Chapter Text
“Izumida?” Omi’s voice echoed through the hallways.
No reply.
“Izumida?”
Still, nothing.
He walked around the palace for a while, growing increasingly frustrated by the minute, until he finally spotted his attendant in the courtyard outside. “Izumida!” He called out through an open window.
Hearing his voice, Azami stopped in his tracks, bowing his head and kneeling to the ground. “Your highness, I apologize for my absence.”
Omi sighed, staring at the basket in his attendant’s hand. “Did he send you to the port again ?”
“Yes, your highness. I am so deeply sorry, but-”
“I know, I know,” Omi waved his hand. “It’s not your fault. Bring me that, I’ll go have a word with him.“
“Thank you, your highness,” Azami sighed in relief, quickly making his way inside and up the stairway to meet his master and hand over the shopping basket. “Here it is,” he bowed again.
“All this? What even is this?” Omi grumbled, looking inside and pulling out a handful of wooden beads tied together on a string.
“I do not know, your highness. He simply told me to buy every knick-knack the sailors had to offer.”
“I can tell,” Omi rolled his eyes, tossing the beads back inside among a bunch of seashells, metal sculptures and other foreign paraphernalia. “I’ll give him a lesson, I swear … this is unacceptable.”
“I am truly sorry, again.”
“It’s fine. Next time, just say no when he asks you to do something.”
“Say no? But, your highness, uhm … he’s a prince too.”
“Yes, but I’m older than him. And whose attendant are you?”
“Yours, your highness.”
“Well then. My orders, and my orders only. And I order you to not run errands for him again, ever.”
“Understood, your highness.”
“Good. Now off to the stables, your help is needed.”
“You want me to braid the horse manes for tomorrow’s parade?”
“Yes. You have a strange talent for that, so go make yourself useful. I passed by earlier and my oh my, someone should intervene before Nanao gets any further with the decorations.”
“I will assist him in no time,” Azami bowed.
“I’d expect nothing less, given how much time we’ve already lost on this,” Omi shook the basket in his hand. “Oh, but when you two are done … stop by the kitchen, I tried a little something again today.”
Azami met his eyes, smiling just a little. “Thank you so much, your highness! Your desserts are always the highlight of my week.”
“I appreciate the compliment,” Omi smiled. “Now hop hop, off you go.”
“Yes, your highness!” Azami nodded, turning on his heels and heading outside to the stables.
So much for Omi calling him out and giving him that “my attendant, my orders only” spiel again, only to then follow it up by sending him to help the stable boy. It was far from the first time he would lend his attendant to anyone who needed an extra pair of hands around … with one single exception, of course. As generous and kind as Omi was, when it came to his little brother, they still bickered like two angry cats whenever they got the opportunity to do so. From what Azami had heard from people around the palace since he started serving by Omi’s side, it seemed like nothing about their relationship had changed at all: whether that was a good or a bad thing, who knows. Certainly not a humble attendant like him, that’s for sure.
Meanwhile, Omi marched straight to the opposite wing, busting through his brother’s door in a maneuver he’d pulled off so many times already, he could’ve done it blind by now. “Banri!”
Startled, Banri almost fell off his window shelf. “Ha? Brother?! What are you doing here?”
“Delivering your assorted mess of useless things, that’s what,” Omi complained, dropping the basket onto Banri’s desk; hard enough to make a statement, but not quite hard enough to damage anything that was inside, or at least he hoped so.
“Brother! You’ll break something!” Banri rushed over, tipping the basket upside down and frantically inspecting the contents.
“Well maybe if you want things taken care of properly, do them yourself.”
“I would have! But I had that stupid audience with the dukes today ...” Banri grumbled, looking through the seashells Azami managed to find for him.
“Oh, and so that makes it okay to steal my attendant?”
“He wasn’t doing anything.”
“He’s still my attendant!”
“You lend him to other people all the time.”
“Yes, because other people aren’t spoiled, entitled brats.”
“But I had to borrow him! We only get the really far away ships coming in once every few months, and I can’t get the interesting stuff anywhere else.”
Omi sighed, rubbing his temples. “Someone better remind me that you’re still blissfully young and should be excused … ”
“Well what else was I supposed to do?”
“Not get anything new this time, if you couldn’t go yourself.”
“But … but that would suck. I like having new things to mess with, otherwise I get bored.”
“Sometimes, things suck,” Omi shrugged his shoulders. “You’re not that far away from being a king one day, you know? If anything happens to me ...”
“Don’t say that stupid crap,” Banri turned away, not wanting his brother to see that he teared up at the thought of something happening to him. “I’m not gonna be a king, that’s your job.”
“Well, king or not, you’re still a prince. One day, you’re gonna have to learn that you can’t have everything. That sometimes, what you have to do as the leader is to step back, and put others first. We have a kingdom full of people depending on us, Banri. There are things in this world that can’t be justified simply because you want them … you gotta think of the bigger picture!”
“I don’t think there’s a bigger picture here,” Banri shrugged. “You’re just bugging me for no reason.”
“That fact that you can’t see why is the reason!”
“Eh … I really hope it’s you who needs to learn how to loosen up, if anything.”
“Keep dreaming,” Omi shook his head, storming out of the room.
“Okay,” Banri mumbled to himself, smiling at the new decorations Azami brought him. Of course he’d keep dreaming … that is what all of these little bits and pieces were for. Each of them, something new. Each of them, a dream that Banri had and couldn’t share with anyone else: because he was a prince, and princes don’t dream about adventures, and magic, and running away. Or so his brother said …
▲▼▲
Later in the evening, a faint knock crept through the largest door in the palace.
“Come in.”
Omi opened the door, nodding to his father’s attendant who stood perfectly still, like a statue by the office desk. “Good evening, father,” he bowed.
“What brings you here?”
“Family matters,” Omi answered.
“I see,” his father put down the quill he was writing with, waving to his attendant. “Dismissed, wait outside.”
In no time, he left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Sit,” the king motioned to an empty chair.
“Thank you, but … I’d rather stand. Hope you don’t mind,” Omi smiled politely.
“Of course not. You’ve always been all jittery before every event we have, I’d hardly expect tomorrow to be any different. Are the horses taken care of?”
“Yes. I sent Izumida to help Nanao with the decor.”
“Good, good … because I caught a glimpse of my mare earlier today, and I must say, she did not look too stellar.”
Both of them laughed together, knowing full well that their stable boy was great with horses, as long as he didn’t have to make them look great. “I’m aware … but I am sure Izumida took care of it,” Omi smiled.
“Are those the family matters you came here for?”
Omi sighed, shaking his head. “Obviously not.”
“Ah, so it’s Banri … again.”
“How did you know?”
“Well, what other family matters are there? I doubt your mother has risen from the grave, and I don’t see you choosing a wife any time soon either, so it must be your brother. What does he need to be scolded for this time?”
“I already did that; tried to, at least. I was just wondering … have you thought about picking an attendant for him yet?”
“An attendant?” The king’s eyes widened, glancing outside to make sure summer was indeed still in full swing. “Already? It’s a good two months before his fifteenth birthday still … and you didn’t get yours until you were almost seventeen.”
“But you did offer me one for my fifteenth birthday … I was the one insisting I didn’t need an attendant that early.”
“I remember,” the king chuckled. “That was quite a spectacle, I must say. My advisors were surprised.”
“In hindsight, I am aware that it was inappropriate of me to go against the customs … I apologize for that.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it. Besides, Izumida came along at just the right time anyway.”
“I always wondered … what was the reason you picked him? I didn’t wish to mention it at the time, but I didn’t even know we had someone that young on our staff when you introduced us last year.”
“Ah … I may have fabricated the truth of the matter a little bit,” the king chuckled. “He wasn’t on our staff.”
“He wasn’t?”
The king shook his head. “The gardners found him stealing from the orchard. When he said he had no parents, I was about to have him sent to the orphanage in town, but then I thought … well, since Omi’s so reluctant to have someone wait on him, I should see if maybe he’d be okay with this kid as his attendant.“
“... I didn’t know that.”
“Of course you didn’t,” his father smiled. “Private decisions are private for a reason.”
“Still … thank you. You’ve been more than considerate of my shortcomings.”
“We all learn somewhere, son. And I think you two have had a good lesson together so far.”
“We have,” Omi nodded, unable to deny that learning how to be someone’s leader was a lot easier when the person he was leading was several years younger than him, and needed his guidance more than his orders. “I suppose the question then becomes if you’d be able to provide Banri with the same kind of lesson.”
“Well, what kind of lesson do you think he needs?”
Omi shrugged his shoulders, having no good answer for that. “I’m afraid I don’t know. Quite possibly every lesson under the sun. But I think more than anything, he just needs someone … some sense of responsibility, something to anchor him a little bit. He’s becoming utterly insufferable otherwise.”
“Did he borrow Izumida without asking again?” The king inquired with a cheeky grin, having a rather good idea of what brought this on.
“Father!”
“So he did.”
“He did,” Omi huffed, regretting how easily he was read. “But I assure you, that is mostly unrelated to the point I’m making.”
“As surprised as I am that you’re willing to let him get ahead of you here … sure, I’ll consider it. But picking someone for him, huh, that’ll be a tough one. I may have been subconsciously avoiding it already.”
“It does sound like quite a hard nut to crack, yes.”
“I mean, I can’t choose someone much younger, that’ll be a disaster.”
“And forget someone older than him … we’re only three years apart, and I already feel like there’s an insurmountable gap between us due to that … among other things.”
“A peer it is, then.”
“One with tough skin, preferably. And heaps of patience.”
“Do you want to do the picking instead of me, since you seem so eager?”
“Oh no, thank you,” Omi stepped back, shaking his head. “I think if we want this to go over well, the less involvement I have, the better.”
“Sadly, I agree.”
“Sadly,” Omi repeated, his lips turning into a frown.
“Do not worry too much about it, son. He cares about you at least as much as you do for him, you’re just both terrible at showing it.”
“I trust that you’re correct, father.”
“I must be - I’m the king, after all.”