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Victor’s gaze fell down to the floor of the car as he listened.

“He seemed particularly passionate about the current divide between the Moons and the Grands,” David went on. “I remember him telling me at length that the disparities between the two parties were more illusion than reality. ‘A demonstration for the masses,’ was how he put it. He said that unity between the two was not just possible but inevitable without constant intervention from those currently in power.” David chortled. “An interesting perspective, I thought.”

Victor still wasn’t looking back at him. He just chewed on his lip as he stared at the back of the driver’s seat in front of him.

The Prince wondered what might be going through the lad’s mind, right now. David wanted to keep talking about Charlie, but he was struggling. He only had so much to pull from. He wished he’d been able to talk to the boy more. “Ah... I remember thinking that he could have been a speechwriter, what with how strongly held some of his opinions were, and he told me that he hoped to become one, someday. Said he wasn’t experienced enough yet as a rhetorician--and that one of his friends had always been far better at it. Said he’d always been a bit envious of the fellow...”

Victor’s eyes widened a little, then he stopped chewing his lip and simply frowned. He shook his head and sighed.

David couldn’t help wanting to connect the dots. “He... hadn’t been talking about you, had he?”

The kid scratched his brow. “I don’t know... maybe...”

That sounded like a ‘yes’ to David. “Do you have an interest in becoming a speechwriter, too?”

“Mm... I wouldn’t turn the job down, but no, I wouldn’t say that was my overall goal. I’m more interested in drafting policy. Making real change happen.”

David felt he had to pick him up on that. “One could argue that persuasion is the only way that real change ever comes to pass. The legal agreements that follow might be considered more of a formality than a conducted change. Or, perhaps, an argument over semantics rather than the greater issues.”

The young man exhaled a curt breath. “Are you sure you only spoke with him a few times? You’re starting to sound just like him.”

“Heh. To my ears, that sounds like quite the compliment.”