Ambitions of a Prince

Honyan stood over a table, reading the warrants and wanted papers of Jitan criminals. But as he began to spread the sheets out on the table, a gust of wind came from an open window and blew the papers around the room.

Honyan leapt into the air and caught most of the sheets in bunches with his lightning fast hands before landing. The ones that he didn't catch were gathered by his four guards, who caught them in a similar manner to him. They then promptly handed each sheet of paper to Honyan and pulled the wooden screen of the window down, locking it shut with a snap and blocking out the daylight of the mid day sun. After they were finished, they stood by Honyan, waiting for any orders that he might have for them.

"Thank you", Honyan bowed his head slightly in gratitude, only for them to bow their heads even lower. Honyan knew that as a prince he shouldn't be bowing to people below his station, but he had hoped to experience a somewhat normal life when leaving the palace for this assignment. His men however wouldn't comply to his wishes, preferring to be punished for insubordination instead of for disrespecting his rank.

Honyan sighed in disappointment. But he couldn't blame them, they were ordered to respect the royal bloodline, anything different would have meant execution or worse. But that didn't mean he had to feel like he was babied by them while they guarded him.

"Guard me from the outside. I want to be alone", Honyan dismissed them.

"Yes, sire", they said. They all bowed their heads in unison and left the room, shutting the door behind them. If they were in the palace, they would have called him "your highness", but since they were on a secret mission, they were ordered not to.

After they left, Honyan placed the sheets of paper on the table again, using a stack of silver coins to stop them from flying away and went to open the window again. "Nobody asked them to close this for me", he mumbled to himself as he struggled to unlatch the window.

When Honyan finally managed to open the window, he stood back and admired his work. 'See, I don't need anybody to open and close windows for me. I can do it all by myself', he thought proudly. While he looked out the window to the busy inn workers bustling around, wondering what other simple tasks he was capable of doing himself, he heard a knock at the door.

"You may come in", Honyan said while still looking out the window. The door then opened and Honyan heard the guards' footsteps patter inside.

"Can I ask what you're doing?"

"Just admiring the view", Honyan replied without looking, recognizing the voice of his teacher and old friend, Dohin.

Dohin walked over and looked out the window. Honyan turned and saw his old friend, standing in front of the same four guards he had sent out earlier, and wearing commoner clothes. They all were. But Dohin still stood out among them, even with just a simple dark green sleeved tunic and a pair of tan trousers, he still carried the image of someone important. He had a muscular build and a face battle hardened by scars and a slight tan, while Honyan was on the slenderer side and pale without so much as a scratch on his face. He would never admit it out loud, but compared to Dohin, Honyan thought he looked closer to a girl than a man with his delicate features.

"Nice view", he said."But it would be nicer with some guards in here to protect you."

"No one knows who I am. Why do I need to be protected all of the time?"

"Because", Dohin leaned in and whispered, "you handed out a bunch of silver coins to beggars on the street earlier today."

"Who told you that?", Honyan glared at the guards, who were doing their best to avert his gaze. When they had first arrived in the town, beggars scrambled to their feet and approached Honyan and his guards with pleas for help. When he was in the palace, Honyan had read about the poorer side of their society and their day to day struggle for survival. And when his tutors explained that his plan of giving them money would not fix the problem, that they would just lay about waiting for it instead of working for themselves, Honyan remembered feeling utterly disgusted. 'How could these people find work if they were living in destitution? With their bellies empty, where would they find the strength to do anything?' He remembered thinking back then. Since that day, Honyan thought he understood their plight perfectly from the small passage he had read.

But when he came face to face with it, Honyan was at a loss. The passage did not prepare him for the desperate looks in their eyes as they begged for money, throwing away all pride. They had discarded parts that Honyan considered the fundamental pieces of humanity for survival. In that moment, the best thing Honyan thought to do was to give them all money.

He could still see the smiles on their faces beginning to form and the dim light in their eyes brighten when he handed each of them a few silver coins. The joy on he saw on their faces as they scurried away with their newfound wealth gave Honyan an overwhelming sense of satisfaction. But from the look on Dohin's face, Honyan could tell he did not approve.

"Doesn't matter how I found out. What matters is that you can't be doing that. It's dangerous. If word gets out that there is some stranger handing out silver coins, it will attract a lot of attention."

"My mother helps the unfortunate all of the time. I don't see why I can't."

"That's different. Your mother isn't hiding her identity from the public when she helps, and she for certain doesn't just give out handfuls of money to poor street urchins. She builds them homes. She finds them jobs. She gives out food."

"I don't see the difference", Honyan marched back to his table with Dohin following behind. "It's still helping people."

"It's different becau-", he looked down at the table. "What is this?" Dohin asked as he pushed the silver coins aside and picked up the stack of wanted posters and warrants. "Why do you have these?"

"It's…studying material", Honyan turned his back to Dohin.

"Studying material?" Dohin asked, perusing through with the posters and warrants one by one.

"As a monarch, I should be aware of the dangers of the world", Honyan replied. "And if they so happen to cross our path, maybe we could capture them." Deep down, the prince knew he was foolish. His martial arts were good, enough to be even with some of the palace guards, but he was a mere ant compared to some of these criminals and a speck of dirt to be brushed off by the others.

Dohin put down the sheets of paper and shook his head. "I know you're trying to get recognition, but in my humble opinion, you're getting ahead of yourself sire. We haven't even caught these ordinary bandits yet and you're trying to catch dangerous high-profile criminals.", Dohin said

"Ambition is what makes a man great, is that not what you once said?"

"Yes, I did say that", Dohin admitted, "but I also said you have to understand your capabilities as well."

"I do understand them. I know I would never be able to survive, much less capture these criminals on my own. But with you and your band of famous soldiers, I think we have a good chance at capturing them. I'm not looking to be hero Dohin; I just want to help."

"These people", Dohin spread the sheets across the table, "they're not to be underestimated. I am confident in my skills and that of my men, do not mistake that, but I would never guarantee that we all would come out unscathed against any one of them. I didn't agree to this when you begged to join and your father, the third prince, most definitely did not either. This is too dangerous and you're too important."

Those last words angered Honyan. The words were the barriers against anything he wanted to do; they were a cage that kept him from experiencing the world.

"What's so important about me exactly?" Honyan exploded. "Is my importance that I give these guards jobs? Is it important that I'm twenty ninth in succession to the emperor?" The guards quickly shut the door and gave each other grave looks. But Honyan didn't care and continued. "I'm not important Dohin. I'm just like every other royal in the palace; a leech on the people who actually contribute to the empire."

"That's not true", Dohin said.

"Yes, it is", Honyan said quickly before Dohin could add any other formalities and lies he heard thousands of time before. Mostly they were about how he helped the Emperor manage the vast empire or some type of similar related drivel. "But I don't want to be like the other royals. I want to help. I want to matter. I want to be like you: an accomplished lieutenant with winning battle records and accolades. Someone who would be missed when they died."

"You will be missed when you die."

"Not like you. The people would scramble to replace you. But me, I'm just another prince with another one waiting right behind me. That's why I wanted to come out here with you; to make a difference", Honyan slumped down on a chair, his elbows on the arm rest and his hands propping his chin up.

Dohin held his arms behind his back and let out a deep sigh. "I am proud that you are ambitious and always seeking to better yourself and your surroundings. But as a prince, you can do more than seeking glory in battles and a body count like I did. What I am capable of is nothing compared to what you can do. I can't feed the hungry and clothe the cold. I can't create the laws to protect the weak. I can't even choose who I can and can't fight. Those are all things you can do"

Honyan rolled his eyes and glared at the wall. It was more of the same drivel others had told him before. He agreed that all of things Dohin mentioned were important but he didn't understand that Honyan was being shackled by trying to stay safe. If it was too dangerous for him to just give away money, how could he accomplish anything else?

Dohin smiled solemnly at Honyan. "I will take my leave now sire. I still need to make sure the inn is secure. You should get some rest before the scouts come back with information on the bandits. When they do, we'll have to move quickly", Dohin began to walk out the door. The guards looked at him as he walked by, their faces unsure if they should stay or leave. Dohin gave them one nod to assure them they should stay and left the room.