This year's Advent challenge. Enjoy!
Day 01 - Prologue
The streets were crowded. Music came from many loudspeakers all along the city's boulevard. There were flowers everywhere and the country's flags flattered in the light breeze. The people sang along the national anthem and other songs which were deeply rooted in the country's traditions. And as soon as the procession arrived everyone cheered. It was early summer and the sky was clear blue as if it wanted to celebrate with everyone the anniversary of the founding of this glorious nation which had peace for at least one hundred years thanks to their wise monarchs who knew how to deal with conflicts.
Said monarch appeared in front of his people only once a year to this giant celebration with his family: The eldest son, who supported his father with taking care of the international relationships, the daughter who had married a prince of a country which had once considered declaring war on this beautiful, rich nation and the youngest son who was barely seven years old. The king's wife had passed away during childbirth and now the young prince was dearly loved by his father who wanted to protect him from all evils of the world especially since he was not blessed with good health and spent much time outside this city where the air was cleaner. But he did his best to fulfill his duties. So he walked down the boulevard together with his siblings next to the open carriage in which the king was sitting.
The prince didn't like the attention but it was his duty to be here so he was.
But suddenly something rolled onto the way. At once the guards were alert and about to protect the royal family at all costs. Was it a bomb?
But the young prince's keen eyes quickly saw the truth and he run forth to pick up the bright blue ball and look around to look for the owner. Of course the guards were baffled of the usually very composed boy's behavior but they were not allowed to scold him. And the thing was harmless after all.
The prince looked at the ball. It was a simple blue rubber ball and quite small. He looked into the direction from which the ball had rolled on the way and found another boy staring at him and the ball. Shuusei wanted to return the toy but he knew he wasn't allowed to go too close to the ordinary people. They didn't know if someone wanted to harm them.
The prince looked backwards and his brother came to his side.
"You want to return the ball?" he asked and the young boy nodded.
They went to the fence which separated the people from the street and the other boy who was accompanied by his father appeared as well.
"This is yours, right?" The prince said and held his hand with the ball out to the other boy still looking at the simple toy.
The other boy nodded. "You like it?"
The prince nodded.
"Then you can keep it. I have another one at home!" The boy grinned brightly.
"I'm not allowed to accept it." The prince said sadly. "I can only have either new toys or toys from my father and grandfather," But not such a simple thing from a boy of the common people.
The boy looked at the prince and his sad expression. Then he grinned even wider. "Then I'll lend it to you!" he grinned. "Take care of it. One day I'll come and claim it back!"
"But why?" the prince asked.
"You look like you need a friend. And I wanna be your friend!"
The prince's eyes widened. He didn't have any friends. All the people around him were much older than he was.
He looked at his brother who knelt down to be on the same height as the strange boy. "You are a good person. And very generous."
The young prince looked at his brother and then at the other boy. "Thank you. I will take good care of it," he said, "until the day you come to get it back."
He didn't know if this would ever happen, but it was nice to pretend he really had a friend somewhere in this world. They nodded t the boy and returned to the procession. The young prince holding the ball tightly in his hands as if it were his most expensive possession.