39 'Formal' Meeting

Just a note before you read the chapter: There's gonna be a lot of descriptions in this chapter along with some other information.

--------------(Lillian) "I know, but I like supporting you to walk."---------------

The next morning, Liana awoke to a knock on her door. Liana sat up before calling out,

(Liana) "Yes?"

(Lillian) "Liana, do you want to attend the meeting with the King and Queen?"

Liana stood up and walked to the door, but stopped just before opening the door and called out again,

(Liana) "Give me five minutes?"

(Lillian) "Alright."

*

Five minutes later, Liana opened the door and saw Lillian standing against the wall across from her door. Lillian was wearing something Liana had never seen before: it looked similar to a normal stealth suit, but there was a crest on the left side of her chest that looked like an eagle and a sword, with a wolf behind, and certain parts of her suit were coloured red, giving her a sort of dangerous air. There was also a cape hanging from her shoulders to just below her waist, also following the same colour scheme. On her feet was black boots that reached about halfway up her lower leg with slight heels that made her even taller than she already was. To anyone else, it would make her seem unapproachable for fear of angering her.

But to Liana, it simply brought out Lillian's beauty. She recognized the pattern as similar to what her parents wore on formal occasions, though the colours were different, the royal family's colours being black and gold.

Lillian's arms were crossed, with her upper body against the wall, one leg slightly bent with her heel slightly off the floor, just barely touching the wall. When she saw Liana, she stood up properly and smiled at her, taking in her appearance.

*

Like Lillian, she had dressed up formally for the meeting with her parents, knowing that it was likely a particularly serious one. Though unlike Lillian, she was wearing a dress that reached down to her ankles but wasn't too extravagant, mostly deep purple with dark blue patterns along with small white patterns, and the seams were white as well. The dress hugged her body nicely but wasn't so tight that it revealed her exact body shape, and her sleeves reached down to her wrists. On her neck was a simple necklace with a silver pendant, next to a crest on the left side of her chest at about the same place where Lillian's was. Though her crest was a shield and the hilt of a sword sticking out from behind it, the Adrenian coat of arms. The pattern on the shield was a dragon standing on its hind legs, breathing out fire that curled back around the dragon.

(Lillian) "You look nice."

Liana smiled in response, knowing Lillian's true feelings about her dressing. Lillian walked a few steps forward and offered her arm to Liana, which she took. They walked out of the house to the great hall, and to a meeting room Liana had never seen before. When they got in, Liana immediately knew why.

*

The patterns on the walls indicated it was for royalty, Liana recognizing many of them as crests and coats of arms of historical royal families from the different kingdoms.

(Lillian) "Do you like it?"

Liana chuckled softly as she asked,

(Liana) "Did you design this room or was it already here?"

Lillian smiled and led Liana to the round table in the centre of the room as she replied,

(Lillian) "The whole structure was here before I was born. The patterns on the walls were all engraved in at the times that the crests were being used. Save for a few, which were engraved in when the building was first built as there were already coats of arms and crests that had changed into something new."

(Liana) "These crests, are they from all the different countries or only from the Adrenian Kingdom?"

She wasn't so sure now that they were from the different countries, now that Lillian had said that every single crest was engraved into the walls.

(Lillian) "In this room is just the crests from the Adrenian Kingdom and the Vayithen Empire. There are other rooms with different combinations of the different kingdoms, and one with all of them."

(Liana) "Whoa."

Lillian smiled, but her attention was taken as the door to the meeting room opened and King Zander and Queen Adelia entered. They were both wearing formal clothes, King Zander wearing something similar to Lillian's, but with a robe hanging from his shoulders, more detail, and different colours: deep purple and dark blue. There was also the Adrenian coat of arms on his chest as well. Queen Adelia was wearing an almost identical dress to Liana's, the colours the same, but while Liana's had white, Queen Adelia's didn't, making her dress only deep purple and dark blue. The reason for this was that Liana was still a Princess, albeit the Crown Princess. Before any Prince or Princess takes the throne or get married, they have to have white on any of their formal garments, signifying their purity. After they take the throne, their garments become fully the royal colours, if they so choose. However, if they get married, they are not allowed to wear white on their formal garments unless the occasion in question calls for it.

Lillian dropped into a low bow and as she straightened up, her hands formed a greeting Liana hadn't seen before.

(Lillian) "Your majesties."

King Zander and Queen Adelia both dipped their heads in response, but Liana noticed it was lower than was customary. Liana herself dropped into a curtsey, but it wasn't as low as if someone else were to be doing it.

(Liana) "Your Highnesses."

(King Zander, Queen Adelia) "Chief Lera, Princess Liana."

These greetings were necessary as it was a formal meeting and thus, procedure had to be followed.

*

King Zander and Queen Adelia walked towards them and as they reached them, the door opened again, revealing Kristen. Kristen was wearing something similar to Lillian, but where Lillian's clothes were red, Kristen's were gold. On her back was a cape that hung down to about her knees, and on her chest was a crest that had a sword and a shield, like the Adrenian crest, but in addition to that, there was a wolf holding a magic staff in its mouth.

Lillian dropped into a bow again, then used a different greeting, again one that Liana had never seen before but figured it was something unique to formal occasions, and the Vayithen Empire.

(Lillian) "Empress Laurel."

Liana dropped into a curtsey, though slightly higher than she had for her parents, as Kristen was from a different kingdom, and greeted her as well.

(Liana) "Empress Laurel."

King Zander bowed slightly while Queen Adelia dropped gracefully into a curtsey, though just as slightly.

(King Zander, Queen Adelia) "Empress Laurel Vilera."

Kristen, or Empress Laurel, bowed as well, just slightly lower than King Zander.

(Empress Laurel) "Emperor Zander Litvyak, Empress Adelia Litvyak, Princess Liana Litvyak, Chief Lillian Lera."

The reason for Empress Laurel using their first and last names was that she was from a different kingdom, and thus the procedure was different for her. And why she called King Zander and Queen Adelia Emperor and Empress, well, that's because that's their real title, but they preferred to go by King and Queen.

Every royal couple in the history of the Empire of Adrenia was allowed to choose what they would have their people call them, as long as there was a suitable title within it.

(Lillian) "Shall we sit, then we can begin?"

The others all nodded in response and Lillian led the rest of the way to the table. All five of them sat down at the same time, as the procedure for this would have been too troublesome because of Lillian's position. Starting from King Zander, Queen Adelia was on his right, with a space beside her, then Lillian, with Liana on her right, and a few spaces, then Kristen. Altogether there were about fifteen chairs around the table.

*

(Lillian) "Shall we begin?"

King Zander smiled.

(King Zander) "Yes. Now that the formalities have been done, let us get on to why we came here in the first place."

Lillian nodded in response and King Zander continued,

(King Zander) "As we mentioned in the note that we sent you, we wish to discuss with you the Vayithen Empire, which would not make it such a wise idea to have their very Empress sitting at the table, in our meeting."

Before Lillian could speak, King Zander continued,

(King Zander) "But. Since she is your guest and you wish for her to be at the table with us, I shall not mention it again."

Lillian smiled and nodded.

(Lillian) "Then we shall go ahead with the meeting. What exactly did you wish to talk about the Vayithen Empire?"

King Zander shared a glance with Queen Adelia before he spoke again.

(King Zander) "We wish to set terms for future circumstances. I believe all of us here are aware that you and Liana are the two the prophecy speaks of. Which means that our two Kingdoms will come to a situation where we either have to make an alliance, or one merges with the other."

King Zander was aware that Lillian would have to take the throne of the Vayithen Empire even though it wasn't mentioned in the prophecy, because Lillian had told him the moment she found out. She didn't want to find herself in a situation where she would have to take the throne and doing so would be an act of treason.

(Kristen) "If I may?"

Four heads turned to Kristen and saw a gentle smile on her face with one hand in the air, raised slightly.

King Zander nodded.

(King Zander) "Go ahead."

Kristen's smile grew slightly in response as her hand lowered.

(Empress Laurel) "We could draw up a draft of an alliance or even merger papers that would only come into play if and when certain conditions are met. A dormant contract, if you would."

King Zander had a quizzical look on his face as he asked,

(King Zander) "You mean to sign papers that would only take effect if certain agreed upon conditions are met, between the two of us?"

Kristen nodded.

(Empress Laurel) "We could also add Chief Lera's and Princess Liana's signatures on to it for stronger hold.

(King Zander) "You're not intending to have children, are you?"

Everyone else at the table was taken aback by King Zander suddenly dropping all formality and instead firing a personal question at Kristen.

(Kristen) "I'm afraid certain… things would prevent that from being possible."

King Zander nodding in response, understanding what Kristen meant. As for why he asked such a seemingly random question, was because if she did have children, they would be next in line for the throne by law of inheritance. That would conflict with the need for Lillian to take the throne of the Vayithen Empire to fulfil the prophecy. Which would lead to a conflict that wouldn't end well, unless one or the other gave up.

However, Kristen wasn't going to have children not for that reason alone, but for other reasons that won't be revealed at this point. King Zander understood this as well.

For a king without magic in the line of the Fire Queen, the master of magic, King Zander was wise for his years. Although it was common to get married young in the royal family, it wasn't common that they had children at a relatively young age, with most royals only having children in their late twenties. Though no matter what, they would always have at least one child to continue their bloodline.

(King Zander) "Then I agree with your idea. Chief Lera?"

Lillian thought for a moment, then spoke softly, but with a tone that would warn anyone not to mess with her.

(Lillian) "Signing a conditional contract sounds like a good idea, but we must be sure that we cover all possibilities of circumstances and conditions."

Both King Zander and Kristen nodded in response with serious looks on their faces, both understanding what Lillian was getting at.

(King Zander) "The Sunstone Kingdom was your doing, was it not?"

Lillian simply smiled in response, giving King Zander all the answer that he needed.

(King Zander) "I will always be in awe at the amount of raw power you possess."

(Kristen) "As will I."

*

Liana, sitting quietly beside Lillian this whole time, was incredibly confused as to how they managed to keep swaying from the main topic.

However, what Liana didn't know is that all the strange and seemingly random topics that they were 'swaying' to, was actually part of their actual discussion.

The next thing Kristen said cleared things up slightly for her, though not entirely.

(Kristen) "I am glad that that was what you did, though, instead of wiping out the entire Kingdom though you did consider it."

Queen Adelia's face paled at the mention of wiping out an entire Kingdom and spoke for the first time since they started,

(Queen Adelia) "As am I."

Lillian shrugged, knowing that the meeting was no longer as formal as when they first started.

(Lillian) "Well, like I said, it would have caused too much chaos."

Liana had to hold back a laugh at the nonchalant way Lillian said it.

(Lillian) "It also wasn't the right time to do so."

King Zander, Queen Adelia, and Kristen all nodded in sync at Lillian's second statement.

(Lillian) "We have decided then? We will draw up a draft of the contract and conditions, so now we need to discuss the conditions."

*

Meanwhile…

(Robyn) "Why exactly am I here again?"

She was sitting at the side of a training hall, watching Liz and Ruby spar each other. The three of them had nothing to do since Lillian and Liana both had to attend the meeting with the King and Queen, and since they weren't part of it, they couldn't go.

There was a pulse of magic and Robyn turned to face the person that had just teleported to sit beside her.

(Robyn) "Hey. Why are you here?"

(Jasmine) "I was bored. Besides, Elena and Rose are both there."

(Robyn) "You're incredibly irresponsible, you know that?"

Robyn and Jasmine were pretty close friends, Robyn having met the younger girl on one of her previous visits, and they immediately clicked. However, due to the nature of Jasmine's job, they didn't get much time to hang out during Robyn's visits.

(Jasmine) "I am…"

She trailed off as her head turned to the side. Robyn followed her gaze and her eyes narrowed.