also, a lot of you pointed out that there are a lot of similarities between this and Game of Thrones, and to that I say…you are absolutely right! I am a huge fan of George R.R. Martin's a Song of Ice and Fire story and take a lot of influence from that story. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to copy and paste that story into a Star vs the Forces of Evil setting, just that I'm taking influence from that story, as well as a few other fantasy stories like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, so don't be worried about that.

Bye!