Welcoming a King [closed]

[Allanea]

The Free Kingdom was a strange place. Though it was a constitutional monarchy in the literal sense – there was a constitution and an independent legislature – the day-to-day affairs of running the legislature had been left to King Alexander and Queen Cassiopeia. And having received the fateful letter from King Finn Lemon, Alexander decided to greet him in the capital, Liberty-City.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, King Lemon had accepted. His nation had single-handedly caused a vast economic boom in Allanea through signing several enormous arms contracts with the country, and he was clearly inclined, for whatever reasons, to seek friendship with the Free Kingdom.

Therefore words have been traded, arrangements made, and a runway reserved at LCAX on a relatively sunny spring day. There, several hundred Royal Guard troops in black and silver uniforms, their bayonets gleaming in the sunlight, waited for King Finn Lemon.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

As the C-10AL slowed to a halt on the runway, King Finn Lemon got out of his seat. This was his first visit to Allanea and his first official visit outside of Lemarnia. He put on his crown and grasped his scepter and stood to face the slowly opening door.

As he walked slowly down the steps he noticed the slight smell of industrial smoke in the air. A smell of progress, he thought to himself.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and returned the salute of the Royal Guards.

[Allanea]

“Good Day, Your Imperial Majesty!” – hundreds of rifles clanked as the soldiers saluted the King. A dark-red carpet was rolled out to greet him, and the anthem of Lemarnia played as he descended. A long, dark purple limousine was already expecting him on the runway.

Within it, it turned out that it was an expansive, driverless type, with the seats turned inwards in a carriage-like setup. Waiting inside was the King of Allanea, dressed in red, ermine-lined robes. ”Good day,” he said to the Lemarnian. “Welcome to the Free Kingdom.”

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"And to you, your majesty!" Exclaimed King Lemon, "I must say, your troops are a sight to behold", he said to The King as the door closed.

"It's so great to finally meet you!" he said as he offered a handshake to the Allanean.

[Allanea]

"Wonderful indeed," - the Allanean said as he shook King Lemon's hand. The driverless limousine began to move almost soundlessly, and several dozen other cars joined it - about half a dozen limousines of the same design, police and bodyguards on motorcycles, and several black SUVs. The motorcade rolled out of the airport, and began to speed down the highway, elevated a dozen meters from the ground. Below, one could see an endless expanse of townhouses, some with slatted red or blue roof, others dome-shaped. Allaneans clearly preferred those to apartment buildings, although a few enormous apartment blocks could be seen far on the horizon. Far from the airport, the air seemed clean, with only a slight tinge of a chemical smell to it.

Alexander withdrew a bottle of champagne from a small fridge under his seat, as well as a pair of crystal goblets. "Shall we drink?"

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"Excellent idea," replied Finn as he took the goblet offered to him.
He took a sip of champagne as the motorcade rolled along the highway.
"I suppose we should get things underway! What do you say about constructing embassies between our two glorious nations?"

[Allanea]

"Right to the point, are we then Finn?" - Alexander laughed. "By the way, feel free to call me Alexander. Yes, embassies would be great. In fact, I wanted to propose outright CAPINTERN membership, in all actuality."

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"That would be great," replied Finn. "Actually, I'll get Saskia to send over the forms ASAP."
He took another drop of champagne.
"So, how is the weather report looking?" He asked. "I hope it doesn't rain for when we go hunting!"

[Allanea]

"Certainly not. Tell me, Finn, have you ever hunted boars from a helicopter?" - the Allanean asked.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"I haven't," he replied. "But I look forward to it nonetheless!".
He finished off the glass of champagne.
"So, how's life at the palace?"

[Allanea]

"Marvelous. I have handed over most of the responsibilities to my wife. I'm here for ceremonies mostly, and some other items," - Alexander waved his hand nebulously. "Helping schoolgirls with their homework. Alexander Blaken-Kazansky, Headmaster of the Leyfield School for Girls, also at your service."

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"Impressive!" Said Finn, "I've still got to do almost everything do to with running The Lemon Empire, as you can probably tell by my non-existent marital status. One day, eh?"
He went to take another sip of champagne, but his glass was empty. He set it down and continued.
"Do you know how long until we arrive?"

[Allanea]

"Oh, a dozen minutes." - Alexander said.

Soon, the tall tower of Minas-Faerie, Freedom Tower, had appeared. This was the King's Liberty-City palace, one of many as was the palace. It was in the process of being refinished, its old black obsidian paneling replaced with white marble from the ground up.

"As you can see," - Alexander said, "my wife's fashion advisers have endlessly better taste than me. "

In the luxurious palace garden, a table had been set, and a meal already served. One could smell the delightful taste of roast pheasant, and enjoy the sight of caviar sandwiches, gleaming silverware, and, naturally, several bottles of alcohol, from Menelmacari wine to Reichskamphenite beer to Allanean vodka.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

Finn smiled at the Vodka, his second favourite drink, as he sat down at the beautifully decorated table.
He poured a glass and waited for Alexander to toast.

[Allanea]

"To friendship, then!" - Alexander said, pouring the ice-cold vodka into a faceted glass and raising it for the toast. Whether or not it was customary for Lemarnians to clank their glasses together when toasting, he did not know.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

Finn clanked his glass as was customary and had a swig of the drink.
"So, how's your military doing then?" He asked.

[Allanea]

Alexander threw back the vodka shot in a single motion, as was tghe Allanean way.

"We're in a rearmament phase, expanding the Navy primarily. We're having a range of carriers built for us by Syndicate Industries, stuff like that."

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"Interesting," mused Finn as he had another mouthful of vodka, "Whilst The Lemon Empire is officially on a 'national rearmament drive', we've been on it for years and all it does is justifies spending massive amounts on the military. It's pretty convenient, actually."

[Allanea]

"Well, as you may have noticed, we do use our arms in various operations, anti-slavery primarily," - said the Allanean, perplexced by Finn Lemon's strange manner of drinking, "tell me, what are the principal objectives of your rearmament drive? Is it the Navy or the Air Force or the Ground Forces?"

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"Well, it's pretty well rounded, but the Lemon Air Force tends to get a little more than the others. We are pouring a decent amount into space research however," answered Finn.

[Allanea]

"I thought you were an extremely advanced civilization?" - Alexander mused.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"We're a little advanced, but we're only 'landing-a-colony-on mars' advanced, not 'building-Dyson-spheres-everywhere' advanced. Yet." Replied Finn. "How about Allanea? I've heard great things about it."

[Allanea]

"And most of them are true," - Alexander replied.

[The Royal Empire of the Lemons]

"Ah, just as I expected," responded Finn.
The dinner continued with an abundance of conversations and, eventually, Finn started to grow weary from jetlag.
He shook Alexander's hand again, boarded the convoy and arrived at the hotel he was to stay at, falling asleep minutes after arriving in his room.