Capítulo 131: Glimpse of a Dark Future
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Meanwhile, back in Belfast:
Alfred Ernes Belfast entered the study to find his brother in a dark mood. The King sat in the shadow beside the strong light of a window. He sat behind a round table, with a white envelope at the center and a decanter of wine nearby.
"Tristwin?" Duke Alfred asked while the King just sat there silently. "What's so urgent? I came here as soon as I could."
The King let the silence trail out a little longer, and then sighed. He pushed forward the envelope. "We have just received word from Yumina that the delegation has reached Berge."
"I see. But for you to call me here with all haste- did something happen? It is bad news?"
"You tell me."
Duke Alfred picked up the envelope and began reading through the letter's contents. They already knew about the bandit encounter. The Steel Fangs and Poison Snakes were not just thrown into the mines if not outright executed for treason on the off chance that it was a Regulus plot. Their leaders were now off to find incriminating evidence from those who hired them, under threat of inescapable pain and humiliation or more Playa and Zorah which were mostly the same thing really.
The letter opened with Yumina's reassurances that they were fine, no one was injured, and they were not under arrest. That was comforting to know. Then the rest of the missive summed up went thus:
1) Sir Zah controls the weather now apparently
2) He lightning punched a dragon to death
3) He nearly killed the King of Mismede in a spar
The Duke of Ortlinde felt his guts clench. He turned over a goblet and poured some amber liquid onto the glass. Then he downed the contents in one gulp.
"Share in my suffering, Alfred!" the King intoned ominously.
"Yumina wrote that the main reason we're not at war right now is that the King of Mismede is the same type of showy irreverent bastard that is Sir Zah." He looked at his brother past the rim of the glass. The Duke said wryly "You're the one that has to go to Mismede. Only Kings can negotiate with Kings."
"Share in my suffering, Alfred!" the King insisted dangerously.
"Ahahaha… sorry but I refuse." He slammed the goblet down and sighed "I'm going to have to stay here and deal with finding the traitors in our midst."
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Meanwhile, back in Mismede:
"There will be a short dinner party later today to celebrate the return of our diplomat and the visit of Her Highness Yumina," said Chancellor Glatz. "For the King to appear injured would be… bad."
King Jamukha sulked. "Do I have to? I think wounds look manlier!"
Everyone turned to look at the Queen. Queen Tilier was a Snow Leopard woman who looked positively tiny next to her husband. It was wonder that they had three children already, though their oldest was only ten years old. She had bowl-cut white hair and cute nubby feline ears on top of her head.
Come to think of it, if their eldest was only ten… and if she was about twenty Earth years when she first gave birth… King Jamukha looked closer to fifty. That was almost ten to twenty year age gap. Though I supposed it probably was a politically arranged marriage anyway.
She had a soft, accepting disposition that reminded us very much of Linze. It was actually somewhat eerie. It was only here that we finally found other people that had natural white hair.
She put a finger to her lips contemplatively, and then gently poked at his bandaged side.
"Ghrk!" The King bent inwards and winced. First from being ticklish, then the pain of his busted ribs.
"This won't do, dear," Queen Tilier said softly with a fixed smile on her face. "The strength of the King is the strength of the Kingdom, isn't that what you're so fond of saying? So if you go out there in bandages, people will feel discouraged about themselves."
"But dear…" It was the Queens' job to control her husband's excesses. For the King to be running rampant over his subjects ignoring his more boring kingly responsibilities… either the Queen felt like she had no power to change his behavior, or she tacitly approved of them.
She poked his side again. The King's ears drooped and he sagged in defeat.
Elze grumbled softly to the side "Playa isn't even wounded, that's just muscle pain. He's really just bandaged up because he thinks it looks manlier."
Linze put a hand to her mouth and giggled. I was wearing my red jacket half off like some sort of Yakuza prince, with bandages over my chest and arms.
/"My boy is too chuuni,"/ Monika whispered. /"Who are you even trying to look like? Vash the Stampede? I suppose being a Humanoid Typhoon is acceptable too, but I fear this would just be step one of your great insurance scams."/
The Queen glanced over at Linze and Elze for a moment, and a strange look passed over her face. The King noticed it glanced at me, then at Elze, and then Linze again, and for a moment it looked like emotional pain crossed his features. The King and Queen then glanced at each other and shared a look of mutual understanding.
I frowned minutely. What was that about?
But then I completely forgot about that because Elze was jabbing her index finger into my midsection. That wasn't tickling, she was just outright stabbing me. Yowtch.
The Queen poked her husband in the side again. Ghk!
Elze poked me in the side again. Gurk!
Poke. Poke.
Okay stop!
They had identical little smirks on their pretty faces utterly devoid of mercy.
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Time passed. It was night time.
It was time to… well, not party. We weren't in much of a mood for that, we've been on the road for too long. The most we wanted to do was to just sleep and lounge around in a nice comfy bed, but a small welcoming dinner party was nice too. Good food, only a short time to hobnob around and excuse not wanting to converse for long on our travel pains, and then sleep!
"Yes! This is Mismede! Land of spices!" I shouted out. "Your palace looks like the Taj Mahal! Give me some of that curry! Gimme that pepper! Grant me that gastrointestinal burn I've long missed!"
"Hahaha! Looks like you're looking forward to it! We'll try not to disappoint you!"
The King sidled up next to me as I watched the crowd. Since this wasn't actually a formal party, just a little get-together, there was no need to announce the entry of the King and the important guests. I nodded to the side. "Your Beastliness."
"None of that now, Zah! I told you, you can just call me Jamukha!"
"Very well then, I, Zah Playa, apologize in advance for any impropriety." I grinned back. "Jah Mukha."
"Gyahahaha! Good good! That's more like it!"
"Zahahahaha!" I put my fists to my hips and laughed with my head thrown back as well.
In the distance we could just hear someone moan in pain.
The Queen hid her mouth as she giggled. "Fufufu. I'm glad to see you're all having fun. It's been so long since my husband met anyone similarly so…" She searched for a word similar to 'utterly lacking shame' "... Gregarious."
I turned around to see again Queen Tilier. She was wearing a white robe with a spotted cloak. I wondered briefly about the morality of wearing spotted white leopard skins when you were a white leopard beastkin, but then I remembered the Space Wolves and Leman Russ didn't seem to have any problems wearing Fenrisian Wolf pelts and putting wolf carvings and totems everywhere. And there are no wolves on Fenris, all such wolves were descended from Canis Helix mutated human settlers long ago!
Later I found out that wearing the pelts of the animals that mostly resembled them was supposed to be a way of honoring their natures. It had its roots in the ancient shamanistic beliefs.
At that moment, she was accompanied by three children. "May I introduce you to Our children?"
One by one, they were:
Tia Frau Mismede, the First Princess of the Kingdom of Mismede. She was the eldest child of the couple and she was ten years old. She curtsied and asked "Are you the one who defeated father?"
Remza Blau Mismede, the First Prince of the Kingdom of Mismede. He was 9 years old. He squinted up at me and asked "Did you cheat?"
And then there was Alba Blau Mismede, the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Mismede, who hid slightly behind his mother. "Scary…"
I winced. Yeeah. That was fun for us, but we forgot that our self-indulgences also have an effect on the people around us. Even a child that screams at their parents to just be left alone isn't being unselfish in asking for nothing but simply not to be bothered. What we do, what we fail to do, and the examples we set - all of these things influence a child's views on what's right.
Then Tia said with all seriousness "Do it again. I want to see it happen."
"Um."
"Yes, a rematch!" The King shouted and cut in with a clenched fist. "Any time! Any where! I'm always up for it!"
Tia looked up at her father. Then to me. Then up to her father. Then back to me. And then she said with complete grace and civility "Beat my father's hide like a drum, please."
"Tia!" Remza gasped. "Why do you want dad to lose? That's… that's treason, that is!"
"The King's strength is the strength of the nation. The Queen cares for all the people." She flicked her straight hair back. "A Princess carries its hopes and prayers."
Wow this little girl has the face of Linze and the personality of Elze. Disturbing.
"Uh, Your Highness…" I whispered to the Queen. "Please have my apologies again for going a bit too far in our spar just then."
"It's all right. It really has been so long since you were challenged so boldly, hasn't it, Jamukha?" She glanced up at her husband. "Almost twenty years now…"
He put a hand on her shoulder and smiled sadly. "Dear… I still remember her fondly, but now I love only you."
"Of course you should! Remember her, at least – who else but us could love my sister the most?" She put her small hands over his massive ones, and leaned into his touch.
Then her eyes snapped open and she stared at me with piercing amber eyes. "Zah Playa of Belfast, we thank you for how you have given my husband such joy. But please understand if I do not quite… appreciate… these talks of an alliance with Belfast."
She stepped back and bowed. "After all… it was also Belfast's war that took my *sister's life*. His Beastliness' *first wife*. Now, if you will please excuse me… I must check with the other guests."
She picked up Alba, her youngest, and then turned around. Her children trooped to follow her in a line like little ducklings. But not before Tia gave me an 'I'm watching you' gesture and Ramza giving me an unfriendly glare.
Well, that got heavy all of a sudden.
King Jamukha sniffed and rubbed at his broad nose. "Sorry about that. It's just… it's personal, you know?"
"I understand. I'm not going to pry, if you don't want to talk about it."
"No, let me just explain. Seeing you and those girls… it just brought back memories. Those two girls with you, it really just reminded us how we used to be."
I tilted my head to the side. "Elze and Linze?"
"The punchy one and the shy one and the man that was too stupid always looking forward to the future failing to see what's in front of him."
"That's really heavy." I raised both hands and spread open my palms to signify 'I really don't want to talk about this.'
The King chuckled. He gave me a friendly and somewhat painfully forceful slap to the shoulders and excused himself too. He left me alone again by the balcony. I sighed, crossed my arms and leaned against the open doorway.
I didn't need to know any of that, though I supposed having a handle on the personality and motivations and prior inciting causes of foreign royalty was useful for strategic purposes. Why'd things need to get so real instead of just bros time? I sniffed at the early evening breeze. Ach, truly, what a heavy unpleasant air.
"Misteeer Clooown!"
Oh thank you. Thank you, Arma. Distract me in the present with cute meaningless escapades and the future can damn well take care of itself.
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REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
Bluepencil
Bluepencil Apologies for the delay. Next chapter up on Wednesday.
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UPDATE:
Had to nuke my Windows boot and now must reinstall everything. Lost most recent files. Things still chaotic for now, will try to update next week but no guarantee.
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