Duchess Ariana's visit to Litora

Aurora
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Surprisingly, the city of Irigutus had accommodations for people coming from the sky- Skyports, they called them, for Maquida riders coming in from other places, to dock their maquida and let them rest while they continue their business in the city. The place was empty today, reserved for the guests. When they get out of the skyport, they’re escorted by a guide- a woman with a single blue flower through her hair. As she guided them to the castle, they were met to what the Belsedori would have described as a fair temperature- the humans, however, were all bundled up- it was bitingly cold. Speaking of the humans, they looked different than the Belsedori probably expected- while both sexes were generally taller than Rosalia by a foot or more, Ariana was close in height to the women. Men were usually above the women by about 4-5 inches. Their garments would have also been suprising- women wore dresses with the main motif of green, floral patterns and such, while men were typically wearing furs. Furthermore, the men were almost all armed with arming swords, and in some cases bastard swords or longswords. Women were armed less commonly, and when they were, it was typically not with swords, but large staves of winding wood that widened at their tops and contained some kind of metal-like substance in their center, that got to about 4 feet tall. It seemed like those weapons were for a magic of some sort, and conversely, while few boys carried weapons, young girls almost always carried a smaller stick made out of the same winding wood that the staves were made of.

Ariana and Rosalia also witnessed a variety of small events on their way to the castle- a girl pointed her stick at a wilting flower, and the flower perked up as if it had just received nutrients and water. A small wolf pup (If they had seen a regular wolf pup before, they would have thought the pup quite big, however) tried to approach them to play, but a boy put his hand out in a way in which there was no way for the pup to see, and yet it walked back. A man was riding a horse without directing it with reins, yet it moved just as smoothly as if it was being directed with perfection. It seemed that both Amisan men and women used magic of some sort. Men and women walking together typically had flowers of some sort in their hair- those walking alone did not.

When they got to the castle, they would have probably noticed two things:

  1. from what they could see, the gardens looked immaculate, flowers put in stunning patterns and vibrant colors.

  2. the guards posted outside the castle gates were men, two massive white wolves by their side, armed with longswords.

INSIDE THE CASTLE

Duchess Flora and Duke Caes were speaking.
“They should be here in a few minutes, so i suggest that we turn the Sunstone-”
A servant came into the room, panting as if he had just run a long way. “Ma’am, the Cloud Fae are getting agitated- they’re refusing to leave the castle.”
Duchess Flora looked surprised. “Why is that?”
“They’re saying something about ‘snow demons’- apparently one of them spotted these supposed creatures outside, and they all flew inside with their husbands and children. I know the fae are usually timid, but mass hysteria just because of an imaginary creature-”
Caes interjected. “They aren’t imaginary- the guests have arrived. Go with the other servants who aren’t currently doing anything to try and calm them down.”

Flora spoke. “While you’re out there, turn the Sunstone Eminator* off. Caes, Lucia, we should probably meet them outside while we let the castle cool down”
Caes looks surprised. “You want us out there too? We don’t want to pry in on your diplomatic meeting.”
“As it stands, even with all you’ve told me, you’re the most knowledgeable with Belsedori at the moment. Besides, from what i’ve heard, they’ll be happy to see a familiar face.”
Caes lets out a sigh. “I suppose so.”
Lucia laughs. “Caes, why do you seem so nervous? You went there and came back fine- it can’t be that bad.”
“Sorry, I just had a… fearful premonition.”
*Sunstone Eminators take advantage of the fact that sunstone lets off heat as energy naturally over time and use purposefully impure sunstone to “Eminate” heat out at a more controllable rate then a fireplace.

In a few minutes, the castle gates opened, and the party of 3 stepped out to greet the guests.

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Behind the castle gates stood two figures. The taller one was Duchess Ariana L’arakar of Larinata, who was the main representative of Belsegallia during the visit. She was wearing the usual outfit of a Belsedori duchess: a short, mid-thigh-length, full-sleeve dress dyed white, pants, a belt and a cloak dyed bright blue (although, because Belsedori have wings, this was more like a set of two wide, separate strips of fabric that extended from the collar to approximately 2 feet below the belt. The strips were also tucked under the belt to prevent them from becoming entangled with a Belsedori’s wings) in the primary color of the Duchy of Larinata, cloth gloves, and Belsedori-compatible (Belsedori have feet somewhat resembling that of a bird of prey. Each foot has five toes, four facing forward and one facing backwards so as to be opposable, all ending in hardened, sharp, curved talons of about 10 centimeters in length) shoes. Duchess Ariana herself was about 180 centimeters tall, with snow-white skin, hair, and feathers and faintly luminescent lavender eyes. Her hair was cut to about mid-neck length and relatively plain in comparison to her husband’s. In contrast to when Duke Caes saw her last, Ariana is now wearing what would be described as webbing gear covered in pouches and cases of various sizes (Belsedori have few flying mounts, and generally have to carry everything themselves when they fly).

”Ah, you must be Duchess Flora. And what a lovely surprise; if it isn’t my favorite Meyodori^ and what I can only assume to be his wife, here to see me and Rosalia as well. It’s so nice to see you again, and to be able to visit Ghratos. I must say, the weather here is so nice; I was told that terrestrial lands were almost uniformly uncomfortably hot, but this is quite a lovely climate that you have. It’s a shame that you humans don’t get to enjoy it like we do. Although, before I introduce myself to you, I did bring you a special gift as is customary for a married Belsedori staying in somebody else’s home; my consort Rosalia here has it.”

After saying this, Ariana makes a gesture to request Rosalia to present the gift.

For nearly the entire time that they’ve been in Amisa, the diminutive Duchescina Rosalia L’arakarie of Larinata has been timidly clinging to his wife’s arm with one hand and holding a collapsible parasol given to him in the other. Duchescina Rosalia was about 147 centimeters tall and aside from his chest was relatively slim in form compared to Ariana. He had very pale peach-colored skin and long, soft, honeydew-colored hair and feathers. His hair was kept very long and currently styled into a crown braid like High Princescina Yukari was wearing recently, and was also decorated with a white silk flower, a large white hair ribbon tied into a bow, and a butterfly-shaped hair clip made of silver. His bright magenta colored eyes glowed faintly from behind the translucent white face-obscuring veil that every married consort was expected to wear around women other than his wife and his mother.

Duchescina Rosalia was wearing a soft, pastel pink-colored dress decorated with abundant lace, flourishes, ribbons, bows, a large ribbon tied into a bow around his waist like a kind of belt, and a two-layer pleated skirt that reached down to about 10cm above the knee. Opaque white cloth stockings and colored cloth gloves, both decorated with a generous quantity of ribbons, bows, and lace margins, covered most of his limbs outside of about 5 centimeters of spacing each on his upper arms and thighs between his gloves & sleeves and his stockings & shorts. Rosalia also wore earrings and a necklace as well as a white wedding choker with a small bell on it. He was also wearing shoes, which unlike most of his outfit seemed to resemble Ariana’s. Perhaps the biggest change relative to his appearance when Duke Caes saw him last is the fact that he isn’t wearing his usual frilly apron, which is instead stored in one of the pouches that he was carrying. Rosalia too was wearing the webbing gear typical to Belsedori that have travelled by air, although his share of the luggage was barely under half that of what Ariana was carrying.

The most jarring quality about Rosalia for any human inexperienced with Belsedori would be his general appearance. Male Belsedori, in figure, facial features, voice, and in almost every other respect, were effectively identical in appearance to female Belsedori, and by extension female humans; in fact, in voice especially, they could even be considered to be more feminine (by common human standards, at least) than the women. The resemblance is so strong that some rumors say that male Belsedori don’t even exist. The easiest way for a non-Belsedori to tell the two Belsedori sexes apart was the fact that male Belsedori were almost always about 30-35 centimeters shorter and noticeably slimmer than their female counterparts, along with the fact that virtually adult male Belsedori are married and therefore wear white hair ribbons, veils, and wedding chokers.

After Duchess Ariana gestures, Rosalia slowly lets go of her arm and slots his parasol’s handle into a strap on his webbing gear to support it before letting go of it. He then reaches into one of the relatively few pouches that he’s carrying and pulls out a slightly shimmering glass bottle holding about a liter of an opaque white liquid before timidly approaching the Ghrateans with it, with the bell on his choker jingling faintly as he does so. As he approaches Duchess Flora, he makes a conscious effort to not make eye contact with her or with Duchess Lucia. After walking to within about 170cm of Duchess Flora, he does a tender curtsy before introducing himself. Even under the lacy and flowery but still relatively utilitarian “boys’” traveling gear that he was wearing, Duchescina Rosalia’s countenance is one defined by the ethereal, gentle, and paradoxically warm, yet delicate, frail, and timid beauty that Belsedori women like Ariana loved to cultivate in their consorts and in male Belsedori as a whole.

”Hello, Duchess Flora; my name is Duchescina Rosalia L’arakarie of Larinata. Thank you for welcoming us into your home; please accept this gift of milk from me as a gesture of friendship and generosity by our house towards you.”

After offering the bottle of milk to Duchess Flora, Rosalia retreats a few steps before standing and waiting rather awkwardly as if he’s expecting Duchess Flora to do something with him.

^Roughly translates to “sweetheart.” Diminutive term used by female Belsedori to refer to males.

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Both Duchess Flora and Lucia were quite surprised at the appearance of Ariana and Rosalia, despite Caes explaining it quite well- they were mainly caught off-guard by the sheer difference of dress and styling. Still, being nobles, they didn’t visually let this off very much, and Flora accepted the gift from Rosalia.

“Thank you for the gift, sir. We welcome you both to our home, the city of Irigutus, and the entire Duchy of Litora.”

With that, as if on cue, the two duchesses curtsy and Caes bows.
Caes speaks. “We are sorry to keep you outside for long, but we were not expecting you to arrive so early- I’m afraid the castle would be too warm for you two at the moment.”

Duchess Flora was wearing a more elegant version of the green dresses Amisan women wore- it was covered in a myriad of flower patterns in neat rows on it, and the symbol of Amisa- a tall green tree- on it. She was notably wearing a laurel wreath on her head rather then a flower in her hair. Xhaasan wear was less designed then that of the Amisans, but it was still elegant. Lucia was wearing a heavy dress for the cold, with yellow waves on it. Caes himself was wearing layers, with a yellow surcoat on top. Both of them wore a pin of the sun over their hearts- the symbol of Xhaasa.

Flora speaks once more. “Although it would be wise to wait on the inside of the castle, we would be pleased to show you around the gardens, or the city itself.”

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Duchess Ariana nods at Duchess Flora’s suggestion.

”I’m sure that Rosalia would love to see the castle gardens while we wait; he enjoys doing a lot of gardening himself, and seeing all of the terrestrial plant life sounds like something that he would enjoy quite a lot. Well, it’s actually me that does all of the gardening outside of picking the plants and where they’ll go; Rosalia’s a bit of a delicate flower himself, and I could never let him do so much strenuous, manual labor outside like that. But he loves looking at all of the flowers and other plants in our courtyard; I even had a few silk flowers made for him that mimic his favorite varieties. They look very different from the plants that you have in Amisa.”

Indeed, the ornament in Duchescina Rosalia’s hair looked quite unlike a normal flower. It superficially resembled a white water lily, but the leaves at the base and the its petals’ margins and tips both looked almost crystalline in appearance, as if covered in a light frost. The crystals themselves were fine and highly reflective.

Ariana finishes addressing Duchess Flora and turns to briefly speak with her husband, who has by now returned to quietly clinging to her right arm as closely as he can.

”Speaking of which, how have you been feeling about being away from home, honey? I know that you don’t get out much, and I wouldn’t want my poor little Ayashirie^ to get anxious about being in an unfamiliar environment like this.”

”I think I’m fine for now. It’s scary to not be at home, but I think that I’ll have fun on our visit. I can go play with Duke Caes while you and Duchess Flora conduct all of your diplomatic affairs, too.”

Duchess Ariana nods before speaking to Duchess Flora again.

”We’re ready to go to the castle gardens if that is acceptable to you.”

^Term of endearment interpreted as “honey” or “dear”; has a literal meaning of “toy”, “doll”, “plaything”. Based on the Belsedori word for “doll”, “stuffed animal”, or a similar object.

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Flora nods, “The castle gardens are wonderful- They are a tradition upkept by Litoran dukes and duchesses since even before the Dark Ages. I, of course, may be biased, but I think our garden surpasses that of any other in Ghratos.”

Caes interjects. “I’ve been all over the nation, and I have to say, the Litoran gardens are perhaps the most well kept in all of the cities and castles i’ve been to. Perhaps there’s a reason that Litora almost always produces the strongest Satopotates.*”
*Amisan word for user of Satopotes, a magic used to grow and manipulate plants. Literally means “Plant Controller.”

The trio led the Belsedori to the castle gardens- and they were immaculate. Flowers grew in amazing patterns that seemed almost impossible to grow naturally. Despite the patterns, however, the focus of the garden seemed to be on the plants themselves- flowers of many colors grew in ways that complemented the looks of each other. Hanging vines swept overhead and gave the garden a sense of ambiance. small birds could be seen hovering above the vines. It was an incredibly peaceful place. Servants could be seen uprooting the few weeds there were, watering some places, and generally keeping the garden from decline.

Lucia sighed. “Caes, I wish you would bring me on your diplomatic missions more often. You described this place after the…” She trailed off for a second, seemingly trying to come up with a word. “incident came to a close and discussions were held in this city, but even your descriptions couldn’t do them justice. This is no mere work of magic, Duchess Flora. This is a work of pure art.”

“Thank you, Lucia. It was no small feat getting this garden back to its former glory after my woeful predecessor neglected it- and his people- in favor of growing our family’s own power. It’s such a shame when the actions of a tyrant destroy centuries of culture and tradition. Ah- but that is not why we are here, is it? Sorry, but whenever I come here, i cannot help but think about the history involved in these plants. Duchess, Duchescina, what do you two think of our gardens?”

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Duchess Ariana replies first. ”I think that they look lovely; they’re very different in appearance from the plants that grow in Belsegallia, but they’re beautiful in their own way. I remember reading that most terrestrial plants are unable to survive anywhere but in exceptionally hot environments, but that does not seem to be an impediment in this case. Was this done with magic, or did you achieve it with selective breeding? It is quite impressive, regardless.”

Ariana briefly stops talking to think about something.

”Perhaps I can have Rosalia learn some botanical magic. Most of the magic that boys learn is centered around healing, but it might be good for him to learn something new.”

Duchescina Rosalia had finally stopped clinging to his wife to go look at some small white flowers a few moments ago, and is a few meters further away from the rest of the group when he replies to Duchess Flora.

”Everything here looks beautiful. These flowers over here are so small, and soft, and delicate, and they look sort of like the orange blossoms that we have in Belsegallia.”

Rosalia starts to drift off into a small tangent as he continues,

”Looking at these reminds me of my wedding ceremony with Ariana. Belsedori have used the small, frail, beautiful orange blossom as the traditional flower to represent and adorn betrothed consorts for forever; You wear one in your hair like my water lily until the end of the wedding ceremony, which is when you give it to your new wife to symbolize your being given to her as her consort by your parents. And you also wear a gorgeous white dress, too; the one that I wore was absolutely covered in bows, ribbons, ruffles, and lace, as well as a large bow-tied ribbon on the front of it. Wearing it made me feel so adorable and beautiful, like I was a bow-covered, gift-wrapped present that was being given to Ariana.”

Rosalia gives a sentimental sigh as reaches his hand up to his neck to fidget with the small bell on his white choker.

”Ariana and I got to celebrate our one hundred and seventy-fifth wedding anniversary not too long ago; I made a special holiday dinner for her, and she gave me this cute bell to wear as an anniversary gift. Doesn’t it look so adorable? It’s become a popular accessory for all of the other noble consorts, too; I heard that even Her Majesty is having one made for High Princescina Yukari. Speaking of which; where’s yours, Duke Caes? I remember Ariana telling me that she gave one to you when you visited Belsegallia.”

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Lucia looks at Caes, who says something in Ghratean back to her. She nods.

“Generally, we don’t bring gifts like that out of our duchy- We don’t like to risk them getting broken or lost. Besides, it’s unlikely that we’d need them on this trip.”
Caes then thinks for a moment, before asking. “Did you say one hundred seventy-five? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”

Flora responded to Ariana. “It’s certainly possible. I’ve heard that you Belsedori are rather magical people, so it shouldn’t be too hard to teach one of you some basic Satopotes. I know both kinds, so i’d be happy to help.”

Lucia shakes her head. “I remember always being jealous that Amisans got to learn magic when i was younger.”

Flora chuckles. “The grass is always greener, my friend. I was always amazed by what Xhaasans could build. The Magnan’irr is the main thing we use to protect our shores, and that thing seems rather magical to me.”

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Rosalia nods.

”Yeah; one hundred and seventy-five. I’m only one hundred and ninety-three years old, and Ariana is only one hundred and ninety-five, so we haven’t had a chance to be married for very long at all. I think that I’m actually the youngest Duchescina in Belsegallia.”

Ariana waves her wings and tail to clear stray snow from them.

”I think so. The next youngest is Duchescina Aleksandria, and he’s two hundred and fifteen.”

After saying this, Ariana addresss Duchess Flora.

”That sounds lovely. Maybe Rosalia can teach one of you some basic healing magic as thanks; he’s one of the best healers in Belsegallia, as befits a Duchescina. And, while we’re on the subject; I don’t believe that I’ve seen your consort yet, Duchess Flora. Is he busy making tea or food? I can tell Rosalia to go help him with it, if you want.”

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Flora responds. "My husband? He’s not cooking; that’s what the cooks are for. He’s training some of the court boys in pecapotes.* they were supposed to be closer to finished by the time you got here, but you came a bit early. They should be done by the time we eat. "
*Pecapotes. Literally: animal control. Amisan magic used to control animals.

Caes speaks. “Speaking of eating, it should be much more comfortable in the castle for our guests- we can probably go inside now.”

INSIDE THE CASTLE

The castle in Irigutus was full of beutiful archetecture- it was also rather big. It was, in fact, the biggest castle in Amisa, besides, of course, the one in the city of Amisa. All along the walls, floral patterns decorated them. Servants walked around in green robes, carrying items, delivering messages, and generally keeping the castle running. They made their way to a room meant to serve a small number of guests- and clearly this room was already prepared for them, as it had 3 sets of 2 chairs, all around a table. Caes and Lucia sat in two next to each other, Flora sat in one, the one next to her would be empty until her husband arrived. She motioned for the Belsedori to sit in the remaining two.

Before any speaking could happen, a cloud fae zipped into the room, and immediately froze when she saw the Belsedori, like prey that had just met eyes with its predator. She seemed to gather some courage, and spoke, “Duke Caes?”

He looked up. “Hai?” Yes?

She fluttered over and whispered a message in his ear. He nodded. “Gratudu, ke emno.” thank you, tiny one.

As she started to leave, Flora said "*Pakere, before you go, Tell my husband that our guests are here and to wrap up his training session.
*an affectionate term for Cloud Fae, particularly servants. Means roughly “Small-Small.” Interpreted as “tiny one” and in some cases “Poor thing.”

She nodded and flew out of the room, significantly faster than she flew in.

Caes cleared his throat. “Sorry for the interruption.” He nodded at Flora. She nodded back, and adressed the Belsedori. “I formally welcome you to Castle Irigutus. How are you two enjoying Litora so far?”

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Duchess Ariana answers Duke Caes’ question.

”We haven’t had the time to experience much of Litora yet, but what we have seen has been greatly enjoyable.”

She then quickly glances at Rosalia, who has been staying quiet and shyly looking around the room for the entire exchange.

”Did you say that you had actual cooks employed here? Not just secondary kitchen staff for prep cooking, but actual cooks?”

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Flora nods. “Of course. They prepare the meals for all of the court, and generally for the servants as well. I believe they should be preparing food for us right now. Why?”

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Duchess Ariana glances at Rosalia again. ”It’s unusual for nobles to have cooks, that’s all. I have a few servants that make food for the others as part of their duties, but my meals and those of any nobles that happen to be present are all made by Rosalia. He’s very busy during mealtimes because of the fact that he cooks everything, but he’s very insistent that he makes all of my food especially and he becomes very upset if I try to hire anybody to do more to help him than simply find ingredients for him or watch something that’s baking.”

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Flora cocked her head. “Interesting. Amisan and Xhaasan nobles don’t generally cook; we don’t have the time, with all of the politics and economics and such we have to deal with on the regular. There’s an entire court to feed as well besides just us as well. Lucia, Caes, have you ever cooked?”

Caes simply shook his head, while Lucia commented “No, but I have made a sunstone oven before, when I was little.”

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Duchess Ariana addresses Duchess Flora. ”Of course; I cook very little myself because I’m always so busy with rulership, which is why Rosalia cooks all of my meals and does a lot of the other domestic chores around the castle for me. But I never let Rosalia anywhere near politics or other serious business; boys are too delicate to be involved with anything like that. Instead, he has a lot more free time that he gets to spend on hobbies like knitting.”

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Flora couldn’t help but chuckle. "it’s hard to think of Ghratean men as ‘delicate-’ quite the opposite, actually. In Ghratos, it is men who do all of the things like physical labor and soldiering. Women help more on the intellectual front- things like economics, political advisory, things like that. I’d say that Ghratean men are of higher constitution than our women. I don’t mean to disrespect you, Lucia, but do you think you could have led on the field during the Xarban incident?

She shook her head. “That is not my area of expertise… I would have had a hard time staying calm in such a situation.”

Caes jumped in. "Your rallying of the craftspeople was vital to the effort, though, Lucia. We could have never defeated an Ejax without Omran’irr.

Flora nods. “Noble couples work as a team- leading realms such as ours requires all hands on deck. One mistake and Ghratos could plunge into chaos, especially leading in such vital realms as Litora, dare i say, and Iyanala.”

Lucia and Caes nodded in agreement.

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Duchess Ariana looked slightly confused. ”It seems quite strange to me that you would need two executives to lead a single duchy. While I wholly understand that ruling a duchy is no trifling matter, it is nothing that I would ever need Rosalia’s help with; most of the affairs that I have to deal with personally involve managing all of the countesses and handing decrees from Her Majesty down to them. Perhaps you need more governance in Ghratos because of its size; how large did you say that it was?”

By this point, Duchess Ariana has stopped checking on Rosalia. She also hasn’t heard a peep from him either, which she thought nothing of; after all, a Belsedori consort like Rosalia is supposed to keep quiet during a conversation unless addressed (assuming that he is even in the room; Ariana, like most other Belsedori women, typically tells Rosalia to go make refreshments or otherwise directs him to leave the room whenever she’s having a conversation about governance, military affairs, or anything else that Belsedori women keep their husbands away from). Instead, Ariana was preoccupied with talking to the Ghrateans and trying to understand how their society works; she’d already encountered more than a few things that she’d found to be objectionable, but it would be highly impolite as a guest to bring any of them up without being given an immediate reason to do so.

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Flora speaks. “Ghratos has 18 duchies; 9 above the Stanumn, 9 below. The number of counties in each Duchy depends on historical circumstance, but it fluctuates between 15 and 35. Population estimates are rudimentary, but we estimate around 8 million Ghrateans, not counting the Cloud fae- 10 million counting them, although they have their own separate system and demarcations. The counties also have relatively chaotic political systems; some are elected, some are inherited, some are elected- i’ve heard that there was one in some Xhaasan Duchy that chose its leaders by footrace.”

Caes chuckled. "Duchy of Kogame, Zantul county. The Duke of Kogame went there personally last year to reorganize the government- apparently footracing doesn’t choose very good leaders.

“Of course, we have to manage these counties; fund projects, aid them in transporting food, help them trade resources, collect taxes, settle disputes… then there’s the matter of highwaymen and
robbers, managing ports, managing our armies and sometimes navies, and duchy-to-duchy diplomacy, the Court, marriage proposals for members of our families… I could go on. It would be a lot for one person to deal with, especially when our personal presence is needed. Without my husband, I’m not so sure that I could handle all the visits if there wasn’t someone I could consistently trust to rule in my stead; nor would I have the capability to do a myriad of small things he does for me. The responsibility of a Duke or Duchess in Ghratos is immense.”

(OOC: My next post, Flora’s husband will show up.)

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Ariana responds to Duchess Flora again. ”I was not aware that Ghratos had a navy; even Belsegallia with all of its magical resources has some difficulty operating more than a few ships at a time. Did you use it often?”

Rosalia still hasn’t said anything, and his place next to Ariana has been quiet for a relatively long period of time now.

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“We maintain such a navy as in our history there have sometimes been pirates from trade routes, and so the safety of our shores and trade is imperativ-”

At this moment, a man came into the room. He wore heavy furs under his green robes. He was relatively regal in appearance, and he wore a laurel wreath matching exactly with Flora’s- he was Flora’s husband. There was also a white bird on his shoulder. She stood up when he entered the room. “Ah, there you are! I hope the court boys weren’t bothering you too much.”

He shook his head, albeit jokingly. “One of them told me he wanted to bond with a Magejo- I had to explain to him that even trained professionals rarely do such a thing. Magejo are dangerous- well, it’s in their name.”

She chuckled. “At least they have enthusiasm. Guests, this is my husband, Aquius. Aquius, these are our guests from Belsegallia, Duchess Ariana and her…” She trailed off as she looked at where Rosalia had been sitting. “Where did your husband go?”

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Just as Duchess Flora finished asking Ariana where her husband went, a soft, high-pitched, singsong voice emanated from behind Caes and Lucia.

”Oh Duke Caeees! I have some milkshakes for yooouu!”

Just as he said this, Duchescina Rosalia stepped out from behind Duke Caes and Duchess Lucia. He was back to wearing the same white, laced, ruffled apron that he always wore around the house in Belsegallia, and his face was still hidden behind a translucent white veil. He was also holding a small serving tray that he had brought with him, which was carrying five glasses of some kind of pastel pink-colored beverage. After leaving the space behind the Xhaasan nobles, Rosalia gestured the tray towards Duchess Flora and her husband.

”I made milkshakes for everybody! Did you want some? I made enough for all of you to have at least one glass if you want one, so please have one if you want it; although I am feeling a bit spent now, so you’ll have to wait if you want me to make more for you.”

”You really shouldn’t run off like that without telling me when we’re visiting somewhere, honey.”

”I’m sorry; I just didn’t want to bother you while you were talking, and I thought that it would be nice to make drinks for everybody.”

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