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Hope had left the council room somewhat peeved. They had been persistent that he find a queen in order to have an heir. After having no king for almost two decades, the council was worried about having to hand over the crown to someone other than a member of the royal family. Hope did understand where they were coming from, and he didn’t want his people to live under that worry as well.
He liked kids, when he visited Lama he spent most of his time playing with Orion and Hesychia’s children, Apollo and Artemis, instead of focusing on his actual work. Before he took the throne, children of all kinds would come up to him and ask for him to play with them. Dealing with kids was no problem for him, and he would love to have some, but he didn’t want to have children with someone he didn’t know and love.
Hope walked out to the garden. The Royal Garden wasn’t exactly a ‘garden’ it was more like a desert with a collection of wild flowers grown to replicate a traditional garden. No other plants could survive Eterno’s harsh sunlight and dry climate. The side of the star that faced Alba almost near constantly did have grass and was the center of agriculture, but unfortunately, the royal palace wasn’t on that side of the Star. He liked the garden on Bestia, it was full of lush plants befitting of the jungle like Star.
Hope pulled his hood up and walked around the garden, his mind still filled with worry. Hope was having a hard time trying to keep the council at bay from holding a ball to find him a bride. Expenses would be a good excuse, but how long could he use that? When the council snaps, not even their king will be able to stop them.
Hope heard the giggling of a child running behind him. He turned around and found no one. The only evidence that he hadn’t gone mad was the trail of footprints in the sand that followed the child. Deciding to see who the child was, simply assuming that they belonged to one of the staff workers, Hope followed the trail the footprints left behind.
He soon caught up with a small child, probably no older than seven or eight years old, sitting in the sand. They were playing with the sand, watching as it would seep through their fingertips. Hope slowly walked up behind them, trying not to scare them. He sat down next to the child. The Star Sphere Fragment began to heat up under his clothes. Was it reacting to the small child’s presence? They noticed that they where no longer alone, and looked over at Hope.
“Hello.” They said. The child appeared to be a girl, with deep brown eyes and silver hair with bangs that fell onto her forehead. She had the hood of her coat up, to protect her from the harsh sun.
“Hello.” Hope smiled. She didn’t seem to be scared of him. “What are you doing?”
“Playing.” She said, playing with the sand some more.
“What’s your name?” Hope asked.
“Serenity.” She said, not looking at him.
“Where are your parents?”
“Dunno.” Serenity said with a chirp in her voice. Was she lost? If she was lost it would be best to get her home. It was almost noon, and the sun would be at its harshest soon. It was no weather for a child, never mind a grown adult like him.
“Where did you last see them?”
“Dunno.” Serenity looked back to Hope. It could have been possible that she never knew her parents in the first place. If that was the case, then maybe she was an orphan. But how did an orphan get onto the castle grounds?
“Do you know your parents?” Serenity shook her head. So Hope was right. He couldn't leave her by herself. He would take her to the castle, give her some food and water, and have Tranquil find out what orphanage she belonged to, if she even belonged to one. If not, she would be placed into the nicest orphanage on Eterno. Or, just maybe if the Star Sphere Fragment accepted her, Hope could take her in as his own.
“Do you wanna come with me, Serenity?” Hope asked, praying that she would agree.
“Where are we going?”
“To the Royal Palace.” Serenity’s eyes lit up. She was just on castle grounds yet she was still excited to go inside it.
“Really?” She asked, standing up. Hope nodded and Serenity began jumping up and down, visibly very happy to be able to go inside the palace.
“Come on, let’s go!” Hope stood up and extended his coat enough for Serenity to hide inside it. She ducked inside the coat and clung to his pant leg. At the contact of Serenity’s hands on his leg, the fragment burned hotter than before, but only slightly. Hope looked down at Serenity and smiled. This reminded him of when he was young, and he would hide inside Curse’s coat as they walked around the marketplace. Together, they made their way to the royal palace.
*-*-*
When Hope walked back into the castle, he was bombarded with a series of ‘welcome back my King’ and ‘where have you been my King?’ by servants who have probably been looking for him.
“King Hope there you are!” Tranquil and Aider came running up to him. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“I’m fine guys, I’m sorry I worried you.” Hope apologized. He didn’t like startling his court, especially not Tranquil, who seemed to be taking his role as his attendant very seriously. Aider began shooing away the servants, leaving the four of them alone. Tranquil began throwing out questions, demanding where Hope had been.
“I found someone.” Hope said. Both Tranquil and Aider looked over at each other, probably hoping that he had found a bride.
“Who is it?” Aider asked. Hope moved his coat to reveal Serenity.
“Say hi Serenity.” The small child waved her hand.
“Hi!” Tranquil and Aider looked over at each other, this time fear filled their eyes.
“You kidnapped a child.” Aider said, his face a white as a sheet.
“I did not kidnap a child!” Hope yelled. Tranquil and Aider did not seem to believe him, and still insisted that Hope had kidnapped Serenity. Serenity stepped out from under Hope’s coat and stood in front of him.
“Serenity, this is Tranquil and Aider, they’re my attendants.” Hope introduced the two mystery men.
“It’s nice to meet you!” Serenity smiled.
“It’s nice to meet you too Serenity.” Aider said. Serenity smiled and pulled down her hood, revealing a head of black hair. Looks like only her bangs where silver. Tranquil gave her a basic set of questions, like how old she was and if she knew where her parents where. She gave him the same answer she gave Hope at the question of her parents. Tranquil looked over at Aider when she told him she didn’t know her parents.
“You kidnapped an orphan.”
“I did not kidnap Serenity!” The child looked up at Hope and then to his attendants.
“So, why did you bring Serenity here?” Aider asked. Hope told them his plan of giving Serenity some food and water and letting her stay the night. They would find out what orphanage Serenity belonged to by morning and return her there. Aider and Tranquil seemed to like the idea and Aider volunteered to show Serenity to the dining room to get her something to eat.
“I wanna eat with Hope.” Serenity said. She might not want to be seperated from Hope. He was really the only familiar face in the whole castle, but they had only known each other for a short while.
“Hope has some important things to attend to, you two can eat later.” Aider said, kneeling down to Serenity’s height. “You can come eat with us!”
Serenity looked back up at Hope, who nodded. He still has some documents to look over from the council meeting, but most of them where probably bridal applications that nobles from foreign stars had sent in. Serenity reluctantly left with Tranquil and Aider, leaving Hope alone.
*-*-*
When Hope entered his office he found Curse sitting on one of the couches, sipping tea. He looked over at Hope and set down his tea cup.
“Where did you disappear to?” Curse asked. Hope explained all that happened after the meeting.
“You found and brought in a child?” Curse asked and Hope nodded. Curse set his tea cup down and leaned back on the couch.
“What do you think we should do with her?” Hope asked. He didn’t know what he would think if Serenity ended up going somewhere horrible. She was just a kid, but she was one of his citizens. He wanted to protect her like a good king would.
“What do you think we should do?” Curse asked. Ever since Hope had become a teenager Curse would sometimes revert questions back to him, and even more so when Hope reclaimed his throne. He wanted Hope to think, to solve problems on his own instead of relying on what Curse would tell him.
“I wanna keep her.” Hope said without hesitation. Curse seemed surprised at this. “I mean, the council wants me to have an heir right? If I adopt Serenity, and we make her princess, the council will get off my back until I find someone to marry.”
“She can only be crowned Princess if the Star Sphere Fragment accepts her. You do know that right?” Curse asked. It wasn’t something Hope had thought about. Sure, the Fragment seemed to like her, it did heat up when she was near. It only really did that when he was around another Royal or another Fragment.
“Did the Fragment have any reaction to her?” Curse asked and Hope nodded. Curse picked up his tea cup and sipped some of the tea. “Where is she now?”
“Probably eating with Aider and Tranquil. Why?” Curse set down his tea cup and stood up.
“We’ll see what the Fragment says. If it speaks to her, she’ll stay. If not, we’ll find a nice orphanage to put her in and make sure she finds a lovely family.”
*-*-*
When Hope and Curse entered the dining room that Tranquil and Aider normally ate at, they found the two attendants trying to get Serenity to eat something.
“I wanna eat with Hope!” Serenity screamed, throwing a hissy fit. Tranquil looked over at Aider in defeat.
“I don’t think she’ll eat until King Hope is finished.” Aider said. When he noticed Hope and Curse out of the corner of his eyes, Serenity was already clinging to his leg.
“Is this Serenity?” Curse asked, kneeling down to greet the girl. Serenity smiled at him and introduced herself. She was almost a complete 180 from when they walked in. Hope ran his fingers through her hair, smiling. He would love to keep a little angel like her around all the time, it would make work so much more fun. He could bring her over to Lama to play with Apollo and Artemis, and when Coda visited she could play with the crew members on the Burst Roar while they discussed trading regulations. Fang and Vega would probably love to spend time with her, and Sardinia could teach her about reading tarot cards. He wished she could meet Carnelian and Lazu too.
“Serenity, I have a big question to ask you.” Hope asked, prying the girl off of him. Serenity looked up at Hope, her brown eyes filled with worry. Hope kneeled down and took out the Star Sphere Fragment. Aider and Tranquil sighed, clearly not liking that the Fragment still rested with the king and not in the Star Sphere Room.
Hope handed over the burning Fragment over to Serenity. She took the amulet in her hands and gasped. “It’s hot!”
“That’s a good sign.” Hope heard Curse mutter under his breath.
“Serenity, place this jewel next to your ear.” The child did as she was told. She stayed silent for a moment, and gasped.
“Hope I heard something!” Serenity smiled.
“What did it say?” Curse asked. Serenity moved the amulet in front of her so she could look at it.
“It sounded like
you’re home
.” Hope looked over at Curse and smiled.
“Wait wait wait a minute.” Tranquil said, making his way over to the group. “Are you telling me the Fragment spoke to Serenity?”
“Does that mean she has royal blood?” Aider asked, also joining the group.
“There is a possibility.” Curse said, ruffling Serenity’s hair.
“Then does that mean she can stay?” Hope asked, looking over at Curse and his attendants.
“If the Fragment likes her, then I don’t see why she can’t.” Curse said. Tranquil and Aider nodded, seemingly liking the idea that Serenity can stay. They were also concerned about an heir, but they didn’t like how pushy the council was being about it. If the Fragment liked Serenity, then that means they have an heir. Sure she might not be a biological heir, but it was better than nothing.
Serenity looked over at Hope and smiled. “Does that mean I can call you ‘Papa’ now?”
“You can call me whatever you want Serenity.” Hope pulled her in for a hug, holding her close. She was his daughter now, and he would make sure to raise her with the utmost care in the world, like how Curse raised him.