Had expected

"Enter" said Liam as he heard a knock on his office door, he had just bid Lady Marli goodbye as she was leaving the Palace, and he had come to his office to finish some things.

"Good Morrow Liam" came the voice of someone unexpected that Liam just had to look up to make sure he was hearing the correct person.

"Mero??" asked Liam in utter surprise.

"Yes" said Mero as he walked over to Liam's desk and he sat across Liam.

"Well my good Lord, this is a surprise, you have returned?" asked Liam with a smile as he was still surprised.

"Yes, I have" said Mero.

"And very quickly as well, I had thought that you would have been gone for seven days, but here you are, already returned in five days" said Liam as he laughed, he knew he had nothing to worry about, Mero was a very capable man, and he was very strong as well, which was why he had chosen him as his right hand man.

"Well things were quicker than I had expected" said Mero as he smiled.

"Do the others know that you have already returned?" asked Liam.

"Well no, I just returned, and most likely all of them thought I was long gone, and hence why they ceased to rise up early" said Mero as he sighed and he shook his head, he found the others irresponsible, especially Elihu.

"Just do not give them a scare, less they think you have died and become a ghost to haunt their unseriousness" said Liam as he laughed, seeing as he could imagine that happening, and Mero laughed as well.

"Well we shall catch up later, but for now, we need to be serious" said Liam as he smiled on his fact dropped and he looked very serious.

"How did signing the treaty go?" asked Liam as he was curious, if Mero had returned this quickly it only meant two things, one being that the East had rejected their offer, and the other being that they accepted his offer quickly.

"Well Liam, it went well… better than I had expected" said Mero.

"Please elaborate Mero" said Liam.

"Well at first the people seemed reluctant, the former King of the East seemed bitter, but I approached the Chiefs, and at first they refused, but on the second day, they called me back, saying that they had agreed to the treaty, they would give us iron in exchange for our supply of gold" said Mero.

"They agreed so quickly, and easily without asking for nothing more in demand?" asked Liam as he found their sudden agreement suspicious, as if they were up to something, which he could agree on.

"That was my initial thought as well, but once I looked at the options, it was better to accept their offer now, and find out their plans later, seeing as we truly are in dire need of iron" said Mero.

"So they signed the treaty, and the iron will be delivered to the Castle soon" said Mero.

"You did make a good decision Mero" said Liam as he seemed to be thinking.

"But for now, we need to be careful, the east are very, very cunning people" said Liam.

"You do not have to tell me twice, I am from there, and I know how they act" said Mero as he sighed.

"Because for me, the thought that they first rejected the idea, and then the next day they completely change and accept the offer is alarming" said Liam as he was trying to think of all possible solutions of what the east might be up to.

"Maybe they want to trick us, and the bands of iron will be stolen by bandits on the way?" asked Liam as he looked at Mero.

"I thought of that as well, which is why I sent for some of the guards from the Castle in the East to escort the carriage of Iron" said Mero.

"That was a good idea Mero" said Liam as he smiled he knew that Mero was the most trustworthy person he knew.

"And how are things at the east?" asked Liam.

"Well they are better than before" said Mero.

"The people are back to living like they once were, and the traces of the war are slowly disappearing" said Mero.

"Well that is good" said Liam.

"After all the people do not have to suffer just because of the actions of their tyrannical King, who instead of considering his people and surrendering, decided to fight till the end, at the expense of many innocent lives, who did not deserve to die" said Liam as he sighed and he shook his head.

"We could only save, those who we could save Liam" said Mero as he knew that Liam still often thought about the days of war, when Wyverdale was trying to seize the east, Liam had commanded that they save those who were innocent, men, women and children, who were in no way involved in the war, but they could only so much, some still perished, while others lived.

"And could we not save all?" asked Liam as he looked at Mero.

"The question you should be asking Liam is why were there those who did not want to be saved" said Mero plainly and Liam kept quiet, he knew that Mero was right, no matter how much he wanted to save everyone, there would be some that would still remain adamant.

"Where is your ring Liam?" asked Mero as he noticed Liam's hand that was on his desk and it ws barren.

"Ahh well I gave it to Wura" said Liam as he laughed, he wondered why everyone had noticed that he had taken it off.

"Why is it so noticeable that I have taken it off?" asked Liam as he laughed.

"Well your ring is made out of pure gold; it is not hard not to notice" said Mero.

"And why did you give it to her?" asked Mero.

"Well she was honest with me, and she told me that she feels guilty, we are both lying to ourselves, and she said that she did not feel like she deserved to wear the ring as it symbolized a commitment" said Liam as he explained.

"And I do agree with her, she does speak the truth" said Liam.

"So I gave her my ring to keep, because in the end it is her decision to make, I have nothing against her, and I am ready to spend the rest of my life with her like I promised, with or without love" said Liam as he smiled.

"I did tell you Liam in the beginning that this was not going to be easy at all" said Mero as he had seen this coming, forced marriage never worked out, and he knew that first hand.

"You do not see me complaining now do you?" asked Liam as he smiled.

"I just want to say that I had warned you before all this began" said Mero.

"Mero, I do not expect anything from her, and neither does she expect anything from me" said Liam as he smiled.

"Well if you say so Liam, but I must take my leave now, the sun has already risen and those lazy men are nowhere to be found" said Mero as he stood up and he sighed as he shook his head.

"Alright then, go easy on them" said Liam as he laughed.

"I will not" replied Mero as he walked out of Liam's office and Liam laughed.

…

"Father, I have good news" said Liam as he smiled and he walked into Alaric's office.

"Ahhh my boy, do tell me" said Alaric as he smiled and Liam sat across him.

"Well Mero has just returned, and the East has agreed to sign the treaty" said Liam as he smiled.

"Ahh yes my boy, that is certainly good news, now I can rest at ease" said Alaric as he smiled, to tell the truth, this matter had been bothering him, and now he could finally rest.

"But you do not seem too happy my boy" said Alaric as he looked at Liam.

"Well father, I am thinking about what the East might probably be planning next" said Liam seriously.

"They have tried an assassination, they had tried a rebellion, and I wonder what they might actually be going on to" said Liam.

"Well my boy, I do not think that you should worry yourself about that right now, problems will always be there, and you just need to be prepared" said Alaric as he smiled.

"Hmm, you are right Father" said Liam as he smiled, his father was right, he just needed to be more careful and prepared, right now their main concern was the Kingdom.

"That is good my boy" said Alaric as he smiled and Liam smiled back at him, he had no doubt in his mind that Liam would be a great King.