"Please don't put your elbows on the table, Emerson." The matured, soft-spoken woman asked kindly. Not taking her gaze off the morning paper she was reading while talking down to the little boy who showed no proper table manners. The small,(h/c) haired boy puffed as he readjusted his seating.
"Your breakfast is done, Emerson." Stated the young female in the back kitchen of the cozy living area that the family shared. Scooping some warmed up oats and berries into a wooden bowl she placed it down on top of a tray that already had juice, toast, and silverware prepared on it. The little boy quickly got up from his seat to retrieve the tray and made no wasted time in getting back to his seat and eating right away.
"Thank you once again for preparing breakfast for us today, (y/n)." The woman from before spoke, still not lifting her eyes from her daily news. "It was very thoughtful of you."
Walking up to the woman with a tray in hand the
The (h/c) haired girl gave her mother a kiss on the head while laying the food on the table. "Anytime, Mother." She finally was able to sit down herself and began eating the well-crafted breakfast she had made. A warm smile graced across her soft face, blood rushing to her cheeks as the warm food entered her mouth.
Only after what seemed a few moments the small family heard grunting and humming coming up the stairs behind them. From the top of the stairs came chugging along, a broad, elderly man. His grey beard complimented his long face. His tired, rough skin showed that he had been hard at work upstairs and the three at the table were prepared to have him sweep the house clean of all food. "Good morning everyone!" Cheered the man.
"Morning father!" Smiled the young boy, "can we go fly the kites today? I got them fixed like you told me to."
The man laughed as he rubbed his son's hair around in a mess, walking past him and into the kitchen. "Possibly, my boy." He scooped up a generous amount of oats into his bowl, leaving little leftover. "I'll have to see how work treats me this morning." He finished preparing his plate and walked up behind his wife. Placing a kiss upon her head. "Good morning, my love. How's the news looking today?"
The woman sipped her tea and elegantly spoke. "It seems like nothing unusual today, my dear. Just more people talking about the summer coming to an end."
The man sat down at the table. Across from the young girl who had prepared the meal. "Well boring news is better than bad news I suppose." He rubbed his hands together and smiled as he looked up at the girl. "How about you? How's my beautiful daughter doing this morning?"
(Y/n) smiled back at her father as she swallowed the food in her mouth. "I'm doing fine, me and Martha might go shopping today."
The man nodded, "Now, who's Martha again?"
"Martha, one of my closest friends for the past four years?" The girl tried explaining, her father just remained confused. "She helped us move, come on dad."
Although the man still had no clue who she was talking about he nodded as if he did. Remembering friend's names weren't a father's strong suit. "Well, that's all wonderful! But I'm afraid work won't get itself done." With that, the man stood up and grabbed his food. "Jewelry sales are typically higher this coming time of year." He made his way to the stairs as he smiled back at his family one last time. "Enjoy your days." He chuckled towards the end as he made his way up the stairwell with grunts and old man noises.
With the man now out of the room, it began to grow quiet, only the sound of clinking silverware and pages turning filled the atmosphere. With this (y/n) cleared her throat to speak. "So, mother...." for the first time the whole morning the woman looked up from her paper and turned to face her daughter. "I was thinking, I had been saving up a lot this past summer and I thought maybe...." she grew anxious and fiddled her thumbs, looking out the window and into the town streets. "Maybe me and some friends could take a trip, you know, after summer ends. Instead of..." she gulped nervously, "going to the school of nursing and humanities."
Just as (y/n) expected, her mother almost choked on her food. "I didn't think you were serious about that, (y/n)!?" She cleared her throat with another sip of tea. "You're a young lady now, you just became an adult and this is what you want to do with your life?"
Emerson grew nervous in his chair, slowly sinking into it as he heard the hiss in his mother's voice. "It's not what I want to do with my life! It's just for the next season. I just want to...I don't know." (Y/n) tried finding something less cheesy to say but there really were no other words. "I just want to go on an adventure before I start working towards an education."
"With what money, (y/n)? I understand you've saved up money but it can't possibly be enough to last you a season. Then what money will you have afterwards to pay for school?"
(Y/n) was about to respond but the two were interrupted, much to Emerson's relief. He just wanted to enjoy his oatmeal in peace. A Knock on the front door inserted itself into the conversation. (Y/n's) mother stood up and patted her dress down. She glared at her daughter while she passed by her, fixing her hair a bit as she opened the door.
Standing outside of the house was a luxuriously dressed guard. The mother squinted at the twinkling gold-laced around the man's uniform. She gasped as she realized. With the carriage behind the young man, this must be a royal guard. Looking down at the royal emblem on the man's front pocket her speculations were only proven more true.
"Oh my goodness, hello there." Yelped the woman, "what can I do for you?"
Hearing their mother's reaction, (y/n) and Emerson leaned towards the direction of the door, still not getting up from their chairs but curious as to who could have made their mother stumble like that.
"Does a Peter Mellark live in this residence?"
The woman quickly nodded, "why yes, I can get him if you'd like." She began to step back, to get her husband who was working upstairs.
"That won't be necessary mam." Stated the guard. She stopped and watched as he rummaged through his bag to retrieve something. Out from the bag, he pulled out a sealed envelope. "Please just make sure this gets to him. It's directly from the Prince."
The woman almost lost her breath at hearing this. This also definitely caught the attention of the other two sitting at the table. "Have a good day ma'am." The guard waved while turning around. The woman closed the door. Stunned, leaning her back against the wooden door she gazed down at the elegant letter.
"What is it, mother?" Emerson questioned, putting down his now-empty bowl.
"It's nothing...you're father just has a letter." She walked past the two and made a quick pace up the stairs, "it's nothing at all..."
(Y/n) and Emerson looked at each other, confusion riddled on their face. It was apparent the two wanted to follow their mother up the stairs. Especially Emerson. He went to stand up but (y/n) pulled him back down. She shook her head, knowing that the two probably shouldn't intervene.
Later that night... (y/n) closed the door behind her after entering her home. Resting on the back of it she sighed, her shopping trip proved unfruitful. Having no bags or boxes in her hand, she hadn't found anything worth buying at the town center in all honesty. Her eyes caught sight of her younger brother who hopped off the last few sets of stairs, patting his legs after his landing he rushed back to the living room to continue fixing up some broken toys he owned.
"What were you up there for?" (Y/n) questioned. Locking the front door she followed her brother into the living room.
"Dad wanted to talk to me about the letter this morning." He answered, examining the underside of his toy carriage.
"What? Wait why did he talk to you about it?"
Emerson chuckled, "what's it to you?"
"Emerson..." (y/n) growled, folding her arms impatiently.
"Fine, fine." He smiled, putting his toy down. "He didn't tell me anything about it. He just told me I was, too young to understand." He said the last bit in an almost mocking tone. "He said he wanted to see you once you got home though."
(Y/n's) eyes widened, unfolding her arms she stuttered, "o-oh ok." With that, she made her way up the stairs. Reaching the top and resting on the creaky hallway floor she took a deep breath in. She walked past all the bedroom doors and made her way to the door at the end. Once she reached it she gave it a gentle knock. Waiting for a response.
"Come in."
Opening the door slowly she saw her father at the back of the workroom, messing around with some tools. She moved past the tables cluttered in bracelets and necklaces, past the draws full of jewelry parts and past an old, almost ancient door. On the other side was the jewelry store the family-owned. She pulled an unoccupied chair out from the workbench her father was working on and made herself comfortable. The dimly lit room was only illuminated by a small lamp at the workspace, on the lamp was a red glass covering, giving the entire room a rose-ish hue.
The old man stopped his work and turned to smile at his daughter. "Ah, (y/n) how did the shopping go?"
(Y/n) shrugged, "nothing I found looked too interesting, it was nice weather however."
He smiled, "I'm glad..." he didn't speak for a moment, (y/n) began to think that maybe it was her turn to say something so she opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by her father.
"I called you up here because I wanted to talk to you about the letter I received this morning."
(Y/n) nodded as she prepared herself to listen.
"The prince has asked me to go on a voyage with him."
(Y/n) gagged on her breath, taken back by the statement. "W-what? Why even?... Does he even know you?"
The man laughed, "well not exactly, but he knew my grandfather generations before."
The girl tilted her head to the side, very confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well... it's not too easy to explain." He pushed his chair out and stood up. "But many, many years ago, our ancestors made two rings for the king and his brother." He walked to old crates in the corner of the room, bending down to sort through them, (y/n) closely watching this. "Keep in mind this was a very long time ago." The girl nodded. "Apparently something has gone wrong with them and the prince needs me to help with it, as I'm the only other one who knows about them."
This left (y/n) more confused. "Wait, how does the prince have them then? And why would, going on a voyage... help fix them?"
The man stood up with some papers in hand and made his way back to the desk. "Well, I can only assume the king passed his ring down the generations. Just as how my great ancestors passed down this jewelry store to us." He took a seat and brought his daughter closer. "The voyage part..." the man chuckled, "now that's a bit harder to explain."
He laid the papers across the desk and showed them to the girl. On them were ancient-looking documents, illustrations of two rings laid at the top while what looked like information, instructions, and ingredients laid at the bottom.
"These are the rings that were made for the royal family. My forefathers were smart people and wrote down every mold and material they used. Remember, (y/n) documenting everything is very important." He tapped his head, leading the girl to do the same. "Who knows, it might come to use to your children, generations, and generations down the line." He scooped up the papers and eyed over them.
"There's more to these rings though, (y/n) something that currently, only me, your mother, the Queen and the prince know about, the only ones out of the whole kingdom, and soon, you too."
"M-me?" She stuttered, pointing at herself.
The jolly man nodded, "why yes, I can't explain the importance of these rings without explaining what they do." He sighed, a solemn tone escaping his lips.
"The stones, in the rings, one red and one blue. They hold magnificent-power."
"Like...magic?" The girl asked.
He shook his head, "no, this is described like no magic I've ever seen before. These stones have been growing our crops like no other land, they have been enriching the minds of this kingdom's subjects like no others. They have been protecting us from any threats or misfortune, allowing our kingdom to grow like none other." He closed his eyes, placing his chin on his crossed knuckles, "whatever these stones are doing, it's not magic, it's pure, raw, power." He opened his eyelids, glaring into nothingness. "There's something wrong though."
"What is it?"
"I'm not sure, he wouldn't tell me over the letter. So he plans to inform me, and some others he's recruited when we all meet him at the palace."
"The palace! When?"
"This weekend he says, that same day we'll set sail to do...whatever it is he needs us to do."
"But, father. You can't be serious, a trip like that wasn't made for someone..." (y/n) stopped as she eyed her father up and down. Creased, aged skin and a big belly gave her all the information she needed to know. "For someone like you."
The man laughed at this jolly like, "oh (y/n), it's not up to me." He stood up and began to put the papers back in their home. "I must do my duty as a citizen and report to the palace this weekend."
The girl's heart twisted up, she pushed her cheek against the palm of her hand as she looked off into the lamp on the desk. Blinking slowly as her father's movements were heard in the background. Her eyes widened as she realized something. "Maybe..." a smirk grew on her face. "Maybe you could have someone go for you in your place?" The man already knew what she was scheming to and was ready to shut her down immediately.
The jewelry maker placed his hands on his hips. Shaking his head at the girl. "I can't just do that, I understand your concern, my child. But it's a great honor to-
"I just want you to consider, you've already told me about the rings, and I want to do something before I start school, dad, please."
"That's enough, (y/n). I think it's time we go to sle-
Standing up from her chair she pressed harder. "But father, I can assure you I'd be more than capable of-
"I said enough..." he snapped his direction to the female. "Go to sleep, (y/n)."
She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off.
"Now."
Standing there for a moment she contemplated on whether or not she wanted to take this another step or submit to her father's pushing. Tensing up her fists she had to take a deep breath to regain composure. Deciding it wasn't worth it she darted in the direction of the door and didn't bother waving goodnight to her father.
The man sighed as he plopped down on the chair behind him. He rubbed his temples together with his fingers and a frustrated sigh left his lips. He had a lot to think about that night.