What we did not think of

Hikary walked through the dining room one more time. All was set in place perfectly. This would truly be a wonderful diner. As if they had not made their statement enough. The entire day, her mother had talked with Katine, showed her the castle, the plans for the garden, and they had made plans to visit some of the new farms in the country tomorrow, if weather allowed it. Of course they would talk about more serious things, but her mother truly wanted to show Katine that all was going well.

Satisfied that all looked perfect, Hikary left the dining room and went to the next room, the living room where her mother, sisters and Katine were talking and waiting for dinner to be ready. “Dinner is about to be served.” She announced, and everyone quickly got up and followed her. Stelline had also joined them, and her two little children as well. They actually got a place at the table too, in the corner together with their mother.

Regina sat down at the head of the table. On her right sat Taira, on her left sat Katine. Hikary sat down next to her older sister while Yuuro sat down opposite from her, next to his mother.
“I hope you will all enjoy the meal.” Regina said.
 Directly after her words servants came in with a small plate with salad on it. This would be an impressing meal indeed, by the look of how the plate was arranged.

“Regina… there is a request I would like to make.” Katine said.
“I was pondering over when I should ask you, but I decided now would be the best time, so you can think about it for a while and give me your answer when I leave.” Regina looked up, and Hikary saw her mother was mildly surprised. Hikary, too, was curious what Katine was talking about.
“Of course. What is it you wish to request of me?” Regina asked.

Katine glanced at her youngest son for a few moments before answering.
“I would like to ask if Yuuro can stay here for a while, to study.” Katine said. “Yuuro is, and has always been, very interested in history. As you know we have a very large library at Kise ourselves, but I am afraid Yuuro has already read everything even remotely related to history, and yet he wishes to learn more.

And I know, Regina, that during the past few years you have been collecting old books and other curiosities. What’s more, your own education far exceeds mine. Therefore, I would like to ask of you, if Yuuro can stay here with you, and learn more.”
Looking at Katine while she uttered these words, Hikary could see it was hard for her to admit there was something she could not do. From what she had heard about Katine from her mother, that she was mildly obsessed on royal powers and on showing the world that she had them, it must have been hard on her to admit, here in this grand dining room, that there was something she could not provide her children.

“Oh, Katine, that is not a request I would have to think about for weeks!” Regina exclaimed, smiling. “Of course Yuuro can stay! If he is that keen on history, I will teach him all I know. Plus, he can help out my daughter Hikary with her own research and learn much through that as well.”
Yuuro’s face lightened up as he heard Regina utter those words. Hikary stared at him, realizing that this, well, kid would apparently from now on be her assistant.

“That is wonderful, Regina.” Katine said with a wry smile.
“It is absolutely no problem. It will be wonderful to have you here, Yuuro.” Regina said, smiling at the boy.
“And I am sure I will have a delightful time here at your palace, your majesty, and I am confident I will learn a lot from both you and your daughter.” Yuuro said.
Well, from what Hikary had seen the boy was sincere, friendly, and if he was as serious about his studies as his mother had implied he probably also was a hard worker.

The rest of the dinner proceeded smoothly, with lots of talk about, mostly, little children, as both Katine and Regina were grandmothers now, and Joyeuxe and Éclat seemed to need more attention as the dinner progressed. In the evening, Hikary joined both queens and Taira for some pleasant talk in the living room. In this friendly, peaceful, normal atmosphere Hikary found it hard to imagine that the next morning she had to get back to her work that should save the world from certain doom.

Yet, the morning came all too quickly for Hikary when she was woken up by one of the servants whose name she just could not remember. She quickly brushed her hair and then left her bedroom. She rushed down to the dining room where breakfast would await her, her family and their guests. When she entered, she found everyone was seated already and she was in fact the last person.

“Good morning, all.” Hikary smiled.
“Good morning, Hikary.” Mumbled some. Hikary sat down and quickly realized Regina and Katine were discussing their plans for the day. She grabbed herself some bread and, ashamed for being up latest, she decided to keep low profile during breakfast. However, her mother soon called for her.
“Hikary, Katine and I have just discussed our plans. We were wondering if Yuuro could spend his day with you? As he is going to work with you, it might be nice if you two got to know each other.”

Hikary looked up and noticed Yuuro was also surprised. Yet another thing the grandmothers had decided without asking their opinion.
“That is fine with me, mother.” Hikary smiled.
“Great. That is settled, then.” Katine asked, and Hikary was amazed that even now Katine would not ask her son’s opinion on the matter. Hikary smiled at Yuuro, wondering if he had been treated like this his entire life.

“You sure live a fancy life.” Yuuro said as they walked down the hallway after breakfast.
“Heh… it seems that way.” Hikary admitted, though she was still not sure what to think of it.
She knew her mother wanted to establish in the world that they were regaining some of their former power, so that ponies respected them and would help them with their search for the stones, but she was not sure if she agreed in the way her mother did it.

“So, this is where we will be working mostly from now on.” Hikary said as she opened the door to her study room. She almost closed it again as she realized how extremely messy it was.
Letters, books, papers… they were scattered all over the room. Her desk had disappeared beneath the piles of paper and her shelves had books on them in the most awkward positions.

“Uhm, okay.” She stammered, not knowing how to get out of this. What would Yuuro tell his mother? Whatever it was, Regina would not be pleased. Hikary never let anyone enter her room, so she had never truly noticed the mess either.
“I guess I start out by cleaning, uh?” Yuuro smirked.
 “Well… let’s do that together, okay?” Hikary smiled, not wanting to have Yuuro face that enormous task alone and also not truly willing to have him be the only one to know where to find everything.

“Shall we start with the shelves? If we clean them up we have space left for other things there.” Yuuro suggested. It sounded as a good plan, so Hikary agreed. Together, they started to take all the books off the shelves and put them back in order.
“Hey, Yuuro…” Hikary asked after a few minutes.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Is this… truly what you want? It seemed to me as if your mother had decided this without asking what it is you truly want.”

Yuuro smiled. “Yes, she is that kind of person, unfortunately. Even though Stanno… you know, as kids, mother was not happy with Stanno and me. She loved us, as a mother, but as queen, she was ashamed that she was so weak as to produce two boys. It all changed for the better a few years ago when Stanno finally found the courage to stand up to her, but she still… wants us to follow the path she lays out for us. But on this matter… well, I guess my own choice didn’t disagree with her. Ever since a few years… I love history. I love studying. I really want to know more. So, yes, I guess this is what I truly want. If I can learn more here, then I gladly do so.”

Hikary smiled at the boy. “I am glad to hear that. I have no problems with you helping me on my research, and I’d love to share everything I know about the history of this planet with you, but I only wish to do so if it is something you truly want to know. Otherwise… I’d be wasting my time.” She confessed.
“Yes, I understand, and I agree.” Yuuro said as he put another book on the shelf.

“So… you are aware of why I am studying here? And what?” Hikary asked.
“Yes. Well, sort off.” Yuuro confessed.
“Well, let me explain it to you in my own words.” Hikary told the boy about the first stone, and how she had retrieved it from the mountains in the old world, and about the prophecy she had received from the stone. She explained to him how her sisters had located a second stone in Batafurai, and how only a few weeks ago they had returned with the third stone from the river Fiume, and what change that had brought upon the river, and through that, upon the land. Finally, she admitted she still had no clue where the other two stones were, but that time was slowly running out.

When she was done explaining, they had cleaned up all of the shelves and were now working on all the paperwork she had spread over her desk. Hikary had always been so absorbed in her work that she had never paid any attention to the mess she was slowly creating, but she was happy that she could spend some time putting things back in order now.

“So… you have looked all over the place? Researched everything?” Yuuro asked, looking a little discouraged now.
“Yea, I guess. I’ve been buying old books and other items that could possibly give me a clue of their whereabouts like mad, but I have never been able to find anything in them. I guess it was a waste of time and money.” Hikary sighed.
“Maybe… but it’s too important to just sit around and wait for clues to reach you, right?” Yuuro asked.
“Right.” Hikary confirmed.

In silence they continued to pick up items from the desk and place them on piles. She saw Yuuro pick up an old piece of parchment and she had no idea what it was. She truly had gathered too much stuff here.
“Hey, Hikary…” Yuuro whispered.
“Yes?” Hikary said absently while she opened up the window. Apparently she had also gathered too much dust in the few weeks she had been working here.

“When you said you talked to everyone, and researched everything… did you mean the entire continent?” Yuuro asked.
“Well, yes, of course. Well, I limited myself to the east of course, I can not even communicate with the west and there probably aren’t…”
Hikary instantly turned and stared at Yuuro. She now recognized the parchment he was holding. It was an ancient map of the west she had found inside one of the books she had purchased that had ended up being no use at all.

“Aren’t there? Didn’t you find the second stone in Batafurai? Isn’t that in the west?” Yuuro asked.
Of course. Batafurai was not only in the west, it was the only place where the powers of the west were gathered in such high amounts. And the second stone was there, distributing those powers.
The stones are not limited to the east alone!

“Yuuro… You’re suggesting they might be in the west!” Hikary exclaimed.
“Well, yes. I don’t see why not… two have already been found here, and one there. And you have found no trace of them here in the east even after all the research you’ve done. And from what I’ve heard, these stones hold huge powers. If they had been in the east… well, don’t you think you would have found them by now?” He asked.

Hikary could not help but laugh. She had been such a fool spending her time in even more books, and now this boy came along and told her within an hour she had been so wrong. Of course it made sense. There was only one thing left to do for them now…
They had to go into the west and look for the stones there.