Spring is in the air, and it's a wonderful time to be young. Zura finds that right here, right now, is a glorious thing- at this moment, with the cherry blossoms flittering down like pink snow, she can leave the heavy things like war and responsibility to her greater, grown-up elders- and, for once, she can leave behind her precocious little brother in the dust.
Mao doesn't care that she's second-best at everything, that she still flares nervously in training, that she's slow in her studies and takes time to puzzle through what it is her tutors want her to learn. He's her brother's companion, but he's her friend- and sometimes, when no one's watching and there's a corner unobserved-
They used to get each other covered in mud. Nowadays, that's very much beneath their dignity. Really. Completely.
Rumpled clothing can be readjusted, blushing faces splashed cool in the pond. They both know better than to take it beyond that point- Lo and Li have poured a frightening amount of education into the young nobles of the court, about what is and isn't proper and what can and cannot be forgiven under which stages of betrothal. But it's so much fun in the trying, and anyway, there's a few stages left before anything can get really permanent...
Azulon's been scowling at them when he thinks she's not looking, but tough. He can get his chance next year, or the year after that, if any girl will have him. Given he's the prince, surely he can get whatever he wants.
Except what I have, she thinks smugly, and pulls her gloomy boy in for a very cheerful kiss.
Part 1 of Something.
Mao doesn't care that she's second-best at everything, that she still flares nervously in training, that she's slow in her studies and takes time to puzzle through what it is her tutors want her to learn. He's her brother's companion, but he's her friend- and sometimes, when no one's watching and there's a corner unobserved-
They used to get each other covered in mud. Nowadays, that's very much beneath their dignity. Really. Completely.
Rumpled clothing can be readjusted, blushing faces splashed cool in the pond. They both know better than to take it beyond that point- Lo and Li have poured a frightening amount of education into the young nobles of the court, about what is and isn't proper and what can and cannot be forgiven under which stages of betrothal. But it's so much fun in the trying, and anyway, there's a few stages left before anything can get really permanent...
Azulon's been scowling at them when he thinks she's not looking, but tough. He can get his chance next year, or the year after that, if any girl will have him. Given he's the prince, surely he can get whatever he wants.
Except what I have, she thinks smugly, and pulls her gloomy boy in for a very cheerful kiss.