The hall was large, with a dais in a room that was off to the side, where I presumed the famed serpiente dancers performed. Ailbhe seemed to sense my surprise, and smirked. I toned down my expression to one as blank as stone, but my eyes still roamed the great marbled hall. At the end of the hall was a room with a great table. A room for negotiations and meetings, I mused. That will be where I make my proposals to the rulers. Ailbhe and his men ushered us in, closing the door behind them, with a few posted outside to guard it. "Wait here, please, Highness." He said shortly. "I will see if the Diente or Tuuli Thea can come to see you."
The moment he left, I pondered what I would say to the monarchs. I could not start off with the demand of a treaty. It would be rude and inhospitable to do so. I would start by asking if they had a place for me and my guards to stay for a bit, to learn about the customs of those who lived so close to our borders. Yes, the borders that used to be wider. I thought, my mind's voice an angry hiss.
With a soft swish and a click, Ailbhe entered. "The Diente Zane Cobriana and his wife, Tuuli Thea Danica Shardae." he announced, sweeping out the door. Two stately figures glided in, heads held high. The Diente was tall, with a strong, light build. his hair was ebony and silky, cut two or three inches from his scalp. His eyes, of course, were Cobriana garnet, a hot ruby red in the warm, fair skin of his face. His wife, Danica, was the sort of beautiful that even if someone hated her, they had to admit to it. Her skin was golden, her face still young and fresh. Her eyes were the same shade as her hair, and I could see the metallic feathers at the nape of her neck when she turned.
I rose, sliding into a smooth bow, then straightening my posture, my head held as proudly as theirs. "I am Princess Sivvet of the Reqiunne pack." I informed them, my tone regal and a bit condescending, although whether they would catch that depended on their intelligence as monarchs. The Diente nodded. "It is our pleasure to have a wolf in our midst after so many years." he replied pleasantly. "But to what do we owe this honor?" I shrugged, allowing a small smile to play over my features. It didn't hurt for them to see me as a worthy adversary and one with few qualms about defying them.
"The Alphess, my mother, sent me to study the customs and culture of Wyvern's Nest," was my response to that. "I hoped only for a place to stay and enjoy myself so that I may reveal these customs to my mother. After all, should we not know the lifestyles of those whose borders are so close to ours?" The Tuuli Thea spoke up then. "I agree, Princess Sivvet." she returned formally. "However, this seems more like a means for espionage than anything else." "I assure you, madam, that is not our intention." I interjected sharply. "Our intentions are naught but the purest."
The Diente frowned at my use of the word "madam" to address his wife, but said nothing about it. "Well, then, Princess, I imagine that you may stay as long as you feel fit. If you don't mind, though, we shall have to put you in one of the spare rooms in the Nest, as there is no more comfortable place available." I nodded gracefully and turned to my guards, who had risen up from their wolven forms. "Well, gentlemen," I said brightly. "Shall we go?"
The room that a maid showed us to was simple but much grander than any inn would have been. The interior decorating seemed to have a theme of blue and gold, and was most comfortable. I spent a period of two or three hours drawing up paperwork that I had brought with me to pass the time, but was interrupted by a knock on the door. A guard opened it, and in stepped a young woman and a man whom I knew to be the Princess Oliza, heir to the thrones, and her cousin, Salem Cobriana and the son of the Diente's sister.