Chapter Twenty-Seven

Queen Catarina slammed the magazine on the table. There, on its cover, was her youngest daughter, Anastasia, rumored to have been dancing the night away with a mysterious gentleman.

The papers had been buzzing about this new pairing ever since Anastasia debuted her newly-made-real imaginary friend in Lars DiscoTech.



"Who is he, Anastasia?" the queen asked, almost wistfully, as she stared out of the window at the night sky, seemingly to finally acknowledge her daughters -- at least Anastasia -- were getting the upper hand. "And why haven't we been formally introduced?"
Anastasia took a deep breath. "His name is Lucian, mother," she replied reluctantly.



"I'm pretty sure that I haven't heard of a 'Prince Lucian' and if I did, surely he'd be on the banqueting list of all the dignitaries and blue bloods from the adjoining provinces."
"I've known him my whole life," Anastasia proclaimed.
"Your whole life?" Queen Catarina asked. "Really? How? Did he go to Smuggsworth?"
"Yes."
"What does he do for a living?"
"He -- he's a vintner. Grows and sells fine wines."
"Is he French?"
"Sort of." 



Anastasia was winging her story as she went along. So far, so good, she thought. How on earth would she react if she found out I created him?




At any rate, she was certainly behaving like a girl in love, with she and Lucian parading their newfound affections all over town, regardless of who saw or knew. At the moment, all seemed to be forgiven of Lucky/Lucian for abandoning Anastasia in her hour of need, while Alexandra's IF had stuck by her side.


Meanwhile, Alexandra herself had made her return to the palace from her tour of duty on the other side of the mountain. She was a bit bemused about the hoopla surrounding Anastasia's 'new' boyfriend, for she had known Lucky/Lucian pretty much their whole lives. 

"Alexandra Maria-Louisa," said Queen Catarina, giving her daughter a once-over while chuckling to herself. "Where have you been? You look a mess, as usual."
"I just came back from the other side of the mountain. There was an earthquake there."
"Really."
"Yes. Some fallen trees, debris, some fires, a few trapped sims, and there's a crack in the cliff. Thank goodness it wasn't any worse."
"I see. Well, I surely hope you're making some sort of progress on the marriage front."
"For the thousandth time, mother, I'm not really interested in getting married. And you can't force me, either."
"I beg your pardon, Alexandra!"
"You can't force me to get married! If you haven't noticed, mother, there's a whole world out there outside of this palace. That world is full of interesting things and interesting people. I'd like to meet some of those people and experience at least some of those things."
Funny, decided Queen Catarina, those are the same things Francisca said before she left. Am I talking to Alexandra or Francisca?