"It is exactly as you described," Mr. Ryo admitted as he stood in awe watching the castle.
The Lichtenburger restaurateur had been starting to have his doubts when he and his son Ichiro entered the seemingly normal building, but now that they had stepped out of the elevator he was cured of all skepticism and second thoughts.
It was exactly as Ichiro had said. A medieval European castle had been erected inside the empty hull of the office building. From where he stood he could see Lichtenburger flags and banners waving atop the towers and turrets Guards in traditional armor were visible in the distance, but they appeared to take no notice of the new arrivals.
The guards probably ignored their presence because they had been expected. It was unlikely that they would have been allowed to get to this point alive without being invited.
Ichiro gasped next to him and Mr. Ryo followed his son outstretched finger.
A girl was running along the parapets clad in nothing but a veil.
"It really is all exactly as you described!" he reaffirmed soberly without taking his eyes of the heartwarming sight.
Father and son stood silently united in their aesthetic appreciation of the sheer beauty of the scenes.
It was probably a good thing that none of the womenfolk had come along. Mrs. Ryo could sometimes be very intolerant about his purely artistic admiration of the female form. A character trait that was quite dangerous in a woman who often had a heavy pan or a rolling pin within easy reach of her hands.
Not long after the girl had disappeared in one of the upper story windows with an elegant leap another figure emerged from the castle-gate beneath.
As the person came near it became clear that he too was exactly the way Ichiro had described him. An iron mask covered his face, gilded armor adorned his chest and a cape emblazoned with the royal crest of Lichtenburg was flowing behind him.
Mr. Ryo frantically tried to remember the correct way of greeting the person who most likely was the rightful heir. He had not really kept up with the languages and traditions of the old country; just enough to come up with suitable exotic sounding names on the menus. What if he tried to address the prince and insulted him by accident? Better to speak Japanese then instead of messing up. And what should he do? Bowing down would again be the Japanese way, but Europeans bowed too, didn't they? He was pretty sure that a woman would curtsey. He had seen in movies and pictures how knights and warriors went down on one knee before their liege. That was something his father could have done, but Mr. Ichiro did not think it would be the right thing for him to do. What was left? He could not very well shake hands with royalty.
And what if he did not want to be acknowledged as royalty until after he had won back his principality, there had been something like that in a movie he once saw, where the heir refused to take the crown until certain tasks had been performed first.
What if the person coming towards them was one of the seemingly lost wanderers, striding around incognito until the crownless again should be prince?
The stranger before them absolved him from further speculation by simply greeting them with an: "Hello!"
So informal it was.
"This is my father," Ichiro introduced him to the stranger.
The man in the iron mask gave him an undecipherable look.
"Er, " he began cautiously," you are not angry about the coin-thing from last time, are you?"
He was talking about the tokens he had given Ichiro in place of a tip the last time he had ordered takeout. Not everyone would be happy to be invited in such an oblique way into what might become a dangerous struggle for the freedom of their country. Many would probably have preferred not to be involved and ignored the summons, but Mr. Ryo was a patriot and he hastened to assure the prince of that.
"Of course not, we feel honored to be chosen by you," he told him.
"Er, you are welcome I guess," the prince answered before changing the topic seemingly at random. "Your food is really quite good after all. Good solid traditional Lichtenburger cuisine."
Mr. Ryo was somewhat nonplussed by this compliment apropos nothing, but his son once again proved to be faster on the uptake.
"We always try to hold up the old traditions at Light Castle Restaurant. It must show through in our meals." Ichiro offered.
Yes, that was it. Royalty seldom talked about important stuff openly and directly. They always were diplomatic and concerned with things like plausible deniability. The prince was speaking in metaphors. He was complimenting them for their food when he meant to compliment them for their loyalty emphasizing tradition to drive his point home.
Ichiro choose this moment to give the prince the bags of takeout they had brought along as disguise. The man in the iron mask took them and made a show of smelling the food as if they really mattered.
"Those smell really good," he let them know, "I look really forward to eating it."
He seemed to think for a moment as if to weigh if he should really ask the next question.
"Maybe you could give me the recipes for some of that stuff, if it is not too much to ask? I mean, I guess they are family recipes and you normally guard them from others, but...." he trailed off.
This time Mr. Ryo had no problems understanding the question and assured the prince that he had the full support of his entire family (i.e. the exile community that he had contact with) and that they were willing to work for him even if there were risks involved.
"That will be no problem at all. I can get you the family recipes, lists of ingredients and everything, I know they will be in good hands with you. The boy will simply bring them along the next time you order takeout. We can give bring you all the information you need," he promised the prince.
After that they went through the hassle of actually receiving payment for the delivery to keep up appearances and bid the prince farewell.
In the elevator back to the lobby Ichiro finally asked nervously: "Dad, what did we just agree to do?"
"Isn't it obvious? He called on us to make contact with all the other exiles loyal to the cause and now he wants recipes. He wants information. We will make a big list of people that can be trusted and bring it to him. You see?" He explained to his son.
When they left the building they were so proud of the responsibility that had been laid on their shoulders that they hardly took any notice of the disturbed young man with the wooden stick and the paralyzed ninja going the other way.
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(Posted Thu, 16 Dec 2004 04:43)
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