Chapter 26: Varian and the King

I'm spoiling you with a long chapter here. Last episode is almost there. Gotta admit, the ending of the last one made me incredibly curious. I hope they manage to give something else than a cliché in the end. I'm actually disappointed there are no more episodes than this, just so they could fill in some other stuff that might be still a question to many. They did actually promise us that season 3 would have the longest amount of episodes. Failed to keep their promise...

Anyway... I hope this one is pleasing. And... I'm keeping the name Karen on the maid. Not that Faith was a bad choice, but I stick to my stuff!

For a moment Fredric lost his courage and felt panic run thought his body. He almost fell backwards from the stool, but managed somehow to keep himself up sitting. He looked at Phineas for advice, and the physician smiled and lowered his hand to indicate that he was to remain calm. So Fredric took a deep breath to gather himself and calm his pounding heart, preparing for whatever would come, forcing himself to face the boy's confused, huge eyes.

Varian's eyelids were twitching again, and he blinked hard a few times to get his vision clear. He rose a hand to his eyes and gave them a slight rub before he eyed him again, squinting with his whole face while he studied him.

"You're not my dad...?" he realized at sudden and eyed him up and down. Then it was like he realized who it was before him, as his blue eyes became huge and he made a shocked cry while he jumped up and crawled back as far as he were able to get in the bed. Clearly having the King's harsh order from minutes earlier in mind, he was terrified and gave short breath between clenched teeth and searching for a place to hide. Again, Ruddiger were startled, and this time he jumped down and hid under the bed behind Fredric.

"What is going on?" his large blue eyes were flicking in all directions, but his face were still turned towards the King.

"N-now now, lad. Take it easy, don't be afraid." Fredric begun and held up his hands and lowered them downwards like Phineas had done a moment ago. Then he tried to reach out a hand towards him, but it only cause the shocked and confused boy to withdraw and almost fall of the bed on the other side and he clenched to the back of the bed to prevent himself from falling, not really believing what was happening.

"How do you... I-I-I-I- m-me-ean-you-you-you're..." his voice broke as he drew his breath in hitching gasps.

"Please please, take it easy, Varian. I am not going to harm you." Fredric said, not certain of how to approach the boy. So he lowered his hands completely and keep a little distance. "I... I want to eh... apologize for... being so harsh a moment ago. I... I assure you I meant nothing with it, and I am truly sorry if I frightened you. That was the last thing I wanted."

"How do you know my name? I mean, Your Majesty...? What...?" the panicked boy said, but was interfered by Phineas touching his shoulder, giving him a second scare and gave a loud, squeaky cry.

"Now stop this, lad. Don't embarrass yourself in front of His Majesty. He's not gonna eat you."

Varian didn't seem to realize what was going on and kept looking back and forth at the king and the Physician. "B-but it's... His Majesty- right..." he pointed a naked finger towards Fredric without really managing to keep it properly steady.

"Don't point at the King, Varian. That's rude!" the physician said as he gently laid a steady hand at Varian's trembling, pointing finger to lower it down. "There, that's a good boy."

This seemed to sink in though, as the boy turned his gaze down with a shameful and embarrassed look on his face, blushing rapidly, wishing more than ever that he could vanish into thin air as he leaned his back towards the back of the bed again and raised his knees as high up as he could and trying in vain to hide himself behind them. He looked so poorly that Fredric got a sting in his heart and immediately felt sorry for him. He couldn't help but notice this awkward difference from the sassy angry boy he was used to. He looked helpless and frightened, and even younger than he was. Fredric hoped that he hadn't lost so much memory that he thought he was just an eight year old. So when he spoke again, he did his best to sound common and less frightening.

"Now now, that's alright. I... I understand that the boy must be a little confused now, so I take no offence." Fredric dared to stretch out a hand on his shoulder. Varian twitched a little at the sudden touch, just like a wild dog who got startled by the sudden touch of a strange human. The boy dared at last to look up to find if it was real or not, looking from the hand and up to his Majesty and back to the hand again, tensing up as he did as his blue eyes flicked.

"The King is touching me..." he said between clenched teeth, mostly to himself. "This is nothing but weird..." He gave a trembling, nervous laughter as he looked down. "Weird, indeed..."

Fredric arched an eyebrow at him and let go of him. Right now, Varian was nothing like that rude, sassy brat that had threatened all of Corona. Right now he looked more like a wild rabbit who had just realized he was trapped and searched desperately for a way out. As the act of touching seemed to be rather odd, almost strange to him, Fredric became more confused than worried.

"His Majesty didn't mean to frighten you, Varian." Lars said as he approached Fredric, smiling calmly to him.

"But-but-but Lars, I... I mean , Prince Lars... Prince Grace... I mean, Your Grace..."

Lars gave a short laugh over Varian's confused and disturbed attempt of polite manners before looking at him with friendly eyes. "Just Lars, Varian. And don't worry about King Fredric here. He might be the King of Corona, but he is also just a man who apologizes for his behavior. Why don't you treat him as such?"

"But I... I can't call HIM Lars-No... I mean Fred- No, I can't just... call him by..." he looked from Lars to the King, insecure like never before and grabbed a hold on both sides of his head as he gave a frustrated moan.

"Look now, son..." Fredric cleared his throat again, a sound that made Varian shrink again, giving the appearance of a child who were awaiting scolding from his parent, and so Fredric tried to look as harmless as he could by giving him a friendly smile. "I think maybe we got a bad start here. What do you say we eh... start from scratch like civilized people. Shall we?"

When he got no respond at first, he gave s light sigh. "Come on, my boy. I'm not really that frightening, am I?"

"Eh.. n-no no... I..." Varian didn't face him, but peeked his eyes at him as he almost curled his fingers together. Then at last he dared to look directly at him, or turn his head towards him while he flicked his huge blue eyes back and forth. He turned back towards Phineas a moment, as to ask him what to do, but the friendly, calm physician only smiled and nodded and gave him a sign to turn back to His Majesty. Varian swallowed hard and rubbed a finger insecurely under his nose before he cleared his throat.

"Hehe... So... Your Majesty...? I..." he failed to keep his nervous laughter in a leach while he spoke and grabbed a hold on his left arm behind his knees. "I... I should reeealy, I mean I-I don't know... I have a feeling I should really-I-I should be the one apologizing since I apparently have caused quite a commotion or trouble or... mess... or somehow... I confess that I honestly don't know how I got into your kitchen- I mean Your Majesty's royal kitchen... Geez, that sounded allot better in my head..." he mumbled the last sentence between clenched teeth before going on, trying not to control his nervousness. "Anyway, in the kitchen... where I apparently scared the heck out of the poor maid in there, and I'm pretty sure I deserved that frying pan in my head. Not that I remember, but it was probably my fault. I bet it was..." He giggled insecurely and looked shortly at the King to see if he still followed while he gave a foolish smile. "Quite a mess, huh? But... don't ask me how, because, like I said, I... I don't recall, and..." he found himself looking down at his own appearance, blushing as he glanced quickly at the King, and hurried to look away in a hurry while he suddenly flung his arms around his knees as if to hide his appearance. "...for some reason I don't think I even want to know myself how I got into this mess, and..."

Fredric didn't really know why he suddenly started laughing, but all of a sudden that was the only sound in the room. Perhaps it was the comical appearance of the boy, or his complete different behavior. Or maybe it was just for being relieved over not being forced to be so strict with him. He suddenly realized why Phineas thought he was amusing, because indeed that's what he appeared as right now. Anyway, Fredric suddenly felt a little lighter and he found it far easier when he spoke again.

"Well, what if we just..." he cleared his throat. "...forget all about it all, then? Let's not mention it again, and just... go on."

Varian and couldn't help but look at him at what he said. As their eyes met, His Majesty smiled. "Don't worry, son. It doesn't matter. The important part is that you're doing fine." Fredric noticed something stroking his legs and discovered Ruddiger, who had peeked out from under the bed. "Why, there you are, little fellow." he said, and Ruddiger begun climbing up to his knee.

"But but it does matter, since I am..." he looked around the room with huge eyes and clenched teeth, but he never managed to finish off the sentence as he suddenly became aware that Ruddiger sitting on the King's lap, about to climb up his arm, and immediately panicked.

"Ruddiger, what are you doing?! Don't touch His Majesty!" he scowled and grabbed a hold on him and lifted him off his arm while he gave His Majesty an overwhelming excusing look. "I'm so sorry about that. I don't understand what's going on with him. I mean, he normally don't interfere with strangers, and..." he turned to face the critter. "Are you aware of what you're doing?"

Ruddiger looked confused at him and didn't really understand why his master were so afraid and refused him to let him be near what he considered a new friend by now.

Fredric laughed at the boy's scowling at the critter. "No no, don't worry. I don't mind him at all." he stretched out a hand to give him a scratch behind his ear, and, to Varian's disbelief, Ruddiger nudged his head towards the King's hand for more.

"He... seems to like Your Majesty. " Varian puzzled and blinked as he loosened up the grip of him, watching as Ruddiger made his way to the edge of the bed for more cuddle from the King. And even more, the King smiling warmly back at him.

"Oh yes, I have become quite found of him, actually." Fredric smiled down at him. "You know, he reminds me of when I was about nine... ten years old, I believe. I had a little squirrel visiting my bedroom window. I used to put out nuts for it and after a while, he got so tame that he dared to come into my room and play with me. I used to call him Nougat." He chuckled. "Perhaps not the most original name, but... He was my best friend for a while."

This unexpected theme seemed to catch the boy's interest. "Wow... Really? Your Majesty had a squirrel? That's... that's incredible!"

"Oh yes, we had lot's of fun. He had the softest bushy tail you could imagine. And I even taught him tricks."

"Really?" Varian smiled and couldn't help but giggle. "I didn't know they could do that!"

"Oh yes, he was a clever one." Fredric sighed at the memory he had pushed back in his mind long time ago. But all of a sudden, he lost his smile. "Until Violet discovered him and told my father, who had the tree he climbed in from chopped down. And then both he and Violet each gave me a long lecture of what a young Prince were not to do." He suddenly became moody by the memory. "Well, I see now years later what they made such commotion about. But young as I was at the time, I failed to understand why they got all... nuts over a squirrel, if you know what I mean."

Both Phineas and Lars did their best to hide their overbearing expressions over the bad joke, but both of them turned towards Varian, who were busy covering he bubbly laughter that came from his mouth.

"Nuts over a squirrel..." he kept giggling.

"Oh? You got it then?" Fredric said. "You... thought that was funny?"

"Of course!" Varian didn't stop laughing as he snorted a respond. "It was hilarious... Your Majesty..."

Fredric found himself smiling. He knew very few people found his jokes funny and that people normally just gave the impression that they thought he was amusing. Therefore he couldn't help but feel a bit happy when he realized that someone actually laughed for real. So for a moment he found himself laughing along with him.

"So... So Violet really did that? I mean..." Varian said after calming down. Then he thought a moment, clearly recalling her strict command for him to stay in bed. "Yeah... I can imagine she would do that. You don't actually wanna quarrel with her."

"Oh do yourself a favor, son." the King smirked at him. "Don't!"

"I sure won't!" he said short and raised a hand as if he was swearing an oath.

The King felt so relieved that he laughed again, and Varian actually managed to laugh with him this time. It seemed that the ice wall that the King had spoken about were about to melt. The boy seemed more relaxed, and this made Fredric feel less tense as well. Maybe this would get better than he feared?

"Ehm... May I ask, without going into details, uhm..." "He closed his hands together. "Considering if Your Majesty has gotten to know him... Ruddiger, I mean... That means that perhaps I- I mean we... have probably been here a while... or..."

Realizing he had given himself away, Fredric cleared his throat and drew his breath silently. He immediately turned his head away, suddenly frightened to face the boy's eyes, realizing that he didn't know at all what to say to him.

"What?" Varian asked, getting a bit worried again, and looked at him with huge, blue eyes. "What is it You Majesty don't wanna tell me?"

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"But Stan, shouldn't we at least inform the Captain about Varian?" Pete panted after his friend.

"Nonsense! If the Queen say it is alright, then it must be. I bet the Captain has already taken care of him. Why else would she send us off to another errand?"

"Well, you have a point..." Pete replied, although not fully convinced.

As they approached the kitchen, Stan were to push the door open, but Pete stopped him.

"No, Stan! Remember how we scared Karen when we just busted in like that? Don't you think we should knock first now?"

"Oh?" Stan said as he realized their previous fail. "That's right. We should knock this time!"

"Well thought, Stan!" Pete said and watched as Stan gave a steady knock on the door.

"Karen, is that you dear?" they heard a voice from inside and watched as Violet opened the door, but she got confused when she spotted them. "Oh my, what is it?"

"Violet? We have been told to tell you that Karen has been found, and that the prisoner is alright!"

Violet stood and blinked disturbed. "What?"

"No, Stan, it was the other way around!" Pete corrected. "Karen is the one who is alright, and the Queen had found the prisoner." then he stopped himself. "No wait... Don't say it, I've got it... The Queen said that the Captain had taken care of the prisoner."

"Right!" Stan replied. "That's how it was!"

"Excuse me, but..." Violet made her way through the door. "But have you met with Karen?"

"No, but the Queen said she was alright." Stan said and looked at Pete. "See? I got it right this time."

"Yes, but where is she?" Violet asked.

"What?" Pete and Stan said in unison.

"Where is Karen? Have you seen her?"

"Eh... no. We haven't seen her." Pete said. "But the Queen said she was alright. And when Her Majesty say it's alright, then..."

"But what did Her Majesty say?" Violet said as she grabbed the slender guard by his arms and shook him hard, making him unable to reply. "Did she tell where she was? And had that horrible prisoner touched her?"

"No Ma'am, but we can assume that Her Majesty would have told if there were..."

"But do you know WHERE she is?" she raised her voice, her eyes getting wider inpanic.

"Eh..." Pete said.

"Ahem..." Stan said.

None of them replied and looked at eachother before they spoke.

"No..." Pete said.

"Not exactly..." Stan said. "But the Queen had seen her."

"And did the Queen tell you where where was?"

"No..." Stan said.

"Not exactly..." Pete said.

"And what about my daughter Millicent? Have you seen her?"

"Eh..." Stan said.

"Ahem..." Pete said.

The normally calm and quiet maid rolled her eyes and gave a heavy sigh. "Isn't that just typical? I knew I should have gone myself! Now, come here, lads!" Both guards were shocked as the old maid suddenly grabbed a hold on them and dragged them inside the kitchen.

"Now listen carefully. I want you to stay here and keep an eye on the food while I go look for either of them. You keep cutting vegetables..." She pushed Pete towards the board where she had been dealing with carrots. "And you make sure the turkey doesn't get burned." she pushed Stan to the huge oven where the turkey were warming up. "Just turn a little on it from time to time. And in the meantime, stir the sausage. It's important that it doesn't separate, and don't let it get burned." Then she hurried over to the door.

"But... Violet?" Pete said turning after her with a desperate look. "You can't just..."

"Just do as I say, and I'll be right back!" she said and before the two guards could say anything, she had disappeared out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her.

"What do we do now, Stan?" Pete said and looked helplessly at the half finished vegetables in front of him.

"Well... we have done what we were told to do." Stan said and looked from the door to the turkey. After eyeing it a bit he had a look at the sausage and gave it a little stir. Then he got curious and sniffed it. "Mmm, cream sausage!" he said.

"Stan, focus!" Pete said strict. "We're royal guards, not chef assistants. We know nothing of cooking!"

"Oh, I'm not so sure, Pete..." Stan said and walked over to him and eyed the vegetables, and the casserole with the already cut vegetables were cooking. "I have seen my wife do this a couple of times. Violet has already done the difficult part of preparing everything. All we need to do is finishing it off."

"But..." Pete looked at him, and the vegetables, then Stan again. "How?"

"Simple. Just cut up more of these and add it into the casserole and stir them together. And I just walk back and forth between the sausage and the turkey."

"Speaking of your wife..." Pete said. "Maybe it would have been a better idea if maybe you went home and asked her for help?"

"Are you fooling with me?" Stan gave him an angry glare. "She's far too long through her pregnancy now. I can't ask her to rush up here and stress with the royal dinner!"

"Ah... right. That might not be a good idea." Pete said, looking away. "But... "

"Just focus on your task, and I'll focus on mine." Stan said and walked back to the oven with the turkey.

"Oh, alright..." Pete said and grabbed a hold on the knife. "But I sure hope Violet doesn't take too long." He grabbed a carrot and eyed it up and down. "Do you think it matter is I split them up in half before cutting them?"

"Just don't make them too big."

From beside the bench, Caterpillar was watching with half open green eyes. The cat had originally been keeping its eyes locked on the turkey, but as the guards entered the room, he became curious and wondered how the clumsy men would manage to handle this task. The turkey would be worth waiting for anyway, but some entertainment weren't out of the way.