Morg: Heyo! Let's keep this one going!

Ikuto: Yeah, get to the good stuff.

Amu: Like the end.

Morg: All in due time.

Ikuto: I'll take that as a promise.

Amu: No thanks.

~Queen's Decree~

Amu tapped her fingers against her arm as she turned away from Ikuto to look out her balcony doors. Her slight fidgeting was the only thing she would allow herself to do to give away her feelings about what he'd told her. "You're sure they're going to try to tempt me into going with them?"

"That's what they were speaking about. Kiseki doesn't want your mother or you to get the wrong idea if he asks so he's put it on Tadase."

Amu scoffed before she cleared her throat and reminded herself that she could not act that way once she was queen. Her gaze slid to Ikuto as she thought. Maybe not in public but always in private, she could act any way she wanted to. "I'll go to the meeting and see what they try to say to tempt me into going."

"And if they do?" Ikuto asked as he fought the urge to step forward. He had to stay out of sight when they met like they were. He could not afford for anyone to see them and spread rumors about their meetings. "If they try to force you into accepting their offer to go?"

She tilted her head as she looked back away from him. She knew him well enough to know when she was going to have to do something he wouldn't like. "Ikuto, what's your favorite way to deal with an obvious trap?"

Ikuto sighed as he shook his head. "You want to go."

"If they're so set on having me, it would only be polite."

"Amu," Ikuto started before he stopped to sigh again. "I was banished from their country. I would not be permitted to join you."

She hadn't thought about that. But now that she was, she couldn't help but direct her smirk at him. "That's only if they know that you're there."

"I would risk execution."

"I would never let that happen."

"What power would you have in a foreign country?"

Amu's gaze softened as she took a step toward him. "Ikuto, it matters not where we are. I will always protect you just as you protect me."

"Then stay here where I know I can protect you," Ikuto urged her. "Deny them their schemes and let them return to their country without you."

Amu closed her eyes as she turned away from him. There was nothing she'd like more than to agree and stay with him. "Is Kiseki the type of person to let go of a plan if one version of it fails?"

"You know that he is not," Ikuto gritted out. "The fact that he approached your mother when he could not approach you is evidence of that."

"Then do you think my staying here with you will stop him from trying again?"

Ikuto sighed again as he crossed his arms over his chest. "No, it wouldn't stop him from trying something else. You're right. I know that you are. I'm just worried."

Amu nodded her head as she turned to face him once more. "I know. I am, too. I don't like this. He's had time to make his plans and start them. I feel as though any moves we might make to disrupt them could only help him."

Ikuto reached out but did not touch her. He could not touch her. "What do you want to do?"

"I will go to this meeting with you at my side," Amu told him as she looked at his hand. She wanted so badly to step forward and close the space remaining between them. "I will go and hear what they have to say and if the decision to go or stay happens then I will opt to go but I will be reluctant about it. Once the meeting is over, I will speak to you about what you think before I make any further decisions."

"You hold my council in that high of regard?" Ikuto asked as he dropped his hand. "You would listen to my advice before all others?"

"Ikuto," Amu told him as she stepped away from him and toward the door to her room. "There is no one I trust more than you."

XXX

Amu smiled just as she knew was expected of her as she greeted the princes just a half-step behind her mother. She returned their bows and sat at the appropriate time. From the calculating looks that she knew she wasn't supposed to see, she figured that Kiseki was trying to get a read on her. He couldn't tell if Ikuto had said something to her or not.

Her Knight-In-Training stood just behind her chair. If Kiseki and Tadase were bothered by his presence, they didn't voice it. The looks that Tadase shot at Ikuto gave away that he knew him but not how he felt about his presence. Kiseki decided to ignore him as he seemed to do with every servant she'd see him around.

Allowing her mother to conduct the meeting helped Amu have the chance to study the brothers without it seeming obvious that she was doing so. She didn't allow her gaze to linger and played the entire meeting as though she didn't have any thoughts about them one way or the other.

Her demeanor seemed to confuse Tadase, though she was aware that Kiseki was prone to see through her act purely because he trusted no one to be true since he was not honest, himself. Still, it was a game of wits and Amu was thrilled to play.

"And what of this festival that you were speaking of," Midori asked as she looked to the Crown Prince. "I've heard about some of the holidays that your country celebrates but I'm afraid I've been too busy lately to keep up with them."

Kiseki bowed shortly to the queen as he smiled. It did not reach his eyes. "We celebrate the changing of the seasons and the beginning of the harvest. It's a time for the people to gather and enjoy the last days of summer before the hard work of preparing for winter begins. We have an excellent celebration at the castle and end the whole affair by lighting lanterns that lift off into the sky to carry our well wishes to the universe."

Kiseki's pause lasted for a beat too long. Amu smothered her amusement as he barely twitched in his chair before his brother seemed to get the hint.

"Have you ever seen such a sight?" Tadase asked Amu. "It's quite wonderful."

"I can't say that I have," she demurred in return. "We don't have such a celebration here. I imagine that it would be beautiful to behold."

Tadase nodded his head with so much fake enthusiasm that Amu almost felt sorry for him. "It is gorgeous. Would you have any interest in viewing it?"

"Me?" Amu asked with fake shock. "You're inviting me to join you when you return to your country for the festival?"

Kiseki's gaze narrowed on her but Amu ignored him as she kept her gaze on Tadase. He was the one who asked. She made a show of looking him over as if his appearance would change her mind.

Tadase nodded as he continued to smile at her. "I would be honored if you would join us when we return. I know that our esteemed parents are always looking to strengthen their ties with our neighboring countries. Hosting you would be a wonderful opportunity for our country and yours."

Midori made a noncommittal sound as she turned her head enough to look at her daughter. Amu was up to something, though she wasn't sure what it was. "How long would the journey take between our home and yours?"

"It took us a week to get here, Your Majesty," Kiseki answered for his brother. "It would take that long if not a little longer for us to return, especially if we were to be accompanied by Princess Amu and her entourage."

Amu smiled but held her tongue as she worked to figure out her options. Kiseki made it sound like he was expecting her to bring a whole host of servants and friends with her. She couldn't decide if he wanted her to or not. She could claim not to need a large group, which might play into his plans or she could bring everyone she could, which could also be his plan.

Midori dipped her head in acknowledgment. "We are thankful for the invitation. We will discuss it in private before you are given your answer. I'm sure you understand, being without our Crown Princess for nearly a month would be difficult for everyone in our country. We'll have to consider your proposal carefully."

Amu hadn't expected her mother to take the decision away from her but was thankful that she had. "I would love to experience some of your culture," she said as the princes bowed and she bowed back. "We'll speak on the offer and let you know."

Midori kept her gaze on the two boys as they left their meeting room before she turned to where her daughter was sitting with Ikuto only a step or two behind her shoulder. "What is going on?"

"Mother?"

"Don't," Midori told her not unkindly. "I know you, both of you. Explain this to me."

Ikuto stepped around Amu to drop to one knee before Midori. "I apologize, Your Majesty. I did not think to trouble you with my past. I know the princes intimately. We grew up together at their castle before I was banished for crimes I did not commit."

Midori studied him before she glanced up to see the worry her daughter was trying to hide. "Were you framed by one or both of them?"

Ikuto ducked his head a little further before he spoke. "The scheme was Kiseki's though Tadase was there to help him carry it out. I tried to stop them and was given all the blame."

Midori made a considering noise before she sat back in her chair. "Rise, Ikuto. I would not have you kneel any longer. Why is it that you are worried today?"

Amu opened her mouth to speak but Ikuto cut her off before she could.

"I know them well, My Lady. There is never anything Prince Kiseki does that is not part of some grander plan. He made the journey here with an ulterior motive. I overheard him speaking to Tadase about how they must convince Princess Amu to accompany them back to their country, though I did not hear what their plan was."

Midori let her gaze slide past Ikuto to rest on her daughter. Amu looked concerned, though she could tell it was for Ikuto rather than for herself. "Why would they wish for you to join them, daughter of mine?"

"I don't know," Amu admitted as she met her mother's gaze. "I had planned to find out."

"You want to go," Midori said with a nod. "You want to discover whether he has any plans or not."

"I do," Amu confirmed without guilt. "Ikuto was young when he joined our guard to begin training. For someone to cast him not only out of his home but out of his country at such a young age, I could never trust them."

"Do you believe that Kiseki is making a move against our country or another one against Ikuto?"

"I don't know," Amu admitted again. "I only know that he is attempting to carry out some sort of devious plan and I would see him stopped."

Midori looked at Ikuto once more. "Are you willing to risk your life to protect hers?"

"I am," Ikuto confirmed as he bowed to the queen once more. "I do so every day. This would be no different."

"It will be," Midori said as she sat back in her chair. "For you will not be joining Amu as Knight-In Training."

"Mother?"

"Kneel, Ikuto," Midori said as she stood from her chair. "Kneel and rise as Sir Tsukiyomi Ikuto, Knight of the Crown Princess Hinamori Amu."

Ikuto fell to his knees and bowed his head as the queen touched his shoulders with her hands. In a true ceremony, she would knight him using a sword. He was not about to argue with her decision as she anointed him.

Midori stepped back with a smirk as she caught Amu's shocked face. "He will have more protections as he accompanies you now," she explained. "No kingdom would ever harm another kingdom's knight without facing repercussions. You might have been banished from their kingdom, but you are fully protected and loved by ours."

Amu took a small step forward as Ikuto stood but did not dare to reach out for him while her mother was standing before them. "Mother?"

"You will go," Midori told her daughter. "You will find out what Kiseki and his brother have planned. If it is harmful to the people, to any people, you will stop him. Do you know why?"

Amu's spine straightened as she met her mother's gaze. "Because I am the Crown Princess and the future queen," she said. "And I will protect my people."

.

Morg: Was that properly dramatic?

Ikuto: I got secretly knighted!

Amu: Good for you.