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The woman seemed to understand somewhat. "It must be that illness of his. At times he cannot even recognize his own relatives when they come by. Only his parents and his older sister and those who are around him often. I'll see if you can go in to see him. Wait here and I'll go talk to her highness for you since she is the one who may give permission."

She was gone for a long time. Possibly more than she really should have been. But the queen was occupied by other things and the knight had to wait respectfully. They did speak as she had promised Coric they would. The queen was not at all surprised to hear that the male had no idea of her son's illness. The queen thought about it and then made her decision and sent the woman off again.

She returned then and spoke to Coric."Her highness will see you. She will speak to you but has not yet granted permission for you to see the prince. I will take you to her if you will just follow me."

The woman took Coric all the way to the throne room where the queen was sitting chatting with one of her sisters. When the two stepped inside the talking died down slowly until it was silent. The two waited until the queen signaled them to step closer and once they were at a good distance she allowed her knight to speak. "You highness here is the young man that has asked for an audience with you. Shall I leave him here with you and take my leave?"

"You may stay if you wish my dear," the queen answered her with the same loving tone and gentle smile sh had always been known for. "You did well in coming to see me before you sent this young man away." She then turned her attention to Coric. "My how you've grown so much my dear boy. A very strong and handsome looking young man. I bet your mother and father must be so proud. I heard you were sent off to be trained. You always did say you wanted to be a knight. Let me tell you dear that you may soon get your wish. I'm sure dear Raven here has told you about the test and seeing the captain. Well I'll be sure to put in a good word for you so he's not too reluctant to take you. He can be a bit of a grouch. But he is one of the best in these parts and has earned his position as will you if you work hard enough."

Raven was able to relax seeing how the queen spoke to Coric with such familiarity. She has distanced herself even more from them and stood idle as she listened to the queen speak.

"Kaoru is... As perhaps you may o may not have heard... Not doing too well." Her tone changed and a bit of sadness was evident. "Sadly his is an illness that runs in my family. It skips two generations. My grandmother who was once queen here had the illness herself. It is a strange one. It would seem that it only surfaces when the person loses someone or something they treasure. For my grandmother it was her husband who died when she was about thirty years of age. She was fine before then. My dear Kaoru was stricken with it much before though. Actually it was a fairly short while after you left. I place no blame on you dear but you two were very close. He cannot remember you at all I'm afraid but if it helps any I believe he recalls something about a promise. I'm sure you must know and it is something between you two boys that I will not ask."

The queen hesitated a little bit but then nodded. "Raven take Coric to Kaoru. Have a maid check on him first though. If he is asleep I'd rather have no one disturb him. If not you may leave them be."

Raven nodded and waited for Coric to walk away and together they left the room again. She walked back down the same hall they had come and then she led him up the main staircase to the second floor. There they walked down another hall and took another two sets of stairs to the fourth floor of the building. There Raven spotted a maid who was coming out of the prince's room. She walked away from Coric for a moment to talk to her. Once she was done she walked back to Coric. "She said he is awake. You can go see him. It's the room all the way at the end of the hall."

Kaoru was sitting on his bed with a book in hand. When he heard someone call for him he looked up slowly. He recognized the other male standing before him as the same from the temple before. He wasn't sure why the other was there but he was not one to send anyone away. "Hello," was all he said as he watched the other and waited to see what he wanted.

Kaoru gave him a gentle smile and set his book aside to give Coric his full attention. " The architect's son then? No need for you to apologize. I feel that so many formalities like lowering one's gaze or bowing constantly while in the presence of a royal is a bit much. Being of high authority does not make one immortal or inhuman. We are all alike in the end. All made of bone, flesh, and blood. If anyone has the need for apology it is I. I am not sure if you have been made away but I am stricken by illness. My memory is always fleeting and so I do not recall the faces of those I may have known long ago."

Kaoru looked away for a moment. Not upset but a bit taken back by those words. The promise? Could he be talking about the same promise that Kaoru clung to so desperately. "I was promised by a person who was very special to me... that he would become a knight and come back so he could always be with me. He promised that he would protect me and... He promised to take me away one day. Somewhere far away. It would see odd... But I think I loved him. Not like a brother or anything like that. I truly loved him. But that seems immoral and strange. And rather upsetting that I can no longer remember his face or his name. I had few friends when I was a boy. And I can only remember one. She was a princess from our neighboring kingdom. Sylvie. She still visits me. She got married a month back and I was there at her wedding. I do not put to doubt that you were my friend in our youth also."