idealism | Fuda # 6

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Fuda # 6

[It's a beautiful, sunny day. The temperature is apparently between "boiling point" and "molten lava", and every sane person is inside, hugging their air conditioner.]

[Except for this guy. Tsuzuki is searching the grass outside House 49. He looks downright distressed, sitting on his knees and brushing his fingers through the lawn and dirt. When he's down with one patch, he hurries to the next one, not caring much about the heat even though his body does.]

It has to be around here somewhere...

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It must be a very important item to you for you to be searching for it so desperately.

[He's brushing through the grass with renewed vigor now that he knows what he's looking for.]

It is. Don't you have something you'd not want to part with?

[Tsuzuki takes a deep breath, then looks up to see if Richard's making any progress.]

Something I don't want to part with...?

... no, I can't say I really have anything like that. I suppose that probably sounds strange, but I just didn't become all that attached to anything I owned because I had so many things.

Really? Not even a favorite toy when you were a kid?

Well, I did have a teddy bear...

I knew it. Did it have a name?

[He laughs.]

Sir Jonathan. I thought that sounded like a fitting name for a knight.

[That, he decides, is adorable. Tsuzuki ends up laughing a bit.]

You had a teddy-bear that worked as your knight?

Yes, though I suppose it is rather ridiculous when you look back at it.

No, I thought it sounded sweet.

It seemed like a better idea when I was a child, like many things. Though I confess-- I still have him somewhere in my room.

Aww. I have to admit, I'm a little sentimental. If I had a toy like that, I'd keep it around, too.

Did you know a lot of knights?

[He shakes his head.]

Only one, and he wasn't technically a full knight yet-- just a student in the Knight Academy. But he had the strength and honor of a knight even so. He wanted to gain the strength to protect everyone who was important to him, so that no one he loved was hurt ever again.

I have never known any knights. I have known a samurai, though, which is almost the same.

If your friend studied to be a Knight he must have.... [Tsuzuki's voice softens, because the description feels too familiar and because warning bells went off in his head.] Richard, did your friend become a bad man, eventually?

A bad man? No, exactly the opposite-- he risked his own life, was even willing to fight against his own friends, to protect me. His heart is far too pure for him to ever be corrupted by any power.

[That makes Tsuzuki relax and give him a genuine smile.]

That makes me really happy. You deserve some real Knights that are willing to risk their lives for you. What was his name? And why did he have to fight against his friends?

[Richard's returning smile is a fond one as he thinks of his friend.]

I don't deserve it any more than anyone else does, but his name is Asbel... Asbel Lhant. As for his friends, he knew he might have to fight them when he made the decision to protect me. My family was... betrayed by some of the knights. Asbel chose to take my side over theirs.

If I ever hear a Asbel comes here, I'll tell you about it right away.

[Tsuzuki rest his chin in his palm, engrossed by what is told to him.]

What happened to the rest of your family? It would be difficult for one knight to save more than one person.

Thank you.

... he wasn't able to save my father.

Oh no...[Tsuzuki's wings droop with understanding. He reaches out to place a hand on the prince's shoulder.]

Richard, I'm so sorry.

[He shakes his head quietly.]

My father had always been ill, so I'd been prepared for his death for a while... just not in that manner.

No, I understand. No one should have to die like that.

Did you find the one that murdered him?

[How to explain this without giving away too much...]

We did. We were on our way to fight him when I was brought here. But whether we'll win or not... I don't know.

[Good question! Tsuzuki wonders at the choice of words.]

Why didn't you tell the police, so they could arrest him?

The Royal Knights are the police in Balonia, and they were the ones who betrayed my family. Going to them would have served no purpose.

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