Eleanor was wondering the Palace looking for Jasper. She wanted to go out and have some fun, and wanted to go with him. As she approached James's office, she heard James talking to Sarah-Alice. She could only make out certain words, but it sounded like they had plans, but the King needed him to work, so he was trying to let her down without disappointing her.
A plan forming in her mind, Eleanor moved into the doorway. What she saw made her feel like her plan was going to work.
"Hey you two. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation, but it sounded like Sarah-Alice has had her plans changed. I was looking for Jasper to go out and have some fun today, but I can take Sarah-Alice with me instead?" Eleanor suggested.
"Can I daddy?"
James looked at Eleanor and realised she was not joking.
"Fine, but, and this is directed at you your highness, you need to take Rosie and another guard with you if you are to leave this Palace. Do you understand?"
"I understand, James, I won't let her get hurt."
"And you..." James directed at Sarah Alice "... you stay with the Princess or the body guards. You do not wonder off, you do not speak to anyone you do not know and if someone tells you to do something, you do it. Do you understand?"
Sarah-Alice nodded her head.
"Right then, who do you want to go with you?"
Sarah-Alice and Eleanor looked at each other before both answering:
"Jasper"
"Mr Frost is not yet deemed fit for active duty."
"The doctor gave him a clean bill of health, yesterday"
"Fine, if you find Jasper, and if you can convince him to go somewhere, then he can go with you."
Jasper went into the bedroom he shared with Eleanor, and saw two very happy faces, looking at a laptop.
"What?" he asked them
"Daddy says we can go out and have some fun"
"Did he now?"
"Daddy said, that if the Princess takes me out of the Palace, then I need my own body guard. and guess what?"
Jasper smiled, walked over to the bed and sat down on the end of it so he could see the tablet.
"What?" he asked, even though he knew what was coming.
"I chose you!"
"I bet you did" Jasper said, laughing. "So what's the plan?"
"We need to find somewhere to go, and if we need to, we need to book it."
"What have you tried so far?"
"Things to do for children in London."
"And?"
"It pretty much comes back with loads of touristy things to do, as well as visit here, and London Zoo."
"Let me guess, you want a bit of action?"
"More like fun, but yes. I've just expanded the search and it's got escape room, paintball, another zoo, ice skating, wait, no that isn't open yet... This sounds like it may be fun. Ariel Assault Course. Swing through the trees like Tarzan."
"Would I be able to do that?" Sarah-Alice asked
"I don't know. Shall we find out?"
Eleanor tapped the website for the company, and checked to see if there was a minimum age requirement. There was none, just a height requirement, and after locating something to measure her with, Sarah-Alice just met it.
"Rosie!" Eleanor shouted.
A few moments passed when Rosie entered the room.
"Rosie, we're going out. I would highly suggest you change into something you can move in."
"Sarah-Alice may want to change into pants." Jasper mentioned, noticing that she was wearing a dress.
An hour and a half later, Jasper, Eleanor, Sarah-Alice and Rosie arrived at the Ariel Assault Course.
Once they were out of the car, Jasper left Eleanor with Rosie and Sarah-Alice and headed to reception. He showed the lady there the booking reference he had.
"Three adults, one child?" she asked.
"Correct." Jasper saw the look on her face. "What?" he added.
"Three adults and one child is a little strange."
"What if I said one child, one Princess and two body guards, would that make things more acceptable for you?"
The lady looked at Jasper again.
"Oh. My. God. Your Jasper Frost aren't you? The Prince's bodyguard. The one who was shot?"
"That's me, are you going to check us in now?"
The lady, fumbling with their wristbands, eventually handed them to Jasper, and directed him towards the place to collect their safety harnesses. Jasper waved Eleanor, Rosie and Sarah-Alice over, and in turn, attached a wristband to each of their wrists. He then tried to put his own on. Eleanor saw him struggling, and taking it off him, attached it to his wrist herself.
"We get the harnesses from here. Apparently we need to wait for the safety instructor." Jasper said waving his hand to where there were several harnesses, of varying sizes, hung on a wall.
They waited patiently for someone to arrive, and Jasper took each of their harnesses before passing them on to the correct person. They all watched as the staff member demonstrated how to put the harnesses on. Once Jasper had tightened his, he helped Sarah-Alice into hers, and after seeing Eleanor moving the harness about trying to figure it out, he took pity on her and also helped Eleanor into hers.
The four of them were then instructed to follow the staff member to a low, short assault course. They watched as he explained the elements of their harnesses, and how to use the clip and the wheel pulley mechanism. They also watched as he taught them all how to fly down the zipline without a) twisting around, and b) landing on their butts.
Once they were told to line up, the four of them headed to the back of the line with Jasper in front, followed by Sarah-Alice, Eleanor and Rosie. Jasper watched with amusement as, one by one, the staff member checked each harness was secure, and allowed them onto the course to prove they had understood the safety demonstration.
When it got to Jasper's turn, the staff member gripped the front of his harness and used all of the strength to lift Jasper. Jasper, having seen what was happening, did not react to the test of his harness, but laughed when the staff member could not get him off the floor. Once he had deemed Jasper's harness satisfactory, the staff member moved onto Sarah-Alice, who giggled as she was launched into the air.
When the staff member got to Eleanor, Rosie jumped in front of her. Eleanor put her hand on Rosie's shoulder.
"It's ok Rosie, he's just doing his job. If he tries anything, then you can destroy him" Eleanor told her.
Rosie showed the staff member her harness and allowed him to check hers, before allowing him to check Eleanor's.
Once they had all been checked, Jasper set off on the safety course with Sarah-Alice close behind him. He showed her how to use the clip and pulley, and helped her where she could not reach. If he was on the obstacle in front, then, when Eleanor joined them on the course, she helped Sarah-Alice with the safety gear.
Jasper made it to the zip line, but as soon as he stepped off it, his feet were practically on the ground. Sarah-Alice got more distance before she landed in a heap. Eleanor and Rosie got a few feet further than Jasper did before they, too were on the ground.
"That wasn't so bad." Rosie said as she removed her pulley wheels from the cable.
"Erm, Rosie?" Eleanor said, pointing behind Rosie to the obstacle courses behind her. Each level was much further off the ground, and progressively got harder and harder as they went.
"Damn."
