My office was a comfort that Silas would never be able to understand. Everytime I did requests, he always sat out on the excuse that he had work to do. I reclined my desk chair so far it was an unbalanced bed. My unheeled feet rested on my desk, trying to erase the terrible outcome of requests I closed my eyes. 

“So she asked for money when her dad is one of the major car manufacturers and dealers?” He asked after I finished explaining my encounter with Sileni. 

“Yeah and she tried to brush off my mention of her bullying me.” I sighed. Opening my eyes and finally sitting up, “If I have to hold requests one more time I might puke. These people are so entitled!” I exasperated grabbing out some paper to draft the ‘Tellers in Schools’ bill. 

“I couldn’t believe it either, one of these days I will have to sit in on these requests because wow.” He replied grabbing some pens from the cup, taking one for himself and handing the other to me. 

“What did you do while I was gone?” I asked handing him a two sheets of paper at his request. Giving myself a few sheets as well before putting the rest in a drawer.

“First, I confirmed the meeting with the embassadors later, then I planned for the ball. I was supposed to make the bill, and I did, but it needs to be in your handwriting with your signature to avoid forgery claims.” He answered, handing me the bill he drafted. Proceeding to sketching some flowers on the paper I gave him. 

“Thanks,” I said then copied down the bill signing it and giving my stamp. “Are those tulips? I gave you the paper for a list with the approved requests.” I frowned turning my head to look at the paper. “They are kind of pretty though.”

“I did finish the list though? It’s on this paper.” Silas proceeded to hand me the paper with exactly what I asked for then went back to sketching. 

“Oh, well, thanks I guess.” I said placing the paper in my ‘to-do’ stack. “When is the meeting?” I asked turning around to look out the windows. The colorful Mona sky reflected off my flowers creating the beautiful scenery. I almost wanted to take a picture but my polaroid was in my closet. 

“The meeting is over dinner, which should be in about three hours.” He responded. I turned around to see him looking at me. We locked eyes and for a moment, no one said a word. 

“What is it? Do I have something on my face?” His attention made my palms sweaty. The longer he looked at me the faster my heart beated. It felt odd, like my heart was going to leave my chest and at the same time his eyes were burning a hole in my face. 

“Nope, nothing.” He returned his attention back to his paper, sketching out the flower petals and the yellowy inside. The tulips were actually turning out pretty well. 

“You can stay while I finish these papers, unless you have other stuff to do?” I asked, grabing a hefty stack from my to-do pile. I was a huge procrastinator, unless I felt good enough to do something, it didn’t get done until I was forced to do it. That’s probably why my stack got so big, heck I even found papers from the last time I held requests. Luckily I had finished those earlier this week so I wasn’t too late.

“I don’t think I have anything else. Do you have any errands for me to run?” Silas replied, still drawing those damn flowers. They were actually turning out pretty nice. He had started shading them, which gave them a nice ‘pop’. I always thought that if he didn’t come here to work with me he would have went to Earth and became an artist. 

“Not right now, but once I finish these letters I will need them delivered so you can do that, if you want.” I replied, starting to draft a letter too one of my good friends in architecture. Hopefully I can contract him to make homeless shelters in Lower Mona, and build Idla a nice home. I would also have to get someone to shop groceries and clothes for them. Ah, I can ask one of the staff to do it. 

“Okay. Oh! I almost forgot, the ball. Basically we need outfits custom made, because, why not? This means that we would have to get a tailor, and go to the jewler.” He said, finally looking up. “Yeah cause one of your other dresses are not going to work.” Then went back to his paper, shading the flower stems.

“You did not! First of all my dresses are perfectly fine. Secondly we do not need to waste funds on new outfits. Especially since we have spent a hell of a lot of money on the ball itself.” I replied, wanting to laugh a bit at his comment but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. “We also spent a lot on these new resources and renovations in Lower Mona. Personally, I’d rather not host the ball at all.” I had finished my first letter and went on to my next. This time it’s for the hospital director in Lower Mona, that way she can give that old man free healthcare and timely prescriptions. Maybe I should implement a healthcare plan that is significantly reduced for Lower Mona citizens. But that would be too much money out of the treasury. I could try to increase the amount of jobs in LM, I would have to build a ton of infrastructure to do that though. Eh, I think its worth it. 

“The ball is to honor the Sun Original, and if we don’t hold it this year, every single ruler and patrician will be pissed. Then they will pull government support, causing your title to be revoked.” Silas said in a serious tone, then put the final touches on his drawing. He finally finished his drawing and set it in front of me. “Here keep this. Anyway, we must hold this ball. Our people are very superstitious, and they especially hate it when people don’t respect their superstitions. Even if we don’t believe in them we have to do it for the sake of the title.”

“Title this, title that, do it for the title!” I mocked him and saw his face flush ever so slightly. “I feel like you only came to help me for the title. When I messaged you that day would you have responded if I didn’t mention me being the Supreme Ruler?” 

Silas’s mouth fumbled around for words. To me it looked like he wanted to say a million different things at once. He settled on “yeah, I would have. Because I know you. Even though we hadn’t spoken in years, I still would have helped because it was you.” He got up from his chair and went to open my closet. The tips of his ears were slightly pink. “Now let’s see how many atrocious dresses you are hiding in here.”

~~~

I would rather go through my closet with Silas than sit here in a meeting with the ambassadors. There are four separate cabinets; Fyre, Polair, Mona, and Enlightenment. The Fyre Cabinet is made up of Sol, the Lost Isles, and two of the Wandering Isles (Yaen and Vaughn). The Polair Cabinet contains Lumin and the other two Wandering Isles (Mizyn and Roma). Leaving the Enlightenment Cabinet and Mona as an independent factions. Per the ancient rules. Each faction has a different motive, whether it be voting strictly against me, or (trying to) indirectly support me likely for more benefits. Enlightenment, however, must remain unbiased as it holds our fate directly. A biased Light would cause lots of damage to our society. The same can be said for Mona. If we are not careful and show our motives then I will be dethroned and every single person in kahoots with me will be stripped of their title. They will also be labeled as traitors and locked into the High Tower. Basically, I can’t give anything away. 

We were taken to the Evergreen Dining Room. As you can guess by the name, it was on the east side of the castle where all the trees were. The room was often used for small group dinner meetings like this because of its smaller size. Sadly though, this room hadn’t been touched by my impeccable taste, so it still had the decor from the previous ruler. A patterned rug sat atop dark wood floors, but under the medium-sized wood table. The room had warm lighting, a big landscape painting of a sunset, and cushioned wood chairs. I think the previous ruler really liked wood. 

I sat at the front of the table underneath the sunset painting that hung at the back. The closest to my left was the Lumin ambassador, I think her name was Elaun, not sure. Next to her was the Lost Isles ambassador, normally all seven would show but this time only Wiln, the main one, came. Directly to my right was Amelia, Enlightenment ambassador. Next to her was the Sol ambassador, Ciwe, he was absolutely insufferable. All he did was threaten and try to control these meetings to his cabinet’s advantage. Much like his country’s patron. Two of four of the Wandering Isles ambassadors, Mizyn and Roma, sat on the right. While Yaen and Vaughn sat on the left. Everyone took their seats and made small talk until the food was served. 

“We might as well get this meeting started then, huh?” Ciwe announced, looking around the room for any objections. His military-style ginger waves bounced as he moved his head.