Andy's Shorts to GA Prompts - 26. Prompt #127

“Just how many more times can you do that?” Josh thought to himself as he dried his eyes, after crying for the fourth time that evening.

The small blond-haired, blue-eyed boy looked around his room for the last time. He sighed deeply as he took in his bed, the non-descript decor, the rather large collection of books, and he wondered what tomorrow would bring. Tomorrow is his fourteenth birthday, and under the law, he is required to move into the palace. His name is Joshua Tierny and he is the son, and only child, of King Kenneth and Queen Maria of the Kingdom of Salania. Although technically he is Prince Joshua, he does not come into his title until tomorrow when he turns fourteen.

He lives in a townhouse on the outskirts of the prime city of Rasunal, and since he does not come into his title until tomorrow, he has lived his life without anybody knowing who he really is; he has been attending the local school with the children of Rasunal, denying his lineage of royalty. He has spent the past fourteen years (well thirteen years three hundred and sixty four days) in the company of his Aunt Mildrea, who is the sister of the Queen.

Unlike other monarchies in the realm, Salania does not bestow titles upon the extended family or other children of the royal family – hence why Joshua’s aunt is not Princess Mildrea. Only the firstborn child of the king and queen can ever become the next lead monarch; in the current case, it is Joshua’s mother, Queen Maria, who is the lead monarch.

At the age of fifteen, when she formally chose a boy called Kenneth who came from a nearby village to become the one who would rule by her side, he became King Kenneth upon her accession to the throne. In contrast to other monarchies the heir to the throne of Salania can marry anyone of their choosing; whether they are of noble birth or a commoner.

The succession laws have however lead to problems in Salania’s history. Every schoolchild has learned that their kingdom has been left monarchless on four occasions over the past one thousand years, and the clergy were forced to establish a new ruling bloodline.

Joshua has not seen his parents in person since he was born. The way that royal society works is that by preventing the heir to the throne from having contact with the monarchy and being raised in the privilege and comfort of the palace, they will hopefully learn what life is truly like for the commoners who inhabit the land. The plan is that they will better understand the lives of their subjects and keep their subjects’ wishes and desires in their mind and in their heart at all times.

The Kingdom of Salania is rare these days in that it is what is termed a monarchist totality; the King and Queen are the law and their word is absolute. All kingdoms in Relan have a monarchy but the vast majority also have a ruling council who are responsible for enacting the royal decrees, though they do carry a power of veto in order to prevent the monarchy from becoming despotic. According to the lessons Joshua had learned in school there are only two other monarchist totalities amongst the forty kingdoms, and Salania is the only monarchist totality left amongst the four Grand Kingdoms.

“Good night Aunt Mildrea,” Joshua called to her from his room.

“Good night Joshua. Sleep well,” she called back.

He was filled with trepidation at the prospect of becoming Prince Joshua in the morning. He had had absolutely no preparation for this event and had no idea what to expect. Somehow, the knowledge that princes and princesses had gone through these same feelings and emotions since time immemorial did nothing to calm his nerves; he had the feeling that sleep would be a long time coming. Yet the prince-to-be was fast asleep before his head even touched the pillow.

He awoke the next morning feeling refreshed and alert, until he remembered what the day was. He got out of bed and made his way to the bathroom for his morning shower.

Downstairs in the kitchen his Aunt Mildrea was already getting her day started. She had been up since before the sun rose, even before her housemaid and butler were up. Although Mildrea was the sister of the queen and very wealthy (even by the standards of the Salanian upper middle class), she insisted on doing her fair share of work. One of the many things she insisted on doing herself was baking bread. She already had two freshly baked loaves cooling, with another loaf already in the oven, and a batch of dough on the kitchen counter waiting to prove.

Joshua walked downstairs dressed ready for school. His aunt looked at him and said, “Joshua, happy birthday.”

“Thanks Aunt Mildrea.”

“Why are you wearing your school clothes?”

“You’ve never allowed me to take my birthday off school.”

“You misunderstand. Today, you have turned fourteen; you are going to the palace. Congratulations on your coming of age”

“I thought I’d get to see my friends and say goodbye to them all before I left.” A silent tear began to fall.

“You are not expected at the palace until noon. I will allow you to say your goodbyes, but I will accompany you to school to ensure you leave on time.”

“Thanks Aunt Mildrea.” Josh then hugged his aunt for the first time in years.

“There is a condition. You are under no circumstances whatsoever to reveal that you are to be crowned prince or the real reason for you moving to the palace, or even that you are the son of our reigning monarchs.”

“You have taught me well on our laws, and I know that the truth is not allowed to be revealed until I turn fifteen, when I am expected to choose the person who will reign with me when I become king.”

“Let us get going. The longer we stand here talking, the less time you will have for your goodbyes.”

They grabbed their coats on the way out since spring had only just come and being in the far north of Relan, the Salanian mornings were still nippy. The school was only a ten-minute walk, and Mildrea had no intention of using the car for making such a short journey. Mildrea could easily afford a fancy car and a chauffeur on twenty-four hour call, but the simple fact was she enjoyed walking and it wasn’t as though Rasunal had a crime problem of any description. As with all kingdoms in Relan, Salania had only one punishment for every single crime; execution. Many have called it harsh, cruel and unjust, but the facts speak for themselves; there has not be a violent crime committed anywhere within the lands of Relan in living memory.

They reached the street corner and there was a beggar. He was perhaps ten or eleven years old, but looked in remarkably healthy condition; meaning he was either brand new to the profession or he was lucky enough to be housed in one of the many free lodges scattered around the kingdom. Either way, Joshua felt pity for him and gave him a few coins. His aunt reached into the bag she always carried with her and handed the child one of the loaves she had baked the previous day.

“I thank you kind people,” he squeaked, and scurried off placing the coins in his pocket and ripping chunks off of the bread and eating them before they vanished into thin air.

Prince Joshua and his aunt continued to walk towards the school and arrived just as one of the teachers was ringing the bell for the start of day. The school wasn’t very big with perhaps a hundred pupils and five teachers; not exactly out of the ordinary given that, even for being the prime city, Rasunal barely has a population of one thousand and the entire kingdom of Salania is home to just shy of nine thousand souls.

“Master Tierney. How nice of you to join us.” The distain she had for Joshua was obvious. The teacher was a short, dumpy woman in her late fifties, who wore glasses with a rose-coloured rim.

“That’s Mister Tierney if you don’t mind, Miss Carlton.”

“Oh yes, I’d forgotten. Today is your fourteenth birthday, congratulations on your coming of age.” It was quite clear from her tone that what she actual wanted to say was, “It’s your fourteenth birthday, big whoop, now get to class.” However, the traditional salutation on someone’s fourteenth birthday is as time honoured as the Festival of the Serpent or bowing to the monarchy; to greet Joshua otherwise would have been regarded as a grave insult, not just to Joshua but to all those who call Relan home.

“I am Joshua’s aunt. My name is Mildrea. We are here to see the headmistress.” Mildrea, although usually the kindest sweetest person you could ever wish to meet, had no tolerance for disrespect in any fashion. She spoke to the teacher as though informing her of what was going to happen, not asking for her permission. Since Mildrea felt that she did not ask for, nor in fact did she need, the teacher’s permission, she simply lead Joshua to the headmistress’ office.

“Mister Tierney, congratulations on your coming of age.”

“Thank you, Mrs Chalmers.”

“What brings you here? You should be in class you know.”

“I am Mildrea, I am Joshua’s aunt.”

“Of course I know of you; the charitable work you do is well known. Though I had no idea of your familial relationship to Joshua.”

“I am here today on behalf of Joshua’s mother. As you know, Joshua has now turned fourteen. His mother works in the royal palace, and she has requested he join her.”

“Joshua is at a very critical junction in his education. I am sure his mother could wait until the end of the academic year, after all she has waited fourteen years so far.”

Mildrea looked at Mrs Chalmers, trying to gauge as to whether the headmistress was being sarcastic or not. She decided that Mrs Chalmers was simply speaking her mind, and so remained calm. “As you may or may not be aware, the royal palace is not the ideal place to raise a child. The staff work incredibly long hours and Joshua’s mother would have had no free time at all to spend with her growing boy; that was the reason he was sent to live with me in the first place. However, his mother has recently been appointed as the Mistress of the Queen’s Kitchen. She no longer has to work as many hours during the day, and her weekends are now her own. Now that she has the free time she would like to spend as much of it as possible with her son, whilst he is still a teenager. Based on his scholastic achievements she has been able to obtain a place for him at the Royal Academy, which I am sure will help to alleviate any concerns you may have over his future schooling.”

Joshua’s head was reeling at the ease with his aunt was spinning this tale. His aunt was telling bald-faced lies to his headmistress; his aunt who on one occasion told him if he ever lied to her, he would be cast out of her home, regardless of his bloodline. She told him that she did not mind what he did, as long as it was legal and that he was honest with her at all times.

“Everything seems to be in order, Mildrea. This letter confirming Joshua’s place at the Royal Academy has convinced me that this has been well thought through by Joshua’s mother, and she must have missed him a great deal. I will need a few days to finalise his transcripts and I will send those on once they have been compiled. Mister Tierney, I wish you all the best for the future and it has been a pleasure having you here.”

“Thank you, Mrs Chalmers. I was hoping to be able to say good bye to my friends.”

“If you are quick about it, school has begun you know.” She handed him a quickly scribbled note, confirming that she had given Joshua permission to say goodbye to his friends.

As Joshua approached his classroom, he realised he was nearly on the verge of tears. With Rasunal being so small, he had practically known all of these children his entire life. He had spent summers playing in the woods and the lakes; he had spent the autumns playing in the leaves; winters playing in the snow with most if not all of them. They had become like an extended family, and now Joshua had to say goodbye to them, most likely forever.

He slowly opened the door, and Miss Carlton looked at him. “Back from the headmistress’ office I see. What have you done now?”

“Actually Miss Carlton, I’m here to say goodbye.”

“What do you mean, ‘say goodbye’? You’ve only just gotten here.”

“I’m leaving to go and live in the palace with my mother; she’s just been made Mistress of the Queen’s Kitchen. I’m also going to be going to the Royal Academy. As you can see from this note from Mrs Chalmers, I have permission to say goodbye to my friends.” Joshua handed her the note and without so much as a ‘by your leave’, he went around the classroom saying his goodbyes.

Most were the usual ‘I’ll miss you’, ‘stay in touch’ kind of thing. However, Joshua now had the hardest goodbye of all to say.

“Nate. I can’t put into words what your friendship means to me. I spent most of yesterday trying and no matter what I came up with, nothing seemed to come close; even calling you my best friend seems woefully inadequate.”

“I know what you mean Joshua. We are probably as close as two people ever get, and I know I’ll miss you. Promise me you’ll write.” Nate then wrapped his arms around Joshua and hugged him. Nate whispered as quietly as he could, “Promise me. Promise me, your highness.”

“I promise,” Joshua replied, smiling whilst struggling to hold back his tears.

The two boys hugged for what seemed an eternity. They were brought back to the present when Jennifer Dalby shouted out, “For the love of the gods, will you two get a room!”

They both blushed, and whispered their goodbyes again.

Link to prompt