Chapter Text
“Papa! Look! They’re so PINK!” Kosuke screeches, twirling around a handful of the flowers he’d plucked from a small tuft of grass where stone had once been. The road they walk is old and broken—and missing cobblestones are commonplace.
“Yes, they are, Ko,” Sumeragi smiles down at his son. “But flowers are living things just like you and I. When you pick them, they die, and then no one else can see them bloom. So next time, just watch them from a distance,” he finishes with his authoritative yet loving voice.
Kosuke gasps dramatically, and his eyes well up with tears. “Oh no! I’m sorry flowers. I just wanted to show you to Papa! Please don’t be dead!”
Sumeragi sighs and kneels down next to his son, halting their stroll through the town and inadvertently catching his daughter’s attention as she’s roused from her nap on his shoulder. Kamui sleepily turns to Sumeragi and Kosuke—who is now cradling the flowers like being gentle might raise them back to life.
“Listen, my children,” Sumeragi starts quietly, “Death is permanent. Once something dies, it can never live again. Do you understand, Kosuke?”
Kosuke looks at his father with a wobbly frown and gently lays the flowers back on the ground. “They can’t be turned alive anymore,” he replies, sulking to the point that it’s hard to understand him.
Sumeragi suppresses a smile at his son’s words. “They live no longer. We should never try to take any more lives than we have to, so let’s all be more careful from now on.”
With a last sniffle and a nod, Kosuke drags an arm across his face to dry his tears and he takes his father’s hand. Sumeragi stands and readjusts his grip on Kamui so she can rest her head on his shoulder again—which she does, but not so she can sleep.
“Papa? Is that why you have to go to the meeting?” Kamui says quietly, looking up at her father with curious eyes.
“It’s called a Peace Summit, and yes. This way, we can lessen the tension between Hoshido and Nohr and hopefully avoid outright conflict. In truth, I was hoping to do something like this for years, but I never thought King Garon would agree to it. I am happy that I was mistaken. It is never easy to initiate diplomatic relations with another country, and I’m glad he was willing to try despite that in order to organize this,” Sumeragi replies. He knows his daughter is more observant than her twin, and he isn’t surprised by her question.
Kamui mulls over his answer. They pass a food cart selling slices of some kind of melon, and a sign that Sumeragi walks by too quickly for her to read. “Will there be kids to play with?” Sumeragi doesn’t miss the anxious twinge in her voice.
“There will be one—though in truth he’s almost a young man. The king of Nohr claims his eldest son and heir will be in attendance so he can observe proper etiquette at the Peace Summit,” He felt Kamui relax into his shoulder at his response. That was good. It wouldn’t do for his children to appear intimidated at such an event.
“Is he nice?!” Kosuke said, tugging on his father’s arm excitedly.
“I cannot say; I’ve met neither the king nor his heir.” Sumeragi replies. They were nearing the center of the village—which is where the Peace Summit would be held—and there were much less people around than he’d hoped for. Sumeragi stifles a sigh. It was to be expected, though it was still disappointing. Relations between Nohr and Hoshido wouldn’t change overnight; the townsfolk probably saw the Nohrian banner and fled. Sumeragi hoped more would come out once they realized he wasn’t walking into a fight—in fact, he wasn’t armed at all. It was to be a sign of welcoming and goodwill—as was bringing some of his children. He hopes Ryoma won’t be too long—the boy had wanted to wander about the town on his own before the summit began, and he was old enough now that Sumeragi had agreed, so long as he wasn’t late.
Kamui looks around them and frowns. Where was everyone? She supposed that she thought this meeting would be something of a festival—tense at first, maybe, but still a celebration of two countries coming together for diplomatic talks for the first time in…well, a REALLY long time. So shouldn’t there be more party guests? She was going to ask her Papa about it until he set her down—much to her displeasure—next to her brother, who immediately latches on to her closest arm and starts swinging it around, full of energy despite the long walk here. Kamui scowls up at him, yawning as she’s pulled around by her brother.
Her Papa smiles at her apologetically. “It’s traditional to walk in together,” he says by way of explanation.
Kamui’s expression further sours. “Can’t be traditional if you’ve never even done it before,” she pouts, stumbling over the word ‘traditional’. Her father just pats her head in lieu of a response and walks ahead of them, leading the way down the street.
“Come, you two, it’s just past this next corner…”