The Empire of Jiaang covered the world, or so the Prince's tutors told him constantly. He believed them, because his father was so great, anything smaller than the entire world would be an insult to the Emperor and, by extension, to his heir. Even at seven, Prince Julius had a rather exaggerated opinion of his own importance. He had not forgotten that he was only a small boy in a very large world; he had never known it in the first place. The selfishness that makes all babies such dear little heartless creatures had been encouraged in Julius until he truly did believe that he was the most important creature on the planet, not even excluding his father.

This belief of his made him a very terrible little boy to have to look after. He went through tutors as he went through sweets: several at a time and very quickly. When he had had nurses, they never forbade him anything, and his tutors did the same. It is very difficult to stick to one's principles and refuse a child the things he wants when that child will go to his father immediately thereafter with a tale of woe, and the child's father is as likely to send one to the block as he is to stand beside one and discipline his son. Thus, when the Prince said he wanted more toys, he received more toys. When he wanted sweets for dinner, he had sweets for dinner. When he wanted to stay up as late as he could, he stayed up until dawn and slept for the entire next day.

And when he wanted the little beggar boy for his own... Well. I’m sure you can imagine.

The Prince desired to take a carriage ride through the capital city, as his father was fond of doing, to make himself visible to his subjects--or future subjects, in this case--and to remind them that they did have an Emperor in the palace, and that he was indeed interested in their daily lives. (The old Emperor was a wily old politician, and despite being a tyrant of the first order, he was loved by as many people as were terrified of him. You had to ask around rather carefully to realize that the Emperor was a tyrant. The Prince bade fair to follow closely in his father's footsteps, though perhaps a bit more tyrannical and less clever.)

When the Prince made his announcement, with a boy's love of dramatics, he declared that he would not wait for a large retinue to be prepared, but would depart now. Or as soon as the carriage could be got ready and brought to the front courtyard for him, anyway. It was remarkably easy to delay him, with a few sweets and a lecture from the most senior of his tutors on how he was to behave if he was going to make the same tour as his father. By the time the long-winded old fellow had finished outlining everything the Prince must do, there was a detachment of guards ready to come along with him, and a carriage waiting at the foot of the steps. Julius had been known to throw a tantrum if what he wanted wasn't there before he was, and his tantrums usually ended in someone's losing their head. Or perhaps several someones, depending on how large a tantrum.

Though Julius had all the arrogance of his father the Emperor, he only had a seven-year-old's patience, and he was thoroughly tired of his carriage ride by the time they had reached the main thoroughfare of the city. The fact that it was midday, with the midday traffic to contend with and the midday beggars and street performers to snarl and slow that traffic did not help his mood at all. He sulked in the carriage and stopped even pretending to listen to his tutors and his guards, as they pointed out things that his father would have attended to immediately.

Then there was a jolt and a scream. The carriage stopped entirely.

"What happened?" the Prince demanded, folding his arms and sticking out his lower lip. "Why have we stopped? I want to go home."

"We shall go home, Highness, just as soon as the way is cleared again."

"But what happened? I do not like it when you lie to me. I shall have your head if you do not tell me the truth."

The tutor bowed his head. "It seems that a beggar woman came too close to the carriage. We hit her."

Julius frowned and stood up. "Then I must get out and make a fuss at the coachman. He oughtn't to have killed the woman." Not, of course, because it was wrong for a beggar woman to die, but because now the little Prince had to smooth the ruffled feathers of the crowd and play at being terribly sorry that his driver had been so careless. He didn't like the make-believe games any longer; it wasn't very much fun to have to do it over and over again.

His guards did not protest, because that wasn't their job. The two in the carriage with him climbed out and stood on either side of the door, imposing in their Imperial bloodred and gold uniforms, with so many weapons that it was a surprise that they had not sunk the carriage in the puddles yet. The rest fanned out to make certain that the beggar woman had no friends who might like to take revenge on the one who had run her down, or if she did, that they never caught sight of the little Prince as he stepped gingerly down into the muddy street and looked at the pitiful crumpled body of the woman causing all the fuss.

"Is she dead?" he asked, in his high imperious little voice.

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Had she any family?" This was addressed to the crowd in general, since his own servants and guards and tutors couldn't possibly know, as they'd never seen the woman before now.

"She hain't," a boy of about the Prince's own age said, out of the crowd. "Amary wuz all 'lone, 'cept fer 'er kid."

"You did not address me as 'Your Highness,'" Julius told the boy with a frown. "That is usually punished with a flogging. But you are only a common boy, and cannot be expected to know any manners, so I will forgive you today. Where is her child?"

"Prob'ly o'er at 'er place. She usedta leave 'im wiv the old lady wot let it to 'er. Yer 'Ighness." That last was obviously tacked on with the intention of avoiding a flogging, but Julius overlooked it. Really, it was a wonder that the common people could speak at all, from all he'd heard of them, so he couldn't expect them to know all the right things to say.

"Where is it? I must see if I can do anything to make amends for this horrid outrage."

"I'll takee, Yer 'Ighness, iffen ya like."

"I do like. Come along. Get up on the front there and direct the coachman which way to go."

The boy, whose name the Prince never bothered to ask, led them through the poorer districts of the town to a tumbledown tenement that may or may not have been any protection against the elements, where Julius sent a guard to the door to inquire of the woman Amary's next of kin, who turned out to be a small toddler of about a year and a half, with curly brown hair and large bright brown eyes, set in a face that ought to have been round, except that his mother's work had not paid well enough to feed him all the time. Julius was instantly charmed, and insisted that he take the baby home with him.

He pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully at the child, who found that he much liked the warm lap cloth of the Prince and had curled up in it and dozed off. "I must name him, I think."

"Perhaps he already has a name," suggested one of the guards, a young burly fellow with cheerful brown eyes and a ready smile, except when he was killing people, and then he looked quite fierce.

"No he hasn't. He would have told me if he had."

"Perhaps he cannot speak yet."

"Well then, he cannot tell me his name, and I must think of a new one for him."

At this point, the tutor, who had been puffing red-faced through the conversation, mustered all his defenses and prepared to go into battle for the dignity of his lord, though it cost him his life. (Which it quite possibly might, if Julius were in a foul enough mood.) "Your Highness, I beg you to reconsider. You cannot go taking in beggar brats as if they were stray puppies."

"Yes I can," the young royal informed him sweetly. "I have already."

"Think what your father will say!"

Julius shrugged. "He will be pleased that I mended the beggar woman's death, and he will suggest that I give the boy to one of the servants to raise. But I don't want to. I want him for myself.”

"Your Highness!"

"He's mine, stupid, and the only reason I won't tell my father to have you exec--ex-eh-coo-ted is because you named him for me." He smiled and ruffled the sleeping babe's hair, at which the child murmured and cuddled into him. "I shall call him Puppy."