Ches's opinion was that creatures looked at the world through rose coloured glasses. They forgot that the rose colour came from millennia of creatures spilling each other's blood in a desperate attempt to survive and evolve.
"It's a monkey eat monkey world after all."
Originally this saying was 'shark eat shark world'. It had been the gibbon in front of him that had changed his take on that forever.
"Aren't you going to bow before your old master?" Mranie asked with a sense that it was an expectation.
"I would, but that might suggest respect for you,". Ches paused before adding, "and I'd hate to mislead anyone."
Amiel could tell that Ches had a hidden meaning to the comment but couldn't guess what it might be.
The wolves snarled at the blatant disrespect.
For some reason the aged monkey went back to looking benevolent. "Jarleson wants to see you. And, I think it's time for the Princess to see her mother."
"What about my birthday cake?" Amiel asked in a tired, whiny voice.
Seeming to take a lot of energy, Ches looked over at Mranie. "Why don't we have cake here. Otherwise we'll have to eat something that Jresh chose. Nobody wants that."
Everyone, except Amiel, nodded. The youngest wolf even shuddered as she remembered some of the food she'd been forced to endure.
"Okay." Mranie looked relieved.
Ches moved to release his parents. The biggest grey wolf moved to stop him but a grunt from the monkey held him back.
"No one makes cake like his mum." Mranie said. "Trust me, it'll be worth the wait."
By the time the bacon, blueberry and maple tea cake came out of the oven everyone, including the gerbil, was drooling.
As Amiel cut the cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday, Ches's Mum slipped him another needle.
"Try not to lose this one Dearie. They take me a long time to balance just like you like them."
He slipped it into the metal loop he'd had pierced next to his spine just before he'd left home as a youngster.
He smiled winsomely over at Mranie who looked on impassively.
Then Ches and his Mum tapped out a complex tune with needles while his dad, Olly, sang a traditional chameleon birthday lullaby. After the party the seven of them made their way to the draken palace. By mutual decree none of them let Amiel know that her face was covered with cake crumbs until they'd climbed up the last peak of the mountain leading to the palace.
She really wasn't very impressed when she found out. "I thought you were on my side."
"Don't worry, your mum will teach you table manners." Everyone laughed. The alpha wolf, Adrian, even snorted. His small pack looked on in disbelief.
"It's just Ches. I always hope I'm the one who gets to kill him but he cracks me up every time."
A few minutes later they were standing before Jarleson . The eagle looked particularly majestic as he looked over Amiel and Ches.
"Welcome back Princess," he said smoothly. "Did you have a good hunt?"
"I did thank you. Though it ended a little differently than I expected. Why were the royal tutor's parents trussed up?" Amiel sounded lightly interested in how they might respond.
"We thought young Ches had gone and gotten you killed. So we went to see if it was a conspiracy or something he'd hatched up on his own."
Before Amiel could answer Jresh rushed in. She raced over to Amiel giving her air kisses.
"Oh my baby, my baby. Are you alright?"
Ches stepped forward. "We had a simple hunt in the forest Ma'am. Your daughter performed excellently, as expected coming from such excellent stock."
Jresh acknowledged the compliment, when she understood what he meant, but looked at the cuts and bruises all over her little drakeling dubiously.
"How dare you. How dare you return my daughter in this state!"
At this moment Jarleson stepped forward. "Quite right your Mightiness. Let's throw this scurrilous worm into the prison."