OOC
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The Palace, The Night Before
The Crown Prince Ari stood by a window and looked out onto the mass of people shuffling about in the courtyard below. Throngs of guards marched about on patrol, past gardeners working by candlelight to perfect every bush and blade of grass. Occasionally a butler or maidservant would swiftly cross the grounds with packages or letters or other objects in hand for their lords and ladies at court. The Royal Palace never slept and that was no less true tonight of all nights. No doubt the guards were also running thorough searches of the entire palace to ensure every single inch of it was secure and safe for the foreign suitors that would be arriving tomorrow.
Ari had to give props to his brother. If not for the Royal Beekeeper having overheard a private conversation between Ivan and one of his advisors, Ari may not have had enough time to plot his own response. Thanks to his foreknowledge of the event Ari had succeeded in preventing Ivan from packing the ball with his own sympathetic nobility and he had managed to secure invitations for Count Arrun of Stallheim and Count Torsson of Kirh, both allies of his.
There was a rasping at the door. Ari turned away from the window and a single guard entered the room before closing the door behind him. The guard gave a short bow and extended a plainly decorated letter to the Crown Prince. "Duke Solfo Bjerland offers his support." Ari took the letter and the guard disappeared back into the winding corridors outside the room. Ari opened the letter which contained the same uninteresting drivel that many formal communications held. He skimmed through the document until reaching the bottom where he found the words "...I and my daughter will be in attendance." It wasn't checkmate but it was one move closer.
Ari stashed the letter in his pocket and stepped into the hallway. From his left side a weight smashed into him and he felt himself topple over. "Gah!" Ari looked up at a young maidservant-Ivan's personal maidservant. Lucy Farehollow moved off of Ari and settled on her knees. "Please forgive me, my Prince. I didn't see you coming out of your room." Ari felt anger boil up inside of him but stopped short of having an outburst on the young maid as he noticed tears welling up in her eyes. "Be more careful from now on."
Ari stood up and made his way back to his room, leaving Lucy where she sat on the floor. In his room he took a seat at his desk before reaching into his pocket for the letter. Nothing. What? Ari felt his other pockets but the letter was gone.
Truvaria, The Morning of Arrival
Somewhere in the capital city a young boy awoke to the sound of breakfast being made. Little Roland Svärd rolled out of bed and into his duck slippers. A smell hit his nose and it smelled like bacon-Roland didn't need any more motivation and came springing into the kitchen. He slid to a stop in front of his mother who stood at the stove cooking. "Take a seat Roland, breakfast is almost ready." Roland's mother took hold of a remote and flicked the small kitchen TV on to the news.
A tall women appeared on the television alongside pictures of various young women. "...Yes Ira, but which of the King's suitors do you think has the best odds? Personally I'm a fan of Princess Eléonore from the Holy Solar Empire. As she herself is Catholic it wouldn't be difficult at all for the Forestrian Catholic Church to see their marriage as legitimate." Ira didn't seem to encouraged by her colleague Marcus's suggestion and the camera zoomed in on one of the photos, that of a giantess. "Princess Eléonore is a conservative option but I think that it's actually Khana Amina of Kyrenaia who has the greatest chance of capturing the King's attention. She's a bit older but has a lot of experience with governing."
Roland's mother scoffed as Ira began to give a short synopses of what they knew about Khana Amina. "A bit older? I can't see why good King Ivan could ever fall in love with someone so many years his senior. I don't think either of them are right. Mark my words the King will choose Princess Asha."
From in the living room the heavy male voice of Rolands father rang out. "You only say that because she looks like the woman on the cover of your romance novels." The voice was chased by the sight of a lumbering giant of a man who squeezed his way into the kitchen. "I'll tell you who the King will pick! He'll pick the one that any sensible man would pick! That Sartana gal! I mean think about it, she is Roman Catholic, she speaks like half a dozen languages..." Rolands father trailed off as his mother scooped heaps of eggs onto Roland and his fathers plates. "Well whoever the King picks, I doubt the neighborhood will shut up about it anytime soon. I can't even go to the grocery store without one of the cashiers asking which girl I think the King would be best with."
Sometime later Roland found himself walking to school alongside other children from his neighborhood. None of them understood what all of the fuss was about but they still parroted whatever their parents seemed to think. The parents seemed to think a lot of different things though, with just about every one of the suitors being mentioned-even that Nova girl who looked funny and was supposedly from outer space. The gossip didn't stop at school though as Roland noticed many of the shopkeepers along the way chatting with their customers over the subject. While Roland didn't know it, the ball that was happening later that day was an event of national importance and rich social gossip-especially in Truvaria where some of the residents might catch a glimpse of the young ladies as they traveled towards the outskirts of the city where The Royal Palace rested.
Guard Mess Hall, Royal Palace
"You lily-livered maggots better hurry up and finish before I personally shove my boot where the sun doesn't shine!" The Chief of Palace Security Ivar Friis shouted at the guards eating in the mess hall. While normally a tempered and fair individual the past few days had been hellish for him to say the least. He'd been at work preparing the Palace for the arrival of their esteemed guests and that meant a thorough search of most of the palace grounds to ensure there were no unguarded methods of entry or suspicious threats that could harm the safety of anyone present.
Ivar also had to contend with the guards gossiping. The rest of the nation had chosen sides for one suitor or another and his men were no different. A few of their most favorite were some of the girls that weren't even there to court the King, such as Irene von Wittelsbach and Adelheid von Hohenzollern-Jagiellon. Evidently their martial experience endeared them to the hardened men of the watch who protected the Royal Family day and night.
The important thing was that the Guards treated every lady as an esteemed foreign visitor and that they applied this respect equally to each of them. The last thing he needed was his own men conspiring with Ari or other nobles to try and influence which girl Ivan proposed to. Unfortunately for his men this meant that Ivar had to be a harsh taskmaster-if for no other reason than to show that no funny business would be allowed while the girls were in The Frozen Forest.
"You there! Go and scrub every inch of the 42nd Corridor. While your at it, take that joker beside you and have him clean toilets until ordered otherwise. Everyone else, GET OUT OF MY MESS HALL!" The remaining guards choked down their last scraps of food and hurried to deposit their trays to the Kitchen Patrol before racing away from their now apparently furious commander. Once the room was empty Ivar took a seat and began to enjoy his own lunch quietly.
A Nobles Breakfast
Elsewhere in the Palace was a massive dining hall filled with nobility from across the nation and even from some of the colonies. They ate heartily various foods provided by the crown and gossiped all the while. There was Count Arryn of Stallheim alongside various other nobles sympathetic to Ari's cause as well as many loyalists. If one watched and studied close enough it was incredibly apparent that the way in which the nobles sat among themselves was entirely intentional. The various factions of the court intermingled slightly but also very much kept to their own flocks, perhaps planning and plotting against one another as they so often did.
While the rest of the nation gossiped lightly about the subject of the suitors, the air was far more tense for those dining and discussing the matter in this massive dining hall. The future Queen would have a fair impact on the lives of the citizenry but it was a life or death gamble for many of the nobility. All it would take was a snap of the fingers for them to be arrested by the new queen if said queen was dissatisfied or distrustful of any one of them and surely other nobles were plotting to demonize each other at the first opportunity.
As the nobility ate their lunches and discussed it was apparent that the least likely candidates were weeded out from discussion. Nova for example, an alien from outer space who could not possibly catch the King's eye. There were a number of serious contenders and factions would form in support of one or the other. Directing this chaos from the corner of the room was the Crown Prince Ari, who was attended by an army of spies and servants.
The Arrival of the Guests
Many hours later in the afternoon the nobility and some servants packed into the The Royal Ballroom. There were hundreds of them, many wearing the latest fashions and some wearing fashions that had gone out years ago. Their plotting and planning had stopped at least momentarily as they waited quietly for the arrival of the suitors. Every eye was turned towards the doors which led into the room, it was the first time they would see the girls in person and many first impressions would be made in the next hour or so.
In the back of the ballroom sat a humble throne and on this throne sat King Ivan, attended by his most loyal maidservant Lucy Farehollow as well as a single guard dressed in a fine tuxedo. Ivan was not the boy he had been years prior when he'd first met with suitors for marriage. His youthful stupidity had disappeared and been replaced by a serious, mature persona. He'd survived much since that time so long ago and it had made it's mark on his personality. Yet despite everything he still felt a small twinge of anxiety as he and the rest of the court awaited the suitors and other guests. Ivan had done his best not to form opinions on any of the girls before he met them and so far he had succeeded.
Off to the side of the crowd stood the Crown Prince, Ari. He was surrounded by nobility who sought his attention wordlessly, perhaps begging to know what he had planned for the ball. While both Ivan and Ari were well dressed for the occasion, Ari had gone a step further than the King and looked quite his best.
There was a rasping at the door and a single herald entered the room. While not all the suitors would be joining them that instant, the first had arrived. All of the suitors who had arrived before the start of the ball had been given a room in the Palace which they could prepare and stay in until this moment, many had more than likely be accosted by dozens of maids and servants seeking to help them look their very best-perhaps offering expensive dresses or to do their makeup or offer them exotic perfumes. The herald raised a small scroll and began to read the names of those who would be in attendance before turning and announcing the entry of the first suitor.