Sonja DaDona, the Crown Dookess

Have you ever gone back to school after summer break and noticed that the building underwent some semblance of a renovation? That's exactly the feeling Sonja DaDona had when her mother's personal limo passed the wall, or what was left of it.

"What the heck happened here?", she asked the driver Benicio.

"I'd let your mom answer for you."

Sonja just continued to look out the window. Where the wall once stood, excavators were scooping up its crumbled remains. Beyond that, she saw the nation of Yookia. Out in the open. No longer obstructed by several stories of grey brick.

This can't be, she thought to herself. It doesn't seem so different from Zookia.

"Miss Sonja?", Benicio called back. "Welcome home."

Sonja hadn't even noticed that the limo parked outside her mother's palace. At the bottom of the steps was her mother.

"Sonja!", the Dookess cried out.

"Hi, Mom." Once she exited the limo, Sonja hugged her mother.

"I'm so glad you're back!"

"Me too. What happened here?"

"Oh, right. Come on inside, sweetie."

——

Sonja was led down the familiar hallways of her mother's palace. They passed by their family portrait with herself, her mother and father immortalized in paint. That combined with her father's bust made Sonja feel a hole in her heart.

If you were to look at Sonja and her father side by side, you probably think he wasn't her father. But he was, I can assure you. It's just that Sonja mostly had her mother's looks; the same orange fur and auburn hair, although hers simply flowed down while her mother's hair swirled above her head. Also, when not being formal, Sonja's casual wear was her sleeveless maroon dress and white sweater. She felt it made her look like someone who enjoyed the transition from autumn to winter.

The Dookess brought her daughter into the dining room. "Ah! Here we are! A nice homecoming meal for you, Sonja!"

The girl smiled at the food laid out on the table. The cooks made all her favorites. Truffula fruit cake, blue turkey, cheese and bean casserole, coconut cream pie and, of course, toast, butter side...up?

Sonja stepped over to the toast and picked up a slice, her jaw agape. "Mom? Why's the toast backwards?"

The Dookess said, "Oh yes. About that. I was going to explain that to you."

Sonja raised an eyebrow, awaiting an explanation.

So the Dookess explained all that had happened over the past few weeks: The Moo-Lacka-Moo theft, the arrival of Guy-Am-I, his subsequent construction of the bomb at her request and the near mutual destruction of Yookia and Zookia that was narrowly avoided and, the icing on the cake, how the cows were the masterminds.

It all was a little too much for the girl to take in. She scratched her head as questions began overflowing her brain. Instead she sums them up with "Gee, is that all?"

"Pretty much. Yes."

As the two ladies piled food onto their plates, Sonja asked another question. "Who's the Dooka's son?"

"What was that, sweetie?"

"You mentioned in your story something about a girl and the Dooka's son. What's he like?"

"Oh, you'll find out soon, So. Right now, they're constructing a merged palace for us and the Dooka and his wife and son. We'll be sharing those halls and walls as we all share this great nation together again! It'll also be big enough to house all of our people in a time of crisis."

"Sounds like quite a lot, Mom."

"It is, but I wouldn't stress it too much."

——

After dinner, Sonja retired to her bedroom, finding it just the same as she left it. The royal servants having made up her bed, folded/hung up her clothes and kept her pet rabbit Ebert attended to. She set him in his playpen so that he could hop around and gnaw on wooden blocks and a dried up carrot. Meanwhile, she lay on her bed, clinging to a plush toy.

Sonja began to envision what it would be like to share an all new royal palace with the Yookian royal family. Her mother seems okay with it; then again, she was the one who had a front row seat to all the action and drama.

It had the girl thinking about four weeks ago when her mother had her hop onto a blimp and fly to West Flubria. As soon as she landed, the mayor greeted her and had her escorted to the mayoral residence in town hall. She kept asking questions like "Why'd my mother send me here?" and "What's happening in Zookia?". With the benefit of hindsight, she began to realize her mother was just trying to keep her safe. Ever since her father died due to a heart attack, Sonja was kept under a microscope by her mother. If she even so much as sneezed, her mother would be there with a hanky and their personal nurse.

"Mom, I said I'm okay!", she would insist.

"Can never be too careful, So", her mother would say back. "If I lost you, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

Sonja always figured she said that for two reason. Firstly, that her father's heart condition would be genetic. Secondly, the Yooks would be eager to see her perish and her mother make a complete fool of herself in her grief. In fact, that very nearly happened to her when Dad died. Although she didn't straight up say it, Sonja figured out that her mother quickly composed herself for her sake.

Her dad was a good leader to his people. That was all the more remarkable because he was a commoner until he married her mom. Sonja was two years old when her parents got married; despite her age, she could still remember it, albeit some parts were a bit foggy. With her mother being in such a hierarchy, it seemed kind of strange that she'd be born out of wedlock, so her parents quickly accounted for that. Otherwise, Sonja looked back on all the good times with a smile. She remembered all the sing-alongs she had with her father in the music room, all the summertime visits to the water park, the fundraising events during which she danced with him in the ballroom. Sonja had a sneaking suspicion that her mother was envious of the fact that she was a daddy's girl.

Then she lost her train of thought when she found Ebert inches away from her nose.

"How'd you get up here?"

——

Almost a year later, the construction of the new Ookian royal palace was completed.

As the servants moved all their possessions, Sonja was introduced to the other royal family.

"I believe it's about time you met my daughter, BaDookas", the Dookess lead in. "Come here, So."

The girl inched forward. "Hi", she said nervously. Her eyes scanned the others. The Dooka was a short man, but looked like someone who wouldn't let any of those kinds of jokes get to him. His wife was about two heads taller than him and had a beehive hairdo like her mother, although it went the other direction.

Then she saw their son. Sonja might've or might not have squeed like a fangirl when she first saw him.

"Hi. My name's Looka", he introduced himself.

All Sonja could hear him say was blah, blah, blah. His gaze was so lax, yet so...captivating. Those eyes were just, what's the word?

"Soulful?", Looka suggested. "I get that a lot."

Sonja quicker shook her head and blushed. "Pssh! Don't be silly!" She waved her hand in a "forget about it" kind of gesture. Then she took Looka's hand and shook it. "I'm Sonja. Pleased to meet you."

Cover by Amityblight222