✒ Happy Birthday, Professor Albright!
@audaciis:
The little prince eagerly tugs at the end of the other's coat, and as soon as the professor's focus shifts he is presented with the brightest of smiles and an improvised birthday bouquet. Well, more a haphazard assortment of flowers plucked directly from the royal gardens, really, but is it not the thought that counts?
At no point did Cyrus suspect that the young prince might have remembered his birthday. After all, who would keep their tutor in mind when it came to such things? Cyrus was fond of the king and his son, but he was not family. If anything, he considered himself of little importance; a peripheral figure in their lives most likely forgotten the moment he left the room.
Clearly, this was not the case.
“For me?” he asked, accepting the rather unusual collection of plants. “Why, thank you, Your Highness! How wonderfully thoughtful of you!”
Getting down on M’hilo’s level was tricky given how tiny he was, but Cyrus made the effort. He knelt far enough down to wrap his arms around the prince’s little body, holding him tight to show appreciation. In moments like that, Cyrus could almost imagine what a father must feel holding his own child. What a glorious thing... It was a shame Cyrus could only get this small taste of it.
“It is so sweet of you to remember me on this day...”
