The sun was out, and the temperature was warm by the time Theria completed her task Theria turned to deal with the waiting messengers, but in their place was Marquess Leonardis Purple, Warden of the Northern Shore, kneeling before her; she scoffed. "You do not kneel before me, rise, whatever it is rise." a worried thought plagued the back of my mind has he guessed, but it vanished when she noticed the tears in his eyes, "My brother, the King, our Queen and her Father Count Bloodburn were all assassinated." Theria choked but then asked, "Does the child yet live?". The Warden replied, "Yes, the twins are safe... but that brings me on to the fact that they need a Regent till they are of age." In all earnest, Theria spoke up, "Then we must summon a Council; it might also be better if or allies and indeed the Ice Elf King himself were present for this." The Warden half smiled the Ice Elf King can certainly join if that is your wish, the Council is assembled and waiting for you to join them to start."

With that, Theria summoned the Ice Elf King and strode towards the Palace. Page Josephine came alongside and reported as they walked, "I have a request to name what had been just the Dryad's grove, 'Little Bear' and for the Leader of the Feybeard Dwarves to be made Mayor." Theria's brow furrowed, and so Josephine continued, "As you know, the Feybeard Dwarves couldn't stay away from the grove, and the Dryads loved them and let them build a settlement, with the Dwarven homes built into the rootwork of the trees with such care to benefit both and not enfeeble or weaken the other, a symbiotic community formed dubbed informally as Little Bear, so interesting was it to the elves that some Green, Sea, High-Elves and Grey Elves build houses in the tree tops to join this community and both the Dryads and the Feybeards welcomed them; usually Elves stuck with their own so this too was new. However, since they hadn't officially gotten permission, they thought they better ask to get it." When Theria heard of this, she sent a messenger to the Ice Elves to ask if some of their numbers, say half a dozen who might wish to start families, might wish to move there; after all, Theria thought we Bearkin do plan to complete the set, after doing that she asked Josephine "Please let the Mayor of Little Bear, that I'd love an official visit and to know their plans for contributing to Adalbern and for growing Little Bear, also in the interests of future peace and harmony can they please accommodate some Ice Elves please, please give them a big thank you for their work to date and that they have my full confidence."

A royal page that Theria did not recognise said, "I've been asked to give you a quick briefing on other matters for you to consider. The South East of the Kingdom has had a slight famine this summer, and the far South East border has had a problem with the odd zombie; there is a report of a small group of bandits in the North East of the Kingdom; we have a potential shortage of housing and food in Jade City and a few cases of white plague in Baron Pecharti's territory."

Theria stopped in the Courtyard to see the heartbroken Wyvern weeping, and she went and comforted the Wyvern, blessing it with her Green Lightning repeatedly and she repeated that this wasn't the Wyvern's fault and that the young Royals would need the Wyvern more than ever, but to help the Wyvern be better prepared than ever she would enhance it, which she did and it grew in stature and power as a result. The Wyvern continued to weep, but now the air of melancholy which had begun to develop was gone, and not only sadness but a determination for the future remained. Looking above the Palace, she noticed the King's flag had been removed; she felt soulful and mused that the news would spread fast.

Theria entered the Council Chamber; the Thrones were moved to one side and draped in dark cloth, a Chair had been placed for her, and another Chair had just been put in place behind hers for the Ice Elf King as she entered.

As she sat down, the Warden blurted, "Theria will you act as Regent?" Theria, bemused at the thought but careful not to reveal there was more than one child, said, "As Uncle, might you not be a better choice?" he didn't look interested, so she added, "Perhaps Aunt Countess Threadstore, if not you?" The Warden replied, "I fear that if it is I, then my brother may, in years to come, lead us to civil war, and Countess Threadstore would love to be Guardian but not Regent. This brings it back to you, Theria, as the next ranking Noble who the late King hadn't condemned of treachery as being the best choice for Regent of the Kingdom of Fecundity." She looked around the room, and all eyes were on her; it was clear what had already been decided and why they had all been waiting for her.

Theria stood and said slowly, "I accept the Regency of Office, but only on a temporary basis until another Council meeting after we have buried our dead and had a Royal funeral and a reckoning for the Traitors and to this end." she turned and spoke to the Ice Elf King, "Please tell us all now, what you know of treachery amongst the Nobility of Fecundity" there were shocked whispers for a variety of reasons but the Ice Elf King stood and knelt before Theria and said "Baron Grey for the price of the seizing the ships of Fecundity, and for our protection agreed to work against the Kingdom of Fecundity, he didn't want his daughter to know so I believe she may be an innocent third party, but I cannot be sure of this. Grey was able to convince the King's Brother that an isolationist policy was best, and therefore we knew what to offer him to get him to stand down. We thought Baron Masti was in the orbit of the King's brother and that he would follow whatever lead he was given; the others were merely opportunists, especially Baroness Rosen."

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Theria decreed, "Baron’s Grey, Lady Grey, Duke Leonardis Gold, Viscount Love Joy, Baron Rosen, and Baron Masti are stripped of their titles, lands and assets. They are invited to attend the Royal Funeral as private individuals and then to a private meeting where the case against each will individually be assessed. Perhaps our allies might wish to accompany our teams that go break the news, and then some might like to escort back the named individuals, and others may wish to visit the former estate and help those assigned to manage those places. I would prefer to do promotions first, but we must deal with threats first, so no one is promoted in error."

"Next, please arrange for Clerics to follow the Ice Wyrm trail and purify it all the way back to and including Iceflow Bay. Beyond that is something we will deal with later. Also, the Clerics are to oversee harvesting the Ice Wrym's teeth and claws, which we might find helpful for future weapons and the scales for future defences, but the complete destruction of the rest of the corpse through purification needs to happen quickly. Please also send clerics to investigate cases of white plague in Baron Pecharti's territory; thanks to all the Clerics for your efforts to restore Fecundity."

Now to the main event, thought Theria, "Is there any good reason not to hear the details of what we know of the Assassin in this full Council?"

Dawn Sunspot, the veiled High Elf Assassin, stood beside Gilgolfin, the High Elf High King and said, "With your permissions, may I address the Council?" both Gilgolfin and Theria nodded.

Dawn "If I may indulge in some theatrics, I think this will give people more certainty" Again, both nodded, so she continued "Please bring forth the body of the Assassin and place it on the conference table so all may see it." This was duly done, and the veiled Assassin was bought in and "Now for the unveiling" revealed was a Night Elf with purple skin, one who never got the call of the Valar and therefore never knew of the light before the sun and the moon or the call to the Sea. "Does anyone here know why a Night Elf Assassin was sent to kill the King, the Queen?"

The Ice Elf King said, "My former Master had a necromancer contact in the far South beyond Ur who was in the habit of neutralising perceived threats, and we had received intelligence from Baron Grey that would have made the King and Queen potential targets, I can think of no other reason."

A Tigerlady stood and said, "Well met again, Duchess Theria, we have recent experience of battling the dead, and this was part of the reason for the catpeople to agree to diplomatic relations with you; if we can be of mutual benefit against this threat, we would be resolute in our support." Theria nodded and spoke up, "It appears we have a common cause."

No one else said anything, so after a pause, Dawn "removed her veil and revealed that she too was a Night Elf with purple skin, putting an ungloved purple hand up for those at the back to see, she said, "While I was born a Night Elf and became a Night Elf Assassin, I felt a path to the light and had a spiritual revelation which causes me to become a new thing perhaps a Dawn Elf, or a black spot on the Sun hence my name, I now serve the High King as a Justicar. Now you are all able to see my credentials; let me tell you this, they sent one of the best Assassins they have; it is a credit to Earl Bloodburn that he was able to vanquish the Assassin." murmurs of approval at this, Dawn continued "It takes about a month to reach the Night Elf glades, for them to have come so fast shows the seriousness they regarded the threat in the North. They are likely to try again; we must be on guard and will probably need to move South in force."

Theria said, " We will take a month to get our house in order and take care of business; Big Bear will offer all refuge who want it, including our new allies from the Icekin alliance, although any more werewolves and Ice Wryms or shadow cursed individuals will need some spiritual work before ever being acceptable, and Clan Adalbern will offer Grain to any town or city that needs it on credit so that planting, rebuilding and living may continue!"

Theria addressed the Council "Some promotions to be reviewed at the next Council meeting, but here are some temporary battlefield promotions that may stick if those mentioned continue to do well."

"Lady Runesmith becomes Baroness Runesmith and will now oversee the territory of Baron Icemauler."

"Sir Bloodburn becomes Earl Bloodburn and will now oversee the territory of the former Earl."

"The former territory of Viscount Love Joy will be under the care and control of Countess Hope Joy." This got a round of applause.

"The former territory of Baron Rosen will be overseen by Baron Gold." A sigh of relief from the new Baron worried about the consequences of the sins of the Father being visited on him.

"If the Prince agrees to a temporary posting, could The former territory of Duke Leonardis Gold and Baron Masti be administered by Prince Gilgallant until the next Council meeting, and he will be helpfully assisted, I am sure, by Baroness Purple, Baron Stoutheart Purple, Baron Threadstone and Baron Smart and the Prince can help recommend to whom that land might go in the longer term for review at the next Council." The Prince smiled and agreed.

"If the Sea Elves are amenable I request that the former territory of Baron Grey will be administered by the Sea Elves, who will assist in reviewing the Fecundity Navy?" this was agreed.

"Can I request allies who remain at Jade City please assist in road and house building in the new walled area and the assistance in creating farms in the surrounding area, we will of course, offer food to allies." Theria thanked everyone for coming and tried to make everyone feel listened to as they left.

After the meeting, a Page was sent to Big Bear to ensure enough food went to all corners of Fecundity. Theria also sent two notes, one to the Grey Elves requesting a meeting in the morning and another note to Dawn asking her to stay for private council and at the end, Dawn was asked to Bless Big Bear, Little Bear, Hibernation City, Jade City and Theria herself Dawn agreed and did the last two there and then so there and then and also told Theria about some new large and allies in the woods to the North West she'd like Theria to meet.

Findel escorted a tired Theria safely to bed; she appeared a little zombified after quite a day and well deserving of rest and with the threat of an Assassin, Findel took no chances with Theria's safety.