Author Note:

Not only do I have a Tumblr now, but Protector (this book) has a tag! The tag for this book is: #protector ethubs au

(Link in comment box. ➡️)

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[ Bdubs Point of View ]

Splash. Splash. Splash.

After a hot bath, King Bdubs picked out his finest white tunic and most comfortable pair of brown pants. Of course, he wore his mossy green cloak over his outfit. It was his longest one, the same one that slid elegantly on the ground. He made sure his hair and makeup were on point before carefully putting on his organic crown, not wanting to ruin his perfect black hair.

Afterwards he took on the task making sure his bodyguard, Etho, looked presentable. That would be far more difficult than getting himself ready.

Once Etho had taken a bath and gotten dressed, Bdubs made sure his hair looked like had owned a comb at some point in his life. Aside from the hair improvement, the king's bodyguard was dressed in his usual grays and blacks. The only pop of color in his outfit was a moss cape that came down to the middle of his back.

"How do I look?" Etho asked.

The bodyguard stood before a full body mirror, outlined with the finest of quartz.

The king could only hold his month open in awe at the sight of his bodyguard. He had seen Etho in nice clothes before, but was not a sight he was used too.

"That bad?" The bodyguard guessed, before letting out a sigh.

"No!" Bdubs quickly dismissed that conclusion. "That good!"

"Oh. Thank you." The fabric of Etho's mask shifted as he smiled.

* * *

"Remember, Etho. I'm King Bdubs to you today." Bdubs said.

Etho nodded. The bodyguard followed King Bdubs as he slowly made his way down the steps. He held up the fabric of his cape similar to how a maiden would hold her dress to ensure neither he or Etho would step on it.

"When your in the presence of the Coastal Queen, only speak when spoken to." Bdubs added on.

"Got it." Etho nodded, again.

"Oh, for breakfast and the celebratory dinner, I need you to eat slower and not make a huge freaking mess." The king added on.

"I don't make a mess!" Etho exclaimed.

"You need to use your silverware." The royal include.

"I do that." The silver haired man insisted.

"I don't want them to think that I don't feed you or something." Bdubs finally said.

"I'll try my best." Etho told him.

"Remember to use your fork." The moss royal wearing royal teased.

"I do use my fork!"

"Surrre."

* * *

King Bdubs and his entourage made their way to wide open room. Prince Jimmy and Martyn were with them, but Bdubs was awaiting their true host to join them.

"There." Cleo nudged Bdubs glances upwards towards a flight of spiraling stairs.

Upon the stairs was woman with long pink hair that was pulled into two buns atop her head. In between rested a silver crown that only added height to her figure. She wore a sea blue sleeveless dress that sparkled at ends. She had a silver necklace with an unrecognizable pattern engraved into it. Her blue eyes locked with Bdubs once she reached the end of the steps.

At the Coastal Queen's side was a man, only barely shorter than her. He had brown hair that was pulled back into a small ponytail. He wore a similarly colored sea blue tunic, with black suspenders and black pants. A sword was sheathed his at right hip, implying him to be a bodyguard of some sort. The oddest part of his attire was the black glasses with tinted lenses that obscured the majority of his blue eyes.

"Your majesty." Bdubs bowed, his entourage catching on and doing the same.

"King Bdubs of the Moss Kingdom." The pink hair woman simply addressed the king. "Welcome to my kingdom."

She's being extremely formal. I better do the same.

"It is an honor to be here, Queen Lizzie of the Coastal Kingdom." Bdubs returned.

"I see you keep quite the company." The pinkette comment, glancing over all the people surrounding the king. "Martyn, show Bdubs' compatriots to the dinning room. We need to have a few words alone."

"Yes ma'am," Martyn nodded, gesturing for everyone to follow him.

Bdubs pulled at Etho's arm, nervous looking at Queen Lizzie from the corner of his eye. Quickly, Etho managed to understand what the king wanted to from him and stayed by his side.

"This is Etho, my bodyguard." Bdubs introduced the gray haired man that stood beside him. "He'll be staying with me."

"I see." Lizzie shrugged, turning to the man beside for her a second. "Ren will also be joining us for our conversation. He's my guard dog."

"It's lovely to meet you both." Ren gave a small smile, revealing a few triangular teeth.

"Anyways," Lizzie took control of the conversation. "Are you going seen us more aid, Bdubs?"

"I'll do what I can." Bdubs assured her.

"My people are starving." She frowned, sniffing. "They need food for the winter otherwise, they willstarve."

"I know, I know," The moss king backed up. "I just, uh... Well... You see—"

A clicking sound interrupted Bdubs. The king and queen looked over to see a woman with ginger hair that was tied into a braid that fell down the frontal right side of her cape. She wore a faded half back magenta cape, with light green thigh dress underneath. On her left hand was a bracelet with a purple crystal hanging from it. Her emerald green eyes starred at Queen Lizzie and King Bdubs for a long period of time.

"He's ready to eat." The ginger simply said.

"Finally!" Jimmy exclaimed, eagerly taking his leave.

"We'll pick this up later." Lizzie groaned, waving Bdubs and Etho away.

Bdubs and Etho followed Lizzie, Ren, and the ginger lady. In the dining room there was a large table with far more seats that was truly needed. Bdubs recognized his group, who kindly two left seats for himself and Etho. He also noticed Jimmy had already taken a seat. However, a man with brown hair with and a red streak sat at the end of the table with his feet propped on the table as if the castle were some kind of low end tavern with no rules.

King Bdubs found himself sitting right beside this guy. His dark green robe with magenta sleeves of another shirt peaking out was vaguely familiar, though Bdubs couldn't quite place why.

"King Bdubs have you met Joel yet?" Cleo asked from the other side of Etho.

"No. I don't believe I have." The king replied.

"That's me." The man with his feet on the table piped up. "I'm Joel."

Joel reached out to shake Bdubs hand, Bdubs nearly yanking his hand back at the touch of cold jewelry. The silver ring with an almost familiar pattern on it was much colder than it should reasonably be. Regardless, the two shook hands.

Quietly, the ginger haired female sat across from King Bdubs. The Coastal Queen and Coastal Prince took their seats as well. Ren stood behind Lizzie, standing perfectly straight and hands behind his back.

"When the food coming?" Joel broke the awkward silence. "The Wizard Coalition is like a whole continent away from this place."

"Oh, you're from the Wizard Coalition?" Scar piped up at the mentions of anything wizard related. "Are your the wizard representative?"

"I used to be a mere representative, but now I'm the leader of the Wizard Coalition." Joel eagerly bragged. "There was magic, uh... Accident. And now I'm in the one in charge!"

"Sounds interesting." Grian added, before looking to the other wizard who sat beside him. "Scar's a wizard too."

"He's not wizard. He's a witch." The leader of the coalition simply said.

"What's the difference?" Etho questioned, confused.

"Your a wizard if your part of the Wizard Coalition." The man with the red streak explained. "A witch is someone who is not or no longer part of the coalition."

Scar was oddly quiet at this.

No more words were exchanged until breakfast was brought out on silver platters. Even then, Joel and the occasional words from Jimmy or Cleo were the only spoken communication exchanged.

There was plenty of non verbal communication, though. Grian tenderly rubbing Scar's thigh under the table to cheer him up. The ginger hair girl beside Joel smiling as she took in the view of the beachfront from the window. Lizzie glaring dangers at Bdubs, while trying to maintain a friendly face. Bdubs turning to Etho and lightly tapping his boot with his own foot to remind his bodyguard to eat slower or to get his attention when someone said his name.

The air so tense. You could cut through it with a sword.

* * *

"Make sure the ballroom is all cleaned up for afterwards." Lizzie told a blonde woman in a sea blue maid outfit.

"Yes, your majesty." The blonde nodded, before getting to work.

Everyone stood outside the meeting room, awaiting orders from Lizzie. Martyn stood at the Coastal Prince's side, arms crossed and face blank with boredom. He would occasionally glance over to Ren, wanting something from him. Prince Jimmy cowered behind Martyn, anxious around everyone who wore green, except for Joel.

It was certainly an unusual experience to see Grian in a green sweater and Cleo in green tunic with ruffled sleeves. Scar matched the Moss Kingdom color scheme with his green robe, but it wasn't anything out of the ordinary to see in a variety of colors.

"Seen away everyone who isn't required for the meeting." Lizzie commanded, turning to Jimmy and Martyn. "You two can go."

"Thanks." Jimmy thanked, giving a shaky sign of relief.

"I'll see you later, Ren." Martyn waved to Ren, before making his exit.

"You might have to join them, G." King Bdubs nudged Grian.

"I noticed." Grian said, turning to Scar. His tone was a soft whisper. "Good luck. I know you'll do great."

Grian and Scar interlocked their hands together, before nuzzling one another. When Grian's hands pulled away from Scar's, the green eyed magician wore a confident smile.

Once the three were, gone it was meeting time.

Lizzie pushed open the doors to her meeting room, revealing a room that was ninety percent open skylight and ten percent tables and chairs. Everyone gather at the central table in the middle. Bdubs, Etho, Cleo, and Scar sat at one end. Lizzie, Ren, Joel and the ginger wizard sat on the other end.

"How is this going work, Lizzie?" Joel was the first to ask, getting comfortable by propping his feet up in the table and leaning back in his chair.

"Firstly, I would like a demonstration of the solution that your royal magician has discovered, King Bdubs." Lizzie stated, eying Bdubs and Scar.

"He's a witch." Joel badly whispered to the a focused Lizzie.

Scar took a few things from him robe. A few jars of soil samples and couple white crystals. The wizard—or witch as Joel insisted—stood before the group. He went on to give a demonstration of how to stop the spread of the infected soil and explained how it would need to be replaced by healthy soil. He went on to give many more details about how the crystals worked and answer questions that mostly the ginger haired wizard girl would ask him.

"I think that covers the soil." Queen Lizzie finally said. "You can have a seat now, Scar."

"Of course, your majesty the Coastal Queen." Scar took his seat beside Cleo and across from Etho.

I know what's next.

"Now onto my request for aid." Lizzie darted her head towards King Bdubs. "The food you sent my kingdom isn't enough. We need more in order to feed everyone."

"Queen Lizzie, if I give you enough food to all feed your people, I can't feed my people." Bdubs sadly said. "There isn't enough for both of us."

"My people will starve, Bdubs!" The pink haired woman cried out. "They need food! Please!"

"I can only spare a forth of what you need." The king gripped his cape, looking down as he delivered the bad news. "I'm really sorry, Lizzie, I am—"

"Don't make me threaten to go to war!" The sound of hands slamming on the table rang out from the nearly non existent walls of the room.

"If you want to go to war so badly, let's go to war!" Bdubs retaliated, his palms in pain after hitting the wooden table. "I can't give you all my kingdom's food!"

Ren and Etho both stood, readying themselves to draw their swords if needed. Cleo pushed her chair away, preparing to use it as weapon if absolutely necessary.

"Hey, hey!" The ginger wizard stood up in a panic. "Everybody calm down!"

"I'm calm." Joel smirked, sitting up from his nap that he had during the entirety of Scar's demonstration.

"Not you." She facepalm. She gestured to everyone else. "The rest of you!"

Lizzie took a deep breath, before covering her mouth with her hand in embarrassment. She waved Ren to put his sword away. Etho copied. Everyone except Lizzie returned to sitting in their chair, not about to attack each other.

"I'm sorry, Bdubs." Lizzie's eyes grew wide from guilt. "I don't know what came over me."

"Tensions have been high and I don't blame you for getting a little antsy." The moss king said. "I wasn't exactly helping things when I threaten to go to war with you..."

"Agreed. War isn't the way we should resolve this." The pinkette nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." Bdubs added.

"I'll take any food you can spare." The Coastal Queen finally said, slowly slipping back into her seat.

King Bdubs nodded. The two got up and shook on the agreement, formally resolving the meeting.

"Will I be seeing you at tonight's celebration ball?"

"You will."

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Author Note:

I'm so excited for the fun party next chapter! 😋