NationStates Jolt Archive

The gardens of the Autumn Palace had begun to bloom; the winter's dross had been cleared away, so that the pools of water in which fountains pattered were clear, the fish and frogs restored to them. In some of the floating lilies were small jewel like frogs which lived most of their lives in the flowers, feeding on the insects that were drawn to them, and making sweet chirping music at dusk and dawn. Before noon, an invitation had arrived to Prince Andreus by a bowing under-chamberlain indicating that the Empress invited him to walk with her to view the gardens, after which a luncheon would be served.

Naturally, the Despot of New Constantinople accepted immediately. He had won over more than a few ladies with romantic walks in the gardens, and he was practically bristling with over confidence when he arrived. He came alone, deciding that his hangers on would only ruin the atmosphere. As he came to the raised lawn which had steps leading down to the gardens he saw Aurora wearing a blue dress of a Grecian style that flowed prettily over her body, hinting but not displaying, while her hair was simply dressed with braids that looped gently against the strawberry blonde flow. Nearby was the crouching Thirty Camellias and a quiet looking older woman of handsome appearance who stood a short distance away.

"Good afternoon, Prince." said Aurora.

She would have to bring that beast as a chaperone, Andreus thought to himself, eyeing off Thirty Camellias. He brought his gaze up to Aurora, and was deeply impressed. He had decided last night that strawberry blonde was the most attractive hair color of them all, and a warm smile spread across his handsome face.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty." he replied, bowing politely. "I can't tell you how honored I am by your invitation to join you here." He immediately regretted using the word
honored, and wished he said something which suggested romance or affection.

Aurora smiled, and she couldn't help but flush a bit; whether she was sure she liked him or not had nothing to do with the fact that he had such compelling eyes, and was so striking a man. And that voice; she felt like someone was covering her with a warm blanket. "Thank you very much. You know, we Lavenrunzians love gardens, and that's something our peoples have in common. Will you walk with me, Prince Andreus?"

"It would be my pleasure!" he replied. "And I'd like it very much if Your Majesty would call me André." He approached her and offered her his arm.

For a moment she just looked at him with her blue eyes unblinking, then she smiled a lovely smile and said, "And you may call me Empress for now, Andreus." careful she told herself, as she took his arm.And anyway, how the hell do you say that? He could feel a firmness along with a girlish softness.

As they walked along through an arrangement of semi circular hedges in which budding flowers lay, he chuckled and smiled back, although there was an involuntary flinch at being called Andreus without the title; he regarded Andreus as his father's name, and would've far preferred being called André. "As you wish, Empress." he said, finding it odd to use the title as a form of address. "So, would you like to tell me about your aircraft?"

"Well, it's an ornithopter, which means it flaps wings in order to fly. It imitates the actions of a bird you see, so that's why it's called that." Aurora said with enthusiasm. "You know how if you put a pen in a rubber band it twirls, and if the rubber band were not twisting around itself it would keep twirling?"

Andreus nodded. He could understand that. "And, where does the pilot sit? How big is this ornithopter?" he asked.

"You can seat two people." Aurora suddenly smiled, and not the sunburst one of before but a quiet fond one. "It is about the size of an ultralight...perhaps it weighs maybe fifty kilograms."

"And are they in a cockpit, or in the open-air?" he asked.

As they came through the hedges Andreus could see lovely leaf patterns of budding flowers surrounding a pool in which an arrangement of statues of nude young men and women were seated, nymph like, and the fountain was clearly meant to be their playful splashing of one another.

"It's open air." replied Aurora. "I would offer to take you in it but there are a few bugs yet.” Aurora paused to admire the statues, and said; "this is new, you know, though it was my mother who commissioned it." the statuary was made of a rosy marble so that they looked very lifelike indeed.

"It's lovely." Andreus replied. "Your mother had excellent taste, Empress. If your ornithopter has a few bugs in it, you don't actually fly it yourself do you? I thought you said last night that you did..."

With a frown, she said, "I thought I told you. I flew it out over the Atlantic, and I didn't mean to. The bug is the landing controls. However if I hadn't I would never have gone to Freebodnik V and met my friend Eulalia."

"I beg your pardon!" Andreus replied, his eyebrows shrugging apologetically. He cursed himself
for making himself look inattentive. "So, do you have any ideas? About the landing controls?"

"I was thinking of adding more weight, to be honest." she said thoughtfully. "Andra..is that how
you say it?" she asked. They were going through a sort of hedge archway. Thirty Camellias preceded them, tail lashing, and they seemed to have arrived at a circular pool covered with water lilies. A harmonious cheeping could be heard, and they could see a statue of a woman, who apart from a shield and sword held somewhat strategically was naked, a woman who had the bearing of a Valkyrie.

"André." he replied, whilst admiring the statue with a bemused look. "And by more weight, do you mean an extra passenger?"

"No, I mean adding ballast." said Aurora. She took a deep breath. She said softly, "That is my mother. It was done in her honor when she won a national trophy."

"I was about to mention the resemblance, but I didn't want to be too forward." he replied. "She was
very beautiful, almost as beautiful as her daughter."

With a gentle look at the statue, she said, "Thank you, Andra." her accent somehow would not use the word properly. Nearby, Thirty Camellias yawned cavernously and gave Andreus an almost knowing look. Andreus swallowed nervously. That huge animal was always putting him off his game. He cringed at the accent, but actually found it a little amusing. He decided that it might even grow on him.

Aurora caught his glance and said, "You are looking at my best friend in the world. She is no ordinary leopard, you know. She is my chaperone, bodyguard, my constant companion, and the avatar of my command vehicle."

"Yes, I've noticed that, she's a very good companion." Andreus replied. He was conscious of
Aurora's feelings about the reminders of her mother, or at least perceived some tinge of those emotions. "My mother..." he started but trailed off.”Yes, what a magnificent creature. Thirty Camellias is such an interesting name too, however did she get it?"

"It was a gift from one of my former Regents, and one of my mother's good friends. Renate von
Saucken of The Territory." Aurora answered, leaning down to pet the broad dappled head of her companion.

"And the name? Naming such a ferocious creature after flowers..." he inquired.

Thirty Camellias curled her lip and looked away.

Aurora softly said, "Because the leopard is an emblem, and is beautiful, don't you see? There are few creatures on earth so graceful and so beautiful. The leopard is also a totemic creature to the Territorials. Beauty and ferocity are not incompatible." she glanced up at the statue of her mother.

"Perhaps not." Andreus replied, although he wasn’t sure he entirely agreed with the sentiment. He pondered how to shift the topic from cosmic thoughts and ornithopters to something for which he would be better equipped.

"Well." Aurora glanced at him. "You know why we're both doing this, I suppose?"

"I'd like to hear Your Majesty's thoughts about marriage." Andreus nodded. "Speaking generally."

Aurora took a deep breath. She actually had been feeling rather nervous about this, and now it all came back, the fluttering in her stomach. She gave him a direct look; there was a faint expression of an inexperienced girl but also of a powerful will in her look. "I think it would be very good for our countries. And I generally like you."

"I'm flattered, I think." Andreus smiled back in a beguiling fashion. "And I agree about the politics of it. And while I realise we hardly know each other... Your Majesty is very beautiful. And if you, as you say, generally like me, perhaps we can grow to... well, perhaps we'd make a good match."

With that, Aurora was taken aback...no one had ever called her beautiful before in a personal way, and she was chagrined as she blushed right down to her neckline. She had to actually use all her willpower not brush back her hair and giggle.

She said, "I think so too. How are these things done in your country, Andra?"

"Marriages?" Andreus asked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we both come from Catholic countries. How long will this take?" she asked.

"I... uh..." Andreus started. "Well, I imagine that we could set a date fairly quickly... I must say, things seem to be moving rather faster than I expected. Not that I'm displeased, Your Majesty."

Aurora almost wanted to cry. She felt a sort of confusion in her, and she bowed her head a moment, strawberry bangs falling over her face as she paused to pluck at a flower bud. "Yes. Thank you. So am I." For my people. Thomas' face came before her but she dispelled it. Her gaze became resolute. "I don't see why we should waste much time. And everything should be done properly of course. I would like to visit Pantocratoria soon to discuss things with the Emperor too."

"Absolutely." Andreus replied. "That would be a good idea. If I may, Empress, perh... must I still
call you Empress?"

Aurora said firmly, "For now." she smiled to soften it, and added, "You know, something to
consider. Before we make anything final. Well a lot of things but one in particular. I noticed you were not exactly enjoying the ox ceremony last night. Do you realize that that kind of thing is common in my court?"

"I had guessed as much." Andreus said. "Which brings up another thing... do you suppose we would be able to, move between New Constantinople and Lavenrunz every so often. Naturally I'm not suggesting a half and half arrangement, but, maybe for part of the year we could be in New Constantinople, and the other part in your court?"

"That would only be fair." mused Aurora. "Let's sit down by the water."

She moved her arm out of his and sat by the pool on a stone bench, smoothing the skirts of her dress under her. "And what about you? You won't stop being Despot of New Constantinople of course...so we could not ignore your responsibility to it could we?"

"Of course not, Empress." Andreus said, waiting until she sat down before joining her. "That is why I mentioned it. But of course, you being the monarch, I understand that we'd be obligated to spend most of our time here." He instantly regretted his choice of words, wondering whether they made it sound like he found the prospect unpleasant.

Aurora simply lifted her eyebrow. "What do you think of my country?" she asked with a mingling of childlike directness and monarchical forthrightness.

"Well, Your Majesty," Andreus replied. "I would like to see much more of it, I've seen so little.
There are certainly some differences, some things I'm not used to. I do find some of the customs a bit odd, as I am sure you would find some of Pantocratoria's customs a bit odd. I'm sure we'll each find that we don't like some of the other's customs. But we've much more in common between the two nations than we have as differences."

Aurora found herself feeling somehow calmer. He was so kind now. But she could not help but remember his flirtation with the other ladies the previous night. She said, "What you are saying seems very wise. Andra, I think we should perhaps take some time to get to know each others' lands. I do think we ought to marry but we should not do it with our eyes closed."

Of course not." Andreus said. He felt a little sorry for Aurora, and suspected she felt a little
overwhelmed by the impersonal nature of it all. He had had a few more years himself in which to prepare for and accept the idea of a political marriage after all. "We should get to know each other as people too, Your Majesty."

Nodding, Aurora murmured, "Thank you Andra. Is there anything you would like to do while you are here?"

"I'd like to see whatever you'd like to show me, Empress. Maybe we could go riding through the
countryside, when your gift finally arrives." he told her with a smile. "Parlez-vous français, par chance?"

"Un peut." she replied, smiling back.

"Ah, so you are perfect!" he replied in German again with a chuckle. His thoughts momentarily turned to Marian in New Constantinople, but he managed to push all thought of her aside with alarming speed. "Well, Your Majesty, I couldn't have a lovelier nor more capable guide to the Empire of Lavenrunz. I look forward to seeing it all."

It was late afternoon when Prince Andreus arrived to the stable area where Empress Aurora was also arriving. Several grooms where getting horses ready. The Empress' favourite, Spotty, was pawing the ground eagerly and tossing his head. Aurora, who was approaching him with an apple, turned to smile at Andreus.

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Your Majesty." Andreus said, bowing with a flourish. He wondered how much longer he was going to have to call Aurora by titles and appellations. He gestured to Spotty. "Eager looking creature!"

"He's spoiled." commented Aurora. She smiled fondly at the horse, who was crunching his apple eagerly. Thirty Camelias somehow was not spooking them as she stood nearby. She gave Andreus a knowing look. "And for you, Andra, I was going to suggest you might want to ride either Fortinbras..." she indicated a firm muscled blood bay with a dark mane that was being saddled, "Or Brunnhild here." this was a rather feisty looking chestnut mare who looked like she had considerable Arab stock.

"And will Thirty Camelias be... following us as we're riding too?" he asked, glancing at the huge beast again. The horses may not have been spooked, but Andreus still found the thought of being in such close proximity to Thirty Camelias on a regular basis to be a not entirely comforting one. "I think I'll ride Fortinbras. No offence, Brunnhild..."

He reached into his pocket and produced a couple of cubes of sugar. He fed some to Brunnhild as if a consolation.

"Thirty Camelias goes wherever I go." Aurora replied evenly, her blue eyes meeting his gaze. She giggled at his apology to Brunnhild, who was led away by a groom, who bowed to Andreus while another brought Fortinbras forward, bowing his head and holding the horse still for the Prince, who fed him the remaining sugar.

As they were preparing for their ride, a man wearing an eyepatch and a formal suit approached along with the Imperial Chamberlain, who bowed along with the man saying, "Chancellor Schlabel, Majesty." Andreus smiled at Aurora's giggle, but didn't make any further remark, so that Aurora could attend to business with the one-eyed man.

What's so important, cyclops, that you feel the need to interrupt? Andreus thought impatiently to himself, but his tongue remained silent.

"Hello Chancellor." said Aurora. "What is it?"

"I beg Your Majesty's pardon for this interruption." he said, "But that matter we discussed earlier..."

Aurora raised her eyebrow and then walked towards the Chancellor. "Ah, yes." she walked further away, the Chancellor following, and they spoke quietly together, after which Aurora nodded firmly. There was an air both of respect on Schlabel's part and an almost fatherly gentleness, while Aurora for her part was imperious and yet attentive to what Schlabel said. As the Chancellor, bowing, withdrew, she returned to the horses.

"State business." she explained to Andreus. "Shall we?" she swung up onto her horse easily.

"Absolument!" Andreus replied, mounting Fortinbras, running his hand through the horse's dark mane. "Your Majesty's dedication to statecraft is admirable. It is plain to see how much the Chancellor respects you, despite his advanced age."

He contemplated the fairly trite nature of the remark, but shrugged it off. Not everything he said could be poetry, after all. With a friendly nod, Aurora kicked her heels into Spotty's flank and went trotting down a path that was overshadowed by lindens. Thirty Camelias easily loped after her.

"So..." Andreus began, a degree of uncertainty about how to address the issue. "Have you... well, have you told anybody about the, erm, about our arrangement? The Chancellor perhaps? I was wondering because... well, I happen to know that the Emperor is waiting in feverish anticipation for some news from me."

"Oh yes. I've told the my Court of course, and the Chamberlain and the Chancellor and others have discussed this. Of course it also must be discussed with the Primate of Lavenrunz. For it to be a fully lawful marriage it must be established who you are, for instance, though in this case it is rather obvious that you are the Heir of Pantocratoria, and a Catholic in good standing, and not already married. All that." she suddenly seemed bored with 'all that'. She patted her horse's neck.

"He's a magnificent horse." Andreus smiled as he replied. "So you wouldn't be offended if I told His Majesty then, Empress?"

"No." Aurora suddenly blushed, feeling shy. "Andra...I...am I too young for this? In your country? Would you not rather marry a woman nearer your own age?"

"How old do you think I am?" Andreus asked, grinning, naturally focussing on himself. Of course, he had long ago faced the fact that he wouldn't have any say in his marital match anyway, so the rest of the question was rather moot from his perspective.

With amusement, Aurora thought, How typically French! and said, "I think you are over thirty but under forty." She hid a giggle, because she already knew, having had a thorough check done on him already by the Ministry of Information.

"Over thirty?" Andreus blurted out, almost falling off his horse. Then a look of realisation spread across his face and he chuckled, smiling broadly back at her after steadying himself in the saddle. "Ah, very funny. But in answer to your question... while it is true you are quite young, I wouldn't say you are too young. Your Majesty rules a vast and powerful country, if you're old enough for that, what can you possibly be too young for?"

He guided his horse so that he was closer by Aurora, and continued.

"But I know, believe me, what it is like." he said, a degree of intimacy in his voice. "After my sixteenth birthday, I was... shopped around, so to say, by His Majesty in the search of a political match. I've had the same feelings you're no doubt feeling now, although I'd like to think I'm passed them. If it makes you feel better, my younger sister Anna was eighteen when she was married, for political reasons, to the Crown Prince of Excalbia. The two are very happy together, they've grown to be quite in love."

He almost added the words 'to an extent where it is almost sickening' but thought it would detract from the reassuring impact he intended. As they talked they rode through a parkland of trees and meadows, and here and there saw armed sentries but mostly lovely spring landscape, the blossoms of the trees mostly fallen and carpeting the ground with petals. Not far away a herd of dark cattle were grazing complacently.

Andreus watched to see whether he detected any changes in Aurora's expression. He had hoped that she'd find the example of Anna and Joseph reassuring.

With a glance over at him, Aurora said, "Andra. Thank you for saying that."

"Not at all, Your Majesty." he said, smiling softly back. He looked across at the cattle. "Lavenrunz really is a beautiful country. The cattle remind me of the valleys in Montmanuel in Pantocratoria. We have much more in common than first meets the eye."

"Our countries do too." he added lightly, before spurring his horse ahead slightly.

It was an overcast day, and up on the balcony of the wing of the Linderhof Palace closest to Victory Road the Empress, Prince Andreus, Archduke Carl, the young fair haired Archduchess Katerina, Count Chemnitz, and the highest ranking members of the Lavenrunzian military were taking in a grand review. Gold lace and decorations fairly dripped from Lavenrunzian blue and black uniforms. The old Archbishop was ill and not present, represented instead by the Bishop of Hofburg. Below them in the square the band of the Imperial Carbineer Guards was beating a kettledrum tattoo as the first units began to march past, boots tramping, turning fierce faces to see their monarch and cheer.

While Andreus' face didn't show emotion, he inwardly sighed to himself. Military pomp and circumstance was very impressive, certainly, but he found the army rather tedious, truth be told. He did think the uniforms were rather splendid, and had an impressive array of them in his own wardrobe, one of which he was wearing for the review, but ultimately, he thought of himself as a lover, not a fighter. What he didn't know was that Aurora had a personal distaste for monarchs who wore the battle regalia of units they had never really served in, and so she was dressed as a head of state, with a purple sash across her white dress--this time only suggesting flowers rather than being them--wearing a cloak of leopardskins and bearing the elegant and simple golden crown of Lavenrunz, with its eight crosses of gold rising from the band. She bore a light but elaborately chased golden staff in her hand, which she raised in response to the salute of her soldiers.

"Your Majesty has some very fine looking soldiers in her service." Andreus murmured to her, barely moving so that people at a distance couldn't even tell he was talking to her.

"Thank you." Aurora raised her staff as the 15th Imperial Grenadiers marched past. "You'll notice that everyone is in battledress. This is a chance to show off our weaponry and remind everyone of how impressive our fighting forces are. Do you know what those apcs are called? Vogelhunds! Just like the dogs, isn't that funny?"

As she spoke he could see eight wheeled apcs with rounded turrets growling by, their commanders standing tall and saluting. They looked rather like big sleek beetles.

"Yes, very." Andreus replied. "I don't imagine that anybody will fail to be impressed by how impressive your soldiers, their weapons and their Vogelhunds are. What a splendid display!"

As the first regiment passed, the band broke into "The Radetsky March" which the crowds, behind the barriers, began to clap enthusiastically to. There were approving chuckles from among the military heads on the balcony. At the same time a squadron of treaded infantry fighting vehicles went rumbling by, looking like fat little tanks with stout autocannon sticking out.

Aurora said, "Andra, thank you very much. Have you met my uncle Carl?" she glanced at a fair haired rather stern faced man in an Imperial Air Force uniform.

"Is there... erm... something special about this march?" Andreus asked Aurora. "And no, I've not yet had that privilege. I'll introduce myself to him straight after the parade."

"Of course." said Aurora, smiling. "Well, it's a favourite with the people, as you can see. I think it's the tune, I'm not sure why."

"Do you, pardon me for asking, but do you like these military parades, Empress?" Andreus asked.

With a look of faint surprise widening her blue eyes, she said, "It's not a matter of liking them, though I like showing myself to those in the service. It's my duty." she suddenly sounded impassioned, as she turned and looked on as a regiment of armor came through the square, the very ground shaking, Grendel III tanks raising their barrels in salute. "Look at them. They swear to serve and die if need be in my name. How can I not do this?"

"I wasn't suggesting that Your Majesty shouldn't attend these parades." Andreus explained. "I was just curious. If you like these sort of parades, I will organise one for you in New Constantinople for when we go there... eventually."

"Well, I think that would be a good idea." Aurora glanced at him. "Just another hour to go..." her blue eyes danced merrily.

Andreus almost groaned, but restrained himself admirably, instead opting to smile pleasantly to return Aurora's cheerful expression.

Radiant in cloth of gold brocaded robes, Aurora entered the dining hall in the Autumn Palace, her hand on that of Prince Andreus; horns played a golden fanfare, and the Court stood, bowing as they entered. Aurora's strawberry hair was carefully piled up in a coil of braiding. She stood very still as the Bishop of Hofburg intoned a Grace, and then she faintly indicated pressure on Andreus' hand as she went to sit down. Nearby, Thirty Camelias lurked, watching. Andreus looked extremely pleased with himself, despite Thirty Camelias. He nodded to various guests as he accompanied Aurora to her seat, and then sat down beside her. Nearest the pair were the Archbishop of Lavenrunz, in his cardinal's scarlet, who looked extremely old and frail, and on the other side Archduke Carl, the Empress' uncle, who looked somewhat grim. Andreus nodded to the Archduke, having met him several days before at the parade. He inclined his head politely to the Archbishop.

As they were served, Aurora felt somewhat nervous, but she smiled to see Andreus showing respect and courtesy to the others. She reached down and petted her liquidmetal kitty which she had smuggled under her robes.

"Your Highness, Your Grace." Andreus acknowledged each of the other two men, before glancing down at whatever it was Aurora was petting. "Oh... another... cat... thing. Hmm."

"Oh, your place?" exclaimed the Archbishop in a voice as frail as a fallen leaf. "Terribly sorry, young man..."

Andreus grimaced weakly, and waved the Archbishop off as if to indicate that he shouldn't worry about it. He glanced at Aurora and perceived that she looked a little unsettled.

"Have I done anything wrong?" he asked quietly.

The Archbishop smiled benevolently. Wisps of white hair barely covered his parchment like scalp, and his trembling hands fumbled with his cutlerly.

Aurora said softly, "No. But I'm nervous. We're going to be making the big announcement. Everyone's been seeing us touring the country, and then off to your father's place, then your place, then back here. It seems so sudden even though its been weeks."

Aurora looked up at him with her frank blue eyed gaze. "I'm nervous, but I'm not afraid. I am my mother's daughter. I'm not afraid of anything."

"I'm excited." Andreus said, smiling. "And more than a little pleased with myself, if I may add. There's nothing to be nervous about. Your Majesty."

They were served as an appetizer what appeared to be a dish of spicey sausage with roasted potatoes and chunky yellow roots which tasted oddly sweet. Aurora nodded and took a deep breath, and put liquidmetal kitty back in the folds of her robe.

There were, Andreus could see, a few light laughs, knowing glances and rather fond ones in Aurora's direction as this dish was served. An elderly lady dabbed at her eyes.

Andreus ate away at his food unaware of the joke. After a little while he became aware that people weren't behaving in the usual manner towards the Empress. He finished his mouthful, and dabbed at the corners of his mouth with a napkin, before addressing Aurora quietly.

"Your Majesty, are you aware that some of your courtiers are behaving rather strangely?" he asked.

As he and Aurora finished their first mouthfuls, there were approving murmurs. She looked at him and blushed hotly, and whispered, "This appetizer is foreshadowing of our announcement, you see."

"Oh." Andreus said. His mind immediately jumped to various interpretations of what the sausages might represent. He frowned - he had thought Lavenrunzians wouldn't be so crude. "I see."

"Well...it's bull penis, you see." said Aurora. "So eating it together when you are unmarried means you are expecting to be married."

Andreus' face immediately curled up in an involuntary reaction of distaste, no, disgust. Things were apparently even more crude than he had imagined. He coughed a little, and took a deep breath before suppressing his rather visceral reaction.

"A bull's... penis?" he said.

Aurora nodded. "Yes. We eat nearly all the parts of cattle, you know, except things that are actually indigestible."

"I can see that different people have different ideas about what is and isn't digestible." Andreus quipped, settling down again. He glanced down at Thirty Camelias. I bet you're enjoying this. Andreus thought, giving the huge animal a look. "Your Majesty." he added.

"Well, I was reading about sexual relations between people." she remarked as she toyed with a roast potato. "And I suppose it might be more odd for you than for me. Eh?" she suddenly burst out laughing, and of course the whole Court roared with teutonic laughter as well, pounding on the table, holding their sides, wiping away tears of merriment. After all, what the ruler of the land finds funny is funny.

Goodness, that was direct. Andreus thought to himself as he retrieved his eyebrows from the top of his forehead, where they had suddenly shot up to. Jokes about sexual relations were a staple of the conversational diet at the Despotic Court of New Constantinople, but the humour was generally derived from skirting around the issue to the point of being ridiculous.

"Indeed." he said, a smile not entirely replacing a look of distaste.

"Mind you," said Aurora, "That of course is just general principle. I haven't so much as tested a hypothesis, which is right and proper and moral."

"Naturally." Andreus replied quietly, his ambiguous expression halfway between distaste and amusement remaining etched on his face. He had of course, taken it for granted that Aurora was a virgin. "There's a time and a place for science, after all."

Aurora felt a bit abashed; she was only sixteen, after all, and thought that perhaps her joke had been out of place. Nevertheless, she looked at him seriously for a moment and said, "This is new. Normally we Lavenrunzians are the very peak of culture. Do you find us crass?"

"Well... uhh... it isn't for me to say." Andreus said, cringing that he had given her that impression, and then that he hadn't disavowed her thereof. "But maybe my German has let me down, I was trying to extend Your Majesty's joke... you know, hypothesis, science... did I misspeak?"

Aurora suddenly gave him a raised eyebrow and a cool glance. "You don't need to."

Andreus smirked and finished up inwardly cursing himself. He then smiled back and decided to get more into the spirit of things.

"So, given your observation, am I to finish my dish, Empress? Or is there some other cut of meat I should eat instead?" he asked.

Aurora laughed, putting her hand to her mouth, pleasantly scandalized. There were some amused chortles at the rest of the table as well. For Lavenrunzians, weddings were to some degree a thing of ribald humor, and since they rarely gave vent to such things they took advantage of it.

Andreus chuckled along. "No but really, am I supposed to finish it?"

"Yes of course. You know, the advantage for men is rather obvious." she says, rather archly.

"Oh?" Andreus asked. He smiled but was inwardly bracing himself, both for the rest of the... beef on his plate, and for Aurora's punchline.

"Yes. Just wait till your wedding night, and you'll get to have the balls that go with the stick." she said, feeling her face virtually on fire.

Andreus blinked but had so braced himself for the joke that he made no reaction at all. He didn't even get it. He found the humour quite off-putting, truth be told, almost as off-putting as the idea of finishing the bull's penis.

Aurora cleared her throat and said, "We have an announcement to make, of great importance. From this day We declare Our betrothal to Prince Andreus of Pantocratoria, the Despot of New Constantinople and Heir to the Throne. We do this with the full knowledge that he is unmarried, is a Roman Catholic and whole..." she blushed "In his manliness. Therefore We do embrace him as Our future consort."

Andreus now smiled genuinely, and looked about the room to observe people's reactions. Like his father he had a photographic memory, and didn't forget people's faces - he'd remember those who reacted poorly. He did ponder the fact that Aurora blushed at mentioning his manliness after the jokes she had just made, and thought it rather odd, but he left it for now.

Archduke Carl managed a smile, and bowed his head. Further down, Archduke Amadeus's chest filled and his eyes shone; he seemed trying to contain what he might have thought to be an unmanly demonstration of sentiment. The Archbishop was smiling benevolently; Baroness Toll, buxom and flaxen haired as a valkyrie was wiping tears from her china blue eyes.

Andreus was satisfied that the reaction was mostly positive, and focussed his attention on Aurora. He still couldn't believe his luck, not only had he finally successfully pursued a foreign princess, not only was the marriage an incredibly valuable one diplomatically, but Aurora really was very lovely. He found her strawberry hair and radiant eyes particularly alluring.

"I'm so very happy and privileged to be betrothed to such an accomplished, wise and gorgeous young woman as you, Aurora." he said to her quietly, so that none but those very close-by could hear.

As the reaction set in, and as applause was beginning, the courtiers rose and the golden haired Katerina, Aurora's cousin, raised her goblet as the youngest person present (apart from Aurora) saying, "Her Teutonic Majesty! His Imperial Highness! May their union bless two great Empires! To the future bride and groom!" This was echoed with enthusiasm and the Court thundered "WAS HEIL!"

Aurora during this said softly, "And I am glad to marry you, Andra. To marry someone who is so kind and so thoughtful and rises to every occasion."

Andreus held up his glass in acknowledgment, and smiled and nodded to Katerina and to other particularly enthusiastic guests. He was doubly pleased because he had finally called her Aurora and gotten away with it.

"I thought we had gotten passed those sort of jokes." he chuckled lightly and grinned to her in response to the comment about rising to every occasion.

Aurora blushed again and gave him an almost shy look. Just at that moment however, he felt a whiskery something brush his wrist as Thirty Camelias put her broad dappled head between them.

"Oh... you're still here." Andreus said in a false jovial tone through gritted teeth at Thirty Camelias. "Didn't like the joke then I take it?"

"No." said Thirty Camelias. "But I expect your humor will have to grow on me." Her voice was very growly but easily understood.

Andreus' mouth moved but no words came out. His eyes boggled and he just sat there, lost for words, looking down at Thirty Camelias. He then finally looked up at Aurora.

Aurora looked very amused. "She doesn't talk often, so don't worry." she said. "Did I tell you that she's the avatar for my command ship?"

Andreus' mouth moved again, but he just shook his head. Finally he started chuckling. He turned back down to his plate, and his smile disappeared again.
"You're sure I have to finish this?"

Thirty Camelias, Empress Aurora's official gravship, not the talking leopard, set down on the landing pad at New Rome International Airport in front of cheering crowds, eager to see the Lavenrunzian Empress who was betrothed to their future emperor. Naturally security was very tight and the crowd had been strictly screened - places on the tarmac had been allocated by a lottery, and were dependent on the person submitting to a full background check. After the recent terrorist attacks in Pantocratoria and abroad, one couldn't be too careful. A purple carpet was run all the way from the exit hatch of the gravship to the waiting limousines below. Flanking the carpet were troops from the magnificent Varangian Guard, and at its end stood Dr Drapeur, the Imperial Chancellor, and Andreus' uncle Prince Basil, the Leader of the Opposition. Pantocratorian and Lavenrunzian flags were everywhere, and the feeling was electric.

On-board, Prince Andreus, dressed in a nice suit with a purple sash, since he had by now learned that his bride-to-be didn't approve of royalty wearing military uniforms they never earned, turned to his gorgeous, imperial fiancée.

"Are you ready, Aurora?" he asked.

Aurora came out of her private stateroom, Thirty Camelias prowling with her. She was a bit annoyed at having ever let him call her that, since it was a point for him. For a moment she didn't speak, mostly to choke off the reply that came to her lips, which was "I think so, but I'm so nervous this is the third time I've had to pee since we left."

With a smile she came up and held up her hand to him. "Are you ready, Andra?" she asked.

"I'm always ready." he replied in a tone which was almost smug, accepting her hand. The hatch opened, and the crowd roared.

Aurora, who was wearing a light blue gown that hinted at her lovely figure, with a sash of purple that bore the crowned leopard, took a deep breath and smiled gloriously, raising a hand, and then true delight spread on her face, her blue eyes bright as stars.

Barely overcoming the noise of the crowd was the sound of the Varangian's brass band, hammering out the tune of God Save the Empress. As Aurora and Andreus made their way down the steps and along the purple carpe, they snapped a salute, and both Drapeur and Prince Basil bowed as the pair reached them. Aurora placed her hand over her heart. Behind her, Colonel von Paderborn, Baroness Toll and the others of her entourage came to attention.

"Your Imperial Majesty, Your Imperial Highness!" said Basil, the joy evident in his voice. The whole nation had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Andreus to find a bride, and he found the most desirable one in all the world from the Pantocratorian perspective.

"Welcome to Pantocratoria!" Drapeur completed.

"Thank you, Herr Chancellor." Aurora said warmly. There was no artifice in this; as she extended her hand her eyes shone with happiness. "I am so glad to have at last come to Pantocratoria!"

"Pantocratoria, as Your Majesty can no doubt hear, is glad to have you come!" Basil replied, indicating the enthusiastic crowd. She had all of the aura of the Pantocratorian monarchy, and to the Pantocratorians, none of the familiarity, she was something new and fresh. The papers had been raving on about how Andreus couldn't have a better wife for weeks.

Turning to the crowds, Aurora raised her hand in a blessing like gesture. Thirty Camelias growled in disapproval beside her.

"Don't worry Drapeur, she does that to everyone." Andreus said with a half-smiled, as if satisfied with the joke at Drapeur's expense.

"I see." Drapeur replied, nodding at the creature.

"His Majesty awaits you both at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocratoria, Your Majesty, Monseigneur." Basil said, gesturing to the limousine.

"Then let's go." said Aurora and let go of Andreus' hand, leading the way. Her own courtiers followed, with Baron von Ehrfurt and Thirty Camelias accompanying the Empress.

Andreus followed after Aurora into the limousine. Soon the motorcade was away and making a stately progress through the Old Quarter of New Rome towards the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. He looked genuinely happy and extremely pleased with himself as he waved to the crowds which lined the streets all the way to the palace gates.

"Well. How lovely it is here. It's so different..." she said thoughtfully.

Different was certainly one word for the Pantocratorian architecture which combined Baroque and Byzantine elements in almost a haphazard fashion to create something truly unique. Some would've said thankfully unique. It was the sort of architecture about which one formed an opinion instantly as it afforded no fence sitting. Aurora was intrigued by how elaborate it was, and reflected that rumors that the Pantocratorian court was equally complicated might be true...

"See how happy the people are? They love you already!" Andreus smiled to her, indicating the crowds who had lined the streets to catch a glimpse of Aurora for the first time.

"We'll see." said Aurora, smiling but wary. Nothing was as it seemed.

"You can already see!" Andreus smiled back, touching her forearm and leaning closer to her to make pointing out some of the people in the crowd easier. The crowd's enthusiasm was obvious. With sober thoughts though, Aurora was remembering the people cheering her Mother, Helga Dresden, Count Mirbach, and her smile was more thoughtful for a moment.

The limousines soon came through the huge gilded gates of the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, and made their way up a vast courtyard dominated by a huge cast bronze statue of the Emperor Constantine the Great. They came to rest at the foot of another purple carpet flanked by Varangians. Pages wearing coats embroidered in silver with the initials "A I" rushed forward, opened the limousine door, and opened an ornately-decorated purple umbrella over the exit of the car, so that the couple would be underneath its canopy as soon as they left the vehicle.

Aurora stepped out, with Thirty Camelias slinking sleekly after, and looked at the Varagian Guard. She gave them an approving nod before heading along the way. Her entourage, bemedalled and dripping with gold braid and lace followed after. Her hand touching that of Andreus, she made her way into the Palace. The delegation entered the antechamber, a kind of waiting room, which had a gently-domed ceiling, decorated with a Byzantine-style icon of Christ the Pantocrator which looked down on the Count with haunting eyes. The antechamber was the oldest part of the palace (it was once the great hall). In its corners stood huge marble pillars, and an enormous oil painting decorated the wall to the Empress' left depicting the last moments of the defenders of Constantinople against the Ottoman Turks in 1453, entitled Le Martyre de Constantine XI. Into each of the tiles on the floor, the letters "L & T" had been carved, interwoven to from one letter with a T's top and an L's bottom, commemorating the 1810 marriage of Louis XVII of France to Theodora II of Pantocratoria.

At the end of the room were two massive bronze doors, with three Varangians standing in front of each door. Flanking the doorway were two marble statues, each dressed in imperial gowns of ancient Rome. One was the Roman Emperor Augustus, and the other was the Pantocratorian Emperor Constantine XVIII Comnenus (in the middle of whose reign in the early 17th century the statues were installed, along with the pillars). The doors at the other side of the chamber swung open, revealing a glimpse of the great hall behind them.

The great hall made the entrance chamber seem tiny by comparison, with huge marble pillars stretching from the floor all the way to the ornately decorated ceiling, spanning more than three stories in height (evidenced by the two levels of balconies which run along both sides of the hall). Underneath the balconies on each side stood dozens of members of the Imperial court.

In the centre of the chamber was an imposing throne structure on a platform of its own, and seated thereupon in full imperial regalia was a man slightly taller than Prince Andreus, with grey hair and a well-kept beard. The resemblance between father and son was obvious, and yet the Emperor's face was tempered by wisdom, and his eyes reflected a serious intensity which his son's did not.

"Her Teutonic Majesty, Empress Aurora von Sachshausen of Lavenrunz, and His Imperial Highness the Most Pious Prince Andreus, Despot of New Constantinople, Dauphin of Viennois!" announced the herald to a blaze of trumpets. As the couple walked down the carpet of the great hall, flower petals were released from the ceiling in time with their progress, showering down on their heads and shoulders.

Without hesitation, Aurora went up and extended her hands in greeting, moving faster than the petals were being released so that she had soon overtaken the falling petals. She smiled warmly, and said in German, "Dear Emperor Andreus, thank you for the lovely welcome!"

Prince Andreus drew a sharp breath, alarmed at Aurora's breach of protocol. But the Emperor didn't seem to be concerned - Aurora was an empress in her own right, his equal. If she did something differently, the way she did it became protocol as far as the Emperor was concerned. He rose and offered her his hands to meet her greeting.

"Your Majesty, meeting you is a joy which warms my heart." the Emperor said sincerely.

"I am so delighted to meet you! And to see your lovely country at last." Aurora replied, looking up at the Emperor but somehow not diminished by this. "It is wonderful to be in this place where so much of our Religion fluorished from."

"It is wonderful to have Your Majesty here." he replied in German with a rare - very rare - smile. The Emperor kissed her on each cheek, which Andreus had told Aurora he would do as a sign of fraternal affection. He looked her up and down, and was struck by how young she was, younger than all but one of his own children, and also by her physical presence - how pretty she was, how well she carried herself. At that moment he thanked God that his son had messed up his chances with all those previous potential matches, and knew it had been for a reason.

"This was the will of God, Your Majesty: that our two nations should become as close as possible, through sacred union." Aurora said solemnly. "I am glad that I am going to marry your son and seal this between us."

"And I am very glad, Your Majesty, that I will soon be able to call you daughter." he replied. "This union is God's bounty for both our houses and both our peoples. We have so much to discuss. Let's the three of us retire to my chambers. Alleluia! I have prayed for this day, and Your Majesty is the angel sent to answer my prayers!"

The train from New Rome to New Constantinople had taken much of the day, but had allowed Aurora to see the countryside which lay between the two huge metropolises. The terrain in this region consisted of green fields and gently sloping hills, and was ideal cattle country, dotted with small towns and villages. The pleasant greenery had started to fade away over the past quarter of an hour, however, signifying that the train was nearing the end of its journey.

Aurora looked out curiously; she had rarely travelled by train, and the languid travel mode appealed to her. Thirty Camelias looked out the window occasionally. She commented, "The country is very pleasant here. What kind of livestock do they raise?"

"Hmm?" he replied, as if he hadn't been paying attention to the window - and he hadn't. Andreus seemed to be in an odd mood. He seemed very pleased to be showing Aurora his personal domain, but in addition to that, he seemed to be craving physical contact - he had touched her several times on the train trip, not in inappropriate places, but he had been doing so nevertheless. "Cattle and poultry mainly. Peacocks."

He placed his hand on top of Aurora's - he was doing it again.

"Peacocks?" Aurora exclaimed. She was a bit uneasy; Andreus was making her feel selfconscious and she was not sure how to deal with it. He kept brushing against her, touching her hand or arm casually...and there he went again...

"Yes, at once a very decorative and quite a tasty creature." Andreus nodded. In his mind he continued, but didn't vocalise Rather like yourself. "And quite a popular dish. A few decades ago, only the wealthy and the nobles could afford to eat it, but nowadays everybody can afford it. I suppose we'll have to find a new exclusive dish..."

He smiled and laughed at the joke. Pantocratoria's booming economy had meant that there was now "a peacock in every pot".

Aurora looked at him and smiled radiantly. She said, "What's the joke, Andra?"

"Well, that we'd actually stop eating peacock just because ordinary people could afford it." he explained patiently, returning her smile. "We wouldn't of course."

Not finding the joke that funny, she nonetheless realized he was telling her something about his country, and nodded. "Do you have separate laws here from the rest of Pantocratoria?"

"Yes." Andreus nodded. "Although things are more or less uniform, New Constantinople is entirely my domain. The only thing I don't do is make foreign policy."

He reached up a hand as if to briefly brush through her hair, but decided against it, and let it fall back down again. He was painfully aware that he hadn't had sex for over two months, not since he first went to Lavenrunz. Being with Aurora all the time was beginning to drive him crazy. Aurora was wearing a light dress that matched her hair; she had a rather delicate chain of office and her bare arms were firm and toned from all her swimming. She looked at him with grave blue eyes, wondering why he was acting the way he was.

The train came to a stop at an elaborately decorated platform, crowded with troops from the Infantry Legion of New Constantinople snapped to attention in their dress uniforms, a small orchestra, pages and members of the press. As they caught a glimpse of Aurora and Andreus in the window, the cameras started flashing. Andreus smiled and rose to his feet.

"Shall we?" he asked, offering Aurora his outstretched hand.

Thirty Camelias at that same moment rose and paused, looking up at him with yellow eyes as if to say "You're in my way." One large paw was in the air, as if trying to decide whether or not to bat him aside.

Andreus eyed Thirty Camelias nervously, shifting a few inches about uncomfortably.

"Can we leave Thirty Carnations on-board? I wouldn't want to spook the crowd..." Andreus stammered.

Aurora said affectionately, "Let me by, you." and moved a bit ahead, holding out her hand and waiting for Andreus. Her blue eyes danced with merriment. "And I told you, Andra: Thirty Camelias goes wherever I go."

The leopard growled at the mispronunciation of her name, her spotted tail lashing.

"Naturally!" Andreus smiled, taking Aurora's hand. "But she does seem rather in a mood... Anyway, nevermind. Let's go."

Awfully bossy now that he's on his own dunghill. Aurora suddenly felt angry; he spent the day fussing around her and then was giving her bloody orders. She suddenly gave him the LOOK that she hoped was a good imitation of her mother. "Aren't you going to ask if I'm ready to?" she asked softly.

"Oh, pardon me, of course!" Andreus said, surprised at the sudden reaction. "I thought you were waiting for me, I apologise. Are you ready to go, Aurora?"

"Thank you." she said. She looked at him with softer eyes and said, "Yes, I would like to go now."

He squeezed her hand tightly and walked with her out of the carriage. A purple carpet extended from the carriage steps all the way down the platform, through the station and up to a Peacock Motors limousine on the other side, and it was flanked by troops at attention. He stepped down onto the platform below first so as to gallantly help Aurora down.

Thirty Camelias easily bounded down and her eyes and other sensors swept the area alertly while Aurora was assisted by Andreus. She waved happily at the people as she came down.

The press had taken an instant liking to Aurora. She was very different to the Pantocratorian princesses - for starters, she was blonde, and wasn't typically dressed up like a delicate china doll. There was more to it than just appearances of course, the whole country was excited about an impending alliance with Lavenrunz as a result of the marriage.

The couple made their way down the carpet at a relaxed pace, before reaching the limousine, whose doors were opened for them by the pages. There was, of course, room enough for Thirty Camelias. Aurora was breathing deeply with excitement, her eyes wide and bright, her joy and excitement evident, but she was also dignified, not giddy, and Andreus noticed how she somehow seemed to instinctively keep reasonably close to her little entourage.

They got into the limousine, and the motorcade started its way through the Despotic Court of New Constantinople. The difference between New Constantinople and New Rome was very striking. Whereas the Old Quarter of New Rome was very beautiful (if one liked Pantocratorian architecture that is), and the rest of the city still quite affluent, New Constantinople was more haphazard, its people obviously poorer.

"What's this?" Aurora said, sounding a bit disturbed. "Was there a riot here recently or something? Look, there's broken glass in that building..."

"Hmm..." Andreus said, leaning across her to see. He shrugged. "I don't know. I've been gone for two months. I doubt there was a riot here though."

Aurora blushed hotly as she felt Andreus brush against her bosom with his body, and didn't know where to put her eyes for a moment.

"Maybe some children were playing ball on the street and broke the window by mistake." Andreus shrugged as he settled back into his seat. Why should he know or care about a broken window anyway? He turned to Aurora again and noticed she looked all hot and bothered. "Are you feeling all right, Aurora?"

Aurora felt silly suddenly, and shook her head. "I'm fine." she wasn't sure how to put it anyway...

Before long the limousine arrived at the Despotic Court of New Constantinople. The walls surrounding the Despot's palace were much higher than those surrounding the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, and dated back to the first settlement of Pantocratoria. The area which they encircled was much smaller, however - on the other side of the walls was a huge single palace building as opposed to a compound of palaces, and while there was a picuresque formal garden, there was nothing on the scale of the multiple formal gardens, lawns, mazes, canals, and woods of the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator. The main palace building was a lot less attractive than its New Roman counterparts, being even more a hodgepodge of clashing styles than was usual for Pantocratorian buildings. It wasn't even vaguely symmetrical. It was however, large and impressive, and despite the lack of any semblence of a consistent design or feel, the high quality of the worksmanship was still apparent.

The limousine passed through tall bar gates, and came to rest in front of a grand staircase. A red carpet ran down from the open doors at the top of the staircase all the way down to the car, and was flanked on both sides by troops of the Infantry Legion of the Despotate of New Constantinople in splendid white dress uniforms, standing at attention. Pages rushed to open the passenger door of the limousine for Aurora and Andreus.

Aurora was impressed. "White uniforms must be really hard to maintain." she commented. "So this is your palace. Do you run all your affairs from here as well?"

"I do indeed." Andreus replied. "We've courts of law here, and my palace is the headquarters of my civil service. There's some people I want you to meet!"

Aurora actually thought it was both one of the most impressive and ugly places she had ever seen outside of Iesus Christi. She nodded and accompanied him. Outside the limousine the men and women of the court were arrayed in the latest fashion - as opposed to the fashions of the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator which were frozen some time in the distant past. They were waiting to be introduced to their lord's fiancée with barely restrained anticipation.

"Her Teutonic Majesty Empress Aurora of Lavenrunz, and His Imperial Highness the Most Pious Prince Andreus, Despot of New Constantinople and Dauphin of Viennois!" announced the page as the couple got out of the car. Andreus blinked, slightly taken aback to hear his name announced second.

The Prince introduced her to the various men and women of his court, most of whom Aurora could see right through as being pretentious bores, transparent sycophants, or some combination of the two. Finally though, he reached the end of the little line.

"Your Majesty, may I present my cousin, Princess Helen?" he said, introducing Aurora to an attractive woman in her early twenties. "Helen, may I present Her Majesty the Empress of Lavenrunz?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty." Helen said, curtseying. It was a total lie - seeing Andreus with Aurora, knowing that they were to be married, was like torture for Helen.

Aurora said pleasantly, "Hello, Princess Helen. You're very pretty. This is my constant companion Thirty Camelias." the she leopard looked at Helen gravely.

"Oh.. what a lovely tiger..." Helen said, thinking it strange that the creature looked right at her. Its presence alone made her nervous enough. "She's... trained, isn't she?"

Aurora was taken aback. Her blue eyes widened and she said, "Of course. And she's not a tiger, she's a leopard."

"Of course, I'm sorry!" Helen said, blushing. "How silly of me."

"Your Majesty," said Andreus, winking at his cousin before moving on. "May I present Mademoiselle la Comtesse de Mortville? Mademoiselle, may I present Her Majesty the Empress of Lavenrunz?"

Marian curtsied properly before Aurora. "It is my honour, Your Imperial Majesty."

Aurora was a bit surprised, but then remembered something she'd heard about this. She flushed, realizing that this was, in effect, one of Andreus' mistresses. She wasn't sure how to feel about this, but she calmly said, "A pleasure, Countess. And you are a sidhe, are you not?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I am."

"Well, I am a friend of your former ruler, you know." Aurora said. "It is interesting to see you here."

"You are a friend of Prince Frederick?"

"I meant Queen Agwene." replied Aurora. "Oh yes...yes, you have a feudal system still in your kingdom..."

"We have a federal system."

Aurora frowned slightly. "I see." she nodded. "Very well. Andra, is there anyone else?"

Marian looked down deferentially as Aurora frowned at her.

"No, Your Majesty, there isn't." Andreus said. "But a fête awaits us inside... if Your Majesty is ready?"

"I am." Aurora replied. She energetically moved off as if she already knew the way, Thirty Camelias prowling before her.

Andreus gave Marian a meaningful look, before following after Aurora.

The Cathedral of the Archangels was devoted to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, and had a more proper title referring to them but was always referred to as the Cathedral of the Archangels by Lavenrunzians. Over the grand lintel built over the doors was a freize of the two mighty seraphim, one bearing a sword, the other a trumpet.

Bishop Auerstadt finished a prayer over the kneeling Empress of Lavenrunz and Despot of New Constantinople. The couple were just about to take their vows - and Andreus was getting nervous, which was very uncharacteristic for him. What would happen if Aurora changed her mind now? Would he end up married to his cousin to produce a brood of inbred princelings? And what if she didn't change her mind? The prospect suddenly concerned him, even though he hadn't been worried up until that point. Aurora's eyes shone, and she rested her hand on Andreus' gently, listening and responding to the exhortations of the Bishop; her veil hid but hinted at her lovely features, which were full of barely suppressed excitement.

"Andreus, wilt thou take Aurora, here present, for thy lawful wife, according to the rite of our holy Mother the Church?" asked the Bishop of Carlsbad, speaking in formal German. God how Andreus hated that language! How could he stand speaking a lifetime of it?

"I will." he answered in a strong voice, despite the nervous feeling in his stomach.

"Aurora, wilt thou take Andreus, here present, for thy lawful husband, according to the rite of our holy Mother the Church?" the Bishop asked the Empress.

With a flutter in her stomach Aurora prepared herself. She listened, and heard, and realized very fully that here, in this sacred place, she had arrived at womanhood, and was for a moment no sovereign but a woman taking a husband. She was incredulous and yet joyful to feel a strange and wonderful feeling bloom in her as she said, "Yes, I will."

Not far away, Thirty Camelias flashed her eyeteeth and lashed her spotted tail.

"Repeat after me." said the Bishop. "I, Andreus Isaac Louis Constantine Capet, take thee, Aurora Joanna Fredericka von Sachshausen, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

"I, Andreus Isaac Louis Constantine Capet..." Andreus started. "...take thee, Aurora Joanna Fredericka von Sachshausen, for my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward... for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health... until death do us part."

"Repeat after me." the bishop said, turning to Aurora. "I, Aurora Joanna Fredericka von Sachshausen, take thee, Andreus Isaac Louis Constantine Capet, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

Aurora suppressed a sob, and said, "I...Aurora Joanna Frederick von Sachshausen take thee, Andreus Isaac Louis Constantine Capet, for my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death to us part."

"I join you together in marriage, in the Name of the Father," the Bishop said as he made the sign of the cross. "and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen."

He sprinkled Aurora and Andreus with holy water, and then blessed the wedding ring which was handed to him on a velvet cushion.

"Our help is in the Name of the Lord." he said.

"Who made heaven and earth." responded the couple.

"O Lord, hear my prayer." prayed the bishop.

"And let my cry come unto Thee." came the response.

"The Lord be with you." Bishop Auerstadt concluded.

"And with Thy spirit." they replied.

"Let us pray." said the bishop, sprinkling the ring with holy water in the sign of the cross. "Bless, O Lord, this ring, which we bless in Thy name, that she who shall wear it, keeping true faith unto her spouse, may abide in Thy peace and in obedience to Thy will, and ever live in mutual love. Through Christ our Lord."

"Amen."

The Bishop proffered the ring to Andreus, who took it. Despite the fact that he was nervous, his hand didn't tremble at all. He turned to Aurora, gave her a gentle half-smile, and then slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand.

"With this ring I thee wed and I plight unto thee my troth." he said.

With a tremulous smile herself, Aurora looked up into his eyes. My husband. She thought.

"You may kiss the bride." smiled the bishop.

Andreus' nervous feelings melted away, and he lifted the Empress' veil. With her blue eyes shining, her full mouth drooping open slightly, her innocence and beauty radiant, Aurora looked up at him. Sometimes I love diplomacy. Andreus thought to himself as he smiled, and then leaned in to kiss Aurora. He kissed her passionately enough to push the bounds of what was appropriate in a church, without going too far, before leaning back. Back in his seat, the Emperor of Pantocratoria smiled and breathed a combined sigh of relief and joy.

With a startled muffled sound, Aurora was a bit taken aback, but also felt a bit of a tingle, and whispered, "Is that it?" to the Bishop.

The Bishop smiled and nodded. Aurora was quite thoroughly married, and now the Mass for the newlyweds could go on.

Agwene strode towards the happy couple with her courtiers in tow and Connor on her arm. They all bowed as they approached, though obviously Agwene didn't. She smiled warmly at Aurora but then stepped aside, looking rather smart in her martial uniform. The newly weds found themselves faced with Grand Duchess Nianki, offering Andreus a rather large silver sword, emerald studded. "Thank you, Your Highness." Andreus nodded as he accepted another sword to add to his collection of ornamental weapons. Not that he had been intentionally collecting the things - it just seemed that he was always being presented with them. Nianki nodded her head on her thickly muscled neck, stepping aside for Grand Duchess Beatrice, carrying a large purple box with holes in the side. Her blind, pupil less eyes looked past the imperial couple in a way many found unnerving.With a barely suppressed giggle, Aurora observed Andreus' demeanor, and instead made a large smile. She paused and raised her eyebrows at the purple box, then drew in her breath at the box's appearance. She bit her lip. Beatrice held the box out. It wasn't really aimed at either of them, as she couldn't see them. Aurora nudged Andreus so that he could hold the box. Andreus took the box, with a hesitant expression on his face. Holes in the box indicated the possibility that something was alive in there, and he was quite sick of animals always following him around... he shot a look at Thirty Camelias. Thirty Camelias did not mistake the look and laid her ears back, watching him with big jack o' lantern eyes.Aurora did not notice, because she was eager to open the box...which she did. Inside the box was what looked like an adorable lion cub...except for a proportional pair of swan wings coming from its infant back. It looked up at Aurora and purred.

"What is it?" she exclaimed in delight, gently picking it up.

"It's a flying lion from the deepest part of Garmar, Your Majesty." Beatrice answered. The little creature snuggled happily in Aurora's arms

"Another animal." Andreus said through a forced smile. "How wonderful! You'll have a little friend, Twenty Camelias."

Listening to it purr, rumbling through her, she said, "How delightful, Queen Agwene! How big will it grow?" she gave a little blow-kiss at Andreus.

"Big enough." Andreus replied sardonically, although it wasn't clear whether he was talking about the same thing.

Agwene shrugged lightly and Beatrice answered "About the same size as Thirty Camelias, very slightly larger."

"Maybe that'd be a little optimistic..." Andreus murmured. At least he was amusing himself. "It's adorable. Does it have a name, Majesty?"

"Lovely." said Aurora, pleased. "Thank you very much!" she put the lion in the box again, and went up to kiss Agwene in thanks.

Agwene kissed back but laughed lightly. "That's not my present yet, Your Majesty."

"Ohhhhhh," Aurora said, "There's more? Good heavens..."

"Yes, good heavens..." Andreus said, a little less enthusiastically, but still maintaining a friendly smile.Grand Duke Timon came up next, smiling at the bride and groom behind those unspeakably ancient eyes. He held out a small box to Aurora. As soon as he handed it to her, he looked away and began to cry quietly, walking to the back of the line.Aurora was nonplussed, and looked a big disturbed for a moment, but then
quietly opened the box. Inside the box was a small silver spoon. It wasn't that pure or that bright and it was formed in such a way that it was clearly meant to be ornate but was no great work of art. It was the kind of spoon than a family of workers or small farmers might consider their prize silver to take out when the parish priest visits.

"Ah, cutlery." Andreus observed.

"Oh..." said Aurora, feeling confused. "Could someone explain, please?"

Agwene spoke quietly to Aurora. "It is a sign of tremendous trust. I'll give you the entire tale later."

"Thank you very much." said Aurora, who was bewildered but hid it well, expecting that Agwene would explain the importance of it as she promised. "And thank you so much for coming, it is so good to see you again." Grand Duchess Corrina arrived after her father, clasping a diamond choker around Aurora's neck. Grand Duchess Vicotira gave her a silver bracelet. Princess Eleanor gave her an alligator skin bag. Princess Elayne and Princess Catherine gave her a suit of formal armor, carried by servants. And yes, Elayne and Catherine were formally presented as a married couple. Andreus looked a little nervous when Eleanor approached to give Aurora the bag. He nodded politely to her and hid it well, however. Eleanor did not look at or speak to Andreus, though she didn't say anything rude. Okay...undercurrents it is. thought Aurora, curious about Eleanor but not saying anything. She smiled her and thanked all of Agwene's court presenting the gifts.

Princess Elizabeth approached with a silver steak knife she offered to Aurora. "The work of my own hands, Your Majesty."

"Now we just need a fork and we'll complete the set." Andreus couldn't help
but say.

Aurora gave Andreus a bit of a kick in the shins and smiled. "Thank you very much, Princess Elizabeth. I will treasure it." promised Aurora.

Elizabeth smiled. "Of course, Your Majesty."

Prince Gregory was next, offering Andreus an illuminated copy of St. Augustine's On the Soul. "I often turn to this when my soul is in need of comfort, Your Highness."

"Thank you very much, Your Highness." Andreus said, accepting the book. He turned to Aurora and laid on the honey. "Although I suspect my soul will need very little comforting, now that I'm married to my angelic empress."

Auorora, even though she was a bit of a free thinker, was a bit shocked, and murmured, "Andra." reprovingly, her blue eyes now actually glaring up at his a bit.

Gregory smiled lightly, choosing not to analyze Andreus's comment for anything more heretical than flattery on his wedding day. Prince Frederick then arrived, offering Andreus a copy of Kant's Critique of the Power of Judgment in the original German. "And this is a comfort to my soul, Your Highness."

Aurora nearly felt her face fall. But she took it with a smile, simply saying, "Thank you."

Andreus accepted the copy of Kant, and smiled and nodded. "Thank you, what a wonderful edition." Andreus said, feigning and interest in books. He looked apologetically at Aurora, he had only intended to flatter her after all. The Ali'i nobles, with rounder ears and darker skin than the Sidhe, were next, consisting of Prince Kalakaua, his wife Princess Keopuolani, and little Prince Kamakawiwo. Kalakaua gave Andreus, of all things, a surfboard.The Lavenrunzians thought this a good joke, beginning to get the idea at last, but none of them dared laugh. Aurora's face was growing a bit regal and distant now. "Ah... a..." Andreus started, but was at a loss. "Floatation device?" he ventured.

"It's a surfboard, Your Highness." the Prince explained.

"I see." Andreus nodded. "How wonderful! Merci tras bien!"

The Mermaid Princess Ningyo offered Aurora a truly humongous pearl. Prince Aaron and his wife and daughters offered her a copy of Amos with translations in French and German. Finally, Agwene smiled. "And now, Your Majesty, I have a present for you." With a smile of expectation, Aurora waited. Andreus looked across to Aurora smiling along with her, whilst contemplating how very far away the evening seemed to be." I actually have to give it to you outside." Agwene said, walking towards the door of the Palace. Andreus got up and offered Aurora his arm. The pair followed Agwene out.yAs the stepped outside, a large flapping sound could be heard. Soon, a huge wooden machine shaped like a near perfect carving of a dragon came into view, a rather large scale ornithopter flapping mechanical wings. On the "dragon's" flanks were the crests of House Saschhausen and House Bourbon-Comenenus-Palaeologus. "I remembered you had a fondness for these things."

"Goodness." Aurora exclaimed. She for a moment felt an icey rage. How dare they mock her with an ornithopter that worked better than her own? She was frozen for a moment, unable to speak. Agwene frowned slightly, taking in Aurora's expression.

"How marvelous!" Andreus observed, assuming that Aurora would be ecstatic with such a gift. He turned to his wife. "Don't you think so, Your Majesty? Incredible!"

Aurora bit her lip. She walked up to it, and said, as she did, almost nonchalantly, "How does it land? Well?"As Aurora asked, the machine did land, decently but not seamlessly and the operators inside got out, bowing to the royalty.

"Is it safe?" Andreus wondered out loud.

"Her Majesty is a veritable expert in building and flying these devices."

"I know that, madame." Andreus replied to Agwene, but turned back to his wife. "That's why I thought she'd be the best person to ask for an assessment of its safety."

With a careful hand Aurora touched the wings, as if testing the material, and peered inside. She looked round at Agwene and said softly, "Forgive me, it is a wonderful gift." she found herself moving to Agwene and putting herself in her arms, for a moment hiding her desire to weep. She softly whispered, "Forgive me, my dearest friend...I truly thank you."

Agwene put her arms around Aurora, holding her tightly. She actually blushed when Aurora called her that. "No, forgive me. I..." She paused a moment, shaking her head.

"Is there something wrong?" Andreus said, frowning a little. He had just assumed Aurora would be happy with the gift, and hadn't really been paying her close enough attention to realise that she hadn't been.

Aurora still whispering, said, aloud for a moment, "Just a moment, please, Andra." then to Agwene, "I just haven't had any time to myself really to work on my machine, I took it for a mockery but you would not do that of course..."

"If your duties did not require you elsewhere, you would be making these machines with the very best." She smiled softly, getting around to explaining the spoon. Long ago, what is now the Resurgent Dream was a land of vicious racial war between fae under High King Amrod on the one hand and Lord Steward Louis-Florent Verdier on the other. My grandfather, the Grand Duke Timon, a former High King who held the throne after Amrod, was an officer in that war." Andreus' eyebrows jumped up for a moment, and he turned away slightly to give Aurora the privacy she obviously wanted, whilst simultaneously tapping his foot in an agitated fashion as he often did.

Aurora waited a moment, and then raised her eyebrows. "And..."
"After a battle where Amrod's forces had taken a human village, Amrod intended to take a trophy for his own pleasure. She wasn't an enemy noblewoman but a simple and humble farmwife whose husband had been slain a simple footsoldier in the battle. Hearing the woman's cries and not bothering to think of the personal or political risks, my grandfather did the only thing a knight could do, challenged the then kind of the woman's honor."

"What happened?" asked Aurora

"In the fight, my grandfather was forced from this world for a time, suffering grievously, though Amrod was also slain. It was after that that peace and reconiciliation, even friendship, between the peoples became a real possibility. The woman, feeling indepted to my grandgfather, left what for a woman of her class was the greatest wealth for him, to await his return to the Waking World. Althought, as a piece of silver, it is a paltry thing compared to the rest of a Grand Duke's wealth, I know it has always meant more to him than all his riches. And now he gives it to you as a sign of peace and reconciliation and friendship."

"Why...how can I accept a gift such as this?" Aurora exclaimed.

"Because he...because we felt that you were fit to receive it."

"Why...I'm very touched. Thank you. Thank you all so much." said Aurora warmly. "I will make it a treasure of my household, and a reminder of the friendship of you, and me, and our lands."

Agwene hugged her again and then gently passed her back to Andreus. "That means a lot to me. However, I have been monopolizing your time. I am sure you have many other guests to greet and..." Agwene smiled wryly "...after that, you two have business to attend to, no?" She winked.Aurora was in a bit of a state still, so she giggled and blushed like the sixteen year old girl she was and squeezed Agwene's hand.

"I wouldn't put it like that..." Andreus smiled in response to Agwene's wink before looking down at Aurora. "But we do have things to do, don't we... madame?"

"Yes, Andra." she smiled again and then began to thank all of her guests for coming...

Andreus rubbed his hands excitedly as he looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. Two months seemed like an eternity, and the afternoon had seemed like years over again. But now, he finally had Aurora to himself, exactly where he wanted her, so to speak. He finished washing up, and started humming as he combed his hair carefully for the third time. I wonder if that leopard will insist on watching...

"Aurora?" he called as he left the bathroom and walked into the bedroom.

Baroness Toll and her other attendants had undressed Aurora and put her nightgown on her. She was a bit shivery with excitement, but as she was waiting for him she was thinking about what might happen and began to do her favourite thing to do when alone in a bedroom, which was to jump on the bed. "What?" she called back.

Andreus stopped and looked up at Aurora jumping up and down on the bed. He was wearing a purple silk dressing gown, and holding a bottle of champagne in one hand and two crystal champagne flutes in the other.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

With her bare legs flashing as the nightgown slithered up and down as she jumped, Aurora suddenly felt silly and plunked down. "Um." she said, blushing. "Just jumping on the bed." she for a moment felt rather shy and flirted some of her strawberry blonde hair away from her face.

Andreus smiled and shook his head dismissively. He poured Aurora a glass of champagne and offered it to her.

"I don't like champagne." she said, shaking her head.

"What?" Andreus more exclaimed than asked, incredulous. He set the bottle and spare flute aside, and drank the glass he had poured for Aurora in one movement. Then he set the empty glass aside, and sat down next to Aurora.

"Well honestly, why didn't you ask first?" she said, her eyes widening as he drank the glass in one shot.

"I just assumed." Andreus shrugged. He put an arm around Aurora's waist, his hand coming to rest on her behind, and raised his other hand to the side of her face. "You're beautiful, Aurora."

Blushing, she murmured, "Thank you..." in her rather throaty german accented french she replied, "Et vous aussi, Andra."

"You can call me tu, Aurora." Andreus smiled. "We are married now, after all."

Aurora blushed and said, "So..." she felt a bit disturbed but also intrigued by the way he was holding her...she in a way longed to be held but felt as though she ought to know what to do...

Andreus leaned in and kissed Aurora again, substantially more passionately than he did in the church. As he did so his hand moved from the side of her face to the back of her neck. With hesitant delicate hands she brushed her fingers up his arms, moving to encircle his neck with them; she'd seen this done in dozens of plays and films and it felt right somehow.

As if he had suddenly lost interest in her mouth, Andreus then pulled back a little, before leaning in to kiss her neck. In the meantime his other arm travelled up her side to her breasts. If she was nervous, he certainly seemed to be rushing things. With a little whinney of exclamation, she pulled back a bit, alarmed...here he was again, touching her in odd ways...as she did this he felt something oddly cool and yet live and firm brushing against his back. Andreus turned around suddenly to investigate the sensation.

There was liquidkitty, purring happily. Aurora laughed. "There you are!" she said, gathering the odd little creature in her arms. Andreus let out a slightly frustrated sigh, but he restrained his frustration and smiled instead.

"I'm not going to bite, you know." he said, playing with her hair with one hand. "Unless you want me to."

"Well, why are you grabbing at me, grabbing at my breasts and my bottom?" she asked, looking at him warily, snuggling the purring cybercat.

"I... uh..." Andreus stammered, confused. "It seemed like the thing to do... we're married after all."

Aurora's eyebrows soared. She said a trifle sharply, though she was trembling now, feeling rather frightened, "You mean you are going to spend the rest of our marriage feeling me up?"

Aurora burst into tears. "I don't understand!" she wailed.

She got off the bed and went to a chest of drawers, from which she pulled a book...which was on human reproduction. In fact a clearly well written and scientific book on the subject. "Look, it's all in here...I mean, if we need to make a baby or something..."

She looked at him, biting her lip, and said, "But I thought...that it was nice when you were kissing me but I don't really know what you want."

"Hey!" Andreus exclaimed, following after her. He put an arm reassuringly around her shoulder, and took the book out of her hands with his other hand. "Sssh, there's no need to cry!"

Aurora folded herself into his arms and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Trust me, Aurora!" Andreus said, embracing her, whilst simultaneously rolling his eyes at the spectacle.

Aurora could not see his eyes. But Thirty Camelias could. She was watching him calmly, as if she didn't like him and wanted him to know it. Her tail lashed occasionally, and she twitched her whiskers.

"Maybe you'd feel more comfortable if Thirty Camelias left?" Andreus murmured into her ear softly.

Aurora was surprised, and exclaimed, "Why would I want that? She's my best friend, and it's not like she's human..."

"Because, what happens in our bedroom is between you and I alone, petite." Andreus said, guiding her gaze up into his eyes by lifting her chin up with a finger. "You need to trust me."

With a sigh, Aurora said, "Cammy, wait in the other room please." The leopard grumbled but left quietly. Aurora got up and put liquidkitty in his box. She climbed back onto the bed and sighed. "I want some hot chocolate." she said.

With a sigh, Aurora said, "Cammy, wait in the other room please." The leopard grumbled but left quietly. Aurora got up and put liquidkitty in his box. She climbed back onto the bed and sighed. "I want some hot chocolate." she said.

Andreus looked around and wondered to whom Aurora was talking. Aurora looked up at him and said, "The bell cord is closer to you."

"Oh no," Andreus started. Aurora didn't want a hot chocolate, he had decided, she just wanted someone else in the room, she didn't want to be alone. "We didn't just expel one interloper to invite another in."

Aurora was incredulous. She said, "Are you going to prevent me from having some hot chocolate? You had your champagne."

"This isn't about drinks." Andreus replied. "You're nervous, you don't want to be alone with me. Admit it."

Aurora suddenly roared, her eyes blazing, her face pale, "What I WANT, Prince Andreus, is a cup of HOT CHOCOLATE! And I don't want to have to call the Jaeger Regiment to get it!"

Andreus grabbed a hold of her by each arm, and kissed her firmly, as if expecting that by doing so he'd not only get her to shut up, but melt in his arms.

"Mmmph!" exclaimed Aurora. She was aghast, horrified, she began to struggle, but he had her so firmly.

A few seconds after she gave up struggling, he pulled away. "You've got to trust me, Aurora. OK?"

Aurora glared at him. "I want some hot chocolate first." she said sullenly.

Andreus sighed, let her go, and got to his feet. He then yanked the cord whilst shaking his head, clearly annoyed and frustrated. He tapped his foot while he waited for the servant, and calmed himself down a little. Aurora felt tears hotly trickle down her cheeks. She rose and went across the room to her desk and sat down, taking out some papers.

"Aurora," Andreus started. He walked over to her, and tried to dry her tears. "There's no need to cry."

Looking up at him, she said softly, "I want to trust you. But can we please go more slowly? You're scaring me."

"Sure." Andreus said. He indicated to the science book. "But you've got to forget this stupid book, and anything you learned in a classroom. Let me teach you. We're not going to make babies, we're going to make love."

"Alright." Aurora rose from her chair and looked at him directly. She stood on tiptoes, putting her arm around his neck, lifting her mouth to his.

"Good..." Andreus said. "But let's wait for the servant with your hot chocolate, eh? We wouldn't want to be in the middle of anything when somebody else just walks in..."

"That was just to say 'je t'aime." said Aurora with a shy but direct smile.

"Bon." Andreus smiled back, and waited for the servant.

Baroness Toll received the hot chocolate, which was in a little silver pot with two cups on a little tray, and knocked on the door.

"Komme." said Aurora, feeling a bit embarassed. Baroness Toll entered, bowing, and placed the chocolate down. "Shall I...?" she began. "No, no, thank you Toll, that's all." said Aurora. "Guten nacht." she took at deep breath as the chocolate was poured. When the door had opened and closed, Andreus had a glimpse of Thirty Camelias, somehow looking right into his eyes. Aurora poured him a cup as well, it was rich and dark german chocolate...almost literally. Very thick and rich. Andreus took the cup and sipped it.

"How do you keep so gorgeous and thin with dreadful drinks like this?" Andreus asked lightly.

Aurora laughed softly. "I swim and ride a lot." she replied. "Anyway, this is my one food vice." Aurora drained it as quickly as she could, blowing and sipping. Then, a bit red faced, she put the cup aside and took a deep breath.

Andreus set his cup aside, half empty. He shifted closer to Aurora, and gently put his hand on her knee. Aurora this time did not resist but simply observed...

"Why don't we start by just cuddling... and work our way up as the night goes on?" Andreus offered.

***

Andreus woke to Aurora's soft hair brushing his body as she whispered in his ear, "Wake up, Andra." he felt the warm deliciousness of her body nestled against him.

"Mmmm...." Andreus murmured as he woke up. He opened his eyes, and turned his head towards her. "Is that an order?"

Andreus felt rather tired for being just woken up. With good reason. It was seven in the morning.

"Yes, liebling, it is daytime, and I have a bath all ready for us." said Aurora, her lips brushing his ear teasingly.

"Mmmm... that sounds nice." Andreus mumbled, rubbing Aurora's cheek with the back of his hand. "Although staying here in bed with you sounds nice as well..."

With a soft laugh, Aurora murmured, "Nonsense, we're past seven already, silly."

"We only just fell asleep though!" Andreus said, in mock protest.

"Hours ago!" she exclaimed, yanking away the sheet firmly.

"Well, I can't think of a better way to spend the morning than taking a bath with you." Andreus replied, leaning up to kiss her as he started to get out of bed.

"Mmmm" Aurora replied, enjoying the kiss right back.

A Lavenrunzian bathing chamber was an elaborate affair, few more so than that of the Empress, with its deep sunken bath of rosey marble (with rough enough bits to add some friction in case) and towels hung about. Aurora herself added to the steam haunted loveliness of the room with her lithe youthful nudity as she led him into it, stepping in lightly herself. Andreus followed her into the room, and tiptoed across the floor following after her. He reached the water and stepped in a lot less lightly than the Empress... before leaping out in surprise.

"It's hot!" he yelled in pain.

Aurora flinched back and gasped. "Are you alright?" she exclaimed, horrified.

He looked back at her, and smiled sheepishly. The two of them were standing their naked. In contrast to her soft, feminine youthful beauty, he was tall, well-built, and with his well-defined musculature (which spoke more to his vanity than to his strength), he looked quite strong. And yet he was the one who had leapt out of the scalding water whilst yelping like a child about the heat, and she was standing in it, seemingly fine.

"I'm sorry Andra." she said sheepishly. "We like our baths really hot in Lavenrunz. I didn't think..."

"Sssh! Not at all!" Andreus said. He looked back at his gorgeous young wife in all her naked glory. "It's worth getting used to."

"Just come in slowly." Aurora held out her arms to him, smiling happily once again. Her eyes shone as she looked at him.

Hofburg, Lavenrunz
Arriving on the wedding day was the Knootian ambassador who, after congratulating the newly wedded couple amicably, offered a gift to Empress Aurora on behalf of Prime Minister Lady Galadriël Táralóm nos Círdan and the entire Knootian people.

As Aurora reviewed the gifts at some later day (for she had indeed received many gifts from home and abroad and this one had seemed, by outer appearances, to be one of the more modest ones) she found that the lock could only be opened by a little key the Ambassador had entrusted to one of her close aides.

As the box was opened for the first time she had to suppress as sneeze as a small cloud of dust escaped from the inside. But then something glittered – the cover of an old, thick book laid in with thick golden thread and adorned with precious stone. Inside the cover, several hundred pages of thick parchment-like paper with handwritten text. In old Germanic writing, the first page read:

“The life and works of Helena Comnenus, Princess Consort of Knootcap, Porphyrogenita – a personal biography.

The Hague, The Year of Our Lord Sixteen-hundreth sixty-seven.”

But something else shone inside the box, and Aurora reached out for a Data Padd containing the digital version of the book in handheld format, written in contemporary German with the option to listen to the book in audio format with several optional voices. The opening notes had been personalised with a note from Galadriël, wishing her well in her new life..

---

The note delivered to Andreus was a bit more mystical, and no doubt he would have frowned as he first glanced over it. The Knootians, it seemed, had only given him a letter!


Arvak and Alsvith | up shall drag
Weary the weight of the sun;
But an iron cool | have the kindly gods
Of yore set under their yokes.

Your Imperial Highness,

Arvak the Early Waker and Alsvid, All Swift, are the names of the steeds of mythology whose wearisome work is to drag the sun across the sky. Long ago the gods took pity on them, and put bellows under their yokes to cool them.

Having decided to present your wife the Empress with Arvak the Early Waker when he is full-grown, the Lady Galadriël has deigned to bestow you with a horse from her own stables as well, Alsvid.

He is one of our finest breeds - strong and swift - and while it pains my heart to part with him in the strength of his life I am convinced he will find a worthy rider in the new husband of Aurora of Lavenrunz and the Despot of New Constantinople. I have arranged for Alsvid to be held in the Imperial Stables for you to visit at your leisure. My Hofburg counterpart the Imperial Stablemaster can tell you where to find him.

On behalf of the Dutch Democratic Republic I am entitled to offer you my congratulations,

Bernhard Olmen, Official Republican Stablemaster, Order of the Guinea Pig.


OOC: I hope you do not mind me borrowing the characters for a moment to accept the gifts. Also, the first gift can only be understood knowing who exactly Helena Comnenus was (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Helena_Comnenus) to see the relevance Galadriël thinks she has for Aurora. :)

A special Papal Legate was sent to the wedding of such important Catholic royalty. Bishop Michel Strasser, the Viatorian President of the Nepomucene College in Rome, was sent, bearing a special Papal blessing. Leo had also blessed a pale green jade rosary for the bride, and a deep red jasper rosary for the bridegroom. Along with these gifts, a brief note to each of the young people was enclosed. The note to Prince Andreus read:


My dear son in Christ,
On this most solemn and joyful day, you receive the greatest Christian gift of your adult life: The whole life, heart, and dedication of another Christian soul, to cherish and nurture, as she will cherish and nurture you. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, your two immortal souls join in one indissoluble, glorious, eternal union.

It is a wonderful, Divine paradox that in this total giving to one another, marriage makes possible an individual personal freedom unknown in other unions. In a vital marriage, each of you will continue to grow, to develop individual gifts and discover new abilities. But the total commitment of marriage guarantees that whatever path your life follows, your partner will be with you, to share triumphs and hardships alike. You need not fear where your path leads, the sacramental union will sustain you.

The Church regards marriage as a union “based on love, and directed towards fruitfulness.” In that direction rests a challenge to keep your marriage vital for a lifetime. Fruitful in the loving parenting of children, fruitful in the generous sharing of your lives and love with the peoples of Pantocratoria and Lavenrunz, fruitful in the joyous accomplishment of the extraordinary and often complex duties to which national leaders are called.

As a mother to her children, the Church is always ready with help and sustenance. We will be praying for you as you begin your new life in matrimony, and you will continue to be in our thoughts. Should at any time you need advice or assistance from the Church, you may speak without reservation to Father Darcy, our special representative in Pantocratoria, or our Legate in Lavenrunz, Archbishop Kronstein. They have all our confidence and will respect yours.

With loving blessings in Christ,

from the Vatican, (date,)

+Leo XIV


It was hand-signed in the customary dark-blue ink. Aurora’s note read:


My dear daughter in Christ,
Today you give and receive the most solemn and joyful gift of a Christian woman’s life, the pledge of unconditional commitment and eternal union with another Christian soul through the Sacrament of Matrimony. To an Empress, no less than a woman called to a humbler station in lift, this commitment represents the most holy vows a woman may take in the eyes of God. Such a wholehearted, consequential, and irrevocable gift is a grave and glorious act in submission to the will of God, Who ordained the state of matrimony as a human mirror of His love for the Church.

You have been accustomed to extraordinary responsibility from your earliest youth, dear daughter, and have unhesitatingly shouldered the great burden of leadership and the well-being of your people. Nevertheless, the intimacy of this new commitment and the demands it will make of Aurora, the woman (rather than Aurora, the Empress,) may hold an element of challenge and uncertainty. Remember, always, that our Blessed Mother holds you in Her loving hand, offering comfort and counsel. We send you this Rosary, which is often called “Our Lady’s lifeline,” as a sure and certain road to help whenever you are in doubt or anxiety.

Our prayers, too, are always with you, as you and Andreus embark upon your new life together. We pray that your love will bring forth great fruits of joy—in family life and children, in your loving example to the peoples of Lavenrunz and Pantocratoria, and in the faithful performance of the extraordinary duties of leadership.

We are ever at the service of God’s children, should any matter arise in which our advice or assistance may be of use to you. Our Legate in Lavenrunz, Archbishop Kronstein, is a good friend and counselor as well as a skilled diplomat. In Pantocratoria, our special representative, Father Darcy, has all our confidence. They will respect your confidence, and, at need, facilitate direct and confidential communications to us.

With loving blessings in Christ,

from the Vatican, (date,)

+Leo XIV

Felina nos Daeros stood as part of the courtiers from the entourage of the Empress of the Lavenrunzian, quite removed from the main ceremonies as she was actually a lesser courtier of foreign origin. She left her colorful, yet really meaning dresses, this time wearing a gown of the purest white, in the most traditional elven way, her blonde entirely different arranged, looking more like a normal, standard elven envoy from foreign lands.

She sighed at the beautiful sight of the bride and the groom, and then sighed again at the feeling of their happiness. She was feeling happy for them, yet she realized that her own chances of becoming happy like them were growing dim in this foreign lands, filled with serious and formal humans, totally opposed to her own playful spirit. She didn't despise the Lavenrunzians, as she still labeled them as marvelous[7i] after spending some time with them, yet they were as different to her as water was different to oil.

[i]But for sure Princess Aliria has seen my own fate...It was Aliria who sent me here, and I must trust her judgment. She didn't just send me to be a gift, or to teach the Lavenrunzian about my people, but also to learn about them, and to change myself a little bit more towards perfection thanks to their teachings. That's the Aelosian ideal, and I must follow it, noone said it was going to be easy. Even in the worst of the scenarios, I'll outlive this Empress and I'll be free to return to my homeland, to enjoy again the sight of the Eternal Crystal Forest and the Upwards Waterfalls, then I'll be Felina nos Daeros again, thought Felina, recalling that Aliria was going to send her a message.

At least Felina had the pleasure to talk to Aliria once in a while, and to chat with her about both the Lavenrunzian life as about the news from Aelosia her own homeland. She told Aliria about Aurora's wedding, although Aliria wasn't really feeling excited about it, probably due to the hidden animosity of the Aelosians towards the Pantocratorians about the events so many years ago from now. But she already told Felina to leave a letter to Aurora sending her own congratulations to Aurora and to her lucky husband.

Felina wrote the letter that same night, using the best aelosian style of words, remembering the message from Aliria. She left it the next morning at the door of the couple, hoping for them to read it, as a surprise.

To the Empress of the Lavenruzians, The Young Hope of the People of the Snow. The Daughter of the Light of the North, The Enlightened by Many and Hindered by Few, To the Conqueror of Hatred:

Congratulations on your wedding, Empress Aurora. It is a enormous source of joy to me to have someday written a letter to you calling you Princess Aurora, and now to write another one calling you Empress Aurora. I have followed your career as a rightful and wondrous Heir, and Ruler, to the people that without doubt love you and adore you everyday thanks to you amazing gestion and deeds, and I cannot find any stains or flaws. It's a shame that our species have different lifespans and although we both started like Princesses and Heirs, you have already evolved into a proud and regal Empress and a wonderful grown woman, and I still find myself in the same place we both started. But that is the design of our fates, and I accept it as it is written.

Finally you managed to decide to entwine your existence to the spirit, body and mind of another, and for that I wish you the best of the lives that any sentient being could enjoy. I almost envy you, Empress Aurora, for everything you have achieved for yourself, for your nation and for your people, but I think I'll content myself with admiring you, and asking to the Valars, my gods, to let me someday match your achievements.

I cannot found any gifts to send, with the exception of this letter, due to our custom of sending always a better gift than the former one, and I couldn't manage to find a better present than the service of my beloved Felina, that I hope you are enjoying without any complains. However, I must extend you and your husband an offer. To come here to my home and see the Crystal Forests and the Endless Mirages, to share the joy of the Elves of the Stars, so we could present you with the beauty of our exotic and ravishing homeland, our last possible gift. That offer will be open for the rest of your existence, to come anytime you would see proper.

Again Congratulations, Empress Aurora, on one of your happier days:

Princess Aliria nos Elurin nos Dior nos Luthien nos Thingol

Helen was profoundly miserable the morning after the wedding. She had actually started to cry during the ceremony in the Cathedral of Angels (at the time, she had explained to her mother that the wedding was just so beautiful), and didn't want to take breakfast with her family the next morning. So instead, she had sent a servant to Marian to ask whether she would join her for breakfast in her temporary bedroom in the Palace of the Stars and Moon.

After receiving the invitation, Marian glided into Helen's room, smiling broadly. "You summoned me, Your Highness?"

"I was hoping you'd join me for breakfast, Mari." she replied, gesturing to a little table. It was obvious she had been crying, as her eyes and her cheeks were red. Marian ran over to Helen and threw her arms around her tightly, kissing her on the cheek. Helen hugged Marian back, starting to cry again as she waved the servants in the room away.

"Oh Mari..." she sobbed into the sidhe's shoulder.

Marian stroked her hair gently. "I got to see my real queen...for the first time in months."

"Would you be upset if you had seen your former fiancé with his new wife as well?" Helen asked.

Marian just kissed Helen on the forehead again. "It'll be alright, Helen."

"No, it won't!" Helen sobbed.

Marian held her tighter. "That's what I said a short while ago. Remember?"

"I'm not as strong as you, Mari." Helen protested.

"You helped me." She finally broke the hug and sat down, crossing her legs with innate elegance.

Helen wiped tears away and contemplated her breakfast sullenly. The Lavenrunzian servant who had laid the table hadn't removed the top of her boiled egg, and Helen didn't know how to do it - she had never had to before. The realisation only served to further upset her. Instead she picked up a piece of marmalade covered toast.

"André's married to Aurora... who's better than me in everyway. Now that he's married the Emperor no longer needs me as a... a back-up plan... I'll be married to some awful man I don't even know, let alone love. He won't love me either, naturally. I can't see how it will be alright." Helen said.

"I love you, Helen."

"What do I do?" Helen whined.

"Well...would the Church officiate at a wedding if you told the cleric you didn't consent to it?"

"What?" Helen asked, not understanding. "I couldn't stop André from getting married to Aurora, even if I told the bishop."

"At your wedding. If you told the bishop you weren't willing to marry whoever the Emperor promised you to, not didn't want to but didn't consent..."

Of course she meant her own wedding! Helen's thoughts were so preoccupied with her memories of the day before that she didn't realise Marian was talking about another wedding altogether.

"The Emperor would order me to consent." Helen said, shaking her head. She wiped away more tears.

"That's not what consent means, Helen."

"I'm too stupid for philosophy." Helen replied self-piteously.

"Then I'd have to talk to the bishop for you." Marian smiled weakly.

"I doubt he'd listen to you." Helen replied. "Somehow I don't think that the bride's best friend telling the bishop that the bride doesn't want to marry the groom but doesn't want to tell anyone that she doesn't want to marry him would be grounds to call off a wedding."

"You'd have to tell the bishop then."

"You know I couldn't do that. I have to marry whatever troll gets picked out for me." Helen said, forcing a weak smile herself now. "Do trolls have princes?"

"There's Trollish dukes."

Helen's weak smile faded and she burst into tears again at the revelation.

"What's wrong?"

Helen looked up at Marian again across the table, smiling weakly again through the tears.

"I don't know how to open an egg. I don't even know whether that's what you do to an egg." she said, as if she was about to burst into laughter whilst still weeping miserably.

Marian opened the egg for her. "That's all you have to do."

Helen snorted in a bemused fashion through her tears, which she wiped away again.

"Enough weeping..." she told herself out loud.

Marian tilted her head at Helen with a slight smile. "That's the spirit."

Helen began eating her egg quietly, and stopped crying altogether after a few mouthfuls. She looked at her bed contemplatively, and then turned to Marian again.

"I wonder what Aurora's thinking right now.." she said.

"She's probably upset."

"Oh?" Helen asked.

"Yes. She's jealous that I get to spend time with a wonderful lady like Princess Helen and she doesn't."

"Be serious." Helen chided.

"I don't know what she's thinking and it isn't my concern."

"Would she be..." Helen said, biting her lip and looking away from Marian's gaze slightly. "...well, would she have... enjoyed it? Last night?"

"It is good. Yes." Marian admitted grudgingly.

Helen sighed, leaning her head on her hand.

"I knew it would be." she said.

Marian kissed Helen on the forehead.

"Oh well..." Helen said, trying to cast off any feelings of jealousy she might have had towards Aurora. "She's an empress, she deserves to be happy. It isn't her fault that I'm in love with the... narcissitic pig she's married to."

Marian laughed lightly. "That's the spirit!"

"And you know what else? I'm happy that I'll be married off to some other man. Even if I don't love him, he can't possibly be as conceited as André, and at least I won't turn out like my old witch of an aunt." Helen said. She ate another mouthful of her egg, and waved the spoon about thoughtfully before adding something in a tone of mock contemplation. "Although, I do hope he won't be one of those trollish dukes."

And she laughed.

Andreus stretched out and relaxed, and put his arm around Aurora, lying next to him in bed in the imperial bedchamber in the Palace of the Moon and the Stars. The pair lay in silence for a few moments as they caught their breath.

"So..." Andreus eventually started in a somewhat self-congratulatory tone, feeling particularly pleased with himself. "It sounded like you were having a good time..."

He was either fishing for compliments or trying to make Aurora blush.

With a faint flush, Aurora said, "I never knew it would be like that, it is so lovely." she looked at him with bright blue eyes, smiling slightly, her hair tumbled about her bare shoulders. Andreus rolled onto his side and played with her hair with his other hand. He kissed her cheek lightly. It didn't occur to him to infer from what she had said that she had enjoyed previous nights with him less.

"You're so pretty, lying here right now." he remarked. "Your hair all... messy and loose, all shimmering with sweat..."

Aurora wrinkled her nose. "Gross."

She can be such a child! Andreus thought to himself as he lay there quietly.

"It's times like this," he said. "You know, after we've made love... I feel like... I feel so connected to you... that I can talk to you and hold nothing back. You know what I mean?"

Actually maybe there's a better time to bring this up... he thought to himself.

With a glow rising in her face, Aurora leaned up on one elbow, her body a charming presentation of her youthful curves, and said, "Oh?"

"You could ask me anything right now, and I'd be incapable of holding one word of the truth back from you." he said. May as well give it a try I suppose...

With a gleam in her blue eyes, Aurora said, "Oh." in a soft voice, and gently traced a hand along his chest. "In that case...do you intend to keep a mistress anymore now that we're married?"

Holy crap!

"Ahh..." he started, taken aback. He caught her hand as she ran it up her chest and squeezed it affectionately. "Would you prefer if I didn't?"

With a snort, Aurora said, "What do you think? I mean...you are telling me the truth, you wouldn't be stirring feelings up in me to trick me or anything..." she looked at him with narrowing eyes.

"No!" Andreus protested, and kissed her soft, youthful hand. "I don't intend to keep a mistress... she'd only pale in comparison to you, Aurora! But..."

"...but?" Aurora asked, still looking at him.

This isn't going very well. his brain needlessly interjected.

"...but..." he said awkwardly. "I'm a man. We do dumb things sometimes. All the time in fact. I promise you though, you're the most special woman in all the world to me, Aurora, and I would never want to hurt you!"

Continuing to look at him with her direct gaze, Aurora began to tick her finger quietly, rather like Thirty Camelias beginning to lash her tail. "I'm sure not, Andra, but you didn't answer my question. Are you going to?"

How do I answer this truthfully without sounding like a flippant jerk? he wondered to himself.

"Erm..." he started. "What if we were to come to some... arrangement... ugh that's not coming out the way I wanted... bah! L'Allemande!"

With a sudden flare of colour into her cheeks, she sat up, putting her hands on her hips. "An arrangement? What do you mean by that?"

You're really not doing too well, André. he thought to himself needlessly.

"Just that..." Andreus started again. "I don't want to hurt you, but let us suppose that, being a man, I wanted to take a mistress... would there be any circumstances under which you think that might be... OK?"

In the Palace Aurora was known to be a fairly gentle ruler, and one who lived simply. For those who simply wanted to do their work well and enjoy life and career she was ideal, though not the best for those who hoped to leapfrog to many advancements and chances at profitable nepotism. However, like her mother and grandfather she had a slow temper that when finally roused was terrible as that of the beast who was borne on their emblem. What followed was generally in German, with clenched teeth, shouts, flung upholstery, pillows and any items that came close to hand. This was followed by a withdrawl to the bathroom and the door being slammed.

Bravo! he congratulated himself on a job exceptionally poorly done.

"Aurora!" Andreus called in a conciliatory voice, following after her to the bathroom door. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, really I didn't."

No reply came from within. Instead there was the sound of running water.

"Aurora, please come out." he pleaded. "That was a really awful thing for me to say, I know. I promise, if you don't want me to have a mistress, I don't want to have one!"

"Fine. Go away, I want to be alone." said a muffled voice from inside.

"Please don't be like that!" Andreus pleaded. "See? This is the sort of thing I meant when I said men are stupid! See how stupid I am? I'm married to the most wonderful, beautiful woman in the world and I go and say such a stupid thing..."

"Andra, I said I would like to be left alone. Please. I will talk to you later. I need to think." Aurora said, her voice rising.

"OK, I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone..." he relented. Sheesh, does it count for nothing that I asked her permission? Does she think most husbands ask for permission?

He sullenly walked back to the bed, and sat up in it, wondering how he had been so stupid as to actually try to be honest about the topic.

In the bath, Aurora fumed and thought, "Well, some people warned me. What a jerk! Maybe I should just avoid him for a while...no, that would give him the excuse he needs. Oh, what a total bloody creep!" she smashed the sponge down in the water furiously, and felt tears of rage and hurt spilling down her cheeks. I can't trust anyone. she thought. And she felt her heart hardening at that moment. She felt stricken that she'd let herself be so vulnerable to him. Never again.

Thirty Camelias lay in the doorway of the bathroom, eyes half closed, as Aurora stood brushing her teeth in a pale blue nightgown.

Oh good... you again... Andreus thought to himself as he glanced down at Aurora's feline bodyguard. He gingerly stepped over Thirty Camelias and into the bathroom, and watched Aurora brush her teeth.

"You've been avoiding me all day." he said gently.

With a faint growl Thirty Camelias looked up, lip wrinkling. Aurora spat foam into the basin and looked round at him.

"I've been busy, Andra." she said.

Reaching for a glass of water, she began to rinse her mouth out. Andreus walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist as she rinsed her mouth out.

"So you promise you weren't avoiding me?" he asked her.

"Andra, I'm very angry with you because of what you said about the Mistress thing." said Aurora, struggling not to be held. "And don't lie to me. I know you've had mistresses and that you kidnapped a poor woman..." she said, tears of anger appearing in her blue eyes. "And I don't know, I must be the stupidest girl in the world but I thought you would turn out differently..."

His eyes went wide at the kidnap remark and he swallowed hard. How did other people know about... ah... the Lavenrunzian baron. He didn't let go of her, however, and in fact his grip got a little tighter when she caught him off guard with the second remark.

"I uh... I don't know what to say." Andreus said. Thirty Camelias looked at Andreus narrowly and gave a coughing explosive growl that sounded like a big truck backfiring in the large bathroom.

"Let me go." said Aurora quietly. "Is this how you treated your slave girls?"

Andreus glared at the leopard with an angry look in his eye, before letting Aurora go. One of these days you big furball...

"I never had slave girls." Andreus insisted. "That one girl you're talking about, I realise now that I was going too far, I apologised to her, we made up. You've met her, I introduced you to her, the sidhe, Countess Marian. She isn't a slave."

"That is the only reason why I didn't hold it against you." said Aurora. She seemed to be growing in anger. "Excuses excuses! Du bist ein scheisskopf!" she angrily stepped back, her eyes blazing furiously.

"If you didn't hold it against me, you wouldn't have brought it up." Andreus snapped back. "Now listen here, Aurora. I was trying to be honest with you. You asked me if I intended to keep mistresses now that I was married. I have to be honest with you, while right now I wouldn't dream of it, I am a man, I am a creature of habit. I can't tell you that I will never want a mistress in the future, not while I'm being honest. Does honesty count for nothing? Does it count for nothing that I told you I wouldn't take a mistress without talking with you about it first?"

Aurora was momentarily speechless. She felt like the last soft place in her heart was breaking, turning to stone. She found her self control and said coldly, "I see. Well, I wasn't brought up like that. My Mother and Father raised a real family. Only evil brought it apart. What you're telling me is that I won't be enough for you. That you have no self control."

She took a deep breath, and said, "I'll see you tomorrow. I don't want to sleep with you tonight. I've had a bedroom made for you."

"Wait! No, that's not what I mean, Aurora!" Andreus relented. "You can't just set this aside. We have to deal with this."

"Do I look like I have idiot written on my forehead? I must." said Aurora bitterly. "What's there to deal with?"

"You're not an idiot, Aurora, you're the smartest woman in the world." he told her. "How many people do you think can work out your flying machines?"

He sighed and looked at her, a sincere, affectionate glimmer in his eyes.

"Aurora, I promise you... You don't want me to have a mistress, I won't have a mistress." he said. "You mean more to me by far than any mistress ever would. I was just trying to be honest with you... but I messed it up, because I'm a pig. I'm trying to change, I've been trying to change since before we met. But I need your help to be a good man - I'm born wicked. Look at all the awful things I did before I met you! But you married me anyway, knowing those things. You thought it would be different for a reason, Aurora. You and I can make it different. Please, please give me another chance?"

Aurora gave him a stoney look, an imperious look.

"You said it yourself, you knew about my mistresses. You knew about Countess Marian." Andreus said. "You knew about my behaviour and you married me anyway. Please petite, don't be angry with me for what I've done in the past. I promise you, I'll change if you want me to, and if you help me."

Aurora lowered her eyes a moment, and said softly, "Andra..." a single tear trickled down her cheek. "I have been betrayed often. Please...you cannot play with my heart like this. I don't just want this to be a conveneince. I meant it when I promised I would be your wife." she took a deep breath and said, "I forgive you, Andra."

"Hey," Andreus said, wiping the tear away. "When you said you'd marry me, you made me happier than every other mistress I've ever had put together, and multiplied ten times over. You make me happier than any other woman ever could. I promise I won't betray you. You won't regret forgiving me, Aurora, I promise."

Oh I'm good. I'm so good! he congratulated himself.

Aurora suddenly grabbed his wrists and said, looking into his eyes, "And...Andra...along with that promise is this other. If you do betray me...I will make you regret it."

Andreus smiled and nodded, suppressing the urge to gulp.

While Aurora attended to the business of the day, signing papers, meeting with ministers, and so on, Andreus liked to pass his time engaged in various time wasting activities about the Palace of the Moon and the Stars. After his daily visit to the gym, he started rehearsals of a play he had written. He was determined that the actors and actresses all be courtiers, and had conscripted Archduchess Sophia, Princess Helen and Countess Marian to this end. They were going to play the title roles of the play - Les Trois Soeurs du Fantôme. The fact that they were clearly not sisters didn't deter him.

"Mais André, ce scrit, c'est en allemand!" Helen announced, a little confused as opened up the copy of the script Andreus had handed her. The three women were standing on the stage of the palace's theatre while Andreus sat in the front row.

"It is." Andreus nodded, answering her in German.

"But the title is French!" Helen replied, her German heavily accented. "I barely speak German!"

"That's why your part mostly involves standing around and looking pretty, petite." Andreus smirked as he replied. He glanced at the other two women, and gave Sophia a wink. "Although you've got some rather stiff competition in that regard. So, why don't you three just read through the scene?"

The scene was fairly well written and amusing, but the drama was shallow and superficial, like most of Andreus' theatrical compositions. Helen stumbled over her few lines, eliciting winces and the occasional correction from Andreus sitting in the front row. Marian did a little better, but her lines were a good deal easier, and tended to simply set up jokes for Sophia's character to complete. Naturally, Sophia had no problems with the German, and her lines were the best in the scene, so she in turn came off even better as a result. In his capacity as director, Andreus continually interrupted the reading to flirt with each of them and provide glimpses of his artistic vision.

"No, you don't believe her, liebchen." Andreus explained to Sophia, interrupting after an exchange between her character and Helen's about the ghost of their dead brother. "You think it sounds ridiculous, you should be replying sarcastically. Playful. I know you can be playful."

"Ahem... I saw him, walking through the halls, as when he was alive!" Helen re-read her line again. Before Sophia could respond, a servant opened the theatre door.

"I hope this isn't Aurora, I wanted this to be a surprise for her." Andreus said to the girls on the stage as he got up and turned around to face the doorway.

"Your Highnesses, Your Excellency," the servant nodded. "Her Grace the Duchess of Montmanuel just arrived, and she insisted that I take her to you at once."

Standing next to the servant was a young woman in courtly clothes. She looked about twenty five, and was very beautiful, although from the expression on her face she appeared exhausted and extremely anxious. Helen bit her lower lip and looked to Marian with a knowing expression. It was Marian's predecessor, Andreus' former mistress, Madame de Montmanuel.

"Madame la Duchesse..." Andreus started, surprised. He recovered from the initial shock and his expression hardened. "What a totally unexpected surprise to see you here."

Madame de Montmanuel curtsied and entered the theatre. The servant withdrew closed the door again behind her. Something was clearly wrong. Marian and Helen both remembered Madame de Montmanuel's usual expression, proud, haughty, and alluring at the same time. Now she just looked tired and afraid, and she couldn't help glancing at Marian on her way down the aisle between the seats towards the Despot, who turned his back and jumped up onto the stage, so as to create a physical barrier between himself and his former mistress.

"Your Highness," he said to Sophia. "May I introduce you to Madame la Duchesse de Montmanuel? I believe the other ladies have already met her."

"Your Highness, can I speak with you in private?" Madame de Montmanuel asked as she reached the bottom of the stage. "Please?"

"Quite impossible, madame." Andreus replied cooly. "We were rather busy, in fact."

"André..." the Duchess entreated. "Please. I've come a long way to talk with you."

"Then I suggest you get on with it." Andreus told her. He wasn't going to go off alone with a former mistress after the conversation he had the other night with Aurora. He wouldn't want to either, for that matter.

"André..." Madame de Montmanuel said, tears appearing in her eyes. Her proud chin wobbled a little bit, but she stopped herself from crying. She was too proud to allow herself to break down in front of her replacement. If he wouldn't see her in private, then she resolved to embarrass him in front of the other women. "I'm pregnant."

Andreus' script slipped out of his hand. He stood in stunned silence for a second or two, before shaking his head and bending over to pick up the script again. Helen gasped in surprise, and covered up her mouth with both her hands.

"My congratulations to you and the Duke..." Andreus mumbled as he straightened out again.

"André, you know that my husband has been in Syskeyia, fighting the war." she insisted. "He returned to Pantocratoria just a few days after I left, in fact."

"So, uhhh... I take it this happened before his deployment?" Andreus asked nervously.

"It happened a little over three months ago, André." Madame de Montmanuel said urgently. "You know as well as I do that he's not the father!"

"Do I, madame?" Andreus replied indignantly.

"All Pantocratoria knows he couldn't be! All the world knows!" she almost shrieked.

"All the world knows you're pregnant?" Andreus asked, nervously.

"No. I shan't be able to keep it secret much longer though. My husband has insisted that I join him at the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator, and I'm just entering my second trimester..." she said, her voice wavering.

"There are alternatives you know, places you can go, even in Pantocratoria..." Andreus began.

"What are you suggesting?" Madame de Montmanuel asked. "Not abortion!"

"André!" Helen gasped at the thought.

"No, no... of course not." Andreus mumbled. "So... do you know who the father is?"

"I have some idea." she practically growled at him, clenching her teeth at the implication. "Do you think I should have a paternity test?"

"Erm..." Andreus started, his mouth going dry. "No, no probably not."

He glanced at the other ladies nervously, at Sophia in particular. Surely she'd tell Aurora.

"Perhaps we should talk in private, Henriette." Andreus finally said, getting down from the stage. She nodded, and the two left the theatre to head to another room.

"Cela, c'est le drame!" Helen gasped to Marian and Sophia.

"La," said Sophia, shaking her head. "One sees the strange things in the world and just wonders." she rolled her eyes. In her excellent french, she exclaimed, "And honestly, Andreus did not respond well to that situation, which was clearly a neat little trap."

Palace of the Moon and the Stars

Count von Chemnitz led the Imperial Court to their seats. Padding along with Aurora came Thirty Camelias. However, she was not alone in having an animal present that evening; Archduke Carl had one of his own hunting leopards present; the well trained but fierce animal sat near his legs and rubbed them with his head. Archduke Amadeus appeared slightly distracted, rubbing his chin and staring into the distance. Empress Aurora had been busy till quite late and had in fact not wanted to show up to supper, instead having a quiet boiled egg with toast in her room. Thus it was that Andreus was only able to see her when they met in a corridoor and walked, her hand over his, into the reception room to hear a special concert.

Aurora's favourite composer was Mozart, but she realized with a sinking heart that Chemnitz had taken the idea of her liking it too much to heart; it was probably the fifth Mozart recital that month. She had to find time to have a word with him about that. She frowned and then smoothed her face, so that the court wouldn't worry too much.

When the pair entered the imperial box at the recital, Andreus reached over and put his other hand on top of Aurora's, so that he held it in both of his hands. He stroked and squeezed it with nervous affection.

"Aurora, I have something to tell you." he whispered to her. "It's very important."

"Yes?" she asked.

"My old... my old mistress, Madame de Montmanuel, has come to Lavenrunz, and is here in the palace." he told her. "I didn't want to see her, but she had something important to tell me."

"Oh, I knew that she was here..." said Aurora softly, "But I didn't know that she had been your Mistress." she felt her face heat up, and felt a sudden regret, wishing that she had recommended the Duchess being sent elsewhere...like the Marsh Islands.

"I'm sorry, but there's more. There's no easy way to say it..." he told her. "She's pregnant. I'm the father. It happened months ago, before you and I had even met."

Aurora gave him a sidelong look. She suddenly felt an irrational but somehow very satisfying rage. How dare he...and really...that meant that he must have with the same sense of desire been intimate with that...woman the same way he was with her. Her finger began to tap.

"I see. And?" she said, wincing inwardly as she realized she had spoken a bit too loudly. Her uncle and older cousin glanced over.

"I'm sorry, Aurora, I know it isn't an easy thing to hear. I didn't mean for it to happen..." he started. "But you have a right to know. I'm sorry!"

"Very well. Thank you for telling me." Aurora said. She now found the strains of Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante grating, even though she normally loved it.

"I can understand if you're angry at me." he told her.

"What do you expect me to say?" Aurora asked. "And by the way...why did she come here?" her voice was still low but her eyes were looking up into his intently.

"I don't know, I don't expect you to say anything. I know this is very unfair on you, Aurora, and I'm sorry." he apologised again. "As for why she came here... her husband has just come back from the war in Syskeyia, and she's afraid of what will happen to her when he finds out."

"Ohhhhh you mean he didn't know you were shtupping her?" muttered Aurora. "That's a shock."

This isn't going well! his internal monologue warned him.

"No, he didn't. Everybody else did, but not him. He doesn't care about her, to him she's an ornament he only takes out when he needs someone to accompany him to a ball. He didn't realise that..." Andreus said. "Well, that she was my mistress."

Observing the whispered conversation, Archduke Carl murmured out of the side of his mouth to Archduke Amadeus "She knows."

"Can we send him back and get another one?" Amadeus replied gloomily.

Aurora said quietly, "Andra..." she gave him a grave look. "I meant it when I forgave you. But...I really wonder about you." she shook her head.

"I'm sorry." he told her. "I don't want this to... embarrass you. Perhaps we should speak with your advisors about, about how this should be handled?"

Aurora blushed deeply. She had never spoken about such a matter at all...but she realized that perhaps that might be best. Though...she felt a nagging suspicion but was in too much emotional confusion to make sense of it. She decided she would remember the moment though...

"Very well, Andra." she lifted a hand, suddenly getting caught up in the andante movement. Did it reflect her mood? Perhaps...

Andreus felt pangs of something he very rarely felt as he watched his young wife's reaction. Guilt. Poor Aurora, this wasn't her fault, yet she was as involved with it as Andreus and Madame de Montmanuel both were.

"I really..." he mumbled to her. "I really regret, that... that you have to deal with this because of something I've done."

With a gentle touch of her hand on his, Aurora gave him slightly softened look. She was disturbed but somehow also touched...Andreus really did seem like an overgrown boy at times. He needed her.

She hoped.

Marian was not particularly happy. She wasn't upset. Aurora had become kinder recently. Marian suspected she knew the whole story now. Still, she had had no time to get to know the Empress or to hang out with Andreus. They were so busy being newly weds. Even Marian had been rather busy pining jealously after Andreus and now that old whore from Montmanuel was around as well. Marian was bored and lonely, sitting in her room reading Epictetus and wondering if anyone would come by. There was a knock on her door.

"Mari?" came Helen's familiar voice from the otherside.

"Come in!" Marian called back.

There was some fidgeting with the door handle before the door finally opened and Helen came in. She smiled at the sight of Marian and wandered over her to sit next to her.

"What's wrong, Marian? You've been sitting in here alone for hours!" Helen asked.

"I've been reading Epictetus." Marian said. "Would you like to join me?"

"You know I'm too stupid for philosophy." Helen replied, smiling back, but blushing a little at the same time. "Why don't you tell me what's up instead?"

"First we're going to get rid of this idea that you're stupid." Marian put the book away, hugging Helen and kissing her friend lightly. "They just never taught you about it. When I've discussed it with you, you've understood fine."

Helen hugged her lightly and returned the friendly kiss.

"Mari, you know I only passed philosophy because Andreus gave me the essays he had used to pass years before." she told her.

"And you know, no offense to His Highness, that I could write circles around those essays and I think you do fine."

Helen smiled and nodded at the thought.

"You locking yourself up in your room doesn't have anything to do with Madame de Montmanuel's little revelation, does it?" she teased.

"Well, I did think André might need someone to talk to after he tells his wife about that. I was mostly just being bored though."

"What do you mean, someone to talk to?" Helen asked. "And you know, when you're being bored you should come get me. We can be bored together."

"I could never be bored with the most amazing lady in the world nearby." Marian answered.

"All the more reason to come get me!" Helen beamed back.

Marian cuddled her for the moment, not saying anything back. She smiled softly. Helen cuddled her back, and didn't say anything for a little while either. Then, when they were done, she started again.

"I wonder what the Empress' reaction will be..." she said, changing the topic.

"Unhappy."

"Poor thing." Helen said, shaking her head a little. "And Madame's husband... he's going to be really unimpressed..."

"Well, he should have gotten a better wife then."

"You know he's much older than her, don't you?" Helen gossiped. "You know who his wife was originally going to be, if the Emperor had his way?"

"Who?" Marian asked with interest.

"My aunt." Helen replied, biting her lower lip lightly with delight. "She's only a couple of years older than him I think."

"Princess Irene?"

Helen nodded enthusiastically. Then she paused and cocked her head slightly.

"Wait... you've never met my aunt, have you?" she asked.

"I've heard of her. I don't think she'd like me."

"She doesn't like anybody!" Helen laughed. "I don't think she liked Monsieur de Montmanuel either."

Marian fell silent for a moment. After a while, for lack of anything better to do, she began tickling Helen intently.

"Mari!" Helen protested, giggling hopelessly. "Mari please stop! I'm ticklish! Aie!"

Marian stopped, pinning Helen playfully. "That's what makes you fun to tickle."

"Mercy!" Helen cried.

Marian rolled over. "Seriously, what shall we do?"

"I don't know..." Helen shrugged when she regained her composure. Her delicate hairstyle had mostly come undone through her ministrations. "I'm not very good at making such decisions. You decide."

"I want you to decide."

Helen moaned a little in protest.

"Mari..." she sighed.

"Helen..."

"Can't you decide for us both?"

"I could but I want you to decide."

"I hate decisions!" Helen protested.

"I think we should go into Hofburg incognito." Marian said.

"Sneak out?" Helen gasped. "But..."

"We wouldn't have to sneak. We're grown women. There's no rule against it."

"There's rules against everything!" Helen replied. She gave Marian a mischevious look. "But let's do it! It'll be so much fun!"

"We're in Lavenrunz, not the Imperial Court of Christ Pantocrator." Marian said. "Besides. I've made my name as a jouster breaking conventional rules."

"Let's do it! Ohhh... what should I dress up in?" Helen asked, rolling over onto her stomach next to Marian. "But wait, there aren't many sidhe wandering around in Hofburg are there? Won't you sort of stand out?"

"Not many. I don't think any are Lavenrunzian citizens or anything and if there are then it's just a handful, but the Resurgent Dream has very good relations with Lavenrunz with all the tourism and commerce that implies. People shouldn't automatically know I was from André's court."

"Excellent!" Helen grinned. "Ohhh... what should we wear, what should we wear?"

"Something normal girls wear. Let's get some jeans and t-shirts!" Marian said, pressing the borders of the exotic.

"That sounds great!" Helen grinned. She had always wanted to wear something a little naughty out in public like that.

Marian found some. They weren't naughty at all. Marian put on some loose jeans that were no tighter than what most men wore and an equally unrevealing t-shirt. It was of course easier for Helen to find some tighter clothing, since she didn't have sidhe proportions. She went off into the bathroom to change, and came out wearing a tight pair of jeans and a tight white t-shirt. What's more, it was fairly apparent if Marian looked closely that she wasn't wearing a bra beneath the t-shirt. She grinned.

"What do you think? I still need to fix my hair and make-up but..." Helen asked, trailing off.

"I think you're very sexy." Marian said. Walking over, she got a comb and combed Helen's hair out straight, removing all the pens and such. "Wear your hair natural."

Helen nodded eagerly.

"I hope my poor German doesn't give us away..." she said thoughtfully when Marian had combed her hair. She started to apply some extra make-up - the courtly look was slightly too delicate, so she put on some extra eye shadow and paid close attention to her lashes.

"You can be a tourist too. We'll be from Selinia. That would explain your accent nicely."

"Wait, are you saying I look Jewish?" Helen asked the not-particularly-PC question.

"No, no, they speak French in Selinia though and not everyone there is Jewish." Marian paused a moment. "Though, if you were a Jew, you would take after Rachel, whose beauty captured the heart of Israel so that he toiled for her fourteen years without complaint."

"Aww!" Helen sighed, gently biting her lower lip, delighted by the compliment. "Are we ready?"

"Yes, ma'am." Marian said. "How shall we get out without anyone noticing?"

"Hmmm..." Helen wondered thoughtfully. "Maybe we could wear something to cover our faces and get your servants to sneak us out through the servant's quarters?"

"That works." Marian said, fetching some sunglasses.

"Cool! Ohh... I can't wait!" Helen grinned, following after Marian. Making arrangements with Marian's servants, the two made their way out into the streets.

Marian stepped into the streets with Helen.

"Where should we go?" Helen asked Marian, almost whispering as if the palace gates would hear her.

"I don't know." Marian said, looking around the streets of Hofburg.

Outside the palace, they could see a broad streets with iron wrought streetlamps, and what appeared to be stern looking government buildings. Most of the people around were wearing light jackets, pants and skirts if female. They had an oddly uniform look, not in color or material but as though they were mostly attempting to look respectable. They also saw a leather jacketed Reichspolizei officer on a halted motorcyle who was writing someone up a ticket and a squad of Carbineer Guards in day uniform strolling by.

"Let's just start walking and go into the first place that we see young people hanging around." Helen suggested.

Marian's eyes widened in panic at the streetlamps, stumbling back a little.

"Come on Mari!" Helen said, taking her hand. "What's the problem?"

"That's wrought iron..." Marian said, almost whimpering.

"They're not THAT ugly..." Helen replied, frowning in confusion. "Come on, all these public servants are creeping me out."

"They HURT."

"What do you mean?" Helen asked. "Hmm... maybe we should get a cab to take us to the nightclubs..."

"I mean they'll kill me if I get to close." she said, freaking out. "I didn't know those things were legal here."

There weren't as many Danaan tourists as Marian had expected, partially because of a minor cooling in relations recently. Those that were present were overwhelmingly human and thus mostly couldn't be picked out of the crowd, except for more women in pants. There was no evident explanation for the preponderence of humans. A more diverse crowd had sought Lavenrunzian vacations in the past.

"What... what do you mean?" Helen asked. "They're just streetlights!"

"They're IRON!" Marian said, hurrying to the center of the sidewalk, as far from the streetlights as possible. "Hurry up and get a cab."

They could see at a nearby large and splendid building with a fountain that had statues of horses who appeared by the statue's construction to be dashing through foaming waters that there were several cabs waiting in a roundabout. Helen pulled Marian along by her hand towards a cab, which she hailed like she had seen people do on TV.

"Taxi!" she called.

A couple of passing Lavenrunzians looked at the pair in distaste. One of them said in a loud whisper, "Foreigners. One of them's a pointy-ear." "And on drugs too," the other said with a sniff. "Pathetic."

A taxi came rolling over, and a dark haired young man came out, opening the door and giving a slight bow, his eyes roving over them with fascination. "Ladies." he said. "Let me guess...a nightclub?"

Helen's German was sufficiently bad that it took a concentrated effort for her to understand what was being said to her - as a consequence, she couldn't understand the whispers of the passers-by. She understood the taxi driver though.

"Ja!" Helen replied, nodding.

"Yes, sir." Marian said politely, smiling as ethereal, preternatural beauty shone from her modestly covered form. She slipped into the cab.

He smiled and after closing the door got in the driver's side. Soon they were driving briskly along through the diplomatic and government center of Lavenrunz; they also passed a lovely park that had a statue of a leopard and a knight prominently at its entrance.

As they drove into a more commercial district, they began to notice a few people of greater variety--a couple of expensively dressed foxgirls with shopping bags; a tall Menelmacari elf passing through the shorter crowd with grave dignity...

"What's wrong with the iron streetlights, Mari?" Helen asked her in the taxi, speaking in French so that the driver couldn't understand.

...a young woman wearing little more than a gleaming leather apron tied around her neck that covered her front down to the middle of her thighs but left her back and backside bare...

Marian just rode along. "They're iron." Marian answered in the same language.

"Did you see that?" Helen gasped, looking out the window as the car passed by.

"There's nothing in between here." Marian said, as though it was a self-explanatory statement.

"Hmm?" Helen asked, peeling her eyes away from the window back to Mari. "Sorry, did I miss something?"

"Nevermind." Marian said moodily.

"No, tell me!" Helen asked her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Helen." Marian said.

"What's so bad about iron? You said something silly about it before we got into the cab." Helen asked.

In contrast to this, there was the constant military presence in Lavenrunz. It was not uncommon apparently for there to be checkpoints or sentry posts with armored cars or armed jeeps at them. However, most of the citizens seemed to regard this as normal, and in fact they passed one such as they arrived at a nightclub styled "Dark Velvet".

"Fifteen marks, please." said the driver.

Marian paid the cabbie and got out of the cab. "It'd kill me." she said, still in French.

"Danke!" Helen said to the driver, smiling as she followed Marian out.

"Thank you." said the driver, smiling to himself as he watched her get out.

"It's a good thing you had money with you, I forgot to bring any..." Helen said. "Wait, what do you mean it'd kill you?"

"What I said."

"I... don't understand. Are you allergic to iron?" Helen asked her.

"Helen, I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh." Helen replied, frowning still in confusion. She looked up at the nightclub. "Let's go in!"

"Let's." Marian said.

The nightclub had a cheshire cat grin for a sign on a background of dark purple. They could hear the faintly hollow sounding echo of a DJ voice from inside and the throbbing beat of music, which sounded like Hack rock. Helen grinned and walked inside past the bouncers, and looked around. The music was a little loud and somewhat disconcerting, but it was a new experience and so Helen loved it. Marian looked around quietly. They could certainly see that this place was part of an alternative scene in Lavenrunz. They were not the only women in jeans; indeed, they could see another girl in a similar apron to the one Helen had already seen, and a young beautifully sculpted man wearing nothing but jeans dancing on top of a speaker. Marian sighed a little to herself, walking in with Helen.

"The... well..." Helen gasped wordlessly to Marian at the sight of the near naked couple.

"Yes?" Marian said in her modest, concealing clothes, shining with preternatural, unearthly, superhuman beauty, yada, yada, yada.

An almost stammering young man in a leather t-shirt came up to Marian and said, "Wow...wanna dance?" his German distorted by the loud music and cacophony of other noise.

Marian looked to Helen curiously.

"Go ahead, Mari!" Helen told her. "I'll be OK."

"Very well." Marian said.

His friend, gazing admiringly at Helen... his eyes slowly moving from the waist to her face, asked the same of her. Incongruously, in spite of their attire, they bowed as they asked.

"Ja!" Helen replied to his friend.

Apparently music in the Hack required a great deal of wild limb movements, swirling of the hips and vigorous jumping about. Lavenrunzians added to this by clapping their hands a lot. Marian danced, trying unsucessfully to immitate the Hackian style. Helen tried for about thirty seconds and then gave up, giggling hysterically at how silly everybody looked. Instead she just followed her partner about and smiled apologetically. Marian blushed after a moment, giggling lightly. The young men seemed to enjoy this though, laughing with them, and becoming foolishly happy in their dancing as well, though their smiles were also flirtatious and inviting. Marian danced politely with the young man, trying to go through the motions of the Hackian dance.

When the track was over, Helen made a drinking motion with her hand and appended the word "Ja?" by way of asking for a drink.

"Ja!" he replied, leading her over through the crush of people to the bar. Helen felt someone pinch her ass along the way. Marian also found herself lead in that direction, and small glasses of clear looking fluid put into their hands that had a faint peppermint smell. Marian sniffed her glass with distaste but sipped it. It was peppermint schnapps, and it was cool on the tongue but went down like fire into the belly. Marian put her hand to her forehead, sinking onto a stool. Helen, still blushing from getting her backside pinched on her way to the bar, took a rather less tentative sip of her schnapps.

"Schnapps, ja?" she asked, after taking a deep breath.

Helen felt her face heating up, and her dance partner laughed, putting a casual arm out around her and said, "Is gut, ja, der schnapps? Dancer mit uns aucun fois, bitte?" he said, grinning at his mishmash speech.

"Bitte?" Helen asked, not understanding the word. She figured that he was asking her to dance again though. "Ja."

Helen finished the rest of her schnapps, and grinned at Marian. Marian glanced over, setting her glass down. The music that came pounding on was a recent hit, a techno version of the march of the Wicked Witch of the West's guards from "Wizard of Oz" as to the throbbing beat the chant of "Oh wee oh" began.

"Ich tanze schlechtes." Helen apologised as her partner led her back out to the dance floor. She glanced at Marian, who didn't seem to be having a lot of fun.

Marian gave a dutiful smile to the young man who had joined her. He smiled faintly back. He was beginning to think his partner was a cold fish for all her looks, and felt himself feeling small...after all, she was so wonderously beautiful...he found an excuse to enjoy dancing with a dark eyed girl from Surya who had clearly flung off her head covering, tugged on her lowest riding snuggest jeans and gone out to party. Others would start to approach Marian but seemed too intimadated. Helen's partner on the other hand was fascinated by her, and shouted in her ear, "Du bist Pantocratorische?"

"Erm, nein. Ich ist Selinienne..." she mumbled, remembering her cover story. "Danaan, Selinia, ja?"

"Ach." he nodded, flushing himself. As a slower part began he moved in a bit closer, moving his hands down her back.

"Ohh..." she gasped in surprise, but went along with him, blushing. She could manage the slower parts fairly well, even if she had never danced to music like this before. She looked over to Marian, who was now alone, and frowned.

"Meine freundin ist toute seule..." she told her dance partner. Marian sat there.

"Oh?" her partner sighed, his hands dangerously dipping down to the denim snugly filled by her bottom.

"Oh!" Helen gasped in surprise.

He smiled, since she did not resist but seemed shy this appeared to attract him even more, as he began to pull her closer, his hands spreading over her buttocks, his mouth dipping towards hers. Helen turned her face away and tried to pull away, but didn't try to pull away hard enough to actually succeed. Seeing her reluctance he reached up with one hand to touch her cheek, but his other was now actually slipping along the gluteal crease itself, pulling her against him to demonstrate evidence of fierce desire. Marian stood up, walking quickly over to Helen.

"Aie!" Helen made a gasp of protest. She looked at him and started to push away somewhat more assertively. "Nein, danke!"

"Was!" he exclaimed, surprised. He looked confused, and gazed into her eyes imploringly, caressing her intimately. Marian snatched Helen away, moving towards the door with her. Helen looked away from him and gasped with some relief as Marian pulled her out of his grip. He made a gesture of disgust, his face red, and plunged into the gyrating crowd. Helen followed Marian out of the club, blushing bright red herself as she did so. Marian dragged Helen outside and sighed, leaning against the wall of the club.

"It seems like everyone here either disrespects us by being prejudiced or by being totally liscentious. It's like there's two different ways to be treated like a piece of meat here but no way to be treated like a lady." She wasn't sure how much prejudice Helen would really get on her own. The Pantocratorian was human and Catholic and white, even if she was a foreigner. Still, Marian felt a lot better saying we.

"Still... he was a little bit cute..." Helen ventured, biting her lower lip.

Marian leaned back against the wall, sinking down to a sitting position and putting her hands around her knees. She started to cry quietly.

"Aww!" Helen said, kneeling down next to Marian. "Oh Mari, what's wrong? I'm sorry, I didn't mean that I'm not grateful for what you did, I am, very grateful. Thank you!"

"That's not it." Marian said through her tears.

"What is it then?" Helen asked her, putting her arm around Marian's shoulders.

"I don't think I like Lavenrunz very much." Marian said in Attic Greek, assuming no one but Helen would understand her.

"Why not? Should we go to a nicer club, or should we go back to the palace?" Helen replied, awkwardly shifting to Greek.

"Let's try a nicer club." Marian said.

A pleasant looking but somewhat sad man in a dark coat approached them, and was digging into a valise he was carrying. "Excuse me, young ladies." he said.

"Ja?" asked Helen, rising back up to her feet and turning to face him.

"Yes?" Marian asked the stranger, still sitting with tears on her face.

"Have you been saved?" he said, showing them a pamphlet with a picture of Jesus on the front. "It's not too late..."

"Ach! Protestants!" Helen exclaimed. "Go away!"

"We're Jewish." Marian answered, taking the cover story slightly further than had been planned.

"No we're not!" Helen turned down to Marian, looking somewhat indignant.

He shook his head wearily and walked along, looking tired and sad.

Marian looked up. "Why does that get you so upset?"

"Because he was going to be really boring and tell us about Jesus..." Helen answered. "I'll hail us another cab?"

"I meant about what I said."

"So did I." Helen answered.

"Ok."

Helen waved down another taxi. Marian rose, heading towards the taxi.

A burly stout man inside seemed to have mechanical legs, and he smiled and said, "Apologies for not opening the door, ladies..."

"No, that's OK." Helen told him. She looked tentatively at the car door. It didn't look hard to open, so she reached and pulled the handle like she had seen countless servants do for her throughout her life. It opened! Smiling with herself, she sat down inside.

"I lost 'em in the Ienotheisan War;" he went on. "Second one, you know. Ah well." he sighed. There was a picture of the Empress and a rosary attached to his dashboard. "Where to?"

"A nice night club. Do you know one?" Helen asked, her German heavily accented. "This one is strange."

Marian climbed in after Helen. "One where we can get in dressed like this but still respectable, quieter."

"A nice one?" he looked dubious. "Well, perhaps a student club?" he suggested.

"The last taxi man had a big joke on us I think." Helen said.

"What's wrong with a nice one?" Marian asked.

"Not sure what you mean, Fraulein, that's all. One person's nice is another's hell, you know." he replied genially. "Mind a bit of music on the way?"

"As you like." Helen smiled and nodded.

"By the saints, you are a lovely pair...and you my dear, remind me of seeing the Elentari once. You must be from such a place where they say the water and trees are alive with music...ah me..." he sighed with melancholic longing.

"We are from Selinia." Helen replied, not understanding half of what he said.

Marian pondered a moment. "Take us to a club where they're moral without being prejudiced, where they won't glare at us for being foreigners but won't try to fornicate either." She finally answered.

"Um...well I can't vouch for that..." said the confused driver. "How about a nice student club? I believe they like to drink beer and discuss...er...intellectual things."

Marian leaned back into the seat, letting Helen answer. She still had tears on her face from where she had been crying. Helen groaned a little. If they really discussed intellectual things at this club, she'd be bored witless.

"If you think is better." Helen said, smiling despite her misgivings. Helen turned to Marian and gently wiped away the tears on her face with her hand.

"It's OK, Mari." Helen told her.

"There's really nowhere like that in Hofburg?" she asked the driver.

"You'll like the place I'm taking you." he said, kindly but firmly.

"Good!" Helen nodded. She put her arm back around Marian. "Are you OK, Mari?"

Marian didn't answer, looking out the window.

"Mari!" Helen insisted. "Look at me!"

Marian looked at Helen. Helen resumed wiping tears from her cheeks.

"Please talk to me." she entreated.

"About what?"

"Whatever it is which is upsetting you so much!" Helen told her.

Marian hugged Helen lightly. Helen hugged her back, glancing at the driver in the mirror looking a little embarrassed. The driver, who in fact thought they were drunk and maudlin, was humming to "Der Meistersinger von Nurnberg" and driving to the destination.

"We're there, Mari!" Helen told her when the cab pulled up.

This was a large two story building with big windows through which they could see many tables and various young men and women sitting down, drinking, talking animatedly. "That will be ten marks, please." he said cheerfully.

Marian paid the driver and got out, not seeming to be drunk from her fluid, graceful movements, more befitting a royal court than a street corner.

"Danke!" Helen said, waving to the driver as she followed after the sidhe. Marian walked in, looking around quietly to see if it was actually like what she had wanted.

A few people looked up in startled admiration; she could hear what sounded like some kind of germanic folk music playing. A young woman in dark clothing approached and offered them a table. They could see a bar which appeared to sell coffee and sodas of some sort as well as baked goods and alcholic beverages. Marian followed the woman to the table, sitting down. Helen followed along to the table too, looking around to see if anybody was dancing.

Nearby they could hear a young man laughing and saying, "Yes, well I'm sure that that is Goethe's way of saying--"

And another conversation, "It was so much fun! The whole musical concept..."

While another person was exclaiming vehemently, "Are you joking? Pollution levels are out of control..."

Marian ordered a cup of coffee.

"Erm, schnapps, ja?" Helen ordered.

Marian smiled lightly at Helen, wondering if she was going to have to carry her home. They could hear the music interrupted by a voice, and people began to shush others. Someone groaned, "Oh, here we go..." while another person hushed him angrily.

"...on Carlsbad University Radio 2. Our scheduled interview tonight is with Opposition Leader Helga Dresden, who is also a professor in political science and economics."

Marian perked a pointed ear, listening.

"Good evening, your Excellency." said the mellifluous voice of the announcer.

Thank you, Hans, though Helga will be fine." she said. Her voice was clear, unpretentious and contralto.

"Very well...er...Helga...now: tonight you wanted to explain something of your proposed counter budget, which you will be presenting to the Volksraad."

"It certainly is very... different from the other one." Helen remarked ambiguously, whispering in French to Marian.

"Yes. A lot of people are almost bewitched by Chancellor Schlabel's tax cutting and so called economic reforms. But in fact what he is really doing is a slash and burn approach to destroying what remains of our social programs. For instance, public health care..."

Marian nodded slightly, listening curiously. Helen decided that she'd start listening too. She'd prefer lighter conversation, but she understood quite a bit about politics. Her father used to be Imperial Chancellor and was now Leader of the Opposition, after all.

"...is reduced to almost nothing. It covers about the cost of dealing with a toothache or setting a sprain. There is no oversight currently for dealing with living conditions, which are in many cases for the working classes near operational factories that involve toxic chemicals." Helga cleared her throat softly.

Helen looked for the waitress with her schnapps.

"As for the living wage, it is in fact a joke. It has been raised exactly fourteen percent when the cost of living has gone up something like sixty percent in the last ten years. The one thing that the Government has done which is beneficial to the ordinary Lavenrunzian citizen is to reduce banking fees. However, this is actually absurd...."

"Here's your schnapps, and your coffee!" whispered the waitress.

"...can't pay them anyway..."

"Danke!" Helen told the waitress, and sipped at the schnapps through her straw.

Marian murmured to Helen. "She sounds like Prime Minister Lerner back in Selinia."

"She sounds like Drapeur." Helen replied. "Except not so old and... not so much a man."

"Drapeur? I didn't know you knew so much about foreign leaders." Marian lightly nudged Helen's shin with her foot to remind her of their subterfuge.

"But surely, Helga, you might expect to come under fire from the Government and even the Populists for this position." suggested the interviewer.

Helen narrowed her eyes at Marian over her glass of schnapps.

"I'm not an idiot you know, Mari." she replied. "I know quite a bit about some foreign leaders."

"I do, however it is not a matter for mere debate any longer. People are dying. People are getting sick and dying from heavy metals and toxins. People are being worn to the bone just to pay for a wretched standard of living. People from other countries see Lavenrunz as some kind of gemstone..."

"She sounds like Daatman too." said Marian.

"Daatman? He's a silly old twit just like the elf before him!" Helen replied.

"...and what they mostly see is what commercial travellers and businesspeople see: our parks, our palaces, our concert halls and museums, and they don't see our polluted factory towns, our deforested countryside, and our disgraceful treatment of working people."

"She's right, I haven't seen any factory towns or deforestation yet..." Helen nodded.

"We've seen chauvinism and racism, though." Marian said. "Maybe she'll talk about that."

Helen sipped her schnapps and kept listening thoughtfully, even as it felt like her face was about to spontaneously combust. OK, too much at once!

"Well, Helga, what is your plan going to be then?" asked the interviewer.

"I intend to start with..." there was a loud shrill sound on the radio.

A cool voice said, "We interrupt this program for a Ministry of Information message. Due to a current state of emergency in the Carlsbad area, all local communications have been commandeered by the Ministry of War. God save the Empress!"

At these words, the students murmured in response, though they looked generally confused, worried and in some cases depressed. Gradually conversation began again.

"What happened?" Marian asked.

"I wonder what's going on in Carlsbad..." Helen pondered. "Didn't André and Aurora go there earlier today?"

"I think so!" Marian said.

Marian lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She hated everyone but Helen. Well, not literally. Still, getting out and seeing what Lavenrunz was really like under all the pageantry of the court made her want to get back to Pantocratoria as soon as possible. Sure, New Constantinople had problems too but she was fixing those. Things were looking up if only Andre would let her get back to work.

Why wouldn't he let her leave? Andreus hadn't dismissed her for months, although he knew perfectly well that she had only wished to come for the wedding and she had reminded him more than once. She wanted to be somewhere useful, not fluttering about aimlessly and participating in bad plays. She felt almost as though he were holding her in captivity again and wondered to herself just how much of an actual difference her "freedom" made as a part of his court.

It had just been annoying before, but now she wanted out. This place scared her. The mere memory of how that man on the street had looked at her made her skin crawl. In eighty years of life, no one had ever looked at her like that before, not even Andreus and his agents when she had been his captive. She wanted it not to have happened. She wanted it far away. She wanted it across oceans.

Marian wondered if High Queen Agwene would have been so quick to ally to Lavenrunz if she'd spent a day among the ordinary people of the country. Maybe that same look hid behind the gaze of every Lavenrunzian. They had certainly never recipricated the kind of thing Agwene said about them, not even Aurora. Of course, that was hardly possible. The enhanced birthright of a High Queen would hardly allow one to look at her like that. Still....how did one reconcile these things with any tolerable view of the world? "Just let me go home..." she pleaded to no one in particular.

She wondered when Andreus would be back. She'd beg his leave to leave as soon as she saw him again. Wait, wasn't he supposed to have been back by now? There had been those problems in Carlsbad mentioned on the radio. Marian was shocked to find she was actually worried. In the end, did she actually consider Andreus a friend?

Her thoughts about getting out of here forced to the back of her mind, Marian got down from her bed and knelt. "Dana, please look out for Andre. I don't...I just...I don't know what I'd do if something happened to him." She was praying in English, of course.

There was a polite knock on the door as a servant girl entered. She blushed seeing that the young woman was praying,and breathed in softly. How lovely she was...and were those tears in her eyes? What could such a beautiful lady have to weep about? Something grand surely, she imagined, something...well, Fae and beyond all imagining.
However, the fair haired, pretty though slightly plump girl in her black and white maid's uniform, skirt sweeping near her slim ankles, paused as she left fresh flowers in the room and said softly, "Excellency, dear lady, are you alright?"

Marian looked up from her prayers at the serving girl. "I'll be..." Marian paused a long moment. "Actually...what is your name, miss?"

"Lisa, may it please your Excellency." said the girl, bobbing a curtsy.

Prince Andreus was led into a billiard room by a servant who bowed and backed out, closing the door. Archduke Carl, who was wearing the field uniform of the Imperial Air Force, was drawing on a cigar and holding a cue while Archduke Amadeus was lining up a shot.

"Ah, Andreus, there you are." said Carl genially. "Cigar? Brandy?"

The two Lavenrunzians looked faintly amused at the 'don't smoke' remark. Amadeus said, "Bar's over there." nodding in that direction as he took his shot and sunk his ball.

"Luck of the devil." said Carl, shaking his head.

"Luck has nothing to do with it." smirked Amadeus, lining up his next shot.

Andreus grumbled a little and made his way over to the bar to pour himself a drink.

"On se demande pourquoi on a demandé on si on voulait une boisson du tout..." Andreus murmured to himself as he poured the brandy - a double, on the rocks. He might've taken it with dry ginger ale, or perhaps some lime and soda, but each of those things seemed like an awful lot of bother to prepare for himself. He emerged from behind the bar and sipped at his drink, watching the game.

"Well, Andreus, your health." said Carl, raising his own glass and taking a sip. "Ah. Now: it looks as though you've got a bit of a problem on your hands, doesn't it?" He was a rather gruff spoken man, and to someone who did not speak german as a native language it came across even more gruff and brusque.

"I wonder, monsieur," Andreus replied. "Whether you are referring to the plague afflicted people who very nearly killed Her Majesty and me, or whether you are referring to the other thing?"

"That's hardly your problem, the plague." said Amadeus, rising and walking around the table to line up another shot. "Is it? No, naturally we are referring to the fact that your mistress walked into the Palace and said she had a bun in the oven."

"Ah, the other thing." Andreus nodded. "May I?"

He picked up a cue.

"Go ahead." said Carl. "Yes, the other thing. You know what...the Empress is my niece, and Amadeus' cousin. We feel very protective of her, for though she is the Monarch, she is also a young woman. She has suffered a lot of loss."

"Yes, I am aware." Andreus said, almost as if disinterested as he lined up a shot carefully like a practised billiards ace. His shot however, was disastrous, and provoked an embarrassed blech from the Prince, who then started inspecting his cue as if it were to blame for his poor form.

Amadeus smiled. "It's a bit of a physics problem, isn't it?" he began to study his next shot as Carl said, "Andreus, how precisely do you intend to look after this problem? Because I want you to know, this will be settled here before anything else is said to Aurora."

"What do you mean, settled here before anything else is said to Aurora?" Andreus arched his eyebrow.

Carl seemed to find Andreus' languid manner irritating, and took a sip of brandy as if to fortify himself against it. His eyes narrowed and he said, "Let me put it another way. No more mistresses show up at this court without discussing it with me or Amadeus first. Is that understood?"

"Are you threatening, monsieur?" Andreus sneered incredulously. He shook off the idea as absurd. "Madame de Montmanuel came of her own accord. Perhaps your security people would like a copy of my little black book, so that they know which women are not to be admitted, hmmm?"

Archduke Carl coldly said, "I'm not threatening you, you fool. I'm telling you. If Aurora is hurt, you get hurt."

"My God, you are threatening me." Andreus laughed in his face. "I think you need to calm down. Finish your drink and pour yourself another. Then we'll talk."

Carl furiously with almost a single motion drew his dagger and grabbing Andreus by the throat thrust him up against the wall. The look in his eyes was genuinely murderous. Andreus eyed the dagger with alarm. He grabbed each of Carl's wrists by instinct, and started to grapple with him, but decided that the best approach was to play it cool. He was in a difficult situation to fight back from, after all.

"Let go of me." he gurgled through clenched teeth, meeting Carl's look with a disdainful one of his own. He glanced at Amadeus.

He hissed, "I tell you something important to the honour of my family and you laugh? Have you ever had your guts cut out, you Pantocratorian ape?" by now the dagger's point was poking towards Andreus' abdomen. Amadeus was saying, putting his cue down and looking irritated, "Carl, this is rather excessive..." as though it was normal for his cousin to threaten to murder people.

"She's my wife.." Andreus gurgled back. "Do you think I don't care for her honour? Let go."

"Enough, enough." said Amadeus, walking around the table and putting a hand on Carl's shoulder. Carl let Andreus go, glaring furiously at him, breathing hard.

"Dressing a barbarian up in a uniform doesn't make him civilised." Andreus snarled as soon as he had caught his breath. "What do you think Aurora would think if she found out her ogre of an uncle was going around threatening to disembowel her husband? Put the cutlery down, get yourself a drink, and calm down!"

"You idiot! I'll have you strapped to a bomb!" shouted Carl. "Nothing else would make an impression on you!" Amadeus was holding him back with an effort, and gave Andreus a coldly furious glare that suggested something more dangerous than Carl's bluster. "Shut up, Andreus." snapped Amadeus.

"And would she ever forgive you if you did?" Andreus snapped back. "I'll be happy to continue this conversation later, messieurs. When you've quite settled."

He straightened his collar, and contemplated turning to leave, but decided he'd rather not show his back to the two men. He reached somewhat of a quandry. If he withdrew not showing his back, it would be obvious he was afraid. If he turned around, however, there was a very good chance he'd get at least one dagger stuck between his shoulder blades. As if unable to decide, he stayed where he stood.

"If you put away the knife, I think you'll find I'm quite willing to talk." Andreus offered quietly.

Carl sheathed his dagger and glanced at Amadeus, who said, "Very well. Get the woman out of here. And get the other two back to Pantocratoria as well."

"The other two?" Andreus asked.

"Your cousin and your ex-slave girl." said Amadeus coldly.

"If you're worried about Her Majesty's reputation, I wouldn't go spreading that around." Andreus scolded him. "I was going to send Mesdemoiselles les Comtesses home anyway. But Madame de Montmanuel is in a difficult situation... Let's sit down, this gets... complicated."

The two Archdukes still appeared to be quite angry, each in their own way, but they did sit down. Carl was red faced, glaring, while Amadeus was like ice.

"I want you both to know, that all dagger waving aside..." Andreus glared at Carl. "That my first and foremost concern in this matter is Aurora. Like I told you before, Madame de Montmanuel wasn't invited, she came because she had no other choice. This happened before I even met Aurora, and I had no idea about any of it until just before we went to Carlsbad."

"Go on." said Amadeus. "And by the way: enough about the dagger waving. You provoked it with your foolish levity, Andreus."

"I provoked..." Andreus blurted. "I provoked it? Levity hardly justifies such savage behaviour. You should be locked up, and so should you, Amadeus, if you condone it. Provoked. It isn't my fault you boorish Lavenrunzians are utterly humourless you know."

He fumed, but stopped himself there. Despite the fact that he was sure they were both aware of what the consequences of murdering him would be, he wouldn't put it past them. The thought gave him pause.

"As I was saying..." he continued, contempt in his eyes. "Madame de Montmanuel came because she had no other option. Her husband is the Duc de Montmanuel, freshly returned from the war in Syskeyia. He has called her to join him at court and she is required to follow him, where he will no doubt discover she's fallen pregnant during her absence. Her only hope of protection from him is if I intervene. Given that this is my fault, I must intervene. I have been thinking about this myself for some time... she'll be safe in New Constantinople, I know that. But I don't know how best to handle it... you know... to minimise any embarrassment I've caused to Aurora."

"How precisely will this intervention work?" demanded Amadeus.

"It will have to involve, at the least... a tacit acknowledgement that I am the father." Andreus replied. "Whether that becomes widely known... will be dependent on Monsieur de Montmanuel. She will be sent to the Despotic Court of New Constantinople, and refused leave to see her husband. Of course, she wouldn't want to see her husband, but that would be the legal reason for keeping her away from him. The laws of hospitality would require that she stay where she had been sent. I know how to handle that end of this... what I need to know... is how... how this should be best dealt with from a Lavenrunzian perspective. This isn't Aurora's fault, and she shouldn't have to deal with the fallout. How do I protect her?"

"You will have to make it clear that it happened before the engagement took place." Amadeus sighed. "And you will have to make some public gesture of repentance. If indeed you are repentant."

"Public gesture?" Andreus asked, arching an eyebrow. "What type of public gesture?"

"Like say prostrating yourself before the altar in the Cathedral of the Archangels and confessing that you committed adultery with the Duchess." suggested Amadeus.

"I will consider it. If it has to be publicly acknowledged. I wonder what the penance is for threatening the life of the Prince Consort." Andreus replied.

"That is between myself and God, unless you wish to publically announce the event." growled Carl.

"I wouldn't mind it. Would you?" Andreus asked. "I wonder what Aurora would think."

Amadeus smiled. "Then we might as well kill you now." He laughed shortly. "You're a foolish man. We're ruthless people, Andreus. Don't screw with us. After all, there are many ways in which a man can die."

He rose and went to the pool table again. "However, we don't actually want to kill you. Aurora wants to love you. And strange to say, we want you as part of the family. So let us make a pact now, to resolve to do that." His eyes keenly focused on those of Andreus. "It would be the wisest thing to do."

"Speak on." Andreus replied coldly.

"Scripture says 'husbands, love your wives'. Your best choice, Andreus, is to be a good husband to her." Amadeus said gravely. "And I assure you, you will have our fullest support if you do that. I also suggest you find something to do. Would you like a military command?"

"No." Andreus replied simply.

"You know," said Amadeus, looking thoughtful, "This must be an unusual situation for you. But you must understand us a bit better: bloodshed and treachery have rocked this court's existence. Carl's actions, while certainly a bit over the top, are indicative of this. So when we say you might need something serious to do, we mean that we all work around here. Do you understand? It is part of how we lead this country."

"I understand." Andreus nodded icily. "But me parading around in an absurd uniform isn't going to do anybody any good. I don't care for the military. I can do other things."

"Like what?" Carl demanded.

"What do you have?" Andreus asked, glaring at Carl.

"Well, there are the family business interests of course, and there are estates to run and charities to organize and government committees to oversee." Amadeus said, smiling.

"What are you grinning about?" Andreus asked, his mouth twisted in a look of disgust, both at the conversation so far, and at the thought of having to do actual work. "All of those seem rather tedious and better suited to a public servant of some sort. Surely you have something more appropriate?"

Amadeus almost groaned. "Like what?"

"Well... I haven't exactly looked through the pala..." Andreus started. He was going to say that he hadn't looked through the palace classifieds, but he decided that these ogres wouldn't appreciate the humour. "Look, I don't know. I'm not an accountant. I can make appearances, shake hands, smile, nod, you know, public relations... I don't know. I did run the Despotate of New Constantinople, you know. I do still oversee it even from here. It isn't as if I have nothing to do."

"What about running the Grand Duchy of Mirenburg?" suggested Amadeus.

"That?" protested Carl.

"Why not?" shrugged Amadeus.

"Fine, whatever is appropriate." Andreus agreed.

"Very well, we will propose the arrangements to Aurora. Are we agreed then: you will make a gesture of public repentance and that will enable you to acknowledge the Duchess?" Amadeus asked.

"Only if I have to acknowledge that I'm the father." Andreus protested. "If it can be kept secret, that would surely be even better for Aurora."

"Fair enough." said Carl grimly.

"Is there anything else, because I promise you, you will never get me in a room alone with the two of you again?" Andreus asked.

"That's all." Amadeus nodded and began to rack up the balls again.

"Not that it is any of your business, but I do care for her, you know." Andreus said, a final defensive reassurance before he turned and started for the door. They both gave him a cool eyed stare and then went back to their game.

Andreus got outside and turned around the hall, before he allowed himself to finally start trembling as the adrenalin wore off. He felt the strength going from his legs and almost wanted to throw up. They were little better than savages, and he really believed that they would've had no compunction in killing him. He made his way quickly back to he and Aurora's apartments, his characteristic confident stride uncertain.

Marian smiled over at Lisa. "I imagine your name would be Lisa even if it didn't please me. Tell me, Lisa, are you particularly busy at the moment?"

A few moments later, one of her maids interrupted, who had been passing by the billiard room. She quietly handed Marian a note. Her face went pale at first before beginning to blaze with fury, with the legendary glare of Sidhe rage. "Excuse me..." she said to the two women.

Marian went straight to the billiard room. She gave a proper, if stiff, curtsey to both Archdukes before levelling her gave at Karl. "I would speak with you, Your Highness." While not improper, the words weren't really deferential. Affairs of honor transcended affairs of rank. For all their problems, that was one thing she was sure the Lavenrunzians understood, well, relatively sure.

Archduke Carl frowned as she opened the door and growled, "Well?"

She met his gaze with the same still burning rage she'd had all through the hallway. "I heard what you called me to His Highness. I came to ask if you were prepared to give satisfaction for your remarks."

With a look of genuine surprise mingling with irritation, he said, "What remarks, eh?" as he rubbed some chalk on the end of his cue. Amadeus watched her with some interest and slight concern.

"I was never a slave to His Highness or to any other man. I never will be. Any person of honor would choose death before such a status, just as any right noblewoman would put her life on the line on the field of honor to answer any allegation otherwise. Now, sir, are you prepared to give satisfaction?" Her eyes remained locked solidly on his, leaving no doubt that she was really willing to die or to kill over this.

Carl was now staring at her, the game forgotten. She was impressive in her rage, but he was also confused. "I thought you were purchased and brought against your will to Pantocratoria. Am I wrong?"

"I was captured, but captured as a captive noblewoman, not a slave, unless you would say every prisoner of war is a slave. I was treated according to my rank by His Highness and was accepted into his court as a vassal, not a churl, with all the rights and obligations thereof, by his oath as well as mine."

"Oh. Well, in that case I apologize." Carl was rather uncomfortable; it had not been his intention to be overheard nor really so much to insult Marian as Andreus.

"Thank you." she said, finally curtseying to the two. She smiled inwardly, both at having had the chance to get the situation rectified and at getting to prove to some Lavenrunzians that all foreigners weren't spineless and without honor.

"You're welcome." Carl was annoyed and a bit embarassed, he had been more taken aback than anything else. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Nothing specifically." she said. It was the kind of tone you use when you admit to having nothing you need said but aren't particularly eager to go either.

Amadeus said quietly, "You know, I think you should understand that there are some difficulties we are facing with your patron."

"My liege lord...has a long past, but he has taken vows now." From the way she said it, it seemed like that removed all doubt of future behavior, as though no one could ever break a vow.


Carl snorted. Amadeus glanced at him and said somewhat sharply, "Madame, kindly leave the rhetoric outside the door. This is terribly important and you are one of the few people he might listen to."

"Rhetoric?" For a moment, she was honestly incredulous before she figured it out. "Your Highness, it's not just rhetoric. I honestly don't thing he would break his oaths to Her Majesty."

The Archdukes were genuinely surprised, so much so that their mouths were actually opened and their eyes wide. "You don't?" managed Carl, taking a fortifying sip of brandy.

"I don't." she repeated firmly. "I'll admit that His Highness has not always been a man of virtue, but over the past few months I've known him to be a man of self-reform and repentance. I think he's at a place now where he would not commit adultery...and I think he loves his wife."

Carl looked utterly bewildered. "Are you talking about the Prince Consort, Andreus?"

"Yes." Marian answered, curtly at first but then she softened and gave some evidence. "To my knowledge, he did not have relations with anyone between when he made his engagement with Her Majesty and the wedding. Being at his court, I think I likely would have known if he had." Being in an adjoining room she decided not to add.

"Since you have such a strong view of his new integrity," mused Amadeus thoughtfully, "Then I think it would be unwise for you to leave Lavenrunz. I know, Countess, that it is difficult for those not used to living here, but you could do far more good for Prince Andreus here than in Pantocratoria."

Marian paused, considering this. "Perhaps, Your Highness." Her tone was thoughtful, cordially discussing possible strategies. "However, before he was engaged..." she let that sentence trail off, he knew the end of it. "It might still look bad for His Highness to have me here while dealing with the Duchess of Montmanuel. I also do have a duty to the people of my county. I try to remember the responsibilities of my job and not allow it to be an empty title." She seemed genuinely undecided.

"Countess, forgive me, but your estates can surely be visited from time to time without you making permanent residence away from the Prince, who will doubtless gain from your advice. You are more likely to be heard by him than us or others of this Court; he sees us as barbarians." insisted Amadeus. He looked intent and earnest, and was clearly putting his normally cool and distant air aside.

"Not his wife, surely." she answered.

Amadeus raised an eyebrow. "That's not the point. If I may be blunt, the Empress is only sixteen, and is not merely his wife but his superior. I think that having others of his court present would help a great deal. And there is this as well, Countess: we frankly trust that you are the sort of person who would not try to seduce Prince Andreus yourself."

"I wouldn't try to seduce him." she confirmed. "But would anyone believe that with his past reputation if I were to remain visibly close to him?"

"There will be other women in court anyway." reasoned Amadeus.

"My sworn duty is to His Highness. If Your Highnesses believe that this requires me to stay here a goodly portion of the time, then I shall. However, I must still spend a fair portion of time in Pantocratoria." Her tone was a little resigned. They could likely tell she'd personally refer to keep living full time in New Constantinople.

"Doubtless we can make arrangements for that." said Carl. "Well...perhaps, Countess, we could teach you to play a game of billiards?"

"I'd love that." She said pleasantly.

Andreus stalked about the office in his apartments, fuming, ranting in French, liberally sprinkling his words with invectives and vile curses. His rant was barely coherent he was so enraged about the way Carl and Amadeus had threatened and tried to bully him.

"...couchons sauvages.." he was grumbling when the sound of a little knock on the door could be heard.

He stormed over to the door and reached for the door handle, but then stopped himself. He tried looking through the keyhole to see if it was his in-laws, here to do him in. Not being able to see anything, he reluctantly asked "Who's there?"

"Mari." came the answer.

Andreus breathed out, took a second to compose himself, and then opened the door.

"Hello, Mari." he said, forcing a smile despite his foul mood. "Won't you join me?"

"Of course, André." she said, stepping inside. She pondered how exactly to do this. She didn't want to make Andreus feel like a kid who got beat up on the schoolyard. He let her in and locked the door behind her again.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Andreus asked, guiding her over to the lounge up against the wall. He was obviously upset, as he didn't immediately launch into flirting.

Marian arched a brow as he locked the door. She allowed herself to be led, pouring drinks for herself and for her lord. "We are friends, are we not?"

"If this is about being allowed to return to New Constantinople, I've given it some thought, and if it means so much to you, although I'd very much rather have you around, I'll let you go." Andreus told her.

"It isn't." Marian said. "Their Highnesses, the Archdukes, actually just told me they wished me to stay. I think I can move back and forth between the two courts or something along those lines."

"They did?" Andreus asked, his voice going somewhat chilly. "So you just spoke to Their Highnesses Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Even-Dumber?"

"Yes." she answered calmly, sipping her brandy.

"Interesting." Andreus said. "I don't want you going near those brutes, they're dangerous."

"I don't think so." Marian said calmly. "I think they're just excitable, as I am."

"Oh?" Andreus asked. "And what did our excitable ogres have to say? Between the grunts and the ooga boogas, that is?"

"You are talking about your wife's family, my liege." Marian protested, in the same calm tone.

"Don't remind me! I don't like being related to the missing link, even if it is only by marriage." Andreus replied. "So why were you speaking to those apes anyway?"

"To defend my honour and yours." she said. "They were concerned about your fidelity, given your... our history. I told them that you were a changed man and loyal to your wife." Marian said. "That is correct, m'lord?"

"What I am is no business of theirs!" Andreus practically growled back, although he didn't seem angry at Marian. Just angry, generally. He finished his brandy and set the glass aside. "They have no right to... wait, Mari, that was why you were speaking to them? But how... how did that topic come up? You just decided to do this out of the blue?"

"It is their business, André. They are Her Majesty's blood kin." Marian answered. She paused, worried for a moment. "You didn't answer my question."

"It isn't their business! I'm her husband! How dare they presume to question me? Me!" Andreus snapped. "And you didn't answer my question either. I didn't ask what you talked about, I asked why you talked to them. What made you join their ridiculous little billiards game and talk with them in their ugly language?"

"Because my maid overheard them calling me a slave, something you didn't bother to correct. When you yell, it can be heard in the hallways." Marian answered. "And I am asking you now."

"Your maid?" Andreus asked incredulously. "The wretched girl should've kept her mouth shut! Little sticky beak... if she was one of my girls I would've fired her on the spot, but I know you're attached to your staff... I'm sorry Mari, what was the question? I've already forgotten it."

"I'm also attached to my honour. It was something I would have wanted to know. It was also something I would have wanted you to correct." Marian breathed in. "You aren't going to make a liar out of me, are you? I hadn't thought so but you're avoidance of the question is making me worry."

"What question?" Andreus repeated impatiently. He was obviously very worked up and tense after his conversation with the archdukes.

"What I said to the Archdukes...it's correct, right?"

"What did you say to them? That you weren't a slave? Of course you're not a slave, and I apologise for not thoroughly disavowing them of that impression." Andreus said.

"That you were a faithful husband." she said.

"I don't see it as any business of theirs what I am." Andreus muttered in response.

"You're not talking to them, André." Marian said, growing slightly terse with his dodging of the question.

"Oh? Like you need an answer?" Andreus asked her. "I mean, you would know if I've been unfaithful, wouldn't you? Wasn't the last time we slept together before I even met Aurora?"

"Yes, it was." Marian said, sitting down quietly. "I'm just worried about you."

"Why?" Andreus asked her.

"Why? You're clearly very upset, André."

"I tend to find be threatened with pointy objects upsetting." Andreus replied, as if trying to minimise how upsetting he had in fact found it with his dry tone.

"I know." she said softly.

"Well why would you go speak to them, knowing that they wouldn't think twice about holding a dagger to your throat?" he asked Marian. "Mari, you musn't assume that savage men like Carl feel themselves bound by codes of conduct! They might have hurt you!"

"I actually went....with that intention, but he apologized after I challenged him." Marian said. She really tried to downplay the significance of her words. She didn't want him to feel emasculated.

"You went with the intention of being hurt?" Andreus asked.

"I went there with the intention of challenging him." she clarified. "I did plan to win."

"This isn't some silly game, Mari!" Andreus replied, now seeming outright angry with her. "That man is a killer! Don't do anything so foolish again!"

Marian just arched a brow a little. "I am quite aware it isn't a game, Your Highness."

Andreus reclined into the lounge, calming down.

"So, what did they have to say for themselves?" he asked.

"He apologized for calling me a slave and expressed his concerns. I vouched for your conjugal virtue and honour." Marian said.

"You shamed him into impersonating a gentleman." Andreus told her.

"I think he is a gentleman." she said quietly. "Lavenrunzians just...lay more stress on the martial implications of that term."

"No, he isn't a gentlemen, he's a neanderthal. And Amadeus isn't much better." Andreus corrected her. "And they are the very worst examples of Lavenrunzians. Brutish, boorish, savage barbarians, with no regard for decency, or for standards of behaviour. Both of them. They will live to regret today."

"André..." Marian said calmingly.

"Yes, Mari?" Andreus asked her.

Marian shook her head a little. "Anyway, they want me in Lavenrunz."

"Why? Did they say why?" Andreus asked, curious.

Marian smirked ever so slightly. "Because I'm a good influence on you, my liege."

"They're despicable." Andreus muttered, shaking his head and looking away in response to her smirk. "If you were anyone else I'd have you sent away just to spite them. I decide who is and isn't in my entourage, not them!"

"You're very upset, André." Marian said, unnecessarily. "What else happened today?"

"Nothing else!" Andreus snapped. "I mean, I just get back from Carlsbad yesterday, where Aurora and I were almost killed by some sort of... people with some sort of a plague which turns them into mindless beasts...I come back from that to have those bastards, those self-important, cro-magnon... ants presume to lecture me about my responsibilities! Me! I will only tolerate so much!"

Marian nodded a little. "What do you do to fill the day here, Andreus?"

"This and that. They talked about that too, the presumptious ignoble churls that they are. Demanded that I be put to work!" Andreus replied. "The nerve is incredible!"

"You are the Despot of New Constantinople." Marian said, her tone still gentle and calming.

"Exactly! How dare they lecture me! They're not my taskmasters!" Andreus replied. "I'm the Despot of New Constantinople!"

"The Mortville library is coming on well." Marian mentioned.

"They'll live to regret their insolence." Andreus continued, ignoring Marian's remark about her pet project.

"Utilities are improving too." she added. "It's taking longer than expected because some of the work can't be done while people are in residence and we can only provide for so many people to be temporarily away from home."

"Is there some point to this?" Andreus asked, as if Marian was sidetracking the conversation.

"It is my duty to report to you on the lands I hold from you." Marian noted matter of factly.

"No it isn't." Andreus replied, matter of factly. "It's something you indulge in to change the topic."

"It's both." Marian conceded. "But you've already told me what you think of Their Highnesses in great detail."

"I haven't scratched the surface about that despicable pair." Andreus continued. "Now Marian, you must promise me that in the future, no matter how confident you are, you are to avoid speaking to either one of those two subhuman animals alone. Preferably not unless there are guards in the room. And no challenging them to fights."

"Is that an order?" Marian asked brusquely.

"Does it have to be?" Andreus asked. "I don't want to see you hurt, Mari."

"It has to be." she answered simply.

Andreus looked stunned, and a little hurt by her reply.

"Mari..." he murmured. "I care about you. I don't want to see you hurt. Those men know that. They're brutes. You think they won't hurt you to get to me?"

"I do." Marian said. "I care about you too, Andreus. I'm trying to help you."

"Help me? How?" Andreus asked.

"By smoothing things over between you and Carl." she answered. "There was something else I wanted to ask about."

"I have no intention of smoothing things over with that thug!" Andreus replied. "But go ahead, ask."

"Do you think it might be beneficial to have a public pool in New Constantinople? My people and I were considering one for Mortville but there's really no room. One for the whole city...though..."

"It is the biggest city in Pantocratoria, Mari, I'm sure it already has many public pools." Andreus replied dismissively.

"Not affordable, state sponsored ones for the poor." Marian said.

"Mari, really... swimming pools..." Andreus told her. "You're obsessing with the minor details, don't you think?"

"Most of the bureaucracy is still used to doing things in a more...old-fashioned manner." Marian said, using the gentlest term she could for the savagery she'd found among Andreus's civil servants upon arriving. "If I do not address these details, they normally do not get addressed."

"That bureaucracy is rather more across the details than you give it credit for. New Constantinople does not have boundless space for swimming pools. Land in the city proper is a commodity." Andreus replied. "A precious commodity. Space is an issue everywhere in the Despotate. And if there were spaces for swimming pools, what do you think the average citizen would think about the calibre of person who lives in Mortville galavanting about the streets like they belong there? People have businesses to attend to, families to raise, important things to do... they don't need the streets clogged up with people on their way to a swimming pool."

"They do belong there, André. My people are citizens of the Despotate like any others." Marian said firmly.

"No they're not, Mari, and you know it." Andreus replied. "Hardly any of them are citizens in fact. Most of them are refugees, illegal immigrants. They can barely speak French yet alone meet the requirements for citizenship. That isn't to say that your sentimental attachment to them isn't commendable, but sentiment doesn't make a citizen."

"Residents, then. And they've been treated with enough indignity. Your Highness is aware that it is not so long ago that rent collectors brutally raped Your Highness' own retainers in Mortville." She sat back, studying him briefly. "Besides, I wouldn't meet the requirements of citizenship if you didn't issue a special order."

"She wasn't a retainer!" Andreus protested. "Can't you see that I have more important things on my mind at this very moment, Mari? Must you bother me with this now?"

"She worked for you." Marian said. "And I'm trying to get your mind off it, André. You're very stressed about it."

"Of course I'm stressed about it!" Andreus groaned. "Between Carlsbad and the Archdukes, I sometimes wonder if all Lavenrunz isn't trying to kill me..."

"No one's trying to kill you, André!" Marian insisted.

"Not at this very moment, not to our knowledge, no." Andreus said. "But they did very recently!"

"Let's get your mind off that conversation." Marian said.

"How do you propose to do that?" Andreus asked Marian, giving her a sideways glance. His eyes had the slightest suggestive twinkle, suggesting his mood was subsiding and returning to its usual pattern.

Marian arched a brow slightly at his tone. "We were discussing a swimming pool."

"Oh for the..." Andreus groaned, shaking his head. "Fine! Fine! Let's talk about the stupid swimming pool."

"Thank you." Marian smiled gently.

"Proceed." Andreus told her, getting up to pour himself another drink.

"I think it would really bring people a higher quality of life." she said earnestly.

Andreus poured himself the brandy and returned to the couch.

"Go on." he said.

"I think many of the citizens of Mortville now unable to provide for themselves in the regular way would more easily integrate themselves into a responsible and mainstream lifestyle if there were more things they could do in the city at large." she continued.

"Who wants them to integrate themselves into the city at large?" Andreus scoffed.

"Me."

"So you want the taxpayers in the city to buy these people a swimming pool so that they can enjoy the privilege of having them run loose in the city streets?" Andreus asked.

"I want public funds to be used for the public good, André." Marian said firmly. "Rents from the people of Mortville have often paid for your entertainment. It's only reasonable that they should have some of their own."

"That rent is collected to pay for their accomodations, not as taxation!" Andreus replied. "They have no entitlement to anything beyond what they get already. But if you want them to have access to public swimming pools, fine. I've wasted too much time talking about it already."

"Thank you." Marian said with a smile. "You are a good liege."

"I know I am. Those twits want me to run Mirenburg for them, you know." Andreus said. "Apparently nobody in Lavenrunz is better qualified. Now, while I'm sure I'd do a fine job, I can't believe that they've nobody else. Then again, who would want to work for that pair of apes?"

"I think they just..." Marian paused a little. "I actually don't think that makes much sense, but I'm sure you will do excellently."

"If I could be bothered. I just said I'd do it to shut them up, I didn't want to spend any more time there than necessary." Andreus said.

Marian nodded. "What do you think of what I've done in Mortville so far?"

"I have no idea. What have you done?" Andreus asked.

"The improvements about which I just sat here telling you." she said.

"The swimming pool?" Andreus asked. He hadn't really been listening to anything else she'd had to say about the place.

"The utilities improvements, the library, the urban revitalization..." she said.

"Oh yes, yes." Andreus nodded as if it was coming back to him. "You're a very conscientious, busy little thing, Mari. I'm sure they're very happy to have you there."

"Thank you." she said simply.

"No, you are." Andreus persisted. "You have no obligation at all to do this sort of thing, you know. You're a very kind and conscientious person to do all these things."

Marian blushed a little. "Well, you gave me a job to do. I wanted to really do it and not just have it adorn my name."

"No, really, I didn't give you a job to do, Mari." he told her, playfully poking her chin to make her blush some more. "I gave you a source of income and a title. You're the one who decided to make all this work out of it. Don't sell yourself short, you're commendable."

Andreus waited for Aurora in the dining room in their private apartments, skimming through a newspaper. Marian's visit and a healthy amount of brandy had soothed him somewhat after his run-in with the two archdukes earlier in the day, and he now appeared relaxed and in an almost jovial mood - despite the headlines about Carlsbad.

Empress Aurora came in, smiling, with Thirty Camelias and with Baron von Bresnvorts and Baroness Toll, who both went a discreet distance away. She sat down and said, "Andra." quietly, smiling though her eyes were wary.

Andreus set the newspaper aside and looked up at her. His smile was warm and he looked entirely pleased to see her. He got to his feet and walked over next to her in her chair.

"Hello Aurora." he said, still smiling. He bent over and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Busy day?"

"Mmhm.." Aurora was wearing a rather grecian style gown, held at both shoulders by ornate gold pins, thatleft her supple arms bare and suggested a decolletage but did not in fact show anything but her slender neck. Her strawberry blonde hair was piled in artful braids. "And you?"

Andreus resisted the urge to move down from her cheek to her bare neck, knowing by now that Aurora didn't always appreciate his urge to jump ahead to the groping part of the evening as soon as possible, and instead withdrew and sat back down in his seat across from her.

"It's been an interesting day for me, yes." he nodded. "I had a talk with your uncle and your cousin, Carl and Amadeus. You look absolutely beautiful this evening."

"Thank you very much. This is an Athenysian dress, it is their most recent style. It's a very peaceful little country, you know." she looked up as the door opened and with a bow Count Chemnitz announced, "Her Majesty's supper." At this, Baroness Toll and Baron von Bresnvorts both bowed deeply and passed out of the room as the supper was brought in on four covered trays along with wine and iced water.

Andreus smiled across the table at Aurora as supper was laid out, a somewhat playful, somewhat intoxicated expression on his face. He turned to one of the servants laying down the trays.

"What's for dinner?" he asked, motioning with his eyes towards the covered trays.

"There is smoked salmon, Highness, with buttered bread, boiled eggs, fresh vegetables and pears in liquer." replied the servant amiably, beaming at him.

Andreus nodded in acknowledgement, and his eyes returned to Aurora. The meal sounded simple, but no doubt tasty, as most of his meals in Lavenrunz had been. He made a note to broaden his wife's palate when the couple next visited New Constantinople.

The servants quietly lifted the trays, and Aurora nodded her thanks to them, smiling, and they backed out, bowing. She smiled and took some smoked salmon for her plate. "This looks good." she remarked.

"You look better." Andreus replied with a mischevious grin as he served himself.

"Than what?" Aurora asked, smiling as she took some of the other selections.

"Than the salmon." Andreus replied. "So what did you do today?"

"Oh..." Aurora blushed. "Well, let us see, I sat in on a board meeting for the Imperial Holdings Corporation, and I also signed the recently passed bills, the ones about penalties for waste dumping and for certain defense projects. Then I also recognized the inheritance of certain titles and also made some appointments on the advice of my Council of Ministers." she replied.

"And after all that, you got all dressed up... just to have supper with me?" Andreus asked, flattering himself with the idea that she hadn't been wearing her Athenyian gown for some time beforehand.

Aurora was a bit surprised by his vanity, but also a bit amused. "I wore it because I like it." she said, giving him a dazzling, glorious smile as she spooned the hard boiled yoke of her egg into her mouth.

Andreus took a few mouthfuls of food, glancing across the floor at Thirty Camelias briefly. He chewed thoughtfully. There was something important he needed to discuss with her, but all the brandy he had earlier in the day had distracted him, and he struggled to remember what it was.

"I decided what to do..." he said, sipping his wine and then setting it aside. "...about Madame de Montmanuel. I'm going to send her to New Constantinople, where she'll be out of the way and away from Lavenrunzian reporters. Sorry, I didn't want to spoil dinner..."

"That sounds fine." Aurora said quietly, sipping from a glass of ice water. "I don't think she's very happy here, and neither does your cousin seem to be."

"My cousin? Helen?" Andreus asked. "Well... if you think she should return to New Constantinople as well, then I'll tell her tomorrow."

Andreus thought the suggestion was a little odd, and wondered whether Aurora perceived Helen as a threat - as a potential mistress or the like. He was a little hurt by the idea, but didn't say anything.

"No, I merely meant an observation." said Aurora, smiling. "She and the Countess seem awfully thick, if you know what I mean. But if you'd rather her stay here she is perfectly welcome, of course." Aurora did not mention that she found Helen to be a bit of a bore and an intellectual lightweight.

"Countess Marian does want to return to New Constantinople, at least for a little while." Andreus nodded. "Helen will probably want to go with her anyway. You're right of course."

With a mischeivous twinkle in her eyes, Aurora remarked, "Of course I'm right. I'm the Empress."

"Oh, I forgot you were the Empress." Andreus replied, in mock seriousness, with a half-grin on his face.

"I have Empress written on my forehead though!" she exclaimed with mock indignation.

"Oh?" Andreus replied, squinting and leaning forward. "I can't see anything written on your forehead."

"Oh rats, that will teach me to have a bath." giggled Aurora, her eyes looking dazzlingly into his.

"Not always right after all then, are you?" Andreus replied, smirking.

"I'm right enough." said Aurora. She ate some bread and butter and swung her legs as she sat on her chair.

Andreus chuckled dismissively, and took another few mouthfuls.

"Even Empresses make mistakes." he told her matter-of-factly, as if lecturing her. "Remember that."

Aurora gave him a cool long glance, and said after a long pause, "So do Crown Princes."

Andreus shifted a little underneath her glance, but smiled back at her, determined to keep the mood light and playful.

"We certainly do. But there's one thing we're always right about." he told her.

"What's that?" asked Aurora, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.

"Our brides." he replied, smiling his best 'please forgive me' smile.

Aurora gently touched his hand. "Thank you Andra." she said softly.

He took her hand and gave it a light squeeze, rubbing her delicate fingers gently with his thumb, before letting go of it. He finished his dinner and looked across the table at her again, smiling suggestively.

"Want some pears?" suggested Aurora.

"I think you know what I want." Andreus replied playfully.

Aurora began to blush hotly, and toyed with her napkin, and fidgeted with her cutlery. She wondered why he always had to be sodirect. In the novels, that were the only alternative to her medical books, things swept women off their feet, they were captured by passion. She was about to begin to giggle out of nervousness.

"I want another glass of wine." Andreus continued, noting her reaction and deciding to put that on the back burner for a little while. "Could you pass it? I'll have a pear too."

Aurora passed him the carafe, and also a dish of the pears. Andreus poured his glass and then sipped at his wine. He winked at her.

"What did you think I meant?" he asked her.

At that Aurora did gigle in earnest, and looked at him, laughing and said, "I...I guess that you want to make love to me?"

"Well..." Andreus said, as if considering it, sipping at his wine. "I guess that proves that Empresses aren't always right once again, eh?"

Aurora stopped at that, feeling awfuly embarrassed, and not knowing what to say. Thirty Camelias chose that moment to wander away, yawning as if bored.

Andreus chuckled, set his half-eaten pear down on his plate, picked up his glass of wine, and walked over to the couch. He sat down, and then patted his lap to indicate that he'd like Aurora to come join him. Aurora was now a bit distrustful looking, and warily got up but instead scooped liquidmetalkitty off the floor and began to stroke her gently.

"Aurora, put that down and come join me." Andreus told her.

Aurora looked indignant. "No. And don't order me around." she said, her blue eyes starting to blaze.

Andreus' eyes went wide with amusement. He set his glass on the table next to him, got up to his feet, and walked over to Aurora.

"Pardon me," he said, in a playful, somewhat condescending tone. "I wouldn't want to interrupt play time."

"Stop talking down to me!" Aurora said, tears in her eyes. "Stop picking on me. I don't understand what you want!" she burst into tears and backed away from him. "You ruin everything!"

"Oh Aurora!" Andreus said, his tone switching to a serious, apologetic one. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pick on you, I was trying to be playful, funny... Please don't cry!"

Going into his arms, Aurora sobbingly said, "Oh Andra, I'm sorry, I'm just so scared of trusting anyone. Why does it have to be so hard?" she wept in his arms, shuddering.

Andreus held her gently, hugging her comfortingly. It was quite a different way to how he often groped at her and manhandled her, as if expecting her to melt in the face of his machismo. It was as if, in that dark forest outside Carlsbad, he had come to understand that Aurora wasn't like his mistresses, that she needed support, she needed to be able to trust in him as her husband. He held her as a distraught sixteen year old needed to be held, and let her cry herself out while he tried to sooth her with gentle, sweet words. Slowly Aurora became gentled by this, and began to relax against him and felt a peace entering her soul at long last. She began to dare to hope...

"Ssssh, I'm sorry, I don't have any answers." he told her. "And I know I haven't helped things. All I can offer you is my love and understanding, and a shoulder to cry on when you need it."

He kissed the top of her head through her strawberry blonde braids, and held her until she finished crying. Then he picked up her napkin from the table, and gently dabbed her tears dry. He smiled softly at her.

Aurora softly smiled at him, and whispered, "I'm sorry too, Andra... Ich liebe dich." she said shyly.

He smiled back at her, and kissed her forehead softly, before pulling back to tell her "Ich liebe dich auch."

He glanced down at the liquidmetalkitty. It was purring in a faintly ringing tone and rubbing against Aurora's leg.

"Would you like to play?" he asked her, smiling mischeviously.

"Play what?" asked Aurora.

"Oh, this and that..." Andreus continued. She felt his fingers creeping up her back, and then a moment later he started to tickle her.

Aurora was rarely tickled, but she had inherited from her mother of all people an unbelievably helpless ticklishness, which she suddenly collapsed into, laughing and struggling ineffectually. Andreus grinned in delight at her reaction, and the tickling only intensified, until the two were rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.