"Ryuu, the war was avoided, surely you can rest now?" Erik puts his chin on my shoulder and tickles me under my feathers.
"Just a minute," I approve another funding order and check how many there are left. Twenty-seven. Our Minister of Finances Evaniel did a very good job at preparing everything, but the final decision still has to go through me. Even though I told her that she has my utmost trust and my blessing to authorise it herself, she claimed that she would feel much better with my approval.
"You said that half an hour ago," Erik complains. "It's almost dinnertime."
"Your Majesty, I've finished your itinerary for tomorrow," Luviael approaches my table and hands me a tablet.
"I have an objection," Erik frowns after studying it briefly. "Only two short coffee breaks?"
"I'm sorry, Royal Consort, but we don't have any time tomorrow, the diplomatic visit is approaching fast," Luvi apologises. "War has been avoided, but there are hundreds of other matters that require His Majesty's immediate attention."
"Wait, where's my flying session?" I panic because there's no time slot for that anywhere.
"Ehm... we could skip one day?" my adjutant bites her lip nervously. She must have anticipated I won't like it one bit.
"I will go crazy if you don't let me fly regularly," I protest. "And I won't be able to concentrate with sore wings. Give me at least twenty minutes."
"It's never only twenty minutes with Your Majesty," Luvi sighs. "First of all, you need to change your clothes, then the guards have to secure the perimeter in the air and it's a real chore to make you return after such a short time when you don't have nearly enough."
"I'll take not nearly enough over nothing," I say vehemently. "You can't keep me on the ground all day, I'm the embodiment of air and I need my daily exercise. This is part of my well-being, just make time for it, I don't care how."
Luviael bows, apologises profoundly and runs off to make adjustments to the timetable.
"How come you don't feel the urge to fly every day?" I turn to Gotrid, annoyed with my adjutant and her attempt to rob me of my joy. "Don't tell me your wings aren't sore when you can't use them for hours."
"I can skip a day," Gotrid shrugs. "Sure, I would love to fly every day, but if that can't be done, we don't suffer nearly as much as you."
I puff irritably and stretch my wings to the sides. I did go flying today, yet I'd welcome one more chance to fly before dinner.
"Hon, you're making a mess," Erik scolds me because I accidentally swept a stack of papers with my feathers.
"Aefener, what's that?" Liana speaks up from her desk and rolls her eyes. "Have I just felt a breeze? Casting air magic inside is dangerous."
"I didn't do anything," I shake my head.
"You often do magic subconsciously," Liana stands up and walks to me, but instead of further scolding, she gently caresses my feathers. "I'm sorry," she sighs. "I know that you need to fly much more than we do, but there's just so much work only you can do and not enough time."
"I do realise that," I say, but I intend to stand my ground. "And I'm trying to stay calm and focused all the time, but this is torture."
I wasn't thinking much about the word I just let out of my mouth. People use serious words in not-serious or downright funny situations all the time. Yet, the word 'torture' lands heavily for some reason. Everybody in the Royal Office stops working and looks at me in panic. I blink, confused. Did I say something wrong?
"Is this how you feel about it?" Liana is shocked and her hand petting my wings freezes. "Oh, Aefener... I... we..."
"I didn't mean it like that," I wave my hands because everyone started to feel seriously disturbed because of it.
"You did, love," Gotrid laments. "And we were too preoccupied to notice that we've been torturing our Emperor all this time. We're freaking out about your well-being, yet we fail to give you the one thing that's most important to you. We should be ashamed."
"I'm really sorry about this, Aefener," Liana is deeply saddened. "I'll talk to Luviael and the Ministers and we'll find a way how to make it work."
"How about—instead of finding time for flying sessions in between meetings and tasks which is tricky—make it the other way around?" Erik suggests practically. "Make his flying session a priority and structure everything around it."
"That will be challenging, but we'll do our best," Liana approves. "Aefener, please, tell us your wishes and be blunt about it. You've been hiding discomfort for too long and we've been too blind to see that we're hurting you."
I look at Liana, then at my partners and everybody currently present in the room. I guess now's the right time to let my wishes be heard.
"I want to be able to fly twice a day," I say and bite my lip because I know I'm asking for a lot considering my packed schedule. "An hour before lunch and an hour before dinner."
"That's...," Liana gulps. She wants to fulfil my wish, but what I'm asking for is too much.
"I'm willing to combine afternoon flying sessions with training," I add quickly. "Besides, it would be much safer to cast advanced spells in the air where we have proper space and don't have to be afraid of freezing or putting on flame nearby objects."
Liana's face brightens.
"I'll talk to Taranah, but that could actually work," she says enthusiastically. "I agree that training in the fitness suite is too limiting and suitable only for beginners. We need to be able to execute spells in the air when many things can potentially distract us."
"Also," I cough to clear my throat so that everyone in the room can hear me, "we seriously need to strengthen our wings. Flying around the skyscraper isn't enough. Celestials should be able to fly for hundreds of kilometres without any problems, yet you barely caught up to me when I flew away from you in the States."
"You're right, of course," Liana admits. "Ideally, we should be using our wings more than our legs. I understand and get your message loud and clear, my Emperor. We'll make necessary adjustments."
Wait, I got through? That easily? I expected Liana to list a thousand reasons why it's not possible. What gives?
"Aefener," Liana pronounces my name with sadness and slowly continues caressing my feathers. She's feeling what I'm feeling right now. Just as with my partners, I don't usually hide my emotional state from her when she touches me.
"We know that we're being overprotective and we know that you don't have any freedom as a result," she says slowly. "But we want to see you happy regardless, the Emperor's wellbeing is our priority. Yet, we were stupid enough to deny you the one thing that makes you most happy if I don't count your partners—flying. Please, forgive us."
"You should have said so sooner, my love," Gotrid takes my hand and kisses it. "We had no idea the absence of regular flying was hurting you so much. You never say anything."
"Does he ever?" Erik sighs. "You know Ryuuto rarely complains. Imagine how insufferable it must have been for him to finally speak his mind."
"That's exactly why I feel so ashamed right now, it's us who should have known better," Liana lowers her head. "Aefener is both the embodiment of magic as well as air, how could we have been so ignorant? We haven't been protecting our Emperor, we've been torturing him all this time."
"It's not that horrible," I say quickly because I can feel that everyone is really shaken by it. My guards are stepping nervously in one place and Luviael is hiding her face behind the tablet, embarrassed to the bone.
"Frankly, I sometimes get cramps in my wings," Miruel guarding the door dares to speak up. "His Majesty is right, Celestials belong in the sky."
"We lost a track of what's truly important under that pile of never-ending work," Liana nods. "Erik is right, we should structure our schedules around regular flying sessions, not trying to squeeze them in between."
"Just to be clear, it's not only about my wish to fly more," I emphasise. "Our bodies are frail so we have to make sure we don't get hit in the first place. We should be able to do aerial acrobatics, fly for hours and hundreds of kilometres without a sweat. So far, I highly doubt we can."
"The Emperor has spoken," Erik claps his hand impatiently. "All the same, today's work is over. I don't care that you still have documents to look at, hon. If it's not a matter of life or death, it can wait until tomorrow."