What greeted them inside was a main hall, covered in so much gold leaf and marble that he could have sworn he had been transported to the Palace of Versailles. Admittedly with less glass and more metallic chandeliers but still. Quite the magnificent work of art and architecture non the less…

After the various rituals to welcome them in, including being presented with a very nice tapestry, he had had a nagging thought in the back of his head from even before they landed, and he needed to rest it. Elliot was chatting away with the king and his court’s Chaplin so instead he moved over to the one he understood to be the city bailiff to ask his question.

The man stood to attention and tried an imitation of the salute he gave before, sweating slightly as he watched the admiral approach.

“Bailiff, you know about what goes on in the city, correct?”

“Uh- Uh…” He stammered, “Y-yes your Radiance!”

“What is life like for the common people in this kingdom?”

The Bailiff blinked, “Y-you want to know about the serfs and citizens?”

“Yes, that’s what I asked. And, oh! Just another question, how were you selected?”

“W-well your radiance they live by how they deserve to and cannot impede on holy territory or ranks, and those in the city live a good life. And for me? Well, I’m just a minor noble’s son, quite a humble background to be honest your radiance.”

“How much they deserve?” Edward ask, speaking slowly on purpose as he watched the Bailiff squirm.

“I-is there a problem your radiance?”

Edward suddenly noticed how his jaw had squeezed shut, teeth grinding as his grip around his delicate wine glass threatened to crack it.

“Not right now, but please tell me what you mean by that?”

“Well they are not allowed to serve in any position of power and they cannot own or sell goods that only the nobility and clergy are allowed-“

“What sort of goods?”

“Well uhhh, wine above a certain quality, fine fabrics, swords, venison, glasses, any gold or silver, anything that’s purple, blue or magenta, plush and furnished chairs, sugar, houses over a certain size-“

“I get the picture.”

“Ah- Right your radiance…”

Plush chairs!? Having a fucking cushion is restricted by those bastards… But why even? Well, no reason to question bastards…

He sighed, turning around and wandering over to a table full of food. Despite how nice it all looked he couldn’t help but feel a lingering sense of guilt as there were almost certainly people starving on the streets about a mile away or could never taste it because of their birth. Though it would be highly likely for there to be black market for all of this…

“Your radiance?”

He jumped as he heard duke Nathaniel’s voice, whipping around to see him smiling, the noble looking rather handsome in the moment, the admiral’s heart rate raising for a moment before he chided himself. The Duke’s previous animosity had seemingly gone, his paranoia told him this was probably a ploy but it can’t help to play along.

“You don’t have to call me that, call me Admiral or Edward, please.”

“Well, alright then Edward,” He was almost certainly trying to butter him up, “Can you hope to tell me what you expect from all of this.”

Edward decided to pause for a moment before answering, “That’s more of Elliot, the diplomat’s expertise.”

“You don’t have any clue what you want from this?”

“No, I’m only an instrument of Ifcan and I’m only doing what he asks, and I’m not one to know what can be achieved in a week of negotiations.”

“You only know war?” The duke asked, his voice hardening slightly.

“Well it is my profession, unfortunately for me, I would have preferred to be a maker or an explorer.”

“Quite the more mellow life?”

“Indeed…”

“And so, what does Ifcan intend to do with all of their loyal servants like me?” And that’s what he was actually after.

He finished his sip from his wine glass as he put it down, “Well that’s ultimately up to Ifcan, though as I understand it, I will be taking over the overall administration temporarily while Ifcan makes his decision.”

The duke’s smile twitched. What had he done- Oh fuck their god has no gender, shit! And he’d used male pronouns from them all this time! God why he have to accidentality miss gender someone now, and the god of the people he was talking to at as well!

“Well, I hope you won’t underestimate me when the time comes, I’m quite the successful administrator and general you know?”

“I didn’t know, but I will be sure to keep that in mind.”

The duke nodded his head as he smiled, leaving him. God, he needed some air now…

----------------------------------------

Elliot’s shoulders slumped after the group of nobles he was talking to had turned their back and turned around. He hadn’t drunk any of his wine, but he hoped no one had noticed. He didn’t think he could really handle it, or any alcohol harder than a beer at any time.

Not to mention that pretending to be an angel took another toll on him and he didn’t think his mother would be very happy with it, but she was never happy with him anyway…

He looked around, trying to find a friendly face, only to find a sea of clergymen, nobles, soldiers and the face of his assistant being closely guarded by one of the marines.

Where was Edward? Surely, he should be around here?

There was an open door over there though, hopefully there should at least be some clear air around there…

He pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring another question about his heterochromia from a belligerent clergyman as he finally got through the door and into a sunlit garden with a blacksuit by the door giving him a momentary heart attack.

“Elliot?” He heard, with the admiral sitting on a bench by a fountain of sorts, looking out onto the city from the wide arches by the covered open passageway he had entered out onto.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He sighed, “Did it get a bit to much for you as well?”

Edward flushed slightly, his eyes flicking away, “Well…”

“Why are you trying to deny it?”

He sighed, “Well, I guess I feel like admirals shouldn’t be the sort to walk out of meetings like this, you know? Come over here, we won’t have to raise our voices so much if you do.”

Edward glanced over at the black suit, Elliot getting the message as he sat beside the admiral. As the sun shone on his brown hair it seemed to almost turn blond, Edward exhaling as his eyes closed, appreciating the weather as Elliot’s heart fluttered. But- his gay heart was getting away from him and reality. This was an admiral he was talking about, he isn’t exactly the best territory for anyone who doesn’t fit in with the straight macho sort. But still, his mind had the nagging feeling he could be wrong… And why was he even fantasising about this? A week of talking and a pretty boy moment and he was thinking about this?

“Elliot?”

“Huh!?”

“I’m sorry I disturbed you, you just seemed a little distracted.”

Edward’s eyes looked into him, the sun casting dramatic shadows across his face- He then noticed that Edward seemed to be blushing now, a cute red flush, bold against his pale skin… Was he actually…

They both swallowed, neither breaking the silence, just sitting awkwardly while blushing before finally Edward coughed, “Well uhh- I- The weathers nice…”

“Uhh, yeah its is…”

More silence, was he as awkward as he was? And was Edward also stunned like this in their first meeting?

“But I feel like it feels better when you’ve been deprived of it for so long… Now just sitting here genuinely feels nice, even without doing anything else. It just reminds me of days sitting on the lawn of a national trust manor or castle…” His eyes now having drifted away to the garden around him, his flush fading.

Oh thank him for doing that! But- “You went to manors and castles? When?”

He looked back, puzzled for a moment, “Before I joined up on days out and such, there’s tons around the UK.”

“Oh, I remember now… To be honest that’s a little embarrassing I forgo-“

“Don’t worry about it, and, well, have you been to a preserved estate or castle or anything?”

He shook his head, “No, the closest colonial estate was a long drive away and I’ve never been to Europe… Not like my parents would want to take me anywhere-”

“I’ll show you around the UK or Italy if you want, we could even go to France, Germany or Croatia if that’s more your thing.”

“Oh no you don’t have to and anyway I don’t have the money-“

“I can pay for flights, I’ve managed to get a connection within British Airways and I can get half off on the Concord two flights to London or Paris.”

“Wait, how did you do that?”

“Oh, its another long story.” Edward said with a chuckle, before something came over his face.

Elliot felt his stomach sink, “Is there something wrong?”

“Can I ask you something completely random?”

“Uh, what? Uh, sure?”

“Well, there is this nagging thing that’s been in the back of my head ever since we’ve started talking…”

The foreboding feeling in his gut grew, but he swallowed it, “Go ahead…”

“What’s your favourite Disney film?”

Wait what? That’s was it?

“Well, uh I didn’t expect that!”

“I told you it was completely random.”

He laughed, the weird sensation of stress completely leaving him, “Well if I’d have to say I’d go for The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

Edward smiled, “Good taste.”

“Yours?”

“Atlantis.”

“Wait, you remember that film too?”

“Of course, I do! That, Hunchback, Beauty and the Beast, Emperor’s New Groove, Mulan and Hercules were the ones I constantly watched!”

“No little mermaid?”

“I think I just found it a little boring as a kid,” He said with a laugh which seemed to be growing on Elliot every time he heard it, the joyful life in sharp contrast to his usual professional demeanour.

“You want to know what David’s is?”

“Sure, is it Hercules?”

“No, The Rescuers.”

“Well, that’s a little unexpected. Is that a film?”

“Yeah, but don’t tell him I told you this, I only got it out of him after a rant about 3D animation while he was drunk.”

It was his turn to laugh, Edward’s blush returning as Elliot found himself wiping away a tear from his eye.

“To be honest I thought you only really had castles like this in fairy tales and films, and I didn’t think one building could have so much gold inside of them!”

“You should look at catholic churches, they’re all like the palace at Versailles or Buckingham palace on the inside, even small rural ones have gold crucifixes and murals inside.”

“I wonder how much it costed!”

“Yeah, I wonder that too…” Edward answered, with his face darkening slightly.

“You think they didn’t get all of this, uhm, legitimately?”

“Almost certainly. But it’s a nice view and it’s something people should be able to look inside of.”

A question stirred in him, brewing up before leaping out of his mouth, “What if we fail?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, what if this all falls though and such?”

“It won’t, you’ve got my full confidence that you’ll do well, and there is always a plan B.”

He quivered slightly, nervously laughing, “I’m not sure if that helps.”

“Well, then I have no expectations of you and what you’ll achieve.”

“You’re really not the best at encouraging people!”

“It’s a bit of an issue of mine, I’m shit at speeches…” Edward mumbled, his face flushing out of embarrassment.

“I thought that was something commanders are meant to do a lot of?”

“Well if you can keep moral high before the battle and as you go in, you don’t really need to, luckily for me. And anyway, it shouldn’t be an issue anytime soon, all we need to do is relax, let everything inside continue to pass us by before we need to go back in and look at this little piece of manicured nature…”

“Do you like the outdoors then?”

“Sort of, mainly the sort that doesn’t have spiders and mosquitoes in it, the sort that you can relax and sit outside in. And it doesn’t even have to be the sun, the moors in dreary overcast weather, as the rain lightly patters down is beautiful and the sort you want to read poems in, if it doesn’t sound too pretentious.”

Edward was back to leaning back and looking out and around, the tension completely gone from his body.

Yeah, he might be getting some feelings for him…

----------------------------------------

The king seemed rather happy still, in fact he seemed to have had a whale of a time talking to everyone, all while not getting himself smashed. It seemed like he was taking point in the negotiations with the priest, who’s full title was high priest Hiegfal the 1st, the equivalent of an archbishop.

Duke Nathaniel however, seemed to be pouring over all of the paperwork available, devouring every detail as his brow furrowed. Probably from a mixture of confusion from all of the new bureaucratic and diplomatic terms and an intense desire to try and detect any little hint towards any amount of malice… Edward noted to himself that the man was probably not to be trusted in this situation and was exactly the type David was warning about.

“So, all of you messengers of Ifcan have brought with you an integration treaty then?” the king asked.

Elliot nodded, “Ifcan has purged the world of Chin and their minions and now want to recover all those who have been lost to the war.”

“I’m sorry to be so cynical, but how do we know you are one of Ifcan’s?” Nathaniel asked, his eyes shifting between the arranged IFC detachment and his documents.

“Because if we were Chin we would have already gone on the offensive and destroyed your military before asking to negotiate, or not even be here at all. Equal negotiation is something only Ifcan is kind enough to do.”

Heigfal slowly nodded in agreement, “Of course, but what are the terms of this integration treaty?”

“You will become part of Ifcan’s domain as an autonomous region, where the bureaucracy will slowly shift over to the standard for his domain with positions selected by his representative before you finally get a choice in his council and you will be allowed to keep your wealth, though some land may be taken to build infrastructure where you will be compensated. Its rather simple and can all be found in those papers there.” Elliot said, looking over to the file the duke was still rummaging over. “Though we fully expect that there will be plenty of details you will want to iron out.”

The king thought for a moment before finally responding. “There is an ancient agreement which allows me to speak for all of the nobility on this issue and with some council beforehand with the high priest, I accept it.”

Everyone in the IFC delegation was stunned, Edward and Elliot looking at each other as each of them tried to slowly process the suddenness of the acceptance, with no resistance what so ever.

“Do you not have any demands?” Edward asked, biting the bullet.

“I only wish for the protection of my vassals from the threats of this world and to be the first to be reunited with our rightful lord.”

“Elliot, I believe we can sign the papers now then, if you have time king William?”

But while the room turned to a feeling of elation all round, the cogs in Nathaniel’s head still seemed to be turning as he watched with an indifferent expression. This was clearly not the end of this.