There’s a chill from the world, from the voice of the Emperor-Consort the Crown Prince of Tianci feels ice run into his veins at those words, at that threat from his wife’s own father.
“Y-you…”
Arden raises his hand for silence, a light in his gaze as he recounts this memory. “A long time ago in high school, I once dated this girl. And let me tell you, she was a menace. This stubborn, short haired gal that I had hidden a crush on for months, trying everything to get close to her until she finally asked me out for some tea. And by the Goddess, she was…” There’s hesitation as he uses the word. “Cold, and generally emotionless for the most part. But I learned how to read her, and for about two years we were happy together.”
His gaze keeps onto the starscape above them, a tone lowering. “But then, right before we were about to graduate, she told me that she had been lying to me. That for those two years she had hidden a secret about her. You know what it was?”
It’s the propaganda story perpetuated by the Royal Family of Ensolia, that disbelief holding on Zai’s face as he answers him. “She was the Imperial Heir, correct?”
Arden snaps his fingers. “Exactly. This girl whom I’d fallen in love with, who I thought belonged to some snobby wealthy family that lived in Capital, was the Princess of the Imperium. The only heir too: which meant that if I was to be with her, I’d have to seriously change my life’s path. No more landscape painting for me, I’d have to be an Emperor-Consort for the rest of my life.”
He takes a long moment to think, to consider these words. “And that’s when it… stopped being simple.”
There’s pain in his voice, in his tone that he lowers to meet the dirt and dust beneath their shoes. He stares at the stars, then back to the abyss of his coffee. “What followed was the worst year of our relationship. Zai, I tried so hard to be as good as her. I worked myself to the bone learning speechcraft, studying history (which I will say was my least favorite subject), and even getting a little bit heavier just to make myself *fit in* with that Capital Valley style at the time. Everyday I praised her, I put her on a pedestal, treated her like she was something divine. And the harder I tried, the more we grew apart.”
He turns to Zai, to finish this lesson. “Because she hadn’t fallen in love with the perfect Emperor-Consort. Annia fell in love with me. This stupid mountaineering, and quite rebellious young kid who happened to sit next to her in Mathematics.”
The Crown Prince of Tianci stares at his father-in-law, taking the chance to garner that wisdom. “What did you do to save it?”
“I stopped becoming someone that I wasn’t.” Arden simply states. “I made a decision to stop lying, and start trusting. And here we are, still together.”
“Do you still trust her?” Zai asks.
“Always.” No hesitation. No doubt. Not as an Emperor-Consort, not as a subject of the Crown—but as a man who loves his wife.
Zai recenters himself, taking a long, long breath into his diaphragm. He speaks like a ghost, away from his body, his mind, even his soul. “What is Sophia here to do to me?”
And Arden answers him. “She’s here to be your partner, Zai. Out of all of them, she's the one who doesn’t pity you. She’s the one to see you as who you are. And that’s how we’ll build a bridge between our Imperium and your Dominion.”
You can’t believe him, you’re not allowed to believe him.
Because if he was lying, if he was playing this game then the moment the Crown Prince let his guard down it would be the end of the Dominion; the end of everything. “I see.”
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Arden hasn’t gotten through, watching as that longing look returns to Zai’s face.
For a long time he sips on his coffee, draining that entire cup--old hands nervously shaking, a deep breath to bring his soul back together. This was the final play of the Emperor-Consort, and he hides that desperation as he stares right at the Crown Prince of Tianci. “I want you to promise me three things, Son.”
Three things.
“I want you to trust Sophia, not forever of course but just here. With whatever time you have left in Port Azuru, I want you to put your trust in her. Show who you truly are to her, and in everything that you do; I want you to do it with her. Whether it be toppling that corrupt mayor, and yes, I did notice the documents in the box you had with you, or even just going on a few dates like you’ve already been doing. If she falls for you, then you’ll have won. And if she doesn’t, then so be it. But let it be your true self, not some act that you put on for her.”
Zai gulps, this man seeing right through his walls of politics and intrigue.
“Secondly.” He continues. “Zai Tianci, your Court is deadly. It’s the Ensolian meat grinder. Those political reports that cross our desks are insane, unbelievable.”
He suddenly grabs onto the shoulder of his son-in-law. A tone deadly serious, putting words together; ordering, begging this Prince for it all. “I want you to tell me that you’ll protect Sophia from it. I know her reputation can keep her from trouble, but I want you to keep her safe from harm. From all the monsters in the high court, and the revolutionaries from your south. Can you do that? Please.”
The Crown Prince of Tianci nods, his breath held and eyes wide in surprise but it’s not enough for Arden Marchland. “I need you to say it. Tell me that you’ll keep my daughter safe.”
This man is no consort, no powerful aide to the Silver Throne.
In these words, he is nothing but a father.
Something possesses Zai, something from within his soul makes this oath born of love, of desperation, and of the most original purpose to all humankind. “I will keep Sophia Elise safe.”
It’s good enough, and Arden breathes a shuddering breath before letting him go. “Thank you, Zai.”
There’s a third, final thing for them. More important than the rest, these two outsiders allowing themselves this most private moment between one another.
No guards.
No royalty.
No politics.
Nothing, except the bridge of a child’s marriage to bind strangers together.
“Zai…” Arden Elise speaks to his Son-in-Law, and only him against the sounds and cries of the world. “I want you to live. Not just survive, not just to endure it all like you have been—but actually live. You’ve spent your whole life carrying the weight of your people, your court, your duty. But, you’re losing yourself to that. If you let the Dominion, the Courts take everything from you… then what was it all for?”
And it's this request that Zai can’t ever keep, never in his life against the pressures of the politics, the assassins, and the Dominion. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
“Try.” Arden simply states. “All you need to do is promise me that you’ll try.”
Zai doesn’t lie, not in his duty to his nation, nor to this member of his… family. He speaks the word with a sorrowful tone, but there’s something blooming within that small smile he holds on his face. “Then I’ll try.”
Arden smiles too. “Thank you Zai.”
It’s an emotion that feels alien to this Prince, something stirring within his heart at those words, at that compliment and small joy that stretches across his father-in-law’s face.
And for a while it’s quiet, these two listening to the crickets, watching the form of Unudo pass through the horizon, and breathing in the fresh air surging from the Adranic Ocean.
Arden speaks up as he stares at his empty cup of brown stains, his tone shifting back to that utterly suffocating jolliness. “By the Goddess how in the hells do you people make such good coffee? I swear every time I come here it just blows me away.”
Zai Tianci scoffs at the sudden shift in tone, at that joke. “State secrets, sir. Can’t be privy to sharing such a process.”
“Well, maybe we should’ve come for the coffee instead of arcanite. Seriously, you play this well and you can get the entirety of Ensolia… no the entire Goddess damned planet hooked on this stuff.”
Zai laughs.
Arden laughs.
And they settle to talk.
As a father-in-law and a son-in-law.
As human beings.
