Matthew felt odd approaching the gates of Belinsk. He had been the strong one for his father for once, and helped Isaac and Mia get together again. Now he was back to being an awkward teenager heading to knock on the door of his crush's house. Admittedly, her "house" was a palace, but the feeling was the same. Isaac, however, was supremely confident.

"Believe me, son, everything will work out. I'm not saying it'll be easy, but I know you can do it."

It was amazing how much more positive Isaac was now that he and Mia were a couple again. After Matthew had explained his situation with Sveta to his father a strange chain of events had begun. Before Matthew could even fully wrap his head around it he had learned that his father had never been in love with his mother, at least not romantically. Furthermore, he had learned that he was Nowell's half-brother, and that politics are what had driven Isaac and Mia apart. With the sudden realization that most of his and his family's unhappiness could be traced, at least indirectly, to Isaac fearing politics more than trusting his love for Mia, Matthew had been spurred into action. He was determined to make things work with Sveta, rather than repeat his father's mistakes. Of course, things had worked out fine for Isaac, but that was only after thirty years for the political situation to relax. Matthew wasn't sure he'd have the same success that his father had.

In addition to that, it was creepy as hell to think about Isaac and Mia together.

"I am looking forward to meeting her," Isaac said. "I met her father when we got the first Roc's feather. I think I met Volechek briefly too, though I'm sure I never saw Sveta."

"You'll like her," Matthew said. "She's the best person I've ever met."

Isaac feigned shock. "You don't think I'm the best person you've met?"

"You're not a person, you're a dad. It's different."

Isaac chuckled. "Very well. So what first attracted you to her?"

If Matthew was to be completely honest, he was attracted to her the first time he got a good look at her. That was just physical, and he wasn't about to tell his dad 'she's got a rocking body'. "She's very selfless," he said instead. "When we first met, she wanted us to return a bag to its rightful owner. It wouldn't help her at all, but she wanted to make sure it got where it belonged."

Isaac nodded. "I first saw Mia healing an old man. Right from the get go I saw how she helped the townsfolk and how they felt about her. It was hard not to be attracted to her after that."

"No offense, dad, but it's still weird hearing you talk about your love for a woman who's not mom. I'm happy for you, but could you go easy on it until I've adjusted a little bit?"

Isaac laughed again. "I'll try to keep that in mind. So tell me more about Sveta. You didn't realize she was royalty when you first met her, right?"

"That's right," Matthew said. "We just knew that she was from Belinsk. We figured things out when we learned she had given the Slap Glove to Ryu Kou. It's a national treasure, so we knew she had to have been pretty important to have it."

"So she gave a national treasure to Sana royals. She really is selfless."

"That part wasn't really her idea," Matthew admitted. "It was part of a Tuaparang plot. They got Sveta involved unwittingly through her brother. Volechek knew the Tuaparang were behind it, but didn't realize what their goal was. They were both fooled."

"You did mention the Tuaparang plot before," Isaac said, remembering. "I wouldn't feel too bad about that. Alex was the mastermind behind that. He played both my group and Felix's like marionettes, and the people of Prox as well. I would be very surprised if you were able to do anything he hadn't accounted for that early on."

"Sveta still feels guilty about it, though," Matthew said. "She never trusted the Tuaparang. She thinks she could've warned her brother about her feelings more strongly."

"There's all sorts of things that we could've done," Isaac agreed. "In the end, we just have to make sure we do the best with what we know at the time, and we can't second guess ourselves after the fact. Her brother was king, and privy to information that she was unaware of. She had to trust that he had the best interests of the nation in mind, and hope he knew what he was doing."

Matthew sighed. "That's easier said than done. Our mistakes helped start the Grave Eclipse. Some people suspect as much as half of Angara's population was killed off. That's a lot of deaths on our shoulders."

Isaac didn't really have anything to say to this. Matthew decided to just keep talking to try to make the situation less awkward. "Before we left, the citizens of Belinsk gathered at the town's entrance to ask us to stay."

"Really?" Isaac asked. "You must have left quite an impression."

"Yeah, they thank us for ending the Eclipse. I wouldn't be surprised to have a statue in the town square in a few years."

Isaac smiled. "Kalay has considered putting up statues of the Warriors of Vale. I don't think they'll ever actually do it, though. Anyway, we're here."

The guardsman smiled broadly at their approach. "Sir Matthew!" he said happily. "It's so wonderful of you to grace Belinsk once more. Everyone shall be so happy to see you!"

Matthew smiled. "It is good to feel welcome. This is my father, Isaac."

"Of the Warriors of Vale," the guard said, his smile growing wider still, and showing his fangs. "Truly an honor. I should've realized. The family resemblance is uncanny. You are both more than welcome in our city!"

Matthew saw that a few people had seen them speaking with the guard, and had instantly run off excitedly. Now there was a crowd gathering as word of their arrival spread. He doubted they'd make it halfway to the castle before Sveta heard of their arrival.

"You really are popular," Isaac said as they stepped into the city. "This is the first time in a long while that I've not been the center of attention somewhere. Everyone here is looking at you."

"That's probably just because they don't recognize you," he assured his father. Though really, it was nice to be with his father and be more than just 'son of the Warrior of Vale'. Here, his father was defined by Matthew, instead of the other way around.

"Welcome back, Matthew!"

"We love you, Matthew!"

"Remember me! We danced at the ball!"

"Can you make me your apprentice?"

Matthew gradually turned the color of a tomato with embarrassment while his father laughed. He really seemed to enjoy his son's fame.

The guards at the castle maintained their composure, nodding their heads to Matthew and Isaac and letting them pass without question. The crowd reluctantly stayed behind outside, still shouting for Matthew. They saw the castle staff was neatly lined up in the halls, bowing as they passed by.

"You always get this kind of treatment?"

"Since the Apollo Lens, yeah," Matthew said. When he, Tyrell, and Karis had arrived for the coronation they had a similar welcome.

Servants opened the door leading to the throne room, and bowed them inside. Sveta sat on her throne, apparently waiting for them, with two others at her sides. The one on her right Matthew recognized as the speaker from the coronation. Milena if he remembered her name right. The one on her left was Vande, the musician.

"Matthew," Sveta said, "welcome to Belinsk once more. I presume this to be your father, Sir Isaac?"

"Just 'Isaac' will be fine," Isaac said, bowing to Sveta. "Thank you for welcoming us on such short notice."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Queen," Matthew said, bowing as well for her station.

"Neither of you need bow to me," she said, just as Matthew had guessed she would. "It is our honor to welcome you." She turned to her two advisers. "Would you excuse us, please?"

They both nodded and left.

"Dad, could I have a few moments alone?"

Isaac smiled. "Of course."

Once they all left and the door was closed, Sveta visibly relaxed. "I hate all of these formalities," she sighed. "I have to say, though, I wasn't expecting you or your father. Does this have something to do with the vortexes? Whatever it is it must be important."

"Nothing to do with the vortexes," Matthew said. "And it is important, but probably not in the way you're thinking."

She frowned. "If not related to that business, I can't imagine what it could be that we haven't discussed before."

"I've come to ask permission to court you," Matthew said, deciding not to beat around the bush.

"As I said, nothing we have not discussed previously."

Her remark stung. Still, Matthew had to explain himself. "I want you to know right off, that I do not intend to force this on you in the least. If you ask me to leave Belinsk, I will, but I have some things I'd like to say first."

"Matthew, I could never deny you that much," she said. "Do not think it will change my mind though."

Matthew nodded, and wondered how exactly to explain himself. "I suppose that the simplest way to put it... is that I don't want to end up like my father."

She raised an eyebrow at this. "Your father is a great man. You've always been one of the first to say so."

"Yes, he is great, but he is not happy. Or at least, he didn't used to be. My father divorced my mother years ago. He was miserable afterwards, but he wasn't happy before that either. It's because he loved another, who he could not be with."

Sveta frowned. "He did not love his wife?"

"Not completely. He never could let go of the love he found before. He fell in love with Mia during the Golden Sun journey. However, they let politics dictate their lives. They separated, and married others, and had children, and divorced, and forced themselves and their families through pain and heartache. After thirty years, he still loves Mia. Only now has he finally followed his heart, and in the past few days since we visited Imil he has been happier than I've ever seen. I've never seen a good mood of his last this long. I've never seen him enjoy life like this. I'd feared the Golden Sun had sentenced him to an eternity of brooding, but now he has a reason to enjoy life."

"That is good for him," Sveta said. "I'm sorry you couldn't have had a happier upbringing. Unfortunately, we can't all manage such happiness. Sometimes situations like the one your father was in are unavoidable."

"Maybe," Matthew admitted. "Though my father wishes he had done things differently back then. He urged me not to make his mistake."

"His mistake allowed you to be born."

"And we're all glad for that, but it still resulted in years of misery for everyone involved. Who would you rather be the father of your children? Some noble you were married off to just so you could produce an heir, or a man you love with your whole heart?"

"It's not that simple," Sveta said, looking away.

"But it's not as bad as you imagine, either. Your people do love me. You must've heard their cheers as I entered the city."

"Yes, a great many of them do. But some don't even like me!"

"And it's not like this could make them hate you more. The only thing that will change their minds is how you rule in the long term. Maybe seeing that you can be in a relationship with a human without being subservient to him would help them change their minds about you."

"Our enemies will not approve."

"No, but some nations may decide that if I'm with Morgal they should support it. Or at the least that it has too much adept support to risk attacking. Kalay would be more supportive, and Kaocho knows how powerful of an adept I am. Bilibin would be unable to attack without angering Kalay and risking a war on two fronts."

"What about other nations? Some that are neutral right now may see this as an aggressive move. They may feel that we're gathering adepts to create another Grave Eclipse, or some other adept conspiracy."

"They won't go to war over something like this. Not unless they have more evidence that we're starting up some alchemy machine. As the years go by and we're nothing but a couple in love, they'll see us for what we really are."

"Those are only possibilities! Everything could go horribly wrong!"

"But we don't know that! And I don't want to sacrifice my happiness on a maybe."

"I don't want to sacrifice my nation for a maybe."

At that moment the door burst open, and a large group of guards entered the throne room, along with Isaac and the two advisors.

"Excuse me, my queen," Milena spoke. "Pardon the interruption, but we've spotted someone lurking about on the castle walls near this room."

"Of course," Sveta nodded, and allowed the guards to begin escorting her from the room.

"If Sirs Isaac and Matthew would come with us I'm sure the assailant would think twice," Vande said, nodding at Matthew.

"Um, yes, of course," Sveta said, somewhat flustered by the sudden activity. "If you could come with us?"

Matthew agreed and let the guards lead him to a basement room. There was only one door, and no windows. The guards lined the hallway outside and stood just inside the door as well. Matthew looked from his father to Sveta. "What's going on?"

"There have been a few attempts on my life," Sveta said, trying to sound casual. "The last assailant escaped, and we're quite sure he intends to try again. This is merely a precaution, mind you. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

"Still, we can't be too careful with our queen," Vande spoke, pacing the room. "I highly doubt anyone could get past all of our men here."

"How long do we stay in here?" Isaac asked. "If it would speed things up, I could search for the assassin myself."

"How long we stay depends on when the guards feel it's safe," Vande said. "I don't think you could help much, though. Our guard will be tracking the assassin by scent. It's unlikely you could find him before they do."

"Odds are, he realized we spotted him and fled again," Milena said. She was staying close to Sveta's side. "He'll slip into the city and try to lose himself in the smells of all the other townsfolk."

"We'd probably be safe to return already," Sveta said. "But my guard will hear none of it."

"Who's trying to kill you, anyway?" Matthew asked.

Sveta frowned. "We're not sure."

"This is the third assassin," Milena said. "The first was from Champa. The second was one of our own. This one, assuming he's the same man who escaped last time, appears to be Ayuthay."

Matthew frowned. "Champa and Ayuthay are fully in support of Sveta."

"Their governments, yes," Vande agreed. "That's not to say that every one of its citizens are. Still, whoever's behind this seems to be recruiting from our allies. Whether it's an attempt to strain foreign relations or whether it's a message, we don't know. Either way, it's problematic."

"Do Eoleo and Amiti know about this?"

"I told them right away," Sveta said. "As well as Himi and Emperor Unan. If the one behind these attacks is actively recruiting from our allies it'll help to have them on the lookout. If they notice anyone recruiting mercenaries or anti-Morgal extremists they'll let us know right away."

"Actually, I thought that was why you were here in the first place," Vande said. "We recommended Queen Sveta hire a bodyguard. I suggested you, and assumed you were responding."

Matthew shook his head. "I hadn't heard anything about this."

Sveta looked down at her feet. "I didn't wish to worry you."

"Besides, if she wants to hire me as a bodyguard, it's impossible," Matthew said. Everyone looked a little shocked at his statement. "That's because 'hire' denotes that she'd be paying me. I could never accept payment for protecting Sveta. That is no job, but a privilege."

Author's Notes: There we go! Another chapter! I hope you guys like it. I think this has pretty much set everything up for a while. We know that Sveta has people after her, but we don't know who or why. We can now have Matthew and Sveta hanging out together, but things still keep them from being in a relationship. Let the drama begin! We also now come to the part where I don't want to rush right into the next big plot point, but I don't want to drag things out endlessly either. So the next chapter will help us see how I'm doing there, and if we want me to move things along or slow things down. I would like to thank my reviewers, and encourage everyone to keep/start reviewing. If there's anything important you want you want to bring up, mention it in a review and I'll answer in my author's notes. Thanks for the support!