A.C. 182, early April
"Sir Khushrenada, I bid you well." Queen Katerina nodded briefly, ruffling his ten-year-old son, Treize's, hair lightly.
Katerina's own son, Milliardo, stood solemnly at her left side, waiting until the two guests had left before speaking.
"I overheard you speaking to Khushrenada," he said quietly, sounding far too sage for his six years of age. "Is it true?"
"Eavesdropping is very unprincely behavior, my child," she admonished, but didn't mean it. "Don't concern yourself with rumors of attacks. I want you to meet someone."
Milliardo inwardly groaned, but kept silent, obediently following her into a conference room. He warily eyeballed a young girl his age, wearing a yellow dress and sitting on the windowsill. What was most curious about her was her hairstyle - cropped short like a boy's, with unruly purplish bangs covering half her face.
One of Cinq's ambassadors, Giuseppe Noin, was seated at the table, his wife next to him. The ambassador rose and bowed to the queen, turning to gesture at the young girl.
"My Queen, may I humbly present my daughter Lucrezia."
"How very nice to meet you, Lucrezia," Katerina intoned politely. Milliardo blinked when the girl bowed rather than curtsied.
"Excuse me," Milliardo said, still puzzled. "I'm afraid I promised John I'd practice fencing, pardon me in my departure."
"Very well." Katerina nodded, only further confusing him. "Get going, you wouldn't want to upset him."
+++
"Your form could use some work," Lucrezia remarked.
Milliardo whirled from practicing by himself, giving her a look. "I don't suppose you could do any better."
Then it was her turn to glare. "Don't think I can't fight because I'm a girl."
"Prove it then."
"Fine."
Lucrezia picked up a foil, silently cursing herself for going against her mother barely five minutes after she expressly ordered her not to get into a fight.
Oh well.
"Hey, hey!" a voice called, interrupting the impending match. "Prince, didn't I tell you not to get angry?"
"Yes, John," he grumped.
"And you, girl," John scolded. "Never fight without the correct equipment. You think your parents will be happy if you ruin that dress of yours?"
"No, sir," she responded in the same tone. Damn…why do adults always have to get involved?
"What's your name?"
"Lucrezia."
"You still want to fight?"
"Yes, sir."
"Milliardo?"
"Yes."
"Then get moving."
She nodded, going into the changing room "John" pointed out, changing quickly and feeling better about the situation. Lucrezia assumed he was the prince's fencing instructor, not that she particularly cared.
"Ready, Lucrezia?" John asked. She nodded, holding the foil tightly. "Relax, the both of you. Now, five-point sparring, head is not a target, God knows your parents would use my head as a target. Objections?"
"No," they responded in unison, still furious at each other - as evidenced by their glaring looks.
"Start."
35 minutes later, Queen Katerina, King Benjamin, Ambassador Noin and his wife walked into the practice area, shocked to see their respective children sparring viciously under the watchful eye of Milliardo's instructor.
"Just what is the meaning of this?" Benjamin demanded. Milliardo flinched at his voice and Lucrezia scored a point.
"No distraction rules," she taunted in a low voice, out of the adults' hearing range. Milliardo glared.
John looked up, slightly bored. "They got into an argument…this was supposed to be a five point match. They've also been at it for about forty minutes now."
"Lucrezia, stop that immediately!" her mother yelled, slightly panicked. "I order you to stop fighting!"
"Mom, you're going to make me lose!" Lucrezia responded in a breath, narrowly avoiding another hit against her.
"Milliardo, stop that! You don't fight guests!" Benjamin roared, showing a rare fit of anger.
"With all due respect, Your Majesties, Ambassador and Mrs. Noin, let them finish. It's an honorable match, and it'll get it out of their systems."
The parents, albeit highly reluctantly, agreed. And watched in amazement as the six-year-olds fought for another fifteen minutes, staying at an even four-point stalemate.
Just when Queen Katerina was about to nod off from the hypnotic, continuous clanging, she saw something amazing.
They simultaneously scored points on each other's arms.
"Well," a tired John called out, "this match is over."
"I won."
"No, I won."
"No, I…"
"Milliardo?"
"Yes, Mother?"
"You do know Lucrezia will be living in the palace with her parents from now on?"
The two children looked at their parents in shock. "WHAT?"
A.C. 191, June 24
"Milliardo, hurry up already!" Noin yelled through the door, irritated. "I thought girls were the ones who were supposed to take longer!"
He opened the door, jacket off and a tangled piece of white scarf in his hand. "I can't tie the thing," he said to the captain of his guard.
"Ugh," she grumbled, untangling it deftly. "You're fifteen and can't tie your own damn scarf…there." Noin reached around his neck in a familiar manner and was somewhat tempted to choke him for the annoyance he caused. Bowing to duty, she tied it instead, giving him a smug look.
"Thank you," Milliardo grumped, slipping into his jacket. She was wearing the blue and red uniform of the Imperial Guard, he the white and black of the Royal Family, but they might as well have been wearing jeans and t-shirts.
They'd met at six years old, and had been raised as equals - that mentality never left them.
It was only Queen Katerina and the children now; she handled most foreign relations - the older prince rarely left Cinq's borders. Noin, as she was called now, never found reason to either. A few times she had returned to Italy, but despite being born there, it was Cinq that remained home to her.
"What meeting am I missing now?" Milliardo asked, buttoning the jacket.
"Trade. There's a company interested in buying from the coastal farmers," Noin replied, handing him an outline of their proposal.
"Shouldn't they be speaking to the farmers, then?"
"That's what you're supposed to tell them." She shrugged in response to his look. "Your mother's moronic aide again. He's the one that agreed to it."
"Not him again." Milliardo shook his head in an irritated manner. "I don't know why Mother keeps him around - she could just ask Pagan to do the scheduling."
Noin didn't answer as she led him into a boardroom with four suited businesspeople in it.
"Prince Milliardo, have you looked over the proposal?" One of them asked eagerly as Milliardo and Noin took their seats.
Noin gave him a hand signal to answer affirmatively. "Yes, I have - and I believe I'm the wrong person to ask."
"Aren't you the one in charge of domestic relations?"
"When the Queen is predisposed, yes, but that isn't government land. You have to speak to those that do own it."
"That would be far too difficult and time-consuming for a company of our size, we-"
"With all due respect, that is of little concern to us."
"We thought," a third woman gritted out, "seeing as this is a monarchy-"
"A constitutional monarchy*, ladies and gentlemen," Noin interrupted, seeing the mistake of Milliardo not having looked at the exact details of their proposal. "That is why."
"Who are you, his wife?"
Noin was startled, but continued without missing a beat, now rather angry. "No, I'm the captain of his guard and at the moment I have half a mind to throw you out as a security risk. If you truly wish to pursue this line of business, talk to the farmers yourself!" She took a breath to calm down, running a hand through her short purple hair. "Anything to add, Milliardo?"
"No, I believe you've quite covered it." Milliardo stifled the urge to laugh at the stricken expressions of the foursome's faces. She always did get her way…
+++
* ::bangs head on desk:: These Peacecrafts are so damn hard to figure out... If I wanted to be all that P.C., they're most likely a despotic monarchy, but then that would be missing Noin's point. ::glares at SS book:: So live with it.