DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN BROTHERS CONFLICT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM
Ema had to take a few deep breaths as she felt Robert's presence by her side. It made her feel so uneasy. However the feeling of Richard and Ukyo behind her, and Juli and Marion on the table near her, made her feel a little better.
"So, now that Princess Ema and Lord Robert are here, we can begin," said Erica Tanner as she sat down and started talking.
Ema did her best to listen and try to understand what they were discussing. All the different memebers of council in the room would speak up every now and then, especially Robert. It seemed he had to make a comment in every subject. Ema however barley raised her voice, less she make a fool of herself and her grandfather in a sense.
"Next up," Erica said at one point, "the medical facilities in some of our rural towns."
A few groans were heard.
"Again?" the council man named Alex spoke up.
"Yes, again," Erica said, determined. As she spoke, a map appeared on the white screen that showed the location of 5 to 7 different towns. "Once again, several of our out towns have sent reques for new or improved hospital and medical facilities that are easier for them to get to. Some of these people have to drive almost two hours to get to the next closets hospital."
"And do we suddenly have the money for such requests?" Robert asked.
"No, I'm sorry," Erica said looking over her notes, "once again, to do such a request woukd be too much to pay for at the moment."
"Tsk, such a shame," said Robert, "but that's how it goes. Anything else?"
Ema meanwhile was studying the map of the different towns all desperate to get some sort of good medical center. It made her start to think about a possible solution.
"Excuse me?" she finally spoke up. Everyone in the room turned and looked at her in slight shock.
"Yes Princess?" Erica asked.
"Those towns, which one would you say is kind of the more center one?" Ema asked.
Everyone looked back at the map.
"I supposed that would be Almara," said Erica, using a lazor pointer to show where the town was.
"How far away is the furthest town from Almara?" Ema asked.
"About half an hour at the earliest," said Alex. "Does her highness have an idea of sorts?"
"Well, it may sound crazy, but what if we build one big efficient hospital in Almara instead of just a few small simple hospitals in all the other towns. One that all the peope of those towns could get to more easier. And maybe also update the other towns' current major medical clinics so people can still have quick access in case of emergency?" Ema suggested.
The room became eerie quiet at her comment.
'Oh no, I did it! I embarrassed Grandfather!' Ema thought.
"That might work," Erica finally spoke up, "if we stretch the budget just a little, I bet we could build a very nice hospital in Almara and maybe even a few extra clinics within the city. And as she suggested, help improve or put in some emergency response clinics."
A few ither council memebers murmured their agreement.
"Hang on, how would one big hospital be less expensive than a bunch of little ones in several different towns?" Alex suddenly asked.
"If we put all the money we can spear for such a thing, I'm sure we can find a way to build it," Erica insisted.
"But what about Almara itself? How would it residents feel about turning their town into a medical town?" Alex also asked.
"Well, obviously, we'll have to talk to the mayor of the town and other higher ups themselves," Robert said. Ema looked at him, a little surprised he was supporting her on this.
"I would volunteer to meet with them if it would help sell the idea," she offered.
"I'm sure they would appreciate that your Majesty," said Erica. "So, are we in agreement to try with this plan?" Most of the occupants of the table raised their hands, including Robert for some reason.
"All opposed?" Ema wasn't sure if she should be surprised or upest that a few did raise their hands. She couldn't help but notice one of the people against it was Alex.
"Motion carries," said Erica, "now then, can I have a volunteer for writing up a proposal for the hospital?"
"I could," Ema started to offer.
"No your higness, you won't have much time for it, I'm sure," Richard spoke up.
"I will," said another council woman.
"Thank you Hannah," said Erica.
"Would it be alright if I helped you with it? Oh behalf of my sister?" Ukyo asked.
"Yes of course, if you can spear the time, I'll gladly let you help," said Hannah.
"Thank you," said Ukyo, winking at Ema.
"Thank you Ukyo," Ema said under her breath.
"Okay, and with that, we have reached the end of the agenda for this meeting," said Erica, "meeting adjourned."
"That's it?" Ema asked.
"For this one," said Richard as he helped pull out her chair, "you'll have another one in roughly 10 minutes."
"Oh," said Ema in surprise.
"You'll have lots of meetings when you're royal," Robert said smugly as he walked out.
Ema watched him walked out.
"Why was he so supportive of my hospital idea?" Ema asked cautiously.
"I'm sure he has some sort of evil scheme in mind," said Richard coldly.
"I hope you're hospital idea doesn't backfire Princess," Alex suddenly said as he walked past her in a huff.
"Does he not like me for some reason?" Ema asked.
"Don't take it personal highness," said Hannah as she approached her, "Alex is one of those council memebers who still think the monarch has too much power. I don't think he gets along well with the king or Robert. If you're royal he doesn't trust you."
"Oh," said Ema.
"There are some like that," said Richard.
"Oh, Mr. Asahina," Hannah said as she pulled out a card, "this has my info for my office. Feel free to drop by whenever you wish to help with the proposal."
"Thank you," Ukyo said accepting it, "I look forward to working with you."
Hannah nodded and headed out herself.
"Do you think this idea will work?" Ema asked.
"It sounds good on paper," said Ukyo "but these things take a lot of effort. Good thing you're a hard worker though."
"Right," said Ema. She hoped her idea would work out for the best.
"Your Majesty," Louis said as calmly as he could, "what exactly makes you believe that I'm a memeber of the royal family?"
"Emily?" Stephon called out.
"Yes your Majesty?" Juli's mother said as she came and sat next to the king in his bed.
"Would you like to tell him or should I?" Stephon asked.
"Maybe it'll be a bit easier to believe if I'm the one that tells him," said Emily.
"Oh, you speak too Madam?" Louis asked.
Emily bounded over to Louis' chair and sat on one of the armrests. "I should hope so. I'm Juli's mother and I know you can speak to him."
"You're Juli's mother huh? How about that?" Louis said, a small smile crossing his face.
"Oh yes," said Emily, "and did he ever tell you the secret of how certain people can understand us Elence squirrels?"
"Um, no, I'm afraid he didn't," said Louis.
"Oh, well, the thing is, it's been a long standing tradition that only memebers of the royal family, particularly those worthy to be an heir to the throne can actually understand us squirrels as though we are talking like a regular human," Emily explained.
"I'm sorry?" Louis said a little startled.
"Only true heirs can understand us squirrels," said Emily, "that's how the king knew beyond anything that your sister was his granddaughter."
"But how does that work with me?" Louis asked, "I'm not a member of the royal family."
"Actually, there's an interesting story behind that," said Stephon, "one that may explain a lot if who you really are."
'It begins in that awkward time before Yolanda met Kenji and the attacks were first starting to happen. Yolanda wanted desperately to find someone who could succeed her should she fall victim to one of those attacks. Someone other than Robert her cousin, whom everyone assumed was the culprit of the attacks.
And well, most of her first cousins were either too little and or too scared to step up. So, Yolanda expanded her search and found someone worthy, my cousin Nicollet's son Walter.
Nicollet was a wonderful woman, so much more loyal and trustworthy than my own sister, Lord Robert's mother. And her son Walter was just like her in so many ways. He initially did worm work as an ambassador for Elence to other countries and everywhere he went he was well like and respected. He did well representing his country.
It was even on one of his visits as an ambassador to France that he would meet his wife, Georgette. She was a daughter of a well know French aristocrat family. She was very humble about her family's wealth and station, always doing things like starting charities and special programs for the less fortunate. A very nice woman, so it was no real surprise that she would catch Walter's eye and that the two would make such a lovely happy couple. Especially when their son was born.
It all honesty, they were the ideal representatives of a decent family function and leadership. So Yolanda actually asked Walter if he would consider being her heir and he agreed to it.
Yolanda approach the council to make it so, mostly with the argument that Walter was already well liked by the people, both at home and abroad. Plus he had good leadership skills. And to top it all off, he already had secured an heir with his son.
Now I'm sure you'll hear or maybe already heard about how Claudia, Robert's mother and my sister, once tried the same argument over being placed in front of me to inherit the kingdom. She had Robert very young you see. But well, Yolanda was able to make a stronger argument to make Walter her heir based on other factors besides the fact Walter had a child. And Yolanda's argument was so well received that both the council and parliament agreed to it.
That however proved to be both a good and bad thing.
Nearly a year after Walter had been put in front of Robert for the future king, he and his family had gone to France to visit Georgette's family. They were driving down a back road to her family's countryside villa. And while on their way there,"
King Stephon had to pause a little before he continued.
"...and on their way, there was what appeared to be a terrible accident. Somehow, someway, the car they were driving caught on fire."
"Fire?" Louis said softly as a memory plagued his memory.
"Run, just run!" a woman's voice was shouting amidst a fire, "just run!"
"So," King Stephon continued.
"Poor Walter and Georgette were killed in the fire. Both of their bodies were so badly burnt that they had to be identified by their dental records. And as for their son, they couldn't even find his body!
"They never found the son's body?" Louis asked.
"No," King Stephon admitted.
"Was he burned away in the fire?" Louis asked.
"Some believe that, but there was more evidence that would suggest he managed to get out of the car. Georgette's body for example was actually draped over her seat as though reaching for the back seat and the child's booster seat was unhooked, as though someone had unfastened it."
"Well, how come they didn't find him then?" asked Louis.
"Well, you see, even if he had managed to get out of the car, the area they were driving through had several marsh areas, some so deep and thick, a body could be lost in there for decades and not be found. And believe me, they tried searching the areas they could and turn up nothing. It was safe to assume he may have wondered into one of the marsh areas and died there."
"That's terrible, that poor family," said Louis, "but how does that related to me, your Majesty?"
King Stephon stood up and headed to a bookcase in his room and pulled out a big thick black book.
"Would you like to know the name of Walter and Georgette's son?" he asked as he walked back to Louis.
Louis just stared at him, gripping his armrests.
"His name was Louis," Stephon said, as he opened his book to a certain page, "and he looked so much like his mother." He handed the book to Louis and there right in the center of the page was a tall man with a kind smile, much like his. A woman who's hair and skin match perfectly to his. And in her arms was a small boy.
"That's, is that me?!" Louis shouted as he jumped up with the book. Unless his eyes were deseving him, the boy in the picture was in fact him! It looked just like him
"I have no doubt," said Stephon, "I have no doubt, that you are Walter and Georgette's son Louis. And that actually does make you another heir to the throne."