Ascension of the Aurelians (Meillur Only)

[Nukasta]

Rakga International Aiport, Rakga, Nukasta

“Prince Frederick?”

Hyvärinen tilted her head a bit confused. She was still trying to fit the pieces together of Marié-Thérèse’s plans and the purposes of what she lay down for her to do. Offering the throne, a throne that was to be entirely artificial in its creation mind you, to a prince that Hyvärinen knew little of, because a Deritain Princess decided that he would be the most profitable whilst mailable candidate. It was a difficult train of thought to follow and it made Hyvärinen question just how much peace it would bring to her country.

“Your Highness, er, Thérèse, do forgive me, but I do not know about placing a crown on the head of a Connuriste pretty boy. I do not know if you realize, but the National Alliance is a party built on a platform of minimizing the interventions of foreign nations in our own. What message will it send if we invite a foreigner to be our head of government, even nominally? My supporters would rip me apart.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

“And you will be ripped apart without him.”

Marié-Thérèse shrugged her shoulders, setting her glass down on the table.

“Madam Hyvärinen, you are in a uniquely precarious position. You and your forces, your supporters are the aggressive force in a civil war that the world cares little for against a government that has more people and more resources and has the investment interest of several large countries with histories of intervening violence in civil conflict in order to further their own goals. I very easily could have gone to the Presidential Palace in Oskar to speak with Niskanen in how to subdue you. And yet I am here, in a tent, on an airport lawn because I see that you could win this war easily with a bit of sacrifice.”

Marié-Thérèse looked to the entrance flaps of the tent, looking to the guards she could not see but knew stood outside.

“You will lose some of your most hardline people yes, but you would gain so much more.”

[Nukasta]

Hyvärinen shook her head and put her clasped hands together.

“You say that as if an army is going to drop out of the sky and into my lap the moment that Frederick is fall ‘Your Majesty’. But instead I fear that they will turn against me, and my, our, vision for our country. It could fraction us into factions. Already the most moderates remain in Oskan, in the council and cabinet of Niskanen. And if that doesn’t cut the legs out from under us, we will be stuck fighting a three way, four way, five way war. And if it does succeed, it will send us plunging to domestic strife that will take decades to recover from.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Princess Marié-Thérèse turned away from the flaps and back to Hyvärinen. A small perky smile spread on her lips. She had suspected that a bit of convincing would be needed.

“Do forgive me Madam Hyvärinen. How many wars has your family won? How many wars has your nation won?”

Marié-Thérèse let that pair of questions hang in the air for a moment.

“My family and my nation has fought many wars. And we have always won them. Victory is in my blood. If I am betting on you to win, I can assure you that you should trust me.”

[Nukasta]

Hyvärinen paused, pursing her lips. She couldn’t help but see Marié-Thérèse’s point. Derita did have a reputation for conflict, and swift victories. The promise of such a swift victory did appeal to her, but she was old enough to know that whatever victory that she got from Marié-Thérèse would have to come with a catch, and that she felt was not the fact that such a plan would require Nukasta to become a monarchy, nor even putting a foreign prince on a crown plucked up from the gutter. No. Marié-Thérèse was smart and clever, from this meeting alone, from the calm and perfect way she spoke Hyvärinen could see that. Everything about her was crafted from diamonds and cotton candy. Whatever it was she truly wanted was hidden by several different layers of reasoning and goals.

“Very well then. What would you have me do, with your victorious blood as counsel?”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marié-Thérèse smiled, pleased at she, at least in theory she had successfully seized Hyvärinen’s ear. That was all she ever needed. Just an ear to whisper into.

“Well—“

The Princess was interrupted as one of her aides stepped into the tent, pushing the flaps out of the way. The aide was a young woman, her skin dark as night, dressed in a pastel color of yellow, her hair wrapped in a similar headscarf to that of the princess’s. She curtsied to Princess Marié-Thérèse.

“Forgive me Your Highness, but there is a urgent message for you from the Petit Dauphin.”

The aide quietly showed the princess the screen of her phone, the message popped up. Marié-Thérèse tore her eyes away from the Hyvärinen and looked down at the screen, her attention caught by the name of who had sent it. Catherine. Ah. Marié-Thérèse felt her heart skip a beat and she shifted in her seat. She looked back to Hyvärinen, testing her hands back onto her knee and her smile returned to her face. Her pulse buzzed with anticipation.

“Madam Hyvärinen, I am afraid that something has come up an I am urgently needed back home. If you will allow me, I wish to give you some advice. If you wish to achieve victory, you may take them as instructions. First, send an invitation to Prince Frederick in Aranjuez to take the throne of Nukasta. I will send a diplomat to Espana to ensure he accepts. Second, prepare your forces to ride south to Loitali. Third, go ahead and draft a victory speech.”

Marié-Thérèse rose from her seat and nodded her head.

“Please, do forgive me.”

[Nukasta]

Hyvärinen rose from the seat with the Princess, taking in her comments and suggestions for what to do next. Clearly however this meeting was over. She waved her hand.

“Please, allow me.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marié-Thérèse nodded her head in a polite gesture, a more Deritain type gesture. She held s small smirk back at the thought as she clasped her hands and followed after the leader of the Nukastan leader of the Supreme General Committee.

[Nukasta]

Hyvärinen lead Princess Marié-Thérèse in the reverse order of the path that they had taken, past the line of the oldies, both those with the blue armbands showing their hopes for peacekeeping and Hyvärinen’s ready to defend the vision of Nukasta that they all had. Hyvärinen had to wonder if the vision that the Deritain Princess had was the same. And would Hyvärinen be able to provide such a thing that satisfied them? All of them. As they approached the parked jet, Hyvärinen waved her, subconsciously mimicking the gestures of the Princess.

“Thank you Your Highness for coming to speak with me. I do hope that these missions of peace continue, both in Nukasta and anywhere where it is needed.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Princess Marié-Thérèse nodded in agreement. Her entourage of aides and guards were already going ahead at her direction onto the jet. Marié-Thérèse started to head up the staircase and then stopped, resting a hand on its railing as she looked back at Hyvärinen, a serious and somber look on her face.

“It was a pleasure to meet you Madam Hyvärinen. I do hope, that very soon, peace comes to Nukasta.”

With that, Marié-Thérèse turned away and continued up the stairs and into the jet. Under her breath the Princess finished her own statement as the doors closed behind her.

“As according to my design.”

[Nukasta]

Hyvärinen smiled as the door to the jet closed behind the Princess and she turned to Harju and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I need you to write a message. Encrypted. To Aranjuez. We have a very... interesting proposal to make to a pretty boy.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marié-Thérèse took her seat in the jet as the engines started. The aide in the pastel dress handed her her phone. The Princess unlocked it and scanned over the message. It was a simple one.

Lunch at Agresti’s.

Marié-Thérèse smiled brightly. They had always been a rather down to earth type of people, those who strive to exemplify the life of the upper middle class, not the exorbitantly wealthy, which they were, but one could still live simple lives in palaces. Catherine however had always had a bit of a taste for the grand. And jewelry had been a favorite of hers. She often called them over for a brunch or lunch or whatever it may be her favorite jewelers. Clemente Agresti and Catherine were friends. It was only natural. But this message. It wasn’t an invite. It was a command. A code that only Marié-Thérèse would understand.

“Set a course to Gênes. I’m going to have lunch with my dear sister.”

[Royal Genes]

Agresti’s & Co., Gênes, Gênes

Catherine d’Aurelians stood outside of Agresti & Co.’s private penthouse showroom, the wind gently blowing her reddish brown hair. Being several thousand feet above the ground tended it to make it windy in the upper levels of the capital Gênoise Empire. The Petite Dauphine had found it terrifying at first, walking along the edges of man made canyons and living in the clouds, but she had grown used to it in her time in her adoptive home.

The future Queen of Gênes was more relaxed than usual, and more excited than she generally allowed herself to be. Catherine, the young, beautiful caramel skinned freckle spotted third wife of the Petit Dauphin had a strenuous life, balancing the wants and needs of her own family and her husband’s their two nations and taking care of her son, her adorable little Yonas. Being a princess had its draw backs. Especially when said princess was married to the only Gênoise man in the entire god forsaken country, though in all honesty it was the Gênoise who had banished god, who was s religious and racial zealot. The Petite Dauphine loved her husband of course, they were partners, and they got along well, but she did occasionally find herself struggling under the weight of his Faith and his distrust of anyone whose skin wasn’t dark enough.

But at Agresti’s, the Petite Dauphine had done respite. After all, whatever the drawbacks, the Valois were the wealthiest dynasty in the galaxy, and being a princess had many, many perks. Her friendship with Clemente Agresti had started off as a business relationship, Agresti always knew exactly which jewels would look best on her. The Petite Dauphine loathed the gaudy and blind arrays of wealthy displaying trinkets so popular among the old money and aging aristocrat’s of Gênes, the G1’s as they were known colloquially. In that she and her husband could agree on. Instead the Petite Dauphine preferred simple accent diamonds or classic pearls.

Today the Petite Dauphine wore a long sleeve habesha maxi dress, white as snow save for the rainbow colored floral patterns at the him and at the neckline. Starburst diamond earrings dangled from her ears and her frizzy long hair was pulled back into a cotton candy like ponytail. She purses her lips as she watched the jet of her sister drift down to land on the platform.

Waiting for Marié-Thérèse with the Petite Dauphine was Prince Christopher de Condé, the youngest of the Condé brothers, grandsons of the Queen. Christopher, Kit, was often jokingly (and sometimes not so jokingly) called the Forgotten Condé, for whilst there had been a virtual bridal race for his brothers, he had quietly gotten married to the eldest of the Aurelians sisters. Tall, gentle and soft spoken, Christopher the perfect accessory to the pastel colored world that Marié-Thérèse had created around herself. Kit wore a baby blue sports jacket, white shirt and white trousers, a perfect eye candy smile on his lips.

[Kingdom of Derita]

The engines of the jet rotated as they descended into the steel and glass mountain range of Gênoise architecture. Marié-Thérèse didn’t have the architect gene that seemed to run through her family, but she was no fool and could appreciate beautiful buildings when she saw them. And Gênoise was gorgeous. A techie, or sci fi novelist’s dream. An entire nation standing city of skyscrapers that cut through the sky, broken up by deep canyons of air lanes. It amazed Marié-Thérèse ever time, despite Gênes being frequented by her over the last two years. It made it heard to believe that they were on the same planet as Derita’s sparkling untouched lakes or lush virgin wilderness. It always felt as if the city would consume everything. But it also made Marié-Thérèse a bit sad. For she knew that thousands of feet below them people suffered, gangsters, thugs and criminals reigned in a sunless world whilst she and a selected few lived in opulence unlike anything else in the galaxy in the clouds. Despite their dismissal of much of the morals religion, the Gênoise had managed to create a literal heaven and hell in their city.

The jet touched down gracefully, not a single bump, unlike what had occurred at Rakga. Marié-Thérèse smiled and was stepping off of the jet before the jet’s stairs before they had even fully lowered. She only grew more excited as she saw her husband and her sister standing there waiting for her. She walked confidently across the platform despite its height, how the Gênoise upperclass had banished vertigo was still a mystery to her, but she refused to look like fool cowering from the heights and thus had steeled her nerves practicing to stand and walk on the tops and edges of skyscrapers.

“Kit, so glad Catherine let you join us.”

Marié-Thérèse said jokingly as she kissed Topher’s cheek and then gave her sister a faire la blisé.

[Royal Genes]

“I have to practically beg to let me join,” Kit laughed putting an arm around Marié-Thérèse as she and the Petite Dauphin pulled away from their greeting. “I know how you girls get with your plans and politicking. And I know you think that we men are all nothing more than a few pretty faces to be distracted with sports.”

“Oh, you are much more than a pretty face Kit,” the Petite Dauphine assured him. “You are very good company, and an excellent conversationalist. Minus the conversation of course.”

Kit stuck his tongue out at the Petite Dauphine, but his sister-in-law only gestured for them to continue this inside.

“Besides, I’ve included Cris. You know how expert he is at plans. And executing them. Especially now. Thérèse, youbare sure to be pleased. Nukai has succeeded in his mission in Makonia.”

The trio stepped into the penthouse, a room with a view of the souther shopping district on full display with floor to ceiling glass. A heavy oak table had been set up with displays of black mannequin heads decorated with the latest of Agresti’s works, diamonds minded from Derita and refined in Beliany, where Agresti’s operations were based whilst they were sold to clientele in Gênes. Agresti himself, a tall round man with a smile too big for his face stood eagerly watch his royal guests.

With a wave of her hand the Petite Dauphine dismissed him, assuring him that they would pick out what it is they wished to buy once they were done. As he left, she continued to relay the news she’d received from her brother in Bagata.

“The two tyrants are totally toes tilted up,” the Petite Dauphine explained. “And even better, Kresimir’s last act as king was to fire onto a crowd of protesters. I have a team of Gênoise drones monitoring and controlling the situation to our design. Nukai, my god, he is so good at what he does, the talented little incubus.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Oh, gosh, don’t call him an incubus. You make it sound as if he eats people’s souls.”

Marié-Thérèse pursed her lips. This was good. She had total faith in Nukai’s select set of skills. Nukai was an odd piece in their family, but family nonetheless. Something she and Nukai had seen eye to eye on. She wished that he hadn’t been sent away when he was so young. Marié-Thérèse had been ten when he’d left and the Nukai that’s returned was entirely different, but exceedingly useful as a little brother. The fact that most of the world seemed at a loss of who exactly Nukai was made him all the better the agent. And Catherine, having seemingly charmed her way through Gênes made her a great supporter for Marié-Thérèse plans. Stoking the flames in Makonia, no pun intended, could only be done with their help. It was this interconnected and genuine familial connection as well as honest assessment of each other’s skills that, Marié-Thérèse suspected, made the Aurelians great siblings and a great family.

Too many, especially royal, families fractured and splintered. But the Aurelians were united in a common goal. And that made them unstoppable.

“Do try to minimize the damage, we want Makonia on the brink, not plunging off of the edge.”

“Well you certainly aren’t any fun.”

Marié-Thérèse looked down to see her youngest brother, Christopher d’Aurelians looking down at his plate of chechebsa. He spared a glance up at his eldest two sisters through his glasses. Christopher, Cris, (as not to get confused with Kit) was the youngest of the Aurelians siblings, just recently turned eighteen, but he had just as quickly joined in on the missions and goals of the rest, perhaps with even more fervor than some.

“I thought you would agree to my careful progress.”

Cris shot Marié-Thérèse a smile.

“I agree entirely. I’m no fun either.”

[Royal Genes]

“Truer words have never been spoken.”

The Petite Dauphine laughed at her brother and sister, taking a seat at the head of the table. Marié-Thérèse may be the oldest, but Gênes was her domain, so she got to take the chief seat with neither of their parents there. Mother and Father always got the head of the table regardless of where they were when they were around. Barely glancing at that the platter of kita before her, she looked at Marié-Thérèse.

“And for your information, Nukai, is an incubus, he attracts people, sleeps with them and eventually kills them. Definition of a sex demon. It is honestly quite the party trick. Gets rid of unwanted guests.”

Kit raised an eyebrow pulling out a seat for Marié-Thérèse.

“Is that what happened to Miriam Ritacco? You sent Nukai after her?”

The Petite Dauphine shrugged her shoulders with a devilish smirk, breaking off a piece of the kita.

“I’ll never tell.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marié-Thérèse decided to ignore Catherine and Kit’s little quips. There was a crisis to be brewed in Makonia. She would gladly, but quietly join in the latest gossip around the penthouses of Gênes once they were done.

“Do we know who is to serve as the Regent for young Kresimir VI?”

[Royal Genes]

The Petite Dauphine glanced over to one of the mannequins that had a beautiful diamond set in platinum necklace that reminded her of the Montagne region.

“Officially, no. Buuut,” she let the syllables draw out, “My spies have figured out who it will be. Under general circumstances it would have been Prince Sunjia Zgela, the new King’s grandfather, but that’s tothe tyrant’s little purging of his nearby family members, when the royal council converges, in a time of crisis, they will stick with a born royal, so they will give the regency to Princess Vasnja.”

Kit jumped in.

“I had a dossier made about her and her daughter, same name, they are the next in line to the throne after Princess Elena. Relatively obscur characters till Princess Jagoda and her constitutionalists last year.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

Marié-Thérèse nodded her head. She would have preferred Sunjia as Regent. Widowers of royal women were generally so much easier to deal with. The heir of one potential usurper could be harder to deal with.

“Jagoda’s daughter and granddaughter. The constitutionalists might seek to put Vasnja on the throne, preferring an adult queen to the child king, especially a son of Kresimir.”

Marié-Thérèse turned to Catherine.

“Inform Nukai that he has new targets.”

[Royal Genes]

“Makonian holiday part two, how fun for him. Will do.”

The Petite Dauphine nodded her head in understanding to her sister and then switched gears for a moment.

“Jean is taking Amadou Ardales with him to cousin Alexandre’s yacht party in Massalia. Prince Philippe will be there and hopefully Jean will smooth things over and make sure that when the time comes the Bissonettes know where their true friends lay.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Good.”

“What about Cinyras.”

Cris piped up, wanting to be included in the conversation.

“We all know that Enríkos is a wild card, and we can’t risk him messing with things in Makonia, especially with Charlotte dead and that Dutch prince whispering into his ear. The Dutch fleet has Makonia down and locked, I could—“


Marié-Thérèse interrupted her brother, cutting him off.

“Do nothing. Élise has Cinyras under control. We shall concern ourselves with Enríkos when the time comes, and I am sure that it will, but he will be the one reacting to our actions, not the other way around.”

At Cris’ crestfallen face, Marié-Thérèse reaches across the table and patted his arm.

“Besides, you have a more important mission. You’ve always been mother’s favorite, so you need to get to Aranjuez for your cultural exchange program for uni. I’m sure you will convince Antonio and Adela that Frederick absolutely needs to become King of Nukasta.”

Understanding Cris nodded and leaned back in his seat.

[Royal Genes]

“Besides,” the Petite Dauphine cut in, “ the Dutch fleet won’t get involved. We didn’t rig their parliamentary elections for nothing. The Eigeelientes are a bunch of yellow bellied pacifists, they’ll role right over in Makonia. And if they don’t, well... we shall inform them of the error of their ways.”

“Polite and yet so threatening,” Kit rolled his eyes.”

“Thank you.”

[Kingdom of Derita]

“Its a familial gift.”

Marié-Thérèse kissed Kit touched her cheek with her hand. She loved him. She love him as a lover, a friend and, most importantly in her eyes, as a partner. She loved how he threw himself into her plans and work and designs. All of them included him. And for good reason. After lingering a bit looking into Kit’s eyes, Marié-Thérèse looked back to her sister with a mischievous smile on her lips.

“Now... what’s this I hear of Miriam Ritacco?”

[Royal Genes]

The Petite Dauphine laughed, she loved when her sister finally broke down the walls of business and schemes and just relaxed enough to sit back and let her spill all the tea.

“Okay, so Nukai and I were at this end of summer party at Ilenia di Chiaa’s apartment and Miriam, of all people arrives—Oh.“

The Petite Dauphine cut herself off, stopping her story as she clapped her hands. Clemente Agresti popped his head into the room.

“Clemente.”

“Oui, Your Royal Highness?”

The Petite Dauphine grinned with a blazing delight that she got whenever she did this. And it was often that she did. She waved her hand to the displays of jewels on the mannequins presented for her.

“We’ll taken them all.”