"At last you have come here, Sunbearer." A deep growling voice said. "Or perhaps I should be asking, why have you come here? Well...Azara?"

The woman who the voice was speaking to stood in total darkness, and she was trying to remember how she had come to be there and how to leave.

"Silence is my answer?" the male voice said, speaking again from the dark. Two golden eyes peered out into Azara's golden irises. "Then I shall say what needs to be said. Our meeting is inevitable now. So now you must choose. Face your nature, uphold it, and embrace it. Face me, and face oblivion. I would be glad if you chose the latter."

Azara opened her mouth to speak but was stopped by a great thunderous roar from the dark. Billowing flames followed it and rose from the darkness to engulf her.

This ended the dream, and Azara awoke with a start. It was still early morning. The sun had not yet risen, but she could see that through the slats of the window shutters a deep red light filtered in. She let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the experience had only been a dream, but also wary of the fact that could have also been a real message.

She opened the window and the shutters to her room, and she was greeted by a red sky on the horizon. The day was beginning, and dawn had just begun. A red sky in the morning was the sign of a coming storm. It was early spring in Ursulam, she thought, and it would not be surprising for a snowstorm to roll in during the day. The landscape was already covered in snow, however, and the young woman took a moment to observe the city of Ursus outside the castle window, now lit up by the red-orange light. It was rather gorgeous, as the snow lost its white color and took on the color of the sunrise. It was like the city was burning with fire, but not being destroyed.

She then went about getting ready for her day. First, it was off to the baths of the castle - which could have been better described as a well-fortified mansion or palace rather than a castle - and then she had to be dressed. This took longer than she would have liked, but it was a formal occasion, and so no lack of care was taken in making her look as perfect as possible in the red gown she had chosen. It was a lavish garment, made of fine silk from South Sukarram, a country on the other side of the known world. Despite this, it did not impress her.

Most clothing, no matter how fine, often felt lackluster to her. For Azara, the important part of her wear was jewelry. On each hand, she wore a gold ring, one with an inlaid emerald and the other a diamond. On her left hand was a fine gold hand chain dotted with small diamonds, and her right wrist was adorned by a gold band. On her left forearm was an armband of gold, bearing a strange "E" shaped runic symbol. This rune was the symbol of house Elefthera, from which she hailed. She wore a fine necklace, decorated with diamonds and rubies. Her earrings were of gold as well, teardrop-shaped and set with rubies. At her waist was a thin golden chain, and attached to it was a small watch-like disk, housing a mirror. The disk was around the size of her palm. It was an odd device, since the filigree attached to the disk covered the mirror, making it quite useless as a way to see one's reflection. Her golden hair was put up in a bun, kept there by a silver hair stick. The end of this hair stick was shaped like a claw, grasping a ruby jewel.

After all this preparation, it was time for breakfast and a bit of tea. Today was too important of a day to start with an empty stomach. She did not have the time to eat a proper breakfast at a table, however, and thus she had the food and drink brought to her room. The girl who brought it placed the muffin and tea beside her on her desk, where Azara was scribbling down notes in yet more preparation for the event ahead of her. She had a lot to remember, and as time moved on, it continued to become clear to her that she was not as confident about her task as she had been when setting out.

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"Tell me, Elise," she said, speaking to the girl who had just brought her food, "what do you think you would do if a stranger walked up to you and demanded that you just hand over something of yours, just because they think it will cause you a great deal of trouble in the future?"

The teenage girl, a little more than half a decade younger than Azara, thought for a moment. "Has it caused me trouble before, or would you be threatening me? How is trouble going to be caused? There is a lot to that question."

Azara shrugged and sighed. "I wish it weren't that complex. I'm not cut out to be doing this as much as mother thinks I am. I may as well send you out there in a couple of hours. Why mother thought that I was best the best choice for this job still confounds me."

"You are talking about the Veyorn lands aren't you?" she replied.

"Of course I am! What else would it be? I just don't see a king like Orvaar ceding something like that for the reasons I've been given. I'm not a natural negotiator anyways. I can buy and sell jewels and gold, yes, but that is just, well, a sort of hobby. That is a very different thing from negotiating land agreements with nations."

"Forgive me if I speak top much my lady, but as the daughter of Lady Ezmeralda Elefthera, your words hold more sway than a simple diplomat; and she does not do what she does without ample consideration," Elise said, confident. She then looked at the ground rather than at Azara. "And I apologize for pointing out the obvious, but your company and jewelers association is the largest in Aericia, maybe the world, for dealing in rare gems. Even your friends in the Merchant's Guild are already looking for ways to tear it apart. You hold too much money within their organization and from too many people. If anyone is going to get someone to give them something for nothing...it is you."

Azara rolled her eyes and nodded in response. Elise was both right and wrong, as well as being too formal. Azara was not book smart by most metrics, but she had intuitive intelligence on her side that few did. That was why her company had found itself growing so fast in the five years since she began it as a sort of side project, something to keep her teenage self interested. Her mother had an active hand in urging it on of course, but most of that had just been in keeping her focused on it, to begin with. Thus, at this point, the company was indeed richer than any within her home country of Aericia.

“My company isn't the largest dealer of rare gems in the world. That honor still goes to Tear's Company, out of South Sukarram, Elise.” Azara said. “Thank you though, it isn’t usual to get praise from you, and I appreciate it.”

Elise smiled. “Your welcome my Lady, I am very-”

“Please stop,” Azara said, cutting her off. “, this act is getting annoying.”

Elise tried to hold in a giggle but failed miserably. “I’m sorry, it is just all the servants here talking like that is hilarious. It is so different from home. I decided to join in.”

“Oh please don’t,” Azara replied. “, stars know I don’t need any flattery.”

Azara scribbled a few more notes down, before folding up a couple of them and putting them down one sleeve of her dress. She finished her tea in the most unsophisticated way possible, by slurping what was left of it down, she then stood and walked to the door. She picked up a staff that lay against the bed foot-board as she went.

The staff was more than a simple walking stick. It was a rod of silver, with gold coiling up the bottom half like a snake; and at the top, a large red gemstone was grasped in the mouth of a golden dragon's head.

"Well then," she said, turning back to Elise, ", noble, mage, merchant, and now diplomat too I guess. No matter how this goes, I suppose I cannot complain that I am not having an adventure of sorts, and getting a new hat to wear on top of it all."

“And you are beautiful as well. Praise be your awesomeness.” Elise replied, her tone sarcastically deadpan.