Lucca's Story Part 3

By jenyf86

"…Happy Birthday to you, Lucca!" my parents and friends sang. "Happy Birthday to you!" I blew the candles on my cake, putting them all out on the first try. Everyone applauded.

It was my tenth birthday and all my friends had come to celebrate at my house. We ate the chocolate cake; it was a special recipe passed down through my family. Everybody loved it. After the cake, it was time for the presents. I received a lot of science gadgets.

A few years ago, I would have been horrified that someone would give me anything that had to do with science. But since a horrible accident occurred with my mother, I vowed I would be an inventor to prevent disasters. My mother had lost her legs because of one of my father’s inventions that malfunctioned. Now, science was the best thing for me.

We played some games; when it was time for my friends to go home, Crono, my best friend stayed to help me clean up. Once he was gone, my parents took me to their room, where they had put the gifts from them, which I hadn’t opened yet. I got a few more gadgets and some new clothes. I also received some games. I still had time to play.

"Lucca, we’ve arranged something with the royal family that might please you," my dad said. "We’re going to have dinner with them, one of these nights."

I squealed with joy. I’d always wanted to meet the King and Princess. I knew the Princess’ mother had died of sickness; it had greatly saddened me, because it made me afraid I would lose one of my parents.

A few days later, my parents and I headed to the castle. Two guards greeted us as we arrived at the front doors. We walked up the steps into the throne room and my parents and I started to kneel in front of the King.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed the King. "You don’t need to kneel in front of me. Why Taban, we’ve been friends since childhood!"

I stared wide-eyed at my dad. I couldn’t believe he was friends with the King! And he never told me.

"Sorry," my dad told the King. "Happy to see you, Ned. Here is my wife, Lara, and my daughter, Lucca."

"It’s a shame to be in a wheelchair. I’m sorry for what happened, um, Lara? Can I call you by your first name?"

"Of course," my mom said, smiling. "And thank you for the sympathy."

Then, the King turned to me. "It’s so nice to see young people." He looked at my father. "You have a very pretty daughter."

"Thank you," my dad answered.

"You’re just in time for dinner," the King said suddenly. "I’ll introduce my daughter to you. Let us get down to the dining room."

We headed down some sets of stairs, some guards helping my mother down. We then arrived in a huge candle-lit room, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The big twelve-place oak table was decorated with all sorts of flowers. The chairs had velvet cushions on which we sat. A waitress was standing by the table, ready to know what everyone would want to drink.

We all ordered. When the waitress left, I asked the King, "Can we meet your daughter?"

"Of course," he answered. "She will be coming down in a few minutes."

And a few minutes later, as the waitress brought us our drinks, the Princess arrived. "Hello," she said politely, bowing.

"Here is my daughter, Princess Nadia," the King said. "Please sit down, Nadia."

I have to admit that I was surprised in the way the King treated his own daughter. It was like he was talking to one of the high ranked men!

Princess Nadia had long strawberry-blond hair, flowing down to her waist. Her eyes were emerald green; they showed some sadness, yet a bit of joy. She was about my age.

"Now," the King said. "I have made our best cook prepare the ‘Family Tradition’. It is composed of Beef Jerky, mashed potatoes, green salad, and a few other vegetables."

Two waitresses immediately rushed out of the kitchen, holding plates full of what the King called ‘Family Tradition’. I watched as the waitresses set down the plates, then hurried back to the kitchen. The plates were huge, like nothing I’d ever seen before.

While we ate, the King talked mostly about politics. The Princess didn’t (actually she couldn’t) place a single word. Each time she tried to say something, the King shut her up and found something more to talk about. When we had finally finished our big dinner, the table was cleared and the waitresses brought a huge bowl full of hot little fruits and gave us each a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. Then they took spoonfuls of fruits and put them in the bowls. It was delicious, like nothing I’d ever tasted. There were the hot fruits and the cold ice cream. I’ll remember what it’s like till the end of my life. I’ll even try to prepare it!

But even as I savored my dessert, the King talked. There was something in his tone of voice that said: "If you even dare to speak, Princess Nadia, you won’t eat tomorrow." It kind of scared me.

Once we were finished, I asked a question. "I would like to know if The Princess could show me around the castle?"

"No. Some guards will escort you around," the King replied.

I placed my face in a pout, but agreed. My father noticed I was sad and wanted to be with the Princess for a while. He dared to ask once more. "Ned, you know, my daughter was waiting for this moment since a long time ago. I would really like her to be happy here, and what she wants is to go with the Princess. Please let your daughter play around with Lucca for a while."

The King couldn’t say no to one of his friends. He let us go.

"Thanks dad," I whispered as I passed by him.

The Princess led me around the ground floor only saying what we were passing by. When we finally got upstairs to her room and no guards were around, I asked her why she didn’t talk much.

"My father doesn’t want me to speak, because he’s afraid I’ll say something not right for a Princess. And it’s true. If I could talk like I wanted, when I wanted, I wouldn’t speak like a Princess, but like any other normal person. I don’t like being a princess. I can’t go out of the castle. I’ve never seen Truce village or even the forest, except from my window. I’d like to be like everyone else my age and go play outside and get dirty by falling in the mud. I want to have knots in my hair and brush them till they’re back to normal. I want to learn how to swim." She started crying. "But I’ll never know the joy of any of those things, because I’m a princess and I have to stay perfectly clean and never go out of this stupid place!"

I felt bad. I didn’t want the Princess to cry. But she had said what was on her heart. I guess she felt at least a little bit better. "You know, someday, you will have what you want," I said sincerely. "And if not by your seventeenth birthday, I’ll do something. I promise. I won’t forget about this. But I don’t think I’ll need to do anything that you would already have done the things you want to do."

"Thank you, Lucca."

"Let’s not cry anymore. We have some time to play."

***

When I got back home, I knew I would see Princess Nadia some day again. Only not before a few years. But I knew that she was already feeling better and it made me happy.

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