"My liege, there are problems in the Shadeworld," Cillean continued.
Vovin nodded. "Yes, I was aware of them. I was just speaking about them to--," he paused and looked over to see Titania had decided to go invisible before the visitors. He shrugged. "Well, to someone at any rate. Was that all you rushed past my secretaries to say?"
Daerick shook his head. "Your majesty, we've not come to speak of the trouble, as you surely know all that is happening in your kingdom. We came to request instead that you summon a council," he said.
Vovin examined the idea. Sure it would be a hassle to bring those delegates together. They always got excited by an unscheduled meeting, so they'd probably be all over the place during the talks and not actually address the problem before them.
But still, inviting the different representatives to gather had merit. He could observe them all in one room. He could watch who talked to whom and see from their actions and words which he suspected of being less than loyal and tangled up in these preposterous plots.
He nodded. "Yes, that may be just the thing to do at this point. Very well then." He snapped at his footman who promptly bowed and rushed out of the room. "We have summoned the Council. I can only hope my son was right in this and it will turn up the information we need of it."
They bowed and left the room.
A long train of different dignitaries dressed in their formal clothes slowly filed in. They made a great entrance into the meeting hall. Four times a year representatives from the different species of the Shadeworld regularly met here to discuss all the matters of state that were of the greatest importance to their people. Each of these primary meetings went smoothly as the delegates had time in between them to meet with each other and hash out their opinions and preferences so the primaries themselves were straight-forward presentations of the final plans.
Today, however, was different. Today they had been called here for a secondary meeting, which always turned messy. Secondary meetings could be called at any time by the king to advise him on specific concerns of their world, but he had only summoned five in the last century. This format of meeting was new for most of the current delegates and no one quite knew how it would go down.
Before the meeting started, however, trestle tables were set up around the perimeter of the room to serve refreshments. All of the representatives of the various species circulated around to speak to each other.
"The meeting this time better be worth it," Richard mumbled under his breath. Still all the officials from the different peoples of their world were congregating around the room, the darkness of night barely affecting the glow of the gold sun clock on the wall, which reflected every scrap of light back a hundredfold. One of the long hands moved, and its light traveled the full room, a glowing shield meeting at the corners and cracks of the room to prevent any unwary or devious eavesdroppers from listening in.
The princes were sent to do a round of meet and greets as well, while the king had the luxury of observing the room and all those gathered there from his throne placed at the head of the meeting table. He managed to speak to many of the delegates who walked up to him to pay their respects or privately discuss a matter with him, but still he managed to keep an eye trained on his sons.
After all, this was also the first meeting between the princes in almost a month. Things were not expected to go smoothly between them.
"Aeron, my brother. How wonderful to see you," Richard said. His sneer belied the lie.
Aeron still clapped his shoulder in a gesture of warmth. "Well, you might not be happy, but I still am. Tell me, how are things going with your friends? Revolution treating you right?"
Richard sneered at him. "I don't know what you could possibly be speaking of. I've never even had a single revolutionary thought. If I had thought of starting some sort of uprising, though," he continued, "you can be sure I'd be doing a wonderful job of it," he said.
Aeron nodded and hmmed in answer. It was meant to sound patronizing, and his brother clearly understood it that way. "While you go off continuing to do the rounds with the various delegates, I'm off to check in on Alyss. Unlike some people, I have more than just fans, I actually have friends," Aeron continued.
Richard laughed. "Surely you don't mean that? I don't think Alyss thinks of you as a friend at all anymore," he said.
Aeron frowned at him. "What makes you say that? You haven't seen or spoken to her in years."
Richard grinned to bare his fangs. "Oh contraire. I just went to see her a few days ago. When I spoke to her she seemed to be under our roof. And, imagine this even, somehow and in some way she was even shockingly in your private quarters!" Then Richard smirked. "So I asked her why she was there, and she told me she would be quite happy to leave. Naturally, being the gentleman that I am, I obliged her. I opened a portal to let her get away, and you'll probably never find her at this point."
Aeron pinned the man's arms to his sides and squeezed until they popped. "What do you mean? Where did you take her?" he demanded.
Richard frowned at him. "Naturally, when she asked to be sent away, I escorted her off the grounds and through the divide so she is back somewhere in her world now. It was clearly the right thing to do, under the circumstances."
"What?" Aeron roared. He stomped out of the council room as the delegates stared after him.
The king stood up. "He has to
