Selfless Love

Absolute Certainties

There were a few things Andrew Calypse knew with absolute certainty.

One, both his parents loved him and his sister.

Two, Hebaron found immense joy in teasing his parents, even if he got in trouble for it. Every time.

And three, no one threatened, insulted, or humiliated his baby sister. EVER.

Unfortunately, some stupid prick tried to challenge one of these certainties.
Lord Erron had arrived earlier that same morning. He was some pompous snobby lord from a kingdom to the east. He had arrived with wagon upon wagon of personal items. If Andrew hadn't known better, he would have thought the man was moving into their castle.
Riftan, Andrew and the knights had cringed internally at the haughty lord's obvious obsession with material wealth.

Lord Erron had been somewhat rude but otherwise civil. It was clear the man had been spoiled all his life. Andrew and Victoria had everything they had ever needed or wanted but they weren't spoiled. Sometimes their parents would wait until the holidays or birthdays to buy them the toy they had been pining for. The Calypse children understood the importance of patience and manners, but the same could not be said for their guest.

There are manners and then there are unspoken rules. Rules like never insult your host family at the dinner table. Apparently, this crude guest did not believe rules, spoken or unspoken, applied to him.

He had made a fuss about the knights dining with them. He thought the status of a knight to be beneath him, even if he was in the presence of the knights who had saved the continent, twice.

Riftan quickly shut him down, stating that his brothers in arms had always dined with his family and that wasn't going to change simply because their guest thought them to be inferior, which Riftan firmly stated that they weren't.

Their guest was silent for a while but soon drawled out other complaints. This man loved to point out things that displeased him, much to the annoyance of those around him.

"This decor is sub par." he said in a loud nasally, voice. "At my house we have curtains made of the finest silks and our chandelier is made of solid gold."

"While I'm sure they look lovely in your home," Maxi said calmly with a tight smile. "We prefer our castle to be a bit homier. And it's more practical with small children, easier to replace or mend"

The Lord huffed a laugh as though he thought her reasoning to be ridiculous.

Riftan was about to interject but Maxi shot him a warning look, pleading with him to remain civil in front of their company.

As the dinner continued the tension rose until it was nearly palpable. The Lord just didn't know when to shut up. Sooner or later Riftan would be at his whit's end, and he would snap the man in half.

In the twenty-five minutes they had been eating, Lord Erron had managed to insult his knights, his home, even his cats. Apparently, the cats had wandered into the guest's chambers and toppled over a few expensive vases he had brought with him.

Riftan apologized and offered to pay him for the damages. He also made a mental note to give Roy, Laura, and Ron an extra treat for terrorizing their rude guest.

The Lord looked over at little Victoria, who was sitting by her mother happily eating her second helping of sweet potatoes. She laughed loudly, almost squealing whenever the knights would wink or make a silly face in her direction. The young girl was a little messy and had spilled some food onto the table. Victoria didn't mind one bit about the mess she had created and continued to eat happily.

"I would never let my son marry such a gluttonous girl," the Lord said with a disgusted sneer on his face. "At this rate she will have to have her clothes tailored before the age of five because she will be so chubby. What a pig."