Roxy awoke to the sound of people cheering, and for once, these weren't the callous war cries that the Derse people would make before heading to the battlefield, these were cries of joy and laughter, the sound of the new season! She got up, smoothing her hair of the stray strands from her sleep; she grinned out of the window, staring down upon the kingdom and the light that was going to shine upon the streets very soon. Turning sharply, she opened the doors of her cabinet and grabbed her royal garments. Roxy wasn't very keen on the castle maids dressing her, she knew she was royalty, but the thought of someone else dressing her just seemed a little bit too lazy, even for her! She rifled through a selection of dresses before settling on a deep purple dress with white accents and embroidery; a particularly fine dress for such a special and momentous occasion such as that day. She brushed her hair properly, curling a strand and fixing it in place with two elegant, silver pins that were almost invisible in her lightly coloured hair. Roxy smiled at herself in the mirror, picking up her trusted choker, one that Janey had given to her before now, deep purple with a small silver void charm on it.

Roxy started to walk towards the door, apprehended by her cat, Frigglish, who she petted softly as he meowed at her. She opened the large, wooden door slowly, dampening the creaking noise of the hinges. "I should really get one of the maids to sort that," she scolded herself for her forgetfulness before present. Roxy strolled meaningfully down the long, winding corridor, her heels clicking loudly against the tile, only amplified by the large, mostly empty hallway. All the Derse royalties would be a part of the festival, it was only natural for them too, as it wasn't often Royalty had the chance to mix with the commoners. Roxy liked it though, the prospect of going into the streets and seeing the children and the families having fun, excited her, putting a slight skip in her step. Unfortunately for her, however much fun and happiness was there in Derse, she couldn't help feeling sorry for her friends over in Prospit. Roxy silently wished she could help them, wished she could do something about it; it was her responsibility to look after her own kingdom and not worry about the others as her first priority. The more she thought about it, the more her smile wavered. A maid passed her and curtsied, "Morning Princess Lalonde,". Roxy was pulled back into reality, "Lovely Morning, isn't it! Make sure you enjoy the festivities today, all staff should come to the street party," she smiled at the maid and waved to dismiss her as she continued walking, headed for the castle grounds.

The outside air was unusually light and there was a slight southerly breeze which whipped at Roxy's face, it was still cold but pleasant, as the clouds rolled south with the breeze, headed for Prospit. She floated down the steps, waving and greeting the maids and even the guards, two of which accompanied her into the village. Roxy hated this formality, but with the war going on, the other royals had agreed that it would be safest if all of them were protected outside of the main castle. She visited many of the families in the town, entertaining the small children with gifts and stories. She sighed, it was early, and none of the others had bothered to get up yet, and on the day of the festivities! Roxy was so excited, she couldn't wait to see everyone having a good time and being together, it had been so long since there was a smile on everyone's face. The sun was finally coming, after all!

...

The young troll sat alone in his office, the morning sun shining in through the window and illuminating the dull papers that sat before him on the desk. Sollux was a diplomat, a traveller and communicator between Prospit and Derse. His job was not so simple, he as well as others, were tasked with the peace treaties and trade deals between the two kingdoms. Ever since the war began again two years ago, his job had become a lot more difficult and tiring. He was trusted by both courts, wearing nothing of purple or yellow to signify his neutral position. It wasn't a bad job in any respect, the two kingdoms both paid him well and he was welcome to move and go as he pleased.

Sollux rolled around in his chair, the transition period was never the easiest of times to be a diplomat; the change in seasons shook everyone, as Derse celebrated, greeting the light after a long 6 months, and Prospit not seeing light for the next 6 hereafter. At these times, he preferred to stay in Derse, the sun and the royals at this time were a lot nicer and certainly calmer, but he couldn't otherwise care less. The stack of papers on his desk were more worrying, they had started to tower over and lean to the left slightly, in danger of one breath toppling them completely. He was supposed to read through and approve all of these, but the pile had slowly gotten bigger and the war negotiations meant that it wasn't going to get done any time soon either. He sighed; at least this was better than moping or brushing the floors of some castle. Sollux gazed longingly out the window, although not so longingly as he saw the people of Derse pulling out tables and chairs, seemingly from nowhere into the Plaza, ready for the street party. That damn party was going to last all day, and all night, and he wasn't too excited about the prospect; with so much work to do, he couldn't afford to have a day wasted over some silly festival. In fact, he had a meeting that very same day, with other diplomats at the Prospit castle with the royals there; it was going to be a meeting of progress, a meeting that Kankri had told him, was going to be the start of the end. Sollux thought this was a very optimistic assumption, but then again, Kankri was just good at getting things done.

The more Sollux pondered over the subject of the meeting, the more the paperwork seemed to loom as time dragged on; he declined doing the paperwork and finishing a little early, even though he hadn't really ever started, only because he knew the meeting was going to be a taxing one and he would need all the rest he could get. He pulled out his trusty laptop from the locked drawer, not his work one, but his personal one, and found one of his favourite games; he absentmindedly picked up the ACCEPTED stamp and stamped the last paper, "Increase the rations for soldiers," in the red Derse colours. It was quite funny, he thought, how both Kingdoms were so spitefully different, Derse with Red stamps and Prospit with blue; he didn't really have a preference to either of the unusual colour choices, in fact; he liked both of the colours. However, work seemed a mile away as he manoeuvred the small avatar across the screen, just wishing to be somewhere other than his office.