"Elizabeth!?"

The Earl and the Countess stared at their daughter. Elizabeth blushed.

"Mother...father", she said.

"Where are you going?"

"The Crown Prince must rest after his meal and I, I thought I would go and make sure that he was comfortable!" Elizabeth said, her voice a little higher-pitched than usual!

"I think..." the Earl began.

"The prince's servants will be in attendance, my lord", said King Chandler. "I'm confident that they will be able to assist the prince in his digestion".

"Quite right!" said the Countess, "Elizabeth, I think you should..."

"...But they could always do with a bit of help", Chandler said. The king knew that Lady Elizabeth was sweet on Darius and he did want them to be able to spend time together. Any ordinary set of noble parents would be pushing for such a fine match, but the Earl and Countess, Elizabeth's parents, seemed to think that she shouldn't mingle with the prince.

She sighed.

"I think the prince would recover from his meal with a friendly face nearby", Chandler said. Elizabeth smiled. She curtsied to the king and queen and left the dining-hall.



"There you go, fatass..."

Darius belched deeply and loudly as Javelin dumped him onto his enormous bed. The prince gasped and whimpered!

"Gentle!" said Xavian, fiercely!

"Brother, this is Prince Javelin, we're talking about", Bretton reminded his twin, "He can barely SPELL 'gentle' let alone know what it means! He's a Mountain prince, after all..."

"I can TOO spell gentle!" said Javelin, "J...E..."

"Oh please! Prince Javelin we can handle things from here!" said Bretton. The boastful prince smirked and left the room.

WHUMP!!

"Ooooh!!"

Something solid colided with something soft and squishy!

"Well hello there..."

Lady Elizabeth stared at the broad-chested, tall young giant. She blushed.

"S-sorry my prince!" she gasped.

"Oh no need to be sorry", said Javelin, "Bumping into you would always be a pleasure", he said. Elizabeth turned RED!

Javelin swaggered out of the room, pulling the doors shut.

Together, the three of them, the two servant-boys and the nobleman's daughter rubbed Darius's belly. He gasped and groaned and whimpered, slowly relaxing and letting the food digest.

Someone knocked on the door just after Darius dozed off...

"Ah, Lady Elizabeth", said a plump man with blond hair.

Bretton and Xavian bowed.

"Good evening Prince Sebastian, sir", they said.

The king's cousin smiled. "Good evening, boys!" he said. "How does my good nephew, the Crown Prince, hmm?"

"He sleeps, your Royal Highness".

"Oh I bet he does! Hah! He must be exhausted after all that gluttony! Aah he's got a good appetite. Anyway, Lady Elizabeth. The majority of the guests in attendance at the feast this evening are staying overnight. Your parents are among them. Now..."

Elizabeth's face fell. That would mean sharing a room with her mother again! Every time she got to come to court...which wasn't often...they had to share rooms! Her parents insisted on being her chaperone...even when she wasn't with eligable young men.

"...because of the number of guests staying at the palace, you won't have your own guestroom..."

I knew it! Elizabeth sighed.

"...So the king has granted his permission that you should take up residence in the Crown Prince's guestroom".

"Guestroom!?" Elizabeth gasped.

"Boys, perhaps you would show her?" Sebastian suggested, "I must return to the party".

"Yes sir!" said the boys. They led Elizabeth to a pair of double doors and opened them. They headed inside and lit some candles to reveal the guestroom.

There was a small bathroom, a fireplace, table, chairs, a closet, three windows set around a corner in the room, and near the doors, a large canopy bed with curtains. Not as big as Darius's of course, but certainly sufficient for someone of Elizabeth's size!

"We'll prepare the chamber at once, m'lady", said Bretton, "Ready for this evening".

"Thank you!" said Elizabeth. She was so excited, she didn't know what to say!

BANG!

Darius's bedroom doors flew open and hit the walls! Everyone jumped!

...Darius grunted, rolled over and kept on snoring...

"Hey..." said Javelin. In his enormous arms, he carried a travelling trunk. "Where do I put this?"

"Oh!" said Elizabeth, recognising it as her own! "In the guestroom! Th-thank you, your Royal Highness!"

"Heh, no problem!" said Javelin. He left the room, slamming the doors after him!

"He's very noisy, isn't he?" Elizabeth said.

"He's a Mountanian", Bretton said simply. "They're all noisy".

As the party wound down and everyone got ready for bed, Elizabeth couldn't believe her luck! She was getting to sleep in Darius's bedchamber! Well...in his guestroom, anyway...

That evening...