A Prince... and A Father

Another Invidia Short by AMI MEITSU

Some people may think that Zordar’s life is nothing but conquest and planetary destruction, but it’s more than that. Like any ruler he has other responsibilities and one of them is Invidia. Most people fail to see that though, they think of him as ‘soft’ when he deals with his daughter, but they are a few exceptions…

Zordar walked down the hall with two people following behind him. One was a young woman with long sky blue hair; a man with black hair followed her they were the king and queen of Plant Rikealla. It was a plant that Zordar was working on a treaty with; he didn’t want to destroy it because it had many opportunities for bases and possible trades.

“Down this hall is another section of bedrooms, including mine.” Zordar said as they walked. “And my sitting room where some of our meeting will be held…”

“And where’s your daughter?” The woman, Queen Niara, asked him.

“Huh?”

“We heard you had a daughter, we want to see her. I mean, aren’t we going to be meeting with her later as well?”

“Yes, but…”

“Then may we please see her?” The man, King Mashiro asked.

“Right…” Zordar nodded, knowing that they could only see her, because Invidia was asleep. He had put her to bed earlier because she had been complaining about being tired. They walked down the hall and Zordar lead them into Invidia’s bedroom. Where, she was asleep, she lay on her side with one of her hands up by her face.

Niara smiled. “Zordar, she’s beautiful…”

‘I know…’ Zordar thought. ‘And she looks so much like her mother too, it’s amazing…’

He smiled as Invidia started to get up, that was not good. She hated it when her Father brought people into her room when she was asleep and she often freaked out.

‘Oh, I have to do something; she hates it when I do this…’ Zordar glanced as Niara and Mashiro. ‘But they’ll think…I…who cares!’ Zordar went over, sat on Invidia's bed, and gently pushed her back down in an attempt to make her go back to sleep.

“Father?” Invidia murmured.

“Yes, it’s me. Go back to sleep, Princess, there’s no need for you to be up…”

Invidia nodded and allowed Zordar to lay her down. “I love you Father…” she said.

“Yes, I love you too Princess…” Zordar kissed her head and pulled her blanket up as she fell fast asleep. He smiled at her.

“You’re a good father…” Niara said.

“Huh?” he looked at her.

“You are. I mean you handle her so well. And you seem to get along well.”

“Really? Most people think I’m soft when I deal with Invidia.”

Niara nodded. “Well, we have three children of our own, so we know what it’s like.”

“But, Invidia isn’t a child…”

“So?” Mashiro said. “She still needs you. No matter how old they get every child needs love…”

‘He’s right…’ Zordar thought. ‘No matter how old she is she’s always wanted to be loved and cuddled and so forth…’ He turned back to them. “Anyway, shouldn’t we go now?”

They nodded and Zordar led them out.

He came back a little while later to wake Invidia up for dinner, after putting her back to sleep she had slept for about two more hours which could’ve made her almost late for dinner…

“Princess?” he whispered. “Come on, wake up…”

“What?” Invidia whined when she got up.

“It’s almost dinner time…get up, Princess…”

“But, Father…”

“No, get up and put on one of your black dresses, we’re having a formal dinner tonight.”

“No, I need more time! I have to take a bath and make myself look, well…”

Zordar put his hand on her head. “You’ll be fine, just get cleaned up. okay?”

“Okay.” Invidia nodded.

He kissed her head. “Good girl…now go get dressed.”

“Right…” Invidia muttered, and then she got up and headed into her closet.

About twenty minutes later she went downstairs and into the dining room, where, Zordar was waiting with Niara, Mashiro and three children. Invidia just stood there.

Zordar looked at her, she seemed confused. “Oh, Invidia this is Queen Niara and King Mashiro, they’re from Planet Rikealla, the one we’re negotiating with.”

“Oh, sorry, I’m…a… Princess Invidia….” She bowed her head and they did the same to her.

“We know that, hon.” Mashiro said.

“Oh, well who are…the uh…” she wanted to say brats but she knew that would be rude, so it took her a second to ask. “Children?” She finished.

“Oh, well this is Yuta, he’s the oldest, and Hiroki and Hazuki.” Niara put her hand on each of the children’s heads when she introduced them.

They all bowed to Invidia. “Nice to meet you…” they said.

‘Oh my god…They’re polite…’ Invidia thought.

The children looked up at her.

‘She’s pretty…’ Yuta thought.

“Mama, she’s showing…” Hazuki said.

Invidia defensively placed her hand over her chest, kind of offended. Her dress wasn’t that bad. She wore a black halter dress that kind of clung to her and showed off only a small amount of her cleavage. It was meant to be pretty, but conservative.

“Hazuki, be quiet.” Mashiro whispered.

“Don’t mind her; she’s only a little girl…” Niara said. “I think you look nice.” She complimented.

“Oh, thanks…” Invidia said.

“Well, enough with the introductions, why don’t we just sit down?” Mashiro suggested.

Everyone nodded and they did, Invidia sat with Zordar at the end of the table and Hazuki looked at her.

“Why does she sit there?” She asked Niara. “I wanna sit there!”

“Well, she’s the Princess.” Niara explained.

“So am I!”

“Yes, but I’m the Princess here, you little brat!” Invidia snapped. She hated children sometimes; they could be so annoying and bratty! It drove her up the wall!

“Mama!” Hazuki whined.

“Invidia!” Zordar snapped.

“What?! She is!”

“Excuse us for a second…” Zordar grabbed Invidia’s wrist and pulled her outside the room.

“Father, that hurts!” Invidia whined.

“I don’t care…” Zordar hissed. “You need to settle down, they’re just children!”

“Bratty Children…” Invidia muttered as she kicked her foot slightly.

“I don’t care what your own personal opinions are; you have to be nice to them. You want this treaty, don’t you?”

“Yes, Father…”

“Good, oh…and if you can’t be nice, then fake it.”

“That’s not advice you usually give your daughter…” Invidia pointed out.

“No, it’s advice I give you. I’m not going to pressure to be nice to people you don’t like, even I don’t, I just bear it. Can you do that?”

Invidia nodded.

“Good, now come on…” Zordar led her back in just as they food came out.

Invidia stared at it for a minute.

“Father? What the hell is this?” She took her fork and pointed to some kind of green thing on her plate.

“Invidia, how hard can it be to tell that it’s broccoli?”

“But what’s…”

“Cheese, Yuta said we should try it.” Niara said.

“Gross!” Invidia said. “That’s just disgusting!” she pushed her plate back and pulled the servant that was next to her down by his tie. “Take it back!” She hissed. “And find me something I will eat!”

He nodded and took her plate up, mostly because she was choking him.

Zordar shot Invidia a look.

“What?” she asked.

He said nothing.

“Why does she get stuff sent back?” Hiroki asked. “That’s not fair! You won’t even let us do that at home!”

“You make us eat everything…” Yuta muttered.

“Quiet!” Niara said. “We are guests here and we do not need to criticize their ways.”

“Sorry…” Both boys said.

‘Too obedient…’ Invidia thought as the servant came back. Invidia looked at her plate again. “It’s fine, Thank you…” she said.

He left, and everything continued peacefully until dessert. Apparently little kids don’t take well to cheesecake…Or some don’t.

“Why would you put cheese in cake?” Hazuki asked.

“It’s not real cheese.” The servant explained for the third time. “It’s cream cheese, all right?” he put it in front of her while Yuta practically drowned his with chocolate sauce.Invidia did the same, only with these berries and this sauce over them, it was called kren and Invidia loved it. It was a sauce made from these ‘grapes-that-looked-like cherries’ that were found on a couple of planets.

“Invidia, I think that’s enough…” Zordar whispered.

Invidia shook her head. “It’s my cake; I’ll do what I want with it…”

Zordar was surprised she was even eating it, Invidia didn’t’ eat cake that often, unless it was cheesecake practically drenched in kren.

He let her do what she wanted and turned to Niara. “So…about the reception tomorrow…”

“Yes, we have everything set, it just…” She was interrupted by one of the generals as he entered the room.

“Sir, you’re due for a meeting.” He said.

“Damnit…” Zordar muttered. He had completely forgotten about the meeting. “Sorry…” He immediately got up and left.

“That’s rude!” Hazuki said. “Even Daddy doesn’t do that!”

“Shut up!” Invidia snapped. “You annoy me so much! I’m tired of hearing your voice, you little brat! And listen, he does that because we go through A LOT here! Something you’ll never understand!! My father does so much to keep this place running! By himself I might add! I don’t care what your Daddy does! I care that mine keeps everything running smoothly!! He may not spend as much time with me as he should be, but he keeps me safe! So I don’t want to hear your stupid theories!”

“Uh Princess...that’s…” Mashiro tried to say something but he just couldn’t…

“Yes?” Invidia said.

“Never mind…” He muttered.

Invidia took one last glance at him, grabbed her plate and left.

A little while later, after her bath, she lay on her bed with Shamura next to her.

“So, rough day Mistress?” Shamura asked.

Invidia nodded. “Shamura?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think my Father is too busy for me?”

“No, I just think there’s a time for work and a time for family in his mind. He does do a lot, you know.” Shamura explained.

“I know…I just wish he’d spend some time with me…”

“Aw, Mistress it’ll be okay, just wait…”

“But I don’t want to, I need him now!” Invidia got up.

Meanwhile, Niara and Mashiro were in a meeting with Zordar in his sitting room.

“The official meeting isn’t until tomorrow, but I thought we’d clear up some stuff now.” Zordar said as they went over several documents. He explained several things that needed to be done and Mashiro and Niara went over them, changing things here and there which, Zordar changed back somewhat to meet their demands. It was done in the same fashion that they had seen Zordar conduct his meeting earlier, stern but with a firm hand and constructive reasonings.

‘He’s good at this, but…there are things that need work…’ Niara thought, with Invidia’s words still ringing in her head. “He may not spend as much time with me as he should be, but he keeps me safe!” She sighed. ‘He’s a good Father, he just needs to show it more…’

“Niara?” Mashiro asked.

“Hm?”

“Are you listening?”

“Oh sorry…I…”

She was about to speak when Invidia came in and kind of interrupted her.

“Father?” She asked.

“Hi Princess, what’s wrong? You look…upset.”

“I was lonely, and I just wanted to see you…but you’re busy” ‘Again!’ she thought. “So I can leave…”

Zordar looked at Niara and Mashiro. “Do you mind if she stays?”

They shook their heads.

“Come here Princess…” Zordar beckoned her over and she sat with him.

“No, here…” He pulled her into his lap.

Invidia blushed slightly, embarrassed that she was acting like this around royals from another planet. She did have an image to keep up…

“What are you blushing for?” Zordar asked.

“I am not!” Invidia said.

“Yes you are…” he rubbed her head.

“Father, stop it!” Invidia laughed.

“So,” Niara said. “You do have time for her?”

“Of course…” Zordar and Invidia looked at her.

“But Princess, you did say…”

“I know, but he has time now and that’s all that matters” She looked up at Zordar. “I love you…” She said.

“Yes, I love you too, Princess…” He kissed her forehead.

She cuddled up to him as he continued to explain things, but Niara barely listened she just sort of looked at him and Invidia. Invidia was beautiful, and cute too, she looked so adorable cuddling up to her Father. ‘He really is a good Father, I guess it just takes awhile to realize it, he does love her though…’

Mashiro nudged her. “Niara, look just like Hazuki…”

“Hm?” She looked at Invidia again. Now she lay asleep in Zordar’s arms, cuter than before, though she could’ve probably needed a blanket. She wore her slip covered by only her black robe; she looked content but still kinda cold.

“Uh…you don’t…” She started.

“Huh?” Zordar asked.

“You don’t think she needs a blanket, do you? It is kind of cold in here.”

“She’ll be fine; after we’re done I’m going to put her to bed anyway, it’s all right.”

“Oh…” Niara said. After that she said no more she just listened to him, now he still talked in a somewhat firm tone, but in a low voice, so he couldn’t wake Invidia.

‘It’s kind of amazing; this is the same man who’s holding her now? Who let her stay because she was lonely? I guess…he kind of plays two roles here…Father first, Prince last…’ Niara smiled gently. ‘I take awhile to figure it out, but it’s cute…very cute…and I guess I was wrong…he does spend time with her It just takes awhile to see…I guess you just have wait…’

END…