When Heather and I married each other, a couple years after the war with the Preylords, we decided to take her last name instead of mine. This decision was in honor of all the Longtreaders who otherwise would have gone down in history with searing black marks upon their tombstones, disgraced and dishonored as rebels and cheats. I had looked up to Wilfred Longtreader as a better role model than any other man I had ever come across—possibly including even my own father. I couldn’t see it being any other way after he sacrificed his life in the final battle…so bravely…to tackle a severely wounded and bleeding Morbin off that cliff. Immediately after the battle had finished, I went to find Heather, and even though we weren’t engaged yet, I asked her if we could be Longtreaders when the time was right. She blushed and stammered but said she’d be honored, and I kissed her. At our wedding, during his best man speech, Picket jokingly said the name change was partially because I didn’t want any of my children to be burdened with “Smallson” as a surname. (No one will ever get me to admit to anything, though, no matter how bad they make that name sound.)

I have two daughters and two sons, now, however, and every day I watch them suffer because of the name of Longtreader. Whether it’s their schoolmates, fellow trainees, or what, they all face some sort of discrimination because of my decision. The queen has tried to comfort me, saying that she went through similar torments before she and Picket redeemed themselves and even afterwards at times, and she survived, right?

I don’t blame her; she has no way of knowing how much worse this makes me feel. I couldn’t protect the one love of my life…I was injured for most of the time, but still. I am my people’s defender. If I’m not that, then what am I? I just don’t know…

Have I condemned my children to something I can’t shield them from?

~ King Smalls of Natalia

The courtyard positively shook with their voices.

“Agapanthus!”

“Archimedes!”

“Agnes!”

“Aurelius!”

The children did love to have their fun. I, as always, simply strode past in confident silence. I would someday inherit all of Natalia—surely that stood for something.

My little sister, Phoenix, glared at all of them. They were her peers, after all, and she felt personally responsible for every jeer they threw, even if she had never once joined in, ever.

“Her name is Amaryllis!” she yelled, her eyes looking ready to fight them over the top of her wobbling stack of books.

I grabbed Phoenix’s arm and dragged her into Hallway Round, helping her support her books. “Go find Daniel,” I instructed her quietly. She rolled her eyes. “But, Ryllis—“

“Don’t ‘but’ me. You could never take them all on and you know it. You wanted to talk to Daniel about that drawing of Grandpa you found, anyway.”

“But they’ll come for you again!“

“Then that’s my battle. And it’s not a battle. It’s…well, it’s none of your business. I’m not trying to make you feel bad, but please don’t engage. If you don’t find Daniel, I’ll make him find you.”

She turned her glare on me, but I just smiled. “I’m serious, Phe.”

After a moment, she sighed. “You’ll regret this someday, Ryllis. Or maybe not. We’ll see. But I want you to go find Nat or Jacob while I go talk to Daniel.”

“Come on, Phoenix, he’s your twin brother, you have to talk to him anyway. I don’t want to talk to Nat and Jacob’s busy, obviously. Now go geek out, and I’ll do what I want.”

Phoenix huffed and set off down a corridor, adjusting her books as she went. “You’ll regret this, Ryllis! I’ve decided!”

I smirked as I headed back into the courtyard.

Then my jaw dropped all the way to the ground.

I was staring at my brother Nathaniel, better known as Nat—a dirty-splotched white rabbit, shorter than me and currently brandishing a sword—threatening the five young rabbits who had been teasing me. He held the sword in their faces, and was bent down sneering at them in menacing whispers. I started running towards them, my heart pounding in my ears. “No! Nat! Stop!”

He whipped around and pointed the sword at me. I stumbled to a halt, holding my hands up. Nat whined, “Ryllis, I’m helping you! Get back inside!”

“Put the sword down,” I breathed, silently praying to the Maker that he would come to his senses.

“Just listen to me!”

I glanced across the courtyard. Every eye was turned our way, all jobs for the moment forgotten.

Then I caught the eye of a young, slim, dark grey rabbit coming out of the kitchens with a dagger slung at his side. His eyebrows shot up, and he darted towards my brother, racing as fast as possible. Luckily, Nat stayed facing me, so Jacob wasn’t hurt when he pinned him to the ground and wrenched the sword out of his hands.

When Jacob stood up, his eyes were on fire. “NATHANIEL, YOU IDIOT, YOU COULD’VE KILLED YOUR SISTER! APOLOGIZE!”

Nat stared at my friend in silence. I could tell he was shaken, and his pride immensely wounded. Perhaps he had only meant to defend me, after all…

I seized Jacob’s arm and pulled him back. “It’s ok,” I said quietly. “He wouldn’t have hurt me.”

He glanced back at me. “But he might have on accident.”

“But he didn’t. Let it drop.”

He looked at me, and after a moment longer, nodded. “Yeah. Okay.”

The five kids seemed to have regained some of their confidence by watching Jacob yell at Nat, and they began changing, “Wrongtreader! Dongtreader! Itty, bitty, Wrongtreader!”

The courtyard hesitantly settled back into a rhythm of work and play. One of the far doors opened, and the kids dispersed like lightning. My father ran over, a deep crease between his eyebrows. “Ryllis? Jacob? Nat? Are you okay?”

I hugged him. I will never get over the way my father smells so much better than everyone else. “We’re fine, Dad.” I whispered in his ear what had happened with Nat, and he gave me a gentle squeeze before promising he would take care of it.

“Mother was looking for you, by the way,” he told me. “I don’t know what for.”

“Thanks, Dad. I’ll find her,” I promised. He smiled at me and went over to help Nat up.

I started towards the door he had come out of. Jacob easily fell into stride with me. “So, what else is new?”

A sigh escaped my lips. I hugged myself. “Not much.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders protectively and we walked on in silence.

My mother, a graceful, slender, white doe, was coming out of the door just as we approached it. Jacob’s arm immediately fell off my shoulders. “Your Highness!”

A smile played on her lips. “Hi, Jacob. How are your parents?”

“They’re good, ma’am. They love it here, especially all the cooking and seeing you and the king as much.”

“That’s—good.” She looked at me, half-smirking. I could feel myself blush. “Amaryllis, Emma and Jo are coming in tonight with Edmund and Joanna, and Picket and Weezie will be here with Harley and Helmer tomorrow morning. Grandpa Whittle and Grandma Sween are already here. Could you entertain the kids tonight and tomorrow night? Father and I want to discuss treaties or something like that…” She shrugged. “I know, I’m sorry. Boring. You can bring friends if it helps.”

“Of course, Mother. Um, I’m going to go find Phoenix and Daniel…” I turned and hurried back towards Hallway Round.

Ugh, parents…

***Deeply sorry to everyone involved in the PSW Truce, I only paired them off because I felt it was necessary! I just went with how the books seem to be ending. Pt. 2 will be more interesting (aka action-packed), I promise! This was in response to @Flynn-the-Gray-Warrior’s prompt about kids.***