Chapter Text
Grian stood beside his mother and sister when he saw others entering the throne room. There, coming up to him and his family was a tall woman in a dress that looked like it cost as much as the castle they were standing in. She had dark green eyes with hazel specs and bright orange and curly hair. Behind the woman was a boy with chocolate, curly hair and green eyes like the older lady’s. He looked to be around pearls and Grians age.
“Queen Moon, how are you on this fine day.” The woman addressed the Queen well, bowing like she had many times before this moment.
“I am wonderful, thank you Cleo. How are you and Etho fairing?” The queen answered back with a large smile on her face.
Grian, already deciding that this conversion was boring, leaned over to Pearl, his sister and asked. “How hard do you think it would be to get out of this?”
“I think if we tried mom would ship us to the farthest kingdom she could find.” Pearl answered right back to him. That was when their mother decided to bring them into the conversation.
“Pearl, Grian say hello to Queen Cleo and her son Prince Scar of Enders.”
Pearl and Grian sent each other wide eyed looks. They both knew the kingdom of Enders quite well. Enders and the crystal kingdom have never been on good terms. Both kingdoms wanted to have all of the west mining district to themselves. The kingdoms have been at a tentative peace for years with each other. Neither queen wanted to fight but in recent years it has become closer and closer to that point.
Grian had seen how close they were to fighting since he was in his childhood. He would often see his mother working with their military to strengthen their number in case of the worst.
That was to say, Grian was very confused why the kingdoms Queen and Prince were standing before them.
“Hello, I'm Pearl and I’m pleased to meet you both.” She addressed both of them well, bowing her head forward.
“I’m Grian, her brother, I’m happy to meet you as well.” Grian followed after his sister's lead and did the same.
“It is a pleasure to meet you two as well, I have heard many wonderful things about you both.” Queen Cleo addressed them both kindly.
“Why don't you two show Scar around the garden, me and Cleo have many things to talk about.” Their mother instructed them.
Grian and pearl shared a look again. Pearl was the first to speak up. “Sure, follow us this way, Scar.” She then began walking in the direction of the garden, with Grian beside her.
Opening the glass doors, the three of them were met with a large spanning garden. Just before them were poppies and lilacs mixing to make a beautiful magenta. Behind the poppies were large sunflowers that looked to be about six feet tall. In the middle of the garden was a large fountain made of white marble with a large angel on top. Behind the fountain was where all the large roses of many colors were planted in neat rows.
“Wow this place is beautiful, who takes care of them all?” Scar, who had walked past them both and started exploring the large garden, asked.
“Both me and Grian are in charge of making sure that all the flowers are watered and well taken care of.” Pearl told Scar well, taking a watering can to spray all the flowers. “Personally the roses are my favourite. There’s so many colours and varieties to look at.” Pearl told them both.
“Really? I always liked sunflowers. I like how the always try to point to the sun, it’s kinda like how people will always point to their loved ones when in need. Grian which ones are your favourite?” Scar asked.
Grian just stared at Scar before answering. Scar spoke in such a way Grian found himself getting lost in his words.
“Oh…um I like the poppies and lilacs.” Grian didn’t really know why he liked them but ever since he was a child he always drifted to them.
“So, why are you and your mother here?” Grian asked Scar well, pouring water from the other watering can on the sunflowers.
“I’m not really sure why we’re here. She just told me we were going out, but didn’t explain where or why.” Scar turned towards Grian to explain.
“Huh… Maybe the kingdoms are finally trying to resolve the ownership of the mining district.” Pearl stopped pouring the water on the flowers and put her hand to her chin.
“Yeah, maybe.” Grian agreed.
“Do you guys have any pets around here?” Scar asked after a minute of silence.
“Yeah Gri has two cats named Maui and Pearl - after me of course. And I have a dog named Tilly, she’s the sweetest thing in the world.” Pearl made heart eyes just talking about her.
“Yeah I get that I have a cat named Jellie. I wouldn’t trade her for all the money in the world.” Scar told them well, picking a poppy and smelling it.
Grian looked over at him and watched before he lifted his head again and looked at Grian with a smile. Grian looked away with blushing cheeks.
“So what do you like to do in your free time, Scar?” Pearl turned to ask Scar well, starting to water the flowers again, completely oblivious to what the other two were doing.
“Oh, well I like to paint.”
“Really?! Me too! What do you like to paint?” Pearl asked well, practically buzzing in place with excitement to talk to someone else about painting.
“I like to paint sceneries, animals, really anything that I can find that will stay still.” Scar huffed a laugh.
“Same! I like to paint my family all the time. I have like thirty paintings of Grian alone!” Pearl stopped watering the plants again to poke Grian in the side. Grian huffed and poked her back harder. ”Ow! Oh G you're so going down.”
Grian began sprinting down the path towards the fountain. “Pearl! Please have mercy!” He said, laughing. As soon as Pearl was at the fountain with him he started to run around away from her.
“Grian! Get back here!” Pearl continued to chase him around the fountain. She switched which way she was going a few times but still didn’t get him.
Scar just stood out of the way laughing to himself.
“Get him Pearl!” He shouted at them both. Hearing this, Grian looked back at him and shouted back. “ Don’t encourage her!”
Grian came around the edge of the fountain and started running towards Scar. Just as he was getting back the doors inside opened.
“Children come back inside, Scar and his mother are leaving now.” Queen Gem called from the door to the garden.
“Well it was nice meeting you Scar.” Pearl spoke to Scar with a smile on her face
“Yeah I second that.” Grian agreed.
All three of them made their way back to the door and inside. Grian, Pearl, and their mother waved goodbye to Scar and Queen Cleo, then made their way to the kitchen. Their mother got one of the cooks to make all of them a snack well, the three of them sat down at the table.
“So what did you kids think of Prince Scar?” Queen Moon asked after sitting down.
“I think he was pretty nice, he likes to paint like me.” Pearl supplied to her mother.
“Grian what did you think of him?” What did he think of him? Well he had eyes that looked as beautiful as a summer's day, that looked as if you would get lost in them if you looked for too long. His dark brown eye lashes kissed his cheeks every time he blinked. When he would smile his eyes would crinkle as if he had done so many times before. His hair looked soft like a teddy bear and very well managed. His face and arms were covered in scars that looked like they had a million stories behind them. He was wearing a perfect outfit that was tight in all the right places to show off his muscles. He was tall and looked strong enough to be able to manhandle-“Grian?”
“Oh… uh yeah he seemed nice enough.” Grian grew a deep shade of red and hid his face. Jesus, what was that.
“Well I’m glad that you both like him, because I have great news.” The queen spoke well, one of the cooks came over to give them their food.
“Really what is it?” Pearl asked excitedly.
“Me and Queen Cleo came to an agreement on the mining district dispute. We can have the whole area, as long as Pearl will marry Scar.” Their mother said with a straight face like she didn’t just drop a bomb on them.
“WHAT!?”
“Huh?”
Grian and Pearl spoke at the same time. Pearl shot right out of her chair at that. She looked like she was about to explode.
“What do you mean I’m going to be marrying him, I just met the man!” Pearl all but yelled at their mother.
“He’s going to be coming to live here with us in a week so you can get to know each other better before the wedding” After their mother said that Pearl looked like she was going to kill someone.
“Why do you have to do this to me? I thought you loved me!” Pearl was starting to get hysterical.
“I can see that you're not pleased with this but trust me this is the best for both kingdoms.” Their mother calmly replied to her daughter.
“It might be good for the kingdoms but what about me, how is this good for me?!” Pearl was pacing the room now.
“Pearl calm down, this is not as big as you're making it. You don’t need to scream at me.” Queen Moon tried her best to calm her down.
“Whatever I’m going to my room” Pearl mumbled well walking away. Grian got up to follow her up. “Pearl, wait let me come with you.”
They both made their way up to Pearl's room in the upper half of the castle. Pearl opened the door and let Grian in with her. Grian moved to sit on her bed.
“I can’t believe this! How does she think that she can just marry me off without my knowledge or permission!” Pearl started pacing again as soon as the door closed to her room.
“Pearl calm down, it can't be that bad, can it? I mean he seemed pretty nice and he’s kinda cute isn’t he?” Grian said, trying to calm her down before she had a panic attack.
“Grian you have to be kidding me. ‘Not that bad’! This is the worst thing to happen to me! She must know that I don’t like boys! I’m literally in love with Gem!” Pearl stopped pacing and looked at Grian with wide eyes.
“You… you’re in love with Gem? “ Grian whispered to her.
“Yeah… we’ve been dating for a while now.” Pearl whispered back.
“Oh, yeah maybe this isn’t as good as I thought.” Grian was starting to feel really bad for Pearl. At first Grian was excited to have Scar come live with them. I mean he was kind and quite pretty but she should get to pick who she is stuck with for the rest of her life, not some random guy.
“Yeah…” Pearl sighed. “This is kinda the worst thing to happen to me. I was just about to tell mom about me and Gem.”
Grian looked out the window to see the sun had set. “Well it’s pretty late. I think you should sleep on it and come back in the morning.”
“Yeah… maybe I should. G’night Gri, I love you.
“Night, love you too.” With that Grian left Pearl's room to go to bed.