So it is done

King, Queen and Four Princesses

"...and though I have learned many words in my life, none of them could come close to describing the kind of person she was." Jonathan exhaled before closing his eyes in a gesture of prayer and somberness.

"May paradise and eternal bliss embrace the one who has earned her rest most in Remnant."

After a moment, a loud sound cut through the established silence – a cacophony of gunshots as the honor guards saluted in unison – one volley of seven rifles, then a second, and a third...

'Seven by three...' Jonathan took a step from the podium as the gun salute ended, disappearing from the lens of the television camera aimed at his performance. As he walked down the podium, he cast a glance at the casket that had begun to be slowly lowered, before turning his gaze to the tombstone.

'Here rests Aisa Moira – and as long as the Kingdom of Glenn stands, she will not be forgotten.'

How long can a man, devoured from within, live? Fourth stage cancer, and she barely gave up her bad habit by continuing to smoke. Even on her last day, when she could barely move her arms, she rose to walk past the doctors stunned by such impudence to take one last smoke in the hospital garden.

And then she died, an hour after her last smoke break – forty minutes after Jonathan had seen her for the last time.

Lasted ten years – and died in an instant... so ended a human life.

Aisa... Wasn't exactly a friend.

He didn't ask her for personal advice, and she didn't invite him to her birthdays – Jonathan only saw her at work, or coincidentally on the street, and maybe at a formal function.

The most appropriate word to describe their relationship was probably as work colleagues.

Very close, colleagues that relied on each other, and not keeping secrets from each other. Well, Aisa did, some secrets that Jonathan had would simply not be believed.

They had worked, hand in hand, for almost ten years – heh.

It was Aisa who first suggested he become King Glenn, and it was in hindsight something that can go horribly wrong.

But, it was a very different time then – a mad, mad gambit by a desperate captain, a step into the void, an attempt to keep the sky falling on their heads.

Glenn was very lucky that it was Jonathan that had taken that position.

King Jonathan Goodman – Osmond the Third, ruler of the Kingdom of Glenn, even children know that. He has become as commonplace, a natural part of this world as Ozpin, as Hunters, as the sun rising in the east.

Heavy is the head that wears the crown...

The constitution, the army, votes, dust, electricity, kindergartens – Aisa has taken on every project she can, snapping desperately at the thought of anyone offering their help.

I'd rather die than let some slob ruin my life's work!

Oh, yeah, the work of a lifetime... heh.

If it hadn't been for Aisa, Glenn would have had nothing – Jonathan's only suggestion then, when he first came to his senses, was perhaps to flee, an emergency evacuation, children, old people and women ahead.

How would life have turned then?

Indeed, how would it have turned then...

Was it a good option? He would have caught Ozpin's eye and been implicated as his crony, become an agent of Ozpin like Summer.