"What's with the goofy smile?" Eagan asked.

"Well, of course I knew. Duke thought it'd make a good gift for the girl."

"But why? Why would you agree to that knowing everything you knew?" Connor asked.

"That's easy. We felt this would help to tear a rip between the king and Master Atemu. After all, Master Atemu has a soft spot for the girl and the boy is easily spooked."

"Why would you want that? It's worse when they're mad at each other." Eagan said, puzzled.

"We figured if we get them mad enough at each other, the brats will suffer in the end and one or preferably both would either run off, just leave and go back to where they came from, or at least go away!"

"But why the armor? I mean, what does that have to do with anything?" Connor asked.

"I don't know. I just thought that with it being so small and confining that he would freak once he had it on. But he freaked at just seeing it." Honda said.

"You are truly mad!" Connor exclaimed.

"Not just him. He said Duke was in on this too! I say we tell Sir Bakura and let him delve out the appropriate punishment!" Eagan exclaimed.

"Agreed. I think it best that we don't tell the king." Connor said.

"Tell him? Who cares! If driving a wedge between the king and Master Atemu can result in getting rid of those brats, then I'll do what I have to do!" Honda boldly stated.

"But what does Duke get out of this? I didn't think he'd ever even seen the kids, much less want to get rid of them." Eagan said.

"He doesn't really care. He's doing it for me. I asked him too. He said he could care less one way or the other about the brats. The only thing he likes about having them around is that he can get away with a lot more things, things the king would have caught and killed him forever doing inside or outside the castle."

Connor and Eagan didn't know exactly what he meant, but knowing the type of person Duke was, they had a fairly good idea. They just shook their heads and left him. There was nothing they could do to him now. They happened to remember that Bakura wasn't around at the moment, so for now they let him go. But they would tell Bakura the moment they got the chance.

x-x-x-x-x-x-xx-x-x-x-x-x

Jasmine and Diana walked outside where Seto, Yami, Mokuba and Maura were standing. Soon, a carriage that had a strange glow to it that was melting the snow around it pulled up.

"Okay, that's different." Seto said.

"I think I could do something like that if I studied my spell books more." Yami said.

"In the Star kingdom, everyone uses magic. Well, I don't but only because I don't know how and I'm not even sure if I could. But everyone is born and raised on magic. Mahaado has a habit of showing off. He likes to impress people. He also is the impatient type. He wasn't going to let a little snow stop him from getting here." Diana said.

The carriage driver opened the door. "Announcing his Royal Highness King Mahaado of the Star Kingdom!"

Mahaado stepped out and Seto approached him.

"Greetings, King Mahaado. I am King Kaiba of Draglor."

Mahaado shook hands. "It's a pleasure King Kaiba. I appreciate your offer to stay and allow my wife and child to visit."

"No trouble at all. I was happy to do it. I know Maura was happy to spend time with her."

Mahaado looked at her. She gasped and immediately did a curtsy bow.

Mahaado smiled at this. "It's all right, Maura. You may rise."

Maura stood but avoided his gaze. "It is a pleasure to meet you." Though her sister was married to him, she herself had only seen him once or twice. She had never actually had a face to face meeting like this.

Mahaado merely nodded, then turned to Seto. "I am eager to start peace treaty negotiations."

Seto nodded. "We can start first thing tomorrow if you'd like."

"Yes, tomorrow will be fine." Mahaado said.

"Well, if you'd like to rest up, I'm sure Queen Diana can show you to your room. I'll have someone to help with the bags and have them sent to your room."

"Thank you. I'd appreciate that."

Mahaado walked over to Diana. "How was he during the ride over?"

"It was a little bumpy, but we managed." Diana said.

"Hello Jasmine. It's been a while. I'm surprised to see you."

For reasons Jasmine never understood, Mahaado never really seemed to like her much. They barely spoke the few times they'd been together. She felt he was nice enough, but she could not figure out why he didn't like her. "I was the one to invite Diana. King Kaiba asked me to come and spend the holidays with Maura."

This surprised Maura, she didn't know that Seto was responsible for her sister's being here. She figured that meant that Seto had asked them to come and hoped that one of them would take her home with them.

"Well, it's good to see you." Mahaado said. Then he turned back and was about to ask Maura a question when he noticed Mokuba. He walked over to him, but Mokuba moved back behind Seto and grabbed the back of his pants. Mahaado chuckled at that. "You don't need to run from me, little one. I won't bite."

'Much.' Maura thought.

Seto shook his head. "You'll have to excuse him. He's very shy and easily spooked by strangers."

"I see. You didn't teach him how to act around royalty?" Mahaado asked.

"He was adopted from an abused home." Yami said.

Mahaado glared at Yami. "I don't believe I was talking to you. I don't associate with assistants."

"He's not an assistant; he is my royal advisor! He's also my brother as is the little one. As Master Atemu said, we adopted him. He's been here less than a year and we're working on bringing him out of his shell." Seto said. He hated it when people insulted his family. He hated having to address Yami as Master Atemu as well. But in front of royalty it was only one of the two ways he had to address him.