There was something Izana needed to discuss with Zen, so he had him called over to his study. It wasn’t anything serious, per se, but taking about it should happen sooner or later just to get it out of the way.
When Zen didn’t show up at the appointment time, however, Izana was starting to feel a little annoyed. His brother usually wasn’t someone to be late for a meeting, so something (or someone) must have distracted him. With a sigh, the king took it upon himself to see just what on earth took Zen this long.
After wandering through endless corridors, he eventually spotted the young prince at the bottom of the stairs. He opened his mouth to scold his brother but stopped when he noticed he didn’t seem well. Zen was holding his head, facing the ground. “Zen..?” His brother instincts taking over, Izana walked closer and carefully rested his hands on his little brother’s shoulder. “What's wrong?”
These words hit him like a shot through the heart. Usually he would have assumed his brother was joking with him, but the look on his eyes, this look of lost confusion, told him otherwise. Zen was being completely serious and it broke Izana's heart.
"I... I'm your brother, Zen. Surely, you know that..." A part of him still hoped Zen was fooling around even if everything seemed to say otherwise.