The First Meeting - Part 2

"You want that woman Kukei to work with us?!" Hearing Wolf's suggestion, Astoria was confused as to how the king could ever see them working with such an ill-tempered woman. "Did you not see how she acts?! She tore her own arm out of anger towards William for goodness sake!"

"She's right. I may not have been here for the event, but from what I've heard about her battle with Prince William, I don't see any reason to involve that woman. She would only be a hurdle if we even let her an inch closer to our vessels!" Kayla complained, not too thrilled about the idea either.

Giving the two a moment to further voice their complaints, Wolf sat in silence, listening to them as he knew that the two women in front were just as stubborn as him. But as they grew quiet upon realizing that he hadn't said a thing, the king conjured a small piece of ice in his hand and placed them between the Siren ships and the islands on the map.

"What should we do if we can't get close to the enemy?" Looking up at the two, he grabbed the piece of ice and grazed a line between the vessel and the islands. "You cut their supply lines. In this case, that would be fish and other sea creatures, the likes of which Kukei and her people can talk to and control."

A moment of quiet hung between the two parties, but then, as they realized what he was suggesting, Kayla grew enthused, but Astoria still had some reservations about the idea. 

"That's obvious, but what of the crops? The tree? The Dragonkin are omnivores, and I'm sure those islands have at least some palatable vegetation and crops growing." Having thought of cutting their supplies, Astoria still wasn't convinced that it could work unless they did something about the resources on the islands as well. 

"I'll do you one better actually," turning his eyes to the islands again, Wolf tapped on all three of them to bring everyone's attention back to them. "It'd be a shame if the Lizardmen connected the pure water resources to the saline seawater through underground tunnels dug between them."

For a moment, Astoria was stunned by the suggestion, as it made more sense than she'd expected Wolf to make so early in his kinghood. But then, thinking of another loophole, she challenged him on that.

"What if they have crops ready to harvest already and water reserves not directly connected to the ground–like in closed wells? They might run out of those eventually, but if rain pours even once, they're sure to stall us longer!" A genuine concern, one Wolf hasn't thought over just yet. However, putting his mind through the scenario, he came up with an answer just as quickly as Astoria had asked the question.

"The same tunnels from under the ground, the lizardmen could use them to land on the island and set fire to their crops and the fruit-bearing trees." Glancing back at the map, Wolf took a deep breath and imagined the damage the flames would do to the islands. "Sure, the islands will be damaged somewhat, but we always repair the damage as long as we're not losing landmass like with those cannons."

"I still have a concern…" Planting her hand on the table, Kayla leaned closer to Wolf's face. Giving him a long, quiet look, she wondered just where the king had learned just about everything. Her question, however, had nothing to do with it. "And why exactly would the lizardmen do all the work? What are we feeding them?"

"Why don't we ask them? Maybe they need land, the same land they'll help us take from those monsters?" Nobody rejected an offer of land; everyone in that room knew that. As valuable as a commodity as there is, land was precious even to those who already had plenty of it. 

"You wanna take the islands from monsters and beastmen and put it under the control of another race of beastmen?" Astoria asked, genuinely curious about what was going on inside of Wolf's head.

"We're obviously not giving them everything, but we're gonna need people to restore the land after we've burned it and what better way than to have those who burned it repair it themselves?" A circular solution. It surprised Astoria as well as Kayla. Both of them were versed in war, but somehow, the scholar who'd only read books about the experience of the kings' past was more effective at coming up with solutions. 

It wasn't as though they hadn't read those journals themselves, but even then, the difference in understanding between the groups was near astronomical. Either way, with everything discussed, it was time to act and act quickly since this whole ordeal would take months before showing any signs of success.

"Stay ready when they start heading off the island in search of food and water, but also make sure that anyone who leaves before their resources have run dry are taken care of as swiftly as possible." Nodding along to Wolf's orders, Kayla rolled up the map and headed out. 

In the meantime, left alone with his queen, Wolf discussed the matter for a while longer. For the most part, everything was the same, but the initial offer to the lizardman tribe had to be discussed in detail. How would they convince them to do such a perilous task? In the end, Wolf decided to send a messenger for Kukei to her island and have her come back to Aestonia to discuss things further. 

Finally, as the discussion about the islands came to an end, Wolf tried to leave for his room but was stopped by the queen's words. 

"Your room will be ready by tonight, so you don't have to stay in those quarters for long," she said, a pained expression on her face from even admitting that it was wrong for a prince, much less a king, to stay in the servant's quarters. But trying not to dwell on those thoughts, she decided to ask. "I-Is there anything that you need to be there? To welcome you?"

Looking up at the ceiling, Wolf thought about it for a while. Then, slowly turning towards Astoria, he responded with not a shred of embarrassment on his face. 

"I would like extra beds for more queens later, but for now, unlike with the last king, you're gonna share the room with me, right?" Blushing red to his question laced with a suggestive theme, Astoria lowered her head and whispered with her heart pounding like a piston.

"Y-yes…I'll be there." And to her answer, Wolf smiled. 

Past that, it was time to get ready for their first night together.