Chapter Text
The circumstances of Reki’s first meeting with Prince Langa Hasegawa of Vrisaris were less than ideal.
Prince Reki Kyan was eleven years old, and his own Kingdom of Lecaea had just emerged victorious from a decisive battle with the Raivugallan Empire – but not without suffering heavy losses.
Lecaea was a small but prosperous seaside kingdom, and over the course of the months-long conflict, their bustling coastal towns were razed and their ports destroyed, rendering previously flourishing trade routes unusable, and eviscerating the majority of the dominion’s means of income. Not to mention the loss of life, the Lecaean army cut down to half its original size, thousands of good men having given their lives. Even the scholarly and kindhearted King Kunihiro was grievously injured on the battlefield, having lost all use of his dominant arm, with no hope of recovery.
For the Kingdom of Vrisaris, the cost was even greater. A longtime ally to Lecaea, Queen Nanako having been born there, Vrisaris had also dispatched troops to fight alongside Lecaean soldiers against the aggressive Raivugallan forces. But the final battle which earned them their victory was the same upset which took the life of Vrisaris’ brave and beloved war hero, King Oliver.
It was now six months past the close of the conflict, and King Kunihiro, Queen Masae, Prince Reki and Princess Koyomi of Lecaea were en route to Vrisaris to formally pay their respects to the late King Oliver, and (informally) provide support to now Queen Regent Nanako, who would assume the throne until Prince Langa’s coronation upon his seventeenth birthday.
Reki had no memory of Prince Langa, though his mother told him the two had splashed around together in the turquoise waters of Lecaea’s pristine beaches when they were both very young, one spring when King Oliver brought his family along on an official state visit. Spring in Lecaea was already quite warm – apparently even warmer than early summer in Vrisaris, judging from the temperature outside the carriage, which grew cooler the further inland and the higher in altitude they climbed.
They finally reached their destination, the clip-clop of hooves striking cobblestone slowing to a stop at the entrance to the Vrisarian royal palace, and Reki all but leapt out of the carriage after his parents, eager to stretch his legs after the four-day journey.
Reki drew a breath as he took in the sight. The palace was surrounded by enormous evergreens, and already from the outside looked much more imposing than the palace in Lecaea. This was perhaps due in part to the majestic backdrop of blue-grey and purple mountains behind it, the tallest ones capped with icy white, slicing a jagged line across the clear blue sky with their sharp peaks.
Outside the palace’s ornately carved doors, a group of the royal household was lined up to meet them. At the head stood Queen Nanako, tall and elegant in a rich black silk and velvet gown, her tunic finely embellished with luxuriously patterned and textured materials befitting her title. The austerity of her dark mourning attire didn’t reach her kind brown eyes however, as she stepped forward to greet Kunihiro and Masae, embracing one after the other.
“It cheers me so to see friendly faces from my old home,” Nanako said once they came apart. “Thank you for coming all this way. I hope the journey was not too long.”
“Not at all,” Masae answered. “If only we were here under happier circumstances.”
Kunihiro nodded, lowering his eyes in respect. “King Oliver was a great man,” he says. “His strength, compassion, and fairness were deeply admired throughout Lecaea. His sacrifice is…” Kunihiro’s voice wavered the slightest bit, and Reki’s eyes snapped up to him, but his father blinked rapidly and continued, steady once again. “His sacrifice is one no one in this family will ever forget. We are at your service. If there is anything you need, please ask.”
Nanako’s smile appeared to quiver for a moment, her eyes gone a bit dewy, but she also quickly regained composure. “Thank you, Kunihiro,” she said sincerely. “I know you and he were close. Though not as close as the Queen and I,” she added, with a wink at Masae, who smiled warmly in return.
Kunihiro let out a quiet chuckle, the air of somberness around them lifted some. “No, I think not.” He placed his good hand on Reki’s shoulder. “Please, allow me to present our children. This is our son, Prince Reki, and our daughter, Princess Koyomi.”
Nanako smiled down at them, and Reki and Koyomi bowed and curtsied, respectively. “Prince Reki, how you’ve grown! You look just like your mother when we played together as children. And Princess Koyomi, so beautiful already. You have your father’s gorgeous chestnut locks. I pray you will both feel as comfortable in Vrisaris as I always have.”
Nanako looked to her side, confused to find the spot empty, before her eyes landed on a boy who almost appeared to be hiding behind a man with black hair and a respectfully blank expression. Nanako released an exasperated breath. “Langa, please, come greet our guests.”
Langa approached, standing at his rightful place next to his mother. His own black tunic was just as lavishly embellished, though it looked much more severe against his complexion, which was a bit fairer than Nanako’s. He was not much taller than Reki, and he was even more expressionless than the man he was hiding behind.
“Friends, this is my son, Prince Langa,” Nanako said.
“Prince Langa! You were so small when I last saw you. You’ve certainly inherited your mother’s beauty,” Masae gushed.
“But those are Oliver’s eyes, to be sure,” Kunihiro remarked, with a gentle smile of his own.
Langa bowed to them both, and when he rose again, his gaze moved from Kunihiro down to his hand, still resting on Reki’s shoulder, slowly over to Reki. He didn’t even glance at Koyomi.
Kunihiro squeezed Reki’s shoulder encouragingly, and Reki looked quickly up to him before returning his attention to Langa, who simply continued watching him.
Thinking perhaps he was shy, Reki offered him a small smile. “Thank you for receiving us, Prince Langa. I hope we will be good friends, like our parents.”
A flicker of something passed through Langa’s blue eyes, partially hidden by even paler blue strands hanging in front of them, but it was gone so fast Reki wasn’t sure if he imagined it, the rest of his face utterly devoid of emotion.
Finally, after a moment, Langa spoke, in a voice as flat as his expression.
“Your face is strange.”
Reki’s smile slid right off his face. He stared at the other boy, speechless, even as he could hear Koyomi’s barely restrained giggles next to him.
“Langa! Apologize to Prince Reki at once!” Nanako scolded, looking thoroughly mortified.
“Oh please, no need,” Masae was quick to jump in, and Reki was mildly affronted to see his mother also looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. “To have to receive guests while still in mourning must be impossibly difficult. Prince Langa, please do forgive us.”
“But it is I who asked you here,” Nanako insisted weakly. “Please accept my apologies for my son’s rudeness.
“Langa,” she repeated sternly, glaring down at him. “You will address the Prince and Princess with the respect they are entitled.”
Langa didn’t say any more, no longer looking at Reki but down at his shoes, and he eventually nodded begrudgingly.
Nanako let out another sigh, which Reki was beginning to think may be a common response from the Queen when it came to her son. “Tadashi, take him upstairs and remind him of his manners while I show the King and Queen inside.”
The black-haired man nodded, bowing first to Nanako, then each of the Kyans, before heading with a sullen Langa in tow back inside the large palace doors.
“You mustn't be too hard on him,” Masae was saying, linking her gloved arm with Nanako’s when it was offered to her, and they began walking side by side into the palace, close as sisters. “On top of losing his father so unexpectedly, he’s simply getting to that age.”
“I’m afraid he must have been born at ‘that age’,” Nanako responded somewhat wearily, as they made their way up the stone steps. Kunihiro followed a couple paces behind, Reki and Koyomi trailing after him. “The only ones who have ever been able to connect with him are Oliver and his chamberlain, Lord Tadashi Kikuchi. He shows no interest in befriending any of the other children at court.”
“How curious, given both yours and Oliver’s dispositions,” Masae said thoughtfully. “But not to worry; Reki and Koyomi have always been such social butterflies. Let’s see if they can’t bring him out of his shell.”
Reki had to stop himself from scowling. Admittedly, he could not even begin to imagine the pain Langa must be in, having lost his father. When word of Kunihiro’s perilous condition had reached the palace, Reki had cried in his room for two days. Still, that didn’t mean he wanted to babysit a spoiled and unpleasant little prince.
He looked to Koyomi to gauge her reaction to their mother’s suggestion, but Koyomi just snickered again when she looked up at him.
“He wasn’t wrong,” she whispered, a twinkle in her eyes.
Reki really did scowl now, elbowing her lightly, which only made her giggle more.
Thus, much to Reki’s chagrin, began the first of many summers the Lecaean royal family spent in Vrisaris, in an effort to make the already close bond between the two kingdoms even stronger.