Chapter 5: Royal Decision Making

It has been a month since the day of my coronation. Since then, I have learned immensely. That does mean I have been perfect, far from it. The first thing I do each morning after climbing out of my bed is placing the crown upon my head in the mirror. A reminder of the responsibilities I have on my hands. Then I eat the first meal within the grand halls of the palace. Since ascending to my position, I have never eaten a meal alone. Whether it is one of my guards, a maid or a cook joining me, there is always someone. Without fail, I am greeted by one of the knights on duty as I exit my chamber in the morning.

"Good morning, your majesty" accompanied by kneeling as I come into view. I offer a polite greeting back, though the words often feel hollow. By now I have learned the names of more than just Adoria, though having her on the morning duty always tends to leave me in a better mood for the day. It is to no surprise that I have quickly found a favourite within my Earthen Knights. In fact, I had been considering offering her a promotion but found that I must keep myself away from letting personal interests and biases interfere with decision-making. Speaking of biases, Dahlia is no longer the ruler but has stayed within the Palace. Remaining a mentor to me and becoming my effectively second-in-command. I have grown to appreciate her years of experience and wisdom. That does not mean to say I can stand this woman at all. Dahlia is annoying to no end, no doubt. However, she is guiding me well as painful as it is to admit.

My naivety has shown through many times more than just one, but Dahlia has helped me. It is like being granted the nagging mother I wish I had never had. At times I wonder if it is truly me who sits on the throne and not her, but I must still be grateful that she extends her help to me.

After the first meal, I always enter the high chamber of the Earthen Palace, where the royal council gather. Today, I was greeted first by Uli, our advisor and ambassador for Anguli di Aqua, often bringing us the latest news and stories from Atlantis itself. This morning's story from Aqua was that Grand Lady Marina had taken on yet another candidate to train as her next potential ruler.

"Do you know much of them?" I questioned, feigning curiosity to Uli.

"Well, they say her name is Eira! A young lady waveborne, promoted from their academy the other day who had some of the highest overall scores since the year 100 when-"

Uli would always be so excited to bring in the news. Her bright blue robes shined as she bounced on her toes, beginning to let out a stream of words. Nodding along, I simply tuned her out half-way through. That was the secret to dealing with her endless chatter, she would always lead with the important parts so she could happily babble on like a madwoman after. Of course, manners and a polite appearance are a necessity for a Queen, so I dare not complain or chide her for such things.

Though Uli is the first to greet me as usual, I am soon joined by many others. I have learned all of their names by now, but some of my council stand out more than others. Fraus, my war general in Terra. It is not a happy coincidence that he comes to mind first, we have simply clashed the most. I am lucky in that Dahlia has helped me in dealing with him. Fraus has some…strong opinions on certain matters. The world's first airships are in construction in Port Terra, of all places and the idea of protection as we would with waterborne ships' weapons has come up often. This much we agree on, but Fraus would like to include similar protection on the World Rail.

What a preposterous idea. The world itself can be dangerous, but the weapons we employ on ships would not fit a locomotive like that. A foolish, foolish idea. Just what I would expect from a battle-hungry fool.

Today our meeting began with another argument on that, interrupted only by Rolo, a general advisor. His greying hair gave him an old, wise appearance despite his youthful face.

"Now, now your majesty. Fraus."

It was impossible not to hear the amusement this man held at our arguments, petty as he deemed them. Though at times, I must admit he was not wrong. We could certainly get rather petty.

"Do you both not think there is a compromise to be had here?"

There was a grunt of approval from both of us, rather than a verbal acknowledgement. This moment of argument passed rather quickly, to the luck of both of us.

There were not many things to talk about at the council of importance, other than the preparation for the upcoming Council of Four Nations. Just as my luck would have it, Terra would be the hosts for this season. That would mean making sure the Earthen Palace was in perfect shape for the arrivals from Ventus, Aqua and Ignis next month.

After the morning council meeting, my daily routine would include another meal in a great lunch in which I was joined by my advisors and knights alike. Though we were joined by different people each time, since the very first day I had not failed to eat with Adoria. Today was no different, though we were joined by Uli and another knight, Arbor who were not quite our usual company. Our company would vary from former Queen Dahlia herself (who Adoria had seemed to love eating with, for reasons I could not fathom) to other knights from Adoria's squad.

Though they sat with the Queen, the three I was sat with acted in an almost casual manner. That much made me happy. If I could get accustomed to some of these things, perhaps a chance at a relatively normal life was not such a far away dream?

"Lu-your majesty,"

Adoria began, quickly changing her terminology after spotting Fraus glancing our direction.

"You have not touched your food. Is there something bothering you?"

"No, Adoria. I appreciate what you have done for me, truly. But you need not worry any longer, I am fine."

I was lying again. That was something I was doing a lot lately. Lying, bending the truth. Just enough so that it would be easy to believe for anyone who did not see me on a regular basis. Unfortunately for me, Adoria saw me on a very regular basis, so I had to take extra steps in order to not worry her too much. It was clear Adoria did not entirely trust my words, given that look in her eye but she did not pursue the subject further.

"Your Majesty, may I have a moment?"

Dahlia was approaching our table. I was not surprised by her approach, but her question certainly caught me off guard.

"Of course."

I gave a small bow to those who ate with me and exited with the former Queen.

"What might this be about, Dahlia?"

"You are aware of the Four Nations Council in the coming months, yes? How has your preparation been on that front? I assume you have solutions and proposals for them?"

"Of course I am aware, we spoke of it not an hour ago. To answer your question, I am well aware and I have been preparing."

That one was not a complete lie. Though the working burdens of ruling a nation had truly got to me in the last month, I had certainly made progress on my Four Nations Council preparations. That said, I had offered little support to the problems of the other nations and only offered an idea benefitting Terra. I still believed it would have been right to propose simply that idea to the other leaders, but Dahlia as always managed to impart her own wisdom unto me. In order to gain favour of the other nations, I must do more than simply present some sort of 'project' I would like to work on. That will not gain friends and support in the way that action will.

"You must be ready for these things, Lutum. If you are not careful, you will find yourself making enemies before friends."

"Would they not be fools to allow themselves to become the nation's only enemies?"

"You know very well that your peers and allies of the four nations will not be the only ones you must look out for."

"Our nation is not a threat to itself, Dahlia."

At that, a wry grin crossed Dahlia's face as she simply shook her head.

"You do not think so? Even after some of the letters we have been sent? So many of them about you."

I could feel the frustration swelling inside me once again.

"And what point is it that you are trying to make here?"

"Miss Sylvari. Think, please. You still wish to rule Terra, yes? You are accepting the responsibility and what comes with it?"

Though I felt myself nearly lash out at her, I instead gritted my teeth and gave her a simple nod rather than letting another fight get the better of me that day. She did not wait for a verbal confirmation to continue.

"You and Terra may as well be synonymous while you rule. If you are of the opinion you are still the right person to lead Terra then you must too value yourself and your own ties. Your friends are friends of Terra and your enemies are enemies of Terra too. In fact, if there were to be someone who would try to remove you from your position, they would even be a threat to Terra as well. There is little room for the separation of ruler and nation."

Stopping myself from interrupting had proved a more difficult task than I thought it would be, but I was glad that I allowed myself to listen to what she had to say. This does mean to say I was fond of her but I did value her wisdom given her history as my predecessor.

Dahlia had not quite finished with her motivational monologue however, placing two hands upon my shoulders. Though they were firm, the hands were gentle and comforting.

"You may have a lot to learn, Lutum. But I am of the opinion that we have a fine Queen in the making here. Just please, do not crumble before you have even built yourself a proper foundation."

There was no response from me this time. I had not been feeling particularly witty or intelligent, so I was simply left speechless. The words Dahlia had given me on this day were something I felt were words to reflect on. I would search later for any hidden meanings and such other than the face value message she presented to me, as I thought there must have been more to it.

"Now, you are the Queen. Go, go enjoy your break! I will see you after the meal for our standard routine."

After the heavy lecture given to me by Dahlia, I made my way back to the dining hall to eat with those who were still there. By now, just Uli and Adoria.

"You see Adoria, then the boats come in from Atlantis and-"

Uli stopped her rambling to give me a formal greeting. Usually I would have found that kind of thing annoying, but today it felt like a charming quality of hers. That she would stop in the ramblings of what she was so enchanted by simply to greet me. It was common within these halls to stop to greet the Earthen Mother, but it had not felt so gratifying as of late. Perhaps Dahlia's words had stirred up some motivation within me? Whether I liked it or not, I was committed to my post now. By Eden I swore, that I would become the greatest Earthen Mother in Terra's short history.

"Hello to you too, Uli. You are my expert for our aquatic neighbours to the East. Please, tell me. What are the latest stories from Anguli di Aqua?"

Uli's face had quickly transformed in a matter of seconds. From that wide smile when talking to Adoria, the slight frown when I had approached and now back to that wide smile as she took a deep breath.

I do not remember all that Uli said, only what stuck out to me. Aqua's main issues are, as always, pirates across their seas. Uli tells me that the further they get away from the capital, the harder they are to take care of.

In addition, I learned that Grand Lady Marina was also having troubles in regard to lowering crime within some of the islands across Aqua. Most notably would be the island closest to our nation, The Western Isle.

Though I have not visited, it is said that some of their residents consider themselves Terran rather than Aquan at times. As such, if we were to offer support to Aqua, that may be a good place to start. I made sure to take note of that, to look into the Western Isle in Aqua for later.

After a great lunch in the dining hall, I was to address complaints and requests from my subjects. Taking my seat on the throne, Dahlia and Adoria joined me. These requests and complaints would often be written in, though there were rare exceptions that some of my subjects would come to visit the Earthen Palace in person. From what I am told, Dahlia had many more face to face meetings than I.

Quickly I came to learn that it would at least take some time before the people of Terra would know they could trust me. Despite that, letters of requests and complaints rolled in. As always, when one of my advisors unfurled the scroll that compiled all our requests, it dragged along the floor for several meters.

Somehow, this was shorter than our list on most days. That said, we would quickly sort the matters. Many issues were trivial at best or downright embarrassing to send to the Queen at worst. Marriage proposals were not something I had expected given my reception by the general public a month prior, though they were also not something I could take seriously given the circumstances.

Even if they were something I could take seriously, it was not something I could ever consider the possibility of. I had made it no secret to those who knew of me that Gaius was my only love. Though the month of separation was not easy, we still found the time to write to each other. Reading through each one as though it had value proved to be a chore.

Far too many appeared serious, as sad as it is to say. Opportunistic merchants and nobles offering what sounded more like a business contract than a marriage. Reading enough of that in the first two weeks I ascended to the throne I no longer took any of them seriously.

The next on the scroll to be disregarded were the many requests for a new ruler, typically signed anonymously. I received these much more than I learned of the requests for their hand in marriage, though I did not particularly want to entertain any of these ideas. Perhaps before the talk I had with Dahlia earlier, I would not have been so wary of them but on this day I decided we would check them later for any signs of any treason plots, just to be safe.

After these issues had been forgotten, we would make it to the real issues we had come across. Some of the livestock that Gaius' family had kept, which in turn often provided us with meals for the palace. As such, this was made a high priority and I gave the command to my best Earthen Knights to conduct an investigation. Perhaps the personal connection gave me a bias, but that was my big priority as what stood out to me.

Port Terra was in need of better security as ships had gone missing too often as of late, so a supplement of Earthen Knights would stay in Port Terra to form a version of the guard there. Later to be dubbed Terran Knights, as experts of Port Terra. This would mean the palace was to see several fresh faces soon with the new recruits.

Quickly realising there had not been quite as many 'non-issues' as I had hoped, the marriage requests and abdication requests had not been as frequent as I had been hoping. Each day I hoped this list would get shorter, but it only ever seemed to get longer. This was the life I had signed up for when I accepted my position after all.

In fact, I had quickly found that we had flown through the scroll and found ourselves with little to do. Or we would have if we did not have the logistics to plan for these investigations. That would be what takes up this afternoon as our priority before we became free for the evening.

On this evening, I found myself writing to Gaius. How I had missed him. That sense of comfort I felt around him the last eighteen years of my life had suddenly been torn away. This life was still not quite right without him around.

My Dear Gaius

I hope this letter finds you well. As I am sure you may guess, I have been busy with royal duties all of this month and I will likely find myself just as busy until The Four Nations Council has reached its end.

As such, I do not know when it is I will next see you, Flo or my own parents. I ask that you take good care of them. I will support all of you however I can, of course. You shall never go poor or hungry in a kingdom that I reign over.

That said, I cannot help but yearn for you and your touch. It has been too long since we have seen each other. I would write of what I saw within the Palace, but it does not quite compare to you. We simply must meet again as soon as we can.

In the meantime, please take care.

I love you.

Lutum Sylvari

Lifting the pen from the paper was always the hardest part of writing letters like these. I would write to Lami the next evening, as I had let time slip away in thought of times that had already passed. The light shone bright outside my window, as always emanating from the centre of the world. That may have been why I had thought of Lami, too. That girl had always radiated positivity and a carefree attitude, bright and cheery.

Though I was beginning to adjust ever so slightly to this upside down life, without Gaius and Lami by my side it felt as if there were still a piece of myself missing.

But perhaps this was what I needed? To become independent. I was, in a sense. If you discounted those like Dahlia, and Adoria. They were good mentors and friends, but it was simply not the same.

I suppose a decision has not been reached on whether that is true independence or not, but I did not have time to fret on that. Tomorrow would be yet another busy day.