Chapter Text
“Come on now Princess, you’ve only got a few more minutes, put your shoulders back…”
“And stand up straight, I know, I know!” Princess Moon was doing her best to stay still, but the painter had been here for an hour and her normally patient self was being tested to its limits.
Her servant Toffee smiled faintly at her. “It’ll be done soon, you’re doing a good job.”
The painter grumbled. “Princess, it’s great your servant is so nice and all, but could you tell him to be silent next time? I’d rather not have any…interruptions during my work.” The painter’s nose scrunched up, as it side eyed the monster servant. Toffee didn’t appear to notice, and continued to gaze straight ahead.
After ten more dull, quiet minutes, the painter had finished his session. Before he could even talk about next week’s session, the white-haired princess was already running off with her servant friend.
“Ugh. I hate portrait sitting. What psychopath can sit perfectly still for that long? When I’m queen, no one will have to pose so long for portraits. I’ll use my wand instead!” Moon waved her wand, the heart crystal top glowing, as she tried to summon a portrait of her own, but instead the portrait bursted into blue flames, reducing it to charred crumbs.
Toffee quickly patted off a small flame that had caught on to Moon’s shoulder sleeve. “Yes well, maybe for now the portrait sitting will do”.
She squinted at her wand. “Maybe I do need to practise more. Oh, I almost forgot what you promised!”
He looked genuinely confused. He was so busy, and Moon said so many things to him that it must have slipped his mind. “What promise, your majesty?”
“Ooh, your majesty”, she said, making dramatic hand gestures. “Fancy pants. Remember? Today is the day you’re not working, and we’re going to have fun in the garden!” She pulled his arm.
Now he remembered. He had promised that to her after she had begged and begged and begged him, and it was hard to say no to her. He wasn’t the type to be easily persuaded, but for some reason, he always went through for her. Then again, he knew that he had duties as a servant, and a place as a monster. Even though Queen Comet was much more open-minded than previous queens had been, the general attitude of most of the other mewman palace members remained cold at best. If he were caught slacking off with her there would be outrage of how the monsters were abusing their positions they had been so generously granted and taking advantage of them.
“Moon, I⸺” He called her Moon without realising it. He wasn’t supposed to do that.
“What? We shook on it,” she folded her arms, staring up at him defiantly.
He felt himself giving in, again. “Alright, Princess.”
He often wondered why Moon treated him friendlier than a typical servant would be treated. If at the time he had to guess, it may have just been an age thing. Toffee, though two years older than her, was the closest to her age. There were few children in this palace.
He remembered the first time they had met. He, along with several other monsters, had just been newly appointed as servants for Butterfly Castle. The Head Supervisor of Servants, a curly-haired woman named Andromeda, was introducing them to the royal family.
“As per the new decree allowing for the existence of Monster servants in Butterfly Castle, these ten monsters have offered their services. They have all been previously screened to ensure no risk of brute savagery in them, or any likelihood of them committing treason against her majesty and Mewni as a kingdom.”
Toffee stood in a row with other monsters, some he recognized, some he did not. He kept his face as composed as he could, though it took a great effort not to grit his teeth at all the “brute savagery” nonsense. Testing for that wasn’t fun, to make an understatement.
He looked at the royal Mewmans who were also looking at him, not particularly him, but in his direction. He observed firstly Queen Comet, with her puffy periwinkle hair and gentle face. She seemed polite but preoccupied. He then realised it was due to her daughter. What was her name? Princess Moon, he remembered. She sat beside her mother, her hands on her lap, pursed lips, she looked tense. And why wouldn’t she? It must be exhausting, to be in a position where every move you made, every word you spoke had to be perfect. Beneath them was the Magic High Commission, all four of them. He couldn’t quite read how they were feeling. Bored? Resentful? It was anyone’s guess, their faces were deadpan and vacant. Beside them, a girl with a steel helmet and long purple pigtails sat to the right, her fingers digging into the armrests of her chair, looking sick. Oh, and of course dozens of guards were situated around them on either side.
As Andromeda drawled on about their conduct, he noticed the Princess fiddling with her wand, tapping her nails on the crystal heart top of it. Best not to stare. He glanced away before it was noticeable. Just as Andromeda was about to start naming their assigned duties, a bright blue pang hit Toffee’s right arm, blasting it off, and causing him to fall on the floor.
A commotion stirred through the room.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Princess Moon jumped out of her seat and tried to get down to him as fast as she could. The guards held her back, telling her it wasn’t proper or safe.
Queen Comet cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she glared at one of the guards. “My daughter is free to go where she wants.”
Immediately, the princess rushed down the stairs, her face changing to one of concern. “It was an accident, I swear! We’ll call in a doctor immediately.”
“Thank you, but it’s quite alright,” Toffee sucked in a breath, and waited for it to grow. Regenerating was something Septarians were born with, though many believed that mentally thinking and willing yourself to regenerate would also make you faster, better at it. Toffee didn’t know if that was true, it wasn’t like many records were kept on Septarian biology. A lot of them had been burned in previous Mewman pillages. But regardless, Toffee always did that, and he often, momentarily felt the missing limb there, still lingering, just before it regenerated. The arm was good as new in a matter of seconds, though the sleeve of his white shirt was still gone. Regenerating was only for the body, after all.
Gasps and murmurs of astonishment flew through the crowd. Toffee wasn’t sure why, it was no secret that his kind could replace limbs on their own. “But he did it so quickly!” he heard one man say.
His insides churned. Perhaps it had been too many years, but he couldn’t remember being any more ‘talented’ than other lizards. It flattered his ego, for sure, but how would the Mewmans see a monster so resilient working in their palace?
The turquoise man with the crystal head and snake arms got up, calling order. “All right, all right. Everyone settle down now. Andromeda, continue.”
The rest of the meeting continued, as promised, but no one seemed really to be paying any attention to it. Everyone was still shaken by all the chaos that had just happened. The assembly concluded, and as Toffee headed to the quarters he had been assigned, he overheard an older, chubby woman in a powder blue gown talking unquietly to her husband.
“Did you see that, William? What kind of Princesses are they raising nowadays? St Olga’s could probably use a new student.”
In the impulse of the moment, he turned to face her. “Ma’am, as a member of this palace I ask that you speak of the royal family with some respect. It looks like St Olga’s must have forgotten to teach you that.” A polite and resentful smile formed upon his lips. He knew he would regret this later, but his pride wouldn’t let him overhear the princess who’d shown actual concern for her servants be ridiculed for it.
The woman’s thin, arched brows shot up. Horrified, she opened her mouth to speak, and after stumbling for words, made threats to file a complaint against the new servants. But she had still been humiliated, and knew it. As Toffee was about to continue to his new duties, he sensed someone staring at him, and then saw who.
The princess had overheard everything. Her mouth didn’t move, she didn’t say a word, but her big blue eyes spoke for themselves: Thank you, they said.
Reassuringly, he gazed back, and then looked away. There were other things to attend to. All this attention on him was not the best start.
He pondered on this first meeting of theirs as they eventually reached the Garden Balcony, and instantly he could see why this was her favourite place in the whole castle. You could see not only the garden but all of Mewni from up there. The lotus ponds below shimmered from the sunlight, and the gardeners were peacefully tending to and shaping the trees.
“So then, what’s your idea of fun?”
She grinned. “You’ll see.”
They crossed down rows of stairs, through paved stone paths lined up with all sorts of flowers, to a spot at the far edge of the garden, shaded by willow trees. Moon put down her sack —she had insisted on carrying it herself— and took out a blanket, with criss-cross pastel stripes. Then, she set out the food. Heaps of buttered corn, plates of fresh fruit, and a steaming pie, with a dough butterfly embroidered on the centre.
“I cooked all this myself,” she beamed proudly. “Guess I am going to be a great queen, and cook! Well then, sit down.”
Looking both ways to see if anyone was near, he took a seat. The stillness was strange, he wasn’t used to rest, even before he became a servant. But he could see now why Moon was so giddy about all this. A faint breeze fluttered through the trees, and there was no noise but the sound of two pretty birds singing nearby. He took a pie slice, as he wasn’t too fond of corn. Instantly, he was surprised. He had certainly underestimated her, he couldn’t recall having eaten something so delicious in his life.
“See? See?” she teasingly poked him with her wand.
He smiled, truly, truly smiled. “Alright, don’t blow my arm off again.” As he pushed the wand away, his fingers brushed hers, and he was surprised with how soft and warm they were. The warmth, for a moment, seemed to stay with him. He lied down, looking at the willow leaves, and the cracks of golden sun between them.
“Toffee?”
“Yes, Princess?”
“Some days I don’t really feel like I want to be Queen. Is that…fine?”
He held back a laugh.
“What?” her face flushed. “What’s funny?”
“Sorry.” He stifled a chuckle and propped himself up to his elbows, to get a better look at her. “Of course you won’t feel like being a queen all the time. That’s perfectly normal. You’ve literally got the weight of Mewni on your shoulders.”
“I know,” she threw herself on the ground, running her hands through her hair.
“I mean, I was never royalty, but something similar, a while back. And God, was I a royal pain.They would have sent me to St. Olga’s, if Septarsis had something like that.”
This made Moon laugh. “You? A rebel? Sir Perfect? No, you’re lying to make me feel better.”
“Ha! I wish. A surprise my dad didn’t lose all his hair.” For a moment a pang of poignance struck him, remembering his family was gone now, but he kept through with the story for Moon. “You know, once, my family was hosting a party, and they invited this guy I hated, what was his name? Ugh, I can’t remember.”
Moon squinted. “Hmm… let’s call him…” she glanced down at her half-eaten corn cob. “Cornelius”.
He teasingly rolled his eyes, idly picking up a cob of corn. “Creative. Anyways, Cornelius and I attended the same school, and I just didn’t like him. Probably for something petty. So he and his family get invited over, and he starts talking to me.”
Moon moved closer, engrossed in the story. He normally preferred having his space, but he didn’t mind then.
“And he spilled a few drops of wine on my shirt. I would have assumed it was an accident if he didn’t giggle so much after the fact. Sorry about your shirt, ha ha!” He did his best impersonation that he could. “It’s too bad it’s ruined now, but whatever!”
“Hmm, I can’t lie, he does sound punchable.”
“And that’s what I did.”
“Toffee!” Moon gasped.
“I told you I wasn’t lying. Oh, I caused a scene alright. Flipped him off, and shoved him into the table with the punch bowl on it.”
Her hand was on her mouth, but she was laughing behind it. “Oh my stars! You really were one angry man!”
“Yes, my parents had me strictly supervised at every party after that night.” He took a bite of the corn. Despite his distaste towards the vegetable, this one was alright, though he still preferred the pie.
“You know, I didn’t know Septarians had parties, like with wine and all. And you said you were something like royalty?”
Toffee hesitated. “Septarians never really had monarchs, as far as I know, but we were a pretty wealthy and powerful family.”
“I think I’d like to go to one of those parties one day. I wonder what they’re like.”
“Moon, er, I mean, Princess,” He looked away, propping himself up to his hands now. “I’m afraid that’s not possible”.
Her smile faded, and she too sat up. “Toffee? What do you mean? Is everything alright?”
He didn’t look at her. Good stories, good memories, came with the bad ones too. And really, there was no way to separate them. He could feel his throat tightening, and his eyes welling up. Crying is stupid, he told himself. It won’t bring them back and you can’t cry, not right now, not with Moon. What was he supposed to tell her? That her family, her kingdom, had slaughtered and scattered most of his people? He couldn’t tell her that, however she would take it, she wouldn’t take it well. Even if she did, he’d certainly lose his position. He took a deep breath, composing himself, pushing his shoulders back. “It’s…err…” and Toffee, normally so eloquent and well-spoken, struggled finding the appropriate thing to say.
But Moon gazed up at him, and did something completely unexpected. She held his hand and patted it. “Hey there,” he could feel her looking up at him, and so had to look back. “It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
Shocked yet strangely relieved at the touch of her hand, he moved towards her. “Thank you, Princess.” And they would have stayed like that a little longer, when a flying arrow whipped through the air and barely missed Toffee’s head.
“Halt there, trespasser!” A young female voice cried. From the distance, he saw the girl with the pigtails, in her sleek aqua dress.
Moon whipped her head around, puzzled. “Mina?”