"I can tell from your face that you have some thoughts about our city? May I hear them?"
The day had started in some sort of haze as if it had been one of these reveries dancing on the fine line between dream and nightmare. Luxanna would call them tricks caused by her own anxiety. She had woken up to the sound of torrential rain and the groan of thunder, freezing cold air fogging the glass of her bedroom's window. The fire had gone still in its hearth and only a darkened layer of ash remained in its place. The monarch's body had felt heavier when she stepped out of her bed, unwilling to accommodate to being awake surely due to her lack of a complete night of sleep yet she felt herself unable to return to slumber. Mismatched eyes glanced through the window into the main place that was of course empty at this time and because of this weather ; Lux hoped it would not continue.
Today was quite the day after all.
She floated through these morning hours , her mind disconnected from her body that kept moving and acting on its own in the image of a disarticulated puppet. The rain had ended and so the cloudy sky returned to its cerulean shade while the sun even dared to show itself. Luxanna witnessed the change of weather from her desk room, through the parted velvet curtains, while she mindlessly went through her royal duties. The shuriman emperor was to arrive later in the day and the idea of his presence acted as a dreadful reminder that it was all her idea in the first place. And yet, her biggest demon currently was the loneliness that had left a cold in the room.
The sky finally cleared and the sun came into view, radiant among cerulean, and so did he. During their last encounter back in the royal palace of Shurima, the conversations they shared ended with her being allowed to bring back a book from the royal library with her and she had, since her return, been thoroughly studying it. It spoke about a tradition that dated ever since the foundation of the empire, of the Ascended and the rite of passage of the Sun Disc.
The scroll had been carefully put away inside one of her desk's drawers.
"Does it seem so? I was simply lost in contemplation about how one could live in such coldness."
Rhaast had claimed a seat upon a couch against the wall, underneath ancient paintings Lux had forgotten the names of, among the damask cushions. His bright eyes slowly dragging their golden gaze against every inch of the room before focusing on the demacian monarch, he feigned surprise at her words.
"Although, I suppose I will get accustomed to the weather." The emperor's eyes narrowed slightly in the mimicry of a smile albeit his lips didn't move. "But tell me, your people were not quite expecting the visit, were they?"
Luxanna's mismatched eyes threw a quick look towards the window and it took her all her strength to not roll her eyes. She simply decided to reach for one of the treats that had been settled on the glass table.
"It has nothing to do with expectation." Each word was carefully pushed out as if she feared that they would escape from the room and fall outside. "They are simply defiant to outsiders at first, you know, due to the looming threat of assault."
She didn't add that they were also defiant to each other, that no trust reigned inside those walls or almost none and that the city was in a tense state due to the previous war. Lux had made her duty to solve these matters herself.
"Of course." He hadn't touched a single of the baked sweets that had been proposed to him yet and it would have been completely disrespectful if he kept it this way. Rhaast frowned, the twist of his features barely visible for how little it lasted, when he bit into what he assumed to be a plain biscuit only to be met with the taste of sugar he disliked so much. With a faint dash of lavender added into it. "...Such fear is understandable, after all, how could the common being not be afraid in view of a war?"
Rhaast brought the offered tea cup to his lips, he was glad to see nothing had been added to it. Luxanna almost grimaced watching him drink the beverage without added sweeteners.
"Nevertheless, beware Your Highness. You know how fast whispers go about, if your people don't believe in your actions towards protecting them they might turn on you."
He had a way of speaking of grave matters and making them sound as if they were lighthearted or useless subjects ; but it all made sense for a man that did not look like he cared about much, a man so frightened by his peers that he beat them into inaction.
"I would rather have them whisper than be in complete, terrorized, silence. The part that whispers is lesser than the one who trusts." Her voice stayed calm and collected despite the harshness behind her thoughts. "I wouldn't want to commit the mistake of being a tyrant."
"How dreadful it would be." The monarch's words didn't phase the emperor even for a bit, he even dared a smile at her remarks. "Tyranny would only bring out chaos, I believe, it would create an opportunity for those who would wish to see you burn." Rhaast mindlessly rearranged a loose strand of his hair back behind his ear all the while sipping from his cup, Luxanna simply stared at him for a moment before feigning interest for her own drink instead.
What prompted the turn of this conversation? What was this all about? Why did his words vaguely resemble ominous threats? A few gentle and timid knocks at the door pull Lux through her upset thoughts and she thanked the heavens above for this distraction to the silence that had begun to fall upon the room. She barely hesitated to give whoever was at the door the order to enter.
Annabelle apprehensively stepped into the talking room, hands neatly folded upon her lap and her back straightened in a proud manner despite the obvious tenseness of her body. The lady-in-waiting bowed her head to both her monarch and her guest before speaking.
"I have finished preparing the guest room, Your Highness. Shall I see if it is to our guest's liking?"
Ah, the offer could not have arrived at a better time. The demacian monarch offered a delicately crafted smile to the shuriman emperor before answering.
"Yes, of course. After all, the emperor has had quite the trip and I wouldn't want to get in between him and his rightfully due rest."