Above All

-Forty-Six-

Love grows music plays

Final straw stay very close

Calming in a pond

Layton:

         Damn, I messed up. I think I really did. My intentions was never to cause Amani any frustrations by speaking to my "mother" about our relationship but I guess I had gotten ahead of myself, wanting to seize the opportunity of the lies previously told to my brother and I to my advantage...

            So, we could finally be together without any obstacles blocking us from doing so.

            But in doing so, I may have possibly scared her off which was never my goal; why was I so dense at times! I knew Amani to be the type of person to plan her moves before executing them; I was still learning the ways of not doing everything on impulse behavior, it was difficult but I was willing to be patient and learn for her.

            At the Day of Doves ball, I had spent the night eager and wanting to be with Amani; I thought that after this engagement, the future ones I'd be able to have her own my arm officially, she'd be able to sit at this prominent table where all the highest nobles of regards sat.

            She would sit beside me, as the next future Empress of Idizia.

            If there was anytime I felt readier and more prepared to be Emperor, it probably had to be now as I thought of my potential future with her. Somehow, someway, Amani had gotten me ready for this new stage of my life and I had a lot of that to be thankful for that was for sure; it was just unfortunate due to the circumstances I was filled with the knowledge that I wasn't truly supposed to be on the throne due to my father's infidelity. I still had yet to talk to that bastard about it, mother had promised me not to say anything to him as part of our agreement.

            So as far as my father was concerned, everything was as calm as a still pond.

            I just couldn't believe he was so hard on me my entire life when it was him with the issues! I mean, maybe it was just me... but if you didn't want to be with someone all you had to do was leave; I did it all the time to women I wasn't interested in...

            Leave.

            But I guess like many people in Idizian culture, my father was blinded by the flashing lights of living in the palace, being respected as "The Emperor" and saw nothing more than his own selfish desires as an end to a mean.

            Him along with my little sister Karmi, both tended to live in their own perfect bubble; she was way more focused on getting bodily enhancements to worry about something as serious as legitimacy to the crown. I remember sitting at the prominent table overlooking my mother, sister, my brother who sat along with Lesedi who at times seemed to be like a dear caught in headlights; all the attention on her and her pregnancy was very new for her and I couldn't quite gauge how she was feeling at the moment, I was sure eventually Amani would show up and check on her.

            Dormeno Zyair, his son Oli Rehan, and Her Royal Majesty Empress Zenaida were all here as well; I was glad to see the former Empress's health was improving enough for her to join us for this evening ball, it had been a while since she's shown up to an event and everyone had feared the worst. I couldn't help but seem to notice she seemed a bit agitated though, her eyes scrutinizing as she looked across the table, watching... observing. I had attempted to avoid her gaze, that woman would not hesitate to tell you about yourself so it was best to keep quiet at times.