"All hail the Lunis royal family!" a Solian herald bellowed into the crowd. A cheer erupted from them as Toshiya, Hiroko, Mari, and Yuuri stepped out of the carriage. The family made their way to the large castle in the bright kingdom of day, Solis.
Yuuri had never quite gotten used to the bright lights that seemed to be everywhere. Although Solis was bright, Yuuri had never seen this much color. People wore crowns of bright royal blues, shining banners with yellow, and crimson red clothes. Lunis was dark, with dark colors everywhere. The brightest things he had seen were the torches filled with moonfire and the small white flowers that grew abundantly, called nightblooms by the people. Lunis was dark, but in a comforting sense to Yuuri.
As Yuuri looked around at all the people in Solis, he saw all the Solians had lighter skin than him and everyone else on Lunis. The Lunians had lived in the night all their lives, so a trait of the people of Lunis was that their skin had a slight bluish tinge to it. The people of Solis generally lived their lives in the sunlight, never truly experiencing dark unless all the windows were shaded and no torches were lit, much like the people of Lunis lived in the dark, only seeing light through flames and the moon.
The only place where time truly passed like in the mortal world was in the section dividing Lunis and Solis. The days and nights passed there, but no one lived in the large castle. It was used for celebrations that involved both kingdoms, like the eclipse celebrations. In the mortal world, time passed differently. For every year in the kingdoms, a thousand years had passed in the mortal world. That all made Yuuri seventeen thousand years old to the mortals. But clearly not enough time to experience everything that Lunis and Solis offered together.
As Yuuri trailed behind his family into the castle, he couldn't help but look everywhere. He had been to the Solis castle before, but was always awestruck by sheer amount of color he never saw in Lunis. The hall had two large staircases that led to the conference rooms and the chambers of the royal family. Between the two staircases was a large doorway which led to the throne room and banquet halls.
The page led them up the stairs and down a long hallway with many rooms. When he came to the end of the hallway, he opened the large double doors to another room. The room had several couches and a large bookshelf with two large windows and three more doorways which led to the suites the family would be staying in.
The coronation wasn't supposed to take place until the next day, but the kingdom had been celebrating for weeks already. In the meantime, the Lunis royal family would be staying in the castle for the weekend to enjoy in the festivities. Since the ride to Solis had taken several hours, it would be a waste of time to travel the morning of the coronation, which would take place and hour before noon.
Yuuri had stayed in the Solis castle before. Once for the King and Queen's funeral. That was something he wouldn't forget. The sun had been covered by the clouds, and the many bodies of the people that had died were pushed out to sea on small boats. The King and Queen's bodies were in a larger, more decorated boat, and in one swift call, flaming arrows were shot into the sky, the boats catching on fire, and sinking slowly.
That had been the only time Yuuri had seen the prince cry. His face was emotionless, but tears rolled slowly down his cheeks as he clutched the bow to his side, his father's advisor, Nikolai Plisetsky, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Nikolai's grandson and next in line, Yuri, stood silently to the side.
Yuuri let out a puff of air as he entered his own suite, where the servants had left his bags, and stripped off all the stiff clothes he had been forced to wear for the last few hours. Although the ride was long, the family had still been expected to look their best when they arrived in Solis.
He made his way to the bathrooms, slipping into the drawn bath that he had requested upon his arrival. He sighed as the warmth washed over his sore body and let his face down from the forced smile he had kept up for the time. His chin sank down to the frothy bubbles as he relaxed further.
It was nothing like the baths he had in Lunis, though. Back home, the baths were much larger, even though these ones were big themselves. The hot springs had plants in every corner, and if he wanted to be alone, like usual, he would go to his private baths and tell the servants not to bother him.
He must have spent an hour in there, because by the time he wanted to get out, the water was lukewarm and the bubbles were all gone. He managed to pull himself and wrap a fluffy towel around his waist. He slipped on a soft shirt and loose pants and flopped onto the bed. Managing to get himself under the fluffy covers, he curled up into a ball and let sleep wash over his senses.