Blood Shaper

“Presenting Captain Lydia Icerose and His Highness Prince Carlile Selthoran of the Seramist Isles.” The attendant announced the two people who stepped into the meeting room before unobtrusively shutting the door behind them.

The meeting room that Kay had been using for each session with the various delegates and representatives had been slightly shifted for each meeting. The number of chairs, the length of the table, the level of finery, even the refreshments that were available at the center of the table were slightly tailored for each session. It was partially a matter of practicality, there was no need for half a dozen chairs and a long table when Kay would be meeting with only a single person, and even in a world of magic and Classes there were people with allergies. There was also a measure of matching the environment to the situation. Negotiations of trade deals that would be mutually beneficial and be made up with wrangling logistics and haggling over prices didn’t need the same level of grandeur as Kay shooting down the requests from small city-states wanting him to guarantee his military to supporting their independence did.

As the two elves stepped into the room it was decorated at the highest end of grandiosity that was available. No one was really sure what kind of message a prince of the Seramist Isles was here to deliver, not even Eleniah, but a certain level of majesty was expected when dealing with a certain level of diplomat. This wasn’t just any prince either, he was the queen’s son. Eleniah had given Kay a truncated course on the Isles’ politics when they’d gotten word of their royal visitor. While there was a level of extra focus on people related directly to Queen Alahna Selthoran, Eleniah’s cousin and ruler of the seramist Isles, anyone with the right connections and merit could become a prince or princess and enter the running to be heir to the throne. There was quite a bit of time left before there was ever a chance of anyone becoming the next monarch as long as Queen Alahna wasn’t killed, but a certain kind of person flocked to the power and prestige just being in the running could grant. Prince Carlile wasn’t only the queen’s son, he was also fairly high in the line of succession. Sending him as a messenger or diplomat was a kind of message on its own, and Kay was waiting to see if it was a good or bad one.

“Greetings, your majesty.” The prince, who looked remarkably like Eleniah with coppery tanned skin and dark black hair, lacking only her deep blue eyes with his own being a sea-green color, bowed at the waist. Captain Icerose, a relative of both the prince and Eleniah and also one of the people Kay had rescued when he’d led his people in taking out the pirate port to the east, bowed as well. “Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today.”

“Of course,” Kay replied, “I’m quite pleased to have the acknowledgment of The Seramist Isles by having you attend my coronation.” While there hadn’t been an official, just having an important prince attend was a kind of proclamation of its own, one that the skilled politicians of the world would be aware of.

“Indeed.” The prince looked over at Eleniah who was sitting to Kay’s right. “It’s good to see you Aunt Eleniah, how have you been?”

Eleniah rolled her eyes at him, “I’ve been doing quite well in the two days since I’ve seen you last.”

He shot her a cheeky grin before sobering and taking a seat. Kay expected him to start speaking immediately, but he took his time, staring at Kay. It was a searching look, and after it went on for longer than a few seconds Kay opened his mouth to speak.

“I apologize,” Prince Carlile said before Kay could start talking, “I needed a moment to get my thoughts in order and come to something of a decision.”

“Oh?”

“Yes… You Majesty would it be alright if I drop some of the formalities and speak plainly? Given what we’ve learned about you and what it says about you that my aunt has decided to remain at your side as you’ve grown into a ruler makes me believe that you’d appreciate a more direct conversation. And hopefully it will make the requests my mother has sent me with a little less…” He searched for a good word, “Less aggravating to you.”

Kay glanced at Eleniah, who already looked aggravated but she nodded to him. An even quicker look at Amanda on his other side gave him nothing, she had her poker face all the way on. “Alright, go ahead.”

“Thank you. First of all, and what I personally consider the most important, I thank you, both as a representative of the Seramist Isles and as one for our family, for rescuing our citizens from the pirates who attacked and captured them. We are immensely grateful to you for saving them, as well as returning their ships and property when you did not have to.” He bowed deeply over the table, “Thank you.”

“I believe that being powerful doesn’t negate the demands of honor and choosing to be a good person.” Kay told him seriously, “While I would have done it no matter who was being held captive, I’m glad that you all care deeply for you people and family.”

Carlile smiled at him, but it faded after a moment. “And this is where things will probably become aggravating to you. Queen Alahna has declared that in recognition of your effort in saving our people and goodwill in returning their property that she considers any debt between you for the events in Tumbling Rapids to be balanced.”

Eleniah snorted derisively, “Does she now?”

“I do not feel that I owe Queen Alahna anything at all, certainly not anything regarding my time in Tumbling Rapids.”

Carlile looked put upon as he responded, “Without the infusion of capital from her majesty, your nation would not be in as good of a position as it is today.”

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“What infusion of capital?”

“The one you received from her majesty’s agent in the city before you left. Specifically while you were escaping from the compound you’d been held captive in.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I never met a single person who identified themselves as an agent of her majesty or the Isles.”

Eleniah was looking murderous at that point, and Captain Icerose leaned over to nudge the prince with her elbow. “Carlile, I thought you were going to speak plainly?”

“I am!” He threw his arms up and slumped back against his seat. “She gave specific instructions about what she wanted me to say, I can’t just ignore her completely. I’m already chopping it down into the most easily refutable phrases so we can get through this part quickly.”

His outburst shifted Eleniah’s expression from aggressive and potentially violent to standard run of the mill annoyed. She leaned forward across the table, “For my sake, as family, can you just skip her ‘poking at people and seeing how they react’ bullshit and skip to the important parts?”

Carlile bounced upright, immediately looking chipper again, “Well, if you ask she can’t get mad at me for listening to my favorite aunt.”

“You’re just like your mother.”

“Thank you!” He turned back to Kay, “Skipping through several layers of back and forth, mother knows you’re never going to acknowledge any level of debt for anything that happened with the spying and the money and all of that, but she was wondering if you’d jump at a chance to dodge any ire she might feel.”

“Trying to see if I’d accept a lesser prize or if I thought I owed her something?”

“Exactly. As you haven’t, not that I was expecting one of Eleniah’s students to do so, she acknowledges that we owe you a debt for saving our people.”

Kay frowned, “I’m not putting a price on saving people.”

“Neither is my mother,” Carlile replied seriously, “But while we won’t put a monetary value on our citizens, they are still valuable to us, and you saved them. Not only did you put in the effort into doing so, you also lost people in the fighting. If we didn’t reward you for helping us it would be dishonorable. Not to mention how it would look politically. Accordingly, her majesty will allow Avalonian ships to dock in Seramist ports for lower fees, will lower export and import taxes for merchants who are citizens of Avalon, and will allow Avalonian merchants to purchase restricted trade goods at slightly higher quantities than normal. That last restriction will of course be even lower for official government trades as opposed to individual merchants. The same for docking fees of vessels that are owned directly by your nation.”

“That’s very generous of her majesty,” Amanda said, speaking for the first time. “What rates, and which goods?”

Carlile handed her a sheet of paper which she read over quickly.

“Quite generous of her majesty.” She said again with a slightly raised eyebrow. “These are valuable goods that the Isles maintain a strict limit on for foreign merchants.” She passed the sheet over, but Eleniah took it form Kay before he could read it.

“Oh, this is good. Not even counting the boost to our economy that we could get selling more of these than other people, Avalon itself could use some of these goods.” She tapped at a specific line, “Arrowcaster spores are an intersting material that can boost reproduction rates of fish. With a good enough stockpile we could ensure the fishing in our lake stays sustainable and productive basically indefinitely.”

Kay read over the list when he finally got it from Eleniah, and he agreed with both his advisers of how generous the offer was. Not even an offer, a reward? Whatever word he chose, it was generous. The Isles had some of the only safe docks in their portion of the world, the rest were either slightly organized pirate havens with high fees for “protection” or too small to be of any use. When making the comparably short trading run from the western side central continent to the Isles and back, it didn’t really matter because you could spend a few days restocking supplies at either end without trouble, but the longer runs had less options, and Avalon’s location meant that they either had to go to the northern continent, which had an interesting collection of coastal cities and nations to trade in or go the long way around. Having a safe ports to stop in in the Isles would be good for trade, and having them be cheaper was even better.

The list of restricted goods they’d have slightly higher access to was also nice. Kay only recognized a few of the names, but the ones he did know were valuable commodities. Some were artificially restricted to keep the price high, like diamonds back on Earth, while others were restricted because of potential use as weapons or to make sure the harvest of the resources stayed sustainable.

“My thanks to her majesty for such a generous acknowledgment of Avalon’s efforts and manpower.”

“I will convey them to her.” Carlile paused for a moment, looking honestly awkward. “The last topic my mother wanted me to broach is… interesting.”

“And that is?”

He took a deep breath. “She would like to invite your majesty to make a state visit to the Isles and for that visit to be as soon as possible. She would like you be there right now if she had her way, although she’s aware that isn’t possible.”

Kay, Eleniah, and Amanda all gave similarly confused looks.

“I can understand wanting his majesty to make a state visit at some point in the future.” Amanda said slowly, “But why would she want him to come immediately? That seems odd.”

“What’s she up to?” Eleniah demanded, looking murderous again.

“While her majesty is very open to having closer ties to Avalon and King Kay, the actual reason she wants you to come it a little… fraught. I ask that you don’t share this around freely.”

Kay raised one eyebrow, “I can’t promise anything other than I won’t tell anyone who doesn’t need to know.”

“That’s more than good enough.” Carlile made deliberate eye contact as he spoke, My mother would like your help. Something very strange has started happening in the Isles and she’s told me that a very good source has informed her that you can help.”

“Why would I sail away from my country that I was just crowned king of to go help her? She’s the queen of a much larger and more powerful country, she has to have the resources to solve whatever problem this is.”

“I am not aware of the details of what’s happening, but she told me that the kind of people that can deal with this problem are very rare, and you are one of the people with the right capabilities.”

Kay started having a bad feeling.

“As to why you would help, she’s willing to offer you quite a lot of rewards, as well as granting you access to resources and trainers to make sure your continued advancement doesn’t slow down while you’re away from home. Acording to my mother though, the biggest reason is that her source, whoever it is, will be making a very strong argument about why you should come help.”

“Oh.”

Kay looked over to see Eleniah looking back at him, worriedly. “That’s not good.”

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