I can't help but think I went a bit too far with the cultural differences in this chapter, but this part basically wrote itself. I wanted to reach the end but more words... kept comming... they never ended... I wrote more, and more, and more... This was supposed to be the second part of the last chapter, but the words didn't stop!
Everything is obviously inspired by Japan's traditions and costums, but I pulled the ceremony itself out of my ass because I didn't like what I found researching, haha.
Well, I hope you like it!
The three day journey to the Hoshidan border felt too short, the anxiety of seeing Ryoma again after the incident on the day of your coronation was eating you from the inside. You tried to pretend everything was fine, but weren't entirely sure of your success. Sometimes you noticed Leo staring at you over the book he read, and there were times where even Camilla threw you a mischievous smile, but none of them ever said anything.
The change in the terrain and the foliage became more and more apparent when you got to the border between the countries, but once started travelling deeper within the roads, the change in the environment left all of you in awe. It didn't matter where you put your sight, meadows and meadows of bright grass and trees covered the landscape, as well as hundreds of rice fields covered with water. Even the mountains you could see in the distance were covered in plants unless the peaks were so high they were covered in snow. The rivers twisted and turned down the hills, nourishing the plants. The villages you passed close to had dozens of people happily working on the fields, that sometimes stopped to watch you passing close with a glint of curiosity on their eyes. And, above everything else, the sky was clear, the sunlight falling gently all over the place.
Valla had been green, but Hoshido was alive.
Ignoring the warnings on your heads about how dangerous it was for a king and his royal siblings to travel out in the open without the protection of an army, the four of you got out of the carriage to ride your mounts and enjoy the bright Hoshidan day. Both you and Leo had trouble at times with your horses, which didn't seem to believe they were in such a green place and were stubbornly trying to stop every few steps to eat some of the grass. Your retainers had to help you convince the animals to keep going so you wouldn't waste too much time. You didn't even realize Elise had gone ahead on her own until she came back with a bunch of big, red flowers, and told you a local had called them camellias and helped her stopping her horse from eating all of them, and had given her a few as a reward. You were going to admonish her for doing something so dangerous in a foreign country, but she offered you one of the flowers before you could talk with the happiest expression you had ever seen her make in your life. She left you to give the rest of the flowers to your siblings and her retainers before you could answer her.
The day you arrived, the castle took your breath away. Not because of the building itself —an impressive construction in red and white—, but because of what surrounded it. Hundreds of trees in bloom gave the illusion of having the castle lay atop pinkish cloud of petals, and the only possible entrance seemed to be a tunnel completely covered in hanging purple flowers that filtered the light in different colours.
It was as if the Hoshidan capital had decided to turn itself into an ode to nature, beauty and elegance. You had a hard time tearing your eyes away from the view. You had always thought the Hoshian nobles were frivolous and perhaps even irresponsible. But with such abundance of resources, who wouldn't want to turn things into beauty, to enjoy life instead of simply survive?
To your surprise, you weren't welcomed by Ryoma himself, but two of his siblings, Hinoka and Takumi. They apologized for Ryoma's and Sakura's absence, but as the future king, Ryoma had to spend three days purifying himself before the coronation, and therefore he could not be visited by anyone except the priests and priestess of the land. And since Sakura herself was one of the priestesses of the main temple at the capital, she would be part of the ceremony, and had to prepare and help as well.
You barely had time to feel bored or anxious during the couple of days you had to wait until the coronation because Elise stole all of your time. Or, at least, the time you didn't spend in your guest room diving among your documents. As much as you were there to enjoy the festivities, you still had a lot of work back home, and you made sure you brought some with yourself and that the slow but steady recovery of Nohr wouldn't suffer a sudden stop, if only for a few days. You were still sure that something would go wrong at some point and you would lose all the help Hoshido had been willing to offer, so you wanted to make sure Nohr would suffer as little as possible when that happened.
But several hours after the sun had risen—not only did it shine much more than in Nohr, but you had confirmed over your trip that dawn happened many hours sooner than it did home—, your youngest sister opened the sliding door of your room without knocking with a bright smile and urged you to go explore the gardens with her. You still had plenty of work, but it wasn't something you could finish in merely a day. You figured a break would help you in the long run, and nodded at her, smiling when she took your hand and pulled you out of your room.
The garden was beautiful, if completely different from what you were expecting. It was full of grass, bushes, ponds and a river with a red bridge, and even full grown trees in bloom and moss in a way that made impossible to know where the garden started and the wild nature began. But it was beautiful still, a place in which nature was respected and praised as what it was, not changed until it suited the tastes of a few. It put the sad patch of flowers of the Nohrian castle to shame.
You explored the garden closely following Elise while she kept pointing at plants she discovered while you nodded and tried to discover what they were exactly with her. Both of you seemed to spend more time watching the beauty of the garden that you realized, because your stomachs started rumbling. Elise laughed while you went back to the entrance, and a couple of surprised servants approached you, informing you that lunchtime had started a little while ago and were looking for you. You apologized profusely, explaining you had been exploring the beautiful garden.
The servant smiled when she heard that, and told you it would be perfectly fine for both of you to have lunch there, since eating while admiring the garden was a frequent and acclaimed aristocratic activity. Elise accepted even before you could speak, and the servant quickly retired and came back with two rectangular trays filled with several covered dishes. You sat in front of Elise and uncovered the plates to discover a grilled fish with steamed vegetables, a bowl of rice, a bowl with some kind of brown soup and white dices and small plate with some vegetables that, if you were being completely honest, smelled weird. You noticed the quantity was generous, and definitely bigger than what you had been able to offer to your guests during their stay at your coronation. Shame started biting at your chest, only to be quickly replaced by confusion and panic when you found no fork on the trays, only a couple of wooden sticks.
Your sister must have noticed your confusion, because she giggled and offered to teach you how to use the chopsticks. Apparently, she had learned while they fought against Valla; Sakura and her had shared several meals and the Hoshidan princess had taught her. And while you were aware of the fact that the Hoshidan used different utensils to eat, you had spent most of your time with your own troops. The fact that they may not give anyone forks at the coronation banquet didn't even cross your mind. Elise laughed at the likely anxious expression you had, suddenly sure you would make a fool of yourself in front of every Hoshidan noble in a couple of nights, and grabbed her chopsticks to show you how you should hold them. When she started eating you noticed she had some trouble with the rice, but she clearly had a lot of practice you lacked. You had trouble even grabbing the cut pieces of fish and vegetables, and briefly thought of the irony of starving in a country brimming with food.
Elise giggled at you and you were embarrassingly slow, but in the end you managed to eat without making a mess of yourself, if the same could not be said of the tray in which the food had been brought. You noticed Elise had dropped some rice on hers as well, but it was a lot cleaner than yours. You apologized profusely at the servants when they returned, even when they assured you it was alright.
You went back to your chamber and continued working until you heard a knock on the floor. You opened it to find a servant kneeling in front of you while showing you a tray with what seemed to be dinner, and then leaving after bowing at you. You took the tray inside and valiantly fought against the food until you manage to eat everything. When you finished, you bitterly realized it probably was the first time in your life you felt your stomach full twice the same day, but your thoughts were interrupted by another knock. You got up with the tray in your hands, expecting the same servant ready to retrieve the plates, only to find one of your sisters standing in front of you.
Camilla told you the baths were ready, and Leo and Elise were going to clean themselves after such a long journey. You accompanied her, wanting to spend some time with your siblings after such a long day. To your puzzlement, once you were there you also learned thanks to Elise that the three of you were supposed to wash before you entered the water. Leo tried to reason how absurd that was, but she was so adamant, insisting that was how Sakura had told her, the three of you had no choice but to obey her. Once your sisters managed to wash off their seemingly endless hair, you could finally enter the hot bathtub. So hot, in fact, you immediately felt like boiling, and neither you nor Leo could stand staying there for more than five minutes, running away with a skin so red you looked like you were having a heat stroke. You couldn't understand how your sisters simply giggled at you from the boiling water.
The next day, your work was interrupted again, but then it was because of Corrin, who had finally arrived with Azura for the coronation. You were happy to see them again, since you barely had time when your own coronation happened. They were with you the whole day, sometimes asking you for advice to rule Valla and sometimes guiding you through the castle and showing you some spots they had liked during their brief stay before the death of the Hoshidan queen.
When the ceremony started, you were guided to the throne room and sat at the sides on a cushion, with your siblings and the rest of the Hoshidan nobles. Soon after that, Sakura and Ryoma entered the room and walked towards the throne. The young priestess wore a more elegant version of her usual white and red clothes, with a white jacket with very long sleeves and embroidery flowers and a floral hairpiece. She held a bigger and more elegant version of her usual rod in front of her, while leading the line. After her, Ryoma walked slowly, dressed in what seemed a triangular, red jacket with loose red pants with the crest of Hoshido embroidered on the back and the front, and what looked like a white kimono under the triangular jacket. It was so simple compared to what he had worn during your ceremony, yet so similar to his uniform in the last war, you couldn't stop staring at him. A few more priestesses walked after them.
Once they reached the stairs to the throne, Sakura and the priestesses walked until they were next to it, but Ryoma knelt downstairs, keeping his head low. Sakura raised her rod so the mirror would reflect the sunlight. Then she said something to Ryoma in Hoshidan that you were unable to understand. He answered her, and one of the priestess went downstairs and gave him the item she was holding, a red and white banner, and then she knelt behind him. Sakura asked something again and Ryoma answered in return, and a priestess approached him and gave him a ceremonial naginata; and then a yumi, and a sword. And then, to your surprise, he was given a black box that looked like a seal, and also an elegant fly-whisk dyed in red and white.
Sakura talked to Ryoma once more, for longer than she had until then. Ryoma gave an equally long answer, and then Sakura took her rod and pulled out the mirror. She slowly descended the stairs and stood in front of her brother, but instead of handing him the mirror, she put it over his head like a tiara, and stepped aside while hanging her head in respect. Ryoma then stood up and walked the stairs until he sat on the throne. He spoke in Hoshidan with a loud, powerful voice, and the nobles of the hall answered, all of them at the same time.
With the ceremony over, Sakura and Ryoma left the hall before everyone else, and only after them did the rest of the nobles start getting up and walking away. When you tried to move, you discovered you had trouble feeling your legs, and it was impossible for you to stand up. Your siblings were trying to keep composure and avoid twisting in pain for the same reason, even Corrin. It was when the room was almost empty that you heard snickers and found Takumi and Hinoka approaching you while trying to hide their laughter. They helped the four of you to stand up again and gave you some tips for the following dinner so you could at least walk once it finished. You and your siblings had a hard time hiding your horror when you were told you would have to sit that way again for hours, which only made the Hoshidan royals laugh harder.
They guided you to the dining hall and to your seats, which were quite far from the front, where Ryoma sat. Despite being a king, you and your siblings were at the lowest rank for being foreigners, and the Hoshidan royals briefly apologized for sitting you so far from the important place. You assured them, telling them you completely understood how important it was to not upset the other aristocrats. And while you didn't say it, you were secretly grateful your little corner was hard to see for the other nobles… as well as all the struggles you and your siblings suffered while trying to eat with the wooden sticks.
The banquet was formed with many small tables, one for each guest. Each table had the full course carefully placed all over the surface, and there was even a small boiling pot next to each table. There were more types of food in your tiny table than had been at the banquet on your coronation, and when you had managed to eat half of your food, a few dozen of servants arrived and gave you even more vegetables and fish, to let it boil slowly in the pot next to you. You had trouble finishing all the food, but you made sure you forced yourself to eat everything. With how scarce it was in Nohr, leaving food uneaten was a great disrespect to the ones who had served you. If there was something you truly didn't like, it was preferable to ask the people eating with you if they would be willing to exchange their food with you rather than leaving it there. The poor Elise was absolutely unable to eat more than half of her plates, and she looked like she was about to start crying in embarrassment.
Both you and Camila were trying to assure her it would be alright when a servant arrived and stared at you in amazement. Elise quickly apologized for not eating everything, but the servant shook her head and explained they were not expected to eat everything in the banquet. They only had to eat what they liked most, or as much as they could. The rest would be served to their servants or retainers, or used to feed the animals at the farms. Some of the nobles even left untouched dishes on purpose they knew their servants or retainers greatly favored. The four of you looked around and saw that, indeed, no one else there seemed to have fully eaten their food.
And not only that, but the banquet wasn't over, and the servants were there to take the trays with your meal and bring tea, colorful sweets and fruit and alcohol as a final dish. The servants promised they would save you your desserts so you could enjoy them the next day, to the immense relief of your youngest sister. And when the servant put your tray with food and drinks in front of you, you were forced to keep your face neutral when you noticed they put a slip of paper in your hand. You discreetly grabbed it and hid it within your clothes. Neither you nor your siblings managed to eat anything else, but at least you drank almost everything that you had been given. Once everyone had finished, Ryoma got up and delivered a short speech in Hoshidan, everyone toasted, and the ceremony was over.
You and your family were again the last ones to exit the hall, due to numb legs.
"The Hoshidan food supplies are helping us greatly, but I hope we never adopt this tradition in particular." Camilla complained while massaging her legs, trying to be able to stand again.
Leo's and Elise's groans showed their agreement. A few servants approached you to help you stand again, and you finally managed to exit the hall. Despite the hour, the sun was still in the sky, and it would be for a couple of hours. It would be hard for you to sleep with that much light, so, once in your room, you took that chance to read the paper you had been given.
Meet me in the garden pond once the sun sets.
Your stomach dropped when you read that. There were few Hoshidans you knew, and even fewer that would have sent you such a message. You wouldn't have needed to spend much time wondering about who it could have been even if the writing was unmistakably Ryoma's. You folded the paper into a tiny ball and threw it over your luggage. You noticed your breathing and heart rhythm increasing, while the anxiety threw at your brain terrible images of the broken commercial treaty and your people slowly starving out until a civil war broke through and Hoshido took the chance to attack and conquer you. But you were the new king, and it was your duty to face the new ruler of Hoshido. You closed your eyes and breathed slowly, counting to ten. You did it over and over until the sun disappeared under the mountains and it became dark. Then you exited your room and went to the garden where you had been with Elise.
It didn't take you long to find Ryoma, still wearing his formal attire, standing next to the water. He seemed to be smiling when he saw you, but as you approached him, his relaxed expression slowly disappeared and was replaced by a soft frown. You felt your own face rigid as a stone when you got closer to him and bowed slightly.
"Lord Ryoma." You greeted.
He didn't answer immediately, which was undoubtedly a bad sign. You instantly started going through all the apologies, excuses, and promises you had thought of since the terrible mistake you had made at the day of your coronation. You had spent many, many nights unable to sleep, thinking of ways to convince him to not break the treaty. You would double the iron and stone sent to Hoshido, you would teach them your ways of war, you would give them the technology and magic to replicate the golems and any other things they could possibly want. But he had to keep the treaty. Nohr needed it, your people needed it!
"Let me guess," Ryoma's voice made your train of thought derail while your sight suddenly focused on him. "You're imagining all the terrible things that will happen from now on because of your little kiss. And I thought that sending you wood would be enough proof of my intent to keep the commercial exchange."
You stared at him, not fully believing what you were hearing. He chuckled at your expression.
"Don't look at me like that. You were the one who ran away before I could say anything and spent two days avoiding me."
You were going to say something when Ryoma suddenly got closer to you and smashed your lips with a ferocity and hunger that could only match your wildest dreams.
"My chamber is at the highest floor of the main tower and there is a secret entrance in the wall opposite to the bridge. Is this enough of an answer or do I have to ask you to help me out of my clothes?"
You kissed his neck, inhaling the soft perfume of unknown flowers that covered his clothes and skin, still recognizable despite a full day of ceremonies and feasts. You might have gotten a little hard.
"I…" You started. You were blushing and you didn't know if it was of embarrassment, of pleasure, or both. "may be a little negative." You admitted.
Ryoma cracked, laughing when he heard that. When he calmed down, he took your hand and swiftly guided you through the dark hidden corridors. You were sure the heart in your chest had become a swarm of butterflies. You felt lighter that you had in weeks, almost as if you were floating instead of walking upstairs with Ryoma's hand on your own.
You felt a small pang of disappointment when you entered your room and you saw it was not very different from the one you had been given: a greenish floor of straws sewed in rectangles and a thin mattress directly on the floor.
You didn't have more time to think about Hoshidan decoration because Ryoma started to kiss you stupid and you forgot all of your complaints about the floor and the mattress for that night.
You woke up thanks to the blinding light in the sky. You had to close your eyes immediately after opening them and put an arm over your face, slightly hurt by the sudden brightness. It took you a few minutes to grow adjusted to the light that made it look as if it was noon on the brightest summer you had ever lived. When you managed to open your eyes and look at the sky, you realized you were in Ryoma's private quarters. That meant you were in Hoshido, and you had no idea how you could estimate what time it was. However long you had slept, at least you felt well rested, better than you had felt in months, in fact. Even if half of your body was on the tatami instead of the small mattress. You turned your head to find Ryoma soundly asleep with almost all of his body on the floor. It looked like his hair had won a silent battle for the right to sleep on the futon. You still didn't understand how he could be asleep with that much light pouring from every corner.
There was a sudden knock at the door, and suddenly you were aware of how very naked you were in the very private quarters of the new Hoshidan King. But silence fell again, without any other disturbance. It seemed enough to wake Ryoma, who slowly opened his eyes and yawned, and sat up.
"Breakfast." He declared, still with a drowsy smile. "I hope you are hungry."
"I'm… really not." You admitted. You had eaten way too much the previous night.
Ryoma stared at you with a soft frown. "You ate everything at the banquet, didn't you?"
"I did…" You admitted.
Ryoma chuckled at you, and you blushed slightly, feeling embarrassed.
"Sorry, I should have told you."
He kissed you as an apology and you accepted the soft touch, putting your arms around his waist and pulling him closer. He leaned his head against your shoulder while you stroke his hair. It was surprisingly soft, and you briefly wondered how much time he spent combing it.
"I can't believe Hinoka's plan worked." You heard him mutter.
"What?" You asked, with rising anxiety inside your chest.
"Ah." Ryoma blushed. "Well, it seems that… the day of the coronation we weren't alone at the castle garden. It turns out that both your brother Leo and Hinoka saw us, and had been sending letters to each other about this matter. They seemed to reach the conclusion they had be the responsible siblings and do something about our obvious crush. They told me to give you the paper and tell you to go to the garden."
You stared at Ryoma, hardly believing Leo would have schemed behind your back. Then again, the last months you had been drowning yourself in anxiety and shame. If you had to be honest, you hadn't been completely aware of everything that was happening around you. In fact, it seemed you had been so distracted you hadn't even noticed your brother sending and receiving letters to the neighbouring nation… You gave out a muffled noise in embarrassment.
But despite everything, you closed your eyes and retrieved your hand from Ryoma's hair. Your face turned serious when you talked to Ryoma again.
"You know we can't do this." You said.
You tried to be adamant about it, about how both of you were king of kingdoms that had been at war until recently, about how you would need to fulfill your duties as rulers. It felt punching a mirror and watching it shattering in front of you. But Ryoma didn't seem to react to your words, still tracing a circle over your chest with one of his fingers.
"So what?" He said.
You stared at him. He was a king now, someone with the responsibility of a whole kingdom under his shoulders. What did he mean?
"We can still see each other in the meetings and conferences that we will have every year."
You frowned at the indecent proposal. "You. You can't be serious."
But to your dismay, Ryoma got away from your shoulder and stared at you. His expression became completely serious.
"Yes, I am. I'm not telling you to forget your country or what you must do for it's sake. I'm only saying it's hard enough to get true happiness when you are born in a position as ours. If I have the chance to get some, I want to grab it, not matter how small the reward is. Or would you rather have nothing?"
You didn't answer. You couldn't. What you wanted and what your morals told you clashed in your head and left you unable to think. Ryoma seemed to notice your unease, and softly put his hand around your face, softly stroking your cheek with his thumb. You didn't know if he was trying to calm you or if it was a tactic to try to weigh the balance in his favor, but you leaned into the touch while breathing slowly for ten seconds. Perhaps you were just letting the anxiety get to you, perhaps it was truly the best option both of you would get, perhaps Ryoma was right.
You slowly opened your eyes and kissed Ryoma again. His lips were as soft as they had been last night, and he hugged you back while he leaned on the soft futon again. You laid together, kissing and making the most of what little time you could get for yourselves.
That morning, the world could wait.
*Not pictured: the next morning*
Xander: Leo, what the hell?!
Leo, still reading his book: You're-FUCKING-welcome.