116 A Respectable Woman

"This is ridiculous!" Said the carmine red, horned man as he slammed his fist onto the cedar brown, wooden table, "You can't make me do this!" 

The wrinkly, grey haired man, with pale ivory shin, shook his head, "Yes we definitely can, your highness." 

The horned man scowled, with his lips closed, as he grabbed onto his glass of cedar colored whiskey. He brought the glass up to his lips and took a big gulp of his whiskey. He then set his glass back down onto the table as he rubbed his foot long horns, which started at the top of his forehead and contained a soft bend in the center. The tips of his horns were a bit rounded and the bend in the center made his tips point backwards. 

"Please understand, your highness," said the old man, dressed in a silky, jet black robe, "This is for the good of your kingdom. You must secure an heir to the throne." 

The horned man narrowed his bright, monochromatic, lemon yellow eyes at the old man, "What if I don't? Then what will the council do, Wilmer?" 

"Well," the old man sighed as he shook his head slowly in disappointment, "If you don't but your cousin Ilroy ends up getting married and having a child before you, then we'll have to hand the crown over to him." 

"What?!" The horned man slammed his palms onto the table as he quickly stood up from his seat, "You can't do that!" 

"Yes, we definitely can, your highness. It is our job, as the king's political council, to make sure that the royal family is able to continue on their legacy. Therefore, it wouldn't make any sense for you to stay in power if you keep refusing to continue your bloodline." 

"Along with that," said a younger man, wearing the same robe as the old man, "Prince Ilroy is much more suited to rule than you are." 

"Hans!" Said the old man, sounding very shocked. 

There was a few seconds of awkward silence as the horned man glared at the other man. 

The younger man looked at the horned man in utter shock as a look of terror washed over his face, "Your highness," began the younger man, "I … I'm sorry. I didn't mean-" 

"Out!" Said the horned man as he pointed to the door. 

"But-" 

"Get out!" He yelled at the man, completely furious. 

"Yes, your highness." The younger man got up from his seat and hung his head in shame as he left the room. 

The horned man then faced the old man, "So what are the rules? Who am I not allowed to use as my breeding pet?" 

"Breeding pet?" The councilman shook his head, "No, no! You need to get married, King Larkspur. You can't just sleep with a prostitute, or even a peasant woman, and produce a child with her. She needs to be a respectable woman." 

The horned man's angry expression shifted into a look of defeat, "Alright," he sighed, "I'll make a respectable woman my bride." 

"Good," the old man smiled, "Is there a noble woman or a princess that you fancy?" 

Larkspur shook his head, "No, not yet." 

*

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*

The elvish woman flung her eyelids open as she gasped. She quickly sat up on the bed and began panting heavily. She looked around the dim, fossil grey room and saw multiple cots along with thick, peanut brown curtains which separated the cots from one another. The room also had tables and drawers which all contained medical supplies. Mairey quickly realized that she was in an infirmary. She looked down at her body and noticed that she was covered in a thin, oyster beige blanket. She also noticed that she was wearing a baggy, latte beige dress. She could feel something tight around her torso and limbs. She threw the blanket off before lifting up her dress and saw a bunch of cotton beige bandages that were neatly wrapped around her torso, from right below her breast to right above her pelvis. She let her dress down and looked around the room again. 

I don't know where I am, thought Mairey, But I do know how to get back home. While still in bed, the woman reached her hand out to the side and moved her arm in a circular, clockwise motion. She thought about her apartment back in London, right across the hall from Lars and Aphiya's apartment. After a few seconds of attempting to summon a portal, nothing had happened. 

Huh? Why didn't it work? The woman wondered as she looked down at her hands, What happened to my powers? Did they stop working? She felt very concerned, Oh no! I might be trapped here! 

She then looked up as she heard footsteps enter the room and quickly adjusted her blanket. The curtain in front of her slid open as a woman, seeming to be in her mid thirties, approached Mairey's cot. She was dressed in a thick, powder blue dress with a white apron and a matching white headscarf. The pale ivory skinned woman slowly walked over to her as Mairey clutched onto the blanket, seeming distressed. 

"Don't be scared, dear," said the woman, raising her hands up in a surrendering motion, "I won't hurt you, I promise." Once she was close enough, she carefully placed her hand on Mairey's forehead, "You don't feel very warm so that's a good sign." 

The elvish woman slowly unclutched her blanket as she looked up at the woman in curiosity, "Where am I?" 

"You're in the infirmary, dear." The woman smiled. 

Mairey shook her head, "No, no! I'm aware of that. I meant, which location am I in?" 

"Oh, my bad. You're in Gefiko, the capital of Tojnic." 

Tojnic? Thought the elvish woman, That sounds familiar but I'm not sure where I've heard that from. 

"How did I get here?" 

"A couple of travelers came into our city, carrying your body with them. They asked our local healer if she could heal you but you were already dead." 

"I died?!" Asked Mairey, as her eyes widened in shock. 

"Well," the woman paused for a moment as she tried to remember what actually happened, "Not exactly. You see, the local healer's magic didn't work. However, after those travelers had left, the royal healer came into her shop for supplies and she told him about you. He found out that you were still barely alive and brought you here, to the palace infirmary. It took awhile but he was finally able to bring you back to full health." 

A shop?

"Oh," Mairey looked down for a moment as she had realized something before facing the other woman, "Why did he save my life? Why me out of all people?" 

The woman shrugged, "Not sure. You'll have to ask him yourself. Speaking of talking to people, our king would like to see you, now that you're awake." 

"Huh?" Mairey raised an eyebrow, "Why me? I'm just a random traveler." 

"You see, dear," the woman began, "In the past week while you were asleep, word about you has been spreading around the kingdom like wildfire. Nobody here has ever heard of someone who returned from death. You're basically a celebrity now and the king seems to be quite fascinated with that." 

"Oh?" She looked down for a moment as she scratched her chin, If I meet with the king, then I can figure out how to get back home from here. She looked up at the woman, "Sounds great!" She smiled, "I'm ready to meet him!" 

*

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*

In the gym, Larkspur was slamming his fists into a pebble grey, leather punching bag as he let out loud grunts. His knees were slightly bent and his entire body was in a fighting stance while his skin was drenched in sweat since he had been working out for a few hours. He was wearing nothing but a pair of tight, charcoal grey shorts and a matching pair of sneakers with ankle high, white socks. The dark mauve purple veins on his large biceps were bulging as the sweat all over his body made his limbs and toned abdominal muscles. 

"Easy, easy!" Said a sky blue teufel man as he held onto the back of the punching bag, "You've torn up two bags already and the royal leather craftsman is out sick for the whole week. Go easy on this one, it's our last." 

"Sorry, Lem." Said Larkspur as he stopped his exercise and stood up straight, "It's been a rough week." 

"Oh?" Lempio out from behind the bag and grabbed the towel from his shoulder before handing it to the red teufel man. Lempio was a bit slim and less muscular than Larkspur. He was six foot six, six inches shorter than the red man. His horns resembled that of a ram while his monochromatic eyes were chartreuse green. His shoulder length hair was a pale shade of baby blue, which almost looked white, and was tied up into a ponytail. Larkspur's messy, hickory brown hair was ear length and his ears were pointed, just like Lempio's ears. 

Larkspur grabbed the towel and began wiping his face with it. 

"So how was the council meeting?" Asked Lempio. 

The red man removed the towel from his face and began wiping the back of his neck, "It was shit!" 

"More than usual?" 

"Yes, more than usual. Not only did this newbie, Hans, tell me that Ilroy is a better ruler than me, councilman Wilmer said that I must secure an heir to the throne by getting myself a 'respectable' woman to be my wife." 

"But," Lempio scratched his chin, "Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Have an heir or else someone else will take over your kingdom after you pass away." 

Larkspur placed the towel on his shoulders and sighed, "Yes, that's exactly what is expected of me. However, I'm not very big on marriage. I think it's odd that people need to go through legal paperwork in order to live together and start a family with one another. I mean, there are plenty of people who have children out of wedlock and seem to be fairly content with their lives." 

Lempio nodded, "I understand that not everyone needs to get married to be happy and live a fulfilling life but, in your case, it's different. Happiness and freewill don't apply to you if you are running the country. You must sacrifice your life in order to serve your nation or else something terrible could occur." 

"Don't start spewing that royal duties bullshit at me!" The red man growled, "Both my father and the council have been shoving that down my throat since I was a young boy." 

"Sorry, Lark." Apologized Lempio, sincerely. 

Larkspur sighed, "It's alright, Lem." He took a couple steps forward and hugged the blue man, "I understand that you only say these things because you care about me and want me to succeed." 

Lempio hugged him back and a smile appeared across his face, "It's alright, dear."

Larkspur kissed the blue man on the forehead. As the two men slowly pulled away from each other, another man, dressed in a black and white suit, rushed into the gym. 

"Your highness, your highness!" Said the man as he stopped in front of them and started panting. He quickly bowed to the red man, still panting, before he faced them both, "She's finally awake." 

"Who?" Asked Larkspur, seeming very confused. 

"The elvish woman," said the blue man as he faced the king, "The one I found in Gwenniver's supply shop, remember?"