Hi, everyone! Today's chapter is super long-almost five pages in my Word document! You should expect similarly long chapters in the next two or three updates-I had a lot of stuff to cover and I didn't really want to spread it out over six or seven weeks because this story stretches over the course of a long time.

Guest: Sh*t is, indeed slowly approaching the fan. (Or fans, should I say?)

DauntlessAngel11: "everything appears fine" you keep thinking that.

Here's today's chapter:

January 21, 171 A.E.

Entry #26

Today when I went downstairs to meet with Mother to go to the Monarch's Council, I found that Toriel was not there. She had left early, Mother said. As the future royal advisor, she had a special duty to complete.

"Will we see her at the counsel?" I asked.

"She will probably come by the fifth day," Mother said, "Four, if she hurries. Don't worry, Azzy. The meeting lasts for a whole week. She'll get there before we come back. If you want company while we're at the meeting, the host, Lord Von Salamancer, has a daughter close to your age. She'll probably give you a tour of the palace."

What "special duties" would Toriel even be doing that would take five days? I tried to imagine it, but I realised that I did not have a very good idea on what a royal advisor would do. In fact, I am still a bit confused on what kings are supposed to do. I know that they are supposed to rule the kingdom, but how do you rule a kingdom? I wanted to ask Mother about it, but she told me to go outside with her and board our boat before I could.

"Remember to be on your best behavior, Azzy," Mother said, "We will be guests at Lord Von Salamancer's manor for the next week. As the prince, you have to set a good example. Council members from every major town in the kingdom will be there. This is a wonderful chance for you learn about life in other areas."

I thought about Aiphuoxbone. It was considered a major town by Miss Helvetica, but it was much smaller and quieter than the Capital. Children did not usually wander around town by themselves in the Capital because it would be unsafe from the many human villages that were nearby. Aiphuoxbone did have humans nearby, but they had never bothered them before.

Aiphuoxbone was so far from the Capital-at the northern edge of the kingdom, and life there was so different. What is life like in other towns, like Flenin near the sea or Ashburn in the volcano or Black Hollow in the valleys to the south? I suppose in the next week I will get to find out something about all those towns.

"Tra la la," the Riverperson sang, "Where will we go today?"

"Dalelry, please," Mother said.

"Then we're off," the Riverperson replied.

When I was little, I used to love the woosh of the wind by my ears as the boat sped off in the water. Today, though, I barely paid the noise any mind. I was nervous about the Monarch's Council. What will they say to me when we get there? Will they say they are sorry about Father and shoo me away to play with the kids nearby, like adults always did, or will they let me sit in the meeting room and ask me for advice on running the kingdom like an adult? I was not sure how I wanted them to treat me. Should they treat me like an adult, even if I am not grown yet? I do not know.

Was Father this nervous when he attended a meeting for the first time? I wondered. The thought of Father just made me sad, but luckily we arrived before I got too upset.

"Shall I pick you and your son up in seven day's time, your highness?" the Riverperson asked.

"That would be wonderful," Mother replied, "Thank you." The Riverperson hummed a tune in response and disappeared, leaving a small splash of water behind.

Dalelry is almost as large as the Capital with lots of stone houses and shops. The lord of the town, Lord Von Salamancer, had his mansion built at the center of the town. The lord sent ten guards to escort us to the palace safely, which I thought was very unecessary.

Lord Viceroy Von Salamancer is a stout green lizard monster who owned the fuel industry in Dalelry. His daughter, Carys Von Salamancer, looked similar, but her scales are more yellow and she has three crests at the back of her head, not two. She is a year older than me.

When we arrived at the palace, Lord Von Salamancer came and bowed. He told us he was sorry about Father like everyone I met in the past few days has, and told Carys to go play with me. I wanted to stay and watch the meeting, but Mother told me that the official meetings do not start until tomorrow.

"Come on, your majesty," Carys said in a quiet voice, "I'll show you around the manor."

"Have fun with Carys, Asgore," Mother said, "I'll see you tonight at the feast. Lord Von Salamancer and I have a lot to discuss."

What does Mother need to talk to Lord Von Salamancer about that she could not let me hear? I thought bitterly.

"Would you like me to show you where you'll be staying this week, your majesty?" Carys asked in her quiet voice. She headed down one of the hallways and I followed.

"Sure," I said, "Can you just call me Asgore?" When I meet new people, they always call me "your majesty." It is the polite thing to do, of course, but sometimes it makes me feel like the other monsters only respect me because I am the prince. I do not want to be more important than anyone. I do not want to be "your majesty," I want to be just Asgore.

Carys turned and raised an eyebrow. "Alright," she said, "I'm sorry, Asgore." She blushed and scurried to a door and opened it. "This is your room for this week, Asgore."

The room was about three quarters the size of my room back in the Capital, but it still seemed big enough to fit the Gasters' entire house in it. I had gotten used to the crowdedness and the small size of the Gasters' house, and I suppose my old room did not bother me because it was so familiar, but this room seemed so empty.

"My Lord got the biggest guest rooms in the palace for you and the queen" Carys said, "The queen's staying in the room right across from you, although I don't think the servants will bring her here until after the banquet tonight."

"Your Lord?" I asked, "Like, your dad?"

"Yes," Carys replied. She did not say anything else on that topic so I asked her to continue the tour.

The Von Salamancer palace is filled with things from other parts of the world. There were tapestries of humans made of something called silk from a place called India hanging from all the halls. There were vases made from a special kind of stone that Carys said was called "china" that held more foreign plants.

I had never seen most of the decorations in the palace before. Mother and Father are not very interested in decorating our castle with things imported from other places. There is really no use in buying a lot of good quality stuff if we are just going to display it around the castle instead of using it, they said. Instead, we just keep a few portraits of our family around. I rather like some of the vases, though. They are pretty.

The banquet began at sundown. There were many monsters in the garden, but most of them seemed to be servants setting up tables and bringing food. There were only a handful of monsters that did not seem to be servants.

Mother and Lord Von Salamancer sat at the table in the front of the dining hall with Carys and me. All the guests-representatives from other towns and some of their kids-came to say hello. A few of them made conversation with Mother, and some of them talked to me.

"Hello, little prince!" a lady said. She was the spider queen from Black Hollow. Lady Cordiway, I think? She shook my hand and then pinched my cheek. "This is your first time here, isn't it? Ooh, you're so adorable I can just eat you up!" She kissed me on my forehead and went to talk to Mother. Her two daughters lifted their heavy skirts and curtsied at me, then followed their mother. Carys smiled softly and offered me a napkin.

"What?" I asked. She held up a metal spoon and I looked at my reflection. A red lip mark was on the middle of my forehead. I hurriedly wiped it off.

A fish monster that I recognized as Ephyra the Fearless, Father's military chief, was headed in our direction. Her daughter was running towards our table as well. Carys turned red and waved.

Lord Von Salamancer chuckled. "Carys," he said, "Would you like to go catch up with your friend Sedna?"

"Yes, my Lord," Carys said, "Thank you!"

I had hoped that she would not leave, because then I would be the only child left at the table. I had only known Carys for less than a day, and she did not provide much interesting conversation anyway, but Toriel was not here, so I did not want to be alone at the table with no one to talk to.

My face must have shown how I felt because Mother raised her hand to stop Carys the fish monster girl-Sedna-from running off. "Is it okay if Asgore joined you two?" she asked.

"Of course, your majesty," Sedna said. She gestured to me to follow her. As I left, I gave Mother a grateful look. Mother smiled and gave me a wave.

For a while, the three of us just moved around the buffet eating. Sedna was excitedly rambling about her new girlfriend back in Flenin while Carys listened with a wistful expression on her face. I wanted to join in on their mostly one-sided conversation, but I did not know what to say.

"So, Asgore," Sedna suddenly said, "This is your first Council meeting, yeah?"

"Yeah," I said, "I don't know what happens in these kinds of meetings, though."

"The adults usually don't let us in the conference room," Sedna replied, "We're supposed to just hang around the mansion. We're allowed to do whatever we want as long as we don't break anything or go outside the garden."

"Why haven't you come to these meetings before, Asgore?" Carys asked.

"My Father said that there would have been nothing for me to do here until I became of age," I said. Suddenly I felt a lump in my throat, "I guess Mother is bringing me here now because he is gone and she wanted me to see what the Council meetings are like."

"Oh my angel, I'm so sorry about your dad!" Sedna's bright yellow fins turned into a shade of dark blue, almost matching her skin. "I heard my moms talk about it a few days ago. That's got to be terrible."

"It is okay," I said, "I will just have to get used to it."

"This spider doughnut tastes pretty good," Carys said, giving me a small smile.

"It is!" Sedna grabbed three doughnuts. "My Lady Von Salamancer here is a wimp, but you want to see how many doughnuts I can sneak into my robe, Asgore?"

I stared at the glittery green robes that Sedna wore. They seemed two sizes too big for her, although that might have been a stylistic decision. "A lot, I guess." We spent the next half of the banquet stuffing doughnuts down our clothes.

When I got back to my room tonight, Mother was not in her room across the hall. There was a note on her bed that said that she was discussing things with Lord Von Salamancer and that she would be back by midnight. I do not think I can stay up that late, no matter how much I wanted to talk to her.

I thought that Mother brought Toriel and I back to the Capital because she missed us and wanted us to feel better about losing Father and Miss Hadriel. Why did she bring us home if she is not spending time with me anyway and is sending Toriel away? Carys and Sedna seemed nice, but I miss Toriel, and I want to spend time with Mother.

Perhaps tomorrow I can finally talk to her.

~Asgore

Phew, that was long.

Remember that HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US!

~Pandora