Jet had to admit it wasn't all that bad living here. Todly taught him in the mornings and Rick in the afternoon. This had been going on for two months now. There was just one thing that annoyed him.
"Ileana." Jet currently had his hand stuck to the washbowl. "I'm going to." He stopped that thought, best if someone didn't hear him threaten the king's daughter.
So now Jet was wandering the halls hunting for Ileana. It was late, but he had asked around. She was still up. It didn't help that the guards were snickering at him. Jet had only pants on since the bowl prevented him from wearing a shirt. He had tried to break the bowl, but like most stuff around the castle, had magic holding it together. Then he turned a corner.
"You." Jet pointed at Ileana.
She stopped dead in her tracks. She looked at Jet's hand and broke out laughing. Then turned and run.
"Oh no, your not getting away." Jet took off after her.
Some guards saw Jet chasing the princess. They were about to stop him when they saw the bowl stuck to his hand. They just went back to walking. This was not worth their time. It was awkward running with a washbowl. It threw his balance off, and it was just too big. It kept hitting stuff. Jet was just about to get her. Then a hand grabbed him, bringing him to a dead stop.
"What is going on here?" Garent currently had Jet's arm in a tight grip.
"I don't know, father. Jet just started chasing me."
"So the washbowl stuck to his hand. You have nothing to do with it." Garent let Jet go. His daughter had obviously been lying. The girl was a terrible liar.
As soon as Jet had been let go, he did a proper bow to the king. Well, as appropriate as he could with the bowl stuck to his hand.
"Permission to get back at Ileana, your majesty?" Jet asked with a grin on his face.
Ileana's eyes went wide. Did He just ask that? There was no way her father would permit him.
"Sure, just take it outside to the yard. I have paperwork to do, and listening to you too is giving me a headache." Garent said, then walked back into his library.
Jet turned to Ileana. Who was wide-eyed and took off running again. He took off after her also. Once outside, where she couldn't take corners to get away from him, he caught her quickly.
"Get this bowl off me or else."
"Or you'll what?"
Jet then proceeded to do the only thing he knew how to get back at her. Tickling was her weakness, and he did it until she turned red and started heaving for air.
"Ok, I give up," Ileana said in between gasps of air as soon as she calmed down enough to talk again. "So I didn't use a spell. It's glued to your hand."
"What kind of glue?" Jet asked.
"Something I got out of Roan's cabinets." Ileana said. Still half giggling.
Jet had a bad feeling about this. When they got to Roan, he looked half asleep and ready to tell whoever woke him off, so before he could, Jet told Roan what Ileana had done.
"All right, which one of these did you use?" Roan got out all his glue vial's out. He needed to know what she had used.
"None of those it was in a purple vial," Ileana said after looking at each one.
"Did you say a purple vial?" Horror in his voice now, he went back to his cabinet and pulled a purple vial out. "Please tell me it wasn't this one."
"Yes, that looks like the one I used." She was now wondering what she just used on Jet.
"Hold on, if these here are the glue, what is in that?" Jet's throat felt dry after seeing Roan's face.
Roan just sat down and put a hand over his eyes. "That vial is a merging agent. So your hand isn't glued to that bowl. Your skin on your hand has merged with the bowl."
"So how do I get this bowl off my hand?" Jet was trying to stay calm, but something in the back of his mind screaming, run away.
"I will have to cut the bowl off, and Jet, it is going to hurt a lot."
Ileana
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Ileana was now sitting outside the room. Her back was against the wall, and her arms around her legs. She had screwed up badly. This prank had gone too far. She flinched when Jet screamed in the room.
Dory hurried out of the room with a bowl of bloody water and rags. She returned after a while with new water and rags. Then it started all over again.
She could feel the tears falling down her face. Some of the servants going in and out told her she should just go to bed. How could she? It was all her fault. Ileana decided then it was time to stop. Maybe her brother and sister were right. It is time for her to grow up.
Someone came out the door and stood in front of Ileana. She lifted her head, and her father looking down at her. Garent had his arms crossed. She could tell he was angry.
"I'm so sorry." That was all Ileana could get out.
"Don't apologize to me. You should be apologizing to him."
"I know, and I will." She buried her head into her legs.
"You should. Jet's hand merged enough with the bowl. Roan has to cut parts of his bones off. Jet won't be able to use his right hand for weeks. I plan to punish you for this." Garent wasn't yelling, but the force of his voice sent shock waves through the air.
Ileana had never seen her father so mad. She didn't blame him, though. Who wouldn't be mad at their kid for this? How would Jet ever forgive her?
"Well, I did plan to punish you." He crouched to eye level with her. "Jet asked me not to."
"Why?" This didn't make sense. Why would Jet not want her punished?
"He said you would punish yourself enough. I disagree with him, however, since it's his hand being carved up. I will do as he asked." Garent got up to go. After all, he still had paperwork to do. A kingdom can't run itself. "Now, you should go to bed."
Jetsford
Jet was sitting and staring at the washbowl. He could see the outline of his hand on it, where it had been cut off. They told him they couldn't use healing magic on his hand. The bone and skin would need to grow back naturally. Magic could mend his flesh, but the bone wouldn't come back. Something about the magic in the bones made it where others couldn't heal them. 'So don't have a stupid prankster merge your hand with a fucking bowl.' Jet was trying to stay calm, but that had hurt.
"Well, that was a lot of fun. Want to keep the washbowl as a souvenir?" Roan was holding the washbowl out to him.
Jet just shook his head. He was too tired and just wanted to sleep. If he could get sleep after this. His hand hurt. It looked odd, even wrapped up. He looked up to see Roan taking the bowl to Dory, who was just leaving.
"Would you like help to your room?" Roan asked kindly.
"No, I will be fine. It's not like I can't walk, and I'm sure you are tired too." Jet said, getting to his feet to leave.
"Won't argue there, you young people like to keep us old folks on our toes. So have a good night, Jet, or at least try too." Roan looked like he was already falling asleep on his feet.
Jet reached for the door handle without thinking and used his right hand. It took all he had not to scream. 'I am starting to think I am a magnet for getting hurt.' As he left the room, he noticed Ileana sitting on the floor.
"Ileana, what are you still doing up."
When she heard Jet's voice, she looked up at him. Her hair was disheveled, and she had red eyes with tears going down her face.
'What is it with me and making girls cry, and I thought I had changed.' Jet just sighed and put his left hand out to help her up. When she got up, she hugged Jet.
"I'm so sorry it's all my fault."
"I accept your apology. All is forgiven." He couldn't take it. Crying girls was his weakness. Jet knew it wouldn't make her feel better accepting the apology. However, his dad said if a person is genuinely sorry, accept it and move on.
"But your hand," Ileana said, crying into his shoulder.
"It will heal, and it's in the past now. No point in holding a grudge." He said, waving it off like it was nothing.
"I promise I will stop with the." That is all she got out before Jet put his finger on her lips to silence her.
"Don't change who you are just because of one mistake. Just don't ever play with what you don't know." He didn't want this to change her. Ileana may be annoying, but he didn't want her to change. People are who they are.
Ileana just nodded and let him go. After a while, in silence, she asked. "So what now."
"I will walk you to your room, and then you will go to bed. It's late, and we both could use some sleep." If he was lucky enough to find a comfortable way to sleep. Jet was sure he would bump his hand all night.
"I will take you to your room. You are injured. It's the least I could do."
"That's just dumb. Your room is along the way. No point making you walk half the distance back." He rolled his eyes at her.
"But your injury."
"My legs work just fine. Now come on, it's late." He put his hand on her back and gave a little push forwards.
They were about halfway to her room when she stopped dead in her tracks. "You're supposed to be in the tournament next week. What are you going to do?"
Jet had forgotten about that. Garent and Rick were looking forward to showing him off. "Guess my competition gets a handicap."
"How can you act so casual about this. What I did to you." Ileana cried out.
"Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself. That is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt from my world. You made a mistake learn from it, and hopefully, others learned from you." 'I hope others learned from you, and I pity anyone that goes through this.' Jet thought to himself.
Ileana just stood there. Jet could see she was thinking the quote over. He had to admit, though, not sure how he remembered that quote.
"Goodnight, Ileana. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Goodnight." She said in a soft whisper, watching Jet go towards his room.
Jet couldn't take it. Ileana really did look sorry. He could tell this was eating her up. 'And to think her father thought I was crazy not to want her punished.' Maybe he is crazy. He just had his hand-carved up. After a few minutes, he got to his room.
It was late, and he was tired. He started to just go to bed with his clothes still on. He didn't want to deal with them right now. However, the last time he had clothes on in bed, Dory nearly took his head off. Apparently, clothes were hard on the sheets. He had his coat and shirt off, and now he was trying to untie his belt. This was ridiculous. He had been at this for ten minutes now. All he had to do was pull in one place, and it should have come undone. It was in a knot.
"Jet, calm down your getting too frustrated." He said, trying to calm down again. So he stopped fiddling with it for a few minutes. Then he tried again. He got it unknotted after a few tries. He usually put his clothes on the table by the door so that way the servants could collect them. He was just too tired right now to care, so he got under the covers. He spent a few more minutes trying to find a way to sleep where his hand would be comfortable.