"Alcott, wake up." Hands roused me from sleep. "Come on, Alcott. It's time to get up."

"Hm?" I inhaled as I stretched. "What?"

"You need to eat dinner," Mom said. "It's not good to skip meals.

"Mkay," I stumbled off the bed and to the front door, "do you want anything?"

"No, I'm good now."

"Then I'm leaving. I'll be back." Mom giggled when I ran into the bedroom door, "ow."

"Be careful, sweetie." I closed the door behind me and ran to the dining room. I wanted to get back to mom and the warm bed.

"Oh, I thought you weren't going to be here." Dad said when he saw me. "What have you been doing all day?"

"Taking care of mom," I stuffed a mouthful of mashed potatoes in my mouth.

"Really now? Well, guess I can leave her in your capable hands when I'm working."

"If you get sick I'll spoil you too."

"Ha ha! Looking forward to it." Dad patted my head and kissed my temple. "Well, I've got a meeting to attend."

"Don't die," I joked. Dad chortled as he walked out.

"I'll try not to."

I gobbled down the rest of my dinner and a slice of pumpkin pie. Yum!

"Prince Alcott, this is for you." A maid held out a letter as another took away my empty dishes.

"Who is it from?"

"Travis Burnett," the maid replied.

"Travis?" I held the letter tightly, "I'll read it when I get back to mom." I trotted back down the halls to the bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

I opened the door, "you sure you don't need anything?"

"Nope. What's that in your hand?"

"A letter from Travis, one of my new friends."

"Oh, the cute little boy? You and him make such an adorable duo!"

"Don't forget about Renee."

"Oh, yes. She's very pretty, you know." I laughed when mom gave me a certain look.

"Momma, No! Strictly friends!"

"You never know in the future."

"Mom! It's not going to happen!"

Mom sighed, "what a shame. She's quite pretty." I rolled my eyes internally and opened the letter.

"Pfft!" Typical Travis, he didn't address me by my proper title and this letter is the opposite of formal.

Love it.

"Fufu, it seems Count Burnett and his family have their hands full." Mom looked at the letter, amusement written all over her face.

"I told him to just call me Alcott. Same with Renee, but she still refers to me as Prince."

"Well, it's hard for most to address you informally seeing as they can get punished for it."

"Really? But what if I give them permission?"

"Then they can refer to you informally, but it goes against what they've been taught."

"Oh, Travis immediately called me by my name though, so I thought it wasn't that hard."

"That's because he's still young. He's... nine, right?"

"He's almost nine in... two months. I know Renee's 10." put the letter back in the envelope, "may I borrow some paper and a quill?"

"Use anything on the desk." Mom smiled.

"Thanks!" I hopped off the bed and sat down at the desk. I got a piece of paper and a quill with some ink.

Dear Travis,

I would love to come over to your estate. What time would you like for me to come over?

I'm sorry to hear Renee's sick. Please send her my regards.

P.S.

Do your parents know you invited me?

Sincerely, Alcott.

"...Mom, can you read this and tell me if it's good?" I handed the paper to mom when the ink had completely dried.

"You have such good handwriting," mom noted. She read the letter, "it looks great, Alcott. If you weren't my son, I would think a fourteen or fifteen year old wrote it."

Because I'm mentally sixteen. I thought to myself.

"Eheh, thanks." I neatly folded the paper in half, put it in an envelope and sealed it with the royal seal. I had my own unique seal, but I didn't want to go to my room.

A maid came in when I rang the bedside bell. I held the letter to her, "could you get this to the Burnett's?"

"Will do, Prince Alcott." The maid bowed and left.

"Are you feeling better than this morning?" I laid next to mom again.

"Much thanks to you, sweetie."

"Tomorrow I'll do it again. The book said it's morning sickness and it varies between women. It could last for a week or months."

"Let's hope mine doesn't last long."

"..." I hesitated, "...er, mom?"

"Yes?"

"Did you have morning sickness when you were pregnant with me?"

Mom gave me a reassuring smile, "yes. I had it for a couple months. Back then, I thought it was the stress that made me sick. I also had a strong craving for anything chocolate."

"Yum, chocolate." I nearly drooled at the thought of the chocolate cake I had a few days ago, "few things beat chocolate."

Mom laughed, "I agree." She held me closer and ran her fingers through my hair. "I'm so happy I got you back. You have no idea how much I hated myself for leaving you there. You were only a few days old. A tiny infant. Today I still wonder what you'd be like if I had managed to take you with me."

"Mom..." I racked my brain for the right words to say. "I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yes, yes you are." Mom kissed my forehead. I yawned a nuzzled closer. "You should rest now. Tomorrow is going to be a big day for you."

"Okay," I mumbled. I fell asleep as mom kept playing with my hair.

~

Warmth surrounded me when I groggily peeled my eyes open. Mom was in front of me while I felt dad behind me. It was like being wrapped in a cocoon. Safe. Warm. Comforting.

"You sleep well?" Dad asked. I jumped and turned around. Dad looked wide awake.

"Yeah," I gave dad a hug, "I need to get up." Dad got up and helped me off the bed.

"Careful."

"Can you help me get some stuff for mom before she wakes up?"

"Sure." I held dad's hand as we walked to my room, I was in my pajamas while dad wore some comfy pants and a loosely tied robe.

I unlocked the door to my private lab. Dad whistled.

"Wow, this room looks different."

"Took me a long time to get everything set up. Can you get that tray down and one of the glass jars?"

"Yeah," dad took down the tray of dried incense and a lavender candle. "What's this?"

"This is a lavender, rosemary, and jasmine candle." I pointed to the incense, "that's incense. It's made of dried sage, lavender, rose petals, and sweetgrass."

"What's this for?"

"To help with mom's nausea and help her relax."

"I see," dad grinned, "she's a lucky woman to have you as her son."

"I'm lucky to have her as my mom. I'm lucky to have you as my dad too." I took a couple pieces of incense and put them on a special small plate and took the candle.

We walked back down to the bedroom. I heard mom groan and handed the stuff to dad. "Hold onto this."

I darted into the room, grabbed the trash can, and barely got to mom in time.

"Urgh, I'm sorry you had to do that again." Mom laid her head back on the pillow.

"It's okay!" I rang the bell and some maids came soon after. I gave them instructions on where to apply the peppermint halo and how to use the incense.

Within ten minutes, mom looked better.

"Prince Alcott, you need to come with me." A butler announced as I passed the trash can to a maid.

"For what?"

"Clothes."

"Oh, okay. Bye mom!" I gave mom one last hug before trotting off.

~

A few women who I recognized as the tailors who took my body measurements a while back were waiting for me. A large rack of clothes were in the room.

"Ah, Prince Alcott. I see you've grown a little." The head tailor whipped out a tape measurer, "thankfully, we had made the clothes a tad bigger."

She took her measurements like before and at the end she seemed happy. "These clothes should fit you perfectly!"

One hour. Two hours. Three hours. The wave of clothes seemed to be endless as I tried each set on and let them adjust a few things.

"Last set!" The women took a plain outfit off the rack.

"But there's three others?"

"Those are duplicates. These will be your training clothes!"

"Training clothes?"

"Oh, I guess you haven't heard. King Blake and the royal doctor decided you're healthy enough to start sword training!"

"Really?!" I didn't think I'd be training until I turned ten.

Goodbye my lazy lifestyle.

"Yes, you start next Monday so we had to make sure these fit." I put on the plain white tunic and brown pants. The material was thinner and more breathable then the others.

"How does it feel? Anything too tight or loose?"

"It feels comfy. Nothing is too tight or loose."

"Perfect!" I changed back into my regular clothes.

"This way, Prince Alcott." The butler led me to another room. Another woman was there next to a vanity desk and a chair.

"What's this for?"

"A haircut." I sat in the chair as the woman cut my hair. My hair was now shorter and looked more presentable.

The woman put some stuff in my hair that made it shinier, softer, and frizz-free. My cat ears kept twitching when she applied the stuff to the back of them.

"Wow, I didn't know my hair could be so soft." I fiddled with a few strands.

"I'm glad you like it." The woman gushed. She looked extremely happy at my light praise.

"Thank you!" I followed the butler out of the room, "anything else?"

"Lunch. Then you will attend a meeting with the king."

"..." My stomach squirmed with nerves. How was I supposed to act around nobles? Was there a specific way to sit? To put my hands on my lap? Was I supposed to sit there quietly or engage in the conversation? What was the proper way to talk? Would the nobles laugh at me? Is it super obvious I lack proper etiquette skills? Would I stick out like a sore thumb? Would I make a complete fool of myself? Will I be the only child? What's a meeting like? What if-

"Alcott? You alright?" Dad came from who knows where. "You look upset."

"I'm not upset," I quickly said, "I'm nervous."

"About the meeting?" I nodded. "Oh, Alcott, you'll be fine! There'll be other kids and all you have to do is introduce yourself to the other kids and sit by me."

"That's it?"

"Yep. Sounds exciting, doesn't it?"

"Sounds better than what I was imagining," I admitted. Good, I could do that much without screwing everything up.

...right?