“I wish to punch their impassive faces.”

“Your Majesty, you know we can’t do that.”

“How can you stay silent after watching this, Irina?”

“I don’t like it, but I won’t say anything about it. This is the national policy of Edenion and as foreigners we have no right to criticise it. And, we need to remember the most important thing when we are here. We are not here as guests …”

Irina stopped and glanced to a frameless who accompanied them down the streets of Edenia, the capital city of Edenion. The frameless ride his horse in front of their carriage. Their carriage was stopped because of an incident which block the traffic. However, Irina could not be sure whether he could hear their conversation or not.

“We are here as suspects who come to pledge our case.”

The young king teared his gaze from the window and looked at Irina.

“I know that. I am not stupid enough to irk Edenion. One order from those oh-so-important people and our Blackmoon will be wiped from the map of Vandaria.”

The king turned gloomy and mutter before closing his eyes and leaned back to his chair.

Irina Hailstorm sighed while looking to her king. Alexius I Blackmoon was the newly enthroned king of Blackmoon Kingdom. Despite his young age, he had enough skill to fulfill the responsibilities of a king. However, he had to carve his current position with river of blood and mountain of corpse.

Blackmoon was a human nation located in the north-west of the Mainland. However, its authority had always been under the threat of Edenion. The only reason Edenion let Blackmoon came into being was its reluctance to mess with a territory in the outer skirt of the Mainland. People would think that this situation would motivate all humans in Blackmoon to stay united and avoid internal conflict. However, fate was not that kind. Blackmoon was well known as one of the nation with the highest number of internal conflict. There were many noble families in Blackmoon and they were more than willing to tear at each other’s throat to gain more power and influence.

Irina came from this kind of family, too.

However, she had left that part of her life when she pledged her allegiance to the young king.

 Irina moved her gaze out of the carriage window. She saw a pair of mother and son which were forcefully split by some frameless. They were crying and begging to the frameless. However, the frameless kept their face neutral and one of them dragged the son away from the mother. The mother slumped to her feet and cried hard before several humans came out from a nearby house and dragged her to the house.

Neutral face? No, it was not. Those frameless, they did not hide their expressions. There was no need. There was no expression to hide. They felt nothing. They had no emotion, after all.

“That was terrible, wasn’t it, Irina?”

“What do you think?”

“The boy looked like he was only around four years old. According to Edenion’s policy, all slave’s children who can take care of themselves need to leave Edenia. Children have very little value as slave. They will be sent to other territories of Edenion which may require children as slave. It was a cruel policy for all human slaves in Edenia.”

“You know a lot, don’t you, Nathan?”

“I am supposed to be a King’s Advisor. I need to know about this kind of thing.”

Irina moved her gaze to another young man who sit beside the king. This man had pale skin who is usually found in the northern continent of Acro’vel. He was one of the advisors of King Alexius and also the youngest one among the advisors. He was not a noble, but his skill and knowledge were recognised by most people. His name was Nathaniel Trace.

Nathaniel sent her a wry smile.

“We can not keep the mother and the son together since it is against the law. However, it is possible for us to buy the son and save him from whatever fate the frameless had prepared for him. This incident left us with sour mood and saving the son will help us to ease our consience. I am sure this is what the King wish for, and …”

“And, we are not going to do that.” Irina cut him. “Nathan, stop babysitting him! I know that is what His Majesty want. That is what I want, too. However, we can’t do that. If we do that, the frameless will think that we dare to critise them and their law. This opinion will make our situation worse than before. We are literally here to beg them for not invading Blackmoon, please remember that!”

“I don’t need to be keep reminded of our purpose, Irina.” The young king replied Irina’s words. “I know what the best for my nation and I don’t need babysitter to remind me that!”

“My apologise, Your Majesty.”

Irina give the young king a slight bow. King Alexius answered her with a humph and closed his eyes again. The carriage had started to move. None started talking again. Irina observed the splendor of Edenia from her window. A bitter smile appeared in her face.

Every second we spent in Edenia, we will be reminded that we do not hold a candle againt the might of Edenion.

However, her musing halted when the carriage stopped in front of a magnificent building; Seraphion, the palace of Edenion. Irina looked at her king and companion. They exchanged glance for a second before she opened the door and got off the carriage. As her king’s knight, she was supposed to do her best to ensure the safety of her king. No matter how futile her attempt might be.

A frameless welcomed them in front of the palace gate. Irina observed her.

All frameless have heterochromia eyes, silver hairs, and facial bones in their foreheads which look like horns. Among these characteristics, silver hair was the most important identity of a frameless. Silver hair was a symbol of pure-blooded frameless, the only recognised citizen of Edenion. A single colored hair for a frameless was an evidence of mixed-blood; a blasphemous and sinful existence who was born from a mistake. They were ostrasized and considered as outcast. These ‘half-humans’ faced terrible fate which was worse than even human’s, expect for those who were born in clan with special privilege.

This frameless was clearly a pure-blooded one.

“Greeting for Eden, representative of Blackmoon. We have been expecting you. Please, follow me to the Audience Chamber.”

“I heard frameless is really straightforward and have no-nonsense approach of things. I am glad that this information is not wrong. Here we are, and there is not even an offer for refreshment.” King Alexius gave her usual sarkastic response before Irina managed to stop him.

The frameless tilted her head before responding.

“I am surprised that humans like to state the obvious. In our opinion, this kind of act is a waste of time. Or, could it be you just give us a so-called compliment? I heard that humans like to give those.”

Nathaniel cut this conversation before it continued.

“Greeting for Eden, Honored One. Thanks for welcoming us. We are sorry for troubling you to be our guide.” He made a slight bow to the frameless.

The frameless replied him with a nod.

“Please follow me to the Audience Chamber.”

Irina’s face turned solemn. She would be the only knight who guard her king and his advisor. However, she knew that her existence means nothing. This was the heart of Edenion. Those frameless could kill them as easy as lifting a finger.

Wait a second.

Irina realised something very important.

“Excuse me, Honored One.” Irina decided to ask their guide directly. “Did I really hear that we are expected in the Audience Chamber?”

“Again. It seems that human really love to ask the obvious. I meant what I said, human. The Council are expecting you at the Audience Chamber.”

This time, King Alexius and Nathaniel faced turned pale when they finally understood what it means.

“My apologise, Honored One. I thought we will only meet with the High Advisor. However, I heard that the Audience Chamber is where an audience with the Queen is held.”

Irina tried to find words to convey her nervous question.

However, the frameless cut her words.

“That is correct, human. You are very lucky to be granted an audience with the Queen herself. Most frameless never have an honor to meet her themselves.

Irina knew this was the worst possible situation.

They hoped that Edenion did not see the issue of Blackmoon as an important one. They wished that Edenion only saw the possibility of Blackmoon supporting rebelion movements as a small inconvenience. These situations would bring the greatest possibility of Blackmoon’s survival.

However, they were clearly mistaken.

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

The Audience Chamber of Seraphion was simple. Frameless did not wish to spend their time to build extravagant things. All their buildings were made only to fit their purpose. However, it did not mean that it was not beautiful. The Audience Chamber was wholly made of white marble. There were several plants in all corners of the room, giving beautiful contrast to the white color. There were also several pillars and carvings in both sides of the chamber. According to what Irina knew, the carving symbolized some values of the teaching of Vanaadinnahkah. There were three pillars at the left side and five pillars at the right side, showing asymmetric preference of frameless.

However, Irina did not care about them.

There was a long carpet from the door to the end of the room. A podium was located at the end of the room. There were some seats located on both sides of the carpet. Most of the seats were occupied, although there were two frameless who stand. One of them, a male frameless, was standing in front of the podium, while the other frameless, a female one, was standing at the far right of the room. One thing who pick her attention is a valance which cover the throne located on the podium.

The Immortal Queen of Edenion was clearly someone who could not be seen by mere humans like them.

“Greeting for Eden, Your Majesty the Queen, the High Advisor, and all Honored Ones of the Council. We, the Kingdon of Blackmoon, answered your summons.”

King Alexius gave his greeting in front of the throne, accompanied by a deep bow. There was not even a bit of his usual sarkasm in his voice. He followed his bow with kneeling. Irina and others followed his lead. This was not a time for pride. This was the time for begging and licking shoes.

They had no choice.

“You are allowed to stand, humans. Come and pledge your case to the Council.”

The High Advisor replied the greetings and mentioned the topic of this audience immediately.

“Six months ago, a human rebellion erupted near the trading city of Zarkand, the central of Crystal Road. This impact of this rebellion was very sever. The Crystal Road was blocked and Zarkand was sieged for almost a month. The rebel was clearly an organised unit, almost as good as a trained army. The armies of Jade Kingdom managed to stop the siege and destroy the rebel army. An investigation was conducted and a truth was revealed. One of the leaders of the rebel was a Blackmoon noble and the core army of the rebel was a trained Blackmoon legion.”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

He looked at King Alexius before continuing.

“How are you going to answer this, King of Blackmoon?”

“Your Majesty the Queen, High Advisor, and Honored Ones. I refused to answer this accusation!” King Alexius replied. “These were lies. We will never challenge the sovereignity of Edenion.”

Irina kept her face neutral. However, she was very nervous. When they started their journey to answer Edenion’s summons, they knew that they were accused for supporting a rebellion. Yet, they did not know the whole problem. They thought Edenion only captured a handfull of Blackmoon’s citizens who support the rebellion. This issue was much worse than what they expected.

“These were not lies, human king.”

A voice cut King Alexius’ words.

The female frameless who stand at the far right of the room finally moved closer to the throne. Her silver hair and facial bones showed her high standing in Edenion. However, the most obvious evidence of her position was the aura she released.

Irina felt that she could read all parts of her mind and memories just by standing there.

“The noble came from House Tillius. His name was Valdio. The army was an official legion of the Reyd province under his direct comand.” She continued with a flat tone.

How can she be very certain? What is her position in the Council?

 “Honored One, it might be true that Valdio Tillius was one of the persons who lead the rebel. However, it did not mean that Blackmoon support this rebellion. Everything was just a coincidence.” King Alexius replied immediately.

“I found this explanation unbelievable, King of Blackmoon.” The High Advisor answered King Alexius’s word with cold voice. “Valdio Tillius was a declared heir of House Tillius before his disapperance a year ago. The army was clearly part of your Blackmoon’s official army. How can you say that Blackmoon has nothing to do with it?”

“Because it was the truth, High Advisor.” King Alexius insisted. “If it is true that Valdio Tillius supported the rebel, he did it on his own discretion. At most, this was an individual act of House Tillius. I, we, will never dare to give any order to rebel against Edenion!”

Another member of Council who sit on the left side suddenly raise his voice.

“According to our information, House Tillius is well known for their hatred of frameless. This kind of family is permitted to rule over a province of Blackmoon. Does it mean that this feeling is shared among most of Blackmoon’s nobles?”

“I can’t give a definite answer, Honored One.” Cold sweat started appearing in King Alexius’ forehead. However, he knew he should not lie in this situation. “We, humans, are being who are controlled with emotion. Each of us have personal opinion which might be against the greater good of our people. However, we tolerated these people if they do not act. Accusing a person just simply because he harbors negative thought is illogical.”

“We beg to differ, King of Blackmoon. We believed it is the logical one.”

Irina realised that this situation got worse every second.

“High Advisor, if I may speak?”

She decided to try her luck. The High Advisor replied her request with a nod, indicating her to continue.

“My name is Irina Hailstorm. My family is the ruler of Valta province. As a born noble, I can attest that most of us, nobles, are selfish people who only wish to obtain personal interest. As lowly humans, we are easily controlled by our desire. We always wish for power, despite hurting fellow humans. Every family who rule provinces has major power and huge influence because of this. If you don’t fight, you will get eaten. This is the main reason why every noble family harbor military power.”

Irina decided to throw all prides of humanity to mud. This is her only card.

“However, there were several powers who try to do their best for our nation. The royal family is the obvious example. Generations of kings had tried to do their best to put these nobles on leash. They tried to direct the greed and desire of these nobles to benefit Blackmoon. The royal family is not alone! There are other noble families who share similar idea and try to help the king. However, others just too selfish.”

“I beg Honored Ones to understand that an act of a group of Blackmoon citizen does not represent Blackmoon. We, humans, hold different values because of different desire who control us. This is how the Vanaadinn made us.”

She finished her speech by a deep bow.

The room was silent for a moment.

“Your words were quite assuring, human.” The High Advisor broke the silence. “However, I failed to understand why you let a family such as House Tillius to remain in power. Their hatred of frameless is not really hidden, does it?”

“House Tillius hold a province because they have enough power to do so. They kept order and enforce law for their territory. In our human term, they are a necessary evil.”

“Why don’t you choose another family and hand them the power?”

Whispers of agreement could be heard across the room.

Irina lost words. She did not know how to explain the complexity of human politics to these frameless. If the King removed a noble family from their hardly-earned power simply because they harbor bad thought for frameless, other nobles would loath the King. The King would lose support from the nobles. At worst, this act would lead to an assassination or even civil war.

“Exar.”

A feminime voice cut the ongoing interrogation.

Irina held her breath.

This one word silent the whole room. The High Advisor step aside and bow to the throne.

One word was enough to emit an unreachable aura of holiness. The aura covered the whole room and left the three humans breathless. They felt like three insects who fly too close to the sun.

This was Queen Seraph of Edenion.

“I believed that the answer of your question is something called ‘human politics’. It is a foreign concept for us. I heard it has something to do with balance of power, hidden words, and backstabbing among humans.”

The Queen continued her words as if nothing happened.

“I agree with this young human. The participation of a Blackmoon noble in a rebel does not mean that the whole Blackmoon support the rebel, as long as this is what really happened. Do you have anything to add for this information, Queen Kirra?”

All frameless moved their gaze to the standing female frameless.

Irina was surprised. The female frameless had a much higher position than what she expected.

A Queen? What does it mean?

“As you wish, Your Majesty.” The female frameless answered with another flat tone. “The Irvana did not find any evidence or even indication that other Houses of even other members of House Tillius support Valdio Tillius and the rebel. We believed that he and his army acted alone.”

“Is it true that there are many nobles who harbor deep hatred toward frameless?”

“It is.”

“What is your opinion about them?”

“They are threat which should be eliminated.” The female answered without pause.

“However, it is impossible to fully eliminate this threat. Human always harbor negative emotion. It is also important to be understood that these nobles fear us more that they hate us. Our information showed that these nobles will never dare to raise a hand against Edenion, except for a very small number of people. However, these people do not have power to back their intent.”

How can they discuss our fate as easy as that?

“However, we have a rogue noble who support a rebellion here.”

“This rogue noble was lucky to encounter a strong rebel movement. It is very unlikely another lucky noble will appear.”

“Very good. It means there is no problem.”

“I beg to differ, Your Majesty.” The High Advisor protested. “As Her Grace Kirra said, it seems that the human Valdio Tillius acted alone. However, this incident showed that Blackmoon can not control humans under their auhority. Blackmoon let these humans think and act against Edenion.”

“I requested for these humans and their territory to be put under Edenion authority.”

Irina exchanged worried look with her king and companion. This was what they feared the most.

“I understand you concern, Exar. However, why do we need to bother ourselves?” a soft reply can be heard from the throne.

“Blackmoon was located far in outskirt of Mainland. It takes weeks to travel from our border to that territory. That territory had nothing we need in matter of resources. Why should we bother to spend our effort for that territory? I heard human merchants explain this situation as ‘cost outweight benefits’.”

“Kingdom of Blackmoon help us manage humans in that territory by enforcing laws and maintaining order. If chaos happened in that territory, Edenion will be affected. We have no interest with that territory, but we don’t wish for chaos as well. Therefore, the existence of Blackmoon is necessary.”

“I also understand what Queen Kirra said. Humans always harbor negative thought about us. It is impossible for Edenion to fully control all these humans’ behavior. It is much easier to entrust this job to an existing human nation like Blackmoon.”

Irina felt shiver down her spine. She felt that the figure behind the valance look at her.

“As the young human said, this is a necessary evil.”

We might survive this ordeal.

“Of course, this judgement is under condition that Blackmoon will remain loyal to Edenion.”

King Alexius knelt immediately. Irina and Nathaniel followed him.

“I swore that as long as my family remain in power, Blackmoon will never question Edenion’s sovereignity, Your Majesty.”

“Then, this issue is settled.”

Irina shuddered. She heard a finality in these words, an absolute power hidden under the soft voice. She felt as if Vanaadinn themselves came down and gave this decree.

Other frameless did not raise another question or accusation. Irina believed they did not dare.

King Alexius, Nathaniel, and Irina rised and gave their final bow to the Queen before leaving. Irina observed the High Advisor. Her intuition told her that this frameless was the one who really want to subdue Blackmoon. However, Irina also saw that this frameless gave them indifferent look and it was possible he only performed his duty. She did not know why she had this unreasonable intuition.

Yet she felt more comfortable when she looked at the female frameless, the mysterious queen. Despite her words which cornered them, she felt that this frameless simpy stating facts and did not harbor any thought toward them or Blackmoon. She also had no idea why she thought like this.

Accompanied by their previous guide, they finally left the Palace of Seraphion.

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

“Two weeks of travel for attending an audience which last less than an hour, and they wish for us to leave Edenia immediately. As expected of frameless.”

“Your Majesty, please lower your voice. We have not left Edenia yet.”

“Don’t worry, Irina. I simply stated the facts. This is what frameless do.”

“I just don’t want to take any risk, Your Majesty. I wish to leave this city life and well.”  

“So do I.” The young king mutter. “Now that the crisis had passed, I want to rest before we start our journey back. Let’s go to the nearest possible city and have some nice, relaxing rest.”

The carriage boarded by King Alexius, Irina, and Nathaniel strode down the streets of Edenia. There were frameless who ride horses in front of their carriages. They said they were guides, but the three humans know that they were here to ensure that the Blackmoon representative leave Edenia as soon as possible.

“I am wondering if the crisis had truly passed.” Someone muttered.

It was Nathaniel who look out of window with a worried look.

“What do you mean, Nathaniel?”

“I felt something is wrong, Your Majesty. I felt it in my gut. I felt that we are being played.”

“Do you mean that those frameless lied to us?”

“No, Your Majesty.” Nathaniel shake his head. “Frameless do not like lying. Lies make them feel uncomfortable. However, a frameless whom I respect said that frameless have their own way of deception. For example, they do not mind hiding truth to deliver a completely different message.”

“Moreover, frameless in power are more inclined to hide truth and add lies into existing fact, if they believe that those lies are the logical choice. That is the reason why we need to be carefull when we deal with them.”

The king throwed a curious look to Nathaniel.

“I don’t know you have a frameless you are close with, Nathaniel?”

“I do not dare to say I am close with him, Your Majesty. However, I respected him very much and I believed that Your Majesty know that there are many nice frameless out there. They are not only consisted of arrogant bastard, after all.”

“Ok, let’s go back. What problem do you find?”

“I don’t know, Your Majesty.” Nathaniel hesitated. “When we received the summmons, I believed that Edenion want to make us as an example for humans. Our King of Blackmoon, rushed to answer the summon of Edenion like some loyal dog. Whether they will destroy us or not in the end, we will be set as an example for other nations.”

“When Edenion believed that there is a possibility of threat, they will destroy it immediately. They don’t take mid-route. At first, I thought there were only two possible events we would face in Edenia.”

“First, our issue is not an important one which warrant the attention of Edenion’s higher up. We will arrive in Edenia, eat dirt, and go back safe and sound.”

“Second, our issue has grave importance. We will meet Edenion’s higher ups, declared as rebel, executed, and Blackmoon will be wiped out of Vandaria.”

“However, what we faced here was exacly a situation between these two possibilities. Our issue was considered as a very important one – we even meet the Queen herself, for Vanaadinn’s sake -  but we survived and Edenion let Blackmoon go. What happened here?”  

The king faced turned grim.

“I don’t care what those frameless think inside their silver heads. I am just glad that Blackmoon survived this ordeal. The last thing I want is Blackmoon facing its demise under my rule.”

“There will be a catch for our survival, Your Majesty.”

“I don’t care. As long as Blackmoon stands.” The King gave Nathaniel a stern reply.

Irina face turned solemn. She threw her glance out of window.

She saw hundreds of frameless. Each of them possess power beyond human’s understanding. A single trained frameless possess equal power with a squad of Blackmoon’s trained unit. She remembered legends about immortal frameless. Every single one of them could wipe a nation alone.

“What do you have in your mind, Irina?”

Irina noticed that her king observed her musing.

“We survive this time, Your Majesty. However, are we going to survive another?”

Irina hesitated for a moment.

“Humans live under frameless’ pity. The only way for humans to obtain frameless’ aprroval is fulfilling their needs, like becoming merchant, artist, or crafters. However, people like us, who choose to dedicate our life for humanity’s wellbeing, such as ruling and protecting human nations are looked with suspicious eyes. They saw us as threat.”

“We survive this time. Are we going to survive again when Edenion summon us next time? What will happen if Edenion summon Blackmoon in the age of your son’s rule, Your Majesty? Will he make it? What happened if there is a rogue from my House Hailstorm in the future? How will it affect my little brother?”

“What I mean is, I just wish, I hope there is another way.”

“Stop right there, Irina.” King Alexius cut her immediately.

“I realy hope you do not think about what I thought you are thinking.”

“Your Majesty, I …”

“And you just warned me not to say anything stupid when we are still in Edenia.”

“I don’t mean to endanger our situation …”

“Irina.” The king cut her again. “I think I understand what you have in your mind. However, it is a thought which should not be told to anyone. Don’t say it. It is better if you don’t even think about it. This is not like you to act irrational.”

Irina bowed.

“My apologies, Your Majesty.”

The carriage turned quiet. None started another conversation. The carriage finally pass the gate of Edenia and strode to another city. Several horse riders caught up with the carriage. They are soldiers of Blackmoon. They were ordered to stay out of Edenia when the king and his entourage answer Edenion’s summons.

Irina threw one last look to the city of Edenia. The shining city was the symbol of frameless’ prosperity, but it was also the symbol of fear for humans across Vandaria.

I just wish, that my friends and little brother can live with pride in Vandaria.