Capítulo 43: Our Continuing Days - Day 5, Part 5.1

Our meeting time was at around 18, though I gave her no precise timing to arrive. Still, I figured I should have been waiting in the room she was expected to appear in somewhat ahead of time. Even if she would be arriving through teleportation, I thought there still must have been a few precautions to go through in my end. As much as this meeting wasn't official, I was partially still acting like a crown princess, after all. Hence, I also had some company with me to greet her initially. My brother, Stag, and Lisdirclazien were all waiting for her in equal measures, in one of the gardens in the interior of the royal palace in Zainlastris. The public didn't know their princess was in that city, much less that she had a meeting with an important guest, so the front entrance still was out of the question for this kind of ceremony.

That said, even if Nalfimiria was a sister, having someone teleport directly inside the house was out of the question. Be it for the sake of ceremony or simply because the Great Sisters themselves were the ones who placed the defensive systems against this kind of spell in that palace. It was a precautionary matter they instructed the Court Watchers to enforce in any circumstance, and Nalfimiria herself rejected the idea of skipping that step when Stag contacted her earlier that day. Hence, I patiently waited there for a few minutes, occasionally glancing at the clock stationed nearby. I didn't expect her to be late, seeing as all of the information I gathered on her indicated she had the habit of punctuality. Especially since Stag herself mentioned the moment she had started getting ready, and judging by the fact it started almost an hour before the official meeting's start, this indicated she took this seriously enough to actually go through a small makeover. I had no doubt that wasn't a common occurrence for an elf, much less one as attractive as her.

—She will be here shortly. Get ready. — Stag warned us. As she was the one who controlled the system protecting us from teleportation at that point, she had been in contact with the other side then. This way, once Nalfimiria declared her intent to move towards us, Stag would have had to lower her resistance in that specific point, as well as assisting on activating the side of the teleportation lines on our end. Those typically were managed by the Watcher responsible for the royal inhabiting the palace at any given point, if there were any. A few seconds after her warning, Stag directed a hand at the spot Nalfimiria would be expected to arrive at. It shined for a brief moment, until the glow faded and in its place stood the sister I had been expecting.

Nalfimiria was dressed in something akin to the robes sisters wore normally, just that it looked much more elaborate and flattering on her than the usual wear for a sister, which was also combined with a partial coat covering part of her upper body, one that seemed as well crafted as the rest of the piece. Partially as a result, the symbols of the Will that were normally predominant on the clothes of Path Tracers connected to this specific path were toned down a little. Not to say they weren't there, just that in this particular kind of robe of theirs it appeared like the intended emphasis wasn't just the order which they followed, yet also the beauty of the Emblem Bearer in question. Alongside her emblem, there were also different types of gems and accessories placed on her arms, the parts of her legs that was exposed - seeing as her dress had openings on the side - as well as the top of her head, a kind of headdress that also shared the motifs of the sisterhood on it. Her hair was tied in an elaborate braid, and the shape of that dress made the curves on her body all the easier to notice. Not that they didn't stand out already, considering the kind of body Nalfimiria has. She also carried a bag with her, one that seemed to be partially empty from the outside.

Naturally, I had also been dolled up enough to match her in appearance at that point. If anything, she likely only went this far into preparing herself because she knew I would be putting this sort of effort as well. As a crown princess, I couldn't exactly head to official meetings - publicly announced or not - without first getting in the full dress code expected of royalty. And though I was aware I couldn't match her in many matters concerning beauty, I still felt it prudent to try to please my guest with my appearance as much as I could at that point. They may not be the focus of what it means to be a ruler, though it still stood as a truth in my time that good looks were a form of power, regardless of whether or not they were on the same scale as other forms of it. Foregoing any slight advantage one might have was a practice seen as preferably avoided for those on similar standings to me.

—Sister Nalfimiria, I must say that it is my pleasure to receive you in this temporary home of mine tonight. And as much as I wish to say that I was ready, seeing how dazzling you are in person might have shocked me but for a moment. — Though I knew that she would prefer to keep those to a minimum, some formalities involving this meeting were unavoidable, even if I knew our audience wasn't planning on exposing anything about it to the public. This was my first official meeting with an important guest, and keeping up pleasantries for a while was more or less part of my job, despite there never really being a ruleset saying a princess needs to act like this, or anything of the sort, especially not when interacting with a sister.

—Princess Almenar, the pleasure is mine. Though I must say, I am rather surprised as well. The rumors paint you as a bright, kind and graceful young woman, but I am starting to doubt they paint your virtues in full, based on our past exchanges. I am truly delighted to make your acquaintance officially. — She said, surprisingly respecting my ceremonies to the fullest extent. All the while making the underlying message pretty clear, despite speaking in over exaggerated formalities that would really only ever be used when speaking to a royal from a country with similar practices to mine. Such formalities would be greeted with laughter in her own homeland, after all. In other words, any practice she put into this likely had been so simple so she could speak to me, an effort I appreciated.

—Good evening, young princess. I've heard you're a really clever one, and am pleased to see you've been keeping up that impression. Good job handling all this trouble so far. — That, at least, was what I imagined she actually meant, based on what I had known of her by that point.

—Nonsense. I am doing nothing more than acting as the Great Sisters have taught my family to do. I hardly think the Greater Ones would be impressed by such measly feats. I could never hope to climb to my crown were I not capable of such. — Following the pattern of translations, what I actually meant:

—Oh come now, you know the kind of training I went through. What kind of amateur would fail in the first steps of a task so simple? If I weren't capable of handling a situation like this, our bosses would have dumped my job on my kid sister by now. — I decided to gamble on her ability to read between the lines as well as I did initially. Perhaps not the expected attitude of a princess receiving a guest, given the duties I described earlier, though as far as I'm concerned, fulfilling the formalities while also adequating myself to a guest's hopes was by far the best method of handling a situation like this, and I was confident none of my present assistants would protest against the choice.

—Be confident then, bright princess. I am certain the Greater Aspects put faith in you for reasons other than these measly feats, as will I. — That one was rather straightforward in meaning, but I'll translate it regardless.

—I know that. And accomplishing things like this is hardly the only reason why you've been accepted for this job. — I took that as a positive note. It meant she was willing to compliment me not only in explicit terms. Basically, it was a signal she wasn't seeing that meeting just as an obligation. If I could confirm that after the point our conversation normalized itself more, that was already a great signal for my task.

With that initial interaction out of the way, we exchanged some extra pleasantries, since this was my first official meeting with her in the country. I was technically also acting as a representative for my predecessors at that point, so going through that whole process still took some time. Both in the matter of telling her all the information I was supposed to offer, as well as going through that with the ceremony that was expected of me. Court protocol could hardly be considered practical in most situations, and unfortunately the nature of this initial part of the job made it mandatory on me. Nalfimiria thankfully was understanding enough to go through all of that while still keeping up the front to an extent, which made me grateful, as the usual reaction expected of a young sister in this kind of situation would have made matters all the harder to handle.

This part of the talk also served as the official moment where I asked her a lot about her adaptation or any doubts about the nation. As far as my official task there was concerned, ensuring that her stay in Rasdwinvhyr was a positive and safe one was my first priority. As much as I knew some of those concerns were based on the unfounded belief from minor elites that this elven woman was like them, it was technically my official motivation by that point. On a more practical view of matters most colleagues of mine would have agreed the main goal in this situation was to create a friendship with a powerful pair of visitors. One that may not be intent on using her connections personally but who could still sell to her parents - people I likely would have to deal with eventually - the image of the apprentice queen of Rasdwinvhyr as a competent, bright and kind young woman. Matters concerning Chiaisei were equally as significant, and the procedure of the Fasnilthar situation was core for the contacts my friends placed in my queendom to reach this pair as well.

This part of the conversation also led to a small exchange of gifts between us. As Nalfimiria had just obtained a new house with her teammates, I decided the best way to express my desire for her to remain comfortable was offering something that could help in decorating it. Preferably something connected to my country, as a kind of symbolism of my greetings, not to mention the fact I needed to balance the price of that gift well. Enough to satisfy the standards of most noble I was indirectly representing as well, but a gift that was still affordable enough to where her coworkers wouldn't get too suspicious about who exactly was this woman Nalfimiria had been meeting. Though admittedly, even without having someone shadowing Chiaisei earlier that morning, I already had a feeling she would be starting to investigate this mysterious figure behind Sowanarcistvir as soon as she had the chance. Not to mention, as Nalfimiria was sharing that house the item would need to be something that matched the taste of all 5 of her partners*. The task was made slightly simpler by the fact I could ask as much to Sowanar and Nalfimiria directly, and that the other 4 of them all had somewhat easy to understand tastes.

(*I am counting the eagle in, despite knowing she at most viewed human arts as a novelty to occasionally glance at. Which was a surprise considering she was a magical beast, but seeing as she lived most of her life in the house of an artist, she likely had far more contact with art than most wild kin who were taken into society. Though this does also bring into this discussion the complications Chiaisei posed for this decision, seeing as her eye for art was far more critical than the rest of their human teammates, as the daughter of a painter renowned throughout their whole region.)

The end result of my research was a decorative mask of sorts, that could be hung by a wall, as well as a portrait, for when eventually that group took some kind of picture that they wanted to keep around. That particular mask had been the result of a combination of styles for arts and crafting originated from many regions throughout our world, and it was a particular take on that style originated in Zainlastris, the city that more or less connects Galicernan to Gujimatsuki, Ortabilhak, Daltresnar and Ralirkhel, and in doing so this city was also one of the connections of those regions to the western half of the globe. Hence I felt it fitting for a group like that, seeing that each of their members came from a different country in this part of the continent. A celebration of cultural diversity, contact and cooperation, you might say. Not to that it was much of a surprise to me, she also carried a gift with her, one from her homeland.

It was a kind of flute that elves created. There was a lot more flexibility in how you could play it than a normal blowing instrument, so as it took more time to practice, it wasn't that popular among humans. That said, it was among the long list of secondary talents I had developed over the course of my life, as an attempt at demonstrating to the "high society"* of my time how I was such a perfect example of a lady, by their standards (A norm royals couldn't escape even if we give up our inheritance). As expected from a gift to a princess, it was picked from a globally known workshop, one that showed the elite of elvish craftsmanship, showing she spared no efforts with it. As the implication also had been that she had picked this gift before leaving her home, which had happened over 8 years from then, I pretended to be especially thankful for her attention, especially since she coincidently picked a kind of instrument I didn't have at that palace during that moment. Which is to say, Stag definitely told her what to pick.

Of course, both of us knew she had free access to the teleportation lines of the sisterhood, meaning the most likely explanation for this was simply that when Nalfimiria figured out I would be receiving her, she just teleported back home to buy the gift after consulting with Stag what sort of gift I might like and need. Finding something a princess needs is still quite difficult, regardless. Still, even if everyone in our audience also knew what actually had happened, we just played along with this illusion while internally laughing at the situation I imagined, seeing that kind of blatant lie from both sides was an essential part for the kind of protocol we were supposed to be following.

(*I put the term in quotes because I never liked it. For one, the very fact it implies the existence of a high and low form of society sounds extremely conceited. Conceit is not only a rather ugly flaw of character to feed, conceited elites often increase my workload, and tend to be unreliable at handling matters of significance. Given humanity has long since been reliant on external aid to maintain its standing, boasting about your own position within it is often interpreted as a sign of ignorance by external allies, something that by no means would help our standing. As managing and correcting such mistakes is a task that occasionally reaches me, I have very little sympathy for this particular brand of clownery.)

With those initial steps out of the way, I also not so subtly changed the topic to her accommodations that night. Things like asking her if she wanted to check the room or have someone drop the bag there already. Of course, supposing she did decide to check it she would have realized it was only partially prepared, as we weren't expecting that room to see any use from her. As my endgame was sex at that point, I knew there would be no issue with suggesting we share a room later on, and the very fact my organization took that into account was one of the means through which I planned on making my intentions more explicit, as early into our time together as possible. Asserting the needed agency over the situation required a certain level of constant aggressiveness. Hence, I decided it might be best to try to make things clear from the start, even if I knew Nalfimiria was already aware of my intentions.

—The particular state of the room doesn't matter, young princess. I am confident I'll be comfortable enough in any spot you find for me, in a house like this one.

—Why show me the room if you don't intend on me staying there? I'll sleep wherever just fine, either way. — Combined with the context we both knew I was listening in to some of their previous conversations, I decided that this would have been the hidden meaning behind this time.

"She's acknowledging me so soon. Tonight will surely be exciting." It seemed that part of the plan likely would need far less set up than I might originally have expected. And less time for set up meant more time for fun in this case. "Maybe I should accelerate my advances as well, then? I could already start pressing aggressively by the time dinner is done. My, even if we don't reduce our sleep schedule, that could leave almost 6 hours open, couldn't it? But maybe I can be a little greedier tonight. Stag can heal me easily enough if I sleep for one or two less hours. Rest assured my dear guest, I am just as difficult to satiate as you've been hearing so far."

Having gone through that, we headed to the room in which we would be left in private, where the protocol we had been following also would officially end. That also happened to be the bedroom in which I currently slept in, and as if I wasn't being clear enough, the way the bedsheets and pillows were organized implied I was expecting company - not to mention the fact the sheets selected were of the kind that is usually easier to clean. Neither of us really commented on this, and instead headed to the balcony to an exit of the room, one that showed us the gardens in the internal part of the palace's gardens. As the pleasantries took us around half an hour, night time was already starting to get chiller, though that hardly mattered, seeing as despite being opened to the outside air, there were barriers placed around that balcony to keep it from getting too cold. There, we sat around a small table for the two of us, where the plan was to continue our talks more openly until dinner arrived. After sitting, we were left alone, which prompted me to begin our conversation once again.