Hi guys, I know I've talked about this before, but PLEASE REVIEW. If you liked the story, please leave a review saying why you liked it or even just that you thought it was neat. If you didn't like the story, please leave a review giving me suggestions on what to improve in the next chapter. Favorites and Follows are great, but I want to know what you guys want in the story. I've planned out most of the story, but reader suggestions are always welcome to put in as filler chapters or character development arcs since I haven't planned a lot of that out yet. It would mean a lot to me if you guys could review. Remember, I'll post an extra chapter if I get more than fifteen reviews on the previous one.
Anyway, here's today's chapter:
February 28, 171 A.E.
Entry #31
This morning Paz came to our castle with something wrapped in a purple bundle and called for a day-long truce. Mother grudgingly agreed. She asked Toriel and me to come and have tea with her and Paz. Toriel looked like she was going to faint. I felt the same.
Mother had a table set out in the front courtyard and had a few servants make us all hot tea. I did not know why she was wearing such a thick overcoat. It was almost spring. It was not that cold. Even if it was that cold, I did not see why we had to have tea outside when we could easily have used the dining room.
Paz leaned back on her chair and sipped at a cup of golden flower tea. Mother had had the guards search her for weapons. Paz had given Mother the bundle she was carrying, which I thought looked a lot like a spear. Mother and Paz sat across from each other at the head of the table. Toriel had insisted on sitting on the same side of the table with me. She was glaring at Paz the whole time. It felt very awkward.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Amoura?" Paz asked, "How long has it been since we've had tea together? Eight years? Nine?"
"Eight years," Mother said coolly, "What are you trying to do, Paz? You come here with no weapons to use and you bring no human troops within walkable distance of the Capital. There is no way for you to attack anyone here."
"I don't want to fight today," Paz said, biting into a scone, "I just want to talk. It's been a while since we did that, hasn't it, old friend? This war is so stressful."
"If you're stressed, then I don't suppose we'd mind all that much if you surrendered," Mother said. She had not touched her tea.
"No," Paz replied, "I don't get to make that decision. I'm just one of the elders-which is weird, by the way, since a monster my age wouldn't even be considered all that old, would they? Anyway, everyone in the council of the elders wants this war. I may be an elder, but I'm a chief, too. I can't just disobey those other old people and get away with it, you know?"
"If you had one ruler for your village then this wouldn't have happened," Mother said, "Now hundreds of humans and monsters are dead because of your flawed system."
"Oh, it's not like you don't have a council, Amoura," Paz said.
"Yes, but I have a third of the votes," Mother said, "You are the chief, Paz, so why can't you take control?"
Paz chuckled dryly. "That is not how our government works. This war is the best for our people. The people in the council all agree on that. The elders have always been wise. I am considered old in my village now, but I still feel young and inexperienced. I follow the council's orders."
"The council's orders are unreasonable," Mother said, "It has caused everyone nothing but pain and grief." She took a deep breath. "You have never been married, Paz. You do not know what it's like to lose your husband and your best friend in a far off land."
"You do not know," Paz said quietly, "What it's like to have to battle and kill your best friend since childhood." I gasped. Toriel reached under the table and squeezed my hand. "I've asked the warrior who killed Hadriel to give up his prize, and I've given up mine, too." She looked in our direction.
Mother put a hand on my shoulder. "Asgore is my only child. He is the only remaining monster of the Dreemurr bloodline. I will not let you hurt him." I opened my mouth to say that I was not Mother's only child, and there was still baby Amyras, who will also be of the Dreemurr bloodline when they are born. Toriel stomped on my foot and slowly shook her head when I turned to look at her.
Paz shrugged. "Nothing I can do about what the council decides. Open the package I've brought, Amoura." She grinned at us, her dark red eyes glittering in a way I did not like. "I see you've grown tall, Toriel. And you too, Asgore. Your parents have always been like siblings to me. It's the best I can do for Amynos and Hadriel's kids."
Mother scowled and retrieved the long bundle while servants moved the tea set and the food away. It was not like anyone except for Paz was eating anything, anyway. The edge of the cloth the bundle was wrapped with was lined with striped material-decorative embroidery from Narfolk, I saw. The rest of the cloth was purple, and as Mother unwrapped more of it, I saw golden shoulder pads and a collar with the same embroidery on it. It was a cape, I realized.
It was Father's cape.
Mother seemed to realize this as soon as I did because her hands froze for a moment and she started to unwrap the bundle faster. In the middle of the bundle was a thin staff-like a spear but made from even more refined magical metals from the Tenew mines. A glass orb with swirls in it was place at the top of the staff and three long spiraling blades poked out from under the orb.
Toriel covered her mouth. I saw tears in her eyes. Mother held Miss Hadriel's staff-now Toriel's, I suppose-and made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Slowly, she handed the staff to Toriel. She took it gently. I ducked because the staff was almost as long as the trident and seemed like it was going to hit me any moment. Toriel, realizing this, carefully put it under our chairs.
"Anyway," Paz said, "Our other allies have been getting some information about the monster kingdom from a mutual acquaintance. I would have thought that you would have closed the borders on most of your cities by now, Amoura. Nightstar is eccentric, from what I've heard about him, but he had a good point. And isn't it poor taste to shove so much responsibility on a child as young as Toriel here?"
"Where did you hear about that?" Mother asked.
"I know you keep a lot of secrets, Amoura," Paz said, her eyes drifting down to Mother's abdomen and back up again. "I'm just saying that some secrets have a way of getting out."
"What else have you heard?" Mother asked stiffly.
"I'm not allowed to give out information that might affect the war," Paz said.
"Paz," Mother said quietly, "if this is some sort of psychological warfare you're trying to accomplish, it's not going to work. All of the members of the Monarch's Council are loyal subjects of the Monster Kingdom. None of them will ever betray their queen."
Paz shrugged. "If you say so," she said. "By the way, the next time you go to Flenin, tell the soldiers that I admire their fighting style. I don't think any of them has absorbed a soul since the beginning of the war, but those who already had a soul are in such good control of them. My soldiers go to battle and get massacred by those warriors, but I think there's just not enough humans on the battlefield. If only we knew where there will be Flenin soldiers when we go back to battle, right? Then we can send more troops."
"What are you saying?" Mother said, "What do you mean?"
"Whatever you want it to mean, Amoura dear," Paz said. "I think we humans would be doing better if there were no healers from Aiphuoxbone, either. They heal your soldiers so fast that you can't even kill a monster on the battlefield if you don't work quickly. And you boss monsters are even worse. You can heal your own wounds almost as well as a skeleton and fight almost as well as a fish monster! That's very inconvenient for us humans, don't you think?"
"Do you have any particular reason to be here, Paz?" Mother asked, "Other than making empty threats and attempts at mind games?"
Paz's face fell. "Apparently I don't," she said quietly. Paz's poncho fluttered around her body gracefully as she turned on her heel and marched out the gate.
"By the way," she paused a few steps away from the gate and turned to me, "I'm glad that you have a backup plan, Amoura, but you should really do your best to protect Asgore. Everyone wants the dust of the royal family these days."
After Paz left, Mother sighed sadly and turned to pick up Father's cape. Toriel seemed deep in thought. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but she did not seem to want to talk. She took her staff and headed back to the castle. I tried to call out to her but she just picked up her pace until she basically sprinted back to the castle.
"Mother?" I asked, "What was that backup plan that Paz was talking about? And why do people want our dust?"
Mother looked down at me. She looked like she was about to cry. What had I done wrong? I did not mean to make her cry.
"You wouldn't understand, Asgore," she said, "Go play with Toriel."
"Maybe I will not understand, but I still want to know!" I protested, "Why will you not tell me?"
"If I tell you," Mother said quietly, "you will hate me."
"But-"
"This is final," Mother said, "Go play with Toriel."
Frustrated, I stomped back to my room. What could Mother possibly be planning that would make me hate her?
I just had a strange thought-does she think that I am the one telling the humans information? I have not said anything about the things I heard at the meeting to anyone but monsters in the Von Salamancer mansion and Toriel. Toriel would not interact with humans, but maybe one of the servants in Dalelry overheard me and passed the information on?
I feel so guilty. I need to watch who I tell things to.
~Asgore
So that was totally not my probably unsuccessful attempt to make Paz a sympathetic character and this totally doesn't foreshadow like 50 future plot points.
Remember that if you fling someone into space with all their friends and hit them with their own spaceship, then don't be too trusting when they come back and say that they want to hang out with you and be best friends.
Review! (Seriously guys please review)
~Pandora