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“In a surprising turn of events, the Citadel has announced that the planned twentieth birthday celebrations for Prince Noctis will be combined with the Pearl Jubilee celebrations for the reign of King Regis. In a press conference earlier today, Citadel spokespeople claimed that the combined celebrations were due primarily to the royal family’s busy schedules.

The celebration, which will be held at the Lucian Institute of Art’s grand ballroom, will mark the first public appearance of His Grace King Regis in over two years, and a rare formal outing for the prince, who has largely attempted to avoid the public eye since his injury eleven years ago.

The guest list for the celebrations are a who’s-who of businesspeople, celebrities, politicians, and nobles. The Lucian Institute of Art also announced that it would be conducting a charity auction, including several pieces donated from the royal artwork collection, with the proceeds going to charities helping refugees from the war with the Niflheim Empire.

We go now to our royal correspondent for his views …

As the cafe owner turned the volume on the radio up, Noctis’ eyes flicked towards it for a second before he focused his gaze back on his burger, pretending he couldn’t hear the news report and instead methodically picking the vegetables out of the bun and dropping them onto Ignis’ plate.

The cafe was nice, the kind of small, homely place that you could really only find in the Crown City’s side streets now that McDonalds, Subway, Pizza Hut and their ilk had taken over most of the city’s fast food needs. Noctis had heard the owner say that they were once the favoured cafe of punk rock stars, but the only evidence of that was a framed black and white photograph of a singer best known for a synth-pop cover of Dash of the Chocobos.

Still, whether the cafe had ever hosted actual rock stars or not, the owner clearly believed they had, and in his mind, titans of music were far more interesting than a royal retinue. The day the owner had realised Noctis was the prince, he’d launched into a monologue about how he’d once served a burger to the King of Rock - and that had been that.

“I’ve taken the liberty of preparing a list of people you’ll be expected to greet and make conversation with, Noct,” Ignis was saying, as he delicately tugged off his gloves. “It’s extensive, so even though I’ll be there to point you in the right direction, you’ll want to read it several times over.”

“Shakin’ hands with trust fund managers and kissin’ babies, is it?” Gladio teased.

“There aren’t a great many infants on the guest list,” Ignis replied, just a little dryly, adjusting his glasses. “Although while we’re on the subject, I have an equally extensive list for you, Gladio. Call it a gift from your house’s retainers, since they inform me they’ve not been able to get a hold of you.”

Noctis caught Gladio’s face falling out of the corner of his eye. “Shaking hands with babies and kissing trust fund managers, huh, Gladio?”

“Yeah, and I’ll be tellin’ every single one that I can set them up with a personal introduction to the next King of Light,” Gladio replied.

“Ooh, am I on the guest list?” Prompto asked, anchoring himself against Gladio with one hand and leaning over the table to take a handful of fries off Noctis’ plate. “I love parties. Or I love free food, at least. Same diff, right?”

“I’m sure we could have you added as one of Noct’s guests, since he’s thus far failed to invite anybody,” Ignis said.

“Sure,” Noctis agreed. “Why not?”

“Sweet.”

Noctis was about to reply when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, a soft note of power not entirely unlike his own drifting through the cafe. A moment later, the bell by the door rang as the glass door was shoved open by the two front paws of a black dog.

“Hey!” The cafe owner started yelling. “No dogs allowed! Whoever that dog belongs to can … can…”

He seemed to trail off for a moment as the dog met his eyes, losing his train of thought just before his attention snapped elsewhere.

The dog watched the owner for a few more seconds before trotting over to Noctis, tail wagging.

Noctis blinked. “...Umbra?”

Umbra grinned, tongue lolling, and offered a paw. Noctis shook it dutifully before reaching over onto the dog’s back to untie the red notebook fastened there.

“How … did Umbra even get here? Isn’t Lady Luna all the way in Tenebrae right now? You know, on another continent?” Prompto asked, reaching over to scratch Umbra behind the ear.

“It’s a long story,” Noctis said, flicking through the notebook. As Prompto picked Umbra up to appropriately fuss over him, Umbra watched Noctis with one yellow eye, careful and assessing.

The sylleblossom festival was last week. Ravus even managed to visit for it, even if only for a few hours. I’m actually pretty glad he didn’t stay longer -- having an Imperial airship hovering over the city doesn’t exactly make the people feel comfortable, let alone festive. We’re lucky, though: Niflheim leaves us be, most of the time. Many places aren’t so fortunate.

Is your father well? You mentioned before that holding up the New Wall has not been kind to him. In different circumstances, I would like to offer him comfort, but with the war, I will have to settle for sending my regards through you.

Now that the festival is over, I would like to meet with the Emperor and ask him to offer terms of peace to Lucis, and I believe I would have Secretary Camelia of Accordo’s support in doing so -- I know I would have Ravus’. In truth, I find myself fighting the urge to put off any meeting with the Emperor -- while I’ve never had any love for the man, he seems to be becoming more and more erratic. Four times now, he’s summoned to me to provide him with counsel and treatment, only to then send word to cancel the summons not hours afterward.

It will be your birthday in a week, won’t it? Since Umbra won’t have found his way back to you by then, I’ll wish you happy birthday now. Try not to bite the heads off any politicians.

-- Luna.

Noctis breathed out slowly, reading through the message a few more times. Part of him always insisted that Luna was completely safe in Tenebrae, that her station meant that the Empire wouldn’t dare touch her.

Most of him, however, remembered the Magitek Troopers dropping onto Tenebrae; remembered General Glauca pushing his sword through Queen Sylva’s chest and then turning his blade on Noctis’ father -- and was sharply reminded of the tightrope Luna walked.

He was picking up a pen to write an answer when he felt Umbra’s head nudging against his leg.

“I think Umbra would have you follow him,” Ignis remarked. “Best not to keep him waiting.”

“-- Right,” Noctis said, shutting the notebook and placing it back on Umbra’s back. The dog danced around his feet for a second as he stood, then trotted towards the door to the kitchens, waiting by it.

Noctis paused at the door, raising an eyebrow at Umbra and getting only a level stare in response, before putting his hand on the door handle and pushing down.