Everyone else had left the council room, but the Telmarine lords wanted to discuss something with Susan, Lucy, and Kayla.
"A moment please, my ladies?!"
"That's your majesties and my lady to you, Lord Donnan. But what is it?"
"Now that you have your country back, I suppose you all will be looking for husbands."
"And just what makes you think we are?"
"Well, certainly, no queen can rule without a king by her side. History has proven that."
"Bullshit, Lord Donnan."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"I beg of you, your majesties and my lady. At least hear me out."
"And we don't like what we're hearing."
"Lucy. Susan. I'd say it's storytime for these lords. Sit your asses down, boys."
"What story is this, Kayla?"
"A true story. One from the other world. The last monarch of England before the entire isle of Britain was ruled by one person."
"Oooh, they won't love this story, will they, Susan?"
"That's for sure, Lucy."
"But they're gonna hear it anyways."
The three of them had begun to put fear into the hearts and minds of the Telmarine lords, which is exactly what they were hoping for.
"But Kayla, doesn't this story start off before this queen was born?"
"Of course it does. It starts with a king. Lucy, why don't you take the first verse?"
"My pleasure. In the year of our Lord, 1528, there was a king, the king of England. And his name was Henry. Henry the Eighth."
Lucy moved to a different corner of the room and motioned for Susan to take over.
"And Henry had a bit of a marital problem. His wife Catherine of Aragon, a princess from Spain, had given him many children. But to the couple's sadness, only their daughter Mary survived infancy. Kayla, it's your turn."
"You see, henry really, really wanted a son to continue the family line. And Catherine was already past child-bearing age. So, he began to fall for a woman from a noble family. A woman named Anne Boleyn."
As they were telling the story, Kayla, Lucy, and Susan were moving about the room, giving the story more effect.
"Anne Boleyn was beautiful, with black hair and dark eyes, though it was rumoured she had an extra pinky finger. Henry could not get an annulment for his marriage to Catherine, so he broke with the head church at the time, and established a new church in England."
"He the married Anne, and she became pregnant. Everyone was hoping that this was the son Henry needed, but lo and behold, Anne gave birth to a little red-haired and freckle-faced baby girl that she named Elizabeth, after her grandmothers."
"Sooner and later, Henry became bored with Anne, and she was accused of treason and adultery, most notably with her brother, George Boleyn, though nothing was ever proven. So, you know what Henry did with Anne, her brother, and four other men?"
"What did he do to them?"
"As the Queen of Hearts said in Alice in Wonderland, off with their heads. But, Elizabeth remained. She was barely three years old when her mother was executed. Henry remarried for the third time, to Lady Jane Seymour, a cousin of Anne Boleyn. Jane gave Henry the son he wanted, and he was named Edward. But soon after, Jane died, and Henry remarried to Anne of Cleves, a German princess. But Henry thought that Anne was ugly to look at, so the marriage was annulled before it was even consummated. Anne became like a close friend, a sister if you will of Henry's."
"He then married Katherine Howard, a cousin of both Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. But like her cousin Anne, she suffered the same fate."
"Off with her head, Henry screamed."
The lords were beginning to be scared at the point the three queens were trying to make.
"Henry married for the sixth and final time to Catherine Parr. And she outlived him. By almost two years. Only one wife still remained, and that was Anne of Cleves. Edward became the next king, Edward the Sixth."
"He was a young king. Inheriting the throne at age nine. But he died at age fifteen, and was succeeded by his cousin, Lady Jane Grey. But bless her heart, she was only queen for nine days before Henry's oldest child Mary came to take the throne. She had Jane beheaded, but Elizabeth still remained."
"Mary wanted to bring England back into the church it was in. Her reign was bloody, very bloody. She earned the nickname of Bloody Mary. She married her cousin, King Philip the Second of Spain. Princess Elizabeth was later imprisoned, on charges that she wanted her sister dead. But the charges were false. Mary's reign only lasted for five years. Elizabeth then became queen."
"How long is this story?"
"Oh, we can make it drag on for days if you'd like? Don't interrupt. It's very rude. Now, where were we? Oh, I remember! As soon as Elizabeth came to the throne, marriage proposals came flying in from all over, even one from her former brother-in-law. But she feared that whoever she married would try to take control of the country, when she was the rightful ruler. There was one man she was infatuated with, named Robert Dudley. Robert Dudley eventually betrayed their love for each other and sided with her enemies."
"Gentlemen, do you view women as weaklings?"
It was customary with the Telmarines that women were not seen as much, but that would be changed.
"In our experience, women are weak."
That earned Lord Donnan a hard punch in the face from Kayla, making him bleed a bit.
"As we were saying, Elizabeth was viewed as weak because she was a woman. Marriage proposals were still offered to her, and they had been turned down. There was an incident with her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, that had Mary imprisoned and later executed for plotting to kill Elizabeth, though it was never proven if Mary wanted her dead. Mary did have a blood claim to the English throne."
"But unbeknown to Mary, she was a pawn all along. She belonged to the church that England broke away from. The Spanish ambassador had the nerve to call her majesty Queen Elizabeth a whore. He said there would be a wind coming that would sweep away her pride. Kayla, what was it that Elizabeth said to the ambassador?"
Kayla took the opportunity to yell this quote.
"I, TOO, CAN COMMAND THE WIND, SIR! I HAVE A HURRICANE IN ME THAT WILL STRIP SPAIN BARE WHEN YOU DARE TO TRY ME!"
She scared the lords half to death.
"The Spanish Armada came, thinking they would win, but most definitely, God had other plans."
"England defeated the armada, and the country entered into a time of peace and prosperity. It was called the Elizabethan Era, the Elizabethan Age, or the Golden Age. And she was still unmarried and childless."
"Her reign lasted for forty-five years. Her successor was the King of Scotland, James the Sixth, the son of Mary of Scots."
"Elizabeth was dedicated to her people. She didn't want to rule over them. She wanted to serve them. Protect and serve is what she did."
"So, you see gentlemen, a queen does not need a king."
"And if you try to tell me that I need a husband to produce a Terebinthian heir, I've got news for you. My heirs are standing right next to me. Their father was my mother's brother."
"If we ever get married, it's because we want to. Not because we have to."
"This will be a new age for the women of this country, we promise you that."
The lords made it a point to never upset the three ladies ever again.
