[Family is a tricky thing to ask about. Intertwined with the warm memories is the chilling reminder that those same loved ones are worlds away. When Konoha's hand curls tighter around his, he senses that it's someone else's hand she holds in her heart.

For Nikolai's part, it's pleasant to hear about a thoroughly uncomplicated family. A loving family. He hasn't seen his parents in over three years, not since he pressured his father to abdicate and then exiled the former King and Queen to the Southern Colonies. His brother is dead. He has a whole shadow family he has never met somewhere in Fjerda, his biological father and the legitimate children he produced when he was done with Nikolai's mother. And now there's a crop of his father's bastards and distant Lantsov cousins all claiming to be the legitimate heir to Ravka's throne.

Those aren't very nice stories to tell over lunch.]

You're a mother!

[The way he says it, it sounds like an impressive feat. Admittedly, the question of an heir has weighed heavily on his mind lately. He takes on a sympathetic look.]

I hope that you can see your daughter and husband sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'm sure Gonta will entertain Komatsu with plenty of stories of her kind and hardworking mother.

[With his free hand, he takes one of the water glasses the server had deposited and sips from it.]

You know, lately I've been thinking about settling down myself.

[His casual tone belies just how complicated a proposition it is. A veritable political minefield. And he's the mine.]