Gebreth watched Henndar go on and as they rounded the corner, Henndar found himself meeting Kethra. Her expression changed from normal to slight surprise, and he smiled. Just when Gebreth thought all was calm and Henndar wouldn't do anything odd, Henndar shifted forward a little, blurring his figure ever so slightly and putting Gebreth on alert. Kethra found her face right in front of somebody and reflexively stretched her hand to shield the children behind her since this husband of hers was just too unpredictable, but then, his face drew closer, and she felt a slight tap at her ankle. His foot? she was too startled to do anything immediately about the situation she found herself in.
Henndar's grin became wider as he took hold of her outstretched arm, slipping the other to her lower back to prevent her fall. He held her only a few inches off the ground and stared deeply into her yellow eyes with a charming smile and a smug look as if he'd just saved the whole world.
"Are you okay? You almost fell there" Henndar asked sincerely as if he had no hand in what had just happened. Kethra felt the few gazes on her and turned her head to see three pairs of eyes staring at her confusedly. For them, she was walking normally, then stretched out her hand and fell. Her face brightened slightly and she released herself, standing up. The color on her face had reduced to a slight pink over her cheeks. She smoothed her hair and repositioned her crown properly on her head. Henndar's eccentricity was on a full streak. He came closer to her again, startling everyone as he held her face gently. " Is something troubling you, my love?"
Kethra's face turned redder as she felt her husband's face inching closer and closer to hers till the air they breathed was the same.
" is something the matter? You know I can always help," he said softly
"Ahem!" Gebreth loudly cleared his throat and coughed a little just in time to stop Henndar from his advances, letting Kethra extricate herself from him. He discreetly gestured toward the children behind Kethra.
Henndar looked at them and focused his attention on a peculiar character. He walked towards the little one and stopped then said " sorry if I didn't notice you earlier. You look a bit different from your usual ah! You didn't tie your hair I see. " Henndar's teasing smile came up again as a vein appeared on the little one's face, about to pop.
" what's wrong, Ara, are you offended in some way?" Henndar asked and soon his smile turned to laughter which filled the corridor. Ara's expression turned dark, and she took a step towards the laughing king with her fists clenched, but she stopped abruptly, feeling the grip on her shoulder which held her back. she looked up at the owner beside her, it was Gebreth.
" It's not worth it, Ara. Doing such would make things worse for you. He would enjoy it. " Gebreth told her. Ara calmed down but suddenly looked at Gebreth darkly.
" What did you just call me?"
Gebreth saw the glare of death directed at him and winced inwardly. He cleared his throat and quickly took his hand off her shoulder.
" Oh, that might have slipped out on its own. You know the tongue is faster than the mind sometimes. It was just a slip of the tongue."
" was it?"
Gebreth forced a smile with his eyes closed as a bead of sweat run down the side of his cheek. WRONG WORDS WRONG WORDS!
Henndar came in, bursting out in a loud laugh which was soon mixed with a little cough. Kethra worriedly reached out to him to help calm him down. Ara looked at him darkly again as she thought sinisterly; One day...All it'll take is one lucky day with one lucky mistake and this kingdom would lose its king. Just then she heard some giggling from behind. She looked back only to see Lia covering her mouth, but the laughter still escaped a little. Ara just shook her head knowing that that should be expected from Lia. That shouldn't be anything new to her, but turning slightly to her right, she saw a small smile on Mozrael's face. She was also enjoying this?! Realizing her mistake, Mozrael looked away. " sorry," she managed to say. Oh, you'll be sorry alright, every single one of you. She clenched her fists tightly, and moved over to stand before Gebreth, then bowed slightly.
" Please master Gebreth, I want to train the whole day under your supervision. Please help me out."
Gebreth turned to look at Henndar, noticing that his demeanor and expression had turned from cheerful to dark and deadly. He felt chills at the back of his neck and looked behind to see the same expression imprinted on Lia's face. Like father like daughter, he thought.
" Will you help me?" she asked Gebreth with pleading eyes.
" I'm afraid I cannot do so," he told her finally
"Cannot do so? But why?" Gebreth's eyes darted about as he looked for an excuse then his eyes came back to settle on the child before him.
" I have AHEM things, to attend to,"
" I can help you with whatever you need to do, you've taught me well enough already to be able to give you assistance."
"Don't even think of that as an option, I'm not taking you. I'll be too busy"
"Then give me homework"
damn this kid's desperate, Gebreth thought.
"Wait, this doesn't seem right"' Henndar suddenly said, making everyone look at him
" I just realized," He continued with his brows furrowed as he looked around as if searching for something " since we're all here, what is Aramith doing? Where is he even?" he asked. Kethra standing beside him pinched his side very hard, but in such a way that no one noticed " Don't push too hard," she told him and he chuckled God, she's using way too much strength Honey, you're not trying to kill me now are you? Hurts!!! [AN: Henndar Henndar, your wife just loves to touch you. it's called being affectionate. Never heard of it?]
"Don't blame me, dear, I'm just wondering why even up to now Aramith hates to be anywhere near his sister. I mean isn't it odd? Hey, Ara, do you have a good guess? Does he hate you that much, or he's just jealous you're too much like him? Let me see, same long, silky black hair, same beautiful purple eyes, same pale-like skin. Hmm...maybe he feels weird being weird around all three sisters?, Or he's shy of you? Mozrael?"
"Heh?"
Henndar sighed with a worried look on his face, trying hard to ignore the fact that Kethra was still pinching him, and might have probably forgotten she was still bruising the piece of his skin she had between her fingers and was pinching strongly. Gebreth looked on at the drama unfolding before him. He looked at Lia and saw her poking Ara with a finger from behind while simpering. Ara ignored her, but she persisted, grinning evilly. Ara's patience finally wore out and she finally turned, but all Lia did was cover her mouth with a hand and laugh. She turned to Mozrael and mouthed something. Instantly, Mozrael's expression turned blank. Kethra on the other hand looked unhappily at Henndar's smug look. It was as if he didn't notice the dark, deadly aura around Ara.
"This again," Gebreth muttered to himself then moved closer to Henndar. " They should be going now," He told Henndar.
"Of course, of course! Why don't you kids go on ahead, hmm? " Henndar put on his usual smile back as he watched them. Ara looked back at Gebreth, looking betrayed then stomped off ahead of the other two girls.