His lip twitched, amused.

"Royalty have no struggles in the world but the ones they create. It makes them dreadfully boring, and particularly bratty. They have the world, but that oftentimes isn't enough. They are incapable of empathizing with normal people, like you or me."

Absentmindedly, the admin twisted a plain silver ring on his finger. He tapped his finger against his desk, thoughtfully. The idea of Elise practicing with a s

"I'm of the opinion that nobility is a worthless concept, that those with noble blood are leeches. I will never forgive those who misunderstand the hearts of the people they strive to serve. Elise Calcifet 's position is a title. Remiel Calcifet is a despot."

He hated them both by virtue of their existence. They infuriated him. He could tolerate Elise in her innocence, in her desire to chase the cousin that marched ahead of her, but her cousin was a mockery of the title of Crown Prince. That was a tale that had been burned into his mind. There was little to be done but meet Remiel on the battlefield and lose to him. That was all Howard was capable of.

Regardless of title, regardless of power, he and Aurelie lacked the power to change the world.

When Aurelie asked about the death of memories, all Howard could do was smile. He admired the simplicity of her perspective. Life was life and death was death, but life was conditional and death came for everyone.

"Don't worry about it. It's a death few have to deal with. I'm jealous of people who don't think about it."

What a mood-killer of a question, asking of death after death. He silently kicked himself. Aurelie likely thought that he was a fool, or worse, a bore.

The state of our Calyrex and that of the League's is an interesting one. I'll answer both of those for you as thanks, your cooking is divine." He smiled faintly and held up a finger. "Regarding whether or not it 'died'. I think it did, but I think it was regrown. Memories can be recalled. Buds can bloom. The dead can return to this world with remarkable ease, I've begun to realize."

He held up a second.

"You're the best smith I know, I mean this with complete honesty. But Aurelie, don't get complacent. You are dealing with the weight of an entire government. If she is forging a weapon, she has access to an entire region's worth of smiths. The unfortunate thing about nobility is that they get more talented people to do most of the work. Still..."

"...I have faith."

---

Aurelie Lefevre

The admin took a deep breath as he inspected Aurelie thoughtfully, gauging her statement on royalty.

"It's just... frustrating, knowing that you will never be as highly regarded by your worth because you were not born with the proper name, with all the bells and whistles, with all the ceremony. Instead, you're born normal. Ordinary. You work hard to get what you can. You struggle, only to see someone get what you worked so hard for without lifting a finger."

He tapped on Remiel Calcifet's desk, in Remiel Calcifet's office, drinking Remiel Calcifet's tea. The only thing that the two had ever been equal on was this position, and it felt like a cruel joke. Rocket had not cared about his circumstances. They had not cared about Aurelie's.

The organization simply... hoisted them up and asked for loyalty. Perhaps that was asking for too much, but it was fair. Calyrex had asked only for Aurelie's talent, because she had was the best at her craft. That was fair.

Just.

"And it just feels unfair. Wrong. You feel cheated, and you start walking down a path to prove that you're just as valuable as they are. That you have the right to exist, that your talent means something. You keep walking and you look around, and the crowd of people you walked alongside are gone. Then you reach your destination and it's not what you expect."

"All because you were not born blessed."

It was not fair, but all that anyone could do was move on. Keep improving. Keep marching forward. Even if that destination led them to Rocket, Howard and Aurelie got to follow their dreams. That was all they could ask for.

"So do it. Beat them. Show them that the skills you forged mean more than some noble pedigree. Not for Calyrex or Rocket, but for you, for your father." Even if he wasn't here, even if he was a million miles away, even if all Aurelie had was his legacy and his memories and the skills he imparted into her, that would suffice. "You'll have to tell me more about him, sometim-"

The words died on his lips as Aurelie kissed him on the cheek. It had been an action almost derived from instinct. They were both marred in the same way, their vision stolen by twists of fate related to the dreams they so desperately chased after.

The truth of the world. The inheritance of a forge. Two different tasks, but both fueled by the passion that drove them.

"Ah... whuzzat?" He blinked once, confused. A memory of someone else flashed in his mind, someone from long ago. The silver ring on his finger felt heavy on his finger, a reminder of a better time. I don't..."

Understand. As Aurelie sat down, it felt like the admin knew less than before.

He did not sort the emotions. It was best to kick them aside. A moment for another time. Something to bury in the back. Instead, he fumbled forward.

"Getting a kiss from you as thanks? Don't apologize. Better than the one that threw a corn dog at me. But if you must..." He raised an eyebrow, shamelessly turning red as he did so. "...making that stew and coming by again would make for a good start."

He wondered if there was a nearby cliff to jump off of.

---

Aurelie Lefevre

Arceus above, Howard wanted to kill himself. Aurelie was being kind, but that kindness had to have a limit. How much could one person bear another's ranting of monarchy as a system of government? Even Shred didn't care that much about the crown, and he was Galarian.

Still, Aurelie was Kalosian. They had their fair share of emperors and empresses and kings and queens and dukes and duchesses. She could likely stomach more of this than someone from Hoenn, for example.

"I didn't even get to eat it. She wanted it back." june sleigh had kicked him in the shins, harassed him, and then demanded he buy her lunch as some sort of twisted recompense. He missed those days, where it was easier to buy her appreciation than it was to buy her hate. "It's a long story."

One that ended with a Talonflame being shot out of the sky.

"But still, you're very welcome. Better this than my other tasks." This task had not been for material gain, but for knowledge. It had not fallen to the ouroboric cycle that other Rocket tasks often mirrored. "If you cook, I'm willing to talk your ear off."

He let Aurelie talk herself into a food-covered corner while the admin organized his thoughts. He stirred his portion absentmindedly as he collected his thoughts on royalty, on those that had spurned him.

"Have you ever been wronged?" Howard regarded Aurelie, before chuckling. "Of course you have. You're here, after all. A prince received a position that should have been mine, but it was given due to his title and not his talents. That's all there is to it, really."

A lie, but a white one. Admin Fox had been Remiel's name before his. That past could remain buried to all those that had not met Galar's Crown Prince and knew of his journey in Rocket to reach an ideal he lusted after.

"There'll be people in life who beat you due to circumstance. All you and I can do is make our own place in the world. This is the lot we drew." Team Rocket. Terrorism. War. Envy for a job or envy for a forge, it led to the same destination. "Just be better than all that, okay? If there's anything the king can teach you, it's that."

He did not need a hug to impart that fact, nor did he need one as recompense for an unblessed birth. It was not deserved. Not for someone in his position.

The offer was left vacant, the line in the sand unmarred.

"Can you learn from him? A king gifted by chance?"

---

Aurelie Lefevre

"Calyrex is something that exists in spite of the world denying that it does. It's remembered because of our ability to tell each other stories."

Howard helped her move plates out of the way. Fine silverware was tucked away, fine china was squirreled off to be carefully cleaned before being returned to the admin's shelves, and soon the admin's desk was the same mess it had been before. Papers, folders, rare valuables, and other objects flooded the desk. It was like the two hadn't eaten at all.

"Talking and sharing stories is our greatest strength. The words we share, the lessons we impart, that is how we strengthen Calyrex. You can learn one thing from Galar's once and future king, at least." It was a lesson many had learned and a lesson many would learn later on. It was one engraved into the history of this region, this anomaly in the timeline.

"How to be worthy."

Too many people wasted talent. Too many people struggled to learn and achieve the great things they were destined to accomplish. Hopefully Calyrex could impart that lesson into the smith and teach her something only it could.

"Let's do this again, sometime." The admin's voice was soft as he handed Aurelie the final fishes. "It was fun."

After a moment, he sent her on her way. After a moment, Howard banged his head into the desk and let out a dull groan. There was nobody there to see it but the antiques from eras long gone, but the admin still wanted to drown. He shouldn't have let the smith kiss him on the cheek.

"I should kill myself." The admin said to his fossils. "That was unprofessional. Although..."

He looked up at the map of Hoenn, where five pins had been placed on Route 105, New Mauville, the Desert, Meteor Falls, and Route 120.

"That person you described... they sounded a lot like you."

---

Aurelie Lefevre