Hey there everybody. So, I've been trying to put a lot of thought into where I really want this story to go recently. Pretty sure I have it figured out, the only thing is - surprise, surprise - it's a little bit darker than where I'd originally thought it'd go. Which, if you've read any of my other +anima stories, shouldn't really be any sort of shock. I do plan to try to keep this in the same light vein as we've started off with, but might have to knock the rating up to K+.
I do hope no one minds, and that you all like the 'plot' that shall soon become more apparent. Within the next two chapters, most likely.
Chapter 9 - A Slight Shift in Thinking
Prince Myrrha tried to keep himself from yawning as his teacher continued to drone on about the founding of Sailand as the empire it was today. This was something he'd already heard about a hundred times now, he hardly needed to be going over it again.
Even still, the silver haired boy managed to fool his teacher into thinking he was actually paying attention to the repeat lecture about the countries that Sailand had concurred and absorbed into their country. Although technically, this was something he had to deal with almost every day, what with the harem being a direct result of all that.
Sure, it wasn't exactly as the original harem had been, what with the queens being the daughters of noblemen and the incredibly rich now instead of defeated kings. There was still a bit of that original rivalry left though, it seemed. Like when the other princes would always bother about his voice, with the heavy accent of the northern country his mother had come from.
Besides that though, there were only a few other telltale signs of the countries that many of the princes and queens resided from. Like Lady Dylana's and Keane's bright red hair, which was really only found, at least in Sailand, in what was originally a country that had been west of Stella, on the other side of a small mountain chain.
Myrrha once again had to focus in on his teacher, his mind having wandered away from whatever it was he'd been saying quite a bit. Luckily, the older man had seemed distracted today as well. Thinking about it though, most of his teachers had been a bit out of it for about a week now.
The silver boy didn't let himself dwell on that very much, his class having ending right around that moment. Most of his teachers were also a part of the advisory staff for the king, so it wasn't really a surprise that they tended to have more than one thing on their minds at a time.
Getting up and leaving the room, Myrrha couldn't help but find himself grateful that he only had one more class before they were done for the day. It was Saturday too, which meant he had tomorrow off. Cooro had been excited about that this morning. It was clear that the hyperactive boy tended to get a bit bored having to wait for him all day.
It had also been rather clear after yesterday that trying to play with the princesses wasn't really an option. Myrrha actually felt bad for him, seeing as really the black haired boy couldn't actually say no to the princesses if they decided that they wanted to use him as their doll again.
The silver prince got a feeling that even if he could tell them no, Cooro probably wouldn't.
Stepping into his classroom, Myrrha tried to focus once again as he greeted his teacher. The old man barely even nodded to show that he'd heard though, causing Myrrha to frown slightly. Not that he seemed to notice, too busy going over a few papers laid out on a table in front of him.
The young boy sat at the other end of the table quietly and waited for his tutor to finish up whatever it was he seemed so focused on. If it was important, it would be bad if he tried to interrupt him. Besides, he happened to actually like this teacher. He wasn't like most of the others, who got offended whenever Myrrha would question their teachings. He actually seemed to enjoy debating with the young Crown Prince, instead of seeing it as an insult.
It wasn't long though before the older man quickly pushed all of the papers into a slightly haphazard pile and finally turned his attention towards Myrrha.
"Ah, good morning Prince Myrrha, so sorry for the delay," he apologized, the silver boy quickly shaking his head.
"That's fine, Lord Ebrahim," he said. The tutor smiled and nodded slightly, but Myrrha couldn't help but think that he still looked slightly distracted, glancing over towards the piles of papers now pushed to a corner of the table as he began to teach.
Despite this, it was quickly pushed to the back of the young boy's head when their lesson quickly started turning towards +anima. So far he hadn't had a single lesson concerning +anima much at all since his birthday and receiving Cooro. As he listened to Lord Ebrahim explain how the slave trade benefited multiple facets of the country's economy, Myrrha found himself frowning.
Before he would have just listened to the lecture without really questioning it at all. It made sense, after all. Everything did show that it actually did help in creating and controlling a huge portion of their economy, but…
"But what about the actual slaves?" Myrrha found himself asking before bothering to edit himself. It was really starting to confuse him now though. Sure, Cooro seemed to be pretty happy in his position, but the prince knew deep down that he wasn't exactly treating him like a normal slave probably was. He still had no idea how normal slaves were treated, but something about the whole thing was just starting to feel off to him.
Despite his wings and feathers, it was getting increasingly hard to think of Cooro has 'not human.'
"What about the slaves?" Lord Ebrahim asked back, not quite understanding his question. Myrrha quickly tried to keep himself from floundering as he attempted to explain what he meant without actually bringing Cooro into it. Something just told him that probably wouldn't be the best idea.
"I was just wondering, if the slaves were ever unhappy with their position, isn't it possible that they could try to demand freedom?" he asked. He knew that they didn't have slavery in Asteria, and that country seemed to be doing just fine. A serious expression came over his teacher's face, and the man nodded a bit solemnly.
"That's a very high possibility Prince Myrrha, and a good question indeed. If there ever was a rebellion of the slave class, that would be an extremely difficult and complex situation. The best solution would be to attempt to stifle the rebels as quickly and efficiently as possible. It's situations like that which can turn into full fledge revolutions, and that's not something the country would want at all," he explained. Myrrha nodded, although he wasn't entirely sure how much he liked that answer.
The way he'd said it was a very high possibility didn't sit right with him at all either. Did that mean that the slaves really were unhappy already? That didn't sound like a good thing. As his teacher continued on, he tried to tell himself that it wasn't something he really needed to be worrying about. He wouldn't be king for years and years, he had plenty of time before he needed to make any real decisions on the subject.
That didn't make his mind settle down any, leaving the young prince just as distracted as his teacher seemed to be during the rest of the lesson.
…
Myrrha sighed as he walked back to his room after class. Opening the door, he couldn't help but be relieved at actually seeing Cooro in there this time. The black haired boy was all smiles as he jumped up from Myrrha's bed.
"Hi Myrrha! How were your classes today?" Cooro asked. The prince simply shrugged as he sat down in his desk chair, mind already starting to wonder as he looked at the crow +anima.
He seemed like he was happy. He was always smiling all the time, after all, and he would get all excited about every little thing.
"They were fine, although my teachers all seemed really distracted today," he answered, absently rubbing at one of his earrings as he thought. Cooro cocked his head to the side, seeming genuinely interested in what Myrrha had said.
It brought the silver boy back to something he'd thought of pretty soon after he'd gotten Cooro. Did slaves actually care about their masters? He still didn't know. Sure, the crow +anima did seem to like him, he guessed. But what if… what if he was just acting because he was his master? Slaves were supposed to respect and listen to everything their masters said, after all. It wasn't like he could be openly hostile to him like the other princes could.
"Why were they distracted?" Cooro asked. Once again Myrrha shrugged, barely even registering the question.
"I don't have any idea, they didn't say," he told him truthfully. The black haired boy just nodded, not seeming to really mind too much. Cooro frowned though when he noticed the look of concentration that made its way onto the eight year old prince's face. He always seemed so serious all the time, not like his age at all. It didn't bother Cooro any, but something just seemed off about him today.
It looked like Myrrha's teachers weren't the only ones with something on their mind.
"Myrrha? Is everything okay?" he asked after a moment of silence. The prince nodded almost instinctively, although he didn't actually say anything. Cooro deflated slightly at the answer, sitting back down on Myrrha's bed. It was clear that wasn't actually the truth, but he wasn't going to press him if he was something he didn't want to talk about. Neither boy said anything for a moment, before the prince's head finally shot over towards him, startling Cooro slightly.
"Are you unhappy?" he asked, shocking the +anima. Cooro could only stare at him for a moment while he tried to figure out what in the world he meant, and why he would even ask him something like that in the first place.
"What do you mean?" he ended up saying, not really able to figure it out based solely on those three words. Myrrha sighed, quickly looking away from the slightly older boy as he tried to elaborate.
"I don't know. One of my teachers was talking about slavery today, and I was just wondering… are you unhappy being a slave?" he mumbled.
"Ohhh," Cooro said, understanding what he was trying to get at now. A large smile started making its way onto his face, and the black haired boy giggled slightly.
"Maybe I would be, if I had someone else as my master," Cooro said, surprising Myrrha, who turned to actually look at him again. The silver prince still had a frown on his face, it clear that he didn't quite understand what he meant by that. The black haired boy quickly began to explain before he could ask.
"I like you Myrrha, you're really nice. So, I don't mind having you as my master," he said. The prince stared at him for a moment, not used to having someone besides his father complimenting him. His mind wandered to the idea that maybe Cooro was just lying so that he wouldn't offend him or something like that, but looking the smiling boy over, that really didn't seem like him at all.
"Oh… um, thanks then. That's… good, I guess," he mumbled, once again not looking the crow +anima in the eyes, although now it was more about of embarrassment than anything else. Thankfully though, Cooro quickly changed the subject.
"So you don't have any classes tomorrow, right? So we can have fun all day?" he asked, once again back to his hyperactive self. Myrrha chuckled slightly and nodded, even if the concept of 'having fun all day' was a bit lost on him. He figured Cooro would probably be able to think of something for them to do.
"Yeah, I don't have classes, you can relax," he told him. Myrrha wasn't very surprised when the crow +anima instantly started trying to figure out just what they could do during the free day.
Normally, his mind tended to wander slightly when Cooro would start talking like this, not quite able to keep up with the way he spoke at a mile a minute. This time though, he tried a bit harder to actually focus. His mind had been going all over the place all day, so he really should be able to concentrate on something if just a little bit.
Cooro had managed to quell the one thing that had been bothering him, after all. Whatever it was bothering his teachers didn't really matter enough to focus on anyway. If it was that important, they would tell him.
So instead the silver prince actually managed to smile slightly as he listened to Cooro's random, and some quite frankly just impossible, plans for what they could do tomorrow.
Okay, so the sweetness is still full speed ahead here. I don't think that's going to really leave anytime soon, so that's a good thing at least. We are starting to set up for the plot now, so I'm getting a bit excited for that. For some reason chapter 10 seems to always be a major one in all of my stories. That's all I'm saying ;)
Anyway, thanks a bunch for reading and please review.