How To Smile

Chapter 14

A Small Luxury

Arturia knew that lying was dishonorable and Noah's warning at the end of the Singularitywas done possibly out of the kindness of that man's heart. But she seriously did not expect the girls to take it as far as they did. Sure, when she explained her reasoning the children hardly reacted like she thought they might. Arturia, despite her knightly pride, knew she had to make up for it…but she did not expect how it would truly go…

"How does it fit? I think it matches well!" Shiri rounds around the king as if making sure everything fits properly. Her sister, Ren, silently does her work on Arturia's long blonde hair while she clumsily fashions it into a style similar to her own two tails of black hair, realizing the difference in length to her own raven hair and the king's long hanging golden luster. The small white creature,Fou, watched intently from its resting place on one of the girl's freshly made bed of stuff animals and other cutesy objects, looking just like the said stuff animals save for blinking of its beady eyes.

"It feels….tight in certain places." Arturia says looking at her chest. The white Chaldean uniform the girls managed to find fit her body perfectly….in most places. Her chest is… too big, accordingto her Queen Guinevere, who would often stare at her husband's bosom at certain times and, to Arturia's confusion, express strange envy at her figure.

The female uniform squeezed her tightly and she failed to understand why there were belts of some kind on her chest as well…it only served to make the uniform more constricting on her lungs.

The black skirt was embarrassing in its own right…. her legs up almost to the knees are left bare to world, and while Arturia has modern knowledge about the current state of world she cannot help but feel unnerved due to cultural shock. The long black stockings still make her feel self conscious, even if they did cover her bare skin. "At the very least it is far better than the frilly uniform offered by Da Vinci."

The girly dress that the Caster offered her was…too much for her. As a King and as a person…it had too much frills and ribbons. She is grateful she managed to….remove its presence before Shiri found out about it.

"Okay then next time we'll get um….the one that is…um…bigger?" Ren says looking at her redhead sister who nodded in confirmation.

"Ah…hmm…" Arturia wants to escape this…dressing at any cost but her own moral code to make-up for her lies makes her stop from rising out of the chair and escaping this torture. The lack of armor allows the familiar shoulder soreness to come back, and there was no Merlin's magic to save her. "Such are my burdens."

Seeing that girls are done fussing over her, the Lancer notices Shiri trying to hold a mirror to her face, but the difference in height makes things difficult for the poor girl. With a sigh, the king takes the mirror to behold her silly visage. Her blonde hair, - usually in a proper bun - was now undone and shaped into a pigtail style with several small strands of hair sticking out unevenly; some of it seems to be partially escaping the thick ties Ren made for hair. Trying yet failing to keep her expression neutral allows Ren to notice her mood.

"It…was not good enough?" The somber mood of the little girl reminds Arturia she has a pretense to keep up, even if it was something she currently disagreed with.

"Uh no….I just couldn't believe how well it was done!" Forcing a smile and some false cheer into her voice, Arturia praises her Master's workmanship with her hair.

"Okay then let's go to the cafeteria!" Shiri's words make Arturia freeze into a living statue, the girls pulling the Lancer's arms seemingly stuck in the wooden chair in the girls' room.

"O-outside…. like this?" Arturia utters out, much to Ren and Shiri's confusion.

"Yeah! We gotta show off how pretty you are!" Ren cheers as she pulls one of Arturia's arms, her sister giving several excited nods. Fou, for the creature's part, was already at the door releasing several sounds to indicate the time to move was now.

" I-I see." Arturia robotically stands up and stiffly follows, knowing that she cannot make any excuse to make them stay in this room and hide like a frightened child. The only silver lining is that none of her knights or her people is here to see her current self.

"Well, besides the hair I'd say you pull it off well!" Boudica pats Arturia on the shoulder. The recipient of the compliment could not help giving a dry look. "I'm being honest!"

"I cannot help but feel I am being paraded around like Dagonet." Arturia sighs, looking over Boudica's current clothing, a grey blouse and blue jeans. It was form fitting and comfortable to look at compared to the black skirt she was currently wearing and her exposed legs. Boudica in her combat outfit had a skirt, so sadly the king would find no ounce of sympathy from the queen.

"Modern fashion is quite different. But you never dressed as a woman so it must be uncomfortable for you." Boudica speaks as she moves about the kitchen prepping different dishes. Combined with the Chaldea staff the kitchen also feeds the Servants. However, due to the current constrictions on food it is only given to Servants who help with the repairs to the damaged facilities or in the production of the small farm Da Vinci and Noah managed to make.

"Indeed I never had to wear such…things. I do have my complaints about these…belts." Arturia moves her shoulders to ease the soreness.

"Dear…those belts as you call them are called a bra. Something I wished existed in my time." Boudica says with a sigh with a roll of her shoulders. "I love the relief! If I had this during the rebellion, we wouldn't have lost…maybe."

"I fail to see the relief…." Arturia states as she looks around feeling a killing intent of sorts inside the cafeteria, but due to the employees being on break that kept on filing it, it was hard to tell if it was a Servant's or a normal human. "My shoulders have been sore this entire time."

"You mean to say I picked out the wrong size?" Boudica stops in her tracks around the kitchen, making Altera stop herenthusiasticcutting of vegetables and meats in order to see. "I thought they were smaller than the size I gave the girls….they are actually bigger?"

"…." The King of Knights could only stare at Boudica uncomfortable as the killing intent, now akin to a primal beast's, was felt again. Wanting to keep Boudica from staring at her she finally figures out who is staring at her so.

"Bigger….is bad civilization." The King of the Huns holds her knife much like an assassin in front of her protectively. Confused as to why Altera wanted to come after her life made the Lancer wonder if a battle would start suddenly.

"How does one get big boobies?" An innocent voice three had forgotten that Ren and Shiri were currently eating their meal. Arturia has no answer and doubts that Altera hadone either.

"You have to eat well, among other things."Boudica simply states. "That includes the onions, you two."

"Eh? How did you know that!?" Even if they could only see the top of her head from the small child table their uncle made for them, the short red chair bobbing and the voice confirmed it was Shiri.

"That is because your uncle told me he found dried up onions in your laundry." Boudica answers back with a smile. "Now eat everything on your plate."

"Y-yes I will!" Shiri answers back quickly as the sounds of eating start once again. The whispering of Ren makes it stop momentarily as a quiet argument begins.

Able to hear them clearly with the hearing sense of a Servant, Arturia decided to add her own two cents to this, "Ibelieve hiding the foods you hate to eat inside your stuffed animals will only make them smell horribly. There is a rule that we had among the Round Table..."

Trailing off, The King of Knights waits till she feels two sets of eyes barely peering at her from the counter. With a faint smile, Arturia senses their intense interest. "Food is all the same. Nutrition is nutrition. Even monster meat. "

"Monster meat? Like wyverns?" Ren asks with a perplexed expression. Could you really eat them? They don't look edible.

"Wyverns and dragons tended to be a creature with a strong flavor." Arturia closes her eyes trying to imagine dragon meat in modern cuisine. The food of her time pales in comparison to the modern era.

"D-does that mean you ate giants too?" Shiri asks with wide eyes at the thought. Now in familiar territory, the Lancer get comfortable as her meal isfinished and handed to her.

"No, we never ate anything that resembled a person. However, demonic boars, dragons, and several creatures were often consumed." Arturia continues while she exits the booth to seat herself nearby. Altera goes back to her enjoyable tasks of cutting vegetables and, by the looks of It, meat as well.

"So anything is edible?" Ren asks with confusion looking at Arturia's chair, it sure did not seem like you could eat a metal chair.

"No, you merely…need to…" Arturia speech stops as she feels something she dreads on her plate with the tip of her finger. She stares at the white mass layered with pepper and possible dried meat. The food she dreaded the most, the vile enemy comparable to Morgan was on her plate. The only dish one of her nephews was good at and forced to stomach when offered to her.

Mashed potatoes.

"Arturia, are you okay?" Shiri asks.

"Is your stomach sick?" Ren asks as Arturia's face pales at the dish in front of her.

"There is nothing seemingly wrong; I just seemed to have gotten the wrong plate here." Arturia coughs in order to cover her distaste for the mashed vegetable in front of her.

"What are you talking about? You said you wanted to have steak and seasoned asparagus?" Boudica calls out as she continues to cook.

"I mean yes…but…. I thought I said…." Arturia trails off as Altera's red eyes gleam brightly from her cutting table.

"You said nutrition is nutrition. Therefore you have to eat what's in front of you." Altera's smiles kindly but not so much, as she turns back to her table. "Nutrition is a good civilization."

Realizing that she has to eat her own words quite literally, Arturia raises her steak knife to prepare herself for the battle that started one thousand years past begins once more.

Seeing that Arturia, their idol, seemed to be feeling unwell after their lunch as she excused herself until a later time, the sisters decided the best time to visit their uncle would be now. After their journey in France, their uncle was quickly taken away by his Servant and Doctor Ro before being confined to the bed. "Confined"meant he couldn't leave the room and since their uncle never listened to others, it meant someone had to watch over him.

Past the bedside, Noah's Servant faced the other way, working on something while dressed in the same ebony armor and quickly moving her hands across the stacks of papers, once in awhile peeling through one of several thick books before typing in some information on the terminal on the desk that served once for Noah's maintenance table. The Altered King of Knights only turned her sharp gaze away once they had entered, resuming her strange task.

Transfixed on the Saber Servant, they failed to notice their uncle's amused grin before he got their attention by speaking, "Don't worry about her, Stabby there just doing something to entertain herself here since she's stuck here."

"…Um okay." Shiri says quietly before turning back to their bed bound uncle, who looked just like normal. "Are you feeling a lot better, uncle?"

"Of course!" With an excited pound to his chest Noah releases a laugh. "Though I do have to stay in bed till tomorrow because of Roman and Saber here."

"I'm merely doing my duties as a Servant, and after you tried escaping several times it became obligatory for me to be here despite my station. This is just desserts for eating a piece of Caster's familiars." Saber adds as she works on whatever she is doing.

"You ate one of Caster's familiars. SO COOL!" Shiri jumps in with glowing eyes. "Did it taste good?"

"It tasted exactly like the sushi we had when we were in Japan for a short time." Noah smirks at the redhead's tomboyish excitement.

"I remember auntie saying you would eat anything…" Ren seems terrified at the idea of their uncle eating everything. Now that Ren had time to think about it, their uncle never complained about even eating locust when they went to the desert for a time.

"Hm, yes, your auntie did love to tease me…. among other things." Noah's expression becomes one of nostalgia as well as a slight sadness. Their uncle always wears that painful expression every time, the two of them asked numerous times to stop showing that face, but the older man merely replied it was something that cannot be helped. Both girls would just have to accept it.

Seeing that their uncle couldn't get out of the bed, the few feeble attempts were met with a harsh and annoyed glare from the tyrant currently researching. The two opted to talk with him; it was something equally as enjoyable even if Shiri tended to not stay still. It is thanks to that aspect of Shiri that the conversation did not die when she noticed a certain object nearby.

The metal box was partially rusted from their adventures around the globe, but never once did the children see what was inside the box that could be held in the palms in their hands. One of the girls decided to see if this time they would get an answer to the repeated query.

"What is inside that box?" Ren asks, knowing that she does not have to elaborate more

With the usual heavy sigh, Ren thinks they would get the usual answer, just for their expectations to be proven wrong. "It is a catalyst. To summon a Heroic Spirit."

"Uh….." The two girls seemed shocked to have an answer different than the usual "no". It is so amusing to their uncle that it causes him to chuckle.

"As for more of that, no, you cannot use it to summon a Servant….at least not yet." Noah knows the question they want to ask as he fixes his glasses on his face.

"Why?" Ren manages to ask.

"Huh? Why?" Shiri asks, even if they are children they know Chaldea needs all the help they can get. Shiri looks at her uncle with puppy eyes.

"Sorry but no is no."Noah shakes his head as he looks at the small metal box. "As for why…."

Noah seems like he tries to think of reason before his eyes look toward Saber before his brow rises with realization. "Because you need to learn to get along with other people, for example Saber here."

"Why do we need to get along with this faker?" Ren looks at her sister. who misspoke, before looking at said faker who didn't even flinch from her work.

"Because you need to realize how to work with others. Sometimes one gets stuck with people they rather not work with. For example, once, I had to work with this one guy in the kitchen a long time ago, and honestly the only thing he could cook was mashed everything. So while he made mashed everything I had to make everything else." Noah's eyes cloud over as he remembers it before releasing a sigh. "So yeah that kind of stuff happens."

"Does that mean we have to hug Saber?" Ren asks as Saber stops her typing for a moment, looking back with an expressionless face. The Servant sight moves to their uncle with a slight change of expression that the children could not identify.

"No, you merely need to learn to…accept her. Kind of like the staring contest she and the big guy named Heracles had before, ahem, talking like adults and not scaring nearby people." Noah says before smirking just the slightest, "I seriously thought they were going to hug or something before Saber spoke."

"That giant slag of meat is only good for a punching bag. And he wishes to kill me by breaking every bone in my body. We merely agreed to not kill each other until the human order is fixed." Saber says with disinterest.

"I'm more surprised that you can understand him." Noah says. Even if it was not long till they learned their true name, Heracles was a Berserker. Meaning he was a mad man who could not speak beyond the simple growl or feral roar.

"Once you fought someone enough, even if they cannot speak at all, you learn to understand them. Or perhaps I am as mad as him?" Saber says cryptically with execrationbefore going silently back to working while giving a more defined scowl than the usual. The air feels awkward as if they stepped on something. The three family members go quiet for several moments as they absorb the information.

"Well, I learned something new about Saber. See you can learn more about people when you talk to them." Noah fakes a yawn before looking at the watch on his wrist. "Now I believe the pie I managed to make beforehand should still be inside my cooler here. Do you want to get it, Ren?"

"Sure!" Ren jumps off the bed, going all the way to the nearby mini fridge. It was unknown who installed the appliance, but the girls had some suspicious and general idea. Indeed, it must have been the one who took a chunk out of the pie their uncle made. Even if their uncle was strange for liking junk food compared to his own cooking, even Noah wouldn't take a third of the pie!

"Um….did you eat some of the pie?" Ren looks back, there were other foods and drinks in there, but only the pie was touched! This is an outrage in her books!

"…Yes, I had to at least sample it." Noah is expressionlessas his black-hairedniece shoves the pie toward him as evidence, her sister's eyes narrow dangerously as she gets a look at the partly eaten pie.

"I had to make sure all the peanut butter, cream cheese, honey, and whip cream mixed together in the graham cracker pie shell well enough."

The two girls have heard their auntie talk about this particular pie, the peanut butter pie, in the past. From what they were told, many fought over this pie whenever their uncle made it. Even when their uncle gave the interested hell-bent parties the recipe for the dessert, they would still demand Noah to make it. Supposedly, there were even fights set up just for one. Both Ren and Shiri thought of it as nothing more than a joke to make them laugh, but after trying it when they first got to Chaldea, the two children could finally understand why people would fight over… and even possibly kill for this pie.

Seeing their displeased expressions, Noah turned his eyes in the other direction, "I may have given Roman, Da Vinci, and Mashu some earlier today as well."

"I see. That means we have more competition in the future…" Ren says with dread. For now, the sisters can secure a fair amount of peanutbutter pie. But information about the deliciousdelicacy is spreading; soon Chaldea may come home to a Holy Pie War. Shiri was chewing her finger trying her best to plan for future skirmishes that will involve Servants and Chaldean employees. Thankfully all three people with current knowledge were busy with Mashu's checkup, one that should take all day….

"…. Before you two get any weird ideas, eat before the pie becomes room temperature." Noah comments as he watched the gears spin. If these two really wanted to, they could cause some childish trouble, especially if they can get some of the heroic spritsinvolved. Watching the children enjoy themselves, however, is the greatest joy to him.

"I apologize for taking so long before joining you two." Arturia says in her usual armor as her hands are grabbed by two smaller ones, walking on the hallways, the Chaldean employees moving to make way as they too went to their destinations. They have walked the half of the available complex talking to each other and other servants that were not busy along the way.

"Its okay, the pie was so good that we ended up eating it all!" Shiri says with a satisfied pat on her stomach. Ren for her part just looked sleepy as she releases a short yawn. They have been busy since morning, running around following Arturia the whole time save for the moment with their uncle.

"Hm, pie….that is a type of confection if I am right." Arturia quickly tries to imagine the test of such a thing. Seeing the doe eye look in the king's eyes, panic begins to spreadin the children's eyes. The king already had a reputation of being a ….well a healthy eater. If she found out about Noah's pies then war would possibly consume Chaldea!

"Um, no, the pie is… well….it's really, really hard to make. Plus, there are not much of the ingredients left!"Ren quickly spills out as she removes her hold on Arturia's hands to jump in front, making their progress to the sisters' room faster.

"Y-yeah….plus we are weird! It tastes totally gross!" Shiri ends up adding. For several seconds the three stares at each other,waiting for one of them to speak.

"You two do know I am still going to try it, correct?"Arturia simply states without hesitation as she walks forward, the children release a collective sigh at their stupidity in creating a fearsome enemy for them to overcome at some point.

"Now…uh are you going to tell us a story today as well?" Ren asks, the previous intensity lost as she becomes meek once more. They have been asking Arturia to tell them stories ever since they came back from the French singularity. At this point, Ren thinks the King has become tired of talking about herself, she and her sister did see the expressions she made as she told the last few stories. Yet the Lancer never complained and willingly went along with it.

"If that is your wish, I shall follow it." Arturia nods with a faint smile, the conflicted expression no longer present. Arriving at the mechanical door of their room, Ren pulls out a card and barely reaching the scanner the door slowly opens for them. Quickly running to the closet, the two grab their pajamas as Arturia slowly sits herself in the same old wooden rocking chair, closing her eyes for a moment in order to focus and give herself a small respite.

There were some things she did not want to mention just yet. Those would have to wait till either the children were ready to hear or that she herself was ready. For now these stories before they sleep is the best way for the children to learn about The King of Knights. It only takes the girls a minute to get fully changed before they are already in their beds, surrounded by stuffed animals. The view is so cute and adorable that Arturia takes a moment to enjoy the scene.

The children stare at the armored king as her expression turns stern for a moment, thinking of what kind of story to tell for tonight. It should be lighthearted but also something that reflects her in a serious light.

"Tell me" Arturia starts as the children's eyes blink at her word, with a breath of amusement at their actions she continues, "Do you know of Twrch Trwyth?"

" Um….Toe stuff?" Shiri says trying to pronounce the name. Causing her black haired sister to laugh, "Hey at least I tried saying it!"

"It's Toewyth!" Ren says trying to say the name as well only to fail miserably.

"Close. Twrch Trwyth is a boar I was asked to hunt down alongside my hunting hound, Caball." Arturia explains.

"I thought your dog's name was Carvall?" Ren questions curiosity getting the better of her.

"It….would seem the name was changed over time." Arturia explains with a hum. "Either way I suppose this will be a good story for today."

As Arturia starts the story the children's' stare become softer and softer till eventually falling asleep. Barely half an hour in Arturia finally stops, careful to step out of the chair and switching into spirit form before exiting the through the door.

Her task to her Masters complete for the day, the King of Knights finds her last personal task not too far. In fact it is only several doors down from the children. Just enough to give them their own space but also protect them if something were to happen. Stepping out of spirit form with a serious expression, Arturia knocks on the door. It opens slowly revealing a tired looking redheaded man.

"Ah, you. What is you're here for?" Noah looks Arturia up and down seeing her in your usual armor, obviously looking for damage or something that required his attention. "Is there something wrong?"

"You know why I am here. I require answers on what I saw."

"…" Noah gives a complicated expression as if he wants to say it but can't. "I'm sorry but I cannot tell you. It would go against my contract with my former employer and I rather live a bit longer and retain more of my senses longer."

"Then you cannot say anything? Nothing at all!? You promised to explain everything!" Arturia's expression becomes enraged. She has no idea why Noah brings up his body's condition, but is still able to connect the dots. "Don't make me-"

"I didn't say I could say anything…I'll give you the files but they cannot leave this room. Even if it is something that belongs to me, the damn geass I gave to those bastards won't allow me to let you leave with it. Come on in…I made some tea for myself. But you might just prefer some alcohol once you are done." Noah steps aside to let Arturia in. His expression of seriousness falls a bit as his brown eyes light up to make a small joke, "Also don't mind Grumpy Saber over there…she's a bit pissed that she did not get her share of pie."

With those last bits of words the door closes behind them, what is told and talked about completely unknown.

Next Chapter: Interlude 2: Mr. Mom

A/N:

So apparently my luck is pretty bad...I ended getting some bad intestine issues and had to go into surgery for the examination. Sadly I suppose cancer scares run in the family since it was my turn. The good news is that all the removed flesh was pre-cancerous, meaning that it never had the chance to spread and fully form into cancer meaning no further treatments are needed. Bad news is my diet has to modified and the things I have enjoyed for years...Junk food, especially burgers, I can no longer eat or else I get the fun experience of surgery once more. But the experience has brought a fresh prospective to my writing, as well as many other things. Weird to say I'm sure but this has motivated me to get writing. So don't expect me to stop this story anytime soon!