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Lawrence looked to his daughter with a soft, understanding smile; “We’ll go now, sweetie.”

As they walked away, Victor stared at the ground silently. Lawrence worried over the lad’s reaction to the servant being dragged away. He’d never seen anything like that at home or in Alcon before. Lawrence had tried to shield his children from the world’s cruelties until they were older.

The twins had just celebrated their fifth birthday, and were still far too young to be exposed to the harsh realities of the world. Most reined in their behavior in from of children, but not that guy. As they walked along, Lawrence made a mental note to find out more about the man from the Fire Nation...

Shasta was filled with almost as much worry for the twins as Lawrence was. She’d instantly become attached to them, which she found slightly odd. As she thought about them and the source of her feelings, she realized something that made her smile a little inwardly.

Shasta was better with kids than adults, but it still took time for her to warm up to them. The instantaneous bond that they seemed to share was a little confusing, but not scary. In fact, in was the most soothing thing she’d ever felt.

“So what’s the first game you two would like to play tomorrow?” Shasta asked when she realized that their pace had slowed down so much that snails could pass them.

Victor had instantly turned around and asked in a sheepish tone; “Can we play the hoop game first?”

Anna stopped in her tracks as added; “Only after the duck pull! I love the duck pull!”

.....

Victor frowned at his sister before replying; “No way! The hoops game has the better prizes! We should go there first!”

Anna pouted; “But we won’t know that until we get there!”

Victor sighed with irritation; “It’s for babies! The hoops game is for bigger kids, so they’ll have better stuff. We should go there first and get the best prizes before everyone else cleans them out. After that, we can go to the duck pull. Most little kids won’t be there as early as we’ll be, so you’ll still have really good prizes to pick from regardless.. Please Anna?”

Victor flashed a pouty face at his sister that made him look exactly like his father, and it took everything Shasta had not to cackle out loud. The resemblance was so striking that even Lawrence let a snort slip as he contained his own joviality. Not to mention how serious and strategic the lad was being about winning prizes.

They were holding it together until Anna said; “Fine... You know it’s not fair when you make the ‘daddy-face’ at me.”

Lawrence and Shasta exploded with laughter at the wee lass’ quip. Shasta wiped a tear from her eye as the two children started to laugh along with them.

She had been constantly amazed at their intelligence all day. They had just turned five a few weeks ago, but spoke and used mannerisms indicative to ten year olds. It was shocking to see, but gave Shasta the feeling that they would grow up to be highly intelligent; like their father and uncles.

As their good moods returned, Victor tried to race Anna because they’d cleared most of the guests. Attempting to speed past a corner with Lawrence and Shasta yelling after them, the twins nearly ran into their grandfather.

Magnus had heard their voices, and knew that they’d be at the end of the hall by the time he’d reached it. Instead of cutting through the banquet hall to leave, the king had left through the servants’ entrances and kitchens. He’d only stayed about twenty minutes longer than Skye and Tidas had.

Reaching out and grabbing Victor, Magnus shook with mirth as his grandson screeched like his sister. He hadn’t been expecting the sneak attack at all. Once the two children realized it was their grandfather, they practically jumped on him with snuggle attacks of their own.

Hugging them until they begged for air, Magnus finally released them as he asked; “Did my sweet bairns have fun today?”

The two barely breathed as they rapid-fired stories and descriptions at their doting grandfather. Everything they said involved Shasta, which made his grin widen. He had an idea, but this flat-out confirmed it.

It made the father side of Magnus extremely happy to see his son finding love again. But the king side of him was a bit miffed that his foreign king ally was trying to poach one of his kingdom’s best warriors. Magnus knew that wasn’t the reality of the situation, but his aristocratic nobles would do more than just complain...

As the King of Alcon listened to his grandchildren, a part of his mind wandered. ‘It’s a good thing Skye is taking the Mage Trials this year after all..’

‘She can take Shasta’s place as a Pillar in a couple of years; once she’s gotten some experience. That should appease those fools. I just have to convince those two to wait that long. If they refuse-no. I just won’t let them. They may not realize it, but Kingdoms hang in the balance.. Swayed by their sole decision.’

“Grandpa! Did you hear us?” Victor nearly yelled as he watched his grandfather’s eyes begin to cloud over.

Magnus shook slightly as he came back to reality; “Aye, my sweets. Forgive an old man for his wondering thoughts. What were you just saying?”

Anna and Victor shared a look of exhaustion before the lad replied; “We were telling you that you were right! Weren’t you listening to us?”

Magnus apologized for his lack of an attention span, and blamed his age for it. Which earned him salty expressions before they accepted his words. Their grandfather did seem to be off this visit, but they dismissed the thought as Anna leaned in to talk low.

With a cheeky grin, Anna told him; “You were right! Daddy picked a really good one!”

Victor leaned in with an utterly serious tone to his voice; “Aye, you were right: I suppose the man can be trusted on occasion to make his own decisions..”

Knowing exactly what they were talking about, the king chortled loudly before saying; “See! Just trust him and give him time, and he’ll eventually figure things out on his own.”

Lawrence perked up at his father’s comment with a sense of indignation that he couldn’t explain; “Who figured what out?”

The three shared a look before they all broke out into a fit of laughter. Lawrence looked at Shasta to see if she understood any of it, but she just shrugged with a gentle smile on her face. It didn’t matter what they were talking about to her; she was just enjoying her time with them..

After the children calmed down, they all stood talking a bit before they left. Magnus requested that the children be with him for the majority of his birthday, on the final day of the games. The twins were excited, and so were Shasta and Lawrence. If the children were with their grandfather for the day, then the two could spend the time before the King of the Hill Competition alone together.

Lawrence grinned at his father with appreciation. Magnus loved his grandkids, but anyone could see that he was taking them to give his son and Shasta time alone. The gesture wasn’t lost on Shasta either as she silently mouthed “thank you”, to her king..

******

It took some time to get the children to fall asleep. Victor was worried about the foreign servant, and Anna was worried for her brother. Three stories, two cups of water, two bathroom breaks, and about a dozen duet songs later; the twins finally fell asleep. It was close to midnight when Shasta said that she was leaving.

Lawrence grabbed her arm and spoke with a bit more emotion than he would’ve liked; “Why do you have to go at all? Stay here and sleep next to me..”

He pulled Shasta into his arms and held her a few moments before he started speaking again; “As long as I’m in Alcon, I don’t want us to be apart. We’ll be going back shortly after the games, so I want you by my side the entire time we’re here.”

Shasta looked up at him with a smirk; “Well aren’t you a greedy one?”

Lawrence laughed as he held her against himself; “Well, I am a king. I usually get what I want..” he leaned done by her ear and spoke in a low, sultry tone; “And there isn’t anything in this world that I want more for myself than you..”

Shasta sighed as a shiver of need raced through her veins. His hot breath and tantalizing words hit her like cream, and effectively made her knees weak and head swim. As she leaned into him with a slight purr, Shasta said; “So long as our last understanding can be applied again, then yes, I’ll stay with you...”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Lawrence was moving his hands up and down Shasta’s back in small, even strokes. Her slight purr grew loud enough for him to feel her soothing vibrations. His lips stretched into a wide grin as she smushed herself as close to him as possible, increasing the reverberations.

Lawrence smirked near her ear; “I swear I won’t do anything that you don’t specifically approve of.”

Shasta’s purr became a bit louder as her thoughts turned to near mush under his gentle caresses.. ‘What would he do if he knew that I’m basically putty in his hands?’

“How about we say we won’t do anything we shouldn’t? Don’t need the kids waking up and seeing...That.”

Lawrence’s heart began to beat rapidly at Shasta’s implication. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be with him, it was simply inappropriate with the extreme likelihood that the children would wake up. She was right, too. Victor and Anna always woke him up whenever they had bad dreams. With everything Victor had gone through today, he was almost guaranteed to wake up tonight.

After about another hour or so, Shasta and Lawrence decided to go to sleep. He’d had several pieces of sleepwear bought for her, but only one were appropriate enough wear, keeping the children in mind. It was nearing two-thirty in the morning by the time they’d actually fallen asleep in each other’s arms.

Only an hour or so had passed when Victor and Anna came crawling into their bed. When they first entered the room, they’d been surprised to see Shasta cuddled up to their father. Both had the most peaceful expressions on their faces as they slept.. The twins exchanged happy, knowing looks with one another before climbing their way into the bed.

When Shasta smelt and felt Anna snuggling up to her, she separated from Lawrence a little to make room for the twins. Lawrence was out cold, but instinctively wrapped an arm around Victor as he cuddled up to his father’s side.

Victor had fallen back asleep nearly as soon as his father had embraced him. Anna was nodding back off a little slower, but it wa still ridiculously fast for a distraught five year old. As her eyes grew heavy, she mumbled; “I really hope you get to be our new mommy... Daddy needs... We already love you..”

Shasta felt warm tears clouding her vision as she tried to keep her happiness in check. The innocent child had said exactly what she felt, when she felt it, and it was exactly what Shasta had hoped for. She loved Lawrence And his children for the wonderful people they were. To hear Anna tell her directly that she hoped for the same thing... It was the happiest moment of her life.

The whole concept was still a ways off from actually happening, but what was most important was what the children thought and felt. Hope flooded Shasta’s head and heart as she looked over the scene... They really looked like a happy family.

With a small sniffle, Shasta kissed the top of Anna’s head as she whispered; “I love you guys too, sweetheart..”

In the darkness, a large smile crept across Lawrence’s face as he fell back asleep...