July 20, 2014

In Which Mona Is Given a Different Sort of Worry

September 3, 1186

"What's this, then? Queen Lara has no need for doors?" Mona teased her daughter as the doll left the castle by means of an apparent two-story leap.

"No." But Lara offered no further explanation.

"She can fly, then?"

"No."

Mona sighed. Not that she didn't enjoy playing with her daughter, but she ached for the day that Lara would be ready for a little more complexity--a simple story, maybe, or at least consistent physics. When had Telvar and Avirelle outgrown the nonsensical? Had Avirelle, fully?

But she had to curse herself for her hypocrisy; Lara hadn't gotten her sense of whimsy from Zareth, after all. "All right... the prince is jumping out of the castle too."

"No."

"So boys don't get magic."

"No."

'No' no, or 'Yes' no? Damn it, Lara knew more words! "All right, then..."

Knock!

No second wasted, Lara dropped her doll and pointed. "Door!"

"Yes, sweetie. Door." Was two and a half a little old for stating the obvious? She guessed she'd worry about that later. "Zareth? Is that you?"

"No." Huh. That sounded rather like... "It's your brother. Sorry, the steward said you wouldn't mind."

"Of course I don't." Mona ran her hand along her daughter's hair, then scrambled to her feet. What was he doing here? He'd visited before, of course, but never without sufficient notice. "Come in."

He did as she said, sweeping the room with his swift eyes, the usual hint of a smirk in place. He never did change much. "Is that little Lara? Not so little any more, is she?"

Mona grimaced. Everyone always said that about kids. Was she the only parent in the world who wouldn't have minded if they grew up just a little faster? "That's what her papa always says."

It was in Lara's best interests to just let her be for a while, free of Mona's less-than-motherly thoughts, so she took the chance to greet Searle with an embrace before he could further the discussion of growth. "It's good to see you."

"You too. Sorry that I didn't give you any warning. Ren thought I ought to write, but I didn't want you to worry before you had to."

"Why would I have to worry?" Surely her family had endured enough tragedy in recent years, what with her dead father and her two dead brothers and her dead niece? Any God worthy of the name ought to have drawn the line somewhere. "No one else is dead or dying, are they?"

"No, this is a different sort of worry." The embrace parted, but contact resumed when he took her hands--not squeezing, more consistently firm. "Mother wants to pay you a visit."

NEXT CHAPTER:

9 comments:

Van said...

Sorry about this one. It didn't really want to exist.

Ann said...

So, they are warned now. But what will they do? I can't think of any way to keep up the deception short of having the entire court play a game of "swap the queen". Hilarious as that might be I somehow doubt it'll happen. ^^

Van said...

True that! The most practical thing they can do is come clean to Laralita, and I think even Mona would realize this (especially now that the kids are in the picture; Laralita knows that "Queen Ramona" has two children, but one look at either of them and it's obvious that they're Anna's). The question will be more along the lines of how to come clean to Laralita in a way that won't result in an international incident. XD

Ekho said...

I agree the best thing they can do is come clean, though I am curious how Laralita is going to respond to everything. Maybe Mona can just throw little Lara into her mother's face and hope her cuteness overwhelms all other emotions!

Van said...

Release the grandbaby? XD

Ekho said...

AND I COMMENTED ON THIS ONE TOO BUT NOOO MY PHONE'S NOT A GOOD OPERATING SYSTEM OBVIOUSLY.

Yes! Release the ALMIGHTY GRANDBABY!

Van said...

Phones: no matter what their makers think, not about to replace computers.

But yes, grandparent could do some damage. ;)

Van said...

*grandbaby

Overzealous autocorrect: part of why phones cannot replace computers.

Ekho said...

^^ Lmfao