Aleksei’s eyes briefly met a set of deep blue eyes as soon as he stepped through the doorway into the decently sized throne room. The bottomless blue eyes were evident that they belonged to the only one present who could potentially be his bride. He had heard through the grapevine that the twin heirs were nearly identical, so he wasn’t sure if he would initially be able to tell the brother and sister apart, yet even if his bride wasn’t wearing a veil and the pure white dress under the high collared dark blue keyhole vest, Aleksei had a feeling he would have been able to immediately pick out which one was his bride.
The fair skinned princess that sat to the left of the king and queen had long silverish blue hair that was carefully braided with white and blue beads that Aleksei had almost mistaken for gems. Although the stool she sat upon wasn’t that low, the tips of her braids still appeared to lightly brush the floor whenever she shifted in her seat. In comparison to the silver hues of her hair, the flawless curling dragon horns that emerged from beneath the silver strands were a deep royal blue that lightened up to a sky blue at the very tips.
In contrast, her brother, the prince of the Ástland Kingdom and the male heir of the Frotleikr family, had sunburnt skin that had definitely seen way too much sun to still have completely healthy skin. He also seemed to have no regard to how his pale blue hair was styled other than “short”, and the horns that were rumored to mirror his sister’s horns, had small chips and indelible scars along both sides that Aleksei could see all the way from where he stood. While Aleksei’s bride had a slim figure that appeared like she had never lifted anything heavier than the occasional book, her brother was very obviously bulky and muscular underneath the dark blue and black armor that he wore.
Aleksei found himself getting lost in thought as he made more comparisons between the two siblings. He also found himself observing the slight changes to his bride’s facial expression as she did the same thing he was doing; observing the visitors. When she got to him, their eyes met again, and he suddenly felt a comforting warmth overcome him.
The warmth that enveloped him was a similar feeling that he got when Brandr, his guardian deity, wanted to make himself known to the young prince; it was also similar to when Aleksei was channeling Brandr’s blessings to conduct magic. He wasn’t consciously trying to cast any magic, and he couldn’t think of any reason Brandr would be trying to make himself known, so Aleksei was a bit stumped on why his body was suddenly kindling such a feeling.
The princess was the one to break eye contact first as her focus seemed to actually shift to looking at something over his shoulder instead. Aleksei watched the subtle shifts in her face that seemed to portray a mixture of curiosity, awareness, and determination; it counteracted the initial impression of anxiety and nerves that Aleksei had been picking up when he first entered the room.
Aleksei was debating looking over his shoulder to see if he could identify what had suddenly given the young woman a boost of morale, but before he could cave to his curiosity, he suddenly heard his alias come out of Ciar’s mouth, and “Magne” snapped back to the present circumstances he was currently in.
“Sir Magne was the knight that was chosen after very careful and thorough selections. I assure you, King Alf, that your daughter will be in the best hands during our trip back to the Taicirus Kingdom.” While Aleksei had been covertly gazing at the female heir, Ciar had been carefully addressing the patriarch and matriarch of the Frotleikr to reassure them that nothing would happen to their beloved daughter during their travels. “I promise Your Majesties that, although the trip will last a month, we will do our utmost to make sure Her Royal Highness will want for nothing during that time.”
The soft hearted King Alf still had a bit of worried look in his eyes, but Queen Ivithia lived up to the rumors and sat upon her throne with unwavering composure and spoke up for the royal couple. “We understand how harsh and long the trip will be, so we are mainly praying that you successfully deliver our child to Prince Aleksei unharmed.” The queen softly looked towards the princess, before turning back to the four guests with a resolute look in her eyes. “The child rarely leaves their room, so a bit of an outdoor trek and being treated similarly to the rest of the convoy would actually be preferable. Since the child has refused to ‘uproot’ any of the servants’ families here to bring along to Taicirus, we hope our secluded offspring will actually find someone they can confide in so far away from home.”
Although the last bit was directed towards the group who would be directly involved in taking care of the princess, and the ones to most likely befriend her, Aleksei could tell the queen was actually pointing the comment towards her daughter. Aleksei wasn’t one known to be social either, but that the princess’ own mother was making a thinly veiled comment to strangers that the young woman needed to get out more and make friends seemed to speak volumes about the type of social life his future bride currently had. At least the apparent lack of friends seemed to be more of an issue of not making an effort versus a personality flaw scaring her peers away.
So far the initial meeting between the two parties hadn’t unearthed any reasons to immediately break off the engagement… Of course, because it was the initial meeting, both sides were on their best behaviors and were acting on the fact that the whole scene was just a political dance of carefully worded banter back and forth. There was still a chance something would pop up before they even left the Álfheim Castle with the bridal candidate. At the same time, it was also possible that nothing would arise that would put a halt to the wedding, so each sides’ performance and their political waltz had to go on.
“Since the trip back is going to be a long one, and it will be a while before Her Royal Highness will be able to see her family again, we were thinking of spending a few nights in the capital before we make the trek back; if that is okay with Your Majesties of course.” Ciar played his role perfectly, as he tested the waters to see if the exhausted envoy could take time to relax before having to immediately turn back. Ciar had brought up the princess as the reasoning, but true reasoning and words were just barely more veiled than the queen’s jab at her daughter.
Aleksei was a bit surprised to hear a hint of venom behind the queen’s response to the suggestion. He should have expected it, though, when she raised a single pale lavender eyebrow. “Oh? The Taicirusian’s envoys actually have a habit of staying in a foreign city for more than a few hours? Is it because this time King Martinus doesn’t have to worry about his only heir suddenly disappearing?” The initially petite queen’s presence seemed to multiply as she sat back and propped her head up on her left fist. Although Aleksei was a crown prince, he now felt an immense pressure, almost as if he was a mere insect before her.
The unquestionably assertive queen’s carefully styled short lavender hair swayed only very slightly with the movement and suddenly reminded Aleksei of a rumor about her that was taught to him by one of his teachers. The eerily sly smile that slowly formed on her face, along with the quip she had made at the end, made it crystal clear to everyone present that she still felt slighted by the envoy that had visited sixteen years prior.
The current group had actually been the first actual large envoy to come since the engagement ceremony, with all other correspondences just being via letters and individual messengers, who by principle didn’t stay long. It seemed having an envoy from Taicirus arrive and actually mention spending additional time in Ásland had triggered the memory that the last group of diplomats came and went like the wind with no regards to the inconvenience they were towards the hosts.
While the present Taicirusians were slightly taken aback, they knew they couldn’t retort the queen’s sarcastic comments. It was true, and well known now after all these years, that the previous envoy had purposefully rushed the entire trip sixteen years ago. Luckily King Alf quickly stepped in to soothe his wife.
“Darling Ivithia, it’s been many years since that incident; I’m sure they have learned from their mistake. Also I’m sure that I remember that King Martinus punished the main diplomat who caused the whole issue.” The king in front of them reached over and took his wife’s right hand tenderly. She sighed and lowered her left arm back to her throne’s armrest, but there still seemed to be a bit of tension to her posture.
(TBC)
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