When Kingdom Goes

Act I - Chapter 11

The rest of the day following their sparring session with Vanessa was surprisingly laid back. The palace workers were pleasantly surprised to see her walking around, but other than slight conversation, there weren't any outbursts of emotion, except for one. Of all of the people in the palace, Rose had expected him to have the most nonchalant attitude, but it was most certainly the opposite.

Vanessa walks into the courtyard, looking for Hiro. She spots him sitting on the ground, leaning against a large tree surrounded by kids, as if he's telling them a story. A few of them are starting to nod off in the warm, afternoon sunlight. Vanessa waits until the last of the children fall asleep to approach him. The second he sees her, he immediately breaks into tears, but remains silent, so as to not wake the children. Instead of simply walking in between the kids to get to her, he creates some fog in front of him and twirls his hands towards her. She pauses for a moment to think about what he's trying to say, and then it clicks. She points at Hiro and starts to twirl her finger, creating a vacuum out of wind magic, funneling the fog into it and carrying it towards herself. Once it all gets to her, Hiro fades into the fog and reappears in front of her, giving her a big, tight hug. As he squeezes her, he says, "I've missed you so very much. After the first few weeks, I had almost given up on you waking up. I thought you really were gone for good.".
"My apologies, I did worry you all. Trust me, I have no intention of letting it happen again."
As they stand in each other's embrace, Rose and Vuella peep through the door to the courtyard in an attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation. After a few moments, they separate, and Vanessa caresses his face, wiping the tears away..

"Remember, a king must be wary of his appearance in front of his followers." She says as she discreetly nods over to the girls peeking through the gap in the courtyard door.
"I think I'll be fine with them seeing their king shed tears of joy."
"As long as it's just this once. It seems like you've gotten accustomed to kingship."
"If only you knew, Mother. I've been... Working hard, for lack of a better term. In the past five weeks, I've managed to get myself mixed up with a thief, a king, assassins, and more."
"Well, tell me about it. We've got nothing but time."
"Yet again, Mother. If only you knew."

They both take a seat on a bench in the courtyard and start chatting about past events. Rose wants to leave, but Vuella insists on staying since this is all new information to her. Rose begrudgingly stays and explains any of the missing parts from Hiro's descriptions. After thirty minutes of this conversation, Vanessa asks him about Rose.

"It seems like you're doing well, but I have to ask why you keep letting people get close to you. The Hiro I know wasn't as quick to trust as you are now. It hasn't burned you yet, but it could."
"I understand your concern, but I've taken enough measures to ensure the safety of the Royal family."
"Safety measures are good, but you could just avoid the danger all together. What I really want to ask is what made you change?"
"Well... You know, I haven't given it much thought before, but thinking about it now...." Hiro pauses for a moment, staring up at the sky.
"I think the answer is Rose. Initially, I brought her here to hunt down an assassin for me, but since she's been here, she's become so much more than that to us"
"So you like her THAT much? The way you talk about her sounds like Rahu is going to get a queen fairly soon." Vanessa says jokingly, jabbing him with her elbow.
"It wouldn't be the truth to say I didn't like her to some degree."
Rose is starting to blush from this revelation as Vuella pokes fun at her, making kissing faces at her.

"However, not in the way you're thinking." Rose lets out a sigh of relief as she hears Hiro amend his previous statement.
"If you ask Rex about her he'll talk your ear off about how great of a student she is and how much she's grown in terms of combat. I can't even ask Helen about the things the two of them talk about in private. But for me she feels... like the younger sister I never had. I guess you could say that, in addition to her infectious kindness, has made an impression on me."