Vxal stated "Still she should be allowed to leave the castle soon"

"It's not that simple" Richard said quietly. "There ware still pockets of rebellion left...if they caught Amelia..." there was a pause at that "Lord knows what they would do to her. She's already wary of me as it is"

Vxal paused at that "What?"

Eric was even quieter "What?"

"I told her about the Snow Elf Massacure...how idiotic I was." that took Vxal a back as Richard kept explaining "People do stupid things when they are angry." He let out a heavy sigh "Amelia has a good breain and an even bigger heart. Sometimes...that's fine. However, it also leads to...manipulation. A rebel can make an ascine claim and... my baby girl becomes... an enemy." His voice soured as he said "I will never let that happen"

"All right" Vxal said quietly "Your point has been made, and sire...I'm kind of surprised to hear you speak in such a way. You've always justified the massacure before"

Richard stated "Because we were at war...now that it's over...I've had time to reflect. Right approach sendign you and the others in to execute the leaders...wrong approach in wiping out the race"

Kira suddenly leaned on Eric as Eric didn't complain but was just as stunned as the others by Richard's words.

Bair said "You know your parents are going to be busy for a while, You want to visit her?"

"You know what yeah, I love Margret" Veronica stated as she and Bair finished their meals. "Besides, it's nice to get out of the castle once in a while...and I have a perfect escort."

"Not that you need me" Bair said playfully as Veronica and him started to head out.


Emily looked at Amelia and it all...started to click. Her actions, her eye position, her tone, the sudden claim of not feeling well, her complete lack of equal joy that Emily felt. Emily just straight up asked "Princess Amelia, you don't want to be betrothed yet...do you?"

“Keep Syon from killing Selena when she brings up trade relations with Elodus tomorrow,” Elind said quietly, picking at a piece of loose string on his shirt collar. She looked up at him to gauge his reaction.

Will sat as his father did, still quiet as he looked over the dishes present.

Amelia immediately perked up some. She couldn’t be obvious. “What? No! I just genuinely don’t feel good. It’s been a crummy day all around. Y’know...lady times,” she said, smiling apologetically. “I’m more than excited, I trust my father to pick the perfect husband for me.”

Ryker watched as two guardsmen entered the tavern, and noted the sudden hush that fell over the tavern. That was odd.

“I can ask her to push it off for a couple more weeks, but she has a lot of good points, as loathe as I am to admit it. I would rather see Richard in chains, but we promised to be better than him for the people,” Elind said quietly. She too was bothered by it, but she knew Fellethyr couldn’t survive off the strange trade items with Hollow forever.

“It was busy, as usual. Morning lessons, lunch, afternoon training. This evening I went into town though, and purchased a present for Princess Amelia. Her 18th birthday celebration is tomorrow,” Will explained as he portioned the bites out on his plate.

(Imagine openly admitting to interrogating a princess over private matters, that's an execution right there)
"The sooner the discussion happens, the quicker I can wrap up the inevitable argument he and I will have and get him cooling down on the matter." Amondel shook his head, rejecting the idea of pushing it back at all.

"I see, she's finally old enough to have betrothals organized." Gavin Sr. finally ate a bite of his food before speaking again. "We'll have to look to get your name thrown in there soon, so that we can get to work on elevating your standing."

"Well, at least you aren't going around burning down towns." Percival remarked, and after seeing the cross look from Galahad that he somehow recognized despite it not looking any different from his normal face, continued. "I know, it was obvious you'd never do such a thing, I just had to make sure."

Emily nodded "I'll give it a shot" heading to the dinner. Guess she thought wrong... but hey..when that time comes it can be a bit...confusing.

Bair said "Want to take Nightmare or?"

Veronica looked at him. "It's down the block...we're fine" as they started to walk.

Vxal was very quiet sitting down at the dinner as Richard said "By the way, Vxal, little Emily has been a delight"

"Thank you, sire" Vxal stated calmly.

"I won't lie" Eric stated "I thought it was just extreme nepotism that was the reason why she was hired to be Amelia's personal bodyguard but...she's rather competent."

"OF coruse she is" Kira scolded Eric "It's not Vxal could just hand her that position."

Vxal stated "Of course I couldn't." He could but lets not get bogged down in details. "Emily is fine bodyguard, only leaving Princess Amelia's side when she needs to"

Amelia watched for a moment, waiting for Emily to round the corner before her shoulders fell and she let out a quiet sigh. She turned into her room and shut the door with a solid click behind her. She looked out across her room quietly. She had everything she could ever want at her finger tips. Not even just a bedroom, she had a suite. The main room she stood in now was a front room, complete with fireplace, desk, and bookcases packed with her favorite books. They were stuffed and nearly overflowing at this point, really, but her desk was covered a foot high as well. The couch had several books strewn around and on it as well, and Amelia smiled a bit. It was sad, maybe, that her best friends were the characters of books, but given that her options were her own brother and the nobles, she didn't mind. She headed through the main room into her bedroom, equally littered with books, and tucked the massive tome in her hands into the drawer of her bedside table.

Elind sighed. "But what do you think of it, Amondel? Not Syon, you?" she asked, looking up at her husband.

"No, sir, I completely agree," Will said. He hadn't considered he wouldn't have to try to win Amelia over if they were betrothed. "I just hadn't paused to think about it."

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure." Amondel replied. "I think trusting them is a terrible idea, but I'm not going to go as far as Syon is and expect them to send us poisoned food, as if we couldn't notice that sort of thing. We need the supplies, at least until we can find some way to shorten the travel time for our fishers, hunters and gatherers outside the city, but I don't want to give them a leg in the door either. Who knows how our people will act either, some, not just a certain elf, might attack Elodesians on sight when they find them in our lands." He scratched the back of his head, still mulling it over. "I just can't choose a side yet. It's dicey."

"Well, make sure your present for her is a good one boy, if it's something cheap just say so and I'll fund a proper present." Gavin Sr stated before he finally began eating.

The two knights made their way out of the burning village, heading north.

(Emily has only been her bodyguard for like a year, however she's not the only guard Amelia has obviously. I'm also showing that she has very limited social skills)

As quickly as Emily got to the Dinner was as quickly as Kira and Emily got to the door. Kira said "Thank you, Emily. I'll take it from here"

Emily got into her position by the door but Kira added "Oh and...by the way...next time please just say Amelia isn't feeling well. Saying womanly problems is a bit embaressing to just out"

Emily paused and blushed a little "Oh..."

"It's fine, just don't do it again" Kira said as she knocked on Amelia's door holding Amelia's food. "Amelia, it's me! I'm just here to bring you food"

The two lovebirds in shadows arrived at Marget's door as Veronica knocked on the door.

It opened revealing a man with muscles around his body who was like a foot taller then Bair. He was dressed in a warrior monk garb as he said "Mom, someone's at the door?"

Veronica blinked "Wait...Mom?!"

Amelia, deep in her closet, heard no knock.

"Well, did you ask who it is?" Margaret called from the kitchen.

"That could work," Elind replied. "Fellethyr policed, we could make it a big trade point that intersects all three kingdoms, rather than making Hollow traders travel through the snow all this way."

"Yes, Father, thank you," Will replied, nodding his head before eating quietly.

"Just comes down to if Richard accepts it or not, then." Amondel pointed out.

Gavin Sr. quietly went back to eating his dinner.

Kira said "Hey, future sis" as she's been nicknaming her for the past few months. "I brought you dinner, Emily said you weren't feeling well." covering for Emily this one time.

Veronica said "I hear you were retiring and I wanted to hang out a bit."

Orion looked away and then walked off "Going to meditate, Mom. Have fun"

"I..." Bair paused "Is he always like that?"