Nathan and the Battle of the Crown
Nathan despises his crown. He hates wearing it as much as he despises what it stands for. "It's heavy and it pinches," he complains when he's forced to wear it. Even as a boy, Nathan never wanted any part of being king, and he forcefully resents having to wear this symbol of his office. Bad enough he has to do the job, he also has to look the part and be damned uncomfortable while doing it. So he hides his crown at every opportunity.
Because of this habit of hiding his crown, his wife, Catherine, commissioned around two dozen of them, unbeknownst to Nathan, and learned most of his hiding spots. So between the spare crowns and digging them out of his hidey-holes, Nathan is immensely frustrated that, no matter what he does, he just can't seem to rid himself of the damn thing, for it just keeps reappearing.
At the last King's Festival, Catherine even went so far as to cast the 'teensiest of sealing spells' on his crown and clothing, rendering him unable to remove them all day. Unfortunately, the Magicker's Joust ran very long, and Nathan lost his patience and his temper, and blew the spell up, along with his clothes and his ever-hated crown.
Because of this habit of hiding his crown, his wife, Catherine, commissioned around two dozen of them, unbeknownst to Nathan, and learned most of his hiding spots. So between the spare crowns and digging them out of his hidey-holes, Nathan is immensely frustrated that, no matter what he does, he just can't seem to rid himself of the damn thing, for it just keeps reappearing.
At the last King's Festival, Catherine even went so far as to cast the 'teensiest of sealing spells' on his crown and clothing, rendering him unable to remove them all day. Unfortunately, the Magicker's Joust ran very long, and Nathan lost his patience and his temper, and blew the spell up, along with his clothes and his ever-hated crown.
© Jeanne Bradford, 2011.