"What's the newest book?" Blanche asked as she brushed her hair in the mirror.

Nori flipped the cover over. "Social Fabric. I actually think you might like this one."

"I like fabric." Blanche looked at her Chef's jacket. "When I get the chance to wear something else, that is."

"It's about how the creation of the tailor guild saved Ambrosia City's declining economy in the 600's and led to our current Chef-based economy."

Blanche squinted at Nori through the mirror. "That doesn't sound like something I'd like."

Nori laughed. "Basically, it was the custom back then to eat at home or at a neighborhood soup kitchen. Restaurants were for special occasions. The queen, Queen Suzette, was widowed in her twenties, which put her in a bit of a tight spot regarding her power and legitimacy. Meanwhile, Labrusca had more princes than it knew what to do with. So she thought she'd attract one of them to strengthen The Platter's alliance with a thriving Labruscan economy.

"Her plan was to ditch her carriage and go on foot to Cafe Julienne several times per week, wearing a new fancy dress each time. Eventually, word would get to Labrusca, whether it got there through the Crown's aristocrats or through Cafe Julienne's Labruscan natives.

"Of course, to do this, she needed lots of dresses. More than one tailor could make. So a particularly ambitious dressmaker recognized his position and formed the tailor guild. Collectively, they had a lot of bargaining power, and they came up with a clever plan. If they could jumpstart a culture of fashion in Ambrosia City, soon everyone would be coming to their businesses to keep up with latest trends.

"In exchange for making Queen Suzette's dresses, they received textiles subsidized by the royal family. This allowed them to flood the market with relatively cheap dresses and suits. Their plan worked. But it also had an unintended side-effect.

"All of these people wanted to show off their nice clothes. So they started going to restaurants. And where better to eat than along the queen's famous footpath where you might catch a glimpse at the next trend in fashion? Well, the restaurants on that street were overwhelmed, so more opened up, and that's what led to the creation of Restaurant Row. And then from there, the culture of going to restaurants has persevered through the centuries."

Blanche held her hair against her neck. "Did she marry the prince?"

Nori laughed. She knew there'd be at least one part of that story that Blanche would be interested in. "She did. King Beurre."

Blanche sighed and gazed out the window. "I wish I had a romance like that."

Nori bit her tongue and studied Blanche's face. Trouble in paradise. Not her place to push. "Well, actually, as it turns out, King Beurre had a secret son back in Labrusca."

"Oh!"

"Yep. A future claimant to the throne. There was a war. Short one. Like a week. If Ambrosia City's economy hadn't recovered, he might have usurped the royal line."

"Maybe not a romance quite like that, then." Blanche bit her lip and retrieved a little metal token from her bedside table. "You're going to the fight later, right?"

"Yeah. I should probably get going soon, actually. Don't want them to run out of tickets."

"Well…" Blanche looked at the ground as she fidgeted with the token. "I'm not actually going to be able to make it. Blue Orchards stuff. And, uh, well I have this token to the royal box. I thought maybe you'd want it."

"Wait, you're not going?"

"Something came up. I…I can't go. But I don't want to waste a seat. So…"

"Sure."

Blanche handed over the token. They stayed still in silence for a moment. The incompleteness of their conversation itched at Nori's brain. She closed her book and looked down at it.

"You want to read it?"

"Oh, um…I think I got the gist of it. And I prefer fiction."

"Is that my favorite daughter?"

Nori turned and raised her hands with excitement as she ran across the street into Arty's embrace. Arty squeezed her tight. The moment that he let go, Adeline was on her for another hug.

"I'm so glad you both made it!"

"Yeah." Arty rubbed his hands together and looked over to The Serving Bowl. "We caught Archie for breakfast. Thought you'd be there."

"I was sleeping in. I haven't seen Archie today. Was he nervous?"

Arty blew a raspberry. Adeline rubbed her brow.

"That bad, huh?" Nori asked.

"Well, he was excited at first. But then his mom got started." Arty looked at Adeline out of the corners of his eyes and raised his eyebrows.

"I'm just worried about him!" Adeline cried.

"Yeah, well, you gave him your worries."

Nori laughed and pulled her admission token from her pocket. "Well, I think we're sitting together."

"Oh, good!" Adeline clapped.

"Say…" Arty looked around and leaned in. "This is the royal box, right? Waldorf's not gonna be here, is he?"

Even just the mention of the name sent a chill down Nori's spine. "I hope not."

"Good, good." Arty nodded and took a breath to calm himself. "If he shows up, I'm gonna have to…" He motioned backward with his thumb.

"I'm sure Archie would understand. If he even noticed."

"Yeah. Archie doesn't really know the half of it."

Adeline slapped her husband's arm.

"What's going on?" Nori asked.

"Well…" Arty scratched his temple. "Don't tell Archie, but Waldorf has taken a special interest in me."

Nori shook her head. "Archie told me about the last time you came here. It's terrible."

"There's been more." Arty winced and led the group toward the arena entrance. "You can't tell Archie."

"What?"

"Waldorf tried to reserve Petrichor. All of it. For a whole day. He sent a letter with a list of possible dates not long after our run-in."

"What'd you do?"

"I wrote back promptly, of course." Arty cleared his throat and turned his voice into a mockery of politeness. "We are honored by your interest in our humble restaurant. However, due to recent popular demand for our restaurant, we are currently unable to accommodate your request and are not taking any more reservations until the new year. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Nori looked at Adeline. "You wrote that, didn't you?"

Adeline rolled her eyes. "He wanted to tell the prince where he could shove it. I thought we'd be better served with a more diplomatic tone."

"Anyway." Arty showed a guard his token to get through the gate. "It might be a bad idea for me to be making an appearance in the royal box. But how could I deny the best possible seat to see my son's debut?"

Nori nodded a thanks to the guard as they entered. "Well, if he shows up, I'll distract him while you make your escape."

"Sounds like a plan. So what've you been up to this semester?"

"Aside from nearly transitioning from Chandler's babysitter to her mother?" Nori scoffed. "I think I have a future as Ambrosia City's number one tour guide."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. Every weekend I go somewhere new. Last weekend I took Chandler to this place that has giant hollowed out acorns. Big enough to sit in. You hold onto the edge and they spin them using…something. They told me how it worked after, but I was trying so hard not to throw up that I didn't catch whatever they were saying. But Chandler loved it."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

An Acorn Guard led the trio up a closed off staircase and out onto a shaded balcony. A couple of guards stood at the corners, and Nori recognized a few seated statesmen, but none of them were important enough for Nori to have remembered their names.

A single staircase split four rows of a dozen seats, two of the seats have been built to triple the standard width. Two Gluttons sat in these oversized seats, one woman, one man. Nori walked down first on her tiptoes as she tried to identify the man. He seemed too small to be Waldorf, and she confirmed her hunch when he turned slightly.

Someone tugged at Nori's jacket. She turned to see Hyssop and Juniper struggling to contain their laughter.

"He's not coming," Hyssop whispered. "He's at Balsamum for the day."

Nori sighed with relief. She couldn't believe that Hyssop and Juniper could still find any humor about Waldorf considering they worked in his presence nearly every day. They were more resilient than she would be. She turned and gave Arty the thumbs up. "You two wanna sit in the front row?"

Arty and Adeline both stretched their necks to see over the edge and grimaced. "Not big on heights. Either of us. You take the front row."

Nori shrugged and took her seat. The royal box wasn't very high, but she supposed it was still higher than anything in Sain. She looked back to take stock of the other attendees. There were a couple of politicians—Nori thought one of them was the father of the twins that would be fighting. Juniper had gotten her admission from her brother, and Hyssop was always flirting with older boys, so it was no surprise that she had managed to swindle some poor boy so that she could accompany her best friend. One seat remained open in the top row and one in the front row next to Nori. Little tables on pedestals rested between seats, and many guests had already been served burgers.

By the time the first fight got underway, Nori had eaten her way through half of a pretzel while listening to Arty brag about some of the famous guests that had found their way to his restaurant. Chive and Sherry put up an exciting, projectile-filled fight that ended with Chive forfeiting after Sherry threw a hardened pizza that buried crust-deep into his thigh. The sight made Nori cringe. It made Adeline cry.

"Oh, I can't watch this…"

Fern and Fennel fought next. One of them—Nori couldn't keep track of who was who—kept summoning a massive onion around himself while the other spewed molten cheese from his hands. Between each attack, he'd rub his eyes. They skirmished and retreated, skirmished and retreated, over and over again until the whole arena had a funny smell that made everyone's eyes water and their stomachs nauseous. The fight was longer than it was exciting, and the balcony filled with chatter. There was a shuffle, and an unfamiliar woman's voice came from the entrance.

"No, we'll just get her to sit up here," she said.

"Oh, don't fuss over me! I'm fine," a man responded. "I don't want anyone to see you hovering around me. You sit here."

"Okay. Careful down the stairs."

"Don't! Get off me."

Nori barely paid the exchange any mind, focusing instead on Fern and Fennel. But when the man's voice spoke again right next to her, she finally looked up.

"Excuse me, is this seat taken?" Grand King Flambé smiled.

Nori looked around as if he could be speaking to anyone else. Arty and Adeline watched with wide eyes and open mouths. Grand King Flambé gestured to the open seat to refocus her attention.

"Oh, yes. Yes, Your Grace. Of course."

He groaned and stood up as straight as he could. "I won't sit here if you call me that."

Nori giggled. The man had a way of taking all of that nervous air around him and turning it into charm. "Okay, I won't."

He squatted halfway to his seat and stopped, pointing a finger at Nori. "And don't be Grand King-ing me, either."

"What should I call you then?"

"Just call me Flambé," he said with a smile. Once he took his seat, he leaned over and growled at Nori. "Your Grand King demands it of you, my subject."

Nori's eyes widened. But then Flambé's seriousness broke with a snorting laugh. He patted her on the leg.

"If you ever become Grand Queen, I hope you don't forget how to tell jokes."

They had met several times over the years back in Uroko, but their exchanges had rarely surpassed brief introductions and certainly never reached the familiarity with which Flambé acted. Nori struggled to keep up.

"Well, it'd take a lot of bad things for that to happen."

"Hm. I suppose that's right."

Flambé looked at the fight, giving Nori the rare chance to study his face. The brown in his hair had completely lost to gray, but the color still fought for equal footing in his eyebrows. Crow's feet fanned out from his gentle brown eyes. Age had put a few lumps in his jawline, but it was still strong and boxy with a prominent chin. He looked equal parts old king and fairytale prince. Nori thought that despite his age, if he were widowed, he wouldn't need any publicity stunt to attract whichever suitor he desired.

"Molten cheese," he groaned. He pulled down his collar and showed Nori the top of his shoulder. Amongst the many freckles and moles of age, he had shimmery strips of burnt flesh. "Had I been a step slower in my youth, I wouldn't have a face. Has Archie fought yet?"

Hearing Archie's name out of Flambé's mouth surprised Nori. She could tell that his parents were listening intently. "Not yet."

"Oh, good. And Sherry?"

"Their fight ended. She won. Pizza to the thigh."

"Hmm. I hoped to catch both of them, but we were running late." Flambé unleashed a single, massive cough into his elbow. "Between you and me, I was more excited to see Archie, anyway."

"Is that right?"

"I used pastamancy, you know. Back in my day. And Tarragon tells me that Archie fights like I did."

"And how's that?"

Flambé chuckled. "Recklessly."

The cheese-wielding twin doubled over, covering his eyes with one arm while waving the other in the air.

Clover's voice boomed through the arena. "Is that? Yes, it is! Fennel has conceded! Fern's onion defense proved to be impenetrable, and his pungent counterattack is too much to handle! Now let's clear out this smell before the next match."

Clover sniffled, the magic amplifying it to a grating timbre. The smell disappeared all at once, and the entire crowd wiped the last bit of water from their eyes as they applauded.

"Now we have yet another special fight! This giant from Khala is anything but gentle, and he's got the mint that'll make you squint! Give it up for Barley!"

Nori stood and clapped and hollered as Barley took the floor.

"And he's got his work cut out for him today, because I've heard some things about his opponent. If you yearn for a burn that'll make you squirm, look no further than this acid-wielding warrior, Yarrow!"

The momentum of Nori's previous cheer carried a few claps before she sat down. Flambé did not reflect her excitement. Instead, he fidgeted in his chair and coughed.

"I had hoped to miss this one," he whispered to no one. He looked up the stairs and groaned. He rose just an inch off his seat before settling back down and leaning toward Nori. "This is embarrassing to admit…"

Nori leaned in to listen to his whispers.

"I don't do too good with acid. I'd leave, but I'm afraid I rolled my ankle the other day, and the stairs seem too much for me. Could you…" He closed his eyes and winced, doing everything to avoid looking down at the arena. "Could you keep me distracted? For however long it takes?"

Of all of Flambé unkingly behavior thus far, this one struck Nori as the most odd. She locked eyes with him. "Sure. What should we talk about?"

"Consider this your chance to ask me anything."

Nori balked at the opportunity. What questions did she have that were worthy of such a man's time? She had no lines of political inquiry, no grand curiosities that couldn't be answered by countless biographies, no pressing matters at all. But she did have the question that had burned at her all semester.

"When did you first truly consider Ambrosia City to be your home?"

Flambé raised his eyebrows. The crowd roared as the fight began, giving him a moment to collect his thoughts. "Who said I ever did?"

"You've lived here for over thirty years."

"Almost forty if you count my time before I was king."

"And you still don't feel at home?"

Flambé's face scrunched up with heavy thoughts. "The piece of me that is a king certainly feels at home here. But there's part of me that never got the chance to live here. Palm Coast is my childhood."

Nori frowned. "And because of that, you can't feel fully at home here?"

The smell of mint filled the air. Arty stood to get a better view. Flambé kept his eyes locked onto Nori's.

"United Ambrosia is my home. All of it. Every piece of this land deserves a piece of my soul, and they have it." He turned away from the fight to cough. "Which might explain why I seem so spread thin."

The crowd's roaring shifted to screaming as something horrific unfolded. Flambé winced, prompting Nori to ask the next question that came to her mind.

"Do you have any regrets?"

"As many as I have accomplishments," he answered without pause.

Nori regretted asking the question. There might have never been a more accomplished man in history. This was the man that united all five kingdoms for the first time. She shuddered to think of his untold regrets.

"You accomplished peace," Nori said. "The longest peace ever."

"And to accomplish this peace, it took a war. Half a million dead."

She flinched as Barley screamed, the rest of the crowd echoing him as they covered their eyes. She had hardly ever heard Barley even raise his voice. To hear him scream broke her heart.

Flambé closed his eyes. "I should've found a better way."

"And it's over!" Clover announced. "Yarrow takes it! You can open your eyes again, everyone, everything's okay! Competitive Spirit was made for situations just like this one!"

Nori looked into the arena. Yarrow did not celebrate, but he was unmistakably proud. A Veratore helped Barley exit the floor. "It's over. You can look now."

"Tarragon used acid." Flambé coughed and adjusted back to facing forward. "I always tried to kill people before he did. For their sake."

"Who's ready for our final amateur fight?" Clover asked. The crowd roared in response.

"Let's go Archie!" Arty cheered.

"I can't watch," Adeline groaned. She got up and retreated up the stairs.

Nori also struggled to watch as Archie moved like a glacier and gave Sorrel time to set up traps. "Come on, do something," she urged.

Flambé leaned forward, eyes glued to the fight. "Go over the rock."

It took a little time and a lot of pain, but eventually, Archie's plan aligned with Flambé's. But with each move that Archie made, he got hurt, and when he got hurt, he screamed. Nori ran her fingers through her hair and tried not to cry.

"He'll be okay," Flambé said. "The first fight is always the worst. He doesn't know how to deal with pain yet. But he needs to do something drastic while he still has the blood to do so."

And then Archie did. He swung sideways, and by some miracle, managed to crash into Sorrel. The balcony erupted with cheers and cries of worry.

"Yes!" Flambé yelled before going into a coughing fit.

"That's my boy!" Arty yelled. Flambé coughing continued.

The Royal Veratore appeared at Flambé's side. He tried to wave her down and choke down one last cough, but resisting just made his coughing more ragged. The Royal Veratore crossed her arms. "Come on. You saw your fight. Let's go."

"Tataki's on next," he complained. Nori felt like she was watching a mother scold her child.

"You wanted to see Archie fight. Now it's time to get you back."

Flambé sighed and conceded, groaning as he got up. He smiled at Nori. "Thank you for keeping me company."

"Of course. Any time."

"Okay, then. Tomorrow night, you'll join me at the keep for dinner." He dipped his face into his elbow to cough and came back out with a grin. "Your Grand King demands it of you, my subject."

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