"Isn't life down here just wonderful?"
Zane remained silent, not even looking at his mother. His brothers were seated before her, listening with awe as she told them stories of the kingdom's past rulers, such as their ancestor. Personally, Zane didn't care about those stories. He heard them all the time, they were the only stories that royal Mer got to be told. Sometimes, if they were lucky, a guard or servant would tell them a story that the other guppies their ages got to hear.
There was a specific topic of stories that Zane liked to hear; stories about humans.
He knew that humans had been a dangerous threat to the entire species of Mer, but the stories of how their two worlds collided were so... interesting. There was one story that the royal Mer and the peasantry, though. The story of how the humans went extinct, and the barrier that surrounded the kingdom.
It had started out happily, with the first queen of the Mer meeting the first king of the humans. It had told of the peace and harmony that had formed between the two species, and how they helped each other in many ways. However, the queen was found dead by the hands of humans. This had made the king of the Mer furious, and he launched an attack on the land, killing all humans. All Mer, noble or peasant, were called back into the kingdom, and the barrier was put up.
Life had been utterly boring since.
Life as a royal Mer was so boring, that Zane would've died a thousand times if he was a peasant. His schedule was very simple; wake up, accessorize (a very important part of a royal Mer's life, according to his mother), have breakfast, attend the royal court meetings, attend his studies, eat lunch, attend more studies, eat dinner, clean himself, clean his accessories, sleep, and repeat.
Zane had observed the peasantry from the palace, and the guppies in that class had a lot more fun than he ever did. They got to fight each other with toy spears made from coral and shells, chase each other through the kelp beds and seaweed, make silly faces and noises, and turn their rooms and gardens into weird makeshift forts.
"ZuZu, is there something on your mind?" His mother asked him, caressing his face.
"It's nothing important, mother." He assured her, backing away from her touch.
"You can talk to any of us if you have any concerns, my dear." She reminded him, before looking out into the corridor. "And you can always talk to your personal guard... here he comes now, actually."
Zane turned his head to the open archway of the room, seeing his personal guard enter. He pulled his protective mask up higher on his face, feeling the light blush return to him. He would never admit it to his family, or any member of the royal court, that he had a crush on his personal guard. It was considered dishonorable and complete savagery for a royal like himself to fall in love with someone of a guard's rankings, especially if they weren't even the general.
"Queen Zianna." Gene addressed his mother, doing a bow. "Prince Garroth, Prince Zane, and Prince Vylad."
"Gene." Vylad, Zane's younger brother, said with a small hint of disgust. "You look as unsanitary as ever."
"Vylad, that is not how a proper ruler addresses their subjects!" Their mother scolded him, giving Gene apologetic eyes. "My sincerest apologies for his rudeness, Gene."
Gene said nothing in reply, because there was nothing left for him to say. Off all the attendants in the palace, the guards were the least authorized to speak to both the royal family and royal court. It was a shame, really, how the classes of society were degraded in such ways. It made even Zane feel a bit of pity.
~~~~
"Carry these until we get to my study."
Zane dropped a pile of study tablets onto his personal guard, paying no attention as he fell down from the sudden carryon weight. Zane did look back once he got to the archway of his bedroom chamber, patiently waiting for his personal guard to catch up to him. He wasn't allowed to go anywhere in the palace without his personal guard, once he was dismissed from the royal court meeting.
