The Protector

"Just stay calm! I'm not going to hurt you," the man seemed relaxed for the first time since he had entered Daisy's home.

"I wish I could say the same to you," Daisy held her ground.

The lock behind them slowly clicked freeing the front door. Daisy's mother instantly appeared in the threshold wearing a polka dot nursing scrubs and bright green handbag across her shoulder. She must have changed from her blue scrubs at the hospital. The two remained frozen in their positions unwilling to budge as Daisy's mother walked to the mail that rested at the edge of the kitchen counter. It was not until her mother slowly turned towards the living room that Daisy and the stranger were brought into her line of sight.

"Daisy! What on earth?" the stack of envelopes in her mother's hands fell to the linoleum floor. Daisy's mother jumped back striking her now free hand against her chest.

"Mom, stay back!" Daisy shouted to her mother.

"Daisy, dear, put down that knife before you hurt someone," her mother ordered, "That is no way to treat a guest in this house."

"He is hardly a guest!" Daisy protested. She was surprised by her mother's response to the situation.

"Nikolai, please ignore my daughter's horrible manners," her mother shook the stranger's hand, and then guided him to an open place on their living room sofa, "I assure you she did not learn those manners from me."

Daisy could not believe what she was seeing. She finally turned the knife back into a paintbrush but insisted on keeping her distance.

"Neat trick," the stranger commented, his expression remained somber as he accepted Daisy's mother's offer of iced tea, "It's good to see you again Mrs. Andrews."

"Would someone please tell me what is going on?" Daisy quickly became frustrated as her mother continued to carry on a friendly conversation with this intruder. Daisy had never met this man. Yet, her mother treated him as though he had known them his whole life.

"Daisy, dear, I would like to introduce you to Nikolai Aleksandr Smirnov, an old friend of the family," her mother presented the stranger sitting in front of them. The stranger could sense Daisy's uneasiness as soon as her mother once again left the room.

"Mrs. Andrews," Nikolai called from the living room, "Perhaps it would help ease the tension if you explain to Daisy why I have come."

"I suppose you are right," Daisy's mother sighed in response to the confused frustration across her daughter's face, "Please, take a seat, dear."

Daisy pulled up a sofa cushion on the opposite end of the stranger.

"It all began with the first heirs to the Kingdom of Scelta. Would you like more tea Nik?" Daisy's mother held the pitcher of unsweetened tea above the stranger's glass.

"No, thank you, Mrs. Andrews," the stranger was particularly well-mannered and disciplined for an intruder.

"What was I saying?" Daisy's mother returned the pitcher to its designated refrigerator shelf, "Oh, that's right. At first it was as if everything was the same as it had been. The heirs gained the proper education and training in preparation to take over the Sceltan throne."

"But as the heirs reached their teenage years, everything changed," Daisy's mother joined Daisy and Nik reducing the gap between them, "It was noticed by King Edward I that a new gift had begun to develop throughout the Sceltan community, a gift that would allow certain individuals the ability to prevent harm to the heirs of the throne. To this day, it remains the most honored gift in the history of Scelta. King Edward called them Protectors."

"What exactly does that mean, prevent them from harm?" Daisy hung on her mother's every word. It was as though she was once again five years old, sitting on her mother's lap, begging her to read just one more story. The stranger, on the other hand, sat quietly sipping from his cup of tea. In contrast to Daisy, he seemed to speak only when directly spoken to.

"This person...this Protector," her mother explained, "can sense any danger that comes the heir's way before it occurs using a method known only to them. Many have died trying to learn a Protector's secrets."

"After learning of this new gift, King Edward gave each of his children their separate Protector in order to insure their safety," Daisy's mother continued, "Only when one of his children took over the power to the throne would the Protectors' gift cease to exist."

"I don't get it," Daisy interrupted again, "What does any of this have to do with me...or people breaking into our house in the middle of the night?"

"Well," her mother hesitated, "I guess now would be as good of time as any to tell you."

"Tell me what?" Daisy urged.

Daisy's mother hesitated, "That King Edward I was your great great great grandfather."

"I'm sorry?" Daisy was unsure if she had heard her mother correctly.

"You are an heir to the Sceltan throne," her mother tried again, "and Nikolai, here, is your Protector."