Somebody wanted to see it, so I obliged. Someone else said that they were willing to do it, but I never saw anything. I guess they never got around doing anything and I had to do this myself. We all know my writing is not the best, but I hope you like this anyway. Cheers!
If you're my King, I will be your Queen
Rhen convinced herself that it would be simple. She would tell the regent that she was princess and show him the sigma ring, and then she'd just go along with whatever comes next. Yes, it should be easy. Nothing to worry about, right?
She marched into the castle and asked to speak to the regent.
"Outlanders, you are back?" the regent [1] greeted, "Have you news of the outside world?
Rhen noted that the old man seemed to be in a better mood than the last time she had seen him. He looked less apprehensive and his voice sounded more cheerful.
"There was a great earthquake recently and no demons have terrorized a citizen for an entire week!" the regent spoke again excitedly.
"Ahriman is dead," Rhen said flatly, "He and his demons will bother you no longer."
A low chuckle from behind her made her jump. She turned around, her hand instinctively flying to reach her sword, only to find her companion smirking at her. She immediately relaxed and lowered her hand, smiling sheepishly. He had not spoken a word since Pirate John dropped them off on the island and she had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she had nearly forgotten that he was there.
The regent didn't seem to have noticed that brief exchange. He was looking up, both arms raised. "The gods and goddesses have saved us!" he half-whispered in reverence.
"Er, yes," Rhen said, an eyebrow raised. By making me do all the work for them, she added mentally.
"And... um... there's more," she spoke again awkwardly, "I'm Alicia Pendragon's daughter. I'm the princess everyone have been waiting for."
The regent immediately snapped out of his trance and looked at her incredulously. "You? Ha! If I had a gold penny for every young maiden who said that phrase..." the old man scoffed. "If you are the princess heir, show me your Pendragon Sigma ring."
Rhen held out her hand, glad that she decided to wear the ring. It would have taken her hours to sort through all the items in her pack if she had left the ring there.
"This was my mother's ring."
The regent inspected her hand, examining the ring closely, then looked at her face in wonder. "The princess heir!"
"I believe you have been waiting for me?" Rhen asked triumphantly.
"Er, yes... yes, of course," the regent replied, looking flustered, "What is your name, Your Majesty?"
"Rhen... just Rhen."
"The gods and goddesses bless us! Chancellor! Ring the bell! Our princess has come home!"
A small man that had been standing quietly near the throne immediately jumped up and scurried away as the hall was suddenly filled with murmurs. The servants who were passing by immediately stopped in their tracks and started talking. Even the stiff guards were whispering among themselves. A moment later she could hear a bell tolling somewhere in the distance.
"Princess, I will prepare for your coronation," the regent told her, his voice barely containing his excitement. "It would be best if you got some rest. You can use the master bedroom if you desire."
Rhen was taken aback. "Wait a minute, wait a minute! I'm not ready for any of this!"
The regent looked confused. "Your highness, I do not understand..."
"I'm not ready! Why is the coronation so soon? I just found out that I was a princess a few months ago. I don't know how to be a princess! I don't know how to rule a country!" she rattled frantically. "I don't want to be crowned queen tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month. Can't I have a few years of training first or something? My father can rule while I learn and – "
She broke off when she felt someone touch her shoulder.
"It's alright, Rhen," her companion said, "You can do it. I know you can. You defeat ed Ahriman; surely this should be easier compared to that?"
She swallowed hard. Could she do it? While fighting Ahriman was definitely very dangerous and deadly, but it was still in essence a regular combat. She was used to that. She was not, however, used to politics. Somehow the prospect of being buried under a pile of paperwork was a lot scarier than battling Ahriman.
"Don't be scared. I'll be there to help you for as long as you need me to," her companion reassured, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
His words warmed her heart, feeling confident all out of a sudden. She turned to him and gave him a grateful smile and he grinned back at her. Yes, she could do it. As long as he was beside her, she could take on any challenge; she was certain of it.
"See? You will be fine," the old regent said, then his eyes lit up as he seemed to just remembered something. "Oh! We must find a husband for you. I know at least five princes who would die to meet you!"
Rhen rolled her eyes. As far as she was concerned, claiming the throne has absolutely nothing to do with getting married. That, and she could darn well find a husband on her own, thank you very much. She was starting to get sick of people ordering her around or making choices for her and she really couldn't stand nobles. Well, except for Lars and Elini, of course, but that's beside the point.
"That's a nightmare!" Rhen exclaimed, with an exaggerated look of horror on her face, "I don't want to marry a prince!"
The regent's smile faded and he stared at her, stunned. "But Your Majesty..." he began, but she interrupted him.
"I want to marry him!" she nearly shouted, jabbing a finger toward her companion.
Rhen felt her face heat up as she realized that she had just inadvertently made a rather uncouth wedding proposal. She crossed her arms, glaring at the regent challengingly to hide her embarrassment.
The regent took a step backwards, obviously startled, then turned his attention to the man beside her, as though only noticing him for the first time. If the old man was intimidated by the other man's imposing figure, he sure didn't show it. He was looking her companion up and down suspiciously now.
"And just who exactly are you?" the regent asked, frowning. [2]
Rhen cast a glance to her companion, curious as to how he would introduce himself. She saw him step towards the regent with his usual wolfish grin plastered on his face.
"I am Daeva Agas Spenjahgra, seventh ruler of the Ashth Pereth's Eastern družstvo. Nice to meet you," [3] he said in a smug voice that would have put Lars to shame, then removed his helmet.
She felt her heart skip a beat and her face heat up once more.
Calm down, Rhen, she thought, pressing her hands to her face as though it could stop her blush, This is an important business. There's time for swooning over your boyfriend later.
It wasn't working, as she had just embarassed herself again, especially that last bit where she called him... well... She shoved the thoughts out of her head as best as she could, desperately wishing for a distraction.
Her wish was granted almost immediately after. Out of the corner of her eye, Rhen saw the regent did a double take, his eyes popping wide open upon seeing the face behind the helmet. A smile tugged on the corners of her lips. The old man's reaction was predictable, but it was still priceless to look at, not to mention that it gave her something to focus on.
The regent stared at Agas' pointed ears and horns, muttering, "Asth Pereth... the Demon Realm" under his breath. It didn't take him long to put two and two together and his eyes widened even more as a look of understanding crossed his face. "A DEMON!" he shrieked and almost immediately chaos ensued.
The servants who had lingered ran out of the room screaming for help. The guards charged towards Agas with their weapons drawn, although they couldn't really do much because Rhen was too close by.
"You highness, have you gone mad?" the regent panicked. "You wish to marry a demon?"
"Take it or leave it," Rhen snapped, tugging the Pendragon sigma ring off her finger. This whole thing sorely reminded of Galahad's hyperbolic resentment toward Te'ijal. She threw the ring to the regent, who fumbled to catch it. "If you won't accept my decision, then good luck finding a new heir to the throne."
The regent looked conflicted. He opend and closed his mouth but no words came out.
"I'm leaving. I'm not standing here all day waiting. Find me in Sedona if you've decided on anything." After a moment's hesitation, she added, "Or, if you need my father Devin, he should be in the hermit's cottage in the Wildwoods of Arishta's Eastern Isle."
She turned to Agas took his hand, looking into his eyes. He nodded, understanding her silent request. They were gone in a blink of an eye.
This was intended to be a oneshot, but it got out of hand and a lot of unplanned stuff made their way into the story, and now it's much longer than I intended it to be. I may or may not continue this, since this could stand as a oneshot on its own, so we'll just see.
Notes:
1. A regent is the correct term to call a "temporary ruler in the absence of a monarch". In the game, this person was called a "consort" and that is not right. A "consort" is the spouse of a reigning monarch, unless he or she is given the title king or queen. In this case, technically the "consort" would be Devin, except that in Thais apparently the spouse of the royal heir becomes a ruler as well, thus eliminating the existence of a "consort". I wanted to call him "chancellor", but there was already another person who was chancellor existing in the game so I couldn't call him that.
2. The regent going, "Oh, you wanna marry this guy? Okay, whatever" is totally unrealistic to me. I seriously do not believe that the regent/consort would just accept that Rhen is marrying a random guy whom he has probably never heard of or seen before, so I made him react and be all suspicious. Well, especially because the guy is NOT Dameon here, but hey. After all, Rhen will be queen and her husband will be king. The regent would have been more cautious because he wouldn't want Thais to be ruled by a bad king. While Dameon is Sun Guardian, he lives in Aveyond and I seriously doubt he actually went out and interacted with other people. Ahriman definitely does not count as "other people" and I don't think the people of Thais would know who he is.
3. I know this is totally a "Wait, WHAT?" moment for those who don't know me in the Amaranthia site, but... Moving on.
4. Since Dameon never stepped down from his position as druid, he's still the Sun Guardian, meaning that Devin would still be in the hermit's cottage.