To get to Dranii we flew south west. We were both keen to put our disappointing visit to the village behind us and focusing our minds on what awaited us in Dranii allowed us to do that. We flew well into nightfall, following the line of the Olsteria mountains which Boris told me would lead us to Alemdor, the capital of Dranii. We managed to locate the city and when we arrived there we flew straight to the castle which was located at the center of the city and landed up on the roof. The guards stationed on the roof drew their swords and surrounded us when we landed, though their fear of Myra and Igor was obvious.
"State your business," one of the guards commanded.
"Tell King Gregorio that Queen Alegra of Aseron is here to speak with him," I climbed down from Myra and said to the guard.
The guard, recognizing that the presence of two phoenixes before him meant that I could only be telling the truth, set off at great speed to deliver the message. After only a few minutes King Gregorio himself came up to the roof to welcome us.
"So the rumors are true then, The Fire Queen really has risen anew," King Gregorio walked over to us and said.
"I hope it's not a problem that I've arrived unannounced," I said.
"It's not a problem at all, though I do wish you had given us time to prepare a welcome for you befitting of royalty."
"I'm not one for pomp and circumstance, so think nothing of it."
"Very well then, shall we proceed into the castle, I'm sure you and your companion are tired from your long journey."
"This is Uraia, the Governing Council's Okwari representative and my former Royal Guard captain, a role she's agreed to reprise for this trip."
"Follow me," King Gregorio said after giving a small bow of his head in Uraia's direction.
We followed him down the stairs and through a door that opened up to a large hallway where a woman was standing and waiting.
"Elana, this is Alegra, the queen of Aseron, and her companion Uraia," the king said to her before turning back to us, "This is Elana, she is one of my most devoted attendants, she will ensure that all of your needs are taken care of during your stay here; Elana, show them to their quarters and make sure that they are provided with everything they need."
"Yes my king," Elana answered, bowing to King Gregorio, "come with me," she then said to us.
We followed her down the hallway to the other end of the castle, where doors were open that led to two large bedrooms.
"I trust these shall prove acceptable accommodations," Elana said to us.
"Yes, this'll be fine," I answered.
"The king has asked me to tell you that you are invited to dinner, which will be served in the banquet hall in about an hour, giving you enough time to take care of your ablutions."
"Thank you, please tell the king that we'd be delighted to join him for dinner."
While I was busy washing myself in my bathroom, I came to appreciate what Boris had said to me about respecting the traditions of royalty. The awkwardness of my abrupt arrival was not an ideal platform for high level direct talks between royals on serious geopolitical issues. King Gregorio seemed not to have any issues with the manner in which we had arrived. The banquet hall where we would be dining was lavishly decorated and a veritable feast was laid out on the table, all of which had been done in the short space of time since our arrival. King Gregorio met us in the banquet hall, along with members of his court and his son Philip, who he insisted I sit next to. Philip was handsome, he had blue eyes and flowing brown hair and was elegantly dressed in regal attire.
"Philip here is my eldest and the heir to my throne."
"I am honored to make your acquaintance, Queen Alegra. I have been eager to meet you ever since learning of your ascension," Philip said charmingly, taking my hand and kissing it.
"News of your exploits has traveled far and wide, the manner in which you seized the throne has captured the imaginations of many, already there are legends about you in which you are described as a divine being, the holy resurrection of The Fire Queen," King Gregorio said to me.
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"If that were the case I wouldn't have gone into Myra's cave fearing for my life."
"To dare to capture a fully grown phoenix all on your own is in itself worthy of deep veneration," King Gregorio said.
"I didn't do it all on my own, Anbu helped me, he's a wolf that I rescued when we were living in the Northlands."
"You're an animal lover, you and Philip will get along very well, he's much happier spending his time out in the wild than he is when he is attending to matters of state."
"I have a wolf as well, her name is Sheena; I'd love to get a close look at your phoenix while you're here, I've never seen one before," Philip said to me.
"They're up on the roof, if you'd like we can go after dinner."
"They?" Philip asked, confused.
"Oh yes, that's right, Queen Alegra's companion Uraia flew here on the back of a phoenix as well, which is something that I've been meaning to ask you; how is it that you've got two phoenixes?" King Gregorio asked.
"Uraia's phoenix is named Igor, he's Myra's son. She had taken up residence in the mine where I captured her to nest with her chicks. After I'd captured her and we'd managed to successfully dethrone Queen Gwendolyn I brought the chicks with me back to the palace. Igor took a strong liking to Uraia and decided to stay, and the other two come and go as they please, they've also developed an attachment to us."
"Four phoenixes, no wonder the other kingdoms are worried about you," King Gregorio said as we were taking our seats at the table.
Uraia didn't take a seat, she remained standing behind me the same way King Gregorio's Royal Guard captain stood behind him.
"What the other kingdoms are worried about is that you seem to have designs on conquering the entire realm."
"I have no such designs, if an opportunity presents itself for me to strengthen my kingdom I'm going to seize it, to do otherwise would be a dereliction of my duty as king, but I'm not the sort to march my army against another kingdom simply because I've decided on a whim that I would like to have their kingdom for myself."
"I think if you operated that way they'd be less anxious, it's your underhanded way of going about increasing your influence that causes them so much anxiety."
"What you call underhanded I call strategic, and what they're failing to acknowledge is that if they ran their kingdoms properly they wouldn't need to borrow from us so much and put themselves at our mercy."
"I didn't come here to debate your practices, I came here because the other kingdoms believe that I was doing your bidding when I killed Anua and I'd like the record set straight that I was not."
"It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for people to believe that we are allies, their fear of us would insulate you from ever going through again what you went through with Volstaff."
"I don't doubt that there would be benefits to such arrangement, but my goal is to establish relationships with the other kingdoms on my own terms, and I can't do that if they believe that I'm in your pocket."
"Your wish to be perceived as a ruler who is beholden to no one and does things on her own terms is incredibly naive, the realm operates according to a certain order, challenge that order and you will find yourself isolated and vulnerable."
"Is that a threat?"
"No, a simple statement of fact, one which I have no doubt you will come to learn in due time, until then you have my word that I will do nothing to encourage the rumors that our kingdoms are in league with each other, nor will I hold anything against you if in the future you decide that a formal alliance with us is something that you'd like to pursue."
"That's very generous of you, but with respect to us not being allies, I'd like you to be declarative about that."
"You're very determined about this aren't you? I will say that I admire your determination, even if I believe that you are wasting your time. What exactly is it that you are hoping to achieve?"
"What I am hoping to achieve is a set of relationships with the other kingdoms in the realm that are based on fairness and trust."
"Like I said, you are being incredibly naive, however I suppose that your idealism is to be expected given who your father is."
"You knew my father?"
"Yes, I was surprised when I met him that a military man could be so erudite. He and I had a long discussion at this very table about the very same subject that we're discussing now: what constitutes appropriate and inappropriate behavior by a kingdom when it is pursuing its interests. Your father was of the opinion that a kingdom should always act honorably and in fairness so that it's got some goodwill in reserve with the other kingdoms if ever it needs to call upon them, my opinion that I expressed to him, which is the same as the one that I am expressing to you now, is that all of us in the realm are essentially playing a game, and games have winners and losers, so the only logical thing to do as a ruler is to ensure that your kingdom is one of the winners. We went back and forth on this topic for hours and despite the fact that neither of us was able to change the other's mind it's still one of the most enjoyable conversations I've ever had."
"I was told before coming here to be prepared for dealing with a ruler with an entirely cynical worldview and I must say that the depths of your cynicism were vastly underrepresented."
King Gregorio let out a loud guffaw at this.
"I haven't had such candid words spoken to me directly in a long time, I am now more hopeful for an alliance between us than I was before, though I fear my chances of convincing you of the merits of such an alliance are all but non-existent. I'll leave Philip to continue making our case for us tomorrow, you two can go flying and talk about it then."
"Flying?" I asked, perplexed.
"You on your phoenix, and Philip on his gryphon, he won't forgive me if I let you leave without him having the opportunity to find out which creature is superior in the air."