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Takumi walked slowly towards the bottom of the garden, flowers clutched tightly in his hands. Truthfully, he was quite nervous about being seen - what would people think, if they saw him out here, of all places? But he wanted to do this, if only to help alleviate some of his own guilt, and so he trudged on.
To his surprise, he wasn’t the only person in this area of the garden. Takumi rounded a row of hedges to see the king kneeling in front of two headstones, head bowed. Takumi noted with a heavy heart the fresh roses laying on the graves. Turning around, unwilling to interrupt the king, Takumi accidentally snapped a twig underfoot and cursed when he saw the king’s head snap up. He sighed, knowing he was caught and couldn’t leave now. Takumi walked slowly towards the graves, kneeling down gently beside the king. “Your highness,” he greeted. “I apologise for interrupting you.”
“Not at all,” Leo gave him a sad smile. “It’s nice to see someone else out here.”
Takumi hesitated. “Do they... not get many visitors?”
Leo shook his head. “Effie and Arthur visit, as do Laslow and Peri. But even though it’s only been six months since they passed, we’re the only ones.” Takumi could hear how the unshed tears stuck in Leo’s throat, choking his words, but decided not to comment on it. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he replied in lieu of saying anything else.
Leo stayed silent for a moment, staring unseeing past the headstones, no doubt grappling with his own grief. Takumi let him, instead turning to study the words engraved on the stones - the graves of prince Xander and princess Elise. Takumi’s heart ached for Leo - he couldn’t imagine the kind of grief he must be going through. Or, Takumi thought, mind casting back to his mother and father, maybe he could.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Leo spoke up, “why are you here? We don’t exactly get along with one another, and you never even met Xander and Elise off of the battlefield.”
Takumi cleared his throat and fidgeted a little in his seat. “I thought it was about time I came to pay my respects. I brought some flowers too, I hope they’re appropriate... Niles told me princess Elise would have liked them, so I do hope he was right.”
Leo smiled softly at him until he saw the flowers Takumi had brought with him. Eyebrows raised, he turned back to Takumi. “Those are-
“Purple hyacinths, yes. Unfortunately, flowers from Hoshido would not have survived the trip here, so I had to buy some from a local vendor.”
“Do you know what they symbolise?”
“Regret,” Takumi answered, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. “I do regret what happened to them, and quite frankly the war as a whole. I know Corrin made the only choice available to them, but I can’t help but wonder if there was another way, a route we could have taken which would have avoided all this unnecessary bloodshed.” Takumi sighed, pensive. “I may have held quite the grudge towards Nohr, but I don’t truly wish war on anyone - it always destroys more than it fixes.”
Takumi snapped back to reality, suddenly hyperaware of Leo’s eyes on him. “Ah, my apologies.” He coughed awkwardly. “You didn’t need to hear me of all people prattling on about ‘what if’s.’ I’ll leave these flowers and be on my way.”
Takumi gently laid the flowers down, Leo watching, not quite knowing what to say, how to convey just how much he resonated with what Takumi had said. “Before I go,” Takumi stood and turned towards Leo. “I brought some flowers for you, too. I was going to give them to you later, but now seems a good a time as any.”
“Flowers... for me?” Leo looked on in disbelief as Takumi rummaged in the deep pockets of his robes. When he handed Leo the flowers, Leo noted with some surprise that his hands were shaking.
“I hope you know what these ones mean,” Takumi said, “otherwise this is going to seem really weird.” He took a deep breath. “If you’ll excuse me, you highness, I’m doing to head back up to the castle.”
Leo nodded at Takumi, and watched him walk back through the garden until he was out of sight before turning to the flowers he held in his hand - a yellow rose, and a small branch of apple blossoms.
“Friendship and peace, eh?” Leo chuckled. “Consider your offer accepted, prince Takumi.” Leo stood, brushing the dirt from his cloak. Now, he thought to himself, I must put these in water as soon as possible. It would be rather rude of me if I let them wilt.
... and perhaps I should get him some flowers, too. A purple rose would do nicely.