The King's Servants

Chapter 15

After having eaten their sweet picnic, the king felt a bit tired and decided that it would be a good idea to lie down and look at the sky for a little while. He took off his feather cap and placed it on the ground not too far from him. After checking that none of his servants were positioned near where we had planned to lie down, he relaxed on the soft grass. His six little servants all did the same, positioning themselves like a six sided star around the king's head.

Once everyone was comfortable, they all gazed at the calm, blue sky. Clusters of white puffy clouds hovered past as the group stared at the wonder that was the beautiful sky above them.

"It's such a lovely afternoon today, isn't it your highness?" asked Jack, as he lay in awe of the pretty sight.

"It is a beautiful day indeed, dear boy. We need to always remember to thank God for sunny days so that we can have more and more days like this", replied the giant monarch. Having heard the king's response to her brother, Amelia's curiosity was piqued and she decided to ask a question of her own.

"Do you really believe that God is real, your highness? I noticed that you read from the big book, the Bible. Do you really believe what is written inside?" asked Amelia. She had always been very confused on the subject of God, so maybe King Baritorin could enlighten her a little.

"Oh God is very real, Amelia", answered Baritorin, "We can't see him, we can't touch him but he is most definitely here with us. Even right now he is here with you and me. He is the reason for many good things that happen to us. For instance, my kingdom has one of the biggest armies in our district yet we haven't needed to use it in over 100 years. God has blessed us with constant peace."

"But still sire, if God is so good, why is there so much suffering?" asked Ella, sounding a bit hurt, as though she wanted to cry. "Why don't we have parents? Why do good people like King Merobim die? It's not fair!"

Baritorin saw the young girl's distress. He knew why she was reacting like that because it was something that many people questioned. "Ella my dear, I understand why you feel that way, but think of it this way. If you hadn't been in that orphanage, you would never had escaped from it to find the castle and we may never had met each other. God always does things for a reason. Now for your second question. When you are out picking flowers, which ones do you pick?"

"The most beautiful ones", answered Ella in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Exactly, because God knows that some people are too good for this earth and so he takes them to a better place. Do you understand now?"

A small smile appeared on Ella's face and she nodded. What King Baritorin had said made a lot of sense. Unknown to her, all her siblings had been listening to her little convo with Baritorin, since they all shared the same curiosity. That little speech that Baritorin gave made them all wonder about who God really was for them, but that thinking would be done later.

After their little rest, they played a few more rounds of hide and seek until the late evening when the sun began to set. By then, even the teens were super tired and were on the brink of falling asleep. So while they were still conscious, he picked up and placed them back in the basket, preparing for his brisk walk back to the castle.

As the king walked, his gait rocked the occupants of his basket and, one by one, they each fell asleep. Once at the castle, Baritorin re-entered using one of the castle's back doors and snuck quietly back to his room.

"Okay little ones, we're back, time to head back to your chambers", he said quietly, so as not to make them jump with his booming voice. When he received no reply, he took away the blanket from the top of the basket and smiled when he saw what was underneath. The six teens had all fallen asleep and they were showing no signs of waking up any time soon.