With our shopping complete we had nothing to do again until the queen arrived, which should be soon. I was rather curious about that meeting. Would she be paranoid like the agent? And what would she offer us?
Two days later my questions were answered. We were enjoying breakfast at the inn when Elnora entered. She immediately approached our table.
“Amaya, Lucy the queen would like to meet you.”
“Morning Elnora. When and where is that supposed to happen?” I asked.
“Right now, she is in the carriage outside.” Elnora replied.
“Uh, we are still eating. But the queen can join us if she wants.” I was not going to abandon my breakfast. Especially my morning coffee. I was rather surprised that the queen just showed up like that.
Elnora’s eyes widened at my response. “But… you can’t… it’s the queen! She requested your presence!”
Lucy looked a bit uncertain. I think she was ready to just drop everything and go outside. But we could just talk in here as far as I was concerned. I could easily use a spell for privacy. Elnora looked angry but she had no way to force us. After some thinking she left.
Shortly afterwards a new night elf entered. She had beautiful long white hair. Her features were rather delicate yet she radiated power. Most interestingly were her eyes. She had cat-like golden pupils. She was dressed in a black blouse and pants. The woman went straight for our table and smiled while approaching. Elnora followed her. Once she was next to us I felt the magic of a privacy spell.
The other patrons at the inn looked a bit curious. Most of them suspected who we were. Thanks to the lack of modern technology very few people knew how we actually looked. They only knew that a night elf and a fox kin fought the demon lord. The arrival of more night elves had them curious.
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“Hello, I am Loriel Nightshade. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.” She introduced herself to us.
“I am Lucy, it’s an honour to meet you.”
“I am Amaya, nice to meet you. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”
“Certainly.” She took a seat while Elnora stood behind her.
I waved to the waitress to order more food. She seemed unsurprised when she encountered the privacy spell. I assume we were not the first people who had a business discussion in an inn. Loriel ordered eggs, bacon, toast and coffee. Once the waitress left I talked again. “I am curious why you came here. Why not an official invitation?” I wondered.
Loriel smiled. “Formal affairs can be rather boring and I really wanted to meet you. It’s unlikely that anyone in Iron Rock recognizes me by sight. It is rather refreshing. I was hoping you would invite me for breakfast.” Elnora stiffened at those words. Clearly that was not what she had expected. Loriel continued: “You see me as an equal. Which adds to your mysteriousness. It also makes this conversation far more pleasant.”
“I see. And you are not concerned? Meeting with powerful strangers like that?” I asked.
“I am very hard to kill. And I would not need to win a fight, just escape. I also consider hostilities as a very unlikely outcome. Both of you have done the Dominion a great service. News is spreading rather quickly at home about our victory. The population is rather happy. Meanwhile the Empire has internal issues. There is unrest in the population and the military. They are also looking for spies everywhere. While it made it somewhat more difficult for our operatives, they seem to be looking at higher ranks than we infiltrated.” She paused as the food arrived.
After the waitress left she continued: “Our nation has been somewhat lax in dealing with the Empire. Since we do not share a border a lot of people did not care, high queen Maeve was among them. The appearance of a demon lord has changed things. Imagine if he was left to wreak havoc. Iron Rock would have fallen. All the death would have further empowered him and the dwarves would be in trouble. We would have been caught fully unaware. By the time we sent help a lot of dwarves would have died.”
“Instead of us looking incompetent we are seen as heroes, thanks to you. An official alliance with the dwarves is almost certain now. Queen Solana is currently visiting king Dalroc to negotiate the terms. Everybody is rather happy and I can tell Maeve “I told you so” with a smile since nobody got hurt.” Loriel said smiling.
“I see. Basically you were warning people that the Empire was a problem but were ignored. Now you were proven right and you can claim it were your own agents that prevented disaster. I assume your own popularity in the Dominion rose significantly?” I concluded.
Loriel’s smile widened even more. “Indeed. I look like a genius within the Dominion. Only the other queens and the high queen know the real truth.” After a moment she added: “And Elnora. But keeping secrets is part of her job.”
“And the high queen is ok with you taking credit?”
“I have known Maeve for all my life. We are good friends even if we don’t always agree on politics.”
“So, what do you want from us?” Lucy asked. She had been quietly listening so far.
“I want to ensure the people keep believing it was all the Dominion. I also want to work with you in the future. And I would really like to know more about who you are.”