Uther left, and Uraia entered.

"There's someone who's desperate to speak with you," she said to me.

"VanBilt?"

"According to the prison guards he's been begging to see you ever since they killed those two syndicates."

"I knew it wouldn't be hard to break him."

"What should I tell them?"

"Nothing yet, I think I'll leave him to sweat a little longer. Uraia, can we talk?"

"Sure."

We walked out of the study and decided to have our talk while walking through the halls of the palace.

"The chief asked me to tell you that he hopes you're keeping well."

"Is he keeping well?"

"He's his usual self, still as wise as ever. I asked him what he thought of my plan not to use Myra should Volstaff invade and he assured me that I had made the right decision."

"Alegra, we all believe that it's the right decision and we fully support you, you didn't need to sit and have a conversation with my father about that."

"I enjoy having conversations with your father, when I'm talking with him it's as if everything is the way it used to be."

"You mean before you became queen?"

"Your father is the only person with whom my relationship hasn't changed, nothing will ever outweigh my respect for him."

"Has our relationship changed?"

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"Don't ask that when you know that it has."

"How so?"

"It's different now; I give you orders and you carry them out, before I used to follow you around like a puppy that couldn't get enough attention."

"Alegra, I never looked at you as being some sort of puppy," she stopped, put her hand on top of my head and said, "From the moment I first saw you that night in the Northlands I knew that you were strong and that you would grow up to be even stronger, and now that you've become queen I get to see you being the person I always knew you'd become with my own eyes every day, and I'll remain by your side for as long as it's my job to protect you."

Uraia drew me close to her and kissed me softly on my forehead, her way of letting me know that no matter how much everything else changed things between us never would.

My wait for being able to enjoy the full complement of my court was brought to an end when Cyrus and the mayor arrived at the palace two weeks after I had returned with Anbu and the chicks. After getting reacquainted with Lucy and taking her and Cyrus to the garden behind the palace, I asked the mayor to sit down with me in my study.

"Took you long enough," I said to him sarcastically.

"I couldn't just leave the town in the lurch, I had to make sure that in my absence everything would continue running as smoothly as before."

"Good, if you had been haphazard about attending to your responsibilities we would have had a problem."

"Is there anything important that I missed while I was away?"

"I'm about to authorize a purge of the noble families and their sympathizers and we're preparing for an invasion by a substantially larger force."

"So not much then," he replied sarcastically, "what comes next?"

"What comes next is you officially assume your role as Hand of the Queen."

I opened one of the drawers of my desk, retrieved from it the purple velvet glove that was worn by the Hand and walked around my desk to where the mayor was sitting.

"By accepting this glove you agree to become my Hand, to remain by my side, provide me with counsel that you believe will aid me in ruling the kingdom, to serve as regent when I am away from the palace, and to faithfully carry out whatever duties I assign to you; do you accept?"

"I accept."

"Well then, Ferland Thornhill, I hereby present you with the glove that symbolizes your selection as Hand of the Queen. Wear it always, and wear it proudly."

"Yes your majesty."

Ferland was brought to the brink of tears by the brief informal ceremony that I had improvised for him. His sincerity was a big part of the reason why I had chosen him to fulfill this role; as much as he may have at times tried to portray himself as a political operator he was always entirely transparent, this made it easy for me to trust him.