And Then the Depression Happened, Chapter 1

It felt as odd sailing away from New Orleans as it felt sailing away from Maldonia. New Orleans had become his home. He hadn't been home in over five years. He'd just turned twenty when his parents kicked him out (in fact his 20th birthday had been a deciding factor in shipping him off) and he was nearly 26 now. He's seen his parents once or twice since his wedding, but he and Tiana had both been too busy with their restaurant to leave town, and his parents were the king and queen of a country, so it's not like they could go traipsing across the world whenever they felt like it.

The trip to Maldonia was going to be a long one. Maldonia was located in the Indian Ocean, part way between Saudia Arabia and India, though really it was closer to India. There was a clear line of Indian descent through his heritage. There was also a clear line of African and a clear line of European descent in his heritage. Their county wasn't huge like normal European countries, so they didn't have the luxury of turning down a political marriage when one presented itself.

Prince Naveen glanced over at his wife. They'd celebrated their five year anniversary recently, but still no children. Tiana's mother was starting to get antsy about it, but by the time the couple would have been ready to have children the depression hit.

They'd had a few good years. He and Tiana had fixed up the building pretty well, and between a small loan from the La Bouff's and large loan from his parents they had been able to fix up the restaurant to a high class place in under a year. Tiana had worked very hard to put together a menu that, while good enough that even the upper class like the La Bouff's would want to come eat there, it wasn't out of the price range of the other people Tiana knew. Her dream was a beautiful place with good food and food music that people from all walks of life could come eat at. Her menu and price reflected that.

It was her dream, but it made paying off the loans harder. They'd been able to pay off the loan to Big Daddy La Bouff, but the one to his parents was a whole different kettle of fish. Tiana had always been a saver, and it helped that Big Daddy La Bouff had started teaching Tiana about how money worked, the stock market, and so on (in the hopes that to teach one was to teach the other and that Lottie would pick up something from Tiana; and even if she didn't that Tiana would help Lottie once he died). Tiana and Eli La Bouff were the first to find out about the stock market, though both surprised the young Prince by leaving their money in the market ever after the crash.

Tiana's saving had saved them for the most part, but nearly three years into the depression and it was becoming harder to pay the bills. Employees needed to be paid, electricity, water, gas, and all the other things it took to make a restaurant work, combined with less people being able to afford to go out and eat as often. It'd been a hard decision for them, but it was either pack up and move to Maldonia for a year or lose everything.

Naveen had been suspicious when his parents showed up. They didn't show up very often, and there was no reason for their visit. They acted very impressed with Tiana's restaurant and her cooking, per normal, but after the talk about food settled down other matters came up. Maldonia was doing surprisingly well in the depression. Small or poor countries seemed to be less affected because they had less to lose. Maldonia was not a big island country. It was big enough though.

Eventually the topic came around to the loan taken out to pay for tables and chandeliers. Naveen had almost been afraid that they were going to call in the debt, but they hadn't done that, not exactly. They'd pointed out that it was only going to become harder for Tiana's Place to stay open, and offered the couple a choice. They could close up the business, still owning the property, and move to Maldonia for at least a year, and in that time not have to worry about paying for their loan, or they could continue on as they had before. It wasn't like there was much of a choice offered.

Naveen looked over at Tiana who'd come to stand at the rail next to him as they watched New Orleans move farther and farther out of view. "How did you ever get up the nerve to leave home Naveen?" Tiana asked, leaning against him some. He slipped his arm around his wife.

"I was young and exiled at the time; don't hold it against me too much. My parents were sending me off to go live my life far away from the palace so that I'd stop sleeping with every girl I came across and squandering funds . They gave me a choice and I picked New Orleans, the place where jazz came from," he said, rubbing her arm to be sure she was warm.

"Well that answered my next question," Tiana said.

"What does?" Naveen asked.

Tiana looked up Naveen and smiled. "I was going to ask why you picked to come to New Orleans when you could have gone anywhere else. New York had more heiresses, and you know how the south is with people of color. The La Bouff's are the exception, not the norm," she said, leaning against her husband. "I wondered why you'd picked New Orleans… but it turns out it was just the music."

"Well, that's not exactly true… I didn't really believe in racism at the time. New Orleans seemed like a fun place to go, so I went. I honestly didn't expect to stay there that long," the prince admitted.

"Even if you'd married Lottie?" Tiana asked.

"Even if I'd married Lottie," Naveen said, watching the city move completely out of sight.

"Are you going to miss it?" Tiana asked, watching the same thing. He didn't even have to ask what 'it' she was referring to.

"Are you?" He asked.

"Of course," Tiana said, shaking her head in slight exasperation. Naveen never changed.

"Then there's your answer," the prince said, leaning down and kissing Tiana's cheek. "Are you nervous?"

"Very… I've never been been outside of the state before… and now I'm traveling to the Indian ocean… this is just a big step for me," Tiana said, trying not to sound overwhelmed.

"It's a big step for everyone," Naveen pointed out. "And a huge trip… we better try and get some sleep before tomorrow shows up," he said, starting to lead his princess down to their room as the boat sailed for Maldonia.