Garnet stepped into the throne room and looked out over the standing
crowd of nobles and peasants who had come to request various services of
her. Noting the silence in the room and the awkward looks of the people who
stood, Garnet walked to the chair that her mother had once occupied.
She swept her hand along the finished mahogany surface and sat down slowly.
The sixteen year old looked like a child in the throne, her small body barely sinking into the crimson cushions that engulfed the entire chair.
Looking out over the crowd, she could see the waiting faces of her people. She was determined to be a just and benevolent ruler, but her heart wasn't ready; her face displayed this fact to the entire room. Steiner stood to her left and Beatrix to her right, both looking like they had done this thousands of times before (which they had). Steiner stepped forward and boomed out in his deepest voice.
"Announcing Queen Garnet til Alexandros the Seventeenth. The Queen will hear the request of . . ." Steiner looked at a piece of parchment with the order of people to speak to Garnet "Emuin Marle of Alexandria!"
Beatrix leaned over and whispered into Garnet's ear, "This woman wishes to speak to you about the legality of keeping Moogles as pets."
Garnet rolled her eyes at the question that had been debated in Alexandria since the beginning of time: did moogles choose their owners or did owners choose their moogles? A plump middle-aged woman stood in the first row of chairs and walked to the center of the floor to address the queen. Garnet shifted her focus from the crowd of people to the red-faced woman and listened to her ranting for the next twenty minutes.
After the red-faced woman was:
"Sir Renovo of Treno!" who wanted free reigns to study and possibly revive a few of the left over black mages from the mage wars; as well as
"Lady Stella of Treno!" who wanted to purchase a rare stellazio that was found in the rubble of one of the walls of the Alexandrian palace; but the strangest occurrence came from,
"Sir Alfonzo Baldash Packardo Remi Cornello the nineteenth!" who requested equal rights for oglops, and promptly let fifty of them jump out from his coat.
The subsequent minutes consisted of the Knights of Pluto trying to contain the oglops, of which, numerous had decided that the best place to be was down the red-faced lady's blouse.
Garnet watched the Knights, one by one get pummeled by the woman as they tried to contain the oglops in her dress. Steiner finally had to step in and bear hug the woman to shake the contents of her dress out; The oglops finally fell out, as well as various wallets and purses of people around the room.
The fiasco would have made even Amarant burst out laughing, indeed Beatrix was having a hard time concealing her amusement; tears of hilarity were welling up in her eyes at the pain of having to hold her composure. Garnet, though, stared at the scene with blank eyes and only acknowledged that it was over when Steiner shooed the mass of people out of the room and walked back to the throne with an exasperated grimace.
"Miss Emuin Marle has been arrested for theft and the articles distributed to each of the people that they were stolen from. My goodness, that was very strange your highness! I don't think we've had that much of a problem, ever! To think that it happened on your first day is horrifying!"
Beatrix clicked her tongue and said in a soft voice.
"That's not true Adelbert. Remember when a certain ten year old girl brought a pet chocobo into the throne room to show her mother?"
"Ahhh, yes. We had to get an expert lasso artist to get it after it attacked anyone who went in the room. It had made its nest there!" Laughed Steiner.
"Hmmmm," was the only thing Garnet could say, partially because she didn't remember and partially because she wasn't listening, "I must speak to you two about the letter that Cid sent to me."
Steiner and Beatrix looked at each other and visibly gave up: the queen was obviously not in the mood to chat, let alone laugh. Beatrix tossed her chocolate hair to one side, and frowned with her left eye.
"What did he write? Is there any news from . . . up north?"
Garnet knew that she meant from the Iifa tree and from Zidane, but chose to ignore the question and continued on with what was written. She explained Cid's plan to share craftsmen to improve on the relations and economies between the countries.
"How ingenious! I wholeheartedly agree with Regent Cid; having our citizens work together will remind them that both of our cities are filled with good people as well as put money in the pockets of the workers." Said Steiner.
"Yes, but what about Alexandria? Many of the people here do not have homes yet. We can't afford to lose our craftsmen until most of the houses are rebuilt." Replied Beatrix.
Garnet nodded in agreement "Both of you are correct. I think that I will respond to Cid's request by giving him the man power after most of the Alexandrian people are situated in their homes. Adelbert, I place you in charge of determining when most of the people have their houses repaired enough to live in. Alright, on to more pressing matters. Cid has informed me of a band of about one hundred black mages found in Pinnacle Rocks."
Beatrix and Adelbert gasped at the same time. Garnet adjusted herself in the seat and merely continued as if nothing had happened. She told them about the catatonic state that the mages were in and the indifference that Cid seemed to give them in his letter.
"Cid has asked me to travel to Lindblum and speak to him personally about his proposition. I will go with Steiner on the Red Rose and ask Cid to take me to see the Black Mages in Pinnacle rocks." Steiner began to say something in protest "Adelbert, I know what you are going to say and I don't want to hear it, I am fully capable of defending myself and you know it. Just in case though I want to take Vivi, Freya, and Eiko along. Are they all still here?"
Steiner cleared his throat in discomfort and answered "Well your highness . . . ah, I mean Garnet. Lady Freya went back to Burmecia to find sir Fratley and help rebuild the city, but Eiko and Vivi are . . ."
Suddenly an extremely bossy voice rang from the hallway.
"NO! Vivi, you can't do that! That's not fair! You can't beat me! You're using my deck of cards that I found!"
Vivi ran through the double doors at the end of the throne room. He scurried across the red carpet going down the center aisle of the chairs and tripped right as he was three-fourths of the way to where the trio was sitting. Garnet looked down at him and saw a little black mage that, even though he had fought the most powerful being in Gaia or Terra, was scared of a six year old girl.
Vivi stood, dusted himself off, and looked up at the queen "Oh! H - hello dagger!"
Just then the source of the bossy six year old voice ran around the corner with her arms outstretched and holding a deck of cards.
"Vivi you'd better come back here! I'm gonna . . .oh HI Dagger!" Eiko smiled at the sight of Garnet who the former hadn't seen since the latter had locked herself in her room.
"Hello Eiko. Hello Vivi. I was just telling Steiner that I wanted to see you for something."
Eiko jumped up the steps that led to where Beatrix, Steiner and Garnet were sitting. Apparently she had forgotten Vivi's offense.
"What!? Are we gonna go find Zidane?"
Garnet's heart sunk again and she choked at the six year old's bluntness. She regained her composure and let it slide.
"No . . . we're going to Lindblum. I want you and Vivi to come along with Steiner and I, we're leaving in about an hour."
Steiner turned to face his queen "Ah excuse me your highness," He said, forgetting that she had told him to call her by her first name, "but don't I have to survey the city and see how many people's homes are repaired? Shouldn't we put off the visit until later?"
Beatrix piped in "Adelbert, which sounds more urgent to you? A count of the repaired homes in Alexandria? or a group of black mages that could go on a rampage and destroy the entire continent? I will take the survey if the queen wishes, you must go with her and, you know, perform your sworn duty of being her bodyguard."
The sarcasm was biting but it was just to tease the man whom the general had fallen in love with. "Alright. We'll all leave in an hour to Lindblum." Said Garnet.
She swept her hand along the finished mahogany surface and sat down slowly.
The sixteen year old looked like a child in the throne, her small body barely sinking into the crimson cushions that engulfed the entire chair.
Looking out over the crowd, she could see the waiting faces of her people. She was determined to be a just and benevolent ruler, but her heart wasn't ready; her face displayed this fact to the entire room. Steiner stood to her left and Beatrix to her right, both looking like they had done this thousands of times before (which they had). Steiner stepped forward and boomed out in his deepest voice.
"Announcing Queen Garnet til Alexandros the Seventeenth. The Queen will hear the request of . . ." Steiner looked at a piece of parchment with the order of people to speak to Garnet "Emuin Marle of Alexandria!"
Beatrix leaned over and whispered into Garnet's ear, "This woman wishes to speak to you about the legality of keeping Moogles as pets."
Garnet rolled her eyes at the question that had been debated in Alexandria since the beginning of time: did moogles choose their owners or did owners choose their moogles? A plump middle-aged woman stood in the first row of chairs and walked to the center of the floor to address the queen. Garnet shifted her focus from the crowd of people to the red-faced woman and listened to her ranting for the next twenty minutes.
After the red-faced woman was:
"Sir Renovo of Treno!" who wanted free reigns to study and possibly revive a few of the left over black mages from the mage wars; as well as
"Lady Stella of Treno!" who wanted to purchase a rare stellazio that was found in the rubble of one of the walls of the Alexandrian palace; but the strangest occurrence came from,
"Sir Alfonzo Baldash Packardo Remi Cornello the nineteenth!" who requested equal rights for oglops, and promptly let fifty of them jump out from his coat.
The subsequent minutes consisted of the Knights of Pluto trying to contain the oglops, of which, numerous had decided that the best place to be was down the red-faced lady's blouse.
Garnet watched the Knights, one by one get pummeled by the woman as they tried to contain the oglops in her dress. Steiner finally had to step in and bear hug the woman to shake the contents of her dress out; The oglops finally fell out, as well as various wallets and purses of people around the room.
The fiasco would have made even Amarant burst out laughing, indeed Beatrix was having a hard time concealing her amusement; tears of hilarity were welling up in her eyes at the pain of having to hold her composure. Garnet, though, stared at the scene with blank eyes and only acknowledged that it was over when Steiner shooed the mass of people out of the room and walked back to the throne with an exasperated grimace.
"Miss Emuin Marle has been arrested for theft and the articles distributed to each of the people that they were stolen from. My goodness, that was very strange your highness! I don't think we've had that much of a problem, ever! To think that it happened on your first day is horrifying!"
Beatrix clicked her tongue and said in a soft voice.
"That's not true Adelbert. Remember when a certain ten year old girl brought a pet chocobo into the throne room to show her mother?"
"Ahhh, yes. We had to get an expert lasso artist to get it after it attacked anyone who went in the room. It had made its nest there!" Laughed Steiner.
"Hmmmm," was the only thing Garnet could say, partially because she didn't remember and partially because she wasn't listening, "I must speak to you two about the letter that Cid sent to me."
Steiner and Beatrix looked at each other and visibly gave up: the queen was obviously not in the mood to chat, let alone laugh. Beatrix tossed her chocolate hair to one side, and frowned with her left eye.
"What did he write? Is there any news from . . . up north?"
Garnet knew that she meant from the Iifa tree and from Zidane, but chose to ignore the question and continued on with what was written. She explained Cid's plan to share craftsmen to improve on the relations and economies between the countries.
"How ingenious! I wholeheartedly agree with Regent Cid; having our citizens work together will remind them that both of our cities are filled with good people as well as put money in the pockets of the workers." Said Steiner.
"Yes, but what about Alexandria? Many of the people here do not have homes yet. We can't afford to lose our craftsmen until most of the houses are rebuilt." Replied Beatrix.
Garnet nodded in agreement "Both of you are correct. I think that I will respond to Cid's request by giving him the man power after most of the Alexandrian people are situated in their homes. Adelbert, I place you in charge of determining when most of the people have their houses repaired enough to live in. Alright, on to more pressing matters. Cid has informed me of a band of about one hundred black mages found in Pinnacle Rocks."
Beatrix and Adelbert gasped at the same time. Garnet adjusted herself in the seat and merely continued as if nothing had happened. She told them about the catatonic state that the mages were in and the indifference that Cid seemed to give them in his letter.
"Cid has asked me to travel to Lindblum and speak to him personally about his proposition. I will go with Steiner on the Red Rose and ask Cid to take me to see the Black Mages in Pinnacle rocks." Steiner began to say something in protest "Adelbert, I know what you are going to say and I don't want to hear it, I am fully capable of defending myself and you know it. Just in case though I want to take Vivi, Freya, and Eiko along. Are they all still here?"
Steiner cleared his throat in discomfort and answered "Well your highness . . . ah, I mean Garnet. Lady Freya went back to Burmecia to find sir Fratley and help rebuild the city, but Eiko and Vivi are . . ."
Suddenly an extremely bossy voice rang from the hallway.
"NO! Vivi, you can't do that! That's not fair! You can't beat me! You're using my deck of cards that I found!"
Vivi ran through the double doors at the end of the throne room. He scurried across the red carpet going down the center aisle of the chairs and tripped right as he was three-fourths of the way to where the trio was sitting. Garnet looked down at him and saw a little black mage that, even though he had fought the most powerful being in Gaia or Terra, was scared of a six year old girl.
Vivi stood, dusted himself off, and looked up at the queen "Oh! H - hello dagger!"
Just then the source of the bossy six year old voice ran around the corner with her arms outstretched and holding a deck of cards.
"Vivi you'd better come back here! I'm gonna . . .oh HI Dagger!" Eiko smiled at the sight of Garnet who the former hadn't seen since the latter had locked herself in her room.
"Hello Eiko. Hello Vivi. I was just telling Steiner that I wanted to see you for something."
Eiko jumped up the steps that led to where Beatrix, Steiner and Garnet were sitting. Apparently she had forgotten Vivi's offense.
"What!? Are we gonna go find Zidane?"
Garnet's heart sunk again and she choked at the six year old's bluntness. She regained her composure and let it slide.
"No . . . we're going to Lindblum. I want you and Vivi to come along with Steiner and I, we're leaving in about an hour."
Steiner turned to face his queen "Ah excuse me your highness," He said, forgetting that she had told him to call her by her first name, "but don't I have to survey the city and see how many people's homes are repaired? Shouldn't we put off the visit until later?"
Beatrix piped in "Adelbert, which sounds more urgent to you? A count of the repaired homes in Alexandria? or a group of black mages that could go on a rampage and destroy the entire continent? I will take the survey if the queen wishes, you must go with her and, you know, perform your sworn duty of being her bodyguard."
The sarcasm was biting but it was just to tease the man whom the general had fallen in love with. "Alright. We'll all leave in an hour to Lindblum." Said Garnet.