"Have you heard anything about him or his whereabouts recently?" Kankri repeated.
Kankri's sudden speech made John jump a bit, it was a stark contrast to the hurried whispers of him and Jake, "The-," he whispered accidentally, "They should be getting here soon" John repeated louder, shaking his head. He glanced over to the entrance of the meeting room, the only entrance of the meeting room for that matter. It made it easier to only have one entrance, into this room in particular, as the guards need only stand in one place, and not scattered around the perimeter of the room, that just made John, and the guests, uneasy. "It's fine if you don't want to work on anything too serious though," John smiled at the diplomat, who was notably shaking, possibly from nerves, maybe from something else. "Nothing too serious will be decided until the majority of us are present".
Kankri gave and audible sigh of relief, "Thank you, sire. I can wait of course; I am just merely worried about Derse's representation here today. These peace talks will hopefully be very important in finally ending the war and I am certainly sure that Derse understand that,". Kankri noted how the war had taken its toll on everyone, and it was not surprising that many of the citizens in the land were starting to become restless and unruly, with several shops being smashed in and thieving and petty crime on the rise. He worriedly glanced at John's easy smile, usually, the noble was the light of the room, but lately, he had seemed more physically strained. Kankri really wanted to help, but there wasn't really much else that he could do. He leaned his head against the back of the tall chain and sighed again heavily; this war could all be over in days, years, but there would still be damage and he worried that the relationship between the royals would never quite be the same. He glanced back at the scribbled notes, he absolutely couldn't mess this up, for the noble's sake as well as his own. At least Jane should have arrived soon enough, although Kankri wasn't hedging his bets so much on Jade, who was probably asleep somewhere. He worriedly turned to look towards the door before shifting awkwardly in his chair, trying to look busy. The other diplomat had probably just gotten lost again, the golden streets were very confusing for people when they first arrived.
Jake gave a look to John, full of worry and despair. The longer they waited, the longer the time seemed to slow down, making every minute last an hour, silently torturing the every growing, impatient boy. How could they ever come to a peace agreement if no-one was bothering to turn up! He wanted to wish everything better, nobody was really the same when the two Kingdoms were fighting. He just wanted to see Dirk and Roxy again, and he knew that John and the others felt the same. He stood up abruptly, tears threatening to prick the corners of his eyes. John jumped in the seat next to him and Kankri darted his eyes, growling at the sudden movement, one hand on his sickles. Jake cussed to himself and declared "I'm awfully sorry chaps, but I can't bear to sit here any longer" Jake was more than just mad, he was upset; the war was taking its toll on everyone, yet no-one seemed to be doing anything about it. "It's just wasting my time, if the diplomats on Derse haven't even bothered to show up or give us any indication of such," Jake slammed a hand on the desk as one tear fell onto the table, "Curse this winter, curse this war," He started to make a brisk walk towards the door.
"Jake, hey, dude, you can't leave now", John protested feebly, Kankri stayed silent, temporarily stunned. John got up and reached a hand out to Jake, but he had already gone too far.
"If any of you need me, I'll be in my room, or maybe putting a bullet through some traitor's skulls, you know, to try and make myself feel better," Jake was getting angrier by the second, from sheer thought alone, of the effort and work that the Prospitian people were making towards the treaty, Urgh, those Derse people were sometimes too lazy for their own good. Once in the doorway, he paused, and with his back to the room, muttered gravely, "Kankri, if you end up seeing any of the diplomats sorry excuses for behinds, then tell them, English, waited, and now it's up to them," he practically spat out the word them, "Good luck, I have a Kingdom to run,".
The shadows in the room seemed to gather in the doorway where Jake had once stood. The smile on Johns face had dropped into a distorted look of despair. It wasn't like Jake to have such an outburst like this, but John worried how much he actually meant it. The boy was somewhat right, Derse had failed to send a diplomat, and over an hour had passed since the schedule of the meeting. He swallowed the panic that had started to rise in his throat as he watched him storm out the door.
Jake disappeared again down the dimly lit corridor. He didn't want to make a fuss about all this, but he felt that Derse had left him with no choice. There was no way that after that, he was going to be able to sit in a civilised meeting and try and talk peace when he felt that Derse wasn't even trying, only trying to indicate that maybe they never wanted peace. If it came to it, Jake felt like doing the journey himself, risking his own life to travel to Derse, if not to make peace then to destroy any hopes they had of reclaiming it.