9th of July, 2018. Utica International Airport.
Princess Aurelia bint-Damir.
Oea International was not large enough for their plane, so we had to have them arrive here, at Utica International. After that, a helicopter from the Flight Readiness would take us to Oea.
I sighed.
Well, early July in Utica, Daily Mean of 32.5°C, no rainfall, eleven sunshine hours - Summer in Utica. We were even on break, that meant, that everyone able to would flee the gigantic metropolis as soon as they could. And for me, that meant the Baed Palace in Oea. Family Work Vacation, for the work of a Sultana and her family was never done.
Not that I minded, I loved Oea, but still.
Dad would be there, Grandmother would be there, Uncle Ilia had promised to come over for a day or two, Auntie Rasha, too. And then, there was of course the local Khana and her Princess, a fellow Selkie-Maiden (although 'maiden' was a bit too much in my case, in some senses of the word).
But before I could transfer to Oea, usually I did that by train, a normal seat in a normal carriage, accompanied by my Handmaiden, I would have to receive Anaximander Blachkov, the Emperor of the Empire of the Scarlet Eagle, his wife Anna, a pair of Special Ambassadors and two bodyguards. They were here on a State Visit.
It was no secret, that the Court of the Azure Hall highly officially denied them the honour of being received at Court, something, which Grandmother had no influence over and which was quite a bit of a slight. And with public protests being announced in Utica, it was thought best to simply move the whole procedure to Oea, where the risk of the Imperials dying of heatstroke was less high (and yes, we know, that they were 'Special Forces', but arrogance was a surefire way to die and that would shed a rather bad light upon us as hosts).
So, I stood there, dressed in jeans and a blouse, a fedora on my head, and waited for them. Their plane would land and then taxi over to where I stood - and, by extension, a gangway and the helicopter. I stood in the shadow of the hangar, where their plane would be parked and guarded by the Army, arrangements for the crew included a hotel (middle class, nothing fancy) and a tour bus through Utica, so that they could have the sights and sounds.
No honour guards, no detachments of the armed forces, no carriage ride. Atypical, but if Utica's Court did not want to receive one, one had to accept a few curtailments.
Sarina, my Handmaiden next to me, wore the dress typical for her occupation, including the veil, and had a box of water bottles standing next to her, two of them already in our hands.
She knew, that I was acquainted with the guests and thus, it did not surprise me, when she asked in pitch-perfect High Selkie: "Nervous?", she whispered to me, into my ear. "Don't be. All will be alright."
It was not a friendship yet.
"I hope so.", I whispered back. "Hopefully, they'll see it similarly." I sighed. "Well, they should come into sight any minute now..."
And indeed, their plane, escorted by a pair of fighters from the Armies of the Five Deserts, came into view a minute later, touched down and taxied over to where we were.
"Showtime.", I whispered and put on my best smile as the plane came to a stop, holding onto my hat.
What could possibly go wrong?!