Amichen and Naissus got up late the next morning. They might have felt embarrassed, but when they joined the others—including Amichen's mother and Prince Gustav—no one took much note of them. Renault passed them each a plate of food for breakfast, then immediately returned to the conversation. The queen of Shi-Ha was making a proposal, illustrating her plan by drawing with a stick in the ashes from the previous night's fire.
"What's going on?" Naissus whispered to Renault as he and Amichen took a seat on a log beside him.
The queen looked up. "I was just pointing out that these woods have long been a problem for all of our kingdoms. This most recent incident is certainly the worst that's ever happened, but traffic to and from Hyrule and Shi-Ha has been harassed off and on for years."
Prince Gustav nodded. "Sometimes the outlaws get really bold and come into our kingdom as well—as we have just seen."
"Yes, and once they've struck, they melt back into the woods" Queen Xiao-Lin continued. "Even if we capture some, we can never be sure we've captured all of them. And more will come as they try to escape justice or debts or even bad marriages. There is always something to run away from, and this seems to be where they come."
"But I don't know that there's anything we can do about it, short of cutting down the entire forest," Naissus said.
Amichen thought her mother's smile looked particularly smug. "I have a plan that would be a little less work, I think, and more effective in the long run."
"What?"
"Turn this into a kingdom."
Amichen and Naissus were both stunned. "A . . . kingdom?" Naissus asked in disbelief.
"Certainly. Why not? Royals and a noble class will keep the peace and people will spread out and settle the land, leaving no space for bandits to hide."
"C-can you do that? Just . . . make a kingdom out of nothing?" Naissus looked between the others. "It's never been done before, has it?"
"Not this way," Laertes said, looking deep in thought. "Kingdoms come about when settled people decide to work collectively. Or when people are conquered and forced into a collective. I don't think, in the history of the world, that a kingdom has ever been planned by a committee, then built and settled by people according to a plan."
"There's a first time for everything," the queen said, almost cheerfully.
"Well, the first problem I foresee is picking a king," Naissus said. "If you can't decide on that, then the project will never get off the ground, and no committee of people from three different kingdoms is ever going to agree on who will get to be the king of a new kingdom. It will throw off the balance of power because whoever is chosen will continue to be loyal to the kingdom of his birth, so it will be as if one kingdom suddenly doubled in size and power."
"Who would have thought that he would be the one most against the idea?" Renault said with a laugh.
"Why shouldn't I be? Why shouldn't everyone be against it?"
The queen looked directly at him. "Because we had already agreed that you and Amichen should have this new kingdom."
Naissus looked completely floored. For that matter, Amichen felt the same way. "Us?" she asked.
"It's the only logical choice."
"But . . . I'm the youngest son," Naissus protested. "I have seven other siblings ahead of me in the succession."
"We're not talking about the succession of Hyrule," Renault pointed out.
"Yes, but I'm still not entitled to anything."
"Amichen is," her mother pointed out. "She's my eldest daughter. By rights, she should be a queen."
Amichen was suddenly reminded of what her mother told her the morning of her wedding: she was destined to be a queen, just not of Shi-Ha. Had that prophesy inspired her to this plan?
"Just because Amichen isn't fit to rule Shi-Ha doesn't mean she can't rule elsewhere," her mother continued.
"You and Amichen are the most obvious choice," Laertes said. "You both represent two different kingdoms, so that creates a bit more balance."
"I think my father would be willing to agree," Prince Gustav said. "You are a cousin by blood and both of you are in-laws by marriage, so I think he wouldn't have a problem with it. Besides, I think after what's happened to both of you, you deserve this."
Everyone else nodded. "It's a chance to make new lives for yourselves where your old ones were taken away," Renault said elegantly.
Naissus looked at Amichen. "I think we just got elected king and queen of an empty wilderness."
"I'll take it."
