The next few days were…difficult, to say the least. Kyoumi tried to ask the surrounding towns for some help in locating Taiyo, but she hadn’t received any response. She was afraid that they saw her as selfish—trying to find her second son when the eldest was still with her. She never had an immense amount of respect; compared to Okimi and Utaka, she was weak as a leader. She would never understand how Utaka could handle becoming king so soon after Okimi died without breaking—she admired his strength in that area, at least.

Sorai was with her doing work, despite protesting that she should take some time to rest. They weren’t going to ask much of Rei until he would actually talk with them; he made Kyoumi think of herself, and it worried her. He hadn’t taken it well when Masaru died, and they hadn’t even been extremely close—she could only imagine how much harder it was when his twin seemed to have fallen on a similar path.

Kyoumi finished reading through one letter and sighed. “Another town declined to look,” she murmured. “They cited insufficient military to conduct a search as their reasoning.”

“We might not have the strength to fight any kind of war, but I’d imagine there should be enough to send out a dozen or so people to look around for the prince.”

“They don’t want to listen to me. Unfortunately, it’s as simple as that.”

After a moment of silence, Sorai gave him the familiar, kind smile. “I can send something out to Ninsei and Tezo—they’ll look around, if nothing else.”

“I ask too much of your family,” Kyoumi said quietly.

“We don’t mind,” Sorai assured her. He reached over and took the paper she was looking over. “Now go rest, please; either that or check up on Rei. Looking at all of these reports won’t make you feel any better.”

Kyoumi frowned. “And you claim that you’re immune to it?”

“I’m not the one who has a history of dark thoughts,” Sorai pointed out with kind insistence. “Let me handle this. You and Rei need more support than I do right now.”

“That doesn’t reassure me.”

“Be honest—does anything?”

They both fell silent again, and after a minute Kyoumi sighed and stood up. “I’ll make sure Rei is all right,” she decided. “I’ll come back in an hour or so.”

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“Take your time,” Sorai said gently. “There’ll be plenty left for you to do, despite what I would prefer.”

Kyoumi nodded, then left. She went to Rei’s room, noting the closed door; his way of making sense of this was to stay put. At least he actually talked when Masaru died; only one friend had tried to speak with him in the past week.

She lightly knocked on the door. “Rei. I wanted to talk with you for a few moments.”

There was a bit of shuffling on the other side. “…I’m here.”

“Have you eaten anything yet?” It was as good of a place to start as any; she knew none of them had met up for any meal after that first morning.

“I got a little, yeah.” There was a short pause, then a brief sign of emotion in the form of worry. “Is there any word on Taiyo yet?”

“We’re still trying to get people to help,” Kyoumi admitted. “Your father’s going to ask Ninsei and Tezo to look around Fujita lands.”

“It’s been long enough…he could have left Gin by now.”

Kyoumi picked up where her son’s thoughts were headed, and tried her best to reassure him. “The only way he could’ve left this soon would be south, and even then that’s more than a week’s trip.”

“Still, that’s too far for Fujita territory to reach.”

“I don’t believe anyone would take him just to leave the kingdom altogether.”

She knew she likely wasn’t helping—Sorai was the one who could reassure others, not her—but she couldn’t imagine being told nothing. She was never directly told anything while Utaka and Erize were alive; she heard it all from someone else, and that only made whatever it was worse. She wouldn’t leave Rei to figure this all out on his own.

Kyoumi was about to offer parting words before Rei spoke up again.

“What would we do…if we don’t find him?”

A normal mother would dismiss his fears with a promise. Kyoumi, however, was afraid of giving that kind of comfort. “We would miss him, and we would mourn. That’s all we could do in that situation.”

Carefully, she opened the door. Rei was sitting on his bed with a few books scattered around him; whatever he thought would keep his mind off of things, she guessed. Kyoumi tried to offer the best smile she could muster.

“But it’s a bit too early to be worrying about whether or not Taiyo will return. Take some time to rest, and tell me or your father if you need anything. Promise me that you’ll try, Rei—try to ask for help when you need it. Don’t be like me and ignore your own thoughts for mine or your father’s peace of mind; we want to worry over you, so please let us.”

A little bit more emotion came onto his expression—a relieved breath and a small, thankful smile. “In that case,” he said quietly, “Could I join you in the office?”

Kyoumi smiled and nodded, glad that he seemed to be a little better. He took one book with him, and followed her back to the office. Sorai offered a smile as well, leading that time to be the first ‘normal’ day since Taiyo disappeared.

In a way, it felt wrong to be happy for a few moments. Still, she held on to it—she knew from experience that she would need those memories to recover should the worst happen.