Varian Watch Chapter 59 – Guests at Dinner

Okay, so I'm trying to close up to end the day, and what better way than with a lovely dinner with great company. Or…

«Well, this has been an interesting day, hasn't it?» Frederic said.

The royals and their guests were at last gathered at dinner; Frederic at the end of the table, Arianna by his left, Lars by his right, and Daniel again between them. The table were set and the food was ready, each dish covered with a copper lid to keep it warm. They were only waiting for Annabelle to arrive before they could begin.

The tension between the three red haired relatives could practically be touched. Jonas looked stiff and rather nervous, like he expected an explotion to occur anytime, and judging from his brother and nephew, it looked like it was only a matter of time. Lars sat like a statue, stern and solid with frustration, anger and a dreadfully thin stretched patience written in his brown eyes. Daniel's frown could have soured a glass of milk had there been any there, and the glare he gave the table could have left burning marks; or thrown daggers from the way he peeked up at his father.

Laura and Jane were there with them, standing by the wall behind His Majesty, ready to remove the lids from the plates, poor their cups and fetch dessert when they were done with the main course. Arianna noticed that while tall and slender Jane seemed a bit uncomfotable with the tension in the room, the short and chubby Laura discretly eyed them with curiosity, unafraid. Arianna knew Laura was the first one to talk when something happened, and even if it didn't ever go outside the Castle walls, it sure went around inside the Castle walls. But at the same time she was a sturdy one unlike many of her delicate fellow maids, and it took allot to scare her, and Jane normally followed her best friend's example, and for this reason she had chosen them to be there that evening. Arianna silently thanked Friedborg for always being her secret eyes and ears. That way she was always prepared.

«I don't know about the lot of you, but I've buildt up quite an apetite.» Frederic said, as is he were completley absentiminded about the situation in front of him. Or if he was trying to just lighten the mood, it was a bold attempt. «None of us made it for lunch today, except certain people, eh?» Frederic gave a little eye towards Daniel. «I hope you saved enough room for the main course.»

Arianna had to choke a moan. This was not the best time to crack a joke, but knowing her husbands bad taste for just that, she was not surprised.

Daniel caught the King's eye, and from the frown he gave back the boy looking like he had just swallowed one of Phineas' medications along with some lemons. Arianna noticed Lars' look at his son, a warning not to even think of trying. Daniel too caught the eye of his father, and the boy gave a wild threat with his eyes back at him.

She peeked up at Jonas, who clearly read the room better than her husband; seeing how things might go and clearly concerned about the outcome. So she was relieved when he cleared his throat and spoke.

«Yes, right. It has been a day… After that trip all around the Castle today, I feel like I could have eat a bull all myself.» he chuckled. «Though… it was quite a tour I got. Such a huge place this is. I'm surprise I didn't get myself lost. I…» he looked around a short moment, as to figure out more to bring up. «I'm… quite taken by the arcitecture here. It's quite different from the Castle at Southern Isles where we both grew up. Rather refreshing, really. So light and… I love how you have a taste for windows. I think the Royal Fortress as we call it has, say… one single window in the whole building.»

«Haha! You're not serious about that?» the King laughed.

«No, I'm actually quite serious. There's one window, in the main hall actually where there's receptions and other occations, except from the peeks in the kitchens and parts of the servants corridors where they pick up supplies and stuff, but they're not exactly counted as windows. Our… dear father has the idea that windows are the perfect place to sneak in and… assasinate folks and so, so… Yeah, no windows.» he smiled excusing.

«Oh dear?! That sounds rahter tiresome.» Frederic had suddenly forgotten about the tention in the room and became rather curious. «I confess that I've never actually been at Souhtern Isles myself.»

«If I am to be honest, Your Majesty isn't missing out much. Though, if you want to enjoy the view around, you have to get outside and up at the guards walls. The docks are quite the sight when it's clear weather and the sun rises. It's quite much wind going on up there though, so remember to bring a good cloak. And a cap, because that wind really get to your ears.»

Arianna smiled reliefed, grateful for Jonas' gift of turning the topic and lead a conversation. Jonas and Frederic had such a merry conversation already, and hopefully it would soften the sour mood. She turned her gaze towards the two others, and though Lars remained silent, he seemed to at least calm off his current fury.

Daniel on the other hand seemed as out of place as he could be. He looked as furious as ever, as well as heavily bored. His brown eyes peeking from one spot to another, like like he was looking for an excape.

Such anger at such a young age. she thought. It's not natrual for a child to be so…

Her thoughts suddenly went back to the luncheon the day before, only with another boy, but with… similar anger, it suddenly struck her.

Then suddenly Daniel must have noticed that she looked at him, because he shifted his glare and turned it towards her. He pierced his angry eyes at her and gletched his teeth like an animal as if to warn her off.

Arianna suddenly felt like her whole body froze when she looked right into the angry boy's brown eyes, like she was struck by lightning. It struck her that she had seen that look before. Her heart started beating faster and she felt her throat tighten. For a brief moment her eyes must have fooled her, because it was as if the boys eyes changed from brown to bright blue and his hair from red to pitch black and his snarking teeth went from that huge gap in the middle to a couple of huge buck teeth; still snarling at her, threatening her, ready to...

Arianna forced herself to close her eyes and shake her head and took a slow deep breath before she dared to look at him.

When she opened her eyes again, she was relieved to see that the boy had changed back to Daniel again. But she was again thrown off by the way he looked at her. This time it wasn't pure anger, but the expression he gave her made her puzzle nevertheless. His eyes were sneaky and his smirk was rather satiefied, like he just won a victory.

He thinks he managed to scare me, it struck her. It didn't help at all that he inadvertibly had managed to do so.

«Why, I think that's a brilliant idea? Don't you agree, my dear?»

Arianna woke up from her thoughts by her husband's question and suddenly felt embarrased that she had completley lost track of what they were talking about. But she found her voice rather frozen as well, and she had to clear her throat to get her voice working again. «I'm sorry, my dear, I… was in my own thought for a moment. You're right, it has been a long day.» she chuckled, trying not to sound too nervous. «What were you talking about?»

Frederic looked a bit concerned at her, rasing an eyebrow of her distraction, but he replied casually. «I was thinking of giving our guests here who haven't been here before a proper tour around the Castle. Don't you think that's a good idea?»

Straightening up, Arianna smiled at the propotion. «I'm certain we can arrange a proper tour while you're here, perhaps with a break of tea included on the way? We have a couple of tower balconies with breathtaking view.»

«An excelent idea, my dear!» Frederic said smiling.

«Then perhaps you could tell more about yourself.» she turned towards Jonas.

The young man suddenly blushed and chuckled, leading a hand nervously behind his neck. «I'm not sure there's much to tell… but I'll try to make it sound as interesting as I can.»

Daniel, satisfied with apearnetly scaring the Queen, noticed how the conversation suddenly wasn't about him anymore. In fact, it slightly appeared that they for the moment had forgotten he was even there. Carefully peeking at his father, who sat with his head in his hands lost his own thoughts and not at all interested in joining the conversation, seemed to at last have lost notice of him.

He looked at the food at the table. Despite all the croisants from earlier, he found himself a bit hungry just looking at the lids, but his desire to escape was even stronger. After all, he knew where the kitchen was by now. He shifted his position carefully and as slow as he could so no one would notice. His gently positioned his feet on the floor and placed his hand carefully on the table, ready to give a push. He was just waiting for the right moment.

As they started talking about his uncle, realized that he couldn't wait any longer if he wanted to get away. It had to be now or never. So he slightly turned to his right and with all he had of force, he pushed with his feet on the floor and with his hands at the clothed table to move the chair and rose up as fast as he could. The chair made a shreek and fell backwards and hit the floor when he stood up and he got a clear path to run past the table and towards the door.

It happened so quickly that it took a moment for the grown ups to realize what just happened, but once Prince Lars woke up from his groutching, his face became a thundercloud and his voice likewise. «DANIEL! DON'T YOU DARE!»

Daniel made it towards the doors and flung them open, ready to escape. Eagerly satisfied, he went right though; but as easily as he had managed to slip away, he was just as easily prevented as he attempted to run out; as he unexcpectingly found the entrance blocked. The boy crashed with his face first into a heavy layer of cloths, pettycoats and ribbons and silk flowers and then fell backwards on the floor. Striken, the boy had to take a moment before he were able to look up. There he found Annabelle looking down on him, her perfectly polished face giving him a frown.

In the background the grown ups, with the exception for Lars who rose up and went to fetch his son, there were mixed reations. Jonas and Arianna became afraid when they heard the voice of Annabelle crying out from the crash, while Frederic himself actually had trouble holding back a chuckle from the comical scene. From behind them, Laura had a hevily hard time keeping her own chukles down and was heavily eye-hushed by a concerned Jane.

«Haven't we bumped into eachother enough for a whole life by now, cousin?» she stated as she entered the room.

The King and Queen got themselves a rather huge surprise when they saw Annabelle, dressed in an exquisid pale yellow silk gown with orange trims and ribbons ans little roses all over. She had parts of her hair put up in a net of pearls and a beautifal pentant hung from her neck. She looked like she was ready for a ball. She glided in with the best of elegance and dignity, despite the setback for her entrance while she was giving Daniel the coldest stare she could as Lars caught up and grabbed his confused son by his arm.

Jonas, relieved that Daniel hadn't gotten any further, gave a heavy sigh and chuckled as he rose to greet his fiance and hopefully prevent any further scandals. «Excelent caught again, my dear!» he quickly grabbed her hand and kissed it as he bowed.

For a moment she seemed pleased with the compliment, but her smile quickly faded. «Jonas, you're not dressed!»

Jonas immidiatley froze as the realisaton struck him, and he coughed. «Yeah, I didn't get time to tell… I… I found a spot on my jacket, and well… I couldn't wear that in front of the Royals and… Well, remember we talked about arranging my wardrobe?»

«The sooner, the better!» she said as she let him take her hand and lead her towards the table beside Her Majesty.

«I… couldn't agree more.» he said, insecurely.

But her disatisfaction quickly incresed as she had a look at the others.

«What is this? Why haven't anyone changed?»

«Eh… Changed?» Frederic looked at Arianna, who looked a bit uncomfortable back.

«Changed for dinner, or course.» Annabelle rolled her eyes.

«Well, the… thing is, dear…» Arianna drew her breath silently. «After Rapunzel dissapeared, we sort of… stopped the habit of… changing before dinner, at least in common settings. We… we didn't feel the need for it anymore. And when she finally came back… it was already allot for her to adjust to, and so we found it nessesary to… not push to much on her at once. So we didn't bother to reintroduce it at first.»

Annabelle was clearly not impressed with their answer, and schoffed as Jonas pulled the chair for her and she sat down. «Well, she's not here now, so what really is the problem?»

«Uhm, we…» Arianna was a bit thrown back at directly addressing to the issue.

«We… we simply didn't think that far.» Frederic replied honestly.

«Not even when you have guests under your roof? I don't believe it…» she scoffed and rolled her eyes. «And you, Uncle Lars? What's your excuse?»

The three others innidiately feared the reaction of the father, who had just managed to get a struggling Daniel back on his chair and already had his hands full with holding him down, the boy whimpering slightly at the tight grip his father had on his shoulders.

«If I am to be completley honest…» Lars said, raising his voice and sounding a bit more determinant than usual. «I couldn't care less. I honestly think we're fuzzing too much about our appearence as it is, so I would like to follow the Majesties example and lower our expectations a bit!»

Annabelle's jaw dropped by the sudden reaction. «Oh really, Uncle? Is this just an excuse to avoid confrontatin with your son about dressing up? Cause we know all too well that's a challange of it's own?!»

«ENOUGH, ANNABELLE!»

Everyone were startled by Lars' sudden outburst. The red haired Prince gave her look that made him look like a furius dragon that had just been disturbed or had his tail chopped off. It was hard to understand that it was the same man who frowned in fury towards his niece.

«Now do us all a favor and stay quiet like a desent person just for once!»

The red haired Prince's hole being was vibrating of fury. Even Daniel looked like he would think twice before trying anything with his father at this point. Now the boy actually looked a bit afraid as he just lowered his gaze pretending nobody saw him.

Annebelle looked like she was both about to explode and burst into tears at the same time. But she clearly didn't want to loose face in front of the royals, so she tried to discretly draw her breath, her nostrils vibrating of the tension she struggle to hold back. But Arianna saw how her hands cletch firmly and hard around the skirts of her gown.

«Don't ruin your lovely dress, dear.» Arianna whispered gently in her ear as she placed a hand over her fist, hoping it would calm her.

It seemed to have some effect, and as she struggled to keep her breath under controll, she did loosen up her hands. Arianna managed to get eye contact with her, she smiled gently at her. The Princess aobviously wasn't atempting to appear weak, so she only drew her breath slowly and regained her attitude, but Arianna thought it looked like her eyes were a bit moisty.

Arianna realized it was about time to change subject and cleared her throat before speaking, doing her best to keep her voice calm and steady as well as lightly. «Shall we eat then?»

She turned to the maids, who got their que and walked up to them. Arianna saw that they too were rather affected by the scene that had been; Jane's dark skin suddenly looked like it lost all color and Laura was unusually careful for her to be.

So much for stability in the staff, Arianna thought to herself.