The Wolf King became very annoyed and looked back at the toddlers.
"I forgot why I don't like you," Boolo was saying thoughtfully.
"I don't know either," Beeno shrugged, and he picked up Boolo to make him dance. "Boolo! Why don't you like me?"
Boolo giggled. He was very fat and squishy, and when he looked down at his little feet, all of his cheeks and his chin became very flat. Beeno went on dancing with Boolo until Boolo was laughing and grinning.
"Make Peebo dance! No! Make me dance!" Boolo exclaimed, and he wiggled his arms.
"I'm not even seven. I'm twelve," Sheeno mumbled, very sleepy.
Beeno patted his back. He wasn't even twelve. He was seven.
"Beeno! Why are you old?" Sheeno muttered, and he raised his head up a little.
"Why am I old and still in school, you mean?" Beeno rephrased, but Sheeno fell asleep on the floor.
"Beeno! I want to dance!" Boolo insisted, and so Beeno went on wiggling him around.
Peebo started to crawl forward to go on a little adventure underneath the tables. She had found an apple bit there. It was very dry.
"I don't like your face," Boolo pondered. "It doesn't look nice."
"It's my father's face!" Beeno protested.
"Well, maybe. But I still don't like you," Boolo huffed. "But maybe it is your father's face. Okay! I like you. But just a little."
Beeno frowned, but decided that it was better than nothing.
"Peebo?" he called.
"Meeeeh," answered Peebo, who was reaching for the apple bit now.
"Do you like me, Peebo?"
"Weh," said Peebo, who was too busy to add anything else.
She opened her gummy mouth wide to put the apple bit in, only to be stopped by Kuba, who had apparently sensed that her help was needed, and had rushed to the table as fast as she could while yelling "nonononono". The apple bit was dark with grime and full of little hairs. It was not fit for a baby to eat -- or anyone at all, for that matter.
"Hi, sweetie!" Kuba cooed, always happy to hold a baby.
Peebo kept trying to eat the apple bit, then decided to eat Kuba's shoulder. Kuba hugged her very tightly and decided that this was her baby now.
"Meeeeee!" Boolo squeaked, and he flattened himself on Kuba's lap.
"It's my little baby!" Kuba all but screeched, and she welcomed the little cannonball in her arms.
"Why don't you like me? What did I do?" Beeno protested, exasperated, from where he was kneeling by the table to look at them underneath it.
"She's like mum, but not. And she's very warm," Boolo explained, then he started to suck on his thumb. "Ehhhhh. Mamamama -- but not."
Kuba decided to hold him very tightly, because he was adorable. It was a shame that they already had parents -- not a shame for them, but more for her. She wanted to take care of them. She felt very happy and comfortable, sitting there under a table with two little children huddled in her arms.
"Where's Sheeno?" Kuba suddenly worried, because he wasn't on the floor anymore.
"I'm on the table," Sheeno answered, so she shuffled away, only to see him doing the starfish on the table everyone had been sitting under. "I'm on the tableeeee. Eeeeee-uuuuuuuu."
That was a song.
"Where's my mum?" Sheeno asked. "My stomach hurts. It's because I forgot the word. Do I talk badly? I don't know. I'm sleepy now, and my stomach hurts."
"Let's go see her. Come on!" Kuba smiled, and she knelt down for Sheeno to climb on her back.
When she stood back up, she looked like a strange turtle.
"I like the way you talk, Sheeno," she added. "It's very nice."
"I'm also very nice!" Boolo exclaimed. "And also Peebo. But Peebo is smaller, so she's less nice. Because -- she needs less niceness because she's small. Because the niceness wouldn't fit in her."
Kuba giggled.
"Am I very nice?" Sheeno asked.
"Lady Kuba already said you were very nice!" Boolo pointed out.
"But I want you to say it," Sheeno explained.
"Well, I don't know about that, but the other day, you got lettuce stuck in your teeth, and it was very funny," Boolo said thoughtfully.
"Don't worry, Sheeno. He doesn't like me either," Beeno smiled. "He might not be a good judge of character."
"But Boolo likes me! He liked me earlier!" Sheeno protested sadly, and his lip started to wobble.
"Well, I like you, Sheeno. I think you're very lovely and delightful!" Kuba said helpfully, and she patted his little chubby arm.
"I only like two people," Boolo explained, still thoughtful. "I don't like them. They feel like knives. But I'm sorry."
"Okay," Sheeno agreed. "Can we go now?"
"Where are we going?" Beeno protested.
"Poor Sheeno's stomach hurts. We were going to see his mother."
"It's okay! It doesn't hurt a lot now! Only a little!" Sheeno exclaimed proudly. "Also, I'm a baby very much. I like babies."
He did a little dance. Kuba laughed, because he was adorable. Sheeno shuffled to the floor and kept dancing in a circle. Peebo decided to dance, too.
"I don't like dancing, but it's okay," Boolo said, and he joined them.
Kuba sat down and watched them all dance together happily. She started to feel watched, and looked up, only to see that the Wolf King was watching over them from his quarters. She decided not to admire his shoulders, and his cape, and the way he was standing majestically over the whole room, and only waved. He decided not to admire her smile, her dress that fell over her elegantly crossed legs, and the way she was clapping along to the little ones' dance, and nodded back. He promptly decided that staring at her was a much better hobby than anything else he might have been paying attention to.
"Weeeee," squeaked Boolo. "Weee!"
"Awww," answered Kuba, and she looked back at him.
"Eeeeh," Boolo squeaked happily, and he wiggled his head. "Weeeweeeeeeh! Weeeeh! Weeeeeeeeh! Mememememe. I'm happy. I don't know why."
Kuba smiled and kissed his fat cheek.
"Weeeeh. I'm Boolo. It's funny when I say that. My voice is small like a tiny insect. Like a grasshopper."
"That's a complicated word!" Kuba praised.
"Yes! And I said it myself!! Memememe! You know, I want to eat Peebo's cheek sometimes," Boolo reflected.
Kuba patted his cheek affectionately.
"Are you all going to class later today?" Kuba inquired.
"Hopefully not," Beeno muttered panickedly.
Kuba remembered how sad and worried he had been yesterday. Of course she knew about it. She knew everything she had to know, nothing more, nothing less.
"Hopefully, you'll all have a good time," she went on.
"In school?" Beeno scoffed. "I'd rather lose a leg. And I mean it! I mean, sure, it would hurt, but -- I mean, I don't know if it would be a good idea. But still! Then I wouldn't need to go to school. I mean, until I'm healed, but then again, they might be nicer to me on account of the trauma and all that."
He put his head on his cheek and started to trace patterns on the dusty ground with his finger. Peebo started to screech, then stopped when she put her chewy frog toy in her mouth from where it had been attached to her shirt with a little bit of rope.
"It goes to show how awful it is if you'd rather lose a leg than go," Kuba let out. "You know, in times of war, some kingdoms force their men to go to battle. Some of them call losing a hand or a finger a "lucky injury" -- it heals fast, doesn't bother you much, and most of all, allows you to sit out the rest of the war. Some people did it voluntarily -- oh, dear, Boolo, I hope I didn't scare you. And Sheeno, either!"
She grimaced. Boolo was still processing what she had said.
"That's okay! If someone loses a finger, I can heal it all back up," she tried.
Boolo whined and kept staring at the floor.
"Well, school's not like that," Beeno let out tentatively. "I don't know if I would feel the same if I were in their place. Maybe I would."
Boolo whined again.
"I think it's scaring him," Kuba whispered.
Boolo curled up into a ball.
"Well, if I had to lose a finger --" Sheeno started, but Boolo whined very loudly to stop him.
Kuba picked him up.
"Come on, honey. I promise we won't talk about this anymore. Do you want to go see your mum? Let's go, children. I'll stay with Boolo a little bit."
Beeno dragged everyone away.
"Losing a finger -- it's not nice," Boolo finally pronounced. "I don't want anyone to lose a finger. And it hurts. And I don't want to think about it."
He started to cry. Kuba held him very tightly against her chest. Boolo decided to stay there some more.
"I'm very sorry I scared you," Kuba murmured. "Do you want to stay here?"
"Yes," Boolo mumbled. "But I want to see mum. But also go on a pee adventure. Because this morning was funny. Can we eat fruits?"
Kuba smiled.
"Are you allowed to? I don't know if you are," she answered.
"Mr the king said I could eat whatever I want. I want fruits. I bet insects are eating them like this: omnomnom. Lady Kuba? I smell a lot like strawberries. You smell like cereal and honey pastries. They're very nice. Lady Kuba? I'm still a little scared. I want to cry a little."
Kuba patted his hair. It was very dark, and a little twirly. It did smell a lot like strawberries -- all of Boolo did.
"What food do you think your hair looks like?" she asked.
Boolo shuffled excitedly.
"Chocolate cream on top of pastries! It's very delicious. I like most of the food because it's very delicious. It smells a bit like coffee. I want some coffee pastries now. It's very delicious."
Kuba smiled.
"It does sound very delicious. I'll make sure to try all the pastries."
"Oh, but I also like apple pies! They have little crystals of apple. But it's not apple. I don't know how to say it! But it's all pretty and squishy and nice. Hmm!" Boolo frowned angrily, but his good mood soon returned. "I can't say it. I'm going to go eat now. Goodbye!"
He scampered off. Kuba waved at him, then looked around for something to do.
"Oh, dear. Where's Peebo?" she suddenly exclaimed.
She looked around frantically, only to find Peebo on the floor right next to her, still chewing on her chewy toy.
"Peebo!" she laughed, and she picked her up.
Peebo was realizing that people's lips were squishy, so after poking at her own, she went ahead and grabbed Kuba's mouth. Kuba laughed and tried to remove her grabby fingers from her poor face. Peebo took it in stride and started to bop her own mouth, before chewing on the soft part of her hand. Kuba decided to bring her back to her mother.
As she was trying to hand her over, Peebo bit her ear.
"Nooo," Kuba laughed.
"Oh no!" Book Violet exclaimed, and she gently pulled her daughter away. "Come on, Peebo. You must be very hungry. Are you alright, Lady Kuba?"
"I'm fine!" Kuba soothed.
She looked back at the glass wall. The king was still staring at her. When he saw that she had noticed him, he slowly sank back into the shadows of his room, which made her laugh.
"Good day!" she said, then she walked away, because she didn't know what to talk about.
Book Violet nodded, then went back to tending to her children.
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