The door opens again, this time more gently. Father comes in with Sir Arman and an elderly grandfather I had never seen before. His royal garb now in place and his aura no longer in turmoil. The unknown man is dressed in a floor-length brown chiton and he holds a long curvy wooden staff with a translucent green crystal at one end.
"Oh, My King. You weren't here, but Iris just said 'Mama' and giggled adorably. I think she now fully understands what we're saying," Mother happily informs Father.
"She said 'Mama'?" he asks, his voice tingling with jealousy.
"Yes. Her chubby cheeks moved cutely as she popped the letter M when she said it. Right, Iris?" Mother boops my nose as she flashes me a warm and proud smile. I try to take Mother's hand, and she lets me. My tiny fist clasps and locks on her finger.
Father caresses my cheek. I made bubbles with my saliva and blew raspberries at him. "Did she say 'Dana'?"
"Oh, not yet. I also didn't ask her because I don't want to stress her out."
"But I want Iris to call me too!"
Hearing his King's piping voice, Sir Arman nudges him, silently telling him to compose himself. Father stands tall and clears his throat, and introduces the person standing behind him. "This is Gwendohlf, a high-level Peculiar. He's an augur, he is an expert in forecasting the future."
"Good day, Great Elder Gwendohlf. May the benison of Kismet be with you. May I know why you've visited my child's residence?"
"Greetings, Royal Consort, Saridayang Iris, Prince Twelve Ashburnham of Aryela Kingdom. May the benison of Kismet be with all of you. And please, address me as Gwendohlf. I am not a Great Elder as I have not reached the pinnacle of my ability yet." The old man who resembles Gandalf greets.
"And I hope you do not reach it," Mother adds. It may sound harsh for others who do not know it, but Mother is actually wishing the old man a long life. Peculiars die when they reach the pinnacle of their careers, after all. Wishing him that is a good thing for him.
"Thank you very much, Royal Consort," he answers gratefully.
"He's here to predict when Iris will take her first walk," Father announces, confident and proud of the fact that he has just used one of the kingdom's most powerful magicians to predict his daughter's first walk.
Shit. What did I turn the King into?
Mother's annoyance is visible on her face for a brief moment; it's clear she wants to scold Father but couldn't do so in front of someone powerful like the Great Elder because he is still the King and it might tarnish his reputation. "I've bothered you," she tells Gwendohlf.
The other just shakes his head. "No, no, no. No, not at all. It is an honor to assist Dan El Haluman in learning about some of Saridayang's firsts. After all, everything about the Princess concerns the betterment of the country. It is an honor."
"Enough of that. Predict it right now." Father gives the order, and the old man does as he is told.
"If I may, Saridayang? I will try my best to accurately predict the future, it'll only take a few moments, and it won't harm you, so you can just relax." When I realized that he is waiting for a reaction from me before proceeding, I laughed to give him the go signal.
Everyone moves out of his way and he thumps his staff on the ground, igniting the crystal. A tiny blob of water escapes from the crystal and lands in between my brows. Coldness engulfs me as I feel my skin absorb the water. Though it is an unpleasant sensation, it did not cause any pain; it simply feels cold, as if someone has placed a KoolFever on my forehead. After a minute, I feel as if something is being yanked from within me, and the water returns to the crystal. The crystal then becomes even brighter, and I notice a green color blending with the light emanating from it. A projection appears above the lit crystal showing an image of me sitting on the floor in a blue dress.
I was playing with Ash, who was sitting on his heels, while the attendants stood near the door. I was building a tower using small wooden blocks but it collapsed when I tried to put the roof in its place. Ash patiently collected the blocks and reassured me that everything would be fine; however, I became frustrated at the prospect of starting over and threw a tantrum. He tried to soothe me, but seeing that I got everyone's attention, I threw a full-on tantrum. The blocks scattered everywhere. This time, Nanny and the others stepped up and helped collect the blocks while Ash focused on calming me down.
After a while, everyone returned to their original positions, and Ash and I began to rebuild the tower. He assisted me in placing them when the blocks became too high for me to reach. When we were about to finish everything, we noticed that the tower's roof was missing. We both looked for it; he lifted the pillows and cushions and I looked through my dolls to see if the missing piece was underneath, but we couldn't find it.
It turned out that the roof was not far from where I was; it was out of Ash's line of sight. I looked at him for a split second before calling his name, but he didn't hear me. I stood up and walked to where the block was and picked it up. I straightened myself and showed it to Ash proudly. Ash stopped what he was doing and stared at me wide-eyed; I tilted my head, then I realized I was standing up without being helped by anyone.
That's how I would be taking my first steps — without Father or Mother present. It was Ash who would be with me once again. It would be him to witness yet another milestone of mine.
'This King, who's on the top of the pyramid, is a fool for his daughter. He's a simp! A simp, I tell you all!'
The King announced that he would be taking a week off from royal duties to spend time with me. He contended that since he had missed my first word, it is only natural for him to witness my first step. No one could stop him; even Brother Lothario, to whom he delegated his duties, couldn't persuade our simp father. He even sent the poor foreigner on a 'vacation' for a week outside the Royal City, prohibiting Ash from visiting me until I take my first steps. But being with the King all the time isn't my concern; it is the Peculiar, Gwendohlf. He knew.
"I predict it will be between three and five days from now, Vhar El Haluman," he said after his staff returned to normal. When asked if he could be more specific, he shook his head. "I am afraid I could not, Royal Consort. Despite the fact that I am an expert in augur, I was unable to predict exactly what I was looking for in Saridayang's future. May the King pardon this old man's incompetence," he prayed, bowing his head to Father and closing his eyes in shame.
"Oh, please do not be concerned. That is understandable. Saridayang Iris' case is a little unpredictable; she only said her first word today, which is a little later than the other princes, so I understand why you couldn't truly predict it."
"Today?"
"Indeed. Her first words aren't directed at me or the King, but that is still fine, I am proud of her."
He jerked his head in my direction and fixed his gaze on me, three vertical lines forming in between his furrowed brows. "Clearly…"
I burst out laughing to divert everyone's attention away from his suspicions, and as if on cue, everyone began complimenting me on my charms. Mother and Father did silly things to make me laugh even harder. I guffawed again to divert the attention of those who were circling me, then pointed my finger at the augur and raised it slightly upward in a hush position after making sure no one was looking at him or anything. He looked surprised, but thankfully he understood what I was trying to say. He's quick witted. I give him that.
Father played with me from dawn to night on the first day of the predicted time span, just as he had promised, but to his disappointment, I couldn't walk without assistance, let alone stand for more than ten seconds. At the very least, he witnessed me "stand up for the first time." No one knew I'd already mastered the fundamentals and was an expert in areas that even a small child could handle. I've been practicing every night after everyone else had gone to bed for months already, afraid that if I made too much progress, my brothers would see me as a thorn in their eyes. Advance my butt! A turtle seems to be faster than me. I should have just paid attention to Mariana when she was informing me about the ways of this world. I am completely clueless and I don't like it.
The next day, nothing much happened. Due to an emergency, Father was compelled to attend a meeting. He hesitated to leave at first, but Hara Licentia picked him up and lectured him on the gravity of the situation. To appease my father, I addressed him as Dana for the first time. When he asked me to repeat what I had just said, I called him Dana again. Then I did it again and again until the Queen lost her cool and publicly chastised him. That day, I didn't walk because I didn't want my father to miss out on seeing me walk after waiting so long.
Another day has come and the last day of the augur has come.
Nanny dresses me in the same blue dress that I was wearing when the augur's prediction was shown, but no one seems to notice. Today, Father spends more time with me; we play with blocks until the sun goes down, and I'm physically exhausted by the end of the day. He, on the other hand, appears to be in good spirits. Mother has already informed him that I am well past my bedtime, but after Father dismisses her and she returns to her home helplessly. I threw a temper tantrum not long after, kicking the blocks and flailing my arms in frustration. Father is taken aback. He carries me to the love sofa in the playroom, where he lays me down and drapes his coat over my small frame before stepping outside for a few moments, telling me to rest for now so that we can continue playing later.
That's when Ash, who has just returned from his "vacation," comes in. I leap down the sofa and wait for him to reach me. "I have returned," he says and I nod at him.
"Weltam home."
After realizing that I am far behind my peers, I figured that I needed to up my game. I don't want my parents to worry. Not to mention that I also don't want the augur to come back and pry into my mind because I'm not sure what he'll find if he does. I've been working hard to become more like a normal royal, but because I didn't practice speaking in my spare time, I still struggle to pronounce certain words.
He smiles at me and takes my hand as I reach out to him. "Why are you still out here and not in your room when the moon is already shining brightly?" He talks to me using full sentences as if he knows what I am trying to do.
"Woods."
"Woods? Ah. The wooden blocks," he says after seeing the scattered wooden blocks on the floor. "Would you like to finish it?"
I express my displeasure with a sigh and a shake of my head. I'll never again play with those tiny cut-up woods. When I have the chance, I'd throw them all in the trashcan and burn them.
"Would you like to return to your room then?"
But if I do, Father would sulk. He's a simp. He'll surely sulk. And the Queen will reprimand him again.
I shake my head. "I wanna play blocks. I'll wait for Dana here," I say as best as I could.
"Okay then." Ash holds my hand and guides me back to the center of the room patiently and occasionally stopping after taking a step to wait for my little legs to cope up with him.
He tells me stories about his time outside the Royal City as we sit back down on the carpeted floor and stack the blocks. He says the Square and the Food Market are always bustling with people, that children are always running around, and that parents are always chasing after them. He tells me how much more delicious the foods sold on the streets are than those served in restaurants, and that the foods of the common people have a distinct flavor.
We notice that the triangle block is missing when the tower is nearly complete. It's supposed to be put at the top as the roof of the tower. Even after Ash searches through my plushies and stuffed animals, the roof is nowhere to be found. When I see it, I crawl past him and stand up to pick up the piece of wood without realizing it. I called Ash's name and proudly displayed the block to him, happy that I had discovered it.
He turns to face me with a soft smile on his face but his expression freezes. His hand trembles and his butt slumps on his heels as soon as he notices me. I tilt my head to the side, perplexed by his actions. He looks like he's seen a ghost. His expression is the same just like when Mother processed what my first word is.
"What's wong?"
"Iris?" I turn around and see Father with his eyes wide open staring at me as his voice echoes around the room. He is standing by the open door, having returned from who knows where. I show him the block in my hand, still oblivious of what is going on.
"Dana! Bock!"
"Did you... walk?"
This time, it was my pupils that dilated. "Shit," I cursed as I realized I had been walking without realizing it.