A/N: I'm not technically late. I tried to have this entire story finished as a oneshot before Mitchie's birthday, but, obviously, I failed, so... chapters!

Work on this story started before Mitch went... anything besides brunet, so she is a brunet here.

The Queen of Caprival

AVI

The carriage rumbled loudly down the cobbled road, the horses' hooves clopping against the carefully-laid stones. The countryside passed by quickly outside, and King Avi Kaplan I took it all in as he looked out the window. He and his personal bodyguard, Kevin, had been riding in this stupid carriage for three and a half days now, and despite the fact that it was far more comfortable than most carriages, that didn't make the trip any more enjoyable. If Avi never had to hear another horse hoof hit the ground again it would be too soon.

There was, of course, a reason behind all of this travel; a letter had been sent from a small but powerful kingdom far to the south that shared a very small section of border with Avi's own. The queen of the kingdom, Caprival, it was called, had requested to meet in order to discuss the formation of some kind of alliance- one kingdom promising aide to the other in the event of war.

Normally, Avi would be hesitant to accept such a request so quickly, but despite the kingdom's small size, it seemed to hold a pretty sizeable amount of military power, and it was known to have some of the most well-bred cavalry horses on the entire continent. The other kingdom would be a valuable asset, and even if it weren't such a good opportunity, it was still always good to have bordering kingdoms as allies rather than enemies.

Not much else was known about the kingdom other than its size and military prowess. The kingdom's leader and people played their cards extremely close to their chests. It was a land of many secrets. It was actually a little nerve-wracking, even for a king as experienced as Avi, to enter the country knowing so little about it. He wasn't sure of their customs or mannerisms. He was nearly afraid that he would do something terribly wrong the second he arrived on the foreign soil. He wouldn't want to offend the woman in charge from the very beginning.

And that was another matter, entirely: the queen. None of the other kings or queens Avi had spoken to had any idea what she looked like. Her people didn't seem to have any issues with her, so Avi was holding out hope that she would at least be a tolerable human being. None of her people would ever divulge a single word about her, either. Another king had kidnapped a Caprivalian man a while ago and demanded information under threat of death, but the man had kept his lips firmly sealed all the way to his grave. Avi didn't understand the devotion. But, then, maybe he did. The wrath that had been brought upon that kingdom after word of the murder had gotten back to this queen had been swift and terrifying. The other kingdom had been completely crushed under the assault. And all for one measly village person. Not even anyone of particular importance.

"What are you thinking about so hard, if I may ask, my liege?"

Avi was pulled out of his musings by the voice of his bodyguard. He glanced up at the dark-skinned man, his lips quirking up ever so slightly, "It's nothing, Kevin. I'm merely thinking on what will happen once we arrive, is all."

Kevin smiled reassuringly at him, reaching out to pat his shoulder, "Everything will go smoothly, I'm sure. The queen wouldn't dare be discourteous to her first visiting king- especially if she wants him to keep whatever secrets her entire kingdom seems so eager to conceal."

"I suppose you have a point," Avi conceded absentmindedly, turning his head back to stare out the window again. There were flowers everywhere, a rare sight compared to up north, where the most vegetation you would find was a forest of evergreens. It was nice and definitely beautiful, but Avi already felt that longing ache to see those giant conifers again. He wouldn't be back up north for another month at least, though, so he may as well enjoy all of the unusual sights the south offered him while he was here.

"Of course I have a point. I've been dealing with you and your 'king business' for a long while, now, my liege," Kevin replied, oblivious to how little attention Avi was paying to the conversation at this point.

Of course, Avi did have one other worry; it was not exactly a rare occurrence for Avi to have an unpleasant experience while visiting queens of other kingdoms- granted, they all had husbands- but the principle is the same. Avi was not looking forward to dealing with either a stuck-up old woman or a pretty young thing that felt like she could seduce Avi with a glance. Right in front of her husband. And that was yet another thing that was unfamiliar and strange to Avi: this woman was ruling without anyone by her side. So her parents had been content with allowing their firstborn girl to be their next-in-line, which went against pretty much everything Avi's own parents had drilled into his head about how a kingdom should be run. Then again, so did the fact that Avi had no desire to ever produce an heir with a woman. So he supposed he shouldn't exactly be judging anyone else. It wasn't uncommon for kings to rule alone until they found a suitable woman to take as their queen- Avi was doing that right now, though he didn't exactly have any plans to look for a queen anytime soon- but a queen with no king was unheard of. Avi may not have liked it, but women weren't always held in the highest regard throughout other kingdoms, and no king Avi had ever met would ever allow his daughter to take the throne after him, no matter how capable she was. Of course, this had made Caprival the topic of many a diplomatic dinner party discussion; Avi had heard more sexist jokes than he knew what to do with.

Despite his admiration towards the former king of Caprival for allowing his daughter to be his heir, that still didn't make him look forward to meeting her any more. He couldn't be less excited to make her acquaintance. He was expecting another woman who just held the title and took the rewards whilst other people did the job for her; that was how the others had been, so why would this particular ruler be any different?

Avi was pulled from his reverie again- and he had to stop allowing himself to get lost in thought like that- by the carriage coming to a sudden halt. As his eyes refocused on the landscape out the window, he noticed that the sun was just beginning to set in the west. When had that happened?

Avi started as Kevin's hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up, raising a questioning eyebrow at his bodyguard.

"I know you weren't listening, my liege," Kevin smiled, his tone warm, "but we've arrived at the gate. The coachman is just notifying the guards by the gate of our business so that we can be let into the kingdom. Then it'll just be a matter of riding for a couple more hours until we reach the castle."

Avi cleared his throat, "Oh, yes. Of course."

Kevin chuckled, turning to look eagerly out his window as the carriage began to move once more. Avi followed suit, looking out his own window as they finally entered the walls that had protected this kingdom's secrets so well. Avi supposed that was yet another contributing factor to why the kingdom was such a mystery- a giant wall surrounded its borders on all sides, closing the land off from the rest of the continent's inhabitants and also providing some excellent protection against their enemies.

Avi was stunned as the gates closed behind them. It was like they had just entered a whole different universe. Kevin had a similar expression of awe painted across his face. The landscape was… gorgeous, to say the least. They hadn't even entered any major villages or anything yet, either. It was just countryside with the occasional cottage or farm so far. Avi couldn't even begin to imagine what the capital city must look like.

Another two hours of marveling at the beauty of the kingdom finally brought their little carriage to the capital. It was… incredible. The people running around were all so lively, even when it was so late and dark out, and none of them looked like they even knew the meaning of the word "poverty". They were decked out in gauzy clothing, which Avi could understand, because his own heavy garments were practically giving him heat stroke in these high temperatures. Bright colors seemed to be a general theme throughout the entire kingdom, but it was especially apparent in the capital; an entire rainbow of clothes seemed to be in constant movement outside the window, a sea of color parting down the middle to make way for their carriage as it rumbled down the street.

At last, the carriage pulled to one final stop before a large, ornate gate. Avi couldn't say what it was made of- some kind of dark black stone that stood out amongst all of the color that surrounded it; it was beautiful, and behind it laid a surprisingly small castle that was honestly one of the most stunning buildings Avi had ever seen. The entire place, gate and all, seemed to glow in the pale moonlight, providing sufficient lighting to see by. He swore that he would need to find out who this queen had employed as her head architect, because the architecture in this kingdom was completely stunning.

Avi sighed as the carriage door was pulled open by the coachman. Seemed that it was time for him to deal with this queen.