The weather on the riding trail from Attherough to Stormwind was slightly less harsh than it had been in many days, but Syncro hated it all the same. To be fair, there were few things he didn't hate, but bad weather was at the top of the list, right alongside Lady Aria. She was waiting at the entrance to the House of Light when he arrived, looking far too bubbly and cheery for how early it was. Syncro took a deep breath, braced himself, and dismounted from his horse.

"Good morning, Lady Aria." He bowed slightly and held out his hand.

"Oh, my dear." Aria ignored his attempt at a handshake and enveloped him in a bear hug instead. "It has been so long since I saw you. Her Majesty is in a dreadful mood, as usual."

Syncro managed to pull away before he suffocated in her robes and perfume. "What do you mean, 'as usual'?"

Aria put her hand to her forehead. "You should have spared yourself the torture of coming here. It's utter chaos. The statue of Her Majesty in the courtyard was vandalized. The House has been on a witch hunt. Those horrid warriors are up in arms about her being affirmed as Queen. It's why I couldn't give you a proper greeting after all this hardship and travel." She sighed and looked so mournful that Syncro actually pitied her. "But the poor dear is under such a burden. Anyone weaker than our lovely Daughter of the House would have broken with the strain by now."

Syncro bit back the remark hovering at the front of his mind and pasted on a sympathetic smile. "I can hardly imagine."

"Oh, where are my manners?" Aria smoothed her robes and looked around. "You must have travelled so far to get here. Let's get inside. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"Tea, thank you." Syncro followed her through the House and down a long flight of stairs to her chambers and sat down on one of Aria's lurid pink velvet chairs as she poured tea for both of them. Syncro waited for her to take a sip first, then sniffed it cautiously. It smelled awful, like everything else Aria tried to cook. Evidently, even tea could be ruined by the Minister's touch.

"I ordered cakes as well, but these idiot maids from the palace are so slow. Truth be told, I've only seen two of them all week. I must speak to Her Majesty about additional staff, this is ridiculous." Aria huffed a little as she sat down and put her booted feet up on an orange silk footstool. "Her Majesty is still with the council and her nieces, trying to figure out an appropriate response to the vandalism. Hopefully they'll come to a consensus soon, but our little princesses are causing quite a ruckus. Eight years old and already trying to kill each other." Aria sipped her tea and smiled. "Truly, they are of the bloodline of the King."

"Indeed," Syncro said, without sarcasm. "How have you been, Lady Aria?"

"I've been through hell and back, but let's not talk about me, I want to hear about you. How is my darling Luc, and Nora, and Angel, and Iris?"

"They're all very well, Lady Aria. I will give them your regards when I see them again."

"Lovely. Is that dreadful Elivagar still trying to stir the pot from his council seat?"

"Yes, and he's not alone. Somehow he's found supporters for his insanity."

"How odd," Aria sighed. "I was under the impression that one needed friends in order to have supporters. Clearly I have been dis-proven."

Syncro tried not to laugh. "Luc has it under control. Truth be told, it was almost Elivagar who came to renegotiate the trade agreements."

"Oh, don't give me nightmares." Aria shuddered and shook her head. "Evidently my cakes are being imported on foot from Arathi, given the amount of time it is taking. I could have walked there myself faster."

A distant yell of fury echoed through the House. Syncro reached for his sword, but Aria just chuckled grimly and patted his hand. "I did say Her Majesty was in a bad mood. Oh, this is going to be terrifying."

Angry footsteps clicked down the stairs and the door was flung open a second later. Queen Regent Serena stormed inside, and Syncro tried not to shrink away under her glare.

"In the name of the Light," Serena began furiously, "if this takes longer than a half hour, I will-"

"Your Majesty," Aria murmured. She clambered to her feet and bowed deeply. Syncro followed suit, glad for the excuse not to look her in the eye.

"Aria, Emissary." Serena barely nodded at them before splashing tea into a cup for herself and gulping the entire thing down. "The Council continues to test my patience. One of these days…" She trailed off and Aria turned a little pale. "Never mind. Emissary, state your business unless it's the same bulls**** that Luc brought to me every damned year when he was in your place."

Syncro tried to ignore the nervousness stabbing at his gut and remember the terms he had discussed with Luc. "Um… If Your Majesty is amenable to these changes, we request that our access to the Gorge be restored during the summer season, in addition to keeping year-round passage through Thornhill. We agree to give up Attherough in exchange."

"Fine. You had better all be out of the valley by winter. But you may only have Gorge in the summer season." Serena poured herself another cup of foul-smelling tea and threw it back. "June through August. Anyone caught before or after that is trespassing on the Crown's territory at risk of their lives."

"Agreed." Syncro took a deep breath. Aria rewrote a passage of the official documents and looked up anxiously. "We also need the quantity of void shards given in the monthly trade increased to one thousand. It's very well documented that the amount in the treaty is never met-"

"I wonder whose fault that could be," Serena growled. Aria quailed under her gaze.

"It's the warriors, Your Majesty, they can't keep up production! Q_T gave a briefing to the Ministers of the House yesterday and I thought someone had told you…"

"You thought? You thought? You are not here to think, Aria, you are here to obey!" Serena shouted. "Quite frankly, you're not good at either one of those things." She slammed her teacup down on Aria's desk, splashing tea across the crimson carpet. "I cannot grant the tribes more void shards from a supply we do not have. In fact, I do not think we can even meet the old offer now. I send my sincere apologies to Luc, but it isn't possible until we have a new mine. The primary source outside of Stormwind is… non-functional at this time."

The door opened and a maid tiptoed in with a tray of teacakes. She let out a little squeak of panic when she saw Serena, and quickly put the tray down on a side table before bolting out the door.

"Are we finished here?" Serena asked.

"If he has no more requests of the Crown, then we are finished," said Aria meekly.

"Nothing more, Your Majesty. Thank you for your time." Syncro breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the Queen Regent yanked open the door and stormed out.

"Oh, heavens," Aria muttered. "That woman is absolutely corrosive sometimes." She picked up the plate and offered it to him. "Have a sweet, dear. I think we both need one."

Syncro took one of the frosted cakes, more out of politeness than actual hunger. "Have you finished the new agreement?"

"Yes, sign here and I will seal it for the House Vault." Aria handed him the pen and parchment. "I've delayed the trade deliveries indefinitely but we can revisit it another time when a mine is available again. I'm deeply sorry. It's just too much to handle right now."

"Understood." Syncro scribbled a quick mark on the line beneath Aria's neat handwriting and passed it back to her. "I can try to put in a good word for you with Luc and the others, but I don't know how they'll react."

"Just… speak gently of us, dear," Aria said sadly. "We are doing the best we can."

COMMUNITY DECISION: When reporting to the Council, Syncro will tell them, "Lady Aria is trying to arrange the new trade for us, but it will take time before they can develop a more productive mine."