'Grandpa Peter's Pizza's' as the younger members of the family called them were always well received, now couple that with the family cheesecake recipe and everyone was quite full and soon enough the kids were upstairs. Peter sipped a glass of lemonade and smiled a little as he glanced at Asuna, part of him had always wondered how different things might have been if he'd had more time to raise Beatrice or done things differently or maybe if his own father hadn't died suddenly when he had, well now maybe he had that second chance. "The thing about transitions is that they're about individual people not on whose head does the crown lie." Peter said "You know where you're going in a few years you'll be crowned Empress of Rokkenjima, you're up here to study, to have the education your mother wanted you to have and generally hang around with us so you get used to what it's going to be like for you when that comes, because the truth is that as much as we try to pretend otherwise being a royal is being part of a family business, everything you say and do is picked apart, analysed, sometimes twisted, it can be rough to put it mildly, but those days are the minority they get most of the attention but bad news sells more papers, gets more views, is better clickbait but most of the time it's being able to make a difference, about drawing attention to worthy causes, it's about doing some good in the world and sticking to your principles regardless of what certain others may think because their approval doesn't change the metric, there are days, that are now thankfully few and far between, where we have to deal in absolute rights and absolute wrongs, take those out and there aren't many moments in leading a country that don't have a nuance to them, end of the day I'm the Emperor of Achkaerin not the Emperor of the people who agree with me. Contrary convictions are every day realities in government, so we listen to them, we consider them and we make a decision one way or another. You can't please everyone, you're not going to be liked by everyone, we're here to lead and that is what we do."
"Peter this is becoming one of your speeches." Renee said
"My apologies." Peter said "My point is you know your part in this, but it's not just about you there are a lot of people who are all on this transition path as well, Evanthe and Emerson know where they're going, I suspect a few months after you're crowned in a few years time that they'll take a well earned retirement, Mr McKenna is journeying to the Viceregency, Euphemia is still figuring out where she's going to fit into all of this and then there's Thomas and Gemma. We'll get you all where you need to go, and you're stronger together than you are alone."
"As for tomorrow." Serenity said "We're starting you off nice and easy, I'm scheduled to be at the Valkyria Festival of Speed, fast cars, bit of racing, adrenaline, whole load of fun and some media stuff."