The heat wave going through Xelha made mirages out of regular streets. The heat shimmering as it rose off the roads that wound through the capital city of Blizzaria. The odd splash from the fountain in the square instantly turned to vapor, which was debatable by some that the water wasn't even making it that far. Even early in the morning, with the sun still low in the sky the thermometer on a porch read 30C, which even seemed to quiet the usual din from the morning songbirds.
The quiet of the morning would be shattered by a more practical source. Freya and her brother Aleksi screeched out of their house. Freya decked in a purple one piece suit and Aleksi wearing a pair of red swim trunks. Both wore pool party sun caps. Both had pressurized water guns and were happily running around spraying each other. Freya was by far the better shot and Aleksi ran out of ammunition much faster. He figured he'd instead use the hose which is how they initially filled up their gun tanks.
Now Aleksi couldn't miss, and soon enough his sister was receiving a proper drenching from his attacks. The duo continued on running up and down the street in front of the house, or at least as far as the hose would go. When Freya got tired of running, she ran out near the Blizzaria Square Fountain, where the hose could not go. The fountain not only allowed her to catch her breath away from her brother, but the fountain gave a supply of water to refill her own weapon. Aleksi though got another plan. The hose might have a limit, but running a bucket wouldn't. Since she was already near the fountain, what's the worse that could happen? Its not like anyone else was going near there at this time of the day.
He grinned as he formulated the plan, a bucket was right next to the door and he'd run back when his sister went out of range to refill her water gun. He didn't need to wait long as she soon tired and her stream began to lessen. When she turned her back to him, he dashed back towards the bucket. In reality it was a small pail, held no more than about 5liters of water, but he was racing against time. He glanced over his shoulder as he started filling up and saw his sister unscrewing her tank and getting ready to put it in the fountain water.
"Hurry up! Pour faster!" he muttered to himself. Another glance over his shoulder and she still had her back to him, leaning over filling up her tank. Just as she looked about to pull her tank out of the water, his bucket was filled and he grabbed it, sloshing around, losing some of the water as he did. It didn't bother him, a few drops for him would be worth the entire dowsing for her. Just as he was about to reach her, she turned around and caught sight of him.
"Eeek!!!" she screamed as she dodged backwards away from her charging brother. As he went to turn after her his feet slipped in an already existing puddle of water. He fell one way, and the bucket of water went the other. The plan had failed... or so he thought... when he heard a distinct shriek, but Freya had stopped right next to him, her gun trained on him, but she was looking behind him. "Oh-uh...." she whispered to him as he got up and faced the owner of the shriek.
Standing before him was a woman, fire red hair, a pale blue and white sundress that was now sticking to her pale skin. Her arms spread out as if trying to spread out the water and not add to the clinging sensation. Her red eyes soon set upon the two and her face scowled as the water began to dry, or at least stop running down her face. Queens were mean, at least that's what the old stories used to say. Disrupting them caused you to be taken away and put in a dark room. Sometimes until you were old! And the really bad stories mentioned kids being put to work and never coming back. No more fun, no more candies, no more friends, no more family, just... gone! Were they about to be added to the list of kids locked up for disrupting the queen?
The awkward silence between the trio was broken as their father ran out and bowed deeply to the woman, "I'm sorry highness. The kids were simply playing and trying to keep cool. They meant you no harm."
Freya and Aleksi mimicked their father's bow, "we're very sorry Ms Queen Yuki Sol."
She collapsed the folding fan in her right hand as she hit the leading edge on her left hand. Her features didn't soften, and her tone remained sharp, "If you must address me, it's either Ms Sol or Queen Yuki. You cannot use both."
Freya and Aleksi stood up straight and looked at each other. Was she really just going to complain about the name and not the water? Well, if that's all she needs to forget about the water, then we're onboard with that. They nodded before repeating the bow and this time in perfect unison chorused, "We're sorry Queen Yuki."
"Better," she flashed a smile to them. Before folding her arms across her chest line and unfurling the fan to cover her face. "Now continue having fun, just try not to splash anyone."
"Yes ma'am," the two echoed before bounding off back towards their house. "We did it! We got away from the queen's wrath! We're amazing!" Aleksi joked to his sister.
"We did!" she giggled. She glanced back as they reached the house and their father was finished talking to the queen who seemed to be walking back towards the palace.
"Yay! You escaped too!" the kids hugged their dad.
"Of course," their father chuckled. "Queen Yuki is usually very nice to kids. But it's nice to know she's a true Grade C Woman," he added a bit under his breath.
"Aren't Cs bad grades?" Aleksi asked.
"Not in this case, but don't worry too much about it for now. In time you'll come to understand," he said with a chuckle and ruffled his son's hair. "And when you learn, it's something you'll never forget."
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