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.

[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...

[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.

[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?

[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.

[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.

[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 =)

[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 . . .

[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 ^_^

[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)!