A warm breeze drafted through the window, an astounding view of the kingdom sprawled across the sapphire sky. The king leaned over to his side and rested his chin in his hand, sighing, pondering, worrying. His sleepy eyes stared blankly at the view, long hair fluttering slightly in the breeze, when suddenly his advisor came running in from the hallway behind the king's throne in a frantic upstart.
"My lord, w-we have a serious problem," he began, a very peculiar tremble in his voice. His green eyes were large and wild and a few droplets of sweat were already accumulating on his brow, only somewhat hidden by his pale blond locks. The king was surprised at the sudden break in his innermost peace.
"A problem? What happened?"
The advisor was struggling to find the proper words, the situation at hand was troubling at best, and he was not entirely sure on how to approach it.
"Well, we seem to have a guest…" but he couldn't formulate the following sentence. Should he tell his king about the breach in security first, or the fact that no one had been able to do a thing about it.
"Ja'far, out with it. What's going on?" The king straightened himself out on his throne and looked sternly at Ja'far when, from deep inside he hallway, far behind from where the king was sitting, a deep rumble shook the throne room to its foundation.
The king jolted straight off his throne and stepped closer to Ja'far. "You need to tell me what is going on Ja'far. Who's in the palace?" He spoke to him in a stern yet gentle tone, urging him to release the vital information.
"KING SINBAD!" came a sudden shrill voice.
Ja'far's face suddenly contorted in the strangest manner, a slight twitch in his eyebrow and a very embarrassed and terrified smile across his face. Sinbad then grabbed Ja'far's robe and pulled him to a very threatening distance. Now very nervous, the king once again beckoned, "Ja'far, WHAT IS GOING ON?"
"I…I sent Masrur to stop her…," but there was no time to explain anymore. The large doors to the room violently flew open and a young lady stomped furiously inside, making her way straight for Sinbad, who was at this point very confused and unable to think of what to do. He stood there, still clutching Ja'far. The girl stood tall and proud in front of Sinbad, blue eyes fierce, light hair up and out of the way, her pale skin beautiful and smooth as silk, and her ornate robes perched elegantly upon her petite body. A ways behind her stood another young lady who looked older than her with a much bigger build, although her features her obscured by a single long white fabric that wrapped around her entire body and covered her face so only her eyes were visible. Those eyes watched carefully and silently as another man, much taller than the rest and very muscular, entered the throne room behind her.
"Masrur, I told you to stop her!" Ja'far exclaimed, squirming out of the king's grasp. The taller man with the red hair was quiet, but gave him a very strange expression as a response, and Ja'far understood. Masrur was not about to fight this young girl.
The intruder did not wait for anyone to ask what her purpose and intentions were, and she just as soon puffed out her chest and proclaimed in a loud, proud voice, "I am the Queen of Rebia and I have come here to force King Sinbad of Sindria to marry me!" The servant behind her let out a frustrated sigh.
Meanwhile, Sinbad was speechless and shocked alongside Ja'far, who looked as if he were about to have a breakdown from what he had just heard. Masrur, who was still standing near the entrance, was silent, but he had the same look on his face as the servant. Everyone in the room waited for the astounded king to give his statement.
Sinbad straightened himself out as best he could, mind racing to find a way to best reject the proclamation without offense. He cleared his throat and his eyes very slowly descended on the young queen before him. She was just a child, maybe less than half of his own age, and she was amazingly beautiful, flawless, almost like a porcelain doll. It was very apparent by her grooming and posture that she indeed came from a wealthy family, so Sinbad had no doubt she was indeed royalty.
But he had no idea what "Rithodia" was, or where it was, and how absolutely embarrassing was it for him, as High King of the Seven Seas, to not know of a country whose ruling dignitary was present in his palace? He searched the deep corners of his mind for maybe some mention of said country, but nothing came to him and he could not just admit he had no idea where that was. So the king did what he does best and drew a smile on his handsomely charming face and allowed his eyes to narrow and soften as he approached the young queen. The girl's face was now a furious red and she struggled to maintain her composure as this tall, breathtakingly attractive man approached her with such a tentative smile on his face. She felt her knees quiver and was immediately thankful she decided to wear her longest, thickest robes today. The king bowed to the girl, placing a slight kiss on her hand.
"I am very sorry about the rude welcome you have been given, your Highness," he uttered in a very low tone. "I am very honored you have come to visit me at my palace. You must be exhausted from your journey, why don't we have some jasmine tea and rest while we talk more?"
The girl was entranced by Sinbad's glistening brown eyes and completely unable to respond. This gave Sinbad the opportunity to lead the girl out of the throne room after shooting Ja'far and Masrur a very perplexed and startled expression, urging them to move and make preparations for a very complicated ruse for this queen. The servant girl cautiously monitored the king's every look and was quietly amused by his complete lack of composure. The fact that he had believed this girl to be the queen immediately set her off to the fact that he had no knowledge of their country, and this, although completely inevitable, was pathetic and laughable for somebody who had been decreed by so many as a great adventurer, conqueror or lands, and mighty king of more than one sea. As the king walked off into the large hallway, leading the "queen" away from the throne room and somewhere more private, the servant girl remained in place and not until after the king and her lady had turned into an adjacent passageway and disappeared from sight than she turned her attention to the two other men in the room whom she knew had been analyzing her while pretending to be considering options.
Turning completely to face them, her soft brown eyes were the only conveyor of expression available to Ja'far and Masrur, who had quietly criticized her for leaving her young master alone with their king. From head to toe, the servant was veiled by a soft, cotton fabric bleached white which was very expertly wrapped around her body to give the impression of a layered dress. Her feet and hands were bare, revealing a moderately light complexion. She stood silently, waiting for the other two to say something to her. Ja'far was the first to speak.
"Are you the queen's maidservant?" he asked in a neutral tone, unsure of how to address her.
The servant considered an exact answer, but instead she decided to play along. After all, it would not be her getting yelled at if they were revealed to be someone other than who they said they were.
"Yes," she responded. There was a slight reaction from the two men, since both somewhat expected her voice to be much harsher. "They call me Nadira," she continued and made a low reverence to the two men, emphasizing and settling their superiority over her.
"Nadira, then," Ja'far repeated, to which the servant looked up, waiting for his next words. "I am Ja'far, and this is Masrur, we are two of King Sinbad's eight knights," he explained. Nadira assumed this meant they were part of his court. "Am I to believe your queen came to our country to force out king to marry her?"
"It would seem so," Nadira said, slightly embarrassed. "No one thought she would actually do it."
Ja'far seemed slightly puzzled. Nadira's eyes reflected a smile to the two.
"Ahh, don't mind that. Right now I think we should join my lady and King Sinbad for tea."
Ja'far nodded, hoping maybe Sinbad hadn't messed up monumentally in the short time he had been left alone with that young, innocent, pure, single queen. A cold shiver ran down his spine, and he knew Masrur had thought the same for the tall quiet man's eyes were yelling at him to hurry. So the advisor made haste and quickly led the way to the next room. With Ja'far leading in front and Masrur quietly following behind, Nadira smiled from under her veil. The Rukh around her were fluttering playfully and she knew that soon her Lady would arrive in Sindria.