Caeli's POV

Finally, during midafternoon, we arrived at the village where Marius Annorius' home resided. From the top of a small wall, a guard called down to us, "Who goes there/"

"Queen Dwynowyn of Kosak, here to negotiate a treaty with Marius Annorius." Dwyn replied in her 'Queen voice' as I called it.

"Excellent!" called a voice from behind the wall. "Open the gates!"

A few moments later, a short Roman man came through the now open gates, smiling and arms open as wide as the gate was.

"Welcome Queen Dwynowyn and…" He looked at me.

"This is my cousin, Lady Caelia." Dwyn explained as she dismounted her horse and I followed suit.

"Or course. I am Marius. I can't tell you how glad I am that you have come. Come now, you must be exhausted after your journey."

"Yes, thank you." Dwyn said as she started to lead her horse behind the large wall.

"What a magnificent warhorse you have!" Marius said as he led the way.

"Thank you." Dwyn replied.

Marius led us to the stables, where his servants took our horses to care for them.

"See you later, boy." I whispered to Ashen, before following Dwyn out of the stables and up to Marius' large home.

Once inside, another set of servants lead Dwyn and I to our rooms. Reluctantly, I changed out of my comfortable clothing and into a deep blue gown with silver accents. It was one of my favorite dresses because it was actually a little comfortable and looked nice, yet simple.

After I changed, I went to Dwyn's room. In the hall, Allesa and Dwyn's maid were gossiping.

"I heard from one of the servants that Marius has a son." Allesa whispered loudly. "I bet that's why they asked the Queen here."

I rolled my eyes as I knocked on the door to Dwyn's chamber.

"Enter." She called.

I did so, and closed the door behind me. I noticed right off that Dwyn didn't plan on being comfortable today. She wore a red dress with gold edging, that if I summed up in one word, I'd say "Queenly."

"Lovely." I stated flatly.

"What do you think of this Marius?" She asked, ignoring my comment.

"I think our maids have you married to his son already." I said as I sat down on her bed.

"Oh, God." She said through her hands that now covered her face.

"And as far as Marius himself, I'm not sure yet. Though he does seem to have a few too many servants around this place."

"I agree."

After a few moments, we made our way down the stairs to hopefully start the negotiations.

Dwyn's POV

Boring, as negotiations usually are, was the afternoon that followed. I sat, uncomfortable but unable to move, in my itchy dress in a hardback chair, Caeli to my left.

If leaders would spare themselves the titles and need to use long, important-sounding words, none of the idiotic business that needed to be followed through on would take so long, yet they do, and it does.

All day, we sat listening to the lengthy explanation and reading of the the treaty. As far as we could tell, there seemed to be no hidden motives or tricks.

At last, time for the evening meal came, and we ate while discussing the final agreement.

I don not believe in sighing treaties so short a time after evening wince, so with a curt goodnight, we all went to our chambers, the treaty would be signed the next day, in the light of morning. But first, Marius agreed to show Caeli and I around the village. We had insisted on interaction with the people, it would be no good if they feared us.

In my chamber, I quickly took off my dress and seriously considered throwing it out the window, or shoving it under my bed and "forgetting" it, but I put it back in my trunk, though I couldn't resist shoving it to the bottom.

I had only just gotten into my gown and unpinned my hair when Caeli came in after knocking quietly.

She made her way over to my bed and crawled into its center, curling her knees up to her chest.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked.

"Yes. I think it's a good way to ensure safety, for both our people." I answered, continuing to prepare for bed.

"Alright, then."

I crossed the room to where my weapons sat and picked up my bow.

"Do you want to spare?" She asked, a glint in her eyes.

"No…" I answered, picking up an arrow and lining it up with the string. I pulled it back and aimed for a wooden pillar at the far end of the room. "I need to practice my archery."

"Dwyn!" Caeli hissed. "You can't shoot that in here!"

I sighed and lowered my arms, then looked around the room, biting my lip, as I often did when thinking. Then, the balcony doors caught my eye. I strode over and pushed them open. The wind blew my hair back out of my face. We were on the backside of the castle, so a line of tress was all that was in sight around 60 yards away.

"What are you aiming for?" She asked, coming up behind me.

I drew back the string once again and squinted my eyes, then, let the arrow fly.

It soared through the air and I heard the thump of its contact with a tree. I turned and smiled at Caeli.

"Goodnight, Caeli."