RinthCon Day 3 - Andross Draneg

It's Day 3 of #RinthCon!!! Sir Andross is on duty, but it looks like he’s a little worried about something. Hope he figures it out!

If you like this story, check back in with us over the next few days to see how the rest of the Inklings cast and crew are spending their time!

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It was day three of RinthCon and Sir Andross Draneg was panicking.

He had been sent alongside Queen Verena and King Amiel to attend the convention as their bodyguard. They were so far from their home (and possibly in a fully different universe? Andross wasn’t sure he understood the specifics), that the likelihood of threat was minimal, but given their importance, it was better to be safe than sorry. If something were to happen to them, Jorn and likely the entire Intergalactic Alliance could be thrown into chaos.

And now he’d up and lost the both of them.

He didn’t mean to of course, he’d been doing his absolute best to remain professional and keep a close eye on the royal couple, despite his desire to run around with them and explore all of the different booths selling wares from some of his favorite childhood stories. But when Andross passed a booth manned by a large gentleman in full knight’s armor selling his own poetry collection, he forgot himself for a moment.

An aspiring young poet and writer who found himself thrust into knighthood himself, Andross couldn’t help but stop and chat with the fellow.

In the five minutes it took, however, for the man to briefly explain the ins and outs of publishing and for Sir Andross to pay him for a copy of his anthology, Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Knight, Amiel and Verena had disappeared.

He had been sprinting up and down the aisles of the convention hall for what felt like forever, but there was still no sight of them. Heart pounding, Andross leaned now against a pillar on the perimeter of the hall, running through worst case scenarios in his head. This building was massive. They could be anywhere, and any sort of person could have run into them and decided to cause trouble.

Resignedly, he reached into his pocket for his communications device as a last ditch effort to contact the pair, wincing at the thought of having to admit to his king and queen that he had gotten distracted from his knightly duties and couldn’t find them, but his pocket was empty.

“Foluc!” Sir Andross cursed himself. He must have set it down and left it at the poet knight’s booth.

Feeling more defeated than ever, Andross trudged back to the booth, already rehearsing what he was going to have to tell everyone back home after he was surely dismissed from his duties and sent back to the farmland he came from.

He was about to reach the booth when he felt a tap on his shoulder and heard a familiar voice.

“Looking for this?”

Sir Andross wheeled around and found himself looking directly into the kind emerald eyes of the young Queen Verena, holding his device up in her right hand. He immediately dropped to one knee.

“My queen, my sincerest apologies, I forgot myself and I--”

“Sir Andross,” she cut him off. He immediately closed his mouth. “It was not your fault. Truth be told, it was a bit of a trick on my part.”

Andross looked up at her, confused.

“As much as we appreciate your vigilant eye keeping us safe, Amiel and I were wanting a bit of…alone time. When I saw a flyer advertising a poet knight, I made sure to pass by his booth because I thought it might, well, distract you so we could sneak away for a bit.”

He flushed as he processed what his queen was saying. Verena gave a sheepish smile in return, and Andross saw in that moment the youthful mischief that she so often kept veiled behind a royal posture.

“Oh,” was all the good Sir Andross could say.

“I apologize for alarming you. Amiel was actually the one to point out to me that you were probably going to have a heart attack when you turned around and realized we were gone.” Verena inclined her head to one side, gesturing to her dark-suited husband who was closely examining an ornate display of custom-made swords at a nearby booth.

“Oh, I was…fine. I-I mean I was concerned, of course, for your safety, but--” Andross stammered as he tried to figure out how to pretend that he kept his cool without seeming too flippant.

Queen Verena laughed kindly and he fell silent once more. She motioned for him to stand back up and held out her other hand, which he noticed for the first time was holding a cup of some sort of brown and white swirled treat with a small spoon stuck in the middle.

“Here,” she said, indicating for him to take the cup. It was surprisingly cold to the touch. “Consider it an apology for running off on you.”

“What is this?” He looked at the swirled contents of the cup, which appeared to be not quite liquid, but not quite solid either.

“It’s called ice cream!” Her emerald eyes twinkled with that same youthfulness he glimpsed before. “I was introduced to it during my…stay on Earth, and it turns out they have it here, too!”

She nodded for him to take a bite, and he spooned a bit into his mouth, his taste buds immediately dancing at the cold, creamy, sugary delight.

“This is wonderful! Thank you, my queen,” Sir Andross bowed as deeply as he could without spilling the ice cream.

“Thank you for being such a dedicated knight,” Queen Verena replied warmly.

They shared a smile, momentarily dropping all pretenses and enjoying the sensation of being two youths at a convention, sharing a sweet treat and a moment of mischief.

“Come, let us join my husband.”

And off they went.