It’s quiet.

  Very quiet.

  The drone of the Adranic Ocean holds upon the lapsing waves that curl in their perpetual motions; crashing ever so gently against this beach of sand like the longing voice of a siren singing to a lost lover.

  The sea was singing tonight, the lyrical hymns falling from the soft blue glow of their parent world and focusing upon just these two simple souls that sit now on the soft, grainy sand.

  Perhaps it was a little too poetic, as Sophia Elise finally manages to catch her breath in this pathetic mess of what was an Imperial Heir; her world refocusing again as she finally sees everything somewhat clearly.

  The Crown Prince of the Tianci Dominion only speaks up once she isn’t panting, those pale blue eyes no longer open wide from panic. “Better?”

  Oh yeah, much better. Sophia finally manages to think to herself, ignoring as the distant drone of that festival still somehow cuts up her psyche.

  “Yes.” She whimpers out.

  “That’s good.” Zai completes, holding onto a small smile on his face. “Much quieter, yes?”

  Sophia Elise’s internal monologue rolls its eyes. Yeah it's much quieter, but we’re on a beach. And it's the kind of beach with the coarse, rough, get everywhere kind of sand. The kind that you hate.

  “I don’t like sand.” Sophia just says out loud, continuing her train of thought mindlessly. “Not this kind at least.”

  Zai Tianci purses his lips, reading those words as literally as possible. “Well, I’d take you to a different beach but there’s not a lot of options.”

  “It’s ok.” Sophia allows, taking a long breath filled with salty, sea air (the kind that she hated too).

  And they sit for a while, wordlessly like before, in silence like they always have. No language lessons to bridge their time together, no short compliments about cooked food, no objective to be achieved in this empty time that they now were forced to share… alone.

  And the Adranic Ocean speaks again, this ancient, broken spirit once forged to wage a war across the stars simply telling this awkward, pathetic Ensolian girl of a lesson that had been learned a long, long time ago. Grow love like you do a continental shelf; with great honesty and integrity. With time, it shall rise from the depths, with time it shall create rock and dirt, and with time it will be a bastion of life in a void of emptiness.

  And so Sophia Elise the Eighth takes one more breath, feeling as the world comes together for her in this mental space of just herself and him.

  And as one, she speaks calmly, gently. “You were right, about me and crowds.”

  They are back in that antechamber, back in her coming-of-age ceremony. Back in the midst of that conversation, back together without the looming powers of nations, of political pressure cookers, and this horrifying instance of political marriage.

  Zai smiles at that memory, at that conversation that made him laugh genuinely despite its now quite compromising context. “And I wasn’t lying either.” He sighs. “Gods, today was a lot already.”

  Sophia poorly hides her surprise at his words. “Really?”

  “I told you, I don’t like crowds.” The Crown Prince recalls. “So much pressure to do things, to watch your back all the time. This? This is much more my pace.”

  And he asks the fatal question to her. “I’m actually quite surprised that you invited me to this, it obviously doesn’t seem to be your methodology or comfort zone.”

  “Well…” The Fourth Princess keeps a cold breath, but remains warm in the comfort of isolation and white noise. “It just felt like… a good time.”

  “A good time?”

  “Just to experience something.” Sophia reminds herself not to use the word date, this psyche pushing through the simmering anxiety and out towards this Crown Prince. “... together.”

  She can tell she’s caught Zai Tianci off guard with her words, at this infinitesimally small confession that could easily be denied of any real meaning.

  And it takes a terrifying few seconds for this Crown Prince to remember his own duties, at his own political scheme against this Fourth Princess. “Well, we’re still together aren’t we?”

  Sophia Elise the Eighth smiles. “I suppose so.”

  The Prince continues off of the prior point, keeping this fading fire alive with just a little extra wood. “You know I was shocked when the Empress of the Imperium introduced you formally. I did not think you were her daughter of all people.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Really?” Sophia really does chuckle a bit.

  “Who else expects to meet the Fourth Princess of Ensolia like I did? I’d imagine it’d take months to even receive an audience with you.”

  Assuming I’d even take the time to respond to any missive… Sophia cries to herself, but sternly continues to answer him. “It’s not that bad… well, most of the time at least.”

  “The entire proposal… and marriage was certainly a surprise for sure.” Zai continues to proceed. “I’d imagine you’d known about it far longer than I had…”

  What the hells was he talking about this time.

  “I was not aware until the day after that Goddess damned coming of age ceremony.” Sophia interrupts, completely taken away by this conversation. “Really, it was the first time I’d seen my mother so panicked about something, or any of my siblings for that matter. My brother was livid! He said you deserved someone better than me!”

  Uhhhh… There’s finally a single objection from the mouth of her inner monologue. Probably shouldn’t have spilled a top-level state secret like that to him.

  And Zai Tianci tries to make sense of those last words, to convince himself that this must’ve been some incredulous lie taken from her arsenal of compromising sentences to speak to him. But all Zai sees is the raw, dead truth in those pale, blue eyes.

  And somewhere deep in the Reichlands, riding aboard the Goldmendalle to Crater City overnight train, Second Prince Natan Elise feels the cold chilling touch of a ghost brush by his cheek.

  “Natan Elise.” Zai repeats his name. “Your brother… objected to this?”

  “Yeah, but Natan is always a handful.” Sophia rolls her eyes. “He's my father's favorite out of all of us.”

  Zai nods, now listening into this single line of intrigue from a foreign court. “I suppose he is, given his… specific role within the court.”

  “What, buying heavy tanks and storm rifles from Axial as a hobby?” The Fourth Princess dismisses so easily. “When we visit Capital, never let him start talking about his collection. He won’t shut up about it once you get him started.”

  It’s such a far tangent the Crown Prince has to take a breath to process this casualness from this terrifying figure of the Imperium. “I see.”

  “Well, if anything the rest of my sisters were quite happy about this arrangement. Honestly they even helped me plan out that ‘date’ of ours!”

  One of the thought processes intrudes, nervously sweating. Ok maybe let’s stop talking about this stuff.

  She’s starting to spill words uncontrollably, and Zai takes advantage of the situation. “Did they?”

  “Yes, they all studied everything about the Dominion like crazy. Beatrice and Alice especially, even Naomi took time off to help out. It was utterly overwhelming, seriously! I spent the entire week just getting books jammed in my face. We even got basically every single Tianci individual in Capital to come and brief us on your country. Even got that singer… what was her name…”

  “What, the Lian Xue Trope?”

  “Yeah her. Goddess the things she spilled when we asked about her life were far too personal. But I personally liked interviewing our family’s Tiancin Chef. She’s such a nice person, brought us her almond cookies too with tea.”

  Hey, let’s stop this speech center before it gets really embarrassing.

  The Prince pushes her to continue. “You took time to study… Tiancin Culture?”

  “Well everything that could be studied. And really Zai, I was so nervous for that date. Those siblings of mine even made me bathe and dress up for it too.”

  We need to shut up right now, before we say something completely…

  “And I was so nervous to say anything first ‘cause you looked so damned good with your slicked hair and your robes—like, I just couldn’t stop staring. And then I thought, ‘What would happen if I bit your neck?’ Not in a bad way of course, but just a little bite; just to see what it’d feel like. Like, would it be soft or something like that. You know?”

  Zai Tianci doesn’t know, and he doesn’t say anything; his body remaining in absolute stillness as he keeps his royal composure in a dead stare towards her.

  Well. Sophia’s internal monologue begins, a deep pained sigh echoing past them. This conversation’s now unsalvageable.

  At least the Adranic Ocean provided some ambient noise to this insane silence that was breeding between these two souls.

  “Y-Yeah… I-... I-I’m not sure I know…” Zai Tianci finally breaks, his face pressed into holding a laugh, a nervous chuckle, and utter terror. “T-th-thanks, I guess?”

  Sophia’s soft smile once again returns to a cold scowl as she curses herself internally. Oh GODDESS WHY DID I SAY THAT LAST PART.

  The world doesn’t say anything, and her mind remains empty as she resists the temptation to bury her face in her hands.

  And in the depths of the Adranic, it begins.

  From just one comes a dozen, from a dozen comes a hundred, a thousand, a million; pale blue like the soft glow of Unudo but beneath the waves.

  Tiny dots ignite the sea like a wildfire, an undulating pulsation that flows and ebbs like a tide sped up to incomprehensible speeds. There had to be millions of these tiny beasties, brought together by the tides into this explosion of life and living; communicating, reacting in the spectrums beyond what these feeble minds could barely begin to comprehend…

  Sophia has to stand to witness it, to watch it from just a higher angle; to see more as the colors dance and stretch across the horizon itself.

  “Oh Goddess…” She lets out softly.

  And Zai stands up next to her as well, watching this show alongside his wife; watching as for the first time in his life just lives.

  The Crown Prince of Tianci, Heir to the Dominion, just lives.

  Perhaps there was a better view; on a crowded pier, amongst the hundreds of onlookers witnessing this spectacle.

  Perhaps there was a better way to live than here; far away from the political machinations, the great games played by nations, and the crushing pressure of blood and royalty.

  But for now this was their view, their bodies highlighted by the billions of colors rippling from the sea.

  For now, this was their life; living as hideaways from the threats that felt so far removed.

  And maybe, just maybe, that’s good enough for them.

  Just for tonight.