The three rode into the city and continued for sometime. Octavia looked at Aldrich and then looked at the princess asking,

“You are not planning on bringing this bas- boy with us, are you now Princess Galadria.”

Galadria gave a smile that wordlessly gave Octavia an answer. She shook her head but refrained from criticising the decision. They reached the gates of the palace and Octavia exited the carriage to greet a small group of soldiers. The knight captain of the knights gathered by the gate came up,

“Please state your business.”

Octavia replied,

“In the carriage is Her Highness, Princess Galadria P’ar Rykel.”

The knight captain bowed and was about to command some knights to open the gate when Aldrich exited the carriage and called out,

“Oye, Sir Worren it is quite nice to see a familiar face after so long.”

The knight captain spun around to see the young prince smiling at him. In an instant all of the knights bowed. Aldrich raised his hand and they quickly opened the gates as they escorted Aldrich and the guests. Aldrich walked through the palace doors, leading Octavia and the princess to the dining hall, as he suspected the family were there for breakfast. Aldrich kicked the doors open, walked to the table and picked some food from the platters that were there. With a mouth full of food he managed to say,

“I hope you all missed me as much as I missed this food, Labyrinth food service is abysmal I must say, really puts things into perspective.”

Several eating utensils fell, as Moira and Winona rushed towards him, tears in their eyes, grasping him in a tight hug.

Moira barely got out,

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“How? Where were you?”

Aldrich put a hand up,

“Let us discuss that over food, right now I am quite famished really. Plus we have guests,” pointing at the princess and her lady-in-waiting who stood there awkwardly not sure what was going on.

Eventually they were all sitting by the dining table, quietly eating until Leofrich looked at Aldrich and then enquired about what had happened. Throughout the meal Aldrich informed them about what he did while there, although he did omit the treachery of one of the knights and other details he thought he should keep to himself . Aldrich after being satisfied with how much he had eaten. He excused himself and went to his room, a bathtub full of water and soap prepared for him already. Aldrich eased into it, commenting to himself how much he missed modern society and the amenities that the palace was outfitted with.

Not long after Aldrich had taken a bath, he heard a knock and after answering, Octavia appeared. She quickly bowed apologising,

“I would like to express my deep remorse for the disrespect to Your Highness. If I had known your a padraig and a Demirblood at that, I would not have been as inconsiderate.”

Aldrich shrugged,

“I had the prince beaten out of me over a period of time so I did not feel so very royal. Honestly I just hope that you learn from this and not think that any commoner that comes your way is preparing to blast you and the princess six feet under. As a noble if the commoners sense heavy distrust and they will, you risk them fulfilling and even exceeding your expectations. It starts as distrust, then oppression and then all look at each other perplexed when they're in line for their head and body to never meet again.”

Octavia bowed and left. Aldrich thought out loud,

“Sir Declan had surely seen petty kingdoms collapse in on themselves with little or sometimes no interference from the Spits and Frost alliance.”

Hours later, Aldrich heard another knock, a servant came to call him, his mother was calling him to the library. Aldrich found Moira in the middle of reading a book, he approached her and as soon as he grabbed a seat and sat down, she put down her book. Her Oculux was activated she grinned,

“You have changed from the last time I saw you.”

Aldrich beamed with pride but that moment was abruptly ended when Moira looked at him with a humorless look on her face and asked,

“What is it that you are not telling me Aldrich?”