The Emperor waited until both his wife and future son-in-law had left the room before he sighed and gestured to the table. “Sit down.” Hironori figured this talk would take awhile so he walked over to the table and took a seat. The Emperor, Satoru, took a seat as well. For a moment, he could only stare at his son. He was staring at the table, drawing circles with his finger, awaiting the talk to come. Satoru continued to stare at his child, the hard look on his face gradually softening. [i]’Where did I go wrong? There was a time things were much more… simple.’[/i] He sighed to himself and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Hironori,” He began, but didn’t get his son’s gaze. “Hiro.” He restated, and this time the young prince looked up. “You know, I only want the best for you. I don’t understand why you’re so upset with me.” 

“You constantly berate me with rules. You never let me go too far from the palace. And my opinions don’t matter in anything that goes on- not even with [i]my[/i] life. I think that’s a pretty decent reason to be at least a little upset.” Hiro didn’t speak angrily, in fact he was calm as before, still idly scratching at the surface of the table. Before his gaze fell back onto the table he did spot his father’s face fall into a frown. 

“That’s not fair Hiro. Those rules are there to protect you. And every time you want to stray away from the castle you want to go alone. You’re the prince. People know your face and know you’re… of value. Not everyone can be so trusting!” Satoru sighed again and watched his son. “I do take your opinions into consideration son. You just happen to have opinions that go against tradition. And that’s just not how we do things.” He shook his head. “Besides, you have your magic hobby. That’s more than any prince has done.”

The two went back and forth, pleading their cases about why the other was justified in their reasoning. Neither got too hostile, but voices did raise every once and awhile. Hiro was just about ready to go. Whether they settled their differences wasn’t very clear, but it was safe to not expect too much.

For a moment, both fell silent and looked around instead of at each other until Satoru finally spoke up. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you this but, your mother, before she passed,” He clarified, once more grabbing the prince’s attention. “When she held you in her arms for the first time, she smiled and told me you’d grow up to be a talented young prince and an even greater king.” Satoru pushed himself to his feet, slowly walking to the door. “I do believe you’re a talented young man… I just don’t believe you’re using your talent to its fullest ability.” 

Without turning, the Emperor walked out, leaving Hironori to his thoughts and going to find his wife. A pregnant woman couldn’t have gotten too far, could she? He was left with his head slumped into one hand for a few minutes until a servant walked past and politely asked if he needed anything. “No, no thank you.” Hiro decided to walk to his room. It felt like one of the few things he could do without defeating the talk’s purpose. Somewhere in there was a picture drawn of the woman he never got to grow up with, and he took some time to stare at it. While he was fine with his stepmother, he still wished he could have gotten to know his mother just a little more. 

“Don’t tell me the mighty have fallen?” Kaede walked in, carrying fresh sheets for the bed. Sometimes Hiro wondered why they servants needed to do things like that so often, but he never questioned it. It was just their job after all. The woman gave a small nod when the prince didn’t respond and spoke again. “Food will be ready soon. I figure if I tell you early, you have a chance of making it there on time at least.” 

“Oh, yeah thanks Kaede.” He sat on the floor while she worked on cleaning his room- though there wasn’t much cleaning that needed to be done.