Saiunkoku: The Age of Silver: The Color of the Phoenix's Tail - Part Five

[branchandroot]

Fic post from my archive.

The Color of the Phoenix's Tail: Part Five

Seien is learning how to deal with the ministers. Drama, I-3

Seien sighed; some days he felt more like a nursemaid than any kind of ruler, even one in training. Keeping the ministers away from each other's throats sometimes reminded him quite a lot of trying to keep a five-year-old Shuurei from dunking herself in the fish pond.

Comments

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

*laughing* Oh man. Just like stubborn children, aren't they?

*amused* At least Seien has his Seiran-time to call on.

[branchandroot]

And a darn good thing he does, or he might have resorted to his Little-Whirlwind-time, by now. Which would, to be sure, take care of the problem, but leave him with a whole lot more.

Seien: *looks wistful*

[written-in-blue.livejournal.com]

*pets him* Think of Sa, dear. *evil grin*

[majochan.livejournal.com]

BEST SEIEN EVER.

Seiran's babysitting skillz comes handy in politics!!!!!!!

I am terribly amused and as usual, so filled with glee and squee that I'm less than coherent. <3 <3 <3

Majo-needing-a-<3Seien icon...

[branchandroot]

*beaming* Thank you!

You have to figure, as fixated as he is on the young'uns, that's /got/ to be what a lot of snappish, quarreling ministers would make him think of. *snerks*

Seien needs all the hearts he can get, because it's all starting to come down on his head.

[majochan.livejournal.com]

I totally need to make some Seiran or Seien <3 icons........

And I forgot to write in the previous comment that I look forward to more.^^ Seien really should be glad that he's had babysitting experience, cuz like mentioned above, going Shousenpuu on them would only temporarily solve the problem (Then he'd have to run the country all by himself!)

Squees,
Majo

[branchandroot]

*grins* I swear that's the only thing holding him back.

More coming next week!

[sparrow-wings.livejournal.com]

*giggly* Well, babysitting is his forte... I like the way he uses Kei to make his point, instead of hitting them over the head with Imperial authority.

[branchandroot]

Thank you!

*wry* Yeah, especially seeing as he's still only the heir; and one of two possible heirs, at that. He's definitely got to learn the negotiation thing.

[lady-readwolf.livejournal.com]

oh! lol! I love the comparisions drawing from his experiences with Shuurei, and his thoughts of what Shuurei would be like if she were sitting there in that room. He still knows at this point that it was her dream to become an official, no? I makes me wonder how long he'll piece it together and open the exams to women.

Also, at this point, where are Reishin and... and... and... Dammit! I *almost* had his-- Kijin!

Hmm, when with Seien take the throne officially?

[branchandroot]

Thank you!

*grins* Seien will get around to the exam thing. Comparatively quickly, too.

Since this is three years before canon-start, Reishin and Kijin are heads of their respective departments. We'll meet Reishin soon.

Seien will take the throne when his father dies, which happens one year before canon start; so about two years from this point.

[visenya.livejournal.com]

*laughs at Seien's babysitting* Oh, just imagine how the officials would react if he did actually go arouond offering them sweets! I'm sure that Ryuuki would understand his logic.

[branchandroot]

*giggles* An everyone else would probably be very startled, especially when they found out Seien made the sweets himself!

Glad you liked it!

[masqueer11.livejournal.com]

*snickers* Arara, I could imagine Seiran put chibi Shuurei on his lap while she scolds all those silly-willy ministers. The girl sure burns an impression on Seiran. I tell you, someone has to write an AU fic where Shuurei's the Empress.

[branchandroot]

*laughing* You know, I'm not sure but what she already is, both here and in canon! She's certainly got the Emperor wrapped around her little finger in either case.

[masqueer11.livejournal.com]

Imagine if Shuurei's of marriage age, I could imagine Seiran's scowl at the number of potential husbands other than his own little brother. Boy, the husbands-to-be are going through a hell of a period with the Emperor Seiran.

[tatsu-ko.livejournal.com]

First to reiterate that I'm so happy you're writing Saiunkoku fic !

Second, I hurt my brain reading the comments because when masqueer11 mentioned chibi Shuurei on Seiran's lap, my thoughts made a sharp turn & I visualized both the chibis, Shuurei & Ryuuki, riding on Seiran during his daily duties ala Yachiru/Zaraki from Bleach.
*ow*

Looking forward to the next installment =)

[branchandroot]

Thank you! I'm having a great time with this series, I must say.

*visualises chibis*

*brain twists*

Oh man. Yeah, that's an ow. Especially since, you know, with the bad sense of direction and all, I have to immediately /also/ imagine Kouyuu as a chibi hanging on up there.

[tatsu-ko.livejournal.com]

Oh jeez, I didn't even think about the sense of direction angle.
*recalls Yachiru giving "directions" to Zaraki with commentary from Ikkaku (who I just remembered shares Kouyuu's seiyuu - eek!)

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

I'm slow in reviewing, for which I apologize profusely. Granted that the reason for this has been the large amount of writing going on, but even so . . .

Ah, Seien is practicing politics. I take it that the Emperor is still absent. And Shou's making him work for every inch of it, too, how very Shou.

Don't worry, Seien, hopefully the competent officials will start moving to the fore soon. Think of how much smoother everything will go once you have your "cabinet" selected and trained!

In the meantime, he's going to get a lot of practice in keeping his poker face, and his "yes, good, here, take the carrot, take the carrot, there's a good offical"-face, on. ;-)

. . . did that make sense? Probably not, but it did in my head . . .

[branchandroot]

*laughing* That is exactly the expression I see in my head, yes!

And cabinet members start to appear next! Soon after which Seien has to deal with the Emperor's death, poor guy. And he thought he was already under pressure...

*wry* Yeah, I expect I'll not be posting until Wednesday this week, having too many appointments to keep. Writing is a /much/ better reason.

Glad you liked it!

[penguin-sensei.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love how Shuurei's spirit is, in the end, what saves poor Seien when he tries to deal with his responsibilities :D Even in this AU, Shuurei and Ryuuki are what keep Seien sane. Well, in the "canon" universe, Ensei helps with that, too, but Seiran will never, ever want to admit this ^_^

[branchandroot]

Oh yeah; Seiran is so self-reliant and untrusting, except with a very, very few. Poor guy. That actually seems to be coming up as a plot-point later on in this 'verse. To do the work of Emperor, he has to expand it beyond Shuurei and Ryuuki and Shouka. *evil grin* And Ensei, eventually.

Glad you liked it!

[penguin-sensei.livejournal.com]

*nods*

That's the way I see it as well. Well, of course, my own theory also involves aliens, but I'm not sure you want to hear about it XD

Yep, I really liked it. Sorry I wasn't able to review these parts earlier!

[thierrys.livejournal.com]

I just read the whole "Age of Silver" arc from back to front, so I feel fully qualified to review =D Wow! I love the characterization of Seien -- I think it gets Seiran's placid character as well as the "don't mess with me, I'm the PRINCE" vibe that he gives off in the later episodes of the anime. I was interested in how you have Shuuei as transferring to the military after taking the exams. I had been trying to figure out the logistics of how he took the exams AND was in the military, so that works out nicely. Kind of suspicious on Shou Taishi's part...

The interaction between Ryuuki and, well, everybody -- especially Shuurei and Kouyuu -- is really adorable. How old is he in this? Apologies if it was mentioned and I missed it. And Seien's quick dismissal of Sai's marriage proposal was funny. The line about Sai's "tight, dark look" reminding Seien of his brothers was pretty cool.

Looking forward to the next segment (or, for that matter, the next fic)!

[branchandroot]

Thank you!

*grins* Shou-taishi is undoubtedly having a grand time, arranging things behind the scenes; I think it's his hobby. I've been reading through all the novel translations and summaries that people have been kind enough to do, and trying to integrate that, as well as impressions from the anime. It's been fun working on it.

The next bit should be on its way soon!