Chérie's Baby, part 2: Yuuri's decision
Title: Chérie’s Baby 2: Yuuri’s decision
Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou
Rating|Genre: pg | family/friendship, mild slash, implied femslash
Characters|Pairing: Yuuri, Wolfram, Greta, Conrad, Gwendal, Chérie, Anissina, Günter | Wolfram/Yuuri, Yuuri/Sara, Chérie/Anissina
Summary: Yuuri thought long and hard about what Conrad had made him realize about love, family and tolerance. Finally, he knew what to do… maybe…
Word count: 2 719
Spoilers|Warnings: No.
Notes: This is the sequel to Chérie’s Baby. The story so far, if you haven’t read the first chapter: Yuuri spent a long time on Earth and came back to find Lady Chérie eight months pregnant. There is no father - the baby is a result of a mysterious activity that no one understands except Anissina and the pregnant lady. Yuuri was deeply shocked to learn about this, and Conrad deemed it necessary to confront Yuuri about his homophobia. Yuuri, shaken and confused, finally begun to revaluate his opinions and see how a certain blindness on his part is affecting Wolfram and Greta.
Yuuri didn’t have that conversation with Wolfram after all, because his so-called fiancé was asleep with Greta by his side.
He knew it was a cowardly attitude, but he was glad. Postponing unpleasant things didn’t make them go away, that was what he had been told all his life, but he dreaded talking to Wolfram about feelings.
He needed to know what to say, first.
Yuuri took his place in the bed by Greta’s side. Sharing his bed with Wolfram was better with Greta there; she was just a child, and Wolfram wouldn’t try anything funny in her presence.
Looking at the sleeping child made him think about what Conrad had said about her, and he realized that his godfather was right. Anything he did and said affected the child he had adopted. He would break two hearts if he broke up with Wolfram.
On the other hand, there was a little voice from a corner of his mind, is it good for a child to grow up with parents who don’t truly love each other?
He thought about what it had been like when he was little - the day Shouri had taken him out and they met Bob - when his parents had a terrible fight and his mother had threatened to leave. He hadn’t been able to fully grasp the situation because he was just a toddler, but he knew it was bad. Greta was older and saw and understood more; she had heard Wolfram’s outburst of jealousy more than once - ‘you cheating wimp! and she had witnessed, as Conrad had pointed out, Yuuri’s responses, too…
Wolfram can’t make me love him, he thought. I should make him see that he needs to find his happiness with someone else. It’s best for all of us, in the long run.
Yuuri turned around in the bed, tried to make himself comfortable, but no matter how he twisted and turned, sleep wouldn’t come to him.
It was one thing to realize what he needed to do. Knowing how to do it wasn’t that easy. And was breaking up really the right thing to do? What did he truly want? Was there no chance of him falling in love with Wolfram?
No.
No. When he closed his eyes and thought about it, or rather, when he closed his eyes and opened his mind to whatever was hidden in there that he was afraid to see, it was just like he, secretly, had been suspecting for some time: The face that he saw behind his closed eyelids was Saralegui’s.
He blushed, thinking Oh no what’s wrong with me I can’t be serious, but he was alone, after all - or sort of, because Wolfram was sound asleep - and there was no one to judge him but himself.
Yuuri hadn’t seen the other king in person since long before he went back to Earth the last time, but the last time they had met had been a good day. Sara had visited him, only for a short time, and they had taken a tour around the capital of Shin Makoku and the surroundings on horseback. Wolfram, Conrad and Beryes had been with them, of course. And Wolfram had been civil and even nice, as if there was nothing suspicious going on between Yuuri and Sara…
But it was nothing, was it? What was wrong with hanging out, having fun with somebody? He had felt a connection to Sara even the first time they met, and that had always made things feel so easy, so natural. But maybe it was weird to feel that way? He hadn’t felt that way with anyone before - well, maybe with Conrad, but that was still different. But different how? The way Sara looked so intensely at him, the way Yuuri sometimes studied every little gesture he made and all the varying expressions of his face - surely that didn’t mean anything? Sara was interesting and exciting and incredibly beautiful and gave him a slightly-worrying-and-yet-nice warm and fuzzy feeling, almost like butterflies in the stomach, but what did it matter?
Because they were both guys and that would mean that he was…
Yuuri tried to stop his thoughts from going any further, but it was too late. He was already thinking it. He did have feelings for Sara. Warm feelings. Perhaps even more-than-friendship-feelings. And if that really was the way he felt, then he absolutely could not go on being engaged to Wolfram.
Yuuri decided what to do. He had to talk to Wolfram in the morning.
***
In the morning, he woke up to Greta’s voice.
“You’ll bring me a surprise? Yay! I love surprises!”
“Hush”, Wolfram said, “Yuuri is asleep!”
“Not anymore”, Yuuri groaned and blinked sleepily in the morning light. It was still early. “What’s going on?”
Wolfram was already dressed and Greta was hanging around his neck as if she was saying goodbye.
“I meant to tell you last night”, Wolfram said, “but you were with Conrad, and I guess I fell asleep before you came in. I’ve been called away to the von Bielefeldt territories for a couple of weeks and I’m going first thing after breakfast. I was going to wake you up in a moment.”
“What for?” Yuuri sat up in bed, wide awake now. “Is your uncle Valtrana up to something again?”
“Of course not”, Wolfram assured him with a snort. “But it is my home province and I have duties there; something you should be able to understand by now, really. It’s almost the same as you going back to Earth, only not as far away. But it’s nice to see that you worry about me, Yuuri.”
A shadow of something gentle and almost sweet flew over Wolfram’s face, but so quickly that Yuuri wasn’t sure that he really had seen it.
“Um”, he said, “the thing is… we haven’t really had any time to talk since I got back…”
“I know”, Wolfram replied, “but we’ve got plenty of time later. Take care of Greta and don’t do anything stupid while I’m away, okay?”
“Okay…” Yuuri waved and, as Wolfram darted out of the room to have his early breakfast, he suspected that he really was a wimp. Because he was barely awake yet and he couldn’t possibly have had time to talk to his ‘fiancé’ during this short moment, and he was so relieved.
“Yuuri, are you alright?” Greta jumped up in bed and snuggled up to him. “You look weird. Do you miss Wolfram already?”
“Eh…” Yuuri scratched his head and couldn’t think of anything to say. “Come on, let’s get dressed and go down to breakfast.”
***
By the time he and Greta were down, Wolfram was gone already. Yuuri felt a guilty relief filling him and helping him relax, although all the thoughts that were running through his head prevented him from giving his daughter the attention she demanded from him.
“Yuuri, what’s wrong?” she pouted. “Aren’t you happy to be back from Earth?”
“Of course I am”, he reassured her. “I’m very happy to be back here.”
“So what are we going to do today?” the child smiled brightly. “Do we really have to study? Can we go on a picnic?”
“I have to go and see Gwendal and Günter and Conrad”, Yuuri replied. “Greta, I think I have to go away for awhile. I have something to take care of.”
“What?!” Greta stared at him. “No way, it’s not fair! Why do you and Wolfram have to go away all the time?”
“Greta, it’s not ‘all the time’, it’s just sometimes.” Yuuri decided breakfast was over - everyone else had already eaten - and he got up from the table. “Come on, I’ll take you to Anissina. I’m sure she’d love to hang out with you today.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure”, Greta muttered, but she took his hand and trotted obediently by his side all the way to Anissina’s laboratory.
When they were outside Anissina’s door, Yuuri began to reconsider his idea. Sounds… suspicious sounds… were coming out of there.
“Oh, yes”, Lady Chérie moaned, “oh yes, Anissina, you’re so good… more, exactly like that…”
“Greta, let’s go!” Yuuri hissed and grabbed the child’s hand harder. He could feel his face burning up and he wanted to run away and bleach his brain. He wouldn’t have thought a pregnant lady was doing… such things, but then again, his first name for the ex Maou had been ‘Sexy Queen’…
He was frozen on the spot only because he couldn’t decide if he should try to cover Greta’s ears or just turn around and run.
“What’s wrong?” the innocent child asked, and to Yuuri’s horror, she moved forward to push the door open.
“No!” Yuuri exclaimed, but it was too late, Greta flung the door wide open and Yuuri had to close his eyes for a second.
It was one thing to tell everybody he liked girls and not boys, but it was something entirely different to accidentally walk in on two women in bed together. Some people would say he way a lucky guy, though…
When Yuuri braced himself and opened his eyes, however, Lady Chérie and Anissina were not in bed, not even naked, and not even kissing.
A flood of relief washed over him and he tried to smile and look normal.
“Excuse me, your Majesty, but whatever is the matter with you?” Anissina asked.
“Uh…” Yuuri scratched his head and smiled insecurely.
What he saw was Lady Chérie in a big, comfortable armchair and Anissina sitting in front of her on a small stool. One of Chérie’s feet, naked, pale and swollen, was resting in Anissina’s lap.
“Haven’t you ever seen somebody get a foot massage before?” the ex queen asked mildly and raised an eyebrow.
“He’s been acting weird all morning”, Greta offered as explanation, and the women shrugged.
“Being pregnant is hard on the body”, Anissina said. “The one who got the lady ‘in trouble’, so to speak, has to take responsibility, right?”
Yuuri felt stupid. The two women smiled at each other and although there was nothing sexual about the situation, it was decidedly intimate and he didn’t want to intrude longer than necessary.
“Excuse me”, he said, finding his voice again, “but can I leave Greta with you? She’s feeling a bit lonely and I have things to discuss with Gwendal and the others?”
“Of course!” Chérie beckoned Greta closer. “Come, dear, let’s leave the men to their boring business.”
Yuuri closed the door behind women and child and headed to Gwendal’s office, trying to think of a way to best inform them all about his intentions.
***
“Hello, everyone!”
Yuuri stopped at the door and smiled brightly at the men in Gwendal’s office; Gwendal himself by the desk did not smile but looked up and gave Yuuri a friendly look, Conrad smiled back and Günter said:
“There you are, King Yuuri! We were just beginning to worry about you.”
Yuuri met Conrad’s eyes. His godfather smiled and wiggled his eyebrows lightly as if to say: ‘well, you know Günter!’
“Sorry, Günter”, Yuuri said and walked closer to the three men to see what dreadful paperwork Gwendal had prepared for him. He wasn’t sure but he thought there weren’t quite as many documents on the desk as it used to be when he had been away for a while.
He was distracted by something else that took up a lot of space on the desk.
“Pretty flowers!” he smiled. “I don’t recognize all of them.”
He recognized Conrad’s blue flower together with ‘Beautiful Wolfram’, Gwendal’s and his own, and a few others, but there were two flowers in the vase that caught his attention. One had long and slender, dark purple petals and a hint of pink at the base of them. The other one had round, glossy petals in different colors.
“Oh, that.” Gwendal shrugged. “Greta insisted on giving them to me yesterday. Mother has been more than usually into flowers since she got pregnant and some of these are new.”
“This one”, Günter said and touched the purple flower, “is called ‘Günter’s Loyalty’ - I am deeply moved by this honour. It’s a wonderful flower, don’t you think?”
“It’s lovely”, Conrad chimed in. “And this one” - he pointed at the multi-colored one - “it’s called ‘Free Love.’”
Why am I not surprised, Yuuri thought.
“I see”, he said. “How nice. What else has happened here during my time on Earth?”
“Nothing much”, Gwendal said. “There was an incident with the dragons again, poachers, but Yozak sorted that out. Then there was some lunatic from Caloria who thought he could learn to use maryoku. It seems like he was rather impressed by fire…” Gwendal pressed his lips together as if to stop some comment about human stupidity to come out. “He thought he could force somebody to teach him and tried to kidnap a man.”
“That’s terrible! What happened to him?”
“He got burnt”, was Gwendal’s reply. “Literally. And he got caught and sent back to Caloria with a warning. I’d be surprised if he showed up here again.”
Yuuri thought about this for a moment.
“I can see why humans find mazoku magic tempting”, he said, “especially now when we’re all heading towards a peaceful era. Fluurin should make sure people get all the correct information. No more anti-Mazoku propaganda, or scary myths or anything like that.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what we think”, Günter smiled. “Learning material is what they need; brochures, books, lectures and so on. Lady Fluurin and I have already begun working on it. We thought Your Majesty would approve. Lady Anissina is excited to help, too. Lady Fluurin is also contacting Francia, and others.”
“That’s great!” Yuuri’s eyes sparkled enthusiastically. “Human-Mazoku friendship! We should arrange cultural exchanges! If young people can visit each other’s countries and learn from each other…”
“Yes, yes”, Gwendal interrupted. “One step at the time.”
“Oh, but now that we’re talking about it”, Yuuri went on, “I was going to tell you that I want to visit Small Shimaron. As soon as possible.”
“What for?” Gwendal asked with a frown.
Yuuri was quiet. How was he going to explain this? I know the decent thing to do would be to break up with Wolfram before I see Sara, but Wolfram is not here and I can’t wait; I can’t bear to wait a minute longer than necessary!
“Well?” Gwendal insisted. “What’s going on? Is there something going on that we don’t know about?”
Yuuri still couldn’t answer. Gwendal wouldn’t approve, he was sure of it. At the same time, he was the king and had the right to make his own decisions.
“I think”, Conrad said, “that this is just something that Yuuri needs to do for his own sake.”
Yuuri, surprised, looked at his godfather. How could it be that the man always understood him so well? Conrad met his eyes but Yuuri felt insecure when he saw no smile on the other man’s face. Conrad looked so serious and not at all happy, but at the same time, he didn’t look like he was going to stop him either.
“He’s right. I need to do this.”
“I take it you haven’t told Wolfram you’re going?” Conrad asked.
“I…” Yuuri gulped and knew he looked guilty. “I haven’t told him anything.” He met Conrad eyes and straightened up. “And I don’t want anyone to tell him before I get back!”
Conrad sighed, “I suppose that’s for the best after all, for the time being. Seeing how he’s not even here…”
“Why”, Gwendal said sharply, “do I get the feeling that there’s a whole conversation going on here that some of us - “ he looked at Günter who nodded in agreement - “are excluded from?”
“I am sorry, Gwendal.” Yuuri looked at Gwendal with all the royal authority he could find within him. “Sorry, but this is nothing you need to worry about. My decision is made. I’ll go back to my room and pack a few things, and then I’ll go to Small Shimaron as soon as a ship can be ready.”
“Oh, Your Majesty!” Günter took a step closer to him. “You’re planning to go immediately? I don’t suppose you want me to go with you?”
“No, Günter. I’m going alone.”
***
As soon as Yuuri had left the room, Gwendal demanded an explanation from Conrad.
Conrad replied that he wasn’t sure, but that he had a feeling that he could guess.
“I feel that it would be wisest not to interfere too much at this stage”, he said, “but we should probably tell Yozak to go with him. Without telling Yuuri about it, of course.”
“Of course”, Gwendal agreed. “I wouldn’t dream of letting him go alone.”
Fandom: Kyou Kara Maou
Rating|Genre: pg | family/friendship, mild slash, implied femslash
Characters|Pairing: Yuuri, Wolfram, Greta, Conrad, Gwendal, Chérie, Anissina, Günter | Wolfram/Yuuri, Yuuri/Sara, Chérie/Anissina
Summary: Yuuri thought long and hard about what Conrad had made him realize about love, family and tolerance. Finally, he knew what to do… maybe…
Word count: 2 719
Spoilers|Warnings: No.
Notes: This is the sequel to Chérie’s Baby. The story so far, if you haven’t read the first chapter: Yuuri spent a long time on Earth and came back to find Lady Chérie eight months pregnant. There is no father - the baby is a result of a mysterious activity that no one understands except Anissina and the pregnant lady. Yuuri was deeply shocked to learn about this, and Conrad deemed it necessary to confront Yuuri about his homophobia. Yuuri, shaken and confused, finally begun to revaluate his opinions and see how a certain blindness on his part is affecting Wolfram and Greta.
Yuuri didn’t have that conversation with Wolfram after all, because his so-called fiancé was asleep with Greta by his side.
He knew it was a cowardly attitude, but he was glad. Postponing unpleasant things didn’t make them go away, that was what he had been told all his life, but he dreaded talking to Wolfram about feelings.
He needed to know what to say, first.
Yuuri took his place in the bed by Greta’s side. Sharing his bed with Wolfram was better with Greta there; she was just a child, and Wolfram wouldn’t try anything funny in her presence.
Looking at the sleeping child made him think about what Conrad had said about her, and he realized that his godfather was right. Anything he did and said affected the child he had adopted. He would break two hearts if he broke up with Wolfram.
On the other hand, there was a little voice from a corner of his mind, is it good for a child to grow up with parents who don’t truly love each other?
He thought about what it had been like when he was little - the day Shouri had taken him out and they met Bob - when his parents had a terrible fight and his mother had threatened to leave. He hadn’t been able to fully grasp the situation because he was just a toddler, but he knew it was bad. Greta was older and saw and understood more; she had heard Wolfram’s outburst of jealousy more than once - ‘you cheating wimp! and she had witnessed, as Conrad had pointed out, Yuuri’s responses, too…
Wolfram can’t make me love him, he thought. I should make him see that he needs to find his happiness with someone else. It’s best for all of us, in the long run.
Yuuri turned around in the bed, tried to make himself comfortable, but no matter how he twisted and turned, sleep wouldn’t come to him.
It was one thing to realize what he needed to do. Knowing how to do it wasn’t that easy. And was breaking up really the right thing to do? What did he truly want? Was there no chance of him falling in love with Wolfram?
No.
No. When he closed his eyes and thought about it, or rather, when he closed his eyes and opened his mind to whatever was hidden in there that he was afraid to see, it was just like he, secretly, had been suspecting for some time: The face that he saw behind his closed eyelids was Saralegui’s.
He blushed, thinking Oh no what’s wrong with me I can’t be serious, but he was alone, after all - or sort of, because Wolfram was sound asleep - and there was no one to judge him but himself.
Yuuri hadn’t seen the other king in person since long before he went back to Earth the last time, but the last time they had met had been a good day. Sara had visited him, only for a short time, and they had taken a tour around the capital of Shin Makoku and the surroundings on horseback. Wolfram, Conrad and Beryes had been with them, of course. And Wolfram had been civil and even nice, as if there was nothing suspicious going on between Yuuri and Sara…
But it was nothing, was it? What was wrong with hanging out, having fun with somebody? He had felt a connection to Sara even the first time they met, and that had always made things feel so easy, so natural. But maybe it was weird to feel that way? He hadn’t felt that way with anyone before - well, maybe with Conrad, but that was still different. But different how? The way Sara looked so intensely at him, the way Yuuri sometimes studied every little gesture he made and all the varying expressions of his face - surely that didn’t mean anything? Sara was interesting and exciting and incredibly beautiful and gave him a slightly-worrying-and-yet-nice warm and fuzzy feeling, almost like butterflies in the stomach, but what did it matter?
Because they were both guys and that would mean that he was…
Yuuri tried to stop his thoughts from going any further, but it was too late. He was already thinking it. He did have feelings for Sara. Warm feelings. Perhaps even more-than-friendship-feelings. And if that really was the way he felt, then he absolutely could not go on being engaged to Wolfram.
Yuuri decided what to do. He had to talk to Wolfram in the morning.
***
In the morning, he woke up to Greta’s voice.
“You’ll bring me a surprise? Yay! I love surprises!”
“Hush”, Wolfram said, “Yuuri is asleep!”
“Not anymore”, Yuuri groaned and blinked sleepily in the morning light. It was still early. “What’s going on?”
Wolfram was already dressed and Greta was hanging around his neck as if she was saying goodbye.
“I meant to tell you last night”, Wolfram said, “but you were with Conrad, and I guess I fell asleep before you came in. I’ve been called away to the von Bielefeldt territories for a couple of weeks and I’m going first thing after breakfast. I was going to wake you up in a moment.”
“What for?” Yuuri sat up in bed, wide awake now. “Is your uncle Valtrana up to something again?”
“Of course not”, Wolfram assured him with a snort. “But it is my home province and I have duties there; something you should be able to understand by now, really. It’s almost the same as you going back to Earth, only not as far away. But it’s nice to see that you worry about me, Yuuri.”
A shadow of something gentle and almost sweet flew over Wolfram’s face, but so quickly that Yuuri wasn’t sure that he really had seen it.
“Um”, he said, “the thing is… we haven’t really had any time to talk since I got back…”
“I know”, Wolfram replied, “but we’ve got plenty of time later. Take care of Greta and don’t do anything stupid while I’m away, okay?”
“Okay…” Yuuri waved and, as Wolfram darted out of the room to have his early breakfast, he suspected that he really was a wimp. Because he was barely awake yet and he couldn’t possibly have had time to talk to his ‘fiancé’ during this short moment, and he was so relieved.
“Yuuri, are you alright?” Greta jumped up in bed and snuggled up to him. “You look weird. Do you miss Wolfram already?”
“Eh…” Yuuri scratched his head and couldn’t think of anything to say. “Come on, let’s get dressed and go down to breakfast.”
***
By the time he and Greta were down, Wolfram was gone already. Yuuri felt a guilty relief filling him and helping him relax, although all the thoughts that were running through his head prevented him from giving his daughter the attention she demanded from him.
“Yuuri, what’s wrong?” she pouted. “Aren’t you happy to be back from Earth?”
“Of course I am”, he reassured her. “I’m very happy to be back here.”
“So what are we going to do today?” the child smiled brightly. “Do we really have to study? Can we go on a picnic?”
“I have to go and see Gwendal and Günter and Conrad”, Yuuri replied. “Greta, I think I have to go away for awhile. I have something to take care of.”
“What?!” Greta stared at him. “No way, it’s not fair! Why do you and Wolfram have to go away all the time?”
“Greta, it’s not ‘all the time’, it’s just sometimes.” Yuuri decided breakfast was over - everyone else had already eaten - and he got up from the table. “Come on, I’ll take you to Anissina. I’m sure she’d love to hang out with you today.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure”, Greta muttered, but she took his hand and trotted obediently by his side all the way to Anissina’s laboratory.
When they were outside Anissina’s door, Yuuri began to reconsider his idea. Sounds… suspicious sounds… were coming out of there.
“Oh, yes”, Lady Chérie moaned, “oh yes, Anissina, you’re so good… more, exactly like that…”
“Greta, let’s go!” Yuuri hissed and grabbed the child’s hand harder. He could feel his face burning up and he wanted to run away and bleach his brain. He wouldn’t have thought a pregnant lady was doing… such things, but then again, his first name for the ex Maou had been ‘Sexy Queen’…
He was frozen on the spot only because he couldn’t decide if he should try to cover Greta’s ears or just turn around and run.
“What’s wrong?” the innocent child asked, and to Yuuri’s horror, she moved forward to push the door open.
“No!” Yuuri exclaimed, but it was too late, Greta flung the door wide open and Yuuri had to close his eyes for a second.
It was one thing to tell everybody he liked girls and not boys, but it was something entirely different to accidentally walk in on two women in bed together. Some people would say he way a lucky guy, though…
When Yuuri braced himself and opened his eyes, however, Lady Chérie and Anissina were not in bed, not even naked, and not even kissing.
A flood of relief washed over him and he tried to smile and look normal.
“Excuse me, your Majesty, but whatever is the matter with you?” Anissina asked.
“Uh…” Yuuri scratched his head and smiled insecurely.
What he saw was Lady Chérie in a big, comfortable armchair and Anissina sitting in front of her on a small stool. One of Chérie’s feet, naked, pale and swollen, was resting in Anissina’s lap.
“Haven’t you ever seen somebody get a foot massage before?” the ex queen asked mildly and raised an eyebrow.
“He’s been acting weird all morning”, Greta offered as explanation, and the women shrugged.
“Being pregnant is hard on the body”, Anissina said. “The one who got the lady ‘in trouble’, so to speak, has to take responsibility, right?”
Yuuri felt stupid. The two women smiled at each other and although there was nothing sexual about the situation, it was decidedly intimate and he didn’t want to intrude longer than necessary.
“Excuse me”, he said, finding his voice again, “but can I leave Greta with you? She’s feeling a bit lonely and I have things to discuss with Gwendal and the others?”
“Of course!” Chérie beckoned Greta closer. “Come, dear, let’s leave the men to their boring business.”
Yuuri closed the door behind women and child and headed to Gwendal’s office, trying to think of a way to best inform them all about his intentions.
***
“Hello, everyone!”
Yuuri stopped at the door and smiled brightly at the men in Gwendal’s office; Gwendal himself by the desk did not smile but looked up and gave Yuuri a friendly look, Conrad smiled back and Günter said:
“There you are, King Yuuri! We were just beginning to worry about you.”
Yuuri met Conrad’s eyes. His godfather smiled and wiggled his eyebrows lightly as if to say: ‘well, you know Günter!’
“Sorry, Günter”, Yuuri said and walked closer to the three men to see what dreadful paperwork Gwendal had prepared for him. He wasn’t sure but he thought there weren’t quite as many documents on the desk as it used to be when he had been away for a while.
He was distracted by something else that took up a lot of space on the desk.
“Pretty flowers!” he smiled. “I don’t recognize all of them.”
He recognized Conrad’s blue flower together with ‘Beautiful Wolfram’, Gwendal’s and his own, and a few others, but there were two flowers in the vase that caught his attention. One had long and slender, dark purple petals and a hint of pink at the base of them. The other one had round, glossy petals in different colors.
“Oh, that.” Gwendal shrugged. “Greta insisted on giving them to me yesterday. Mother has been more than usually into flowers since she got pregnant and some of these are new.”
“This one”, Günter said and touched the purple flower, “is called ‘Günter’s Loyalty’ - I am deeply moved by this honour. It’s a wonderful flower, don’t you think?”
“It’s lovely”, Conrad chimed in. “And this one” - he pointed at the multi-colored one - “it’s called ‘Free Love.’”
Why am I not surprised, Yuuri thought.
“I see”, he said. “How nice. What else has happened here during my time on Earth?”
“Nothing much”, Gwendal said. “There was an incident with the dragons again, poachers, but Yozak sorted that out. Then there was some lunatic from Caloria who thought he could learn to use maryoku. It seems like he was rather impressed by fire…” Gwendal pressed his lips together as if to stop some comment about human stupidity to come out. “He thought he could force somebody to teach him and tried to kidnap a man.”
“That’s terrible! What happened to him?”
“He got burnt”, was Gwendal’s reply. “Literally. And he got caught and sent back to Caloria with a warning. I’d be surprised if he showed up here again.”
Yuuri thought about this for a moment.
“I can see why humans find mazoku magic tempting”, he said, “especially now when we’re all heading towards a peaceful era. Fluurin should make sure people get all the correct information. No more anti-Mazoku propaganda, or scary myths or anything like that.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what we think”, Günter smiled. “Learning material is what they need; brochures, books, lectures and so on. Lady Fluurin and I have already begun working on it. We thought Your Majesty would approve. Lady Anissina is excited to help, too. Lady Fluurin is also contacting Francia, and others.”
“That’s great!” Yuuri’s eyes sparkled enthusiastically. “Human-Mazoku friendship! We should arrange cultural exchanges! If young people can visit each other’s countries and learn from each other…”
“Yes, yes”, Gwendal interrupted. “One step at the time.”
“Oh, but now that we’re talking about it”, Yuuri went on, “I was going to tell you that I want to visit Small Shimaron. As soon as possible.”
“What for?” Gwendal asked with a frown.
Yuuri was quiet. How was he going to explain this? I know the decent thing to do would be to break up with Wolfram before I see Sara, but Wolfram is not here and I can’t wait; I can’t bear to wait a minute longer than necessary!
“Well?” Gwendal insisted. “What’s going on? Is there something going on that we don’t know about?”
Yuuri still couldn’t answer. Gwendal wouldn’t approve, he was sure of it. At the same time, he was the king and had the right to make his own decisions.
“I think”, Conrad said, “that this is just something that Yuuri needs to do for his own sake.”
Yuuri, surprised, looked at his godfather. How could it be that the man always understood him so well? Conrad met his eyes but Yuuri felt insecure when he saw no smile on the other man’s face. Conrad looked so serious and not at all happy, but at the same time, he didn’t look like he was going to stop him either.
“He’s right. I need to do this.”
“I take it you haven’t told Wolfram you’re going?” Conrad asked.
“I…” Yuuri gulped and knew he looked guilty. “I haven’t told him anything.” He met Conrad eyes and straightened up. “And I don’t want anyone to tell him before I get back!”
Conrad sighed, “I suppose that’s for the best after all, for the time being. Seeing how he’s not even here…”
“Why”, Gwendal said sharply, “do I get the feeling that there’s a whole conversation going on here that some of us - “ he looked at Günter who nodded in agreement - “are excluded from?”
“I am sorry, Gwendal.” Yuuri looked at Gwendal with all the royal authority he could find within him. “Sorry, but this is nothing you need to worry about. My decision is made. I’ll go back to my room and pack a few things, and then I’ll go to Small Shimaron as soon as a ship can be ready.”
“Oh, Your Majesty!” Günter took a step closer to him. “You’re planning to go immediately? I don’t suppose you want me to go with you?”
“No, Günter. I’m going alone.”
***
As soon as Yuuri had left the room, Gwendal demanded an explanation from Conrad.
Conrad replied that he wasn’t sure, but that he had a feeling that he could guess.
“I feel that it would be wisest not to interfere too much at this stage”, he said, “but we should probably tell Yozak to go with him. Without telling Yuuri about it, of course.”
“Of course”, Gwendal agreed. “I wouldn’t dream of letting him go alone.”