Seren looked at their dad, he shrugged and started to get up but wobbled.

“I’ve got it,” Seren said. Jumping up to their feet and running to the door. They expected quite a few things, and the well-dressed messenger wasn’t far from their imagination.

“Hi, can I help you?” Seren asked. The messenger stared everywhere but at Seren which they also expected. The messenger pulled an envelope from his side bag and held it out to them. Seren took it and the messenger promptly turned and walked away.

“What’s that?” Their dad asked, coming up behind them.

“I dunno,” Seren shrugged, they handed the envelope over and shut the door. The entire house shook a little and their dad gave them a look.

“You want the whole house to come d-” Their dad started but stopped dead. His eyes widened, and the color drained from his eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Seren asked. He looked up at them and shook his head in disbelief.

“Uh…” He flipped up the white wax seal and pulled the letter out of the envelope.

“What is it?” Seren wandered around and looked at the letter. They recognized the letters and recognized that they made words but Seren couldn’t quite make out what the intent of the letter was. The envelope fell out of their dad’s hands, Seren looked up at him, he was hardly breathing.

“Do I need to call the doctor!?” Seren grabbed onto his waist to steady him. He laid his hand on their shoulder.

“No… Maybe.” Their dad shook his head again. “I need to sit down.” Seren helped their dad down to the floor where he curled up and held his head.

“What’s in the letter? Is it about me?” Seren asked hesitantly, dreading the answer.

“Y-yeah.” Their dad took a breath and looked up, “Your grandparents want to meet you.” Seren fell down to the ground next to their dad, staring at him with equal disbelief.

“Haven’t they met me already? Don’t they know I exist?” Seren asked.

“Yeah, they.” Their dad put the letter down on the ground. “They know of you, they were there when you were an infant.”

“So why do they suddenly want to see me?” Seren asked, “and what’s gonna happen when they do?”

“I don’t know,” he mumbled.

“Are they going to try taking me away from you?” Seren asked, scooting closer and grabbing onto their dad’s hand.

“No. I mean they can try.” Their dad took both of Seren’s hands in his. “But I won’t let them. Okay?” Seren nodded and dove into their dad’s arms.

“We aren’t gonna meet them, right?” They muttered. “We’re just gonna ignore it, right?”

“No,” Their dad sighed heavily. “No, we have to go for a mid-morning brunch with them.”

“Can’t we be sick?” Seren suggested with a hopeful smile.

"They won't let up until we see them so we might as well get it over with." Their dad rested his cheek on Seren's head.

"Why now?” Seren asked

"Probably had something to do with Jasmine and Eric." Their dad said. Seren thought for a second.

"Miss Jass and her friend?" Seren tried to clarify.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"No, well yes. I mean Miss Jass and Mr. Asche." Their dad shifted as Seren sat back out of his lap.

"You two know each other?" They asked in surprise.

"No, not exactly." Their dad looked up and played with his hair thoughtfully. "We've met before. Our families know each other. We both took a few similar classes but we don't know each other."

"Huh," Seren said. "What classes?"

"Ah…" their dad squinted. He frowned and tried to recollect anything.

"That's okay, it's not important." Seren smiled.

"I'll keep thinking about it," their dad said. "In the meantime, let’s get you washed up and in your nicest clothes.”

“I had a bath yesterday,” Seren objected. Jumping to their feet to help their dad up.

“Yes, but your grandparents are incredibly particular. They will inspect for any hair out of place,” their dad said and led Seren toward the bathroom. “So we have to scrub, wash, brush, and iron out every wrinkle. Think the same care you’d take while meeting the King.” Their dad stopped and ushered toward the shower.

"Now you get all cleaned up and I'm going to go see if you have any nice clothes to wear." Their dad said, Seren felt their heart drop.

"Oh, I'll do that. Don't worry about that." Seren said quickly. "Can you see if the hot water works or if I have to go check the heater?" Seren ran off before their dad could object. They ducked under the curtain and grabbed the bottom drawer. Waiting to hear the shower start before slowly opening the drawer to reveal the forbidden box. Seren frantically looked around the small makeshift room for a different hiding place. Running to their bed and shoving the box into the center of their bed.

“Seren, the hot water’s out. I’m going to go check the heater.” Their dad called. Seren jumped to their feet.

“I can do it!” They yelled running out from under the curtain blindly, plowing into their dad’s side and knocking them both to the ground.

“I am so sorry! Are you okay!” Seren yelled, jumping up to their feet.

“Serenity Baxtli Winters what has gotten into you!?” Their dad demanded as he sat up. Wobbling and laying back down.

“I’m sorry!” Seren said, holding their hands out but unable to touch their dad. “It was an accident!”

“I know it was, but what are you doing?” Their dad laid back and covered his eyes with his arm. “You’re running around like you’ve lost your mind.”

“I…” Seren started but sat down, trying to keep their lip from trembling. “I don’t know, I just worry a lot… all the time.”

“You worry about me?” He asked quietly.

“I worry about everything, always.” Seren shrugged. “It’s just always buzzing in my head. Like someone constantly yelling in my ear. Yelling about how everything is going to go wrong and nothing good can happen without something really bad about to happen.” At first, their dad just laid quietly. Then he moved and slowly sat up.

“How about we go together then?” he said, gently. Seren smiled and nodded. They helped their dad up and together they went outside and into the frozen morning. They walked around the house to the little shack attached to the house where a tiny little steam water heater was housed. As Seren and their dad turned the corner they saw the problem. Ice had frozen over and solidified the door to the shack and theoretically froze the heater’s pipes.

“I guess we’ll have to take baths instead.” Their dad said. He shrugged and looked at Seren. “No need to worry, there’s always a way if you sit tight, breathe, and use your head.”

“What if your head is yelling at you?” Seren asked, they were turned around by their dad and the two started toward the house again.

“Keep breathing and try to think around it. You might need to take a bit of a detour in your planning, and that’s okay.” Their dad ushered them in the door. “I’ll fill the tub and you find the nicest clothes you have. No holes, tears, stains.”

“I’ll try!” Seren said, running under their curtain and stopping at their dresser again. They dug through the dresser for something that looked nice but also was still in somewhat pristine condition. Everything they picked up had something wrong with it. A stain, a rip, nothing was anything close to what they'd wear if they were meeting the King. Ideally, they'd wear a giant ball gown, but they had no gowns. They had one orange dress, but it was a summer dress that was too tight. Seren had never worn it as it looked hideous.

"All right, bath’s ready!" Their dad called. Seren emerged from the curtain ashamed and empty-handed.

“I couldn’t find anything,” Seren said sheepishly, playing with their fingernails.

“Don’t do that, honey.” Their dad pulled their hands away from each other. “Try rubbing your hands together or snap your fingers. Shake out your hands even. But don’t make yourself bleed.” Seren put their hands behind their back.

“Why don’t you work on getting scrubbed and clean and I’ll see what I can find.” Their dad messed with Seren’s hair, his fingers got tangled in their unruly hair.

“We’re going to have to take a brush to this.” He said with a frown. “Come on, we have to do this fast so you can have a warm bath.” Seren groaned as they ran and grabbed the hairbrush. They sat on the floor in front of the dad and let him pull the brush through their tangled knots. Once their hair was detangled, they got into the lukewarm bath and washed up. Freezing after they washed their hair and had to get out.