Aamira sat at her writing desk staring at the letter that she had started on days ago. It still barely took up the top third of the page. There would be major problems between their kingdoms if she couldn't get this letter done soon with an offer for a mutual meeting place. There was the mirror palace before, but she knew from experience how insecure it was. Either one of them could be spying on the other from the rafters. But then how could either of them offer a suggestion for a location without it looking like the other was plotting something?
"Why don't you just offer to meet at a later time?" Lucario asked.
"Because then I would look scared." Aamira replied, not looking away from the letter.
"Why not invite him here for the festival?" Quill asked.
"Invite Neltonan monarchs to a Dellevan festival? The capitol no less? To them we would look like assassins and to the citizens we would look like idiots for even suggesting such a thing. It's not my fault that our kingdoms always fight over the smallest things, but now I have to figure out a way to deal with it without starting a war."
Aamira sighed and stood up. "Let's go for a walk in the forest. I need to clear my head for a while."
Quill and Lucario didn't like helping her to put off something so important, not that she wasn't constantly busy and working hard since her little stunt with the council. They snuck out through the secret passageway in her closet which she still hadn't told anyone about and walked through the garden towards the forest.
It had been a while since Aamira had gone to the lake. Victini didn't visit there anymore. He either lived in the barracks back at the castle or on Mt. Victoria. Celebi had returned to the lake, but she was normally asleep inside the hollow tree trunk at the center of the lake.
Before they reached the lake, Lucario stopped to scan up ahead.
"Is something wrong?" Aamira asked.
"There's someone there." Lucario moved forward cautiously and when he reached the clearing, ran out towards the lake. Quill and Aamira followed, wondering what he could have sensed that made him stop like that only to rush out into the open.
Laying just at the edge of the lake was a small pokemon. It was hard to tell if she was unconscious or just sleeping. They tried to wake her up, but nothing they did worked.
"Exhausted." Lucario said. "Its aura's just a faint glimmer. The only way I know of that something like this could happen is by using Aura Restore, but this pokemon doesn't look like an Aura Reader."
"Remember the good old days when we couldn't take a vacation without something like this happening?" Aamira asked. "Now we can't even go for a walk in the forest. Well it's not like we can just abandon someone like this."
They stayed with the pokemon for a while, hoping it would be able to wake up soon. Since it wasn't an Aura Reader it didn't regain energy just by sleeping. Quill checked for injuries while Aamira and Lucario took turns giving her some of their own energy to help her wake up so she could eat and regain energy properly.
After a while, the pokemon's eyes finally started to open. She looked around at the three of them, noticing Aamira last. When she saw Aamira and the symbol on her cloak, she shrieked and backed away.
"Hey, calm down!" Aamira backed away to make more space between her and the pokemon. "We're not going to hurt you. We just found you unconscious here and we were trying to help."
"You're Aamira… right?" Her voice was very strained, as if she had lost it from being sick and it had just started to come back. "I'm sorry. I don't think I could believe that. What are the odds that I'd end up being found by you off all people?"
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Aamira asked.
"I find it hard to believe you wouldn't remember me." She said. "A human turning into a pokemon. I found it hard to believe, but even if that was true you'd be able to remember the things that Destiny did, wouldn't you?"
"You haven't told anyone about your amnesia?" Quill asked.
"Some people know, but we tried to keep it quiet from Neltona. I don't really see what it matters, they'd just end up underestimating me. It's not like I was ever actually taught how to lead by Zoroark. He never had any intentions of handing the kingdom over."
"You can't remember?" the pokemon asked. "I could probably jog your memory if you could find a certain type of berry for me. It's called a Melody Berry."
"Oh right, those can cure sore throats. We actually have some growing in garden with the rest of the physician's berries. I'll be right back." Aamira ran back towards the castle and came back a few minutes later with an odd berry that Quill and Lucario had never seen before. "It's really rare, but it's not like they're being used for anything right now, so you can have it."
"That's… really kind of you actually." The pokemon took the berry, sniffed it cautiously and, after deciding it hadn't been poisoned, ate it in a few bites. She coughed to clear her throat and sang a couple of scales. Her voice sounded rough at first, but it eventually got better. "That's more like it." She stood up and stretched her legs, then flew over to the old tree trunk at the center of the lake to use it as a stage. "From one of our more famous productions, one that you saw no less."
The pokemon cleared her throat and started to sing a strangely familiar song. "By the fall of night, I'm here, and there's no need to fear. Listen closely to the wind, it speaks of the life it brings. Oh, speak to me now my brave hero as you charge the ice with life that it lacks. Oh speak to me now, brave hero and dragon of black."
"That's the song from my music box." Aamira said. "The words are a little different though."
"Music box?" The pokemon floated back down to where they were. "I don't know anything about a music box, but did you think that Dellevis would have their song about the white dragon and Neltona wouldn't have their own version for the black one?"
"That makes sense. It does actually sound familiar, not like it's the same song with different lyrics, but actually something familiar about the lyrics." Aamira closed her eyes and hummed the song to herself. "From Neltona… Oh, there's a theater there, isn't there? Right, Neltona is the country of sound and Dellevis is the country of light. You have the theater with the world's greatest music productions while we both invented and manufacture the world's best fireworks. So I must have seen a performance there on a visit when I was younger."
"If you can't fully remember, I'll tell you a little story. A long time ago a theater was built in that town, supposedly as a way to bring back the black dragon who apparently loved music and listening to stories. It used to be that the plays were performed almost entirely with humans, although sometimes with a few pokemon as extras. Then one day, a pokemon snuck into the theater and was listening to a certain song. The song was so exciting that this certain pokemon just had to join in. Ever since the performances have been mostly done by pokemon. That pokemon's name was Meloetta.
"Meloetta lived at the theater for hundreds of years. Then one day a young prince came to the theater for the first time. He had heard about the mysterious pokemon Meloetta but had no idea what to expect. Finally Meloetta appeared on the stage. Her singing was like nothing he had ever heard. It stirred something inside him, but he had no idea what it was. Then, just by chance, Meloetta happened to catch eyes with him. He stood up and pointed at Meloetta and said, 'That's her. That's my partner.' And I've been with him ever since."
"You're the king's partner!" Aamira had lowered her guard before, but now she was on full alert. Even so, Meloetta didn't seem like a bad person. She was usually a good judge of personality and she could tell Quill and Lucario thought the same way. "How did you get here?"
Meloetta shrugged. "No idea. We went to bed as usual and I thought I heard some sort of flurry of movement, but I slept right through whatever it was. I couldn't wake up. Then I woke up here."
"And that doesn't seem strange to you?" Quill asked. "What are the odds that you fall unconscious, kidnapped probably, and you just happen to end up by the lake on the day we decide to sneak out for a walk in the forest?"
"It does seem strange, but I don't get the feeling it was caused by any of you is the thing. You're actually a lot nicer than I thought you would be, your majesty. There were all sorts of rumors going on about your battle with the false king."
Aamira laughed. "Well I'll take that as a compliment I guess but you don't have to call me your majesty. We'll figure this out. It was kind of my job to investigate stuff like this while I was… away. It's still theirs technically. Now I might be wrong because I've seen some drastic differences between pokemon and their partners at times, but I don't think that your partner is as bad as the rumors here say either, right?"
"Oh no, Darius still acts like a child really. He's wiser than you might think when you first meet him, but he's still so kind and innocent. Of course we can't lower our guard around Dellevis when they get a new monarch. Things were a lot different when Anima was in charge. The kingdoms were stable and actually unafraid of meeting with each other inside the capitols. Then there was Xerxes and I think Darius could tell there was something odd about him from the start. But yes, I know you might have trouble trusting me immediately, but he really is the nicest person you could ever know."
"I have an idea then." Aamira said. "I've been working on a letter and I was trying to decide on a place for us to meet for the first time. As a gesture of good faith, I'll be the first to go to the capitol. Of course no one in Dellevis would like it, but if I had an excuse such as escorting the king's partner home…"
"Yes I see! I agree fully. I've never understood humans and their politics to be honest, but I think pokemon should be able to trust each other at least. If you don't mind, I'd like to write a letter as well to let him know I'm okay and that I haven't been kidnapped by you. Oh, but wouldn't people start to think that Dellevis is overpowering Neltona if you visit the capitol first?"
"I don't see what you mean. I mean, the king's partner was technically the first to visit the capitol of Dellevis. The king or queen is always seen as more important than their partner to the rest of the humans, so the kings partner visiting first and the queen visiting in person second sounds even enough to me."
"I had my doubts, but you must be Destiny after all. You're so much like Anima."
As expected, Faris was furious about discovering that they had managed to sneak out again and Aamira still refused to tell him how they did it. He regained his composure when he found out about Meloetta though, both for dignity's sake since he was the captain of the guard and because he didn't entirely trust her. The king's partner suddenly showing up right in front of the queen? It was no accident, that was something they could all agree on.
Later that night, Aamira finished a newly revised letter, explaining how she found Meloetta and her plan to visit personally. Of course to make the kingdoms still appear as equals, Meloetta would have to stay for a few days to make her presence known. She assured him that Meloetta's safety would be a priority while she stayed in Inari. Meloetta wrote a letter to go along with it, also explaining that she herself had agreed to stay for a few days and that she had helped to create this plan. When Meloetta saw the Pidove that Aamira trusted with her deliveries she was apprehensive, but Aamira wouldn't trust the job to anyone else.
There was some tension obviously with the people in town, but during the festival for Tobias they heard her sing. A lot of people from all over the country had heard about the festival and Meloetta visiting, so thousands of people came to the capitol. Meloetta sang both the version of the song from Neltona and Dellevis. Everyone who had thought that their belief in the white dragon was stronger than anyone from Neltona's belief in the black one had their eyes opened at least for the few seconds she sang. For the first time since she became queen, Aamira thought that relations between their countries were nothing to worry about.
No one noticed that Aamira had gone missing during part of the festival. Quill and Lucario figured out why right away. It just so happened that the festival fell on a new moon. While everyone else was gathered in the town square, Aamira found a secluded balcony on one of the lower levels of the castle. Meloetta's balcony was slightly above hers, but cast in a shadow where no one could see the second pokemon forming from Aamira's shadow. Her shadow had reappeared only after she chased Zoroark out of the city. It was strange suddenly being able to feel his presence again when it happened, but he couldn't manifest until the new moon so she had to wait. This was the sixth time he had visited her world since then.
Aamira got Darius's response that same night. There was something about his writing that looked less formal, in both the words he used and the neatness of it. Maybe he was just glad to hear Meloetta was safe or maybe he had finally decided to lower his guard since Aamira offered to do much the same thing.
A few days later, they were getting ready to leave. Capricorn had never pulled a carriage before, so it was hard to coax him into one. If it just came down to convenience they could have just walked all that way there; it wouldn't have taken much longer since Capricorn had to move slower, but they had to make an entrance and they couldn't have it look like they had made someone as famous as Meloetta walk all that way.
"So I've been wondering something." Quill said. "The king's name is Darius, isn't it? But isn't his last name Darius just like Aamira's last name is Cyrus? Does that mean his name is Darius Darius?"
Meloetta laughed. "Oh, that would be silly, wouldn't it? No, it's just more formal for the royal families to refer to each other by the last name."
"Which means you'll be hearing a lot of people calling me Cyrus while we're there." Aamira said.
"You have a lot of names." Quill said.
"Oh and one more thing. I know a Quilava isn't as spectacular as a Meloetta, but while we're there I'd like you to act like you're actually my partner." Aamira said. "I hate to admit it, but I worry a lot about whether people actually believe I was a human once. Having a pokemon partner would lend a little more credibility to it."
Quill nodded. "Of course.
After a while of talking, they noticed that someone aside from Lucario had remained more or less silent throughout their journey. Meloetta spent the majority of the time just staring out of the window. It was almost strange that a pokemon famous for her singing would spend such a long amount of time completely silent.
"Is something wrong?" Aamira asked.
Meloetta jumped in surprise and turned back to them. "Oh, no I guess not. Well maybe. I was just wondering if maybe it's a good idea to be going back home so soon. I still have no idea how I ended up by the lake so close to your castle, but odds are whoever's responsible is back there, right?"
"Oh, I think we're being underestimated again." Quill said.
"I think you're right." Aamira reached into her bag, which she usually kept hidden under her cloak just in case of an emergency and pulled out her Aura Glass. "Remember how I said it used to be my job to investigate stuff like this? You know I didn't always have it easy. Something similar happened to me, you know. I ended up in an entirely different world with no idea how I had gotten there and it's not as if I was pampered like royalty. I was just like everyone else back then. It was nice, actually. Well anyway, through honest hard work we were able to build a team of the best Investigators in the world. Figuring out stuff like this is what we do. Just because it might be dangerous doesn't mean it's going to stop us. Lucario's not officially a member of our team, but he's the same rank as us. Go on, show her."
Lucario looked like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes, but he dug in his bag for his Aura Glass anyway. Aamira had suspected he carried it around with him, but didn't know for sure until then. He liked to believe that life was the real one, but it was understandable that he would still be conflicted about it.
"An Investigation Team, huh?" After hours of silence, Meloetta's face lit up. "That actually sounds really cool! Could I join?"
Aamira stared at her stunned for a second before she was able to reply. "You know, I don't see why not. I've never considered keeping our team going in this world. It's like I've been trying to keep those two lives separate I guess? It's sort of like there are two of me; the Investigator and the queen. I guess I never wanted the Investigator side to get wrapped up in the situation with Zoroark and all of that."
Meloetta nodded. "I understand completely. I feel the same way about myself. Part of me is a stage performer and the other is the king's partner. It's hard to let those two things cross. Both have their own stresses, but I can at least ignore one for a while by being the other."
"It's too bad we don't have an extra Aura Glass to give you, but welcome to Team Sleuth anyway."
They were nowhere near close to the border and had passed up a town hours before sunset, so they decided just to stay off of the road and sleep in the carriage that night. As he usually did, Lucario kept watch while the rest of them slept. It wasn't any sort of inconvenience to him; in fact, he enjoyed it. He learned the technique for being able to stay awake like this from the set of memories he got from Aamira, which lent more credibility towards those being the real ones.
He wanted to believe that they were the real ones, but at the same time he couldn't just turn his back on everyone he loved from the other set of memories that he had gotten from Zoroark. He had watched them die. Zoroark had offered him a way out of his despair by working for him and had saved his life in doing so. He couldn't just turn his back on the family that was actually there, while in the other set of memories his mother had died, he had grown up with no idea of ever having a brother, and his father had knowingly abandoned him. No matter what the reason was, how could he forgive something like that?
That's where the conflict started. He couldn't help noticing some similarities between the memories he got from Aamira and the life that she lived. If she knew the same technique for staying awake, as this set of memories suggested she did since he was apparently the one who taught her, then couldn't she have easily created that memory where he also learned to do it?
'But couldn't I trust her?' He thought. 'Aamira of all people. In Zoroark's set of memories, I had practically grown up hating her and she acted like she was afraid of me up until that night in the room with the mirror. That's where both sets of memories overlap. After that she acted like we really knew each other and that we had been friends for years, which is what her set of memories suggests also.'
He hadn't thought of the possibility for a few weeks after he got the other set of memories from Aamira, but there was a third option. Wasn't it possible that both sets were fake? After all, he had never seen Zoroark after meeting with Beheeyem the second time. It could be possible he had never met Zoroark at all. If that were true and Aamira had created both sets of memories, then what was his real life like and what did she want with him?
By this point Lucario's head was pounding. He had frequent headaches like this, almost like the memories were physically fighting inside his skull. He rubbed his head and looked down at the Aura Glass on the seat next to him. If those memories were fake, she went through a lot of trouble to make him believe that this set, at least, was real.
While distracted by all of these thoughts, Lucario eventually started to drift off. Just as he was about to fall asleep, there was a loud bang and the carriage was nearly thrown on its side. Everyone was awake in an instant and they could hear Capricorn panicking outside and see his fire being shot around the carriage in some desperate attempt to shake off the attackers.
Everyone evacuated the carriage and looked up at their attackers, who were impossible to overlook. Above them there were at least fifty Murkrow circling and taking turns diving down onto them.
"Murkrow. Why Murkrow!?" Meloetta said.
"Friends of yours?" Aamira asked.
"I don't think so. I've just never had good experiences with them."
"That makes two of us." Aamira fired an Aura Sphere at one that got to close and managed to knock it out instantly. It occurred to her that this was the first real battle she had been in since Zoroark. "I think you'll make a great addition to the team."
Each of them took turns attacking the Murkrow as they got within range. With so many of them, it was impossible to dodge every single attack, but they didn't give in. Meloetta had a little trick up her sleeve too, and attacked as many as she could with Thunderbolt. She confessed that Murkrow were the reason she learned it in the first place, but in the chaos they didn't have time to discuss it much past that. At one point Aamira got in trouble when a Murkrow managed to get in a lucky hit and scratched up her eye. After that she was blinded on her left side and a few more managed to get in some hits from that direction. Quill knocked any more incoming Murkrow away from Aamira and gave her the chance to stand up.
Meloetta didn't think she'd be able to fight with only one good eye. It was time for the queen to retreat and allow her friends to finish the fight for her. That's what she thought, at least, until Aamira closed her good eye and the censors on either side of her head lifted up. Meloetta was stunned for a moment when Aamira continued to fight just as viciously as before. It was only when another attack came her way that she snapped out of it and went back on the offensive.
It took longer than any of them would have liked, but eventually each of the Murkrow were knocked out. Aamira ran over to Capricorn, who was still trying to bolt even though the carriage harness was preventing it, and started to calm him down.
"Forget about him for a moment, would you? You're hurt." Lucario walked over to Aamira and used Heal Pulse on her to heal the injury done to her eye. Aamira winced and attempted to open her eye when he was done. "Can you see?"
"Not really. Everything's blurry in my left eye." She rubbed the outside of her eye lid, which was itching really badly from being healed so quickly.
"It's probably just taking a while to heal, like when that Audino from where your uncle lives healed your arm." Lucario turned to Meloetta and Quill. "You two hold still. You're hurt too."
Lucario took a moment to heal both of them, then they got back into the carriage while Aamira continued to calm Capricorn. She could feel his fear and even though he couldn't speak she knew that the only thing that would really calm him would be to keep moving.
Aamira climbed back inside and they immediately started moving at a noticeably quicker pace than before. Lucario was slumped against the wall, grudgingly allowing Quill to treat his injuries. It brought back memories from when they had found him in the Other world, barely alive after an attack by a different flock of Murkrow. Could it really be just a coincidence?
"You can't use Heal Pulse on yourself, can you?" Aamira asked.
"No, it doesn't work that way." Lucario winced as Quill tightened a bandage around his arm. "Now don't say anything stupid, like it not being fair that I got hurt an each of you came out of this without a single scratch. It's better to reduce the amount of injuries, isn't it?"
'That's the side created by Zoroark talking, but the real Lucario was the one who immediately rushed over to heal me.' Aamira touched her eye again, thinking it was strange to actually want a scar in a situation like this. At least then Lucario would have been able to see it. He could have seen what he had healed instead of always thinking about fighting the way he did.
"I thought it was impressive that you kept fighting even after being blinded in one eye like that." Meloetta said.
"That's not impressive. I could sense where every single one of those Murkrow were. I could even count every one of them. There were sixty-eight."
"Seventy-two." Lucario corrected. "You need more practice."
"Oh… Well, close enough. I had this friend who had been completely blind from the moment he hatched, but that didn't slow him down at all. I fought him once and it was actually really close. His senses were so heightened from being blind his whole life that it was as if he could still see through his hearing, touch, and smell. He still wanted to see though. That was his dream because he had a brother who he had never seen before, even though they had spend their whole lives together. Of course people could try to describe things he couldn't see with his other senses, but how could he imagine his brother's blue fur without any concept of the color blue?"
"That does sound terrible but somehow inspiring too, not letting something like that run your life. Although I couldn't help but notice you spoke in the past tense."
Quill nodded. "Yea, he can see now. After fighting against his misfortune for so long, even to the point of becoming obsessed with it and even hurting the brother who he so desperately wanted to see, he finally found a way. It wasn't the best way to go about doing it, I guess, but you know what? I think he still ended up being a pretty good person. He's still as strong as ever too, although his sight did give him his one real weakness."
"Did it?" Aamira hadn't heard anything about Sandslash in a long time, so she hadn't heard anything about a weakness.
"Yea, he was blind his whole life, so now that he can see his eyes are sensitive to light. We both found out for the first time in a practice battle a few years back. He said not to hold back, so I made my fire burn blue, but when I attacked him, all he could do was roll up into a ball to try to block out the light. Oh, you're not going to believe what they managed to do before I went back home! Actually, I'll keep it a secret, that way you'll have to go back with me next time."
"Hey, come on! That's not fair, tell me what happened!"
Meloetta laughed. These kids really were something. They had so many things to worry about, and yet they kept a little bit of that childish attitude about them too. The one who really surprised her was Lucario. He had hardly spoken a word until Aamira was hurt. He had been hurt in some way, although she couldn't figure out how, but he was still able to care about his friends, which was all that really mattered. Being knocked out in a battle didn't matter; it's when you stop caring about your friends that you really lose. That's what Meloetta liked to think anyway. What could be better than having someone you cared about?
"So what should we do now?" Meloetta asked. "Keep traveling through the night and the next day?"
Aamira nodded. "We'll have to. To keep on schedule and to keep Capricorn from being tired out, we'll probably stop a few times during the day."
"All of you get some sleep then. I'll keep watch." Lucario opened one of the doors and climbed on top of the carriage.
"He's so serious. I don't understand him at all. It's like one minute he's one person and the next he's someone completely different." Meloetta said.
"Is it that obvious?" Aamira asked. "You've heard about Zoroark, right?"
"The pokemon who had been disguising himself as Xerxes. Of course." she asked.
"He hurt Lucario in a way that did irreparable damage. I won't go into detail, but I don't think he's ever going to be like he used to be. Even so, I'd never be able to do something like this without him. He's been really supportive since I became the queen."
"It's really horrible that Zoroark managed to do so much damage without anyone noticing. It's too bad he managed to escape at the last minute."
"Yea, it is…" Aamira didn't feel like continuing on the subject. After all, it had been because of her that Zoroark had escaped. But she had tried to catch him at least. No, that wasn't how it happened. Faris sent guards after him. Aamira just sort of stood there, staring, after realizing that someone like Zoroark could be afraid. She had even tried to help him after Staraptor saved him from falling to his death.
People liked to believe that he had died from his injuries after all. Rumors of finding him after the battle had been cropping up ever since he first ran off. They had attempted to keep what happened quiet, but people were observant, not that they really needed to be. Aamira had tried to save Zoroark's life when he fell, that was something that most people agreed on. Some believed that the Staraptor was actually trying to attack him, but most knew that there was no point. That was the only thing other than Aamira's appearance that made them doubt. Saving Zoroark could have been the worst political mistake she would ever make. Their queen, if Aamira really was their queen, was a weakling that wouldn't even let monsters die the way they deserved to.
That night specifically was a restless one, partially because they were staying in a moving carriage. The next night and the nights that followed were more comfortable, since they made sure to stop at towns and stay in actual inns. Before crossing the border, they had to keep their guard up for Meloetta's sake. After all, what better tactic to assassinate the king than to get to his partner? After crossing the border there was a sudden shift. Suddenly Meloetta was the only one who was really safe. It was at that point that Aamira realized she wouldn't get a decent night's sleep until they went home.
Finally they reached the capitol city, Raiden. They each expected it to be storming by the time they arrived, but this appeared to be one of their better days with only a light drizzle. The welcoming committee was warmer than they might have expected, although Aamira figured it was probably because Meloetta was with them.
Capricorn was taken to the stables where the Zebstrika lived. A few people seemed impressed that he wasn't nervous about being around them, especially since he couldn't speak or understand things the way most pokemon could. It was probably because he had been around Zebstrika before, but Aamira wasn't about to tell them that.
Standing at the gate to this unfamiliar castle, she felt truly nervous for the first time since she became the queen. Quill was able to feel her nervousness, but couldn't do anything about it for the sake of appearances.
The gates opened and they were escorted in by several guards. It reminded Aamira of being taken prisoner by Zoroark. Whether they were there for her protection or their king's, even both, she didn't care. She hated being escorted like this.
The doors swung open. It was surprisingly bright inside. Of course Maze castle was powered by electricity too, but it had been overcast and dark pretty much from the time they crossed the border and the sudden amount of light was startling.
A number of knights lined the runner that led into the castle. Lucario and Quill had never seen anyone like this before. They all wore silvery armor with a bronze trim. The tips of the helmets extended past their faces and a couple of points extended down from them like a couple of fangs. They noticed Aamira's attention being caught by one of the knights in particular. She looked familiar, but it was only when they saw her partner, a Hypno, that they realized who she was. How had Lily ended up in a castle in Neltona?
"Who are they?" Quill asked Aamira, noticing a slight smile on her face.
"Dragons. They're knights from a special order that has equal standing in Dellevis, Neltona, and even Dargan. The Dragons of Theria. How would it have looked if I awarded Lily when it was known that she worked for Zoroark willingly for a time? I couldn't. The royal families do have their influence over them, although they're not loyal to any one kingdom, so I expelled her from the royal court for treason and sent a recommendation to their organization."
Lucario smirked. "All about appearances."
"So who's their leader if they're not loyal to any specific country?" Quill asked.
"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure if even they know."
At the end of the runner, which had extended for at least a couple hundred feet, two people stood with another group behind them. The male that was there was tall and strong but had a goofy smile on his face. The female that was next to him was just as tall but also very thin, which made her look a lot smaller than the male. Unlike him, she just looked bored. Judging by how they were dressed, it was easy to guess that these two were the king and queen.
Aamira walked up to the two of them and gave a slight bow. The king's smile widened. "Formal from the start, eh Cyrus? Very well, I've played this game before." He repeated the gesture but straightened up quickly. "I hope you don't mind but I'll have to ignore you for a moment. Meloetta!"
"Darius!" Meloetta ran forward and jumped into the king's arms and wrapped her own arms around his neck.
"I was so worried about you. You'll have to tell me everything that happened to you since you disappeared."
The queen spoke and something in her voice drew Aamira's attention immediately. "That's all very well and good that your partner came back, but we have guests dear." It wasn't difficult to guess that she didn't care about Meloetta at all. If no one else noticed that, they definitely noticed the sarcastic tone she used when referring to their "guests".
"Of course…" the king moved Meloetta to his shoulder. "Well then, how does dinner sound? We have only the finest traditional Neltonan dishes prepared for each of you. I'm assuming you all eat meat?"
'Wow he actually asked.' Aamira thought. "My partner's a vegetarian."
He glanced towards Quill. "I see. Well we have plenty of vegetarian dishes for your Quilava. By the way, did I surprise you by inviting the Dragons?"
Aamira smiled. "Yes and I can see you'll be quite the rival. I'll have to watch my back around you, your majesty."
The king smiled and bowed, gesturing towards a door on the right side of the room. "Right this way, your majesty."
While they were walking, they could all tell immediately that this was going to work. Just a few words and Aamira and the king, whose first name they still didn't know, acted like they had been friends for years.
While waiting for the first course to be brought out, Meloetta told her partner about what had happened since disappearing. The night she disappeared, no one else heard the movement she had heard. It was possible that the only reason she had been the one to be taken was because she heard whoever it was and had started to wake up. It was still suspicious though that she ended up so close to the castle.
After Meloetta assured him that he was okay and that she was treated well while in Dellevis, he started a conversation with Aamira. It was mainly a lot of politics, but rather than criticizing each other, they spent most of the time talking about what their citizens would probably think they would criticize each other for.
"Our queen actually visited in person!" Aamira said in a mocking voice, pretending to be an overly patriotic Dellevan.
"Well our king's partner visited first!" The king replied in an equally mocking voice.
"We did it that way so we'd appear as equals, but you know they're just going to start arguing over it like that." Aamira said.
The king nodded. "Of course! I know exactly what you mean. How could two groups of people who are so similar hate each other so much? Because one group says the dragon was black and another said it was white?"
"If you even believe that. The Dargan belief that there were actually two dragons is gaining in popularity anyway, so soon that won't even be a valid reason."
"They'll find a reason; you can trust me on that. People always find a reason to hate each other. Soon they'll probably argue over whether the dragons had feathers or scales or some nonsense."
The food was finally served and everyone was ready to eat, but seeing it reminded Aamira of something important she had to say.
"I know everyone's hungry, but before we eat, I have an issue I need to bring to everyone's attention." She said. "Everyone here is aware of the real situation, that Meloetta was kidnapped from this castle and brought to Dellevis. The question is, how could she have been taken from the castle without being noticed by anyone? I'd assume you have guards even at night?" The king assured her that they did. "My only guess is that it was because the one responsible was someone in this castle. It would be someone who could enter and leave freely, most likely carrying some sort of bag or other container to hide Meloetta in."
"Quite the strategic move on your part." The queen said, already only half listening and eating. "Acting friendly in the start and then attempting to turn us on one another. Our country is already weak from one revolution, are you attempting to finish us off with another? What proof do you have that it's someone in the castle other than the fact that they would have been able to sneak in and out without being noticed which, I assure you, any trained thief or assassin would be able to do."
Aamira hadn't noticed until looking over to her that she had already started to eat. If she had just been a little more courteous and had waited like she had requested, that would have made things so much easier. "Because the food is all poisoned."
The queen coughed as if trying to cough up the food she had already swallowed and in a fraction of a second, everyone was looking around at each other in a panic. This was why Aamira had wanted to get that much out of the way. If she hadn't pointed out that there was a traitor in their castle at that point and had just said instantly "don't eat because it's poisoned" everyone would have been to panicked to listen and would have started pointing fingers at each other.
One of the knights whistled loudly to get everyone quiet. Everyone turned to him. The Pawniard on his shoulder jumped down and tested the food they had been about to eat.
"It's poisoned." The Pawniard said.
Several of the other knights stood up and went to the doors to keep the ones who had served the food from leaving. The same Pawniard tested the food belonging to Aamira's group and the king's and queen's. It was all poisoned. It wasn't an attack on Neltona or Dellevis, but everyone in the room. Whoever was responsible had even attempted to poison the dragons who were completely neutral when it came to the two kingdoms.