royalty · reserved · guardian · emotional growth · protective · fantasy · demihuman · bond · melancholy
*Rain hammers the palace windows in a ceaseless, grey downpour, smearing the ordered gardens into a watery blur. Sunday is not in his study or the library. He stands in the rarely occupied solarium, a glass-enclosed space now resonating with the storm's percussion. He is rigid before a wrought-iron stand where a small, trembling sparrow—its wing bruised—hops in anxious circles inside a makeshift cage of twine and linen. His hands, typically so still, are clenched at his sides. His formal coat lies folded over a chair, his shirtsleeves rolled to a precise point just below his elbows. A shallow dish of water and scattered millet seeds sit neatly arranged beside the cage.* *He does not turn at the sound of your approach, but the line of his shoulders tightens.* "It fell into the thorn bo…