Shiro did not know if he should feel relieved or even more nervous once he reached the room where the meeting would be held and realized that the only people participating would be him, his aunt, King Xander, his wife, Queen Charlotte, Prince Leo and Prince Siegbert himself. He expected some other lord to show up, but once everyone took their places on the extensive table and the king started to fiddle with his papers, Shiro knew that nobody else would show up. He glanced at Prince Siegbert, sitting up straight in his chair in a perfect posture, and hardened his lips. He wondered if the guy ever relaxed, though he himself could not throw stones in that regard, as he could feel a slight pain from how stiff his shoulders were.

The discussion itself was about whether opening a new trading route near the northern regions of the borders between Nohr and Hoshido was a sound idea or not. King Xander began by introducing the proposal of opening a couple of new trading routes at the north of the border, which made Hinoka instantly frown. To her, while it would be beneficial to Nohrian merchants in the north, as the opening of those particular routes would save them a good few weeks of having to maneuver to the center of the border, there weren't any major trading spots at the northern borders of Hoshido that could benefit from that project.

Shiro agreed with his aunt.

King Xander and Queen Hinoka then proceeded to go back and forth in their arguments, with King Xander being aided by his brother and his wife, who not so much had convincing arguments like her brother-in-law, but sure tried to pull their heartstrings by saying their people needed that, while Shiro tried his best to back his aunt by agreeing with pretty much anything she said. He even tried by adding a few things he had memorized here and there, including how to open a route at that particular part of the border would require the building of yet another bridge, as the natural path was too dangerous and unstable for safe travel, which didn't seem like a worthy investment.

As they continued, Shiro couldn't help but turn his attention to Prince Siegbert. He was oddly quiet during the discussion, not adding anything to it, not even supporting his father in his arguments. He kept observing the discussion, shoulders as stiff as they were since Shiro first noticed them. He remembered their conversation the night before, how he thought that the meeting was important for Shiro to participate in, and yet there he was, not uttering a single word.

Maybe he was about to step out of line, maybe he should let the prince be, but the conversation from last night kept rewinding in his mind, to the point where he couldn't help but ask him:

"What do you think, Prince Siegbert? What is your opinion on this matter?"

He had to hide a smile as he saw the prince jump and get flustered at the sudden attention being turned towards him.

"What… do you mean by that, Prince Shiro?" he asked. "I don't think I..."

"I saw you studying so fervently last night, after dinner," Shiro said, still trying his best to hide a smug smile. "And our conversation was so rich too! As Nohr's crown prince, surely you must have something to add to this negotiation."

The way he looked at him, it was clear that Siegbert was not pleased with Shiro twisting his words against him.

"He is right, Siegbert," King Xander said. "Please tell us what your thoughts are."

"I don't… I mean..."

"Speak up, boy!" Queen Charlotte said. "Help us out here!"

"I… think that Queen Hinoka and Prince Shiro may have a point," Prince Siegbert said, to the surprise of everyone in the room. "From what I gathered, the opening of this road might cause more costs than benefits."

"Even with the number of villages near the border?" his father asked.

"The villages are usually very small and don't have a good structure for commerce from what I gathered," he said. "Maybe one or two, but it still… might not be worth it, I think."

Shiro was surprised, maybe a little impressed that King's son decided to disagree with his views. He expected him to echo his father's reasoning, not go against what his family had been working towards.

"Is that so?"

Prince Siegbert was growing paler by the seconds, as if he was about to faint at any moment. Prince Leo looked at him with a clear disappointment in his face, while Queen Charlotte was simply shocked to see her son disagree with them. King Xander, on the other hand, continued with that stern, hard to read face, Shiro had no idea what could be going on in his head as he questioned his son in an impartial voice.

It was clear to Shiro that the guy was not used to disagreeing with his family, judging by how he fidgeted and the discomfort in his voice. "Is he going to be okay?" he thought.

"However, I…" he stuttered. "I was thinking..."

"Yeah?" Shiro asked.

"Well, in exchange for opening a safe route for Nohrian merchants in that area, we could offer to lower the taxes of importation of Hoshidan merchants that transit through Port Dia."

"Port Dia?" Prince Leo asked, incredulous.

"It is an area that receives a high number of Hoshidan merchants, but it is also one of the most heavily taxed transit areas for merchants."

"I see," King Xander said. "Queen Hinoka, what do you think of this proposal?"

Shiro could see a spark of interest in Hinoka's eyes, no doubt that would alleviate some of the constant complaining she received in court regarding the commerce in that particular place. He did not expect that kind of proposal to come out of Nohr's crown prince, not when Nohr thrived from the high importation taxes.

"I must say, that is a very interesting proposal," she said. "For that kind of exchange, we could certainly plan out the opening of the trading routes."

The meeting ended in amicable terms, with Prince Siegbert's suggestion being favored by everyone present, despite Prince Leo later complaining how he wouldn't hear the end of it when he passed the information of changes in import taxation to Lord Dia. As for Shiro, he was grateful that the meeting was finally over.

Despite feeling like he should congratulate Prince Siegbert for his quick thinking and maybe apologize for his teasing earlier, Shiro also wanted to enjoy the most of his free time before lunch by training at the training grounds Asugi mentioned discovering. After bowing and saying his farewells to his aunt and the Nohrian royals, he quickly turned on his heels and hurried to meet his retainer.

The castle's training grounds were much bigger than Shiro expected, not to mention how it was located outside the castle's main building, meaning that he had a good view from how deep within the crater he was. Placed right in the middle was an enormous statue of the Dusk Dragon, Nohr's patron dragon, that seemed to glare at Shiro whenever he dared to look up and meet its sculpted red eyes. Its sharp wings were spread out in such a way that it seemed it would take flight and fight at any moment, its open mouth ready to bite down the first one who dared get close to it.

Being alone there with only his retainer and the Dusk Dragon brought a sense of dread within Shiro. He was so excited to spend some time honing his skills and distracting his mind, now he had to deal with that awful feeling. What a baffling idea, to put such a scary looking statue right at the center of the training grounds, patron dragon be damned! Shiro couldn't begin to comprehend how anyone could feel protected by such a brute looking beast.

Still, he had to force himself to ignore it as best as he could. He unwrapped the naginata from the beige cloth that Asugi has enveloped it in and headed to the area with the dummies. He did not expect Asugi to join him, so he did not bother trying to convince his retainer to spar with him.

"So how was the meeting?" Asugi asked.

"It was alright," he answered.

He swung the naginata, a clean swipe of the blade cut right through its sturdy chest. Asugi sat on the floor and took out a lollipop from his pocket.

"Just alright?"

"Yeah, but I gotta say that Prince Siegbert can be a pretty smart guy," Shiro said.

"Did he still look like he… how did you put it again?" he smirked. "Like he had a stick up his ass?"

"In the beginning, yeah," he said. Another swing of the blade. "Can you believe that he wanted to stay silent during the entire meeting? Had it not been for me, he-"

"Had it not been for you? What did you do?"

"Nothing, I just told him that I wanted to hear his opinion because he was being so quiet."

"How very noble of you," he said, voice sarcastic. "I'm sure it was not done because you wanted to provoke him."

"I never said I didn't want to provoke him a little."

"Has it occurred to you that maybe he was there just to learn and observe, not to actually participate?"

"What? Of course that wasn't the case!"

"How do you know?"

"I just do," he said. "If I was required to participate, why shouldn't he?"

"You're Hoshido's crown prince and you will soon ascend the throne, of course you had to!"

"So is he," Shiro then paused to think. "I mean, he will once his father kicks the bucket, which we don't know if it's going to take years or..."

"Are you crazy?! Stop saying shit about the king like this!" Asugi exclaimed, angrily. "And here, of all places! If anyone hears you, what do you think they'll assume of you?!"

"It's just us here, no one is listening."

Shiro swung the naginata again. He was not wrong, Siegbert was as much of an heir as Shiro was, the only difference between them was that Shiro already had a set date when he would take the place of his aunt, while Siegbert's time was still unclear. However, death was one of the few certainties everyone had in life, and no matter how healthy someone was, one could not predict what would happen the day after. If destiny decided to be cruel, Siegbert could ascend the throne even before Shiro did it.

That was simply how life was. It was what happened to his parents. For all he knew, his father and mother were as healthy and young as they could be, and yet there he was, two years away from inheriting the throne because they were both buried deep underground.

With that in mind, Shiro knew that he had crossed the line with that comment. He was not wrong, but he shouldn't say it there, lest he came off as someone wishing an ill fate to the king. Shiro decided that it was best to just keep his mouth shut and continue his training in peace or else Asugi would join in, but with the intent of actually hitting him.

After a few mindless swings, he heard footsteps coming from behind them in the distance. Shiro did not turn around, as he thought it was just a random soldier arriving, probably there to pick up something he had forgotten. According to Asugi, he had managed to convince people to let him train alone and in peace for the next couple of hours, so he did not expect anyone to come and catch up with training.

The visitor, however, was not a mere soldier, nor did he come to the training grounds to retrieve lost equipment.

"Hello, Prince Shiro."

Asugi jumped back on his feet and Shiro turned around towards the gentle and familiar voice, surprise apparent in his face when he saw Prince Siegbert walking towards him alone. A sudden wave of anxiety began to stir inside of Shiro, now fearful that the prince had been there the entire time that they had been talking. He had no idea how good his hearing was, but regardless, he prayed that the furrowed brows on his pretty face were there because of something else.

"Hey there, Prince," Shiro said. "How long have you been here?"

"I have just arrived. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no, nothing," he shook his head. "Nothing at all. So what can I help you with?"

"This may come off as a little embarrassing, but I wanted to thank you for what you did back at the meeting."

"What did I do?"

"When you called my attention and made me speak my mind," he said. "I was so hesitant to speak my mind in the beginning, since my opinion differed from my family."

"Oh."

"So I wanted to thank you for putting me in a situation that forced me to speak up," Siegbert continued. "It was…"

"You're not used to standing up for yourself near your family, are you?"

"I wouldn't say it like that."

"It's alright, I kind of see where you're coming from," Shiro said. "Your father and uncle seem… imposing sometimes."

"That is one way to put it."

"But hey, you did pretty good back there," he said in his utmost sincerity. "You even managed to help us out by giving us a good solution! My aunt seemed very happy with your idea."

"Oh, that is good to hear," Siegbert smiled. "Though I suppose my uncle is not all that happy with his involvement in this negotiation."

"I'm sure he will be fine."

"Absolutely, but he will hate the hassle regardless."

"I can imagine that."

"So..."

"Anyway, Prince Siegbert, since you just got here..." Shiro said. "How good are you with the lance?"

"The lance?" he asked. "I would say that I am... decent, but my forte is the sword."

"Oh, nice! So how about we spar a little?"

The Nohrian prince blinked, confused over the sudden invitation. He expected to simply thank the Hoshidan prince and leave him to train in peace, he did not expect for him to show an interest in his combat prowess.

"I'm not sure I can accept-"

"Are you busy right now?"

"No."

"Then humor me for a moment and spar with me," he said. "I have my retainer, Asugi, but he refuses to be my partner, you see. I feel awful lonely."

Asugi let out an offended gasp, but did not try to defend himself. "Your words hurt me, my lord," he said.

"But am I wrong?"

"This is not a matter of you being right or wrong," Asugi said. "As much as I loathe to admit it is clear that you desire to spend more time with His Highness, Siegbert, so I will leave you two be."

Siegbert watched him with curiosity, but said nothing as he watched the ninja quietly walking towards the statue in the middle of the training grounds and slumping against the base. As for Shiro, that was an opportunity for him to see if Prince Siegbert's combat abilities were as good as his ability to kiss his guest's ass.

"I suppose I could spare a moment to train with you..."

"Awesome!" Shiro gave a toothy grin. "Think you can give it a go at using a lance or do you need to switch to the sword?"

"Like I said, I am decent at it."

"If you say so."

Siegbert went towards one of the training grounds cabinets and took out two wooden lances out of it. Shiro wondered why he got two instead of one, until he realized that the weapon he had been using to train was a real, sharp naginata, which was fine if he was lashing out blows against a non-living dummy, but could have terrible consequences on the very alive Siegbert. When he handed the wooden lance to him, he noticed how lighter it felt and how the tip was shaped differently than the shape of a naginata's blade. Shiro wondered just how much that shape would affect his usual movements, which made him all the more excited to try it out.

Shiro watched as Prince Siegbert took off his tight looking purple vest, giving him more freedom of movement once he was wearing just the loose white shirt underneath. They got in position, with Shiro analyzing every little thing in his form. He seemed to have a steady position and a good grip on his weapon, but little desire to give the first step. It looked like Shiro would have to go first then.

He lunged at the prince in front of him, who gracefully parried his attack and forced him to step back. Shiro then tried to swing the lance sideways, trying to hit the opening he just got from Siegbert defending himself, but found himself frustrated when the prince managed to catch the attack and swing the lance in a way that forced him to back away and keep a safe distance from him. Prince Siegbert was not wrong when he said he was decent when it came to fighting with a lance, though what Shiro could understand as he continued to attack, it seemed that he was decent at defending himself with a lance. Shiro had yet to see him try to attack him, which made him grow more frustrated with each blocked attack, each time Shiro was forced to step back.

The good part was that fighting with the wooden lance was not all that different from the naginata. It allowed him less dynamic swinging movements due to the lack of a curved tip, but it had the same length and weight, which was what he was most accustomed to. It came off almost naturally to him.

They went on that back and forth for a while. Shiro attacked, Siegbert defended and only attacked in a way that would force him to step back. They then would go back to square one and try again. He tried feigning some of his attacks, hoping to catch him off guard and punish him, but it seemed like Siegbert knew what he was hoping to achieve and didn't fall for his fake attacks. The way that Siegbert did all of that with a straight and serious face, as if none of that was bothering him, only made Shiro's irritation grow.

Eventually, Shiro grew tired of that stalemate and decided that he had enough. He noticed that Siegbert was starting to show signs of fatigue, judging by how the way he blocked yet another advance of his came off as a bit more sluggish than the previous time. That was his chance! Taking the opportunity presented to him, Shiro put all his strength in his lance and swung it in a way that disarmed the prince.

He grinned as he heard him yelp in surprise at the sudden exposure and lose his balance with Shiro gaining space between them. Siegbert tripped and fell on his back, with Shiro then pointing the tip of lance at his chest, signaling that he was the winner of that long, arduous match.

"You are... the better fighter..." Siegbert murmured in between heavy breaths.

"What did you say?"

"You win," he said. "You have bested me."

Shiro retracted his lance and offered his hand to the fallen prince, who graciously took it and got up. He was still trying to regain his breath, so Shiro waited a few seconds, before saying:

"And you have the nerve to say you're decent at fighting with a lance."

"I… I know that I am inadequate, but this is the best that I can do at the moment."

"Inadequate?! No, you were pretty freaking good!" he said. "If this is decent, I wish to one day go against what you consider excellent!"

"O-oh, so that's what you meant."

"You sure you can't go for another round?"

"I would love to get the second chance to show you what I can do, but I fear I must be going."

"Lord Siegbeeeert!" a loud and shrill voice called.

They turned their attention towards the voice and saw a young woman walking in quick steps towards them. Judging by her wild pink hair that cascaded down her waist, the baggy, combat oriented clothes that she wore and just by how she so casually approached them, it was clear that she was no ordinary maid or servant.

"There you are, Lord Siegbert," she said. "I have been looking for you!"

"Soleil, this is Prince Shiro, of Hoshido," Siegbert said.

Shiro awkwardly waved his hand as Soleil let out a sincere gasp and clumsily bowed at him. Despite her initial surprise, Soleil grinned at him, a grin so contagious that it caused Shiro's lips to tilt slightly upwards.

"Hi, Prince Shiro! Name's Soleil and I'm His Highness Siegbert's retainer!" she announced. "It's very nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too, Soleil," he said. "The moody looking guy by the statue is Asugi, my retainer."

"Hey!" Asugi exclaimed.

"Hi, colleague!" she exclaimed, waving at him. She grinned as Asugi waved back.

"Anyway, Soleil, what do you want?" Siegbert asked. "You looked quite agitated."

"Oh, right! I came here to tell you that Forrest has been looking for you. You better find him before he decides to head to town without you."

"Absolutely not," he said, then turning to Shiro. "Prince Shiro, thank you for our sparring session. I must be going now."

"No problem. Take care out there."

He watched Prince Siegbert retrieve and put on his vest and follow the very spritely Soleil, before turning around to look at Shiro.

"Prince Shiro, before I leave, I want to make you an invitation," he said.

"Sure?"

"Would you like to come visit our hunting grounds with me tomorrow?"

The fact that they had hunting grounds came off as a surprise to Shiro and made him wonder if it could even be compared to the lush grounds at Castle Shirasagi. It also occurred to him that it was also the perfect opportunity to leave that suffocating castle and get some fresh air.

"Yeah, I'd love to!" he said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, then?"

"Yes," Siegbert smiled. "Until then."

"See ya."

Shiro waited for the pair to leave his sight before grabbing his naginata and going back to training by himself. He turned his attention to Asugi, who had been watching everything from the same spot.

"You're going to accompany us," Shiro said. "You know that, right?"

"Can't let you go alone with just the prince and his loud servant, can I?"

"No, no you can't."

Shiro swung the naginata. He had to admit to himself that Prince Siegbert seemed to be an alright guy. Caeldori would enjoy what he had to tell her about him once he returned, that he was sure.