Nadine

68. Dining Room

"Where we going princess?"

"Away from that."

I go around a corner and slam right into Tre. His parents are behind him.

Dracul tilts his head at me and gives us a curious look. "Good evening Princess, Advisor Dipak."

"DON'T GO IN THERE!" I scream it. I may be a bit traumatized again.

Tre looks at me then to Dipak.

"The king and queen got everything worked out."

Tre and his parents start laughing then.

I scream again. "GET A NEW DINING ROOM TABLE OR NO ONE COMES BACK!"

Asa says, "Oh you poor baby."

"MARY!" I wait a few seconds. "MARY!"

Mary runs in from behind me with my sword. "Which one we mad at princess? I brought your sword."

I lay on the ground. "Ughhhh." I kick at the floor.

She gestures to me. "What is this?"

Dipak leans on the wall. "Her mom and dad."

Tre finishes it, "In the dining room." He leans on the other side of the hallway.

She makes an oh face.

"Mary, I need alcohol, Mary."

"Yea, I won't argue that. Come on off the floor. You can have dinner in the ball room. I'll give you 1 glass but that's all." She helps me stand up and brushes me off. "You can all eat in the ball room. I'll let the palace servants know. Little miss. Should we invite your parents?"

"NO! THEY CAN STARVE!"

She starts to laugh and shakes her head.

Asa freaks out. "Who has the baby?"

Dipak points to my house. "And the place is destroyed ma'am"

She takes off running with Dracul behind her.

"Mary, I have to move out now. Will you come with me?"

As soon as Mary stops laughing she smiles. "Of course little miss. But where will we go?" She leads me to the ballroom. The servants have 2 round tables and the head table cleared and ready for us already. I didn't even realize Mary gave the order out yet.

"I'll go live in the woods. Make myself a treehouse."

She leads me to a round table and sits down beside me. The boys sit at the round table but none of them sit on the other side of me. They space themselves out. Kind of weird Tre didn't sit beside me. I guess he knows how chairs work without me. That makes me kind of upset.

Dipak smiles. "I guess we could follow you. We could all get tree houses and hunt. Honestly, you'd starve without us."

"I really would. I can't hunt or fish. I run from all the animals that scare me. I can barely get bunnies for blood." I nod at Mary. "We have to take them."

The boys all agree with me.

"Well, then I guess we'll bring the sword too."

I laugh so hard I cry.

Asa and Dracul show up and make Tre move a seat farther away from me. Asa sits by Mary.

My parents come in at the same time and try to sit by me. "NO. You go over there. Sit between Gunner and Dipak. I need some distance between us."

Momma shakes her head. "Princess you are being silly."

"I told them to let you starve." I point to the seat between Dipak and Gunner.

"Ok Ok." Momma finally walks over and makes Dipak move a seat so she can sit by daddy."

Frode comes in and sits by Dipak's other side.

Mom rolls her eyes. "Advisor Frode you need to get your assigned seat from the princess this evening."

"YOU CAN ALL SIT WHEREVER YOU WANT. I DON'T CARE."

I grab Mary and we move a few tables over. It's not cleared but I pull 2 chairs off it. Then pick it up so all the other chairs fall. "There cleared for us." We sit with our backs to their table.

I hear my momma. "Well I guess some children like having temper tantrums."

I go straight for a guard. She is pissing me off.

I hear dad say, "Stop pushing her Aurelia."

I rip the sword off the guard and take off for their table. My dad throws the table out the way and everyone sits there with no table. My mom unlatches the sword off my dad and blocks me as I try to drop the sword straight on her. Sparks fly everywhere around us when the swords collide.

"It's always you momma."

I throw the sword at my dads feet. I think it's time for another getaway. I go to the roof. At least I'm not in a ball gown this time.

Mary wraps her arms around me right before I take off. "Don't run princess. It won't fix anything."

"It can't be fixed. I'll never be good enough for her. I'll never do anything good enough. I can't even take a bath right. I don't sit right. I can't be a good enough girlfriend. Everything is my fault. She probably thinks it's my fault that my brother tried to kill me." I'm pacing back and forth yelling all this. "I can't do anything right. No matter what it is." I sit down. "I can't even eat dinner right." I stand back up. "I need some time."

"Take me with you."

"Do you want me to tie you to my leg?"

"Well I'm not sure I can bend that way, but we can try."

"Mary, you don't even like riding horses? What are you going to do on a dragon?"

"Hold on."

I bust out laughing. "How about we try that festival again first? See if you can even make it that far. If you can, I'll take you to the ocean someday."

"Can I tell the boys we're going?"

"Yes, but only them. And I want to try and fly you. Will you grab my money please."

"Yes miss. I will be right back."

I stand on the edge of the roof watching out over the kingdom. It's so beautiful from here. The lights and sounds. I can even hear the sounds from the market tonight. I can hear the horse hooves pulling the carriages. The guards laughing in the distance. It's all amazing.

Mary comes back after a couple minutes. "The boys are going to take a carriage and meet us there. I got your money. But what now?"

"You are so scared Mary."

"Not going to lie. I am a little scared. What do I do?"

I turn around. "Put your arms around my shoulders. I'll transition and you stay holding on. And Mary, try to enjoy it. It really is amazing being up so high."

I feel her nod and she has a death grip on my throat.

I change into my dragon and her feet pop off the ground. I lean forward so she's laying on my back instead of holding herself up by my throat. I take off slow and she grabs on so tight. I see Gunner is leaving with a carriage.

I fly about half way with her. She seems to be enjoying it. She keeps pointing at stuff she wants me to fly over. I don't get to far away from the carriage. Then she's ready to land.