Fin folded his arms across his chest as he regarded the Troivackian King in front of him emotionlessly. “What is it about my daughter you would like to discuss, Your Majesty?”

“Today’s greeting aside, your daughter has exhibited unacceptable behavior towards myself. Her rude disposition and lack of discipline is abhorrent and needs to be addressed. I take this matter to you and not your King for now. Should it continue, I will not let it end with a discussion,” Brendan informed the cook, his deadened gaze unwavering and his hand casually resting on the hilt of his sword.

The Viscount failed to have the expected response however when he replied with,

“I see. I would like to corroborate this incident with my daughter in the room to decide on the best course of action, Your Majesty.”

Raising a black eyebrow, the Troivackian King regarded the Viscount who was currently wearing peasant garb, with a glint of curiosity.

“I will allow it.”

There was the shadow of a twitch in the redhead’s left eye, when the garden door magically opened on its own. Outside, Alina remained slumped against the garden post unaware that her unladylike position was on display. The young Lady Ashowan had her back to them, and was speaking to someone while Tam stood off to the side rubbing his face with both hands.

“Katarina,” Fin called, making his daughter turn and reveal that the person she was speaking with to be his wife.

Without addressing the Viscountess, the witch’s gaze settled on his daughter. “Come here, we need to have a talk.”

Annika stepped forward then as Clara stepped backwards. “I will join the discussion.”

The couple locked eyes for a moment, and a wordless conversation took place for a moment before the Viscount gave a nod of affirmation and waited as both mother and daughter strode forward to the kitchen. Though Katarina was the only one of the two to exhibit her emotion of irritation and obvious dread.

Fin closed the door and magically sealed all sound from leaving the room as he faced his daughter squarely.

“The King of Troivack has just informed me that you have been disrespectful to him not only today, but yesterday as well, and is asking that you be rightly punished. I want to hear your side of things. Now.”

The young woman’s stricken face lasted all of a second before she turned a furious gaze to the monarch.

“Katarina,” Annika’s tone was low, and deadly. A clear warning.

The monarch tilted his head and the corners of his eyes tightened as he stared around the tall redheaded woman to her mother.

“Da, Alin- the Princess, was having an episode of her affliction, and the King here stood by and didn’t think to get her a drink of water, or help. I pointed out that it was not appropriate that he respond so carelessly.”

“I believe your words were, ‘if I see someone acting like an arse I will call them an arse’,” Brendan Devark noted darkly.

Both the Viscount and Viscountess shared yet another wordless exchange from a telling glance.

“Katarina, did you say that?” Annika demanded, the ire in her tone brought the tension in the room to the precipice of snapping.

The youngest Ashowan present balked for half a moment before turning quickly to her mother, her cheeks already pink. “I told him he could have been more helpful when the Princess was choking to death! She couldn’t even speak and he just stood there!”

“Did it occur to you that the Princess in her state could have expressed her needs for herself? It has already happened before where she did not wish her father to be alerted, indicating she prefers less people reacting to her episodes of breathlessness,” the Troivackian King asked, his tone dark.

It was then Annika’s eyes flitted to the young ruler, and a look of intensity passed between them, followed by an understanding that made both Fin and his daughter feel oddly… out of place.

“Katarina, the King was showing the Princess the utmost respect as a possible ruler. You aren’t aware of this as it is a Troivackian custom, but sickness or fault is considered a weakness- a potentially deadly one in court. He was allowing the Princess to keep her position safe. You owe His Majesty an apology. Even if it wasn’t a gross misunderstanding, you should never treat a foreign leader like that.”

Katarina’s cheeks flushed crimson, and it was clear she was beginning to stave off tears as she stared at her mother’s composed face that remained fixed on the Troivackian King instead of her daughter.

“Mum, didn’t you always teach me that-”

“Katarina, apologize. Now.” Annika’s face was cold, her tone commanding.

Her daugher visibly recoiled as though a blow had struck in her chest.

Slowly, her golden eyes cast down, she turned to the Troivackian King whose features remained stony.

“I… I apologize for my… rudeness. Your Majesty.” Katarina curtsied stiffly. She didn’t want to break down in front of the monarch. She didn’t want to feel powerless and childish...

The shame, pain, and anger she felt collapsed upon itself as she somehow managed to stay rooted to the spot when all she wanted to do was scream and fight.

“Kat, I know you thought you were defending your friend,” the Viscount’s soft voice broke through the charged silence. “I know you meant to be helpful, not hurtful.”

Grinding her teeth, Katarina then turned to Fin and dipped into another curtsy. “I understand, Father. I misread his intention.”

Then, the young Ashowan turned towards the garden door, tears choking her as she moved swiftly despite her hands shaking.

“Kat,” Fin called out, clearly distressed.

His daughter failed to respond, however, as she gently closed the garden door behind herself, leaving the Viscount, Viscountess, and King alone.

Turning a dark glower to his wife, Fin pressed his hands into the cooking table’s surface. “There was a better way to handle that. You know she didn’t mean to-”

“It doesn’t matter if it isn’t intentional, she can’t just spout off like that!” Annika burst out rounding on her husband.

“So we teach her to curb it with reason and calm! Not make her feel ashamed!”

“Viscount, your daughter needs discipline. Were I a quarter more of a man like my father, she would be exiled from Daxarian court. There are serious consequences to her outbursts,” Brendan Devark informed the witch calmly.

“Discipline and domination are two very different things, Your Majesty. I don’t give a cat’s fluffy ass if she speaks up against someone being unkind. I agree that she should evaluate the situation and address the opposing person more tactfully, but I don’t believe that was the lesson she took from this!” Fin exclaimed, his blue eyes shining a startling bright blue.

“Katarina is old enough that she should know this! You’ve given her too much leeway!” Annika interrupted forcefully.

“To a point, yes! But you are always condemning her. You don’t acknowledge her side nearly enough,” Fin fired back, his hands moving to his hips as items in the kitchen began to float back to their magical duties.

“We are not discussing this here! There is the Troivackian-”

“Yes, the Troivackian King.” Fin turned to the man, a strange knowingness in his eyes made Brendan immediately suspicious. “Tell me, Sire, what is your take on our daughter?”

Brendan straightened his shoulders, sensing that he needed to choose his wording carefully. Something about the couple was oddly intimidating yet also… welcoming when it came to speaking one's thoughts freely. Perhaps because they were unabashed about arguing so openly in front of him.

“My perception of your daughter is that she is immature. Passionate, and perhaps her intentions are well placed; however, she has never learned to control her emotions or her tongue. She is all impulse and no thought.”

Fin’s gaze turned deadly. “No thought?”

“She isn’t stupid, Viscount. What I meant was she acts before she thinks matters through. Something we forgive in children under the age at ten, but never… what is it… nineteen?”

“I will speak to my daughter, Your Highness,” Annika interrupted once again, calmly before her husband could continue arguing with the foreign leader.

Brendan’s gaze cut to the Viscountess, and the two once again shared a brief moment of eye contact before bowing and curtsying to one another.

The man swept out of the room through the castle door leaving Annika and Fin entirely alone in the kitchen.

Turning to his wife, blue eyes sparking, the witch was clearly infuriated.

“What the hell was that? In front of a monarch?! You shamed your daughter in front of the leader of an entire country.”

“Better here than a banquet hall full of nobles! Fin, this was immensely generous of him. He didn’t take it to the King, and didn’t demand a public apology, do you know how merciful that is?!” Annika burst out while placing her fingertips on the cooking table, her gaze intense.

“I know we need to help our daughter learn to mind her manners, but we didn’t need to treat her like that in front of the Troivackian King!”

“Yes, we did! She isn’t learning, Fin. She is reckless, and has faced no repercussions because of you and I saving her. We need her to start learning consequences to be a better person. Aside from the donkey incident, there is also the time she released three different herds of cows. Or the time we found her drunk on her sixteenth birthday under Elizabeth Nonata’s watch!” Annika waved her hand exasperatedly, her desperation and aggravation blurred together.

The redhead stilled. “Yes, she needs to learn, but she should always know we are here for her. Also the donkey incident was during that escapade on her sixteenth birthday, remember?”

"I don't want to remember," Annika grumbled quietly before returning to the greater problem at hand. “She needs to know we are there for her, yes, but only to a point.”

“What does that mean?” the witch demanded, his hands moving to his hips.

“Fin, you and I both learned how to be independent because we didn’t have anyone else to count on. We learned to survive and grow on our own. Katarina needs that now.”

Neither the Viscount nor Viscountess moved.

“She will tell us when she is ready for that,” Fin began his voice growing hoarse.

“What if she doesn’t? What if she thinks she can live life mouthing off to whomever she chooses? We have a tough enough time with our son! Tam can’t even handle standing in a large room for an hour! Why don’t we focus on the child we can handle?!”

“Our children,” the Viscount rounded the cooking table, his eyes beginning to glow as he moved. “Are not beings we have to ‘handle’. Tam will be fine. He will-”

“Fin! I don’t want to think of the worst of our children any more than you do, but you have to admit, there is a chance we could destroy them if we don’t act rationally now!”

Silence stretched on between the couple as they stared at each other. Both hearts raced, both experienced the same dread of knowing the risk they took of releasing their children into society without their protection.

“Katarina isn’t like other noble women. She is a witch to some capacity and she-”

“That has nothing to do with basic manners and you know it. I knew of all people you’d be blinded by love for your children, but you can’t let it be at a detriment to everyone!” Annika finished firmly.

For a few tense moments, Fin said nothing, only focused on seeing through the haze of anger in his mind to see the situation objectively.

“We will discuss this more tonight. I have to finish making dinner,” the witch managed to say, though his voice was hoarse.

Annika let out a small sigh, and turned to take her own leave. She knew that the redheaded members of the family tended to need time to calm down after a fight.

Once the door had closed behind his wife, the witch felt his eyes close while he took a fortifying breath.

“I know that look. Your eldest kitten giving you troubles again?” Kraken’s low purr rumbled up from the floor where he lounged in the sunshine.

“Yes,” the redhead murmured as he half heartedly began covering the bread bowl with a tea towel to let it rise.

“Hmm, well nothing new there. Though that large strange human… he was interesting. Even I had trouble hearing his footsteps.”

“That’s the King of Troivack.”

“Oho! Another leader that will need to greet me with the proper respect! It took me ages to get your King to do so, hopefully this new one is a little smarter.”

Fin decided he wasn’t in the mood to chastise his familiar’s insult to his friend, and was just about to end the conversation when an idea occurred to him.

“Kraken, would you be able to keep an eye on the Troivackian King and his brother Prince Henry? Not spying per say, but he isn’t a forthcoming man and I’m wary about him now that he’s made Kat his enemy.”

“Our eldest kitten has declared him her enemy?! I will take him down myself. He will grovel at her feet and only be allowed to act as her slave to breed the finest giant grandkittens known to the world-”

“No… don’t you dare. Leave him be. Besides, if you ask me, he almost seemed more drawn to the Princess… but maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part. I’d rather he be more interested in romance with her than a battle with my own child. I know it is selfish of me…” the Viscount admonished while shaking his head with a frown.

“Very. However, fear not. I will have my spies keep an eye out, and will alert you if I see anything suspicious.”

Fin nodded in thanks, and then turned back to the cooking table. He decided he wouldn’t mention the arrangement with his familiar with Annika just yet… after all… there was a chance nothing would happen anyway.