Leaving Home.

Rescet had always been a lively town. The people that lived there were generally courteous and polite, and most of them had travelled there to study at the local university, which was the best in all of Allfen, our Kingdom. The town was alive with ideas and intellectual debates, as well as the calls of the tradesmen who sold their produce on the streets.

Today was different. Today a mournful silence fell over our Kingdom for the death of the Queen. She had not been old enough for natural death to have been considered a possibility, and there were rumours buzzing through the streets that it had been an assassination by poison, executed callously by the people of En Ohriz, an opposing Kingdom that sought to take everything from us.

The day our Queen was taken from us, I was sat at home, swirling my drink idly around my goblet with my mind exhausted from the endless questions I was left with after my lectures. My mother, who was sick now, probably approaching death, told me of what had come to pass. I felt some sadness for her loss, but like the rest of the Kingdom, I gave a secret sigh of relief for her death. She had pushed our King to raise taxes needlessly high so that she could clothe herself in the finest garments, matched with expensive jewellery. Her vanity had worn our people down over the years, but we remained loyal to King Suoh who always had our best interests at heart. I had led my mother back to bed and told her to sleep, otherwise she may never get any better.

"Goodnight, mother," I whispered to her softly, closing our worn and tattered curtains and blowing out the candle in her room, allowing it to descend into semi-darkness.

"Goodnight, Kyouya," She managed to respond, her voice strained from the effort. I stroked her dark hair as I listened to the ragged breaths that pained me so, and then lowered my lips to kiss her forehead. I wanted to tell her I loved her, I suppose, but I couldn't find the words, and when I did, they stuck in my throat. I simply nodded and left.

I returned to the living room and then sat back down in the uncomfortable chair and lowered my head. Although I had earned my place at the prestigious University, I knew the costs had not been easy to meet for my mother, especially since my father had fallen in battle against En Ohriz a few years previously. I was working intermittently, but jobs were hard to keep in this day and age, especially when I had to keep attending my lectures and staying on top of my workload. I hoped that with the death of the Queen, the taxes would drop again, and then I would be able to afford medicine for my mother. A ridiculous thing to do, I suppose, to simply rely on the twists and turns of the King's will like that, but I felt that there was little else I could do.

A week passed, and still there was no word of the taxes dropping, though I was unsure why. King Suoh was bound to be mourning, I supposed, but some changes had been made to our defenses... was another attack from En Ohriz was anticipated? But changes had been made, so the grief was not so immobilising. So why no change in the taxes? Was he pouring it all into defenses? I tortured myself over that question for hours every night.

Dawn came all too early, and I began about my usual routine of checking on my mother before my lectures. I made her breakfast with the watered down drink that was all we could afford, and then began to get ready myself, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door. I dressed as quickly as I could and then went to the door, arching an eyebrow. Mail? We never received mail. I thanked the delivery man and paid him (albeit, reluctantly) for the letter, but he pushed the money back.

"It is a letter from the King, Sir," He said with an air of excitement. The King? Why would the King write to me?

"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked, but he merely laughed and clapped his hand on my shoulder.

"No, dear Sir. It has been an honour to deliver such a letter, but if you'll excuse me, I must continue with my work," He bowed to me with a wink and hurried on his way. I closed the door and sat down with trembling hands. A letter from the King? Why? I gently pulled the crimson ribbon loose and unfurled the letter carefully.

'For the eyes of Kyouya Ootori only.

I have heard of your academic achievement in our top university, and firstly, I wish to congratulate you. It is an amazing feat indeed, and you should be very proud of yourself. I have heard from your professors that you are at the top of your classes, and of all the students there, you are considered the most gifted. It is for this reason, Mr. Ootori, that I have a proposition for you.

I'm sure you can forgive an old man for actions which are a little less than acceptable, but for the last week I have been having you watched, and have become aware that your mother is gravely ill. If you do as I ask, Ootori, then I assure you that she will be given the finest medical treatment that Allfen has in its possession. With this, I am sure that she will be back on her feet in no time.

Naturally, I do not expect you to accept such a request without first knowing what it entails. Before I disclose that information, Ootori, I ask that you destroy this letter after you have read it, even if you do not choose to accept my proposal. I also order you never to repeat what I am about to tell you, on pain of death.

Kyouya Ootori, just west of the university, on the outskirts of Rescet, I have a son, a son who I wish to become the Prince after I pass away. Though this information has not yet leaked into the press, after our last victory over En Ohriz, they are seeking to rise again and take revenge on our Kingdom. The rumours, I'm afraid, seem to be true; my wife was indeed poisoned, and it was this which caused her death. In her final hours, I became aware that I had no heir to take the throne should anything happen to me, and in this thought I found a terrible fear – the fear that En Ohriz would be successful in their aims and bring our Kingdom to ruin.

Though this information never reached the ears of the people (and thank goodness it didn't, for the folly of my youth would have forever brought shame to my heart), I had a mistress, in my younger years, who bore me a child. My Queen discovered this, and had my mistress executed and ordered that I have my child, Tamaki, sent away to live as a peasant, lest she tell my people what I had done. In exchange for her silence, I complied.

Tamaki now lives northwest of your current location, and I ask that you bring him to me. I ask you, Kyouya, because of all the men that my servants have seen in Rescet, you seem the most capable for the job I have in mind for you in future, though that is not for now. The journey Dhente, where my palace is, may be a long one, but in this time I hope that you will get to know my son, and serve him well for one day he shall be your King. All I need from you now, Kyouya, is to bring him to me. Do not worry for your mother; when you leave, her health will be tended to by the finest medics in our land who are already on their way to Rescet. Forgive me if that seems a little overly presumptuous, Kyouya, but I am a desperate man.

My son should now be in his early twenties, and from what I hear he is a pleasant young man, though not the brightest of sparks, with blond hair and a rather frivolous mind considering his current circumstances. He is under the care of a family who know nothing of his past, but I ask you to take him without explanation (though I do not wish to call it kidnapping, I suppose that is what it would be). I cannot risk word getting out, Kyouya, I cannot, not until he is here.
This is a task you are to carry out alone, as you are a clever boy with tact and knowledge, and not as heavy-handed as my guards. Your other duty is to teach my son all you can over the course of this journey, and make sure he, in his delight at finding such a future, does not alert others of this fact. As I have mentioned, he is not a clever boy.

If you choose to accept this mission, meet the one of the many guards I am sending (my best, of course), by your local carpenter's at 10am on the morning you receive this. He will be dressed casually to avoid arousing suspicion, but all equipment (horses and food, etc) is in the woods to the north of the university, including money for my son and for all expenses you may incur on your journey.

This task will require you and Tamaki to travel incognito; if word gets out that the young Prince is coming here, I fear that En Ohriz will try to intercept, and though I'm sure my guards will protect you and my son with their lives, I would rather not lose them and risk your lives, not to mention the scandal it would cause. Our Kingdom needs this, Kyouya, a new Prince to raise its morale and lead us to victory against En Ohriz. I can not afford to have our soldiers give up when En Ohriz launches it attack. I wish you the best, and eagerly await your arrival.

Yours,

King Suoh.'

I leaned back from the letter, my lips parted in utter shock, but I soon gathered myself. En Ohriz was on the rise and I was... I was to kidnap the future King and bring him to Dhente. My heart was racing, and I set the letter down and began to pace up and down the small room, three paces forward, three paces back, unsure if I should accept the King's proposal. On one hand, I could face death, I would be missing out on my education, and I ran the risk of not being there in my mother's final hours. On the other hand, my mother would surely die, and I may become partially responsible for the fall of our Kingdom. I stopped walking at the sound of my mothers coughing, which escalated to the point where she gagged and then groaned in pain. I heard the springs on the bed creak as she lay back down. My mind was made up in that moment.

I picked up the letter and threw it into the fire, listening to it crackle sharply in response, and, as quietly as I could, began to get ready to leave. Despite the King's promise of equipment and food on the journey, I packed away small pieces of bread and some water in a canteen, as well as a ribbon my mother had worn in her hair when she was well. I held it to my heart for a moment, and then slipped it into the old bag with frayed edges that had once held my books from the university, and I wondered vaguely if it would ever hold such things again.

My thoughts were interrupted by the firelight catching the frame of an old portrait we had had done before my father had died. I eased it out from its place behind the sofa, where my mother had hidden it to avoid the memories, and I smiled at it fondly for a while. My mother was bright and healthy, her hand rested on her stomach which had held my baby brother before he had been lost so early in his life. Burying him had been a terrible experience for us all. My father stood tall and proud, his arm wrapped around her, and I had been dressed in clothes that were much more substantial than the ones that hung off me now. Ah, what a happy family we had been... I tucked the picture away again, wondering how the artist had captured us all so perfectly, and then thought no more of it. I looked one last time at my home, and then made for my mother's room before pausing. I never walked in there before I left for university, and today, I supposed I should do nothing differently.

"I'm leaving now, Mother... I love you," I called out to her.

"I love you too, Kyouya..." She said, in a voice so quiet and weak that I supposed that most people wouldn't have been able to hear it, not unless they were listening as intently as I was at that moment. I laughed softly and then disappeared out of the door, allowing myself to smile as my heart filled with hope and apprehension for the journey ahead.

Pronunciation:
Allfen: Ale-fen
En Ohriz: En aw-riz
Rescet: Ress-ket
Dhente: Don-té