Theodore West is undeniably gorgeous and Henry knows it, but Cecilia also is aware of this information by association as she is the only person right now who knows Henry's secret identity and evidently a secret crush that is ongoing since he was younger.

What's he doing here?! Henry thinks to himself as he quickly parks his head focusing only on his mother's conversation with the young woman.

His mother notices a change in his demeanor and facial expression and asks him what is wrong. Henry quickly responds that nothing is wrong and everything is okay forcing a smile on his face, but his mother sees through the cheek to cheek crescent moon he paints on his face as mothers do. "Would you give us some space, if you be so kindly," she asks politely to the young woman whom Henry shared a danced with earlier. She nods and curtsies the queen and leaves with a chuckle as she glances lastly onto Henry before departing outside the conversation bubble that the queen is about to enclose more.

She knows clearly he is not at his top performance tonight not because he is sharing his birthday with strangers, but because he is to be the crowned prince of the kingdom and for the first time, she sees the weight of the world on his shoulders as his face suggests to her, but what she does not know is the weight that is on his shoulders is much heavier than running an entire kingdom prosperous from its previous ruler, but also breaking traditions as there is currently still no document that a previous ruler had been similar to Henry.

That is another thing Henry is confused about: documented. There could potentially have been rulers in the past who has had the desires and experience them, but with the weight of the crown and the many rules and regulations it comes with, there is potential that part of history was eradicated and is no longer available for research. This depressing tale continues to linger in his chest everytime he thinks about it because he wants to a partner whom can rule with him undoubtedly, but also someone he wants to be beside with. Someone he loves wholeheartedly. The question continues to remain this very second lingering in his thoughts what's he doing here?

Henry returns his spacial awareness back to respond to his mother reassuring her that all is truly fine, but asks to be dismissed from the conversation and said he is going to be with Cecilia if she does need his presence.

He walks down the grand staircase, eyes still maneuvering between the steps as he proceeds cautiously downstairs and Theodore West standing by the curtains across the room. He walks over to the caterers where Abdul still continues to reside standing still like a statue, but Cecilia is nowhere in sight to be found. "Have you seen Cecilia?" he asks Abdul, but he responds with a shrug as if he could care less about the young woman's whereabouts. Tsk! he thinks to himself. "Fine, I'll just find her myself," he responds. And, so his quest to find his best friend continues.

He maneuvers through the dancing crowd as he looks between the individuals on the dancefloor like he is in the woods looking between trees for his next catch or meal of the day. Although the one meal he wants is not who he is currently looking for, he is determined to find Cecilia because maybe she has some insights on the reasoning Theo is here in the same room as him especially when no one other than his best friend knows his undying crush on him since he was a young lad.

As his breath shakily vibrates along the music in the ballroom, time seems to be fleetingly slow looking through the heads of the dancing crowd. The music eerily slows down and the people is now fainting shadows moving like trees with the breeze and there he spots a figure along with another familiar shadow by the curtains a few feet from where he stands. Cecilia!

Henry blinks a few times to get spacial awareness back on track as the party music shifts to its regular pacing, but his breathing still much faster. He walks towards Cecilia and squints to find who she is talking to and as the figure emerges clearly finally, he is shocked. Theo! She was giggling, chuckling, and laughing it out with him. She better not make me look bad! he thinks to himself as he reaches them.

"Oh, hey Henry," she starts with her pitch higher than usual, "Theo and I were just talking about you!"

Wonderful! Henry thinks to himself. He is nervous that she might accidentally slip in his ongoing and undying crush on Theo. He splits his gaze between Cecilia and Theo with a more severe stare at Cecilia in an attempt to signal her with noncommunication cues to start the conversation again because once had arrived and she greeted him, the room seems to be at a stand still and the music returns to its slowly eerie sound. Each word from the song distorted, but still very much clear and audible though he pays no attention to it.

Cecilia raises her eyebrows in wonder then nods as her facial expression shows the signals have transmitted and received. "Have you guys met?" she asks Theo. He chuckles and responds that he watches Henry during magic practices or at least when Henry is practicing a spell from a scroll while Theo is on the other side of the fence sharpening his wooden sword and putting on his chainmail for his daily practice.

"I've seen you during after hours of the school," Theo says with a dim smile on his face and continues, "have you mastered whatever spell that was from the scroll?"

Cecilia quickly turns her head towards Henry in shock learning he was using a scroll that could have potentially been from the locked library of the palace. Even she still is not aware of how to unlock it and her father and the crown forbids any to enter it. "And where did you get this scroll?" she asks with one eyebrow raised, one hand on her hip, and looking like a teapot now except she is not as steaming and screaming as an actual teapot on the stove boiling water.

Henry responds quickly to Cecilia first reassuring her that it had been in his chest by his bedside all this time and then turns to Theo and with a giggle, "no I haven't actually." Cecilia can see through Henry that the scroll was indeed not from the chest by his bedside, but possibly and more than likely one from the locked library as history of Gorgus previously stated that there were magic so powerful it almost destroyed the islands during its civil war or at least a war between the different islands before it had been consolidated into one kingdom by the Hale ancestors or so Cecilia vaguely remembers from the textbooks.

"Talk to you at school?" Theo asks. Henry hesitantly responds, but inevitably agrees and nods because finally he gets to at least hangout a bit more with him. "'kay good, looks like your ceremony is up," he says as he points up towards the grand staircase where Dorothea walks towards the center again.

His mother begins her speech as lovely as ever, ensuring the visitors are greeted and thanked for attending the grand festivities. She now introduces Selene, the head of the Solunar cathedral, main religion of the consolidated kingdom and Cecilia's mother, as Dorothea opens the floor for her to make her speech, beginning the ceremony.

Henry is guided by Abdul up the grand staircase once more and standing him beside his mother, both facing the crowd whom were in awe gazing up at the both of them, eyes sparkling at the scene. Selene retrieves the ceremonial sword that Abdul is carrying laid flat on its side above a fluffy scarlet pillow and proceeds placing it on its flat side on both her palms elongated from shoulder to shoulder as she starts her speech, echoing her voice, and staring to the crowd as Henry bows his head.

Does thou, Henry Hale, accept the responsibilities of the Kingdom of Gorgus and its inhabitants to rule with just and righteousness?

The speech continues on with several more questions with Henry responding with an assertive, "yes," each time to communicate his acceptance and allegiance to the crown wholeheartedly, but he stutters when Selene finishes with the following line:

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Does thou, Henry Hale, sweareth to thy life to protect the traditions and customs set forth by the forefathers of thy land?

It is like time stood still, silence lingering the room, he feels alone in a box with no one to hold. His eyes are still closed, yet the darkness he sees feels ongoing and his chest pulsing more than when the ceremony had begun. Traditions. He is stuck on this word because he knows traditionally he is to find a woman to court, marry, and secure the Hale family line that has ruled the kingdom since the consolidation of the islands centuries ago. Essentially, he knows that he has the weight of the history of his family weighing down on his shoulders.

He eventually responds as he is inclined to do so and Selene commands him to walk down the grand staircase and he kneels towards the crowd as he arrives and Selene follows him then finishes the ceremony with, "I, Selene Nadir, with the power bestowed upon me by the powers of the crown, hereby declare you, Henry Hale, crowned prince of Gorgus," and moves the sword still on its flat side from one shoulder of Henry's to another. She returns the sword on top of the scarlet pillow Abdul still holds and announces to the crowd with her echoing voice still intact, "long live," and all chant it back.

The festivities end with Henry undressing in his room with Abdul as the formal wear tends to be a bit more difficult not only to put on, but also to remove. As Abdul finishes up, Henry asks, "what was my father like?" Abdul pauses for a split second then stands up in eye view with Henry and inquires the reasoning of such a question this late at night after his crowning ceremony. "You must've known him," he continues, "you were his servant before me."

Hesitantly, Abdul responds with a vague answer of the greatness that his feather was before he went to his expedition that he has never returned from before his life being pronounced expired by the authorities. "You have no need to worry, my lord," he continues, "you and your mother are much more alike and will be a great ruler no doubt," he finishes reassuring the anxious crowned prince that he has no need to inquire more about his father whom he had never met though he wishes to as his mother has done an outstanding job as the kingdom's ruler.

"May your slumber bring you peace, my lord," Abdul leaves and closes the door.

Henry now remains alone in the darkness of his chambers with the only light peeking from the moon outside the cracks of the curtains. He is anxious, yes, but he knows he needs to sleep soon for he would need the sleep for the morning to come and then he drifts away until a few hours later when the sunlight kisses his eyes and he opens them to see Abdul opening the curtains, "the greatest of mornings to you, sir," he starts and lets him know that breakfast is ready in the dine hall with his mother awaiting for him.

It is the first day going to school as an officially crowned prince and Henry anxiously thinks his classmates, his educators, his friends, and even Theo maybe would treat him differently and no longer like a peer, but a royal. He gets into his school uniform, the traditional charcoal pants and white shirt with a symbol on the left chest of the shirt showcasing his name Henry Hale as he stares down the mirror and ensuring he is presentable before heading down the corridors.

Henry thinks it is odd that his mother is at breakfast today since it has been a while. Usually, she is only around during the holidays or special occasions, so he is wondering what today holds as he walks through the long winded hall, sun peeking through the windows, and lighting his face every so often. He greets the servants as he pass, most are dusting the top of the window seals, some are brooming around, and others watering the plants. Just another regular day he thinks to himself despite his mother oddly graciously honoring him with her time for breakfast today.

"Henry!" Cecilia calls out. Henry turns to her direction. She is peeking through her chamber doors, signaling him to come over and he do so willingly. She talks to him about the events last night, but mostly about his small time with Theo and her conversation with him right before he had arrived to intervene between them.

She asks what the crown has for him planned this afternoon because she had a plan to practice with him. She is still trying to get her powers to activate. "I want to at least get them before my year eighteen," she says sadly not wanting to disappoint her parents and hoping to get her mother's powers of light not because of its healing properties, but she just wants to materialize fireballs every now and then to juggle like one of the magicians at the circus during his prestidigitation.

He shrugs knowing he really does not know, but definitely plans on practicing the spell he had stolen from the locked library of the palace and, yes, he did admit this to Cecilia as well with her then responding with, "I KNEW IT!" screaming, but more so whispering loudly so no one hears their conversation.

They continue more for a few minutes until Henry finally intervenes and tells her his mother is waiting on him for breakfast and should probably go before she sends Abdul in search for him. "That's odd," she responds and Henry nods in agreement then they disperse.

Henry enters the dine hall and finds his mother across the room at the other end of the table. The doors made a creaking sounds loud enough for all people in the room to hear it announce his arrival. His mother signals him to sit next to her and commands one of the servants to retrieve his food from the kitchen which had been remaining on heat for a while to prevent it going cold as he was taking a while to get there. Henry and Cecilia can sometimes go in tangents during their conversations, so it does make sense. Henry's more so worse, surprisingly it does not affect his argumentative and speech skills.

Henry sits next to his mother as the servant arrives with his food, sets it in front of him, and lifts the bowl-like item covering, revealing an exquisite dish with rice and chicken still steaming hot clearly seen. He picks up the spoon on his right and the fork to his left and begin devouring the meal elegantly, of course.

As they eat, his mother strikes up a conversation beginning with the upcoming festival in a few days that will last an entire week. It is the quarterly festival that the kingdom hosts every season. Each island is responsible hosting one and is dependent on their season. The islands might have been consolidated into one kingdom, but they are still far from each other, yet almost equidistant to the mainland where Atrax, the capital, resides.

She ends her sentence with letting Henry know that for his first official responsibility as a crowned prince is to make the speech that begins the festival as she has been doing for the last eighteen years. Ugh! Henry thinks, but he does not realize his mother notices a change of expression on his face matches his mind. She looks at him commandingly of his duty to the crown.

"School is one thing, but the real deal is different," Henry tells her reminding her that while he gets the best grades in school, wins top in ranking for sports, and has won debates, life experience remains different, which he lacks, and not to mention the incident of his first appearance to the public where he held a speech that turned into a disaster.

Henry has never forgotten that day. He was in his twelfth year, officially entering his teenage era and the board of representatives that assists the crown in decision making suggested Henry to not only make an appearance, but also give a speech. As for writing it, they have taken it upon themselves to work with the communication staff of the palace to curate it carefully to ensure his public image remains intact as well, but his nerves choked him so much that when he finally opened his mouth, he vomited and painted the front row in what he had regurgitated. Thankfully, it was easy to rectify the event, but for Henry, it truly remains traumatizing and haunts him constantly.

"Worry not, my darling, I'll be next to you the entire way," she holds his hand as she finishes chewing her last bite of the food. Afterwards, she gets up and heads towards her chambers to prepare to meet with the communication team to assist her in curating a speech that Henry will eventually have to proofread and work with them through the editing process to ensure it sonically is him as he speaks it.

He finishes his meal and thanks his servants for the delicacy they had made that morning and returns to his own chambers to rendezvous with Cecilia and head to class. As he walks through the corridors, the vivid images of disgust of the faces from the people sitting on that front row continues to play over and over again, haunting him forever where forever lasts only a few minutes until Cecilia stops him mid tracks.

"Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost!" she exclaims and investigates further through a series of questions. "We could pretend you're sick, so you'd have to miss it!" she laughs at the idea that Henry can getaway without having to give his speech to hundreds of people. Henry chuckles and they leave the palace, but as soon as they exit the gates, they are swarmed with news reporters.

Three people holding cameras are taking pictures of them both with hardly a second to spare each shutter click. There is four people with microphones asking him questions. Startled Henry becomes overwhelmed with the swarm and the bright flashing lights. The palace security in the front finally arrive to push away the reporters and guide them both to safety and allow recuperation before heading out to school which is not that far, so Cecilia jokingly says to Henry that they can absolutely outrun them.

Just as their breath catch up from the feeling of overwhelming swarm, one news reporter is able to breakthrough the security and heads over to Henry and Cecilia. And at that moment, Henry hears it audibly, but distorted straight from the reporter as he mouthed.

"How do you feel about your father being alive?"