Abel walked over to Mia's room and found her in exactly the same position that his mother secretly found her in, just two hours prior.

knock, knock

"It's me."

In one motion Mia closed her book, performed a quick roll off the bed, and landed on her feet.

"Such acrobatics!"

"Abel! How long have you been there?"

"Just a minute or so. You looked so beautiful lying there, that I didn't want to disturb you."

"Well, don't tell Anne, she would be cross at me if she knew I was reading in bed in the middle of the day."

"Oh, I won't tell."

Mia ran up to Abel, who was still standing at the door.

"Thank you, my prince!" and then she kissed him on the cheek.

Mia smiled and then whispered in his ear, "It's okay, we are alone. Anne is still helping your mother with dinner." She then tried to pull him into the room, but he did not follow.

She looked back and saw a bit of frustration on her princely boyfriend's, face. "We have to go to dinner, don't we?"

"I would be happy to make an excuse. I understand my family can be a bit much."

"Oh, no. I love your family—well, I haven't really spent much time with your parents. But, Gain is much nicer than I remember, and Clarissa is a delight."

"Well, Clarissa is sweet, though she's not the same person I left here six months ago. Anyway, she adores you. But, please watch yourself around Gain and my Father. They aren't..."

"Maybe they aren't who you think they are?"

"What do you mean? I know my brother. He doesn't change—he's the—"

"He's the same person he always was—the same way Clarissa is the same person she always was?"

"I don't want to argue about this. We have barely spent any time alone together—and now it is time for a dinner that you want to go to."

Are we fighting? Abel and I never fight.

"Well, I don't want to argue either. Maybe you can try to get to know your brother a little better? He may surprise you—Clarissa sure did!"

"Maybe."

"Well, 'maybe' is a start," she smiled and gave Abel another peck on the cheek. " When dinner is over, let's meet in your office. We can spend some time alone together then."

"Well, we should get moving. Clarissa and Michelle are still not back from Council, and leaving Gain to entertain Sir Bernardo just isn't fair."

"Fair to whom?"

"Neither really. The few times I have met Sir Bernardo, he was so intimidating and serious, I couldn't say a word—and I can't imagine any situation in which Abel would be enjoyable to be around."

Abel escorted Mia into the parlor, and as predicted, Bernardo and Gain didn't seem to think much of each other's company—Bernardo almost stood at attention, as if he was guarding the door, while Gain took his usual location, loitering silently in the corner.

Mia whispered, "Abel, Gain is just standing alone in the corner. Please talk to him."

"Fine."

Acquiescing to his Princess's command, Abel started to walk towards his brother—when Mia suddenly pulled him by the arm.

"But, first introduce me to Sir Bernardo."

"Hello, Bernardo. This is Princess Mia of the Tearmoon Empire. I believe you two have met before. Now, please excuse me while I have a word with my brother."

Mia smiled at her curtly Prince, "Thank you, Prince Abel."

Unimpeded by his girlfriend, Abel walked across the room to the corner his brother was occupying.

"So, Gain..." Abel paused, contemplating how to start a conversation that he didn't want any part of, "did you enjoy hunting with Miss Anne?"

"It wasn't too painful—better than another dinner party, anyway." He then gave his brother a suspicious look, "Why are you trying to talk to me? Did you lose a bet with your Princess?"

"Sort of. She wants us to get along—maybe spend some time together."

"We don't get along. We fight. That's what we do."

"We could try..."

"Okay, tomorrow morning—the old training grounds."

"So, you want to fight?"

"No, I don't feel like losing again—but, maybe we can train a little—and talk."

"Tomorrow morning, then."

"Hello, Sir Bernardo." Mia tugged her dress and performed an elegant curtsy.

Bernardo responded with a formal bow, "It is an honor to meet you again Princess Mia."

"Oh, the honor is all mine. I have been wanting to thank you personally for your help in resolving the Remno Incident. Ludwig and Miss Tiona informed me that it was your support that made a peaceful resolution possible."

"As a man of honor, I had no choice but to support Your Highness's emissaries. Your Highness prevented a civil war in Remno."

"Well, duty-bound or not, your support was appreciated. Both Miss Tiona and Mister Hewitt send their regards."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Please call me Miss Mia, or Princess Mia, if you feel more comfortable being more formal. But, please talk to me normally."

"Yes, Your High—Princess Mia. If I may be informal, then may I ask you a question?"

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"But, of course!"

"You went on a mission to prevent a revolution without the benefit of your Princess Guard, or even a knight, and then you and the Lady Anne even charged onto what should have been a battlefield, and the Duchess Tiona stood up for you in front of His Majesty and the entire Council."

Mia almost corrected the newest Lady Anne and Duchess Tiona promotions—well, it sort of makes sense, hearing it a second time—maybe when we get back to Tearmoon... oh, I need to respond...

"Yes?"

"So, tell me, are all of Tearmoon's women so brave?"

Mia smiled without a hint of irony, "Of course! Aren't Remno's?"

And, without the slightest hint of a smile, the sober soldier answered, "At least one."

"One?"

Mia wanted to ask who this one woman was. But, she no longer had the attention of the Adamantine Spear. His eyes were on the woman who had just walked through the parlor door.

"Love!"

Losing all pretense of soldiery seriousness, Bernardo's cheeks turned pink and a giant smile took over the big man's face. Seemingly forgetting that there was anyone else in the room—he ran up and gave the woman a big bear hug and then swung her around.

"Calm down! I am just getting back from a Council meeting, not returning from war!"

He gently put the woman down.

"Ha! If it were with swords, you would have the whole Council at your mercy! Come meet the Princess."

"Princess Mia, this is my wife Michelle. Michelle, this is Princess Mia."

"So nice to meet you again Your Highness. I am sure that you don't remember, but we briefly met at the party, but we were not properly introduced.

Mia tugged her dress and performed an elegant curtsy, "Oh, I remember, but it is so nice to have a name to go with the face," Mia giggled. "I am happy to meet you, as well."

Mia had an instant affinity towards Michelle, mostly because her presence seemed to turn the Adenenitine Spear into a giant teddy bear, but, also because the tall red-haired beauty reminded her so much of her favorite person in the whole world, Anne.

"I am so sorry for getting here so late, council business took much longer than we expected."

"So, a soldier and Council member, and I hear you are farmers, also?"

"Oh, that's all Michelle."

"Ha! Yes, the only thing Bernardo can grow is his beard, and I wish you would shave that damn thing off!"

"Oh, but the girls love it!"

"Girls?" Mia was confused.

"More like little terrors!" Michelle laughed.

"Ha! They take after their mother!"

"If they took after their mother, they would tell you to shave the beard!"

"Oh, so you have daughters!" Mia giggled.

Bernardo held up his hand, "Five! All with beautiful red hair, just like their mother's."

Mia turned towards Michelle, "Farming and council work, how do you keep up with it all?"

"Well, the older girls help with the younger ones, and while Bernardo is not much help with the farm, he's pretty good with the kids."

"Ha! That's funny." Mia looked at Bernardo, "I didn't take you for the motherly type!"

"Oh, he spoils them. But, I wouldn't be able to keep up with everything without his help.

"The council—you are working with farming reforms?"

"Yes, and it's going surprisingly well—I just joined the council, but they have been pretty receptive to my ideas. My work with crops is really coming in handy."

"Oh, what do you grow—I would love to see a Remno farm myself!"

"Then, why don't you?" Bernardo interrupted, "Do you have time tomorrow morning?"

Abel walked over, and chimed in, "Well, it looks like Gain and I will be training tomorrow morning, so why don't you join them on the farm?"

Michelle agreed, "Yes, we could send a carriage to pick you up."

"We would love to, but I think Anne and I would much rather ride ourselves."

"Oh, you ride! Well, then perhaps Bernardo and I can serve as escorts. We can meet you in the courtyard tomorrow morning."

"Well, we will look forward to seeing you tomorrow!"

Clarissa walked into the parlor.

"Please excuse my interruption. Mother and Anne are finished preparing the meal. Could everyone please proceed to the dining room?"

When they arrived at the dining room, the King was already seated at the long dining table. Clarissa directed everyone to their designated seats...

"Clarissa, " Abel whispered to his sister, "I can't sit here, this is Gain's seat!"

"This is what His Majesty instructed."

Abel, took the seat to King's right—which was exactly where he didn't want to be—next to his father, and far away from Mia, who was seated next to Anne at the opposite end of the table. Gain was directed to take a seat far away from the King. The symbolism of this was not lost anymore in the room, but Gain seemed to be surprisingly compliant.

"Oh, we brought something special from the farm!" Bernado handed everyone their own tiny little glass. "It's whisky! The best rye whisky on the continent!"

Bernardo pulled out a bottle of the clear brown liquid and began pouring some for everyone.

Anne sniffed the whisky in the glass and took the smallest of sips. She then whispered in Mia's ear, "It's alcohol!" She continued with a caution, "Princess Mia, you don't drink alcoho!"

Mia answered back in a disappointed tone, "But he said it's the best in the whole continent, and the glass is so small!"

It's not like Mia had never tasted alcohol before. She had enjoyed wine on several occasions, the fist being the election ceremony at Saint Noel. Everyone assumed that the lovely shade of pink on her face was due to the excitement of having won a surprise victory over Rafina—nope—just a few sips of ceremonial wine was enough to make her pink-faced and a little giggly. She survived the day without anyone realizing what a lightweight drinker she was—well, almost anyone. Anne is the one who had to nurse Mia through her headache and her tummy ache a few hours later. With most things, Mia was not one to repeat the same mistake twice. This was definitely not the case for Mia and her food and beverages. Mia indulged again, on her birthday, with similar results. It was after an embarrassing incident in Perjuin that Anne decided that it would be better if the Princess just stuck to drinking grape juice, and Mia agreed with her decision, well sort of...

I shouldn't ever drink alcohol, except for special occasions, and this is a super-special occasion! I am with Abel and his family, and it's the Best Whiskey on the whole continent...

Not that Mia even knew what whiskey even was until a few moments ago. And, perhaps a wiser princess might think that being in the presence of her boyfriend's family might be a reason not to consume a substance that might make her turn pink and give her a case of the giggles—and, after much consideration, Mia decided today she would be the wiser princess. She even put her little glass of whiskey next to Anne's, —just to keep temptation away from her.

Anne smiled and nodded at her friend's resolve and good sense. This satisfaction gave Anne the confidence to stand up to help the queen in serving the hare stew.

But while Anne was occupied, Mia began to stare at the best whiskey on the continent and began to rationalize...

The amount of wine that I had before was probably more than the amount of whiskey in that tiny glass. I probably wouldn't even turn pink at all if I drank it. That glass is so small and cute—like it was made for a princess! That's it! It must be a special Princess glass!

As far as rationalizations go, it wasn't that far-fetched. Most of the time when Mia visited foreign nations, the hosts had done their research into the Princess's culinary preferences—this almost always resulted in a mushroom dish or three always being included on the menu, and an abundance of sweets being available after, before, and during meals. So, it would not be unreasonable for a host to arrange for tiny glasses to be used to accommodate for Mia's extremely low tolerance of alcohol.

It was a very reasonable— and completely wrong— conclusion. For starters, Anne was the only person who knew of Mia's non-existent tolerance for alcohol, and, most importantly, the tiny glasses were not "princess glasses" —they were "whiskey glasses"— meant for whisky—not wine. And that whiskey was at least eight times stronger than the wine that turned a certain princess pink and giggly after a few sips.

When Anne returned to her seat, she did not even have to look at the empty whiskey glass next to hers to figure out what had happened—seeing Mia's beat red face told her all that she needed to know.

Anne whispered into her ear, "Mia, how could you!"

Mia gave a pained expression and whispered back, "The princess glass was so cute!"

Anne wanted to strangle her dear friend—no, that's not true, of course—but, she did want to give her a finger flick to the forehead—a really hard one!

Forehead flicks will have to wait, I need to save Mia!

Anne immediately stood up and made an announcement to the dinner party, "I am so sorry but there is a very important correspondence that I have neglected to inform the Princess about. We will have to return to our room immediately. I humbly express my apologies for the error! She bowed, and then bent down and whispered to Mia "Hold tight to my arm, and don't let go!"

And she didn't.

As they left, the King laughed and whispered to Abel, "Ha, it seems that even the Great Saint of the Empire has a bit of a temper! Did you see how red her face got when her servant informed the Princess of her mistake—and the expression on her face! I wouldn't want to be that girl when they get back to their room."

Abel just looked at Mia's empty whiskey glass and nodded.

The King continued, "Well, I had planned to talk to the Princess, but perhaps it is better that I talk to you instead."

"What would you like to speak about, Father?"

"You know better than to ask. You know where you are seated."

"At your right hand."

"You are the one who inherited my strength, my skill, my cunning. Cunning, perhaps even greater than my own. This Princess is more than a classmate?"

"Yes."

"I just put on this show for wheat, but it looks like you have even greater ambitions for the Princess.

"Father, we should continue this discussion somewhere else."

"Of course, you can pick the time and place."

"I will send you a note."

"Excellent! Now let us enjoy some of this stew."