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Keeping himself focused on cleaning up when Zaryen closed the door between them was a challenge, but it became outright impossible once Zaryen”s emotional responses started bleeding through their connection. Meveris tried to respect their privacy, he really did, but there was no way he could not listen in once he sensed Zaryen was in distress.

The urge to comfort his companion had been intense, but Meveris managed to stay away, reminding himself over and over that Zaryen needed more people than just him.

For all that it felt now like the two of them could sustain themselves and thrive on the companion bond alone, Meveris had been told repeatedly, by his older brothers as well as their partners, that this feeling wasn”t going to go on forever. A healthy companion bond would be the base of his happiness going forward, but it wasn”t going to be enough to fulfill him in all the ways. Since he had his twin, and the rest of the family, he knew he was going to be okay. He would never experience a lack of close bonds outside of his companion. But Zaryen didn”t have the same certainty, didn”t have others to count on—not yet.

And Meveris had promised himself on the day they”d met that he would help Zaryen find his people.

Now, as he walked with Zaryen and Feraan to get breakfast, he let their conversation fill the air as he observed their surroundings, noting that barely anyone gave them a second glance. It was a nice change from before.

Once the three of them entered the dining hall, Aderys straightened in his chair and zeroed in on them right away, but the moment he saw Feraan chuckling at something Zaryen said, he relaxed back in his seat. Then his gaze found Meveris, and they exchanged nods, which allowed Meveris to relax, too.

Their circle might be small, but it was expanding little by little.

As they ate, the calm, friendly atmosphere at the table was a breath of fresh air, especially after yesterday. Meveris still paid attention to what was happening around them, of course, and he took note of every passing look thrown their way, but it truly wasn”t as bad as he”d been gearing himself up for.

Apparently the majority of students at the Academy really did have their backs, just like the headmaster had hoped, even if not everyone agreed with what Zaryen had done—or at least how he”d done it.

The dining hall started to slowly clear out by the time Meveris, Zaryen, and Feraan were only halfway through their breakfasts, but the room was still quite full when a guy Meveris didn”t know came in with a handful of newspapers in his arms.

Every dragon at their table stilled, and so did Zaryen and Feraan, who were facing the door.

As the newspaper guy headed straight towards them, Meveris put a hand on Zaryen”s thigh.

Hook, what was it this time?

”I think you should see that,” the guy said, tossing a newspaper in front of Zaryen, then handing another one to Soryan when he reached for it.

Zaryen stared at the front page, where ”PRINCE HEIR SPEAKS UP” was blasted in big, bold letters, but he didn”t move to pick up the newspaper, so Meveris did it for him. He held it up between them to start reading the statement Caleen had apparently sent to all the newspapers in the kingdom, ”to do with it as they wished”.

Which meant that each and every one of them was now running it, of course, and with Caleen not mincing his words at all, Meveris could only imagine what the palace might think about the future king picking a public fight yet again.

”Our kingdom is based on not one, not two, but countless traditions—some of them have fallen to obscurity and some are still thriving today, but we also create new ones as the world around us changes and we discover more about who we are and what we can become.

We uphold education as one of our most crucial and cherished values, and we have done that generations after generations. Investing in said education and supporting our kingdom”s children in whatever educational pursuits they choose to embark on means to uphold a long-lived tradition of our society. We have never shied away from knowledge, and we shouldn”t start now. We shouldn”t let our fears, our doubts, or our disagreements turn us away from what is and always have been important to us. Education is a way out of helplessness and ignorance, and that should always be our goal. Only then can we not simply survive, but also thrive as a society.

In recent days, we have heard and read a lot about choice and about safety. These two are also crucial to our society”s well-being, and I am glad that we all seem in agreement on that.

Let”s remember, however, what those things truly mean. Let”s ask ourselves who in our kingdom gets to make choices truly for themselves and who has their choices limited. Let”s talk among family and friends about who and what puts those limitations on us and on other people. And let”s be humble when we realize our own privileges.

Choosing to go to the Academy, for example, is a privilege in itself, because not everyone gets to make that choice. The Academy is actually one of the very few schools in Teranea that requires tuition and is restricted to merely some, not all of our kingdom”s children. So, to go there is both a choice and a privilege for those of us who had an honor of getting our education in that particular school.

Moreover, that choice—if we agree that having a choice is still a value we hold dear—should not be taken away from anyone who has the desire and the means to attend the Academy, in the same way we should not take away anyone”s right to apply to Corinea”s School of Sciences, Land And Sea Research Institute, Vorghandis Academy of Arts, or any other of our academic institutions.

The belief that each and every one of us should be safe is also a shared sentiment among us all, I hope. We should be safe at home, at school, at work, and among our friends and colleagues. But, again, let”s remember what we truly need protection from. Schools, like all the other places, should be safe from physical threats and safe from ignorance, which, unchecked, can turn into violence pretty quickly. Both of those are things I have a personal experience with, as you all know, and I would not wish it on anyone, anywhere.

And especially not on any person in the kingdom of Teranea.”

”Wind”s curse,” Zaryen whispered next to him when Meveris dropped the paper on the table.

”Yeah.”

Lanveris snagged it and started reading, with Daryan and Valyn looking over his shoulder.

”He”s—” Zaryen started and paused, as if unsure what to say.

Meveris knew the feeling.

Naveen got up and excused himself, with Soryan following right behind, and Meveris wondered briefly what the younger prince thought of his own position. From the things Taveris had and hadn”t said over the years, it was clear to the entire family that Caleen”s relationship with his parents, and especially the king, wasn”t the best, but that he was very close and protective of his brother. However, Naveen was inevitably put in a position between them, and while he”d made his support clear when it came to the recognition of the own-preferring couples and their right to marry, he”d kept silent on any other topics before and after that.

”I”d never have thought that this could become another sandstorm big enough for the royals to get involved.” Zaryen sagged in his seat. ”They don”t expect me to make any kind of statement, right?”

Meveris shook his head, unsure if the flash of fear rushing through his body was his alone or a resonance from Zaryen, but either way, the mere idea made his heartbeat quicken.

Before he could say anything, though, Valyn got there first.

”I haven”t interacted with him a lot while he was still here,” he said, ”but from what I”ve seen, Caleen never expected any of the students to speak up outside of the school. He welcomed it when I made my announcement, but that was my decision, and no one else”s. If anything, people were trying to talk me out of it,” he added with a shrug, causing Daryan to squirm in his seat and Feraan to put his spoon down rather loudly. ”But Caleen also seemed to have very clear ideas about what kind of changes the kingdom needed. If not for the marriage issue, maybe he would”ve held back for longer, in deference to his father, but he wouldn”t have stayed silent forever.”

”He definitely wouldn”t,” Meveris agreed. Knowing his brother-in-law as he did, he was sure of that, at least. ”I”m glad he picked this fight, too.”

”Let”s not call it a fight.” Zaryen straightened. ”Let”s call it a discussion, or a difference of opinion, or something. If we downplay it, maybe it will stop being such an issue.”

Valyn frowned. ”And then what? Is it going to be fine for someone else”s parents to hold him back because they simply have a ”different opinion”? You can”t have it both ways.”

Zaryen flushed. ”No, that”s not… I didn”t mean it like that.”

”Whether you intended it or not, your case cannot be considered a one-off situation,” Feraan said. ”By doing what you did, you created a model for others to act in a similar manner.”

”I wasn”t trying to be a model for anything.” Zaryen put his arms around his stomach, and Meveris tightened his grip on Zaryen”s thigh briefly. ”All I wanted is to attend the Academy.”

”You can”t have one without the other,” Feraan told him. ”Any action against the current is an action that”s going to be noticed and judged, for good or bad. You don”t have to speak up if you don”t want to, especially since your actions spoke plenty already, but you can”t stop people from having a reaction, either.”

Meveris looked at Lanveris, then at Aderys and Daryan. As dragons, they could never fully understand what it meant to grow up in a society like Teranea, where someone”s relationship preferences or their willingness to fall in line were somehow an indicator to many about whether or not said person should be treated with respect. Paryada had its own problems, too, of course, but the more Meveris learned about Teranea, the more striking the differences between their two lands were.

He wondered if it was too early to start advocating for a move to Paryada once he and Zaryen were done with the Academy. Taveris was stuck here, for obvious reasons, but Meveris wasn”t, and he believed they could be happy back there, doing whatever they decided without worrying about everything being a possible cause for a scandal.

Yes, okay, it was too early, but it wouldn”t be so forever.

He would be more than ready to make his case then.