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Princess Claudia
Just like Maria, breakfast was brought to the room of Bao and the children by palace servants. After their meal, there isn't much for them to do until Keyon or Maria arrive with a plan.
“Do we need to wait for them though? We’re the ones with a list of things to do. Maybe we should try to get a head start,” Bao is thinking out loud. He’s still coming to terms with the idea that their groups are separated. From here on out, they’ll have less and less to do with each other.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Letz stops playing with Kikka when he hears Bao’s thoughts, “Do you know how to get around in the city? I could probably manage to get us where we need to be, but it’s Maria and Keyon who have the connections to actually get results. Besides, if we left the palace on our own, I’m not sure they’d let us back in.”
Kikka lets out a sigh, “I hope we get to see the city today. I really want to go outside.”
Katz is always looking for a way to cheer up Kikka, “We should be fine if we stay inside the palace. Do you want to go outside and look at the gardens?”
A walk in the gardens sounds nice to everyone. Some of the attendants guide them outside and they arrive at a large garden on the ground floor. This garden is very different from the nature Bao has grown up with. It’s organized, trimmed, and beautiful. Still, a part of it feels hollow. As if it’s missing a soul that would somehow make it feel more alive.
The garden is undoubtably a wonder to behold, and Bao decides it’s best to enjoy it for what it is, rather than for that it pretends to be. It might not be real nature as he knows it, but as cultivated art, it's marvelous. Even someone like Katz can enjoy himself among the warm sun and fragrant flowers.
“How do you like the flowers?” a cheery voice perks up from behind them.
They turn around and see a young girl. Her black hair is done in long double ponytails on either side of her head. An attendant is standing on either side of her.
“I love the garden here! It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!” Letz shouts out adamantly. He is clearly taken by the young girl. She looks to be around the same age as he is.
“Yep! It’s really pretty,” Kikka eyes Letz with a sly and disapproving look, “I don’t think it’s the ‘most’ beautiful thing I’ve ever seen though.”
Bao introduces himself to the young girl and the others follow his example.
“My name is Coco!” she says with a smile as she runs into the group and stands alongside them. She doesn’t have the sense of decorum that they’ve seen from everyone else here.
“You’re Princess Coco!?” Letz exclaims. He quickly drops to a respectful kneel.
The little princess grabs his shoulder and pulls him up to his feet, “Yes, but pleeease don’t call me princess. I came here because I wanted to play with you,” the girl’s touch turns the skin on Letz’s face bright red to match the rest of his fur.
“So, you’re sisters with Maria and Claudia, Coco?” Bao tries to give Letz time to recover.
“Oh, I saw Claudia last night! She is so pretty! I love her red hair!” Kikka was just barely awake for anything last night. It seems that's the only thing she remembers from last night, “Does my hair look like that when I stand by the fire?” right now Kikka’s hair is a gentle blonde in the warm sunlight.
Coco joins the children as they run around and enjoy the freedom in the garden. She has a small mischievous smile on her face the entire time. It’s a tell sign that the girl is always thinking of the next bit of innocent trouble to get into.
The group spends the rest of their morning with Coco among the flowers and enjoying the pleasant weather. Letz and the princess are having fun together and Katz does what he can to keep Kikka from getting too jealous of the attention. Their morning walk is interrupted by a shout from a guard just outside of the garden.
“Did you just look at me!?”
They hear a sound like someone getting struck and knocked down. Bao and the children run over to satisfy their curiosity. To their horror, they see Belos lying on the ground with a guard standing over him.
Another guard rushes over, “What happened?”
“This Bolbian was giving me a weird look. I just put him in his place.”
The other guard doesn’t seem to mind after hearing that, “Oh, well if that’s all it was then get back to work!” he kicks Belos while he’s still on the ground, “Where’s your mask anyway? Don’t you know you’re an eyesore without it?”
“Belos!”
“Bug Face!”
Bao and the children run to their friend to help him. Coco stays by the garden. She doesn’t know why the others are rushing off.
The guards don’t know why these people are upset, “He’s your slave, right? He isn’t hurt. He was causing trouble, but he can still work,” they think Bao is worried about damage to his property.
Bao stands in between Belos and the guards while the kids help Belos stand up, “What gives you the right treat someone like that?”
“Excuse me?” the guards are not amused by someone confronting them.
Belos stands back up without any trouble and approaches Bao but fixes his gaze to the ground without looking at anyone, “I apologize master. This was my fault, and it won’t happen again.”
Bao’s eyes are locked with the guard’s, “See... He said it was his fault. You’re a guest here but I advise you to back down before you do something I can’t ignore.”
“Bao, what are you doing?” Coco finally approaches when she can’t ignore the conflict.
“Princess Coco!?” the men don’t hesitate to drop to a knee in front of the princess, “We apologize for any inconvenience we’ve caused you. The fault is ours.”
Belos takes this chance to drop the facade for a moment. He leans in close to Bao and whispers to him, “Everything is fine. Whatever you’re doing. Whatever you think you’re doing, please stop.”
The children agree with Belos on this one, “This isn’t going to end the way you think it is,” Katz says what the others are thinking.
“Right, I’m sorry if there’s been a misunderstanding,” Bao appears to be backing down.
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“Don’t think anything of it. It happens. We’re only human after all.” the men are sincere. They believe the presence of the princess has set everything straight.
“Right, we’re all human. Right now, though, I’d say Belos is twice the person than any of the guards here are.”
Katz and Letz collectively let out a sigh in defeat. Belos’ heart jumps to his throat. He decides to make himself scarce before the situation gets worse.
“Bao?... How could you say that?” Coco is visibly confused and hurt by his comment.
Another voice comes crashing out from inside a doorway, “What did you just say?” Claudia storms into the courtyard to confront the others.
The guards once again take a knee to greet the woman, “Princess Claudia!”
“How dare you compare the royal guards of Tab to a Bolbian slave.”
Bao is intimidated but he chooses to stand by his claim, “Princess I just believe that all humans should be equal. If someone treats someone else like they’re beneath them, they’re only demeaning themselves.”
“Enough Bao! Maria already told me about you. You don’t need to explain your reasons why, but I intend to make you learn your lesson today.”
Letz steps in front of Bao and bows to address the princess. He knows Bao doesn’t know how to speak tactfully. Maybe he can help get him out of this situation, “Princess Claudia, Bao is still ignorant of Tab’s customs, but he is learning. I apologize on his behalf. Please be gracious to him. I’m sure he will apologize himself when he learns his mistake.”
“You speak well Letz. It speaks volumes of your skills as a servant,” Claudia’s words are a backhanded compliment. Normally it wouldn’t affect Letz, but it stings knowing Coco can also hear everything.
“I know Bao is ignorant and I intend to teach him a lesson. If he intends to wander around the empire, he needs to know how to respect our customs. He doesn’t need to agree with them, but he won’t be disrespecting the people who defend our lives with their own.”
This is escalating quickly, and Claudia isn’t interested in talking things out.
“Go get your weapon Bao!”
“I’m sorry?”
“You heard me. I don’t like punishing the defenseless.”
Is this the same Claudia they had seen the night before? Bao and the children are led away to get his spear. Coco follows along with them.
“Don’t get too upset about this Bao, Claudia is a very passionate person. She loves her family a lot and treats the guards the same way.”
They grab the spear and make their way to a sparring area near the guardhouse. Coco tries to cheer everyone up but it isn’t working. Letz, is still embarrassed, Bao is angry and confused, and no one can calm Kikka down after seeing Belos get hurt.
“This will be over quickly Bao. Just take a couple of hits and show her you’ve learned your lesson. She’s passionate not cruel. Claudia won’t hurt you beyond a few scrapes and bruises.”
This doesn’t make any sense, “Does the princess know how to use a sword?”
“Hmm?” Coco is confused by his question.
They arrive at the guardhouse and Bao steps outside to meet Claudia. She is wearing silver armor that shines brightly in the sunlight. She stands confidently among the guards. There’s no sword strapped to her side, but she is holding a leather whip that is just as intimidating.
Bao hears Coco shout at him from the sidelines, “Bao! My sister is a guard! She’s a captain!”
That makes more sense.
“Princess Maria might have forgiven your disrespect outside the city, but how can I ignore a slight towards the best this city has to offer? Inside the palace of all places.”
The fight begins and Claudia wastes no time in striking Bao with a barrage of lashes with her whip. Bao doesn’t know what he is expected to do. This isn’t a fight to the death, it isn’t a training match. He blocks what he can, but Claudia isn’t just flailing her weapon around. Even with a torrent of strikes, her aim is careful and precise.
The whip has a longer reach than Bao’s spear. This is a new experience. Animals rarely have reach longer than a sword, and his training with others has never included fighting against this kind of disadvantage. His arms and legs sting with every crack of the whip.
The children hate every second of this, “Stop hurting him!” Kikka cries while being held by Coco.
Katz offers what he can to make Kikka feel better, “Don’t worry. The whip hurts, but she’ll need to hit him a lot harder than that to cause any permanent damage.”
Coco and Letz look at Katz who is focused beyond the fight in a thousand-yard stare, “It’ll sting, but when she’s done, he’ll have learned his lesson. He won’t forget this.”
The fight continues longer and draws the attention of many other guards with time to kill. Keyon is one of the men who hears the commotion and wander by to see. He’s horrified to see his guest being beaten by the princess.
Keyon finds the children and immediately speaks with them, “Why in the world is Bao getting punished by Princess Claudia?” when he finishes speaking, his mouth is still agape.
“It was only a matter of time before he got himself in some kind of trouble. I’m just amazed he managed it so soon,” Katz is the only one who can manage to give an explanation.
“I’ll say! It’s not even been half a day!”
Coco can see the terror on Keyon’s face, “Don’t worry, there won’t be any follow up consequences after this. Claudia doesn’t hold grudges. When she thinks they’re finished, that’ll be the end of it.”
“Princess Coco!?” Keyon looks around to see if there are any other members of the royal family he needs to be aware of. He forces his jaw to close.
There have been no new developments since the start of the battle. Bao’s skin has started to crack in places on his arms and legs, but he refuses to give Claudia what she wants.
“If word were to get out that an outsider insulted the guards and the palace did nothing, what would the rest of Tab think?” the force of her hits is getting stronger. “You don’t seem to understand. Saying a slave has more worth than one of my men? Maybe in the countryside you could get away with saying something like that. Here though, this is the worst place for you to pull something like that.”
Bao is exhausted and in tremendous pain, “Princess Claudia, I don’t want to fight you. Can’t we accept our differences and end this?”
“You should have taken that advice before you spat on the reputation my men, boy. Maybe this is too easy for you. You won’t learn your lesson unless we go all out is that it?”
“Oh no,” Keyon knows what’s coming next, “She doesn’t know.”
With one snap of her whip, Claudia’s weapon is engulfed in magical flame. Her armor now shines violently as the flames outshine the sunlight. Just like other magic users, she can see the magic in Bao’s weapon and mistakes it for his own. She believes Bao has been holding back too much.
“Let’s not insult each other any longer Bao. You’ll lose here at your full strength.”
The strikes still sting like before but now they burn as well. They don’t hurt like an open fire normally would though. Bao remembers Coco’s words about Claudia being passionate but not cruel. Claudia must still be holding back a little. He still hurts though, and he won’t be able to manage this fight much longer. He can’t strike her, and he won’t surrender. This was a losing fight from the beginning. Claudia begins twirling the whip in the air and the heat intensifies. She intends to finish the fight here.
“This is bad, Claudia thinks Bao can use magic to defend himself, but he is completely exposed to magic attacks,” Keyon knows this attack might put Bao on bedrest for at least a week.
“What!?” Coco had the same misunderstanding as Claudia.
“This’ll teach you! Try to block this!” Claudia lashes her whip out towards her opponent and a pillar of fire merges from her weapon. She doesn’t even need to strike him with the physical whip, the flames shoot out and make their way towards their target.
“Sister, no!” Coco shouts over the fighting.
The sound of her sister’s voice snaps Claudia from her focus. She realizes Bao still isn’t utilizing the magic surrounding him. She dissipates the magic in her attack, but the flames still linger a while longer. The heat from the flames burns Bao and knocks his already weak body to the ground. He is too injured to get up. The fight is over.
The children run to their collapsed guardian and check him for injuries. Coco walks to her sister and with Keyon’s help, they explain the peculiar situation of Bao’s spear.
“So, he’s even more innocent than I thought. I shouldn’t have rushed straight into punishing him in a public display like this. Still, I hope this is one less lesson he needs to worry about. It’s best that he learns respect now anyway. Keyon, when Bao wakes up, please tell him that the Bolbian will be left alone for the remainder of his stay with us. In return, I don’t want to hear that any of his company are causing trouble anywhere in the city. Do I make myself clear.”
“Yes princess! You’re too kind,” Keyon bows and takes his leave to help get Bao to rest.
“One more thing before you go. When the boy recovers enough to leave the palace, I suggest his first order of business should be to learn more about both magic and the weapon he values so dearly. Please see to it that he doesn’t leave Tab before those two things are done. Do I make myself clear?”
“It will be done Princess Claudia. Just as you say.”
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