Friends

If the exterior of the castle was impressive, the interior looked surreal. Unlike his father, the king wasn't that militaristic, so while he found some statues wearing sets of armor, Zaos also found several paintings of what seemed to be prominent figures of the past, vases of flowers, and other things that looked expensive but didn't have any real use from Zaos's perspective.

After a while, they arrived in the throne room where the party was being held. Although the number of people there was insane, the place was so vast that anyone could easily walk around without having to worry about bumping into others. It became hard for Zaos to see anything, so Lyra put him in her arms at that point in time.

"I am going to get our gift since the ceremony is going to start soon," Laiex said. "Wait here."

What ceremony? Wasn't that a birthday party? After thinking for a while, Zaos realized that the ceremony was probably related to the gifts everyone will give to the princess. Until now, Zaos didn't have to worry about that kind of thing, but he had already noticed that his parents followed a set of stiff rules to most things. When they eat, when they talk, when they walk… Zaos's head starts to hurt whenever he thinks that someday he is going to learn that kind of etiquette.

While they were waiting, Zaos and Lyra were greeted by several couples who seemed to be at the same age as his parents and slightly older. As usual, they talked about their kids, but mostly they talked about how Zaos, despite being so small, were so well-behaved and even could walk without help. As expected, Lyra looked pretty proud when her kid was praised… that is the thing most mothers do.

The laughter decreased when Laiex returned. While he wasn't exactly a mood killer, his level of self-respect was pretty high, so the people who got close enough to greet them only showed restrained smiles.

"What is the present you choose?" Lyra asked.

"A magic amulet," Laiex replied.

Zaos was interested in hearing more about the said amulet, but his father stopped there. In any case, just knowing the fact that such a thing existed was enough for the time being. Zaos made a mental note to research about those at a later date.

After half an hour, things got silent when the guests began to hear the sound of footsteps coming from the throne room entrance. The sea of guests split into two parts, and then a couple of blondies showed up. Zaos couldn't help but frown since the king and queen looked too young, and they resembled each other quite a lot. Both of them were blonds, and their eyes were blue.

The kind wasn't wearing the same type of fancy clothes the guests weren't wearing. While every man and boy was wearing a set of clothes that were white, brown, and black, he was wearing something similar, but blue and yellow. He stood out too much with that combination, mainly because his clothes looked far more comfortable than any other. However, he also had a red cape on his back. There was no crown, though.

His wife was a one-piece white dress that also had many flowers in it. For a second, Zaos barely saw the kid in her arms since she was also wearing white clothes. So while the queen was beautiful and young, Zaos considered that his mother won by a decent margin.

Before sitting on the throne, the king and the queen faced the crowd. Zaos was expecting a long speech by the king, but then when he took a deep breath to gather air in his lungs and speak, a loud cry echoed through the room. Despite her young age, the princess began to cry… despite her young age. Her vocal cords were powerful enough to make the king cover his ears. After a while, the queen managed to calm down her daughter.

"… This is it, everyone," The kind said. "The main star of this show, Ameria, doesn't want a long speech, so let's skip to the presents. I am sure she will like that more."

Some people laughed in the room. Even Laiex cracked a smile after hearing that. It looked like the king was respected and loved by his people, but Zaos didn't feel much charisma coming from him. Regardless, several families entered in a line to give the presents, and much to Zaos's surprise, there was only a single family in front of them, and the couple also had a kid around Zaos's age. They were probably the members of Seres' family that Zaos had heard of before.

"Do you want to go ahead first, Laiex?" A man a bit younger than Zaos's father asked with a smile on his face, and for some reason, he felt some sarcasm coming from his voice.

"If you didn't want to be the first, you wouldn't have come first," Laiex said. "Hurry up, and don't let His Majesty wait."

It was unusual to hear his father using such sentences, but Zaos understood that those two probably worked together on a daily basis. In the end, that man and his family proceeded to greet the royal family, and they took their time talking and laughing.

"I guess not everyone who works directly for the king is someone who takes themselves too seriously," Zaos thought.

When their turn came, Zaos used that chance to study the face of the king. While it looked like he cracked some jokes now and then, Zaos saw in his eyes that he wasn't an ordinary man. It was hard to explain, but even in such an event, the king kept his guard up for some odd reason. Yet, despite that, he didn't look nervous or afraid.

Lyra bowed slightly since Zaos was in her arms, and Laiex bent the knee to the king before he approached and gave to the queen a blue amulet. Both of them smiled in gratitude… Zaos thought their turn would end there, but then the king turned to face him.