Chapter 4: Daily Routine
Five annuals later …
"Ozma Lavender Gale would you please be so kind and pay attention to my lesson, I'm sure you won't find any mathematic rules outside in the garden," Liz scolded her for about the fourth time now but Ozma couldn't help herself, the sun was shining brightly and a beautiful butterfly was sitting on the window sill.
"Why do I have to learn all this again?" the ten annuals old asked with a moan, she usually loved Liz Cain and her classes, but nature was calling for her and the young girl couldn't stop the tingly feeling in her tummy from making her nervous. Her mother had explained to her that it was the light, her magic that was calling her.
"Because a princess should be able to do her own calculations," Liz answered with a sigh. Her teacher didn't seem as if she wanted to hear something about magic and the light in her though.
"But Liz it's such beautiful weather outside!" she knew, this was it, her last chance to convince Liz that it was better for both of them, and the rest of the class, to go outside, so she put on her most successful pout and hoped for the best.
"Oh no young Lady you know all too well what will happen if we go outside now!" her teacher answered straightforwardly.
Unfortunately Liz didn't seem to be very gracious this morning.
"We will have fun?" Ozma therefore answered very sarcastically.
"Your mother wouldn't approve of it," Liz answered dryly, but with a warm and understanding expression on her face. Maybe she did know what the girl needed right now, but the chance to have another conversation with the Queen about Ozma's duties and her behavior made it impossible for the girl to convince her.
"I wish I could lie in bed like Ambrose," she mumbled under her breath as a last sign of rebellion before the discussion would be over.
"I doubt that you want to have a cold, and now back to your exercises the others are much farther than you!" Liz put an comforting hand on Ozma's shoulder and even helped her with the first question on her paper, but the longing for a day outside never left the princess until she and the others were finally dismissed and she could go and play in the garden with Anne.
O.O.O.O.O.o.O.o.o.o..O.o.O.o.o.O.o.O.O.o.o.O.O
Wyatt was the last one to leave the class and with quick steps he made his way to the kitchen so that no one would catch him and stop his secret mission.
"Hey Emma, anything you would like to give to a starving child like me?" Wyatt faced the cook with his biggest grin, but in the kitchen the old lady was the Queen and she didn't like charmers.
"You don't look like a poor starving child to me, you even look a bit chubby recently." She raised her heavy arms and folded them in front of her chest.
Now it was important that Wyatt found his most convincing excuse otherwise his whole mission would fail.
"But Emma I'm almost a man now and I still need to grow. Father says that I can become a very successful Tin Man ... or even Palace Guard, don't you want to make sure that someone will protect your children and your grandchildren once my father will retire?" And again he put on his biggest and most innocent smile.
Emma observed him for a while, her face never changing into a smile, before she shook her head and filled a soup tureen with mug-lug and placed a piece of warm bread on the bottom plate.
"Tell him that it's very hot and that he shouldn't eat too fast." Then she dismissed him and Wyatt disappeared as fast as he had arrived. Without spilling one single drop of the precious soup.
He heard him coughing even before he entered the contagious room and a loud sniff followed quickly afterwards.
"I brought you something and don't say that I will get ill as well, I don't mind missing two or three days of class," Wyatt said before Ambrose could protest and with a dramatic bounce he placed himself on the corner of his friend's bed.
"Mug-lug, the best medicine when you're ill," Ambrose said with a voice that sounded like his throat and nose were both swollen by now .
"And your favorite I know," Wyatt grinned when he grabbed the spoon and started to feed him.
"I think I can still do that on my own, I´m not paralyzed, Cain," Ambrose answered using Wyatt's last name because he thought it was better than Wyatt.
"Oh I know that you can but I wanted to see that smile of yours," Cain said as Ambrose finally showed him his row of perfectly white teeth. He dropped the spoon and let his friend eat on his own.
"I also brought you our homework of the last two days, since I can imagine that you're dying to do something other than clear your throat and sniff your nose." With a thumping sound he cleared his backpack and now Ambrose eyes lit up when he saw the calculations that they had to do for the next week.
"You're the best, you know that?" the brunette said with a cough.
"People tend to say that to me, yes," Cain responded with another mischievous grin which earned him a soft cushion in his face.
"Tell me about Cornelius and the other horses, oh and tell me about the gardens it must be beautiful outside." The voice of the prince sounded sad and longing at the same time when he talked about the horses and garden and Wyatt knew exactly why his friend was so miserable.
Ambrose looked pale... well, paler than usual and his curly brown hair had lost all its sparkle. He had been ill for over four days now and, like his sister, he needed the sun and nature, for a little bit of magic was even existing in the young prince. He wished that he could help his friend. Ambrose was a very silent child, but Cain loved his wit and his never ending enthusiasm and curiosity. Ambrose had the best ideas for a game and since he had started to build some of his own inventions it never got boring with him. He even dared to break one or two rules from time to time and so they had once returned from a spectacular adventure with mud all over their clothes and faces, which had earned them a good licking, one that Cain probably would never forget, he wasn't able to sit on his bum for three days but it had been worth it. He didn't like to see his friend so ill.
"Cornelius has stopped limping! Finally. I was afraid that your mother would allow the stable boys to shoot him." Cain still had to shiver and shake his head when he thought of the decision of the Queen when their pony wouldn't start to feel better.
"What a relief. I don't know what I would have done if she did allow that! Cornelius is such a beautiful creature." This time Ambrose had to sneeze so that Cain saw no other way but to leave the bed so that he really wouldn't get sick as well, but he handed his friend a handkerchief before he surrendered.
"Sorry!" The brunette mumbled under his breath.
"It's okay but I guess my mom would kill me if I get a cold as well," Cain said stiffly and thought that it was a lame excuse, since he had changed his mind quicker than he himself had expected.
"Not the strong and feisty Tin Man yet, huh? Don't mind me and my cold, I will survive... hopefully... I didn't assume that you meant what you said when you stopped me from throwing you out of me room. Who wants to have a cold voluntarily?"
Ambrose snickered lightly when he saw that his friend relaxed again.
"See you tomorrow then?" Maybe he was too afraid to stay in one room with Ambrose for more than 20 minutes but that wouldn't stop him from coming back the next day.
"Sure, I won't go anyway." Ambrose answered with a weak smile.
"You better get well soon, I have planned a new adventure!" Cain yelled back as his body had already left the 'room of sickness'. Ambrose shook his head and laughed.
"Can't wait!" he yelled back with a croaky voice and leaned back onto his cushion. Before he went to sleep he suddenly realized that something about his friend was exactly what he needed and with a light feeling in his heart he fell into a deep and colorful sleep.
A.N : This one is a little bit shorter. Hope you like it nevertheless. I wanted Cain to be a little charmer somehow. Once he learnt to get along with the people he also got more confident . Again if you think they act too old for their age please let me know ;) Thanks for reading.