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On the morning of the 25th, at the customary daybreak, the group was sitting down for their first strategy meeting after the exhausting tumult of the past day--both the disastrous duel, and the miraculous revelation that the Prince they'd sought so long to save had been close at hand all along--when Heismay raised a question that had occurred to him during the night, canting his head at said prince. "Captain. You don't wish for us to address you with formalities, but now that you remember who you truly are...should we not at least call you by your true name?"
There was a ripple throughout the gauntlet runner's strategy room, people blinking wider awake as the group registered that they had indeed been calling the prince by another name for several months. Hulkenberg nodded; Strohl folded his arms and leaned back, looking to their leader for his answer.
But he didn't give one immediately, looking down and tugging at his collar. Junah hummed. "Oh, that's right, isn't it? 'Hythlodaeus' seems a bit of a mouthful, but I'm sure we'll all get used to it quick enough!"
"Least we don' gotta tack on 'the VI' every time?" Basilio said with a grin, but then his brow wrinkled. "We don't, right? There's only one of 'em in the room."
"That's the same reason people usually just say 'the Prince'," Neuras pointed out from where he leaned by the staircase. "It's short, clear enough who you mean."
"Oh! Do you have a nickname?" Eupha asked, as she herself preferred not to use her own formal name in everyday casual exchanges. "'Hyth'? 'Hythlo'? 'Dae'?"
"Do not butcher His Highness' name so--"
"Will is my name."
Will's tone was the firm one he'd use on a podium during a debate, and immediately settled the question in everyone else's minds: he didn't wish to use the name he'd been known by as a royal. They were also worried they might have upset him, and Will wasn't ready when he looked up to see a room with a mix of frowns and raised eyebrows. The blood rushed to his cheeks and he cast his gaze down again. "I know it's not my--real name. But, at the same time, it..." He sighed. "No, you make a good point, Heismay. As the Prince, I am Hythlodaeus the VI, and... you may call me that. You should call me that. We'll all get used to it soon enough."
Junah pouted. "Love," she started, but Basilio beat her to the punch.
"Mate, if it's gonna put that face on you, I don't ever want to call you that. I've seen you less sour covered in monster guts."
"And Will's a good name!" Gallica piped up. "It's an eldan name! ...I think."
"You...think?" Eupha asked.
"Well--" Gallica folded her arms and harrumphed, kicking her feet against the little barrel she used as a meeting seat. "It's the name Will likes, anyway! So obviously it's a good name. Why should we stop using it?"
"The way people understand it now, 'Will' is an alias I used because I was in hiding after the assassination attempt," Will explained to her. "It'll just confuse things if I say I prefer it because I truly believed it was my name."
"Counterpoint!" Junah chirped. "I'd like a king to have explanations for his policies, but his name? You're not giving yourself some grandiose braggart's title. It doesn't need justification. All anyone else needs to know is that Will is your name now."
Strohl nodded. "And since Junah brought up titles, I believe it's worth pointing out that names and titles are often used to send a message. The Hythlodaeuses, first through fifth, were part of a hereditary lineage. They may have defended their throne from threats, but they didn't have to win or earn it. They were upheld by tradition, and in turn they upheld tradition." He looked to Will, giving him a small smile as he saw the younger man seemed to already be understanding his point, the pinched expression that had first come up at the royal name smoothing out. "Does that sound like the message you want to send?"
"...Of course not." Will returned the smile to Strohl before looking over their other companions. "So, I'd like everyone to keep addressing me as Will. That is my name now."
There was one companion his gaze lingered on, turning slightly pleading, and Hulkenberg sighed. "T'would be poor of me to insist Your Highness uphold a disliked family tradition when I myself have broken from family traditions."
As only a few in the room had ever heard her discuss her family at any length, a number of them stirred in curiosity and interest. It didn't help that Will looked to her with an earnestly grateful expression, and Hulkenberg blushed, looking aside.
"Thank you, Hulkenberg. ...With that settled, let's move on to business."
They had much to discuss, given their opposition for the throne.