“Thank you for being able to make time for me again,” insisted Elodie with an apologetic smile.

“Don’t worry, nothing that happened last time was your fault. As my friend, why wouldn’t I have you back?”

The young woman bowed her head for a few moments at the smiling Velia.

It wasn’t long before Remei came into the room. She bent close to Velia’s ear to pass a message to her. The princess nodded and took a sip of her tea.

“It feels like things did get out of hand just for a maid,” said Velia.

“I thought that maybe I was wrong for thinking the same thing.”

Elodie could tell that Velia was on her side. Even when the initial trouble had taken place, she had protected her. Kamaria was obviously the person who had reacted strangely to the situation.

It was unfair to Elodie that her attendant had to be punished, she had to get scolded by her parents, and her father had to give up a few valuables all for the sake of appeasing Empress Livinia.

“Let’s not talk about gloomy things anymore. Is your outfit ready for the birthday banquet?” asked Velia.

“It’s been ready for weeks. I had my father give me some material he had brought from one of our kingdoms.”

A maid arrived with more snacks and started cleaning up the table of the empty plates to replace them with fresh ones.

Velia turned and gestured to her feet to which Remei took off the princess’s slippers and put her feet up on the chaise.

“Oh, that sounds novel. Hopefully we’ll be finding you a nice Lord to be matched with. Speaking of matches, I feel as if it’s time to matchmake that… the youngest princess.”

Elodie looked carefully trying to study her friend’s face as if she had heard something extraordinary.

“I say we should be gracious matchmakers; I’m sure we can find someone at the banquet that would be a good match.”

Edan taking an interest in Kamaria was a fascinating twist and Velia wondered what she had done to have him interested suddenly. Then again, the capital’s gentleman was as unpredictable as they came. No one ever really knew what he was thinking. However, just because he seemed interested didn’t mean that she deserved someone like him.

“The thing is, she’s quite shy. I don't know if we'd be able to do about it though,” mumbled Velia.

“Don't worry, I’m sure I could find something from my father’s collection that could help,” insisted Elodie with a smile.

"This is why I know I can trust you," insisted Velia with an innocent excitement in her voice.

The two young women smiled as each thought about their great new plan.

Against the mid-spring scenery, the smiles on their faces made them look lovely and delicate. The light from the large scenic window hit them in just the right way while they drank their tea as if waiting for someone to put brush and paint to canvas.

****

“Are we a joke to him?”

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The scroll was almost torn apart in the man’s hands, but he resisted the urge and handed it over to an officer at his side instead, who rolled it up and placed it on the table.

“Lieutenant…” warned his superior in a low voice and then the man collected himself although still seemingly still not happy with the arrangement.

“Your Majesty, I know he’s the Imperial Commander but how is this not a direct slap in the face?” asked another young man.

While he highly respected the king, he was not afraid to directly discuss matters that he thought needed to be confronted. Imperial edicts were not very common and yet they had to receive one for such a matter.

“Why go to that duke if he wanted representatives from Surcaster?” he continued.

The commander had no way to explain it either. There seemed to be no political motivation behind the decision. It wasn’t exactly an advantage on the side of the duke either considering recent events so there couldn’t be any secret activities there otherwise it would have been reported.

The imperial commander’s decisions were sometimes out of the ordinary but there always seemed to be some motive behind them but this time…

“Perhaps he’s just testing that young man for recruitment. You’ve worked alongside him. What do you think, Officer?”

Realizing that the question was directed to him, Clawe bowed before speaking, trying to gather his most polished speech.

“Sorin is not someone who has complex social connections, and he avoids such political things when he can even with his own family. His combat ability is above average since he’s been a drifter for a few years but that’s it.”

“What do you mean drifter?” asked the king.

“From what I know, he’s spent a few years apart from his family travelling outside the region. I highly doubt the Commander would use such a roundabout way and so many people’s lives just to recruit one soldier. Besides this also involves officials.”

The young soldier had a point, and they all had to agree that the decision couldn’t be due to one newly promoted individual. These types of decisions always involved a fair amount of discussions let alone the travel arrangements that would have to take place.

What Clawe failed to mention was though Sorin appeared unapproachable, the eccentric talents that he seemed to attract held him in high regard in their own ways. Just looking at the group of captains under him, most people would just see a ragtag bunch of troublemakers that had been haphazardly thrown together.

In truth, they were some of the most difficult people in their conscription group. But having lived with them, Clawe saw how they developed into individuals who could somehow hold leadership positions under Sorin’s supervision. No one could quite explain the strange bonds he fostered with these people.

“Your Majesty, I think our officials are correct to question that family having such a casual connection to the imperial court. Perhaps we need to keep a closer eye on this duke lest we find ourselves in a complex situation later. I understand how the Ulfric family has maintained their title, but everyone should be reminded that they are under your Majesty after all.”

The king finally looked up, breaking the intense staring session with the polished wooden tabletop. He looked at the young man sitting in front of him and almost smiled, extremely proud of the man the boy had turned out to be.

“What’s your proposal?”

“If your Majesty would allow it, I’ll go to Louvaros myself. Not particularly for the duke but it’s good to have a royal word of thanks to the soldiers for their efforts,” said the young man.

Clawe silently raised an eyebrow and gave the other party a slight sideways glance. It had been nearly four months since the last large-scale battle and almost three months since the Louvarossy soldiers had been to the imperial capital without such a message from the king.

There was no talk of subsidizing the army considering the work they did and conditions they endured but they had to listen to some meaningless words. Could the words of royal thanks be used to feed people or forge weapons and armour?

While Clawe did not attend court since it was the playground of bureaucrats but being at a royal official’s side allowed him to experience more. It was truly a little infuriating seeing the politics from a different side since he had spent more time out in the field with other soldiers.

Did anyone really care about the ones risking their lives? Then again, if he felt so valued, would he be trying to climb the ranks? Clawe felt a little disgusted at his hypocritical thoughts and actions but he had already started this journey, there was no use in such feelings now.

“Bring this matter up at court and we’ll see about preparations after,” said the king.

The young man stood up and bowed with a smile. Everyone in the room seemed to have come to a silent understanding of the situation. The officials would be pleased by something like this taking place as well. They had long wanted to deal with Duke Ulfric.