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It had been a little over a year since Rue had been appointed to the throne. Now it seemed that most of his time was spent on it doing next to nothing. His fingers tapped out a pattern on the arm as he pretended to listen to another report on the state of the empire. There wasn't much point since they all amounted to the same thing: Everything was fine.

Sure there were always some small problems to be dealt with. Little things like disputes, criminal activity, minor natural disasters. But with the whole world united under him, there never seemed to be any real, serious problems.

When the meeting was over he dismissed everyone from the room. All of them but one left. Finnian moved from his place behind and to the right of the throne to approach the emperor.

"You really should try a little harder to pay attention."

"I was paying attention."

"Not the whole time."

"I heard the important parts. I'm doing what I should, aren't I?"

"Yes, you do a very good job when it comes to making decisions. But when it comes to appearances..."

Rue huffed. "You know very well that I can act perfectly regal if I want to. I just don't during meetings because there are so many of them and trying to be like that all the time would drive me crazy. Is that what you want? An insane emperor?" To drive the point home, he pouted up at his guard.

"It's not what I want that matters; it's what the council wants. They just think you're a little... unconventional."

"What's wrong with that?"

"In their opinion, it makes you look less competent."

"Am I?"

"No."

"Then there you go."

Finnian sighed. "Your Majesty, please don't forget that if they find you unfit to rule, they can choose to depose you."

"But I am fit. The statistics don't lie. Nothing bad has happened during my reign."

At that moment the doors to the throne room were flung open. A few soldiers escorted a man in a long lab coat into the room. He was panting breathlessly and his eyes were wide with panic.

"Your Majesty, I must speak with you at once."

Rue straightened in his seat. "What is it?"

"Your Majesty is well aware of the uneven global fonon distribution."

Rue nodded. Everyone knew about that. Ever since the Planet Storm had been shut down during the End of the Score, fonons, the main source of power and necessary fuel of fonic artes, had stopped being spread across the world. Even generations later they were still dealing with the repercussions.

The man continued. "We had thought the condition was stable, but a recent team studying one of the Sephiroth found some unusual fluctuations."

"Are they causing any problems?"

"Well... no. At least not yet."

"How bad are they?"

"Erm, they're actually very small..."

"How long have they been going on?"

"We don't know." The man looked down at his feet.

Rue grinned. "Thank you for informing me of this situation. Do you work here?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"But you do fonon research, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then you can still be in charge of getting a team together to go to take a look at the Zao Ruins Sephiroth. I'll go too, since something this important requires me to be present."

"Er, um, y-yes Your Majesty." He tried not to stare as he turned to leave, the guards following him out.

Rue bounced out his throne and trotted toward the doors. "Come on, Finn! Let's go!"

Finnian hurried after him. "You just wanted an excuse to leave the palace..."

"We'll take a carriage. A short trip like this doesn't need anything big or fancy, and we don't need the whole world finding out about it."

"So you won't be taking a full escort?"

"Nope. As long as I take you with me I don't need to, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Finnian's hand automatically shifted to the hilt of his sword. One of the major purposes of the emperor's private guard was to allow that freedom. The idea had been that if the emperor was able to go out with only their most trusted soldier, they would be far less likely to sneak out completely unprotected. More often than not it worked.

The two went down to the stables, Finnian handling the arrangements while Rue waited and chatted with the servants. When the carriage was ready and the team of researchers assembled, they set off into the desert that covered the Zao continent.

Seated together with his guard in a private compartment, Rue stared out the window at the vast expanse of sand as he thought about the problem. If the fluctuations had only been found recently, that could mean one of two things. Either they had started fairly recently, sometime between the expedition that found them and the one before it. Or it was possible that they had been there for a long time but had only recently risen to a level that could be detected. Either way it could be the first sign of a serious problem.

Description
It had been a little over a year since Rue had been appointed to the throne. Now it seemed that most of his time was spent on it doing next to nothing. His fingers tapped out a pattern on the arm as he pretended to listen to another report on the state of the empire. There wasn't much point since they all amounted to the same thing: Everything was fine.

Sure there were always some small problems to be dealt with. Little things like disputes, criminal activity, minor natural disasters. But with the whole world united under him, there never seemed to be any real, serious problems.

When the meeting was over he dismissed everyone from the room. All of them but one left. Finnian moved from his place behind and to the right of the throne to approach the emperor.

"You really should try a little harder to pay attention."

"I was paying attention."

"Not the whole time."

"I heard the important parts. I'm doing what I should, aren't I?"

"Yes, you do a very good job when it comes to making decisions. But when it comes to appearances..."

Rue huffed. "You know very well that I can act perfectly regal if I want to. I just don't during meetings because there are so many of them and trying to be like that all the time would drive me crazy. Is that what you want? An insane emperor?" To drive the point home, he pouted up at his guard.

"It's not what I want that matters; it's what the council wants. They just think you're a little... unconventional."

"What's wrong with that?"

"In their opinion, it makes you look less competent."

"Am I?"

"No."

"Then there you go."

Finnian sighed. "Your Majesty, please don't forget that if they find you unfit to rule, they can choose to depose you."

"But I am fit. The statistics don't lie. Nothing bad has happened during my reign."

At that moment the doors to the throne room were flung open. A few soldiers escorted a man in a long lab coat into the room. He was panting breathlessly and his eyes were wide with panic.

"Your Majesty, I must speak with you at once."

Rue straightened in his seat. "What is it?"

"Your Majesty is well aware of the uneven global fonon distribution."

Rue nodded. Everyone knew about that. Ever since the Planet Storm had been shut down during the End of the Score, fonons, the main source of power and necessary fuel of fonic artes, had stopped being spread across the world. Even generations later they were still dealing with the repercussions.

The man continued. "We had thought the condition was stable, but a recent team studying one of the Sephiroth found some unusual fluctuations."

"Are they causing any problems?"

"Well... no. At least not yet."

"How bad are they?"

"Erm, they're actually very small..."

"How long have they been going on?"

"We don't know." The man looked down at his feet.

Rue grinned. "Thank you for informing me of this situation. Do you work here?"

"No, Your Majesty."

"But you do fonon research, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then you can still be in charge of getting a team together to go to take a look at the Zao Ruins Sephiroth. I'll go too, since something this important requires me to be present."

"Er, um, y-yes Your Majesty." He tried not to stare as he turned to leave, the guards following him out.

Rue bounced out his throne and trotted toward the doors. "Come on, Finn! Let's go!"

Finnian hurried after him. "You just wanted an excuse to leave the palace..."

"We'll take a carriage. A short trip like this doesn't need anything big or fancy, and we don't need the whole world finding out about it."

"So you won't be taking a full escort?"

"Nope. As long as I take you with me I don't need to, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Finnian's hand automatically shifted to the hilt of his sword. One of the major purposes of the emperor's private guard was to allow that freedom. The idea had been that if the emperor was able to go out with only their most trusted soldier, they would be far less likely to sneak out completely unprotected. More often than not it worked.

The two went down to the stables, Finnian handling the arrangements while Rue waited and chatted with the servants. When the carriage was ready and the team of researchers assembled, they set off into the desert that covered the Zao continent.

Seated together with his guard in a private compartment, Rue stared out the window at the vast expanse of sand as he thought about the problem. If the fluctuations had only been found recently, that could mean one of two things. Either they had started fairly recently, sometime between the expedition that found them and the one before it. Or it was possible that they had been there for a long time but had only recently risen to a level that could be detected. Either way it could be the first sign of a serious problem.