“A scholarship fund?” Likha asked curiously as she blew on top of the hot chocolate she cradled in her hand. 

They had just finished their inspection of the orphanages under the crown and were taking a break on the side as they watched the children play in the courtyard. Aleph hadn’t realized that he had missed such excursions outside the palace. 

Before Likha had discovered her gift, Aleph had been heir presumptive and had done the duties of the crown prince. After she had discovered their gift, everyone assumed she would now be the heir apparent. It was tradition after all, for the eldest child with the family gift to inherit, and Aleph wasn’t interested in getting in the way of tradition and earning the ire of others. It was easy enough to help Likha with the transition of power and the management of projects from him to her. He never bothered to interfere with her work after that. 

It was ironic that they were now doing the opposite of that. “Yes,” Aleph answered. “When the children leave the orphanage, it would be good for them to have opportunities to improve themselves.” 

“They can do that if they want to,” Likha pointed out as she sipped from her drink. 

“Some of them, yes,” Aleph agreed as he took a seat beside his sister on the bench. Their guards were waiting for them some steps back, and their conversation was lost under the shrieks and laughter of the children playing. “Some of them just go back to the streets. It’s a waste of talent, and we can do better.” 

“The noble won’t like it,” Likha said. 

Aleph grimaced at the thought of having to convince the nobles in the great council for an increase in budget for such a project. “I can convince them.” 

Likha gave him a dubious look. “You haven’t attended a council meeting in ages.” 

“It wasn’t really necessary before,” Aleph said with a shrug. “You were there, and I trust you.” 

“But now?” Likha asked. She placed the empty cup she held on the bench beside her. “You don’t trust me anymore, brother?” 

“I do,” Aleph sighed. “But I have to prove that our father didn’t make the wrong decision.” 

Likha hummed in consideration as she stood. “The Royal family must always be impeccable,” she said as if reciting something she learned by rote. She probably did. Their tutors had been strict, and Likha has always put her all into everything she does. “Good luck then.” 

Aleph chuckled weakly at those words. “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll probably need it.” 

Likha approached their guards, probably to organize their return to the palace. Aleph continued watching the children running around. Two of the children seemed to be fighting before they broke off and approached him. 

“Your Highness,” the little girl curtsied, a little clumsily, in front of him. “Tell Ray he’s wrong.” 

“No way!” the boy, Ray he guessed, loudly proclaimed. He had a gap from losing a tooth, and it became more prominent when he screamed like that. “It’s just a shiny stone.” 

Aleph raised his hands to placate the two. “What is this all about?” 

“Lily thinks she found gold in the riverbanks yesterday,” the boy said with a scowl. “It’s stupid! If there be gold there, milord, there’ll be people panning it ‘ears ago.” 

“Well, it just so happens that I know my metals,” Aleph said with a reassuring smile. “Let me see this gold then.” 

Lily beamed before thrusting her hand forward, a small nugget laying on that palm. Aleph gently took it from her. With a nudge of his magic, the nugget was floating in his palm, proving that it was, at least, a metal. He slowly shaped it, the familiar soft metal moving to his whims to form a small ring that can fit a child. 

Both children were staring in awe as he dropped the golden ring back into Lily’s palm. “It is gold,” he said. “Did you find it in the Perenelle River?” 

The two children looked at each other, and Aleph had a feeling none of the children were supposed to have wandered off to such a place. Eventually, they both nodded at him. “We were just playing,” Ray explained. 

Aleph thought of Emet picking up stones on the river bank. He had a feeling he just realized why, and it made him even more determined to pursue the project he had told Likha. “It’s probably a gift from my brother, Emet,” he told them. “He has a habit of throwing the pebbles he transmutes into metal into the river.” 

“Can I keep it?” Lily asked, clutching the ring to her chest. 

“Of course,” Aleph said. “Finders keepers, yes?” 

Khres took a deep breath, trying to steady the magic flow inside of him. As a family of seers, the Prevoirs have various ways of looking at the future. The most common and easiest way was by looking at tea leaves or using scrying tools. Another way is to meditate before bedtime so the visions will come in the form of dreams, but that practice proved to be a little inconsistent with the results.

The most accurate way was to use one’s own raw ability and seek answers within, yet it can only be done by the most talented of seers. With the Grand Oracle’s guidance, Khres was able to master this technique by the age of twelve.

Right now, though, as he tried to clear his mind once more, the young lord could not seem to see anything past what he has seen so far.

It was the same thing, over and over.

Khres bit his lip, letting the tendrils of his magic go further to find a point in the future it can latch onto.

His golden eyes began to glow as the vision began in his mind. 

Khres was taken into a place where he can barely see anything, as he cannot stop his own legs from moving. This was the same vision he has been getting. His hands were bloodied, yet he was running away with it. Future Khres was crying, tears blown away by the harsh Chrysopoeian wind as he kept on running from the palace.

He was knocked out from the vision when the door opened. Khres gasped as the vision dissipated from his mind, only to focus on the face of his lover as he walked into the room.

“I must have come at a bad time, I should just…”

“No, please, Aleph. It’s okay,” smiled Khres. “I was not getting anywhere anyway.”

Aleph nodded and stood in front of the bed where Khres was sitting, contemplating if he should sit as well. Khres gently tugged at his prince’s sleeve until he sat beside the young lord. The crown prince admired his lover’s golden eyes, “Perhaps things have escalated in such a chaotic manner that the future doesn’t know what to do with itself any longer.”

“Maybe so,” agreed Khres. “How’s your day with sister Likha? Orphanages seem to foster good bonds between siblings, right?”

“It was alright,” answered Aleph. “Though I must admit that I have yet to master using words to get things done, I believe my heart was in the right place.”

“Of course it is,” Khres reached out a hand and cupped his prince’s face. “Prevoirs do not give themselves so easily.” He pressed his forehead against Aleph’s, “Yet I have been yours for a long time now because I know your heart is trying to be at the right place. My prince is breathtaking that way.”

Aleph kissed Khres’ cheek, “I love you.”

“I know,” giggled Khres. “And yet you consider marriage with two of the most powerful houses. A shame, really, that a Prevoir such as I am would have to be content to amuse you periodically once you’re wed.”

“Khres, look at me.”

Khres lifted his head, yet he could not look at Aleph’s eyes. Did he take the joke too far?

“I’m fine, I was just fooling around…”

“No. I know everything that has been happening is taking a toll on you. At times like this, it is easier to know what tomorrow might bring us.” Aleph took Khres’ hands in his, “But here I am wishing that tomorrow can take its time, wishing that the clock’s hands move a little bit slower. I want to cherish this more, my love. I want to be with you, and with just one word from you, and I shall not hesitate to name you my queen.”

“No,” Khres pulled away as if his hands burned. “You can’t do that. A wise king cannot be whimsical with his desires--”

“You are not just a desire, Khres!”

The seer’s eyes widened as Aleph’s voice rose. His prince has always been calm, voice as consistent as the setting sun.

“I will do anything for you,” said Aleph. “If my father can name me the crown’s heir instead of a sister who anticipated it for a decade, then, once I am king, I can also…”

A loud sound was heard in the room as Khres’ hand felt the sting of slapping his prince. Khres’ hand began to tremble, “Aleph, I… I am sorry… but think about what you’re saying! You cannot name me your queen. A king’s word is law, yet a king speaks for his people. No kingdom can benefit from a male queen, Aleph, you should know that. We are both destined to be--”

“Then I will defy destiny.”

“We aren’t doing this,” Khres bit his lip as he held himself back from crying. “You will take a bride and become king. You will father a lot of offspring, and they will have the Erstellen gift. The royal family will be as consistent as the setting sun, a symbol of the strength of the realm. You cannot afford to be swayed.”

Aleph held a hand against the cheek Khres slapped, “You mean I cannot afford to love you any longer.”

“You know that’s not what I meant--”

Aleph stood up, “Don’t rewrite my life for me, Khres. No matter what you have seen in your visions. Don’t erase yourself from my life when everything I have been doing since the announcement of my ascension was to find a way to keep you in it. So, for the grace of the realm, Khres, just don’t.”

Khres gritted his teeth, changing his tactics and abandoning all plans for placating his lover. “You’re out of practice, your highness,” he said. “You’ve got good plans, but you haven’t bothered to put them in place at any time. You weren’t the heir so you focused on other things, and now, you do not understand the sacrifices that we all need to make.” 

“I never wanted to be the heir!” 

“And it is not about what we want!” Khres snarled, wringing his hands. “Don’t be stupid, love. I’m trying to help you! You need to stop being selfish.” 

Aleph reared back as if he had slapped him again. Khres tried not to remember his shaking hands in his vision, covered with blood that was still so vividly warm. He didn’t want to think whose blood it was that painted his hands in his dreams and visions. He didn’t know if he would want the answer. 

“For the Family and for the Realm,” Khres continued. “I’ve always known what my sacrifices were for. I think it’s time you remember, my prince. I cannot help someone who doesn’t want my aid.” 

Aleph laughed coldly and without mirth. It ached to hear such a thing from him. “Is that all I am to you then? A sacrifice you must make for the sake of the realm and your family?” 

“I didn’t say that,” Khres said just as coldly. 

“No,” Aleph replied. “But everything you’ve done has shown it.”