Under Your Moon- Revised

Old Foot Smell

"Goodnight, Torin." Kai said, splitting off from his advisor outside the door to his bedroom. He clutched the weathered gold handle and twisted, stepping inside the frame.

"Oyasumi Kaito," was the last thing the emperor heard as he shut the door behind him.

Relief. That was what he felt when he found no one waiting for him inside, not even Nansi. It was easy to ignore coms, but impossible to rid himself of people, especially since news had spread of his engagement. Everyone wanted answers. Diplomats, politicians, media, magazines, lunars, Carswell fucking Thorne. Everyone. Maybe he was being petty, but whose business was it but their own? Emperor and queen or not, it was their marriage, not their countries'. Especially not now that Cinder was abdicating her throne. Soon she would be ex-queen. Soon her only affiliation would be his. Following the sound of retreating footsteps, Kai leaned against the old door, and released a long withheld breath. The windows were clear, sparkling in the twilight. He grinned to himself as he crossed the room and entered his closet. He redressed into red silk nightpants and a thin black shirt. Light was slipping from his unlit room. And as the stars grew brighter, so did his smile. Night was falling, tonight was the full moon.

As he collapsed on his bed, he blew a few pieces of hair out of his eyes. Nowadays, it grew long enough to be considered girly, but he dared anyone to say so. Precisely 8 days and 21 hours ago, he had returned from Luna, where he had assisted the Queen in reorganizing her government. Usually, he had his hair cut nearly every week at the palace, but he had been in France, and then Luna, and once he got back, he could've cared less. Cinder wasn't exactly picky about hair, or hygiene, or looks at all. And his meetings with her, their coms and calls, were the only meetings he cared to impress someone during.
Stars above, what had that mechanic screwed up inside him?

The emperor rolled over onto his side and leaned to unlock a walnut stained bedside table. A specially hired blacksmith had rigged the drawer for him, so that only he could unlock it and get at the parcel inside. Said parcel now lay in Kai's lap, merely a bundle of grease stained silk. One ivory glove, and a tightly wrapped android part. That night seemed millennia ago, and yet, he still had her too small foot. Rusty bolts like dried blood and oil stains glinted up at him like tarnished gold. This object haunted him. Yet, there was no other tangible object he cherished more. He knew each dent and scratch as well as he knew his own face. Carefully, he re-wrapped the foot and slid the mementos back in the drawer and secured them. He picked up a net-screen and idly scrolled through messages left for him. A brisk mechanical knock resounded on the door. Nansi entered.

"One minute until Luna is in optimal view of the Eastern Commonwealth." She chimed from the doorway, bringing a pot of chai tea in with her.

"Oh, thank you." he murmured, stretching as he walked over to her. With a cup of tea in his hands, he froze in front of the picture window.   Just a dot of white between skyscrapers, but there it was, there she was, staring him down. He shook the hair fron his brows again and looked down over the city. His ears and cheeks burned. What was he doing? Staring up at a sattelite, dreaming about the girl ruling it.

Stupid, stupid.

Then, he noticed all of the people below him, and all of the rooftops dotted with, what?

Telescopes.

A firework erupted above him, so sudden he jumped, and so many followed. People cheered, and he picked out several street parties below him, tiny cafes littered with people.

"Nansi," Kai called.

"Yes?"

"What are they celebrating?"

"Why, don't you know?" she sounded puzzled.

"No..."

"They are celebrating Luna's first mirror store." 

Kai choked on his tea. He burst out laughing. "What, who said that?!"

"A news crew in the plaza 14.5 minutes ago, your majesty. Selene Blackburn herself cut the ribbon at its opening."

He chuckled darkly, "Of course she did. Why such a party for it though, even here?"

"For them, it is symbolic."

"And in the E.C. ?"

"They will celebrate anything your betrothed celebrates." 

"Of course they would." He smiled, and once again, picked up his net-screen. He would die to be on the moon right now, celebrating with her. He suddenly felt homesick, in the room he had lived in for the last 20 years. He even found himself missing Iko, who was a constant presence beside Cinder. He thought of Cress, Winter, Jacin, Wolf, Scarlet, even damned Thorne. This room felt suffocating. He would prefer steel walls and uncomfortable bunks, as long as he got to share his thin mattress. Three months, she said. Until she would come home.

Why did his mind always find a way to wander to that?

He tapped his net-screen one more time. "Call Queen Selene."