#cedar king

“What are ye doing here?” Bog growled visibly annoyed by the arrival of this Goblin, but his former tensed posture relaxed now. 

“Yer welcomes are always so heartwarming son, I think I’m gonna tear up,” answered the Goblin with a smirk and then throw the love potion, that he had taken away from Roland, to Bog. “Here is yer love cocktail.”

Bog let his staff drop into the bend of elbow, so he could catch the bottle with both hands and only growled as response.

Marianne had watched this exchange with puzzlement, but then she suddenly realized what the Goblin had said. “Wait, son? He is your father?”

At least he looked as if he could be related to Bog compared to Griselda. It was obvious that the Goblin was even taller than Bog, with broader torso and his scales looked like actual tree-bark. Instead of the leave-like scales, he had  conifer-leaves as hair and also beard. Maybe Bog looked like a stick, but this guy totally looked like a tree!

The sigh Bog made came from deep withing and sounded as if he would’ve liked to negate this. But before anyone could answer her question, Roland’s struggles became more violent and louder.

“Let go of me!” he demanded and had been able to draw is sword to aim it at the Goblin’s torso still holding his ear. He had to let go of him and step aside to avoid the blade.

“Wow, careful there buddy. Ye might hurt someone with that.” There was still amusement in his voice and didn’t seemed to be that troubled by the weapon.

Roland only shot a glare at him, before his eyes settled on the Love Potion in Bog’s hand. With a rather pathetic scream he charged at the Goblin King, but his former opponent grabbed him by the wings and hauled him back.

“Where do ye think ye are going blondie? We are not finished yet.”

The Fairy stumbled backwards and almost lost his footing. As soon as he collected himself again he tried another attack, this time aimed at the other Goblin, who had his arms behind his backs and simply stepped aside to avoid the blow. Roland turned around right away and tried to hit him several times, but the Goblin’s evasion moves now looked more like he danced around.

“A really hope not all Fairies fight as bad as this guy,” the Goblin commented and looked at Bog, who only grinned lopsided. 

“Sadly it seems so. But at least their princess is a capable fighter.” 

That was when Bog noticed that his two guards still held Marianne down. With a swing of his staff he signaled them to let go of her, which they did a bit hesitant. Marianne rubbed her wrists and gave Bog a thankful smile for letting her go and for his compliment. The Goblin King ducked his head slightly bashful at this.

“A fighting Fairy princess? Now that is interesting,” the Goblin said with a chuckle and took a long step towards them, while still avoiding Roland, who grew more and more furious with the fact that he couldn’t land a single hit and that he was ignored like this. 

Finally the Goblin had enough of playing around. “This is growing really tiresome.” He simply stopped the blade with his hand, the next time Roland swung at him, and made the Fairy stop in his movements. Not a second later he punched him so hard in the face that Marianne was sure she saw a teeth flying. Roland felt backwards and hit his head on the stairs, which finally knocked him out. 

“One-Hit KO. A’ve still got it,” the Goblin said with a proud tone, while Bog let out a laugh and Marianne grinned from one ear to the other. Then he turned around, dusting off some invisible dust and walked past Bog  towards Marianne.

“Apologizes for this late introduction ma dear.” He gently took Marianne’s hand and gave the back of her hand a kiss. “The name is Cedar, former king of the Dark Forest. Lovely to meet ye princess.” The charming smile he gave her was more of the easy-going kind and didn’t made her feel uncomfortable as Roland’s did. Still Marianne grimaced more than smiled.

“Ah, it’s also nice to meet you. I’m crown princess Marianne,” she introduced herself with a little bow of her head. 

Cedar was about to say something, when his leg got smacked. Everyone looked down to see Griselda with a disapproving look on her face.

“Stop flirting with Bog’s ladyfriend Ced. I’m happy he finally shows interest in a girl and I don’t want you to ruin that.”

“Oh Griselda, ye know A would never do that.” He crouched down to be on eye-level with the short Gobliness and gave her forehead a kiss, while he took her hands in his. “A’m just showing him how to treat a lady right.”

Griselda giggled at the innocent puppy-eyes Cedar was giving her. “Well, he certainly could use some advice.” She then gave her son a pointed look. “Like it’s not nice to restrain her.”

Marianne thought that this whole situation was rather...awkward. She glanced to Bog, who was looking skyward and made it rather obvious with his strangled noises that he would like to be somewhere else right now. It only got worse when Dawn suddenly was clinging herself to him again. 

“Oh, you are Boggy’s dad? I’m Dawn, very nice to meet you. Your son is very wonderful. He is such a cute grumpy bear. Right Boggy-Woggy?” 

Cedar had straighten up again and blinked in confusion at Dawn, who was talking way to fast and grinning totally smitten at Bog, who just sighed and glared at the questioning look from his father. “Don’t even ask.”

“Didn’t want to,” he said in a pacifying way and raise his hands. But then he smirked again. “Just wanted to point out that Marianne would be more yer type.” 

“That’s what I’ve been trying to make him understand,” Griselda endorsed to Cedar.

To finally get this situation back into the right direction - and to put Bog out of this embarrassing situation - Marianne raised her hands and voice to get the attention of everybody.

“Okay, I think some explanations are at order. We still have a little crisis here? My sister is lovedusted and a Fairy army waits outside, with whom I have nothing to do.” She couldn’t avoid to direct her last words towards Bog, who looked a bit guilty to the side. 

“Yeah, A really would like to know the whole story about what’s going,” Cedar agreed and looked from Bog, to Marianne, to Dawn and then to Roland. “A mean, we hadn’t contact with ye Fairies for years and now an army is here and even the princesses?”

“Well, that’s a complicated story,” Bog said with a sigh.

"Why can't we go out into the forest?" she groused with a whine. Bog stopped in his track and turned around with rolling eyes. 

"A told ye, it's too dangerous for ye out there. Ye cannot fight and not even fly away, should something happen." He now stood before her, having his hands on his hips, tapping with his foot and giving her a warning glare. "Now get up from the floor or do ye want to spent the rest of the day here?"

"I might just do that," she said with a pouting expression. With an irritated sigh the prince closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Marianne had asked him several times over the week to go out and play in the forest. But she always let the subject drop, when he had told her no. But it seemed that on her last day she didn't want to budge until they would do what she wanted. Bog hated to argue with her, especially since she would be gone this evening, but the forest really was no place for a flightless Fairy girl like her.

He was thinking about a way to make her understand, when she spoke up again, this time with a much more soft and pleading voice. "Please Bog. You have promised to me, that you would show me more from the forest."

Actually Bog should have known better, but he still made the mistake to open his eyes and look at his little friend. Was that a Fairy thing or how could she make her eyes grew so big? The slightly tilted head, the trembling lips and the watery eyes almost made him cave in, but he made a last attempt of staying steadfast.

"Aye, A did. But A never said when. As soon as ye are able to fly, we can consider it."

Marianne sensed that he was wavering, so she decided to make another move. She got up from her sitting position and hugged Bog's leg, looking up to him. 

"Pleeeeaaaseeee. I will promise to be very careful. We don't have to go out for long, just looking around a bit."

Grinding his teeth Bog tried to muster the words to object, but the way she looked at him was so unfair! How could he say no, knowing that she would probably sad afterwards? Snarling angrily at himself, he looked up at the ceiling. "Fine, we will go out."

"YAY!" the Fairy princess cheered, but before she could utter another word, he interjected. 

"Only when ye will follow three rules." He crouched down to be on eye level with her. "Rule one: Ye will do exactly as A tell ye. Rule two: Ye never will go out of ma sight. And rule three: Ye won't touch anything ye don't know. Understood?" He had help up a finger every time he had listed a rule and now hold up three fingers. Marianne nodded eagerly and clasped her hands.

"Understood!" Pleased with her agreeing to the rules and happy about her excitement Bog smiled. He wriggled his fingers in front of her face, before he poked her with one on the nose. She made that squeaky laughing sound he had started to like.

"Alright. Then let's head out before anyone notices we are gone." he said, picked Marianne up and started to fly to the exit. Walking would take too much time and he would be more at ease when he could carry her around. 

"Would your mommy be mad when she knew we go into the forest?" she asked after they were in the air. Bog made a wry smile.

"Not her, but ma father."

The Fairy princess scrunched her face. He guessed it was hard for her to imagine the Cedar King to be mad, especially at him or her. But Bog knew better. It was rare, but really not a nice experience when his father got angry.

When they flew outside, Bog stayed close to the castle at first, not that Marianne minded it. She was fascinated with all the plants and wildlife they encountered on their little tour and she had only gotten a little glimpse of when he brought her to the castle a week ago. Especially the sentient mushrooms were the source of a lot of questions.

Why can they speak?

What do they eat?

Do Goblins eat them?

Do they need to leave their post to relieve oneself?

Since she liked a lot of the darker flowers, which didn't exist in her kingdom, Bog made himself the mental note to show her the moonflower field, when she was able to fly on her own. 

They were almost two hours outside now, stopping here and there to watch and Bog giving explanations to Marianne. It was becoming late afternoon and he didn't want to be gone too long to get missed, because he didn't know when the Goblin caravan, with which Marianne had to go with, moved out to the Light Fields. The prince was about to suggest their return, when he heard some ruckus behind a few bushes they were just passing. He stopped midair and the Fairy in his arms looked up at him confused.

"Bog? Is something wrong?"

After a few seconds of silent pondering he shook his head to hear question and then smiled at her.

"When A remember right, ye wanted to make friends with some Goblin kids, aye?"

Marianne made an affirmative noise and nodded. His smile grew wider.

"Well, what do ye say to start with that now?" Bog had to hold back a laugh at Marianne's excited gasp and her heavy nodding.

"Okay, then we will meet some now. And remember, just be yerself."

They flew over the bushes and reached a small clearing that laid at a calm stream. At the shore of the stream were stones of different sizes and shapes and formed some kind of ring. In this ring were two Goblin children fighting, one big and bulky one and the other having similarities to a lanky, bipedal frog. Six more Goblin kids sat on the stones and cheered to the fighting ones. 

Bog landed on a stone that was higher than most others and was in the back of the other Goblins. He let Marianne down, but beckoned her to be silent. Confused she tilted her head, but didn't say a word and hide behind his legs to watch the fight below them.

The big one tried to grab the smaller one, but he just jumped to the site and slashes with his claws at the arm of his opponent. A howl of pain and a punch in the guts was the result of this attack and the frog-Goblin hit a stone with his back. Coughing from the loss of air, he managed to get back on his feet, just in time before the bulky Goblin could ram him. The small Goblin evaded this move by springing behind the big one to attack his back, but the big one simply let himself drop backwards on top off the small one. Trying to use all his strength to get away from under his opponent, he groaned and wriggled, but it was no use.

“Are you giving up?” asked another Goblin, a small chubby one, who seemed to act a referee.

The small Goblin grumbled and stopped in his struggles. “Fine, I give up. Now get up from me Brutus!” he demanded. With a wide, satisfied grin the big Goblin Brutus got up again. The other Goblins came from their bleachers and either congratulated Brutus or helped the other one up.

Marianne was still hiding behind Bog’s legs, fascinated by the ruckus below them and eager to join in. She looked up to her friend and was about to ask when they would go down to them, when she saw the grin Bog was giving her. Then he addressed the Goblin youths.

“Not bad Lace, but ye still didn’t listen to me. Ye’r attacking far too aggressive to beat a Brute Goblin like Brutus.”

Most of the smaller Goblins yelped when Bog had suddenly spoken, but they all rejoiced when they sighted the Prince.

“BK!” they all cheered and came closer to the stone he was standing on. But they all stopped dead in their track, when Marianne peered from behind Bog’s legs.

“What is that?” asked a Goblin with a hunch and a mole-like snout.

“It’s not what, but who,” Bog scolded him, before he picked up Marianne and landed with her before the group of Goblins. “This is Marianne, she is the Fairy princess of the Light Fields. Say hello Marianne.”

“Hello guys.” The young Fairy waved and smiled a bit shyly at them. The Goblins didn’t respond and only looked baffled. Her face turned into a little grimace and then she looked unsure to Bog, who gave her an reassuring smile.

“They’ve never seen a Fairy before,” he whispered to her.

“Are they afraid of me?” she whispered back, but before he could, a Goblin with a beak and floppy ears answered first.

“Why should we be afraid of a Fairy?” Marianne glared at the Goblin for his scoffing tone when he spoke the word Fairy.

“Why shouldn’t you?” was the immediate retort from her, which baffled the Goblins even more and made Bog smirk.

“Because Fairies aren’t scary,” answered the Goblin who Bog had called Lace and the others murmured agreeing.

Marianne gave Bog to understand that she wanted down, so he set her down on the floor. With confident steps she went to the Goblins and stopped in front of them with her hands on her hips.

“Maybe we don’t look scary, but I have a very mean glare and when you don’t behave yourself, I will use it,” she warned them and already gave them her mean glare again. This time some of the little Goblins even backed up one step. But then Bog cleared his throat and Marianne dropped her glare with an apologetic grin.

“But I don’t want to scare you. So what about we become friends?” she asked bluntly and held her hand out towards them. All the Goblins looked at their prince, asking with their expressions if the Fairy was serious. Bog gave them a nod and waved encouraging in Marianne’s direction. They still were unsure about what to and looked all at each other. Marianne was about to drop her hand with a sullen expression, when one of the small Goblins stepped forward and took her hand carefully.

“The name is Stuff your highness,” said the small, chubby Goblin with fin-like ears and bowed even slightly. Marianne smiled delighted.

“Hello Stuff, it’s nice to meet you. And you can call me just Marianne.” Stuff returned the smiled and shook her hand a bit more, before she dropped it and then waved the other Goblins to them.

A bit reluctantly the other Goblins came closer, first of all the Goblin with the mole-snout and another one with a trunk as nose, who both stepped besides Stuff and sniffed a bit at Marianne.

„You smell so….flowery,“ the trunk nose commented, his expression at first puzzled and then full of wonderment, while the other one clapped delighted.  

“Well, my home is full of flowers, so I guess this is normal,” Marianne answered and the two made some funny noises that should be laughter, too. Each one of them took on of her hands and shook it.

"My name is Korks," said the Mole-Goblin, who's voice was rather nasal. 

"And I am Romp," introduced the Goblin with the trunk himself. 

"Hello Korks and Romp. You two look really funny," Marianne said and let go of their hands to poke both their noses. They squinted surprised, but then started to giggle together with her, luckily not being offended by her words. 

When they went aside, the Goblin with the beak was next and he fumbled a bit with his hands.

“Ah, hello princess. My name is Fos. Uh, sorry when I was a bit mean before,” he apologized and looked rather sheepishly.

“Oh, that is okay Fos. I was rather mean too, so we are fine,” she smiled at him and Fos returned that smile, even when it was more hesitant.

Next were two Goblins with heavy upper-body and strong arms they used to support said body. They looked a bit grimly, but Marianne simply looked between them and then smiled.

“Are you two brothers?”

The two looked a bit surprised, before the more green one answered. “Uh, yes we are. This is Remus….” “..and this is Romulus. We are actually twins,” finished the other one with the more earthier tones.

“Cool, you finish each other’s sentences!” the young Fairy said and giggled. The brother’s looked perplexed at each other, before Lace pushed past them and walked towards Marianne.

With a glare and no words, he held his clawed hand towards her. Marianne stopped with her giggling, because of his aggressive face. Carefully she took his hand and when he shook it, she smiled again.

“You are Lace, right? Your fight was really awesome. I bet you train a lot.” This compliment threw Lace out of his glare and after he cleared his throat, he looked rather pleased.

“Well, a bit. But it's mostly natural talent.” Some of the Goblins snickered around them and now Lace's glare was pointed at them.

The last one was the big Goblin Brutus. This time Marianne went to him and now she could easily say that he was as big as Bog and surely three times as wide. Even with his rather intimidating appearance, he looked rather insecure and seemed to hunch a bit.

"And you're is Brutus, right?" she asks him and he nods. When he mustered a toothy smile, Marianne giggled. "You know, for such a big guy you are somewhat cute." She then proceed to hug his belly, which made him breath in sharply in fearful surprise. But when he realized that this was no attack, Brutus even laughed a bit and petted gently her head. 

The other Goblin youths cheered and now surrounded Marianne. It seemed that their wariness towards this new creature has vanished completely and they were all bombarding her with questions about her kind and lands. Only Remus, Romulus and Lace were standing a bit aside, the twins looking with raised eyebrows at the scenery and Lace only rolling his eyes. 

Bog also stood a bit aside, but his face was full of content happiness. This meeting with the group of young Goblins went so much better than he had expected and he was so relieved that Marianne got along with them so well. She had wished for friends and he was glad he could help her out with that. Everything just to make this little Fairy girl all happy and smile.

The Goblin youths continued to bombard Marianne with a lot of questions and the little Fairy didn't mind to answer them all. In return, her new friends showed her a few tricks they could do or games that young Goblins tended to play. The trio of the twins and Lace still didn't really participated in their activities, but they were now standing closer and giving comments from time to time. Bog on the other hand, had resumed his place on the rock where he had landed with Marianne before and watched over the group. Said Fairy had asked him several times to join them, but he always declined with a smile and said that he wasn't one for playing games, a statement that surprised Marianne. He had never minded to play any kind of games with her. 

Only when Lace changed the general topic to fighting, Bog would come from the rock and join the conversation. It turned into a discussion with Lace about some battle stances and while the other Goblins eagerly listened to them, Marianne's attention drifted away. This simply was no topic she had an interest for and so she started to walk away a bit and looking around the stream.

She jumped on a few small rocks and hummed a melody, when her eyes caught something in the corner of her eye. Looking at her right side, she spotted a little black, furry creature with big eyes and a long snout on the other side of the stream. When she tilted her head, it mirrored her movement, which made her giggle. Marianne jumped from the stone she was currently standing on and wanted to get closer to the furry creature. She stopped when she came closer to the water. The streams current was very strong and she couldn't swim in the first place and flying wasn't an option for her yet. Her face got a bit sad, but when she heard squeaks she looked up to see that the creature was jumping over a few stones that stuck out of the water to come to her. Marianne clapped delighted, when it landed in front of her. Even standing up on it's hind legs and pricking up it's ears it wasn't that much bigger than her. 

"Hello," Marianne greeted it and got a chirp as response.

"You are no Goblin, are you?" she asked and the furry creature shook it's head. It then spread it's arms as if to present itself with a wide toothy smile and Marianne laughed.

"I'm Marianne. How is your name?" The furry creature just shrugged. "You don't have a name?" Now it shook it's head. "Can you talk?" Another shake of the head. "Hmm, you are a weird guy." Marianne said and crossed her arms.

Another shrug and then the furry creature started to giggle and made a few acrobatic jumps on the stones. It landed on it's hands and made a squeaking noise that sounded like 'tada!'

The little Fairy clapped amused. "You are funny. I like you," she declared and the furry creature scratched the ground with it's foot and looked bashful. Then it got excited, taking Marianne's head and pulled her towards the water.

"Hey, what are you doing? Be careful!" she said and finally could stop before she got too close to the water. The furry creature jumped up and down and pointed across the stream.

"Do you want to show me something?" Marianne asked and it nodded eagerly. It then jumped on the next stone that stuck out of the water and beckoned her to follow. She hesitated at first, but the furry creature continued to stare at her expectingly and so she gathered up her courage and jumped on the stone, her curiosity bigger than her fear from the water. The problem with the rocks in the stream was that they were much more slippery. Marianne eventually managed to jump over the first three rocks, but when her feet made contact with the fourth one, she lost her footing and with a shriek she fell off into the direction of the water.

Just that she never landed in it, for some hands had grabbed the neck of her clothing and held her over the surface. When her first shock calmed down a bit, Marianne managed to turn around to see that it was Bog who had saved her. He hovered over the stone she had slipped on and his face was full of panic. Quickly he gathered her up in his arms and Marianne practically clung to him, while he flew back to the shore. Once there he carefully sat her down on a rock, so that they were on eye-level and he checked her for any injuries.

"Ye're alright?" Bog asked in a worried tone. Marianne only managed to nod, the shock still very present. Relieved he sighed, but then his face turned into anger. "What were ye doing there in the first place? Didn't ye promise me not to go out of ma sight?"

In the meantime the other Goblins had caught up on them, but since they sensed that the Goblin prince was angry they didn't dare to came too close.

The Fairy princess whimpered and made herself even smaller, while she tried to answer. "I-I'm sorry Bog. T-There was this little furry guy, it wanted to show me something. It j-jumped so easily over the stones, so I thought I could do that to." 

Bog looked into the direction she had pointed at and spotted the furry creature, before it quickly vanished into the bushes. 

"That was an Imp. Cheeky, mischievous creatures, who like to get others into trouble," he explained. Mentally he was a bit puzzled. That Imp clearly had black fur, but weren't they supposed to only have white ones? 

But since this mystery wasn't so important right now he dropped it and looked back at Marianne with an insistent expression. "See? That's why A made ye promise not to wander off alone. Ye have no idea about the things that live here in the Dark Forest and no chance to defend yerself." Since she whimpered even more, he dropped the aggressive tone and continued with a soft voice. "Ye nearly gave me a heart-attack back there."

The whole time Marianne had looked down at the ground. Now she raised her head and looked with tearful and apologetic eyes at him. "I'm really, really sorry Bog. I promise I won't do it again." 

With a deep sigh Bog deflated and mustered a smile. "A really hope ye will keep it this time." She sniffed with a nod and then he gently stroked a few tears away from her face. "A'm just glad nothing happened to ye."

Marianne sniffed a few more times before she held out her arms. Without hesitation Bog gathered her up in his arms again and she buried her face between his neck and shoulder, clinging fiercely at him again. 

"We should go home now, alright?" he asked her in calm voice and she nodded with an agreeing noise. Bog then turned to the other Goblins.

"Well, guys. Thanks for the company, but we have to go now."

"No problem BK." Stuff said and they all smiled, even when it had a worried edge for the Fairy princess to it.

"Will princess Marianne come to play with us again?" Korks asked hesitantly. At that question Bog looked down at Marianne, who still faced his shoulder and seemingly was too ashamed to say something. 

"Maybe not soon," he then answered. "But as soon as she is able to fly on her own A'm sure we can arrange that." The Goblins cheered at that and Marianne smiled thankfully up to him. Bog returned that smile and with a last nod to the group he flew up into the air in the direction of the castle.

Hidden in the bushes the Imp observed of the two young royals vanished from the scenery. It scrunched it's face and growled. Apparently it wasn't so happy about how things had turned out.

It was late afternoon when Bog and Marianne landed in front of the entrance to the castle. Soon she would have to pack her things and prepare for her departure. They hadn't spoken a word during the flight and Bog felt a bit bad about how angry he had reacted towards Marianne. But on the other hand he knew it was for her best, that she had to understand to listen to the things he told her. 

When they entered the castle Bog continued to walk very carefully, so that no one would hear them coming in. Unfortunately they've been expected.

"Back from yer little trip kids?"

The Goblin Prince winced and slowly turned around to face his father, who had leant with crossed arms against an alcove that hadn't been visible from the angle they had entered.

"Uh oh," Marianne murmured and Bog mentally agreed. Quickly he tried to came up with some believable excuse.

"Ah, yes. Little trip. A just flew a few rounds with Marianne around the castle. She knows the inside so good now, so A wanted to show how it looked from the outside a bit more."

But it was obvious that Cedar didn't buy this story. He quirked an eyebrow at him. "Really. And it took ye almost the whole day for just a few rounds? Ye're normally not that slow son."

With a forced grin Bog still tried to salvage the situation. "Maaaybe we took a few turns."

"Like deeper into the forest?" His father furrowed his brow and the growing anger was visible in his eyes. So Bog gave up the lie and nodded. Cedar grunted with a displeased tone and then addressed Marianne, while he still looked intense at Bog, who now looked down to the ground. "Marianne? Be a good girl and go to yer room. A'm sure the Fairies want to leave soon."

"But I-," she tried to object, but Cedar cut her off with a warning tone.

"Marianne! Please, go to yer room. Now." 

Even when she was now intimidated, Marianne still didn't want to go and leave Bog alone. However, her friend put her down and gave her a gently nudge into the direction of her room. In the end Marianne only went after Bog gave her a little smile.

As soon as she was put of sight, Cedar leant down to his son and growled angrily. "Just what the bloody hell were ye thinking, taking her out to the forest, all alone without telling anyone?"

Bog took a step back in surprise of having his father on the same eye level. Then he took in a deep breath and looked at him with a steady expression. "If I had told ye or mother, ye wouldn't have let us go."

"And with good reasons." Cedar straightened up again and pointed with a claw at Bog. "It's far too dangerous for ye to go on adventures outside alone, much less taking a flightless and defenseless little girl with ye!"

"It's not like we ventured out so far," he defended himself, his tone getting louder. His father had told him more than once, how he wasn't ready for dangers and he grew tired by the all the arguments they had by now. "We stayed close to the castle, A didn't take her anywhere dangerous and A always kept an eye on her." The young prince deliberately kept quiet about the incident at the stream. It would only support his father's point and it was an exception. At least he hoped so.

Cedar was not very convinced by Bog's precautions and just waved aside. "Ye can be as careful as ye want, but even in the safe places there can be dangers coming out of nowhere. Especially for young Goblins like ye are. So, stop arguing with me about this."

Now Bog was completely fed up by this.

"No, ye stop!" he shouted, making Cedar go rigid and looking surprised. Bog took in a deep breath and tried to calm down again. "Listen, A know that it's too dangerous for Marianne to go out, because she indeed is a young kid and she needs protection. But A'm sick of it that ye still treat me like A'm a little boy that need to be fussed over. In less than three years A will be come of age and ye should stop to try to wrap me up in cotton wool."

For a few seconds Cedar only stares at Bog, thrown by his accusations. But then he answer with slight anger. "Oh, A'm so sorry that A just worry for yer safety Bog. Ye may talk big right now, but ye have no idea about what all could happen out there. Ye're not ready to face the dangers of the forest by yer own."

"And when will A be ready? Just out of nowhere when A'm old enough? Tell me father." Either it was unwillingness or his father simply had no answer for him. In any case, Cedar kept quiet and just glanced to the side, so Bog continued with an insistent tone. "A will be King some day and A need to know how to protect me and others. What dangers are out there. And if ye would actually show and teach me, A would be much more prepared than to try it all by maself."

Silence filled the air again. Cedar still only starred to the sigh and Bog kept his own eyes on him, waiting for an answer. When his father looked back at him, his face was full of worry and uncertainty. He tried to say something, but it only came out as irritated sigh. Bog had to smile at that. "Seems A got the mother-henning from ye, father."

The Goblin King blinked surprised at those words and then had to chuckle. Nervously he grasped his scepter with both hands and looked at it „Ye know that there isn’t much that A can teach ye Bog. Ye already have a much better education than me.”

“Education yes. But no practice with it." That was true. Tytos had lectured him a lot about tactics and fighting techniques in theory, but so far Bog barely had the chance to actually test out those or even coming up with his own fighting style. He also never had practiced to fight with a weapon. "Come on, we both could learn so much from each other when we train together.” Then he crossed his arms and smirked. “Or are ye already too old for that?”

Cedar barked out a laugh at this. “Ha, not by a long shot. Besides, ye are never too old to learn, as Tytos would say.” The grip on his scepter relaxed and he started to swing it playfully between his fingers. He was in thoughts for a moment and when he made his decision, he smirked at his son. “Fine, have it yer way. Ye don’t want me to treat ye like a little kid anymore? Than prepare yerself to receive a severe drubbing, ma boy." 

At first Bog couldn't believe that his father actually agreed on sparring with him, but then a wide grin spread on his face and he pumped his fist into the air with elation. Cedar chuckled at that sight and when Bog had calmed down again, he smirked at him. “A will hold ye to that promise. And we will see who will receive that severe drubbing.”

His father only snorted amused and then waved him off. “Aye, we will. Now go to yer little Fairy and help her packing. A’m sure ye two want to say goodbye to each other.”

Bog nodded and was about to jog off, when Cedar called after him. “Oh, and Bog!” The prince stopped and turned around to look at the smug face of his father. “Ye may have brought yer point across, but ye still broke a rule. So no dinner for ye today and sweet-ban until Marianne visits us again.”

Restraining himself from saying anything about this - very damn bloody unfair - punishment, Bog nodded with grinding teeth. “Yes father.“ He then flied away, before his father could say anything else.

With a mix of pride and unease Cedar watched after him.

Pride of Bog's determination to be a good warrior and king.

Unease about what all could happen to his son, when he finally faced the ugly side of life. 

When Bog entered Marianne’s room he had expected to see her packing her belongings into her back. But instead he only looked into a dark, empty room.

At first he was worried that she had gone somewhere else, until he noticed the little ball of moss on the bed. The ball moved when he closed the door and the eyes of his Fairy friend peered out from under a moos blanket.

“Is your papa finished with being angry at you?” she asked. Bog chuckled and walked towards the bed.

“For now, yes.” Marianne smiled, but then it faltered.

“Are you still angry with me?”

After he had sat down Bog didn’t answer right away, but starred at the floor. When he looked back at Marianne he had a smile on his face and patted the moos covered head of her.

“Not anymore.” She mad a relieved sight and pulled the blanket completely over her head again. They were silent for a few moments, until Marianne broke the silence.

“I don’t want to go already,” she murmured in an unhappy tone.

Again, Bog chuckled at that. He had expected this and even when he shared that sentiment, he knew better than to strain their luck with the Fairy King's patience and tolerance.

“A know, but ye had a deal with yer father. Ye don’t want to make him angry and forbid ye to come again, aye?”

The moss blanket moved quickly, which indicated that she was shaking her head.

“Then ye should get going. A will help ye pack yer things,” he offered and gently pulled at the blanket, until Marianne threw it away by herself and jumped on her feet.

“I bet I can pack faster than you!” she challenged him and was already gathering her clothes. Bog blinked perplexed for a few seconds before he jumped up too.

“Hey, that’s not fair. Ye had a head-start,” he complained with a laugh. Instead of picking up any clothes, he grabbed for Marianne, who squeaked in joy and tried to escape. After a little tickle fight, they resumed with the challenged who could pack faster. Bog let Marianne win.

 The Goodbye was actually harder than Bog had imagined. Marianne was clinging to him and ignoring the pleads from Captain Rosin to let go and go into the cart and he also had a very firm hold on her. After some coaxing from his father and later also Bog, they could convince her into letting go.

He stood at the entrance of the castle until the caravan wasn’t in sight anymore. Only then he went into his now quiet home again. With no dinner for him today.