Ventuno

Theodore's parents looked at each other and wondered what was wrong with him. For the past few days, he had been happy. Now he looked like his previous self.

"What do you think happened?", his mother asked.

"I don't know, maybe he just had a bad day".

"I don't think that's the reason, perhaps he had a fight with lord Alistair", his mother speculated.

"Martha, whatever reason he isn't happy, he will figure it out himself. Theodore isn't a kid anymore. He is a grown man, and we should know that and stop pampering him so much", his father told her.

"but....",

"no buts Martha, leave the boy alone and stop fussing, he will be okay". He held up the invite from the palace. "What are we going to do about this?",

"can't we decline the invitation?", Martha asked hopefully

"of course not, that would be very disrespectful and would only make the king angry with us".

"so what do we do?",

"we honor the invite, go to the palace for dinner, act normal and pray everything goes well",

"there should be