The Warrior Princess (Discontinued)

~Chapter Nine~

Story: The Warrior Princess
Chapter Nine: Midnight Research

Nixon Cleric Darfferson was in the huge library of Lavery Castle, one of his favorite places in the world. Piles of books were stacked up on the table. A small lamp was the only source of light as it flickered, emitting dancing flame shadows. There were several parchment papers lying beside the books. Each had something written on them in a very shabby cursive handwriting. Several ink bottles and quills accompanied the parchment papers. Of all the books that were stacked up, only one was being used. The Prince's brown eyes were racing back and forth, reading rapidly. His face was contorted with high concentration and sweat dripped down his face as his lips moved soundlessly.

"No, damn!" Nixon shouted, burying his face in his hands. "The dictionary..." with that he pushed the chair away and ran to another section of the library. Soon he came back, carrying a Old Welsh dictionary. He placed the book on the table and began to look for the word which would answer his suspicions. He groaned as soon as he saw it. This was no good and now, he had to deal with his birthday which was tomorrow. He was in no desire to deal with the events which would take place after his birthday, in fact, he even planned to run away from his castle for that particular night. He looked at the grandfather clock mounted on the wall. It showed 11 PM. He sighed once more before getting up and leaving the deserted room.

Three hours ago...
Nixon and Ash had just returned from the Valley of Blooms after a series of dramatic moments. The Prince was too tired so he decided to spend the day in his favorite place - the library. He quickly took a shower and after informing Ash, left for the library. He was passing through the throne room when he heard his parents talking. Out of curiosity, he put his ears to the door and tried to listen in.

"-yeah, he will," his mother told.

His father sighed before telling, "That is why I have requested King Ronan to ask his daughter to play the piano at the event. Maybe he might have a chance without her there. Though I just requested her to play the opening theme."

"Maybe, dear. Do not worry. Whoever he chooses will be an able future queen."

"I wish I could be like you, my queen, but she does not know fencing. She is not involved in royal talks for some family reason, as far as I know. If something were to happen to our kingdom...say an attack of sorts, Nixon would be in trouble."

"Dear, don't worry. We will sort it out. It is Nixon's choice more than ours. His benefit more than ours. Let him choose between what is right and what is wrong. I trust him enough to do that."

"Mmm... Do you think he will not object to us performing this... ceremony before he turns twenty?"

"Maybe he will. You know him, he's engrossed with his studies more than ruling a kingdom but we will try. He has to perform the throning ceremony sooner or later. I will stay with you and talk him down if he tries to oppose the idea."

"Thank you, love."

With that, there was silence. Nixon ran away from the door of the throne room and into the safety of the library. Luckily it was deserted. He walked over to the section containing books about administration of a kingdom and retrieved a large, tattered brown book. He opened its contents and searched for the title, 'Throning Ceremony'. He opened the page and found a chapter which read:

     "The throning ceremony is a ceremony which is conducted when the male heir of a kingdom turns of age. It is done to emancipate the heir and find himself a wife. After the ceremony, if the king dies, the heir will have direct control over the kingdom. His mother, the queen will not have any administrative role. That will be handled by the heir's wife who will be throned as the Queen of the respective kingdom."

Nixon groaned at that.

"The ceremony will have an agenda which includes a grand ball. The Prince will be asked to court a girl present in the ball, in front of his countrymen. If the courting is successful, the Prince must be married before he attains the throne."

"Heaven's sake! " Nixon said, looking quite irritated.

"However, the King is allowed to host such a ceremony only after his heir turns of age, whatever it might be when the readers check this chapter out."

"God, it's 18 now...and I turn 19 tomorrow..." Nixon sighed, talking to himself wasn't new. Now, he had to court a girl and it apparently seemed that his father has arranged for other plans.

Nixon-centric chapter. Just a filler. Hope you liked it! I dropped an Easter egg about this ceremony before. Well, no such ceremony exists as far as I know. I have not looked up at the internet. Though the word 'throning' exists.

Hope you liked the chapter. If you found it boring, my apologies. The next chapter will be exciting as you get to learn about (spoiler alert) elves! Vote!I

Edit: It is Old Welsh dictionary, not Latin. My apologies.

Until then,
Marina