"Isn't our new prince handsome?" Flora whispered to Tabitha.
"Indeed our prince is quite beautiful." Tabitha agreed. "He has the beauty of his mother, but those eyes are definitely from the king. So he'll have our Majesty's intelligence. He will surely make a splendid prince." Tabitha and Flora peeked inside the prince's bedroom for a moment to gaze at his beautiful sleeping face.
"He's not even seven years old and yet he's more beautiful than me..." Flora complained.
"His betrothed must be relieved that her fiancé is so appealing..." giggled Tabitha.
"Oh yes, that's right! The prince is engaged to Lady Aurora. I completely forgot about that!" Flora gasped, thinking about the engagement the King and Queen had set up since before the prince's birth.
"Isn't she the daughter of the family that owns the mines in the Eastern valleys?" Flora asked vaguely remembering the situation from other hand accounts.
"Mmm, that's right!" Tabitha nodded. "The family was very wealthy due to the precious gems they mined but had no protection against thieves or monsters since the family wasn't registered to any kingdom that could protect them," Tabitha explained.
"Oh yes, that right... Azlantean was paying really high tax from the Reynheart kingdom to import their precious gems. So the King struck a deal with the family that owned the Eastern mines, right?" Flora smiled as it was all coming back to her.
"Exactly. Azlantean would take ownership of the mines and in return, the Favian family would become part of the Royal family, by having their daughter marry the prince." Tabitha finished off with a smirk, proud of her own memory skills.
Flora sighed, "I hope that the prince and Lady Favian will get along well..."
"Why wouldn't they?" Tabitha asked confused.
"Well, I heard from Amethyst, who is friends with the nanny of the Favian family, that the prince's betrothed hasn't been happy ever since they moved to Azlantean," Flora whispered to Tabitha.
"Really! Why not!?" Tabitha almost looked offended. "Azlantean is a thousand times better than the shabby mining valley they used to live in."
"No that's not the problem." Flora refuted. "Apparently she's become a bit of an outcast at the academy and hasn't made any friends."
"Oh, well, that's quite sad actually." Tabitha sighed. "Well, hopefully, the news of her betrothed coming back to the kingdom will cheer the little Lady up."
"I hope so," Flora mumbled.
"Tabitha, Flora!" Called out Nanny Zelda when she saw the two girls peeking into the prince's bedroom.
"Come away from there." She scolded. "Our prince needs to rest, he has a big day tomorrow after all and we want him perfectly ready and well-rested for all the aptitude tests he will have to take."
Flora and Tabitha jumped slightly at being caught in the act.
"Yes Nanny Zelda." The two girls walked away to their chambers guiltily. Nanny Zelda shook her head all the while.
Nanny Zelda then headed down to the royal library to get all the books she thought Prince Torryn would enjoy. She smiled thinking about how he hadn't been interested in picture books at all but rather wanted serious academic books. She smiled thinking about the little frost-haired prince with yellow-amber eyes. She knew as soon as she laid her eyes on him that he was someone special.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nehemia had just finished telling the story of what happened that night six and a half years ago to the King, Queen, Duke Cassian and Duke Savras (the Queen's older brother).
"It's amazing that Rory was able to manifest his magic only minutes after he was born." The Queen's face was alert with astonishment.
"Indeed, such an early awakening is unheard of." Duke Savras opened the book of records and turned through some pages.
"In the entire history of the Royal family, the youngest person to manifest their powers was four years old." Duke Savras stared at the book he was holding, not quite able to believe what he was hearing.
"I knew he was special." Grinned Cassian.
"Special does not begin to describe what he is," Savras interjected adjusting his glasses.
"Nehemia, so you say Rory was able to pierce the man who tried to capture him with the arrow?"
"Yes, my Queen," Nehemia confirmed.
"Good." The king finally spoke. "That means we will have something to identify the perpetrator by."
"How so?" Asked the Queen.
"If an arrow charged full of magic directly struck the man, there would be a significant scar left behind. When we find a worthy suspect, we need only look at his chest to see if there is a wound on it or not." The king stated simply.
"Yes of course!" The Queen said hopefully. "Thanks to Rory, we have a sure way to identify the perpetrator.
"Isn't our son wonderful my love?" The Queen gushed thinking about her handsome son as she wrapped her arms around her husband's waist and rested her head on his chest.
The king gently stroked her hair and nodded in agreement with her.
"Oh, that reminds me..." Nehemia coughed, trying to pry the lover's attention away from each other.
"Prince Torryn has shown exceptional magical prowess during his time with the mages in the village. Although he is aware that he is talented, he doesn't quite understand just how unfathomable his powers are..." Nehemia explained.
"Should we perhaps tell him to hold some of his powers back during his testing tomorrow?" Queen Verena asked the King.
"No." His tone was firm and final. "I am also interested in discovering just how powerful my son is. In order to do that I want to see him at his best, without holding back. Therefore I want his full strength on display tomorrow. In fact..." the king paused for a moment.
"Servant!" The king raised his voice so that his attendant waiting outside could hear his call. The attendant quietly slipped into the room and bowed to the four members of the Royal family.
"Go and invite our guests, as well as the most important noble families to come and view the prince's magical aptitude tests tomorrow."
"Yes, your majesty." The attendant promptly left to go and do the King's bidding.
"My dear, why would you invite all those people to come and view Rory's magical tests tomorrow?" Queen Verena asked confused.
"While we have ambassadors of the Reynheart kingdom staying with us, we should take the opportunity to show them what kind of power lies within the kingdom of Azlantean. Make sure they understand the difference between our two kingdoms." The king explained as he gazed out onto the kingdom from his window.
The Queen, whose demeanour was always gentle and caring suddenly became cold.
"He hasn't even been back with us for a day, and you're treating him like one of your pawns?" She stated grimly.
"Verena. I'm not using him. I'm doing what's best for him." The king turned towards her and cupped her face in his large hands.
"It's in Rory's best interest to build up a reputation for himself so that people will not attempt what happened six years ago ever again. It is even better now that we have foreigners in our midst so that they too can spread the word about how formidable he is." The Queen smiled when she heard the King use Rory's nickname for the first time.
"I see." The Queen reached up and placed a sweet kiss on the King's cheek.
"Come. Let's go and kiss him goodnight." Queen Verena tugged the King all the way out of the room and to Rory's beside where they found him fast asleep.