"Where on earth were you?!" Hissed Thorn, half an hour later, his eyes a window into his anger.

Fern rubbed her arm absently.
"It started raining and we had to take cover."

"Oh, yeah? You just had to, huh?!" Thorn hissed in retaliation.

He put a hand to his head exhaustedly. Fern didn't say anything and Thorn brought his hand down to his hip.
"Well guess who got in trouble for it?! Why don't you think about that next time?"

"You're so selfish!" Fern groaned.

Thorn didn't object. Just turned up his nose as his signature stray strand of hair fell over his left eye.

He looked like he was done talking, Fern was not however.
"So you know, huh? You know how annoying you are? Why don't you stop, then?"

Fern watched Thorn's jaw clench, and she knew exactly why. He was powerless, his job was to serve and respect her, and he couldn't go any farther than he already had.
"Princess, I'm sorry...King Elm just...stresses me out..." He ran a hand through his dark violet hair.

"Yeah, sure, that's a valid excuse." Fern grumbled.
"Look, it's late, I'm hungry, I'm going to the kitchen or- whatever."

"Have fun." Was the best attempt at kindness Thorn could come up with, though as soon as the words left his mouth he wished he had never spoken.

Fern turned and walked out the door, where Carnation stood waiting for her.
"Hey, kid, where ya going in such a hurry?"

"Kitchen." Fern said simply, not stopping.

Carnation rushed up to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Did Thorn stress you out? I'm sorry dear, but you shouldn't stress eat right before your wedding."

Wedding? Ugh, it was still absolutely disgusting to Fern to hear the word. She didn't sign up for this, she didn't sign up to get banned from garlic bread, but now she was and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Why not? Who cares if the wedding is a disaster? That's not my problem."

Carnation looked more surprised then Fern had ever seen anyone.
Eventually however, her face made its way to a smile.
"You'll come around. You might have missed the garden party, but the ball tomorrow is infinitely more important. It's actually official."

"How many welcome parties are there?!"
Fern shrieked, putting her hands over her head and sighing dejectedly.

"Aww, don't you like to loosen up? Have some fun?"

Fern laughed.
"Something tells me I won't be able to loosen up at a rich person party."

She paused and made sure to add
"N-Not that I've never been to one! I'm Tsunami and I'm uhh...very rich!"
This was probably not what she should have said as Carnation looked very confused.

"Hun, you need some sleep."

Fern shook her head.
"No, no, no, no, no. I'm fine- Thorn's stupidity must have rubbed off with his anger."

Carnation laughed.
"Well he needs sleep too, it might be seven o clock but it's never too early to restore your full power."

Suddenly there was a boom. Followed by the sound of scampering feet and huffing.
"Oh my gosh! Carnation!"
Called a voice, a teenage boy stumbled down the hallway, his face a mix between excitement and sheer surprise.

He was shorter than Fern and couldn't reach Carnation's shoulders. He steadied himself on her arms instead.
"The thing...it blew up!"

"The thing? My boy, you're brilliant!" Carnation exclaimed.

"But I'm only going to build five. Two will be 'broken', the general's and my father's."
The brown haired boy added in a cocky voice.

Carnation rubbed her neck uncomfortably.
"You know...you know what'll happen if your...dad thinks you messed it up..."

"Yeah, well, I'm not just going to give him any of my stuff, not anything with Chemical E in it." The boy stated plainly.!Carnation looked solemn but nodded nonetheless.

Suddenly the boy noticed Fern standing there and nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Who're you?!" He shrieked.

Fern was about to answer but Carnation did it for her.
"This...is Princess Tsunami."

The brunette looked absolutely astounded. And not in a good or bad way. Just all around shocked.
"Your majesty! I'm s-so sorry! I'm just- I-...Hello." He stuttered awkwardly, extending his hand.

"Lovely to make your acquaintance, who might you be?" Fern asked in her best attempt at fancy people wording.

He didn't look like he wanted to answer, in fact since the moment he noticed her he looked like he wanted to disappear, but Carnation gave him a little push and he said
"I'm Sage, the royal's...p-personal inventor."

Fern nodded. Sage, easy enough.
Fern hadn't even known that personal inventor was a thing, but she supposed it would be cool to have someone who makes whatever you want.

"So what kind of stuff do you invent?" She asked, trying to be friendly, though, his earlier conversation had given her an idea of two.

Again, Sage seemed incredibly uncomfortable -even more so this time. Fern immediately wished she could take back her words. The boy clearly was a dear friend of Carnation but...his nervous stutter and mouselike demeanour showed a more anxious and quiet side that was likely default for him.

Carnation mouthed something to him that Fern couldn't understand and Sage started talking slowly and quietly.

"Weaponry. F-For the war. But the good stuff is limited. I don't want to be the guy bringing mad men an easier way to...kill."
Sage said quietly.

"That's noble." Encouraged Fern.

Sage laughed, as if to tell Fern she was wrong. He looked down at his hands, caked with blood and lots of grease.

"Is it?" Sage got slightly louder and more emotional as he pondered.
"I'm killing the troops, am I not?"

He wasn't even talking to Fern as his near shout became a whisper again. This time, he was talking to Carnation, running something by her.
"If I was a better son, if I had talent that wasn't fake, if I wasn't a klutz...General Cypress wouldn't be dead, right?"

Carnation looked shocked, hurt even. But she didn't look like she would punish him.

Sage suddenly covered his mouth with his hands and turned to Fern.
"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, this is why...this is why I'm not in waiting..." he spoke more but it was too quiet to hear.

Carnation forced him to look into her eyes as she instructed.
"Sage, please go to Thorn and have him get bandages for your hands."

After a moment of quiet defiance Carnation added
"That's not a request, it's an order."

The boy made his way past Fern and down the hallway.

As soon as he was out of view Carnation whispered.
"I'm sorry, dear, he had a session with his father. Those mess him up most days..."

"His father?"

"Elm. King Elm. The man might be my boss but I feel no shame when I say he has a few screws loose." Carnation explained in a low voice.

"That kid is a Prince?!" Shrieked Fern. Sage seemed nice but also far from what she had imagined.
If Sage could be a prince, Fern could definitely be a princess.

"In my humble opinion he's the most rightly royal person here."
With that statement, the conversation was over and a bitter feeling lingered in the air.

Carnation finished leading Fern to her new bedroom which was admittedly much nicer than Cliff's shack. The walls and floor were shining white, accented with golds and blues, and flowers everywhere.

Once Carnation finished her cheerful small talk Fern sat down at a desk in the corner and grabbed a quill. She dipped it in indigo ink and began writing on a parchment everything she knew about the royal family, their associates and Tsunami.

She was exhausted by the time she had finished, but she had tied up some loose ends.

Fern decided that she was going to go to bed, maybe when she woke up she would feel better, she thought. Though being woken up by Thorn's yells the next morning did little for her well being.
"You overslept! If you don't get to breakfast in five minutes-"

"Everyone will die." Grunted Fern sitting herself up in bed and getting her eyes used to the bright light from her window.

She turned over her parchment from the night before and wrote 'day one' at the top.