The Second Prince

It begins

    I am on a ship, on my way to my fathers side.
I have not seen him in eight months, since he and my older brother went to war and left me behind. I am the second son of a pharaoh.
   Pharaoh Ahmose.

   He is a kind man but our country is at war with the Hyksos.
He is doing the best he can to negotiate but the peoples we fight are known for their battle fever. 

   My father and brother have blue black hair but I, like my mother, have shoulder length silver-grey hair. 
   My brother wears his slicked back into a ponytail, which is pinned with a gold and blue headpiece.
   My father wears two strands of his bangs loose, full of ornate gold and blue beads, the rest of his hair pulled into a loop held with the pharaohs headpiece, though he only ever wears the larger piece it connects to for councils.

   My father has called for me because I am a scholar.
My brother is a warrior, promoted to general both because of his Royal blood and skill, though he often makes rash decisions.
   The confidence he has can be put to good use on a battlefield, but he has yet to learn it can also be his downfall. He has learned this now.

   Which is why my father calls for me.
My brother and his two commanders and three top warriors have been captured during a battle, where one such decision to give chase to the enemy led them into a trap.
   They killed everyone without the Royal crest and are keeping them alive only for ransom. I have come to help my father negotiate.

Both for a peace treaty and for my brothers life.
   My fathers council is against this, thinking that I will not fight for my elder brother since his death will mean my rise to pharaoh when my father dies.
   I do not want this as it will mean I must produce heirs. Which I know I cannot do. Though I have a fiancée named Erís and I love them.

   They/she have come with me and is just below me on the ship as I ponder my duty, staring at the dusty shore and the thousands of tents set up in the distance.
    I can see my fathers flag, set high above his tent with a golden pole.
My brothers stone pole bears no flag. 

The ship docks and, though there is a crowd come to help unload and greet us for news,   
I ignore them, jumped deftly to the shore and heading directly to my fathers flag.
   I know he will be there, debating tactics with his war council.

   I hear the captain of the ship and my fiancée speaking to those who came to assist the unloading and I know I've left it in perfectly good hands.
   They know I am too anxious to speak with the peoples when I've had nothing to do but think over the situation here.
   I want updated information as soon as I can get it, the sooner I can make a plan the sooner my life can go back to the shadows, the second son, not needed in the political spotlight.

   My father knows the danger he's placed me in, calling me here. He also knew I would come.

  Trained not to show emotions, my father is the only one who can read my tentative approach as I am given access to his tent.

   He smiles in greeting and apology as I bow in the custom way, placing myself lower than my father, and slightly lower than necessary to show my respect.

"Come Tensei, you are welcome here."
   I raise my head to look at my father.
He nods and I allow my gaze to flick to the faces both familiar and unfamiliar around us. All nobles and tacticians.

   He is not telling me who I can trust and who I can't, yet.
I know he wants me to work out for myself and see if we come to the same conclusions, though he says nothing.
   I settle myself on a blue cushion against the tent wall and watch in silence as the army make their reports.