(Ryuunosuke)

  The strange ship pulled off from the port, sailing off faster than I’d ever seen. It didn’t take long for it to pass the point I could go to, and pass my need to stay here any longer. I turned to the palace.

  “Leaving so soon?” One of the Emperor's sons asked. “The ship is yet to pass the horizon.”

  “You don’t have a ship to see off?”

  “All of my interests live on our lands.” He said.

  “Why watch mine?”

  “All except one.” He looked over at the ship.

  “Stand there and watch it then.” I said.

  “Ryuunosuke…” Taira started.

  “I already did all the things you told me to.”

  “No, you didn’t.” He said. “You’re supposed to stay there until you can no longer see it.”

  “Why? It’s past the point where I'd be of any help if it were to sink.” I said. Was I expected to be able to swim across even the horizon, or were there truly such ridiculous ways to waste time?

  “That’s not the point.” He said.

  “Then what is the point?”

  “Appearances.”

  “That’s not important.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I need to do forms,” I said. This Choosing had done nothing but keep me from the only discipline that mattered. While it could be said finding a wife was reason enough, now that she was gone, there was no reason left to stand here worrying about useless appearances.

  “What we need to do is uncover who has been placed responsible for managing this engagement. No one will do so for you in good faith. And of course, discuss it with the Emperor."

  “The Taira boy does have a point.” He smiled at me, Ho-ō eyes nearly meeting mine for only a moment before hiding somewhere else.

  “The Emperor does not discuss with me.” I said.

  “Tell him.” Taira said. “Even if he doesn’t say anything back.”

  “It’s better he’s quiet.” If he spoke to me, he’d no doubt tell me what to do.

  “Regardless, it needs to be done, or all this will have been for nothing.”

  “Alright then.”

  The Emperor was only ever in two places. The Kōkyū or his courts. Both were the same. People who flocked to him, but all it was filled with was liars who hid their eyes from me. At least the courts didn’t smell so suffocating.

  Voices carried out through the doors.

  “Are you certain you don’t have a preference?”

  “Ah? This ceremony has no place for my preferences.” The Emperor. His voice was laced with sake.

  “You hold sway over your children.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He held no sway. “I hold no such sway.”

  I knocked. It went ignored.

  “Now Ryuunosuke,” Taira started. I had gone along with his ways for more than the day I had sworn to. I had no need to follow instructions that did nothing but hinder us from what we meant to do. I opened the door, stepping inside and up to the table. It was full of men, all older than the Emperor himself, and likely more powerful than the drunk man sitting on the floor.

  Few eyes turned, those that did returned elsewhere as soon as they came upon me, voices silenced, until finally, they quit with their ramblings.

  The Emperor looked up. “Who is that?”

  No one answered.

  “Who is that?” He repeated, ire in his tone.

  “Your son.” Someone answered.

  “Which one?”

  “The… unfortunate one.”

  “Which one?” He asked louder.

  “Ryuunosuke.”

  “Which one is that?”

  “The one with The Dragon’s eyes.”

  He turned his eyes to me, blue and orange with the Blessing of the Ho-ō, but nothing beyond that. A useless Blessing, given to most anyone and meaning nothing. They didn’t hold mine, or even pass them. There was no recognition in his eyes, though I doubted there would be if he gazed upon himself in a mirror.

  “What does he want?”

  “He shouldn’t be here, Your Majesty.”

  “What does he want?”

  “Give me someone to manage the matters of my engagement.” I said.

  “Please,” Taira came beside me, bowing. He nudged me to do the same, but there was no point. The man before me cared little whether I showed reverence, and he would not remember when the day passed regardless.

  “Engagement matters?” He turned to the man beside him. “What is he on about?”

  “I-it seems he chose to discuss engagement with another interested party.”

  “What party would take interest in that one?”

  “A foreign one.”

  “Foreigners.” He took more sake. “Ah.”

  “W-well Your Majesty.”

  “Well get him one,” he waved his hand.

  “Get him one?”

  “How many times must you make me repeat myself!?” He slammed his fist on the table.

  “S-sorry. Did you have anyone in mind?”

  “One of you do it.”

  “One of us?”

  “I said not to make me repeat myself!”

  “Uh, right then. Who will manage the matter of…” his eyes shot to me, then back to his plate. “The young Prince’s engagement.”

  It was the most silent room of drunk old men I’d ever stood in.

  “Will none of you take on such an honor?” The Emperor asked, looking at the people surrounding him. Even taken by sake he could see that much. “Must I pick amongst you myself.”

  The quiet was an answer.

  “Fine then.” He looked around the room, eyes squinting as if that would return his senses to him. He lifted a finger, for a man to his left to stand, bowing deeply.

  “I would be honored to take care of your son for you,” he said.

  “Ah, very well then. You can take care of him.” He said. “Get to the matter tomorrow. Send the boy away. This is no place for children.”

  “Go on then Young Prince.” The man bowed, with a reverence his eyes did not hold, even averted from my own.

  Taira bowed once then followed after me.

  “I didn’t like that.” He said. “That man can’t be trusted.”

  I only grunted. He didn’t need to tell me that. No one in that room would be trustworthy, but their character was hardly a matter of concern. “So long as he does his job he’s of no consequence to me.”

  “People like him don’t just do their job.” He said.

  “Nothing else he does matters to me.”

  My name would do nothing for him, and neither would I. I had no strings he could pull, and I gave him none either. Whatever his end was, I was no means to meet it. I stopped outside the Kōkyū, turning to Taira and offering a bow.

  “Your efforts have been appreciated. Rest well.”

  “Yes, you as well.” He bowed in return, and I entered the place he could not. Not if he was separate from me, and not overnight.

  The stench of perfumes and oils and whatever else the women wore set my stomach rolling. The smell of the dead was more tolerable. I bit down the nausea, going to the furthest place within the inner walls. The smell of dust was preferred over perfumes. The empty room held a single tatami mat, and that was all there needed to be.