Albert and Alberta part 1

“Albert!” A young girl’s voice echoed down the stone hallway. “Hey! Wait up!”
“Keep up then Alberta!” A young boy, maybe five to six years old, runs down the hall jumping from window light to window light with the morning sunlight bouncing off his light blonde hair. Following closely behind was a young girl with her blonde hair bouncing up and down as she ran, determinedly chasing her twin brother. A young woman wearing light brown clothes with a book in one hand entered the hallway breathing heavily as the twins disappeared into the door at the far side.
The twins ran past several doors before turning into the only open one.They bounded into the large kitchen area, ducking under one of the serving men and ran smack into the head chef. The slightly round man with a thick mustache smiled down at the kids and grabbed a couple muffins that were cooling nearby and handed them to the twins; who bowed to him, giggled and took off running toward the opposite door.
The woman with the book burst into the kitchen. “Stop this instance...” her voice trailed off as she watched the twins disappear through the other doorway, with their poorly stifled giggles echoing back to her. The woman started after them, attempting to step around the chef in the process.
The chef leaned back partially blocking her path. “Why don’t ye take a moment to breathe, Miss Clara” he said as he smiled up at her.
“I can’t stop now!” Clara replied between raspy breaths, her cheeks flushed from the unexpected exercise. “It is past time for their lessons!” she tried backing around him.
A hearty laugh came from the chef as he stepped fully in front of her, holding out a cup of water as he did so. “Don’t ye worry your head too much, Miss Clara. The twins will be hiding under one of the tables in the banquet hall in just a few moments, far too busy eating their new snack to be concerned with running from their new mentor.”
Clara glared at the chef before snatching the offered cup and downing it in a single gulp. She coughed and took a deep breath to steady herself as she hung her head in defeat. “Thank you, Mr Thatcher.”
The chef waggled a finger at her. “Those twins are still rather young kids, and that pair is as energetic as they come. I do not envy your role.” Clare looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as if to say, Oh really, you don’t say?! “Hoho, ye want my advice? Try to show them that you are someone they can trust as a person first, then they should listen to you a lot better.”
Clara handed him back the cup. “I will probably have to give that a try here soon. They don’t seem like bad kids, just overly excited about the world.”
“Aye” The chef stepped aside to let Clara pass and lowered his voice to a whisper “And just between ye and me, the kids could use a mother too, but what do I know?” Clara gave a small nod, as she passed him. She too had heard the rumors of the twins birth.
“Oh, and Miss Clara?” the chef called out to her as she reached the door. Clara stopped and turned her head to face him. “Please feel free to call me Otto! Mr Thatcher is much too formal for my tastes.” His thick mustache only served to highlight his cheerful grin.
Clara smiled back and gave a small bow. “Of course, Mr Otto!” she called back as she headed out the door and into the hallway.
Otto could be heard behind her. “That's not what I meant lass. And Oi! Stop lollygagging and stir that pot! Ye don’t want it to crust over now do ye!”
She entered the banquet hall, and true to Otto’s word, the blonde haired twins were underneath one of the long tables, their mouths full of muffins and their clothes covered in crumbs. Clara walked as softly as she could over to them before peeking her head down under the table to their level. “Found you!” she said in a singsong voice. The twins giggled with their mouths still full of muffins and slowly came out from under the table.
Clara put the book in her hand under her arm and held out her hands to the twins. “Come along you two, before we can start your lessons we are going to have to clean you first.” Prince Albert and Princess Alberta looked at each other, smiled and each grabbed one of Clara’s outstretched hands.