"How Long Until The Crown Breaks?"

8. When Dawn woke up the next morning, she awoke to her handmaidens coming into her room with pretty dresses, accessories, shoes, shawls, and bags in hand.

With them surrounding her, Dawn rubs her eyes, blinking on and off as she tries to figure out what is going on.

"Hey, what is happening my maidens?"

The one helping her up says to her, "the sovereigness called us in. You are to meet with your future husband, Youin Nebin (Youin being Prince in the Arcillian language).

"Oh...Oh??"

Shocked that she hadn't remembered this, Dawn instantly stands up, walking past her maidens, sitting down on her vanity chair, staring to herself in the mirror, trying to clear her thoughts as she prepares for this day.

The maidens stand back, letting her relax, until one of her maidens speak up, saying "My lady, we must get into the bath, you only have three hours to prepare, three hours that we are very much losing."

Looking right to the maiden who spoke, the others look to her as if she shouldn't have said that.

Dawn smirks, "right...Time is at hand."

Dawn gets up, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before turning to the woman and saying, "I'll get dressed then."

Side eyeing the one who spoke just now, Dawn stop before her and says calmly, "you wait out, I'll have you do my hair today."

The maiden nods her head in understanding.

Then walking into the bathroom, Dawn gets washed up, drowned in perfume, then taken out to be covered with bronze and peach gold, her sparkling gold crown, and her makeup giving her brown skin the natural glow it already has.  

While dressing up, her mother walks in.

Sovereigness Suna stands at the door, walking up after to say to Dawn, "why must you take this long darling?"

"It hasn't even been an hour yet, mother."

She looks at her.

"Honey, it's been fifty minutes to be exact."

"We will not even eat until he gets here?"

Her facial movements show that it isn't too serious to her, but Suna says otherwise as she keeps her face well put, serious as ever.

"We need to make a good impression in front of these people, we should not linger you any longer, we already have for two years now, Youin Nebin is excited to meet you from what is said of his letters."

"So?"

"So!" Suna suddenly frowns, "what do you mean so? This is to enhance our sovereignty, to show that we also have allies in this world. We need to make up for what happened with Naminek."

"What happened with us and Naminek is not my problem, plus, we are allies with the strongest sovereignty on this planet, we need know one else." 

Saying this while getting up and having her shoes put on. Suna snickers, "Dusk has much more manners I see, he actually cares about the status of us, the only thing you seem to care about is yourself!"

The maiden's try not to react even as Dawn stops them from putting the shawl around her. 

Dawn faces her mother, frowning and saying "What happened to us mother? Why are we now such a desperate people? And why do we as women have to feel the burden of it?"

Silence suddenly fills the room as Suna is taken aback by her daughter's words.

"Don't say that....."

"It's true...Right mother?"

"All sovereignties go through this process, don't try to be any different."

She looks her up and down, "it doesn't look good on you."

Then saying this, Suna walks back over to the door, turning to the maidens saying after "Please hurry, we must all be in the foyer when they arrive."

And sneaking Dawn one more look as Dawn turns from her to face a painting instead, Suna closes the door, with the sound of her heels slowly disappearing down the hall.

Dawn chuckles, "look at this painting everyone."

The maiden's turn to it.

"Isn't it lovely? Someone embracing their crown, their sovereignty, their power, thanking the Creator through all of it. I pray one day, I'll be able to do the same."

Walking over to the mirror to see how she looks once again, Dawn smiles, "he'll flutter for sure" She softly says, turning back to her maiden's and saying, "let's go, shall we?"

.....

After eating a small breakfast consumed of traditional Nokinian fruit spreads, vegetables, and freshly baked bread. While eating by herself, Dusk walks up to Dawn and taps her shoulder to get her attention.

Almost jumping from his sudden appearance, Dawn, with food still in her mouth says to him, "Dusk, say something next time, goodness."

Finishing her food, Dusk says to her, "are you ready? I'm ready."

Dawn nods her head, "I am."

"Mother said you were late this morning though, so how ready could you be?" He jokes with her.

"Would you stop, this is really on my nerves right now, you don't understand."

"Well, I pray I could, but, it doesn't work that way."

"You don't want this, trust me. Your position is better."

"So all the women say."

Then seeing his wife come their way, Dusk gives Dawn a hug and says to her, "everything will be alright, okay? You can always talk to me if it gets too much."

As Dusk walks off, Dawn smiles as he leaves, sighing after, now mentally preparing to meet everyone at the foyer of the palace.

Dawn, with all her maiden's, her family, everyone, they all make it to the foyer after hearing from a flyer that the Arcillian family is on their way.

"Alright, let's go outside." Sovereign Marlo says, standing with his guards and Tograh's surrounding him. (Tograh's are the national animal of Nokinia, they look like Cheetahs, just bigger with venow inside them, and they come mulitied colored).

With all of their servants with them, they walk outside and watch the Arcillian family make their way to the gate.

"Here we go..." Dawn whispers to herself, with her mother hearing her, frowning at her words, Marlo not caring, and Dusk chuckling.

Coming off the wild beasts they ride, the family marches over to them as the Nokinian royalty make their way to meet up with them.

"Hello, Youn Cartector." Marlo bows as the Cartector, the warrior king, bows with him, then placing his staff on the ground three times, Cartector steps to the side and let's his wife, two sons, and three daughters come out, all of them barely covered up, only in brown shawls and armour to show their authority. Their faces aren't shown as they have bands covering their eyes and scarfs on their heads for the men, and longer shawls on the women.

"Here we all are." Cartector says.

Marlo nods, "let's us go inside so that we may formally speak to each other."

Cartector nods as he turns to his family, nodding at them and then walking behind the Nokinian royal family. 

Dusk whispers to Dawn, "I'm pretty sure I can see Cartector's ball sack?"

Dawn whispers back, "I would rather they show their faces."

"And I would rather you two not talk against their culture." Suna says back firmly.

Then Dae, their younger sister says, "that shouldn't include seeing nakedness?"

"I agree..." Their advisor, Sir Nemel says, he is without a doubt a man full of jokes, so he easily jokes around with Dusk, Dawn, and Dae whenever he feels to.

Then following Sir Nemel to walk back with Marlo and the Arcillian's, Suna says to them, "Come on, let's go inside, you three are holding back" wanting them to be more formal before the Arcillian family.

.......

At the dinner table, they all seem to be chatting well about how the marriage between Nebin and Dawn will benefit both kingdoms, since Arcillian has been out of the loop with the ehancements of the civilization for the past ten years.

With this, Nokinia feels that their allyship with Lesothia will help bring stuff to Arcillia as well, bringing a bond between the Areanean nations if you include their allyship with Seperea as well.

Sitting right across from Nebin, Dawn can't help but notice through the conversation that her parents are having that Nebin won't stop looking at her, looking at her like he is studying her, making Dawn highly uncomfortable as she looks around with slightly raised brows, wondering if anyone else is noticing this.

Dawn looks back at him in a 'what are you looking at' type of manner. Drinking her wine, keeping an eye on him, she says to one of the maids, "get me more wine, please."

As the maid does, Dawn turns back around, noticing that they all have stopped talking.

"You haven't been eating Dawn, please eat before you drink so much wine darling." Suna says, concerned.

Feeling a little embarassed, although Dawn was just trying to calm her nerves, Dawn puts on a smile and says, "I'm just not too hungry, I ate a little before supper."

As if saying something so wrong, Suna leans forward and says, "never do such a thing, we must all eat together, Dawn, don't let your warrior status put you above others."

Silence fills the room as Dawn stares back to her mother, upset.

Even when the maid comes around to give her the wine, Dawn doesn't grab it just yet as she looks around, apologizing.

"I'll eat as much as I can, mother..."

Suna nods, turning back to Hajenee, The wife of the warrior King Cartector.

"Good." Marlo replies before looking over to Cartector saying, "let's finish our conversation."

Nebin looks over to Dawn, using hand movements as if apologizing to her.

Dawn gives him a fake smike and then proceeds to turn around and drink more wine.

....

It wasn't until after dinner, when everyone met up at the gigantic living room of the palace, that Suna pulled Dawn aside into another room, saying to Dawn angrily, "what is your problem Dawn? Why can't you coroporate with what we have planned for two years!"

Trying to speak quietly, Suna's voice still softly echoes down the tiny halls that that roam the kitchen and the dining room.

Dawn says back to her, "I can't be excited for something I don't want to do, I haven't had a word with Nebin yet?"

"Youin Nebin..."

Suna crosses her arms.

"That's how it is huh? All that I did to save this Earth means nothing to any of you, huh?"

"Any of us?"

"Yes!"

Her voice now louder than Suna's, Suna shushes her as Dawn speaks anyways, "You all have greeted Dusk with the utmost appreciation and love these few years, but me" She points to herself, gesturing her words, "I have been behind him, hidden away from everyone instead, just thrown in my room, waiting to be married off to a man I have no way of knowing, a foreign country I have no way of knowing? And you all just expect me to be okay?"

Her eyes, watery, her voice, cracking as she speaks.

Suna seems to warm up seeing her daughter looking as if she is breaking down before her.

Dawn's eye makeup even starts to run down her cheeks as the tears make their way out of her eyes, finally, Dawn thought, she finally cried about it, as she has been holding this in for so long.

The only time she was able to speak truly about this was when she was talking with Takashi.

"Dawn...It's just the way it is...There is nothing we can do about it." Suna says this in a more loving tone, a motherly tone now.

Dawn steps up to her, "but...Why are we not changing it, I'm tired of it, I really am, and I know you must be too, it just still has a hold on you."

"You must not think that way Dawn, it is Nokinian tradition that women are married of to men we speak with that we presume is good for you, there is nothing else to it that we are allowed to decipher, so stop being hard headed and just do what all your ancestors have."

In a teary voice, Dawn says with whispered breaths, "You yourself have been treating me so bad these few years, like what I did disappointed you...What did I do wrong though, why are you treating me like this?"

Suna sighs, looking away as if trying to hold in tears herself, but clearing herself quickly, she says to Dawn, "you must be tipsy from all that wine, you need to have your maidens fix you up before the Arcillian family, you can't go out acting like this, and looking like this." Gesturing to how Dawn's tears have ruined her makeup, even dripping on her face jewelry.

Dawn clears her throat and says softly, "you'll never get it, your marriage is perfect."

"No, It's not." Saying this abruptly, Dawn looks a little concerned, "are you and father having problems?"

"What's happening with us is besides the point" Looking over to one of Dawn's maidens, she gestures for her to come to Dawn, with the maiden bowing and saying to Dawn, "how may I assist you, princess."

Standing up from bowing, the maiden looks slightly concerned and shocked to see how upset Dawn looks.

Dawn crosses her arms out of embarssment again. And realizing it's her handmaiden who questioned her early this day about Dawn's slowness, Dawn says to her, "it didn't go as planned regardless of how prepared I was, Keishia."

Keishia looks to her, "I'm sorry, princess."

"It's alright." Dawn brushes it off, "just help me out here, I can't go out looking like this."

Then hearing Marlo call out to them, Suna turns to them and says, "hurry."

They both nod and walk away to where Dawn can clear herself up as Suna walks out.

"Where's Dawn?" Marlo questions, slightly embarassed himself as they are waiting for her.

"She is in the toiletroom, she'll be out soon; I sent one of her maiden's to assist her." Suna smiles.

Rushing out with her handmaiden Keishia, Dawn makes her way back to the family, managing to greet them for real this time.