"So you proposed to me the Council of Three Countries on the basis to ease the tensions between us and the humans, Sir Gerson?"
"Yes."
"And now you're telling me that the human countries will be going to war quite soon because of the things that transpired at said council?"
"Yes."
The calm surface of the Golden Flower tea held by the white, fuzzy finger was broken by a heavy sigh exhaled down into it. "Golly," was stated factually over the white porcelain cup before it drowned in a sea of golden strands. A loud, uncouth sip told more of the Monster King's troubled furrow than his aura or the folds on his forehead did. "Golly, golly."
His golden mane swayed with the leaves around him by the gentle wind touring through the Royal Garden like the human visitors had done in the days prior. A thoughtful look pierced through both shrubbery and marble walls alike as the Monster King's eyes fixed on a horizon of his own making which he stared at unblinkingly.
His cup came to rest on its saucer held calmly, making no sound as they touched. The long, heavy ears inched closer and closer to the edge of his unmoving shoulders by the gentle wind playing frivolously as it passed by. "I..." dripped off the Monster King's tongue kept within his complex expression subduing a variety of emotions from spilling out. The dancing shadows from the tree crown above him showed a sample of the variety on the spots of white fur glistening between the swaying shadows. The thick beard opened up to speak something else, but the Monster King could not find his words.
"Golly," he repeated instead.
His four Royal Councilors nodded in unison, each one looking down into their own cups of tea with the same variety of emotions painted on their shadowed faces. Around the dark-orange reflection of her troubled expression, Cter saw her hand rubbing the outside of her cup like it was a magical lamp from those Xoff legends.
No genie was there inside though, only the colored reflection of her combined braid hanging like a church bell rope down her shoulder and her aforementioned troubled expression. She sighed as the king did, into her cup of tea, disrupting her reflection. Before the perturbed tea surface could settle it was perturbed once more, but from the rim of the cup shaking. Cter looked up to find Queen Toriel tapping the side of her thumb onto the glass table, her muzzle pouted in thought.
"The Princess of the Lineage," she said to herself with curiosity in her voice. Her arms crossed over the Delta Rune on her robe, her ear sliding off her shoulder with a bend as she tilted her head to the side. "Why couldn't it just be something Jyuona kept teasing me about..."
King Asgore blinked himself out of his thoughts hurriedly hearing the tone of his queen's voice. "Who?" his mouth asked before he could think. "Jyuona?" He observed his queen's somber nod deeply, narrowing his eyes with a sympathetic furrow. "I should remember that name, I feel."
"Childhood friend," Queen Toriel reminded with a nostalgic smile she lifted up into the passing breeze. "Since my family once were the Monster Royals she would ask me when I was gonna go reclaim my throne. Playfully, I should add."
She tapped at the tiara on her head.
"Well...I guess it was playfully at the time." The nostalgic smile faded into a concerned frown when she tilted her head down to see her Royal Councilors looking grimmer than grim. "My apologies," the Monster Queen said through an inhale while bringing her cup of to her lips. "It just reminded me, is all."
Sir Gerson shook his head. "No need to apologize, Queen Toriel." His hand motioned in a slightly confused way.
"No," said Queen Toriel in return. "I should apologize. I should not try and hide in nostalgia to get away from the truth." She took a sharp breath through her nostrils. "And less so I should insinuate that the Princess of the Lineage is correct by comparing to my family's legacy."
"King Kheydan was a cousin of your grandfather, right?" perked King Asgore as if suddenly reminded.
The Monster Queen's ears bounced at her shoulder while she nodded. "Second cousin," she corrected before sipping some of her tea, "but the sentiment is the same." It had cooled below how she wanted it, so she caressed some fire magic around the cup, giving it an orange, flickering tint.
"From what I understand he did not have any interest in ruling Monster Country so he distanced himself from the family." The tint thickened as the Monster Queen tittered. "Same as me, once again." Her eyes blinked warmly over to her king sat next to her. He placed his forehead onto hers, rubbing them together affectionately. "He found someone to love enough to want to become royalty."
It was a comforting sight seeing the Monster Royals with such proper affection for another. A different sight than the brash love Cter had to bear witness for between Idyll and Donial. Both to bear witness and be shared too much detail with. With the Monster Royals Cter did not know things beyond their love and comforting affection.
And that she appreciated.
However though, for as much as she appreciated the wholesome sight taking place in the full bloom of the Royal Garden in the most beautiful of cloud-less days, the storm that had always been on the horizon was creeping closer with alarming speed.
The Monster Royals were afraid, perhaps the most out of anyone in Monster Country, and suddenly they had to accept the fact that the council that was to be the turning point for years of uncertainty and worry only added to it. What was supposed to bring closer the schism between humans and monsters only deepened it.
"My lieges," voiced Sir Gerson so that the Monster Mages would not have to. It hurt him to have to, but he had to. "From the deepest depth of my soul I apologize for having to interrupt you, but I'm afraid that I am forced to. We have to discuss where we should stand in the short future."
King Asgore gave his queen a kiss on the cheek before breathing out with a disappointed sigh. "We will stand against the Princess of the Lineage and the rebellion she will bring about within Xoff," he informed with a calm assuredness. "I will uphold my friendship with the king of Xoff."
"Even though he has–"
"Even though that friendship has been tensed these last few years, yes," King Asgore interrupted with a firm palm towards Sir Gerson.
"I understand that he has been forced to do what he believes is best for his people, for he is the king of Xoff before he is my friend. His letters filled with apologies and fear for the future have assured me that he is just as devastated over the decision he has been forced to make as I am. He still uses the stamp I gave him to seal our correspondence, and his fear is plenty within the magic I gifted to him. He still trusts me enough to put his emotions on display through my magic, and thus I trust his written words."
The explanation wasn't aimed at Cter, yet she felt the weight of it over her and her aura. It wasn't chastising, it was correcting, and fairly so. Yet still Cter felt that she had to owe the Monster King an apology with the explanation just passing her by! She looked to Sir Gerson who's head was bowed deeply. "I am only making sure, my king."
"And I appreciate that, Sir Gerson," answered his king with a tender sway to his beard. "I do not want you hesitant in the slightest for what will come. You ask me or Toriel whatever it is you wish and want, even if you believe that it will be seen as out of line."
"And that goes for you too," added Queen Toriel to the Monster Mages. "You will be instrumental in what will aspire, so any hesitation or unknown that you have, please ask. Please ask, and then ask to clarify if needed. Unprecedented questions needs to be asked, and answered, in unprecedented times."
"And you too," added Queen Toriel specifically for Frioke sitting opposite of Sir Gerson, next to Queen Toriel. "You must be the one with the most questions and troubles, Monster Priestess."
The long bunny ears stood up as the Monster Priestess shook her head calmly. "Had you said that the day before yesterday after the Council of Three Countries had ended, you would have been correct, my Queen." She refreshed her mouth with some tea after some weak clicks of her tongue to see if she needed or not. "However, after yesterday, I might be the one that understands most of us here."
A second-long beat passed by before Kurant perked up. "Manny Shuuja?" she asked, unsure.
And received a sure nod in return.
"Manny Shuuja," said Frioke with a hum to the name to let it ruminate within her. "Who reminds me of King Soulay as he was as a prince, in a way." She drank some of her milk-flavored tea with her ears bending back with her cup raised to her mouth. "He found me yesterday."
Found her? What did she mean by that?
"He found you?" perked Kry, just as intrigued by the choice of words as Cter was. "You make it sound a bit like he went through and opened doors until he got to your office at random."
Another, slow, drink from the sugar-flavored tea confirmed Kry's absurd guess, leaving him with his brow sunk down and his jaw even lower. "No," he stated, reflecting how he felt in his soul. He looked to Cter and Kurant with his lowered brow. "How did we not hear about that? Surely the Royal Guards would have..." His words trailed off as he seemed to have managed to answer his own question. He tried to shake the feeling off, but failed to. "For how long did he?"
Frioke's daintily shoulders shrugged. "He did not give me an exact number, but I could feel through his soul that he had been at it for quite a while. He must have been quite determined to see me, judging by the bright smile he shone as he saw me at my desk."
"And also quite determined by opening up door after door?" Kry added, still finding it a bit difficult to believe. He had no reason to believe that Frioke was lying, even less with how clear her aura was. Still though, it sat different with him than his two colleagues that he looked to again for support or reassurance that he wasn't wrong in his reaction, at the very least.
Kurant and Cter did not share his confusion though.
Because they had at one point done the same in their lives. If anything, Kry's reaction showed that he had never gotten lost on his way to Frioke's office smack in the middle in one of the castle hallways without any signs or other indication that it was the office of the Monster Priestess. "Humility," she liked to explain the reason for lack of signage and directions. "Because I am here to serve monsterkind and not to be above it in any way."
That and the fact that she could very easily take naps in her office without worrying about anyone barging in.
Except the young mage from Noitaidarr Castle, apparently. Cter was quite happy that he did not barge into Idyll and Donial.
"He was quite humble in his request to enter and have a talk with me, even offered to fetch us some tea should I want to enjoy the sunshine in the Royal Garden." Frioke's scales tightened around her eyes as she came upon a thought. "Thinking back, it did sound a bit rehearsed how he said it, as if he had practiced it in the mirror that morning." Her ears bent at their sky-blue tips, "I was a bit taken aback at first to realize at the time," then straightened up again.
"In any case, he introduced himself with a respectful and apologizing bow afterwards as he realized that I did not know who this human was that was silhouetted against the bright midday light gushing in from the hallway windows. When he told me his name, I thought that my reaction would be reserved and hesitant seeing as he had just introduced himself as someone we might potentially be at war with soon, but there was something in his aura that had me pause that hesitation and push it aside." Frioke massaged her cup's rim with her thumbs. "A childlike wonder of having finally met his hero."
"Makes sense," said Cter to fill the silence Frioke left in the air. "He did say that it was unfair that you weren't at the Council of Three Countries the same way he would have said that it was unfair that the traveling circus did not stop at his village." Something that Cter would have thought the complete opposite of in her youth. "I take it that you accepted his offer to have tea with you in the Royal Garden?" Frioke needed the barest of reasons to accept such an offer normally, so…
"Yes, I did." The Monster Priestess turned her ears and head over to a clearing in the Royal Garden where palms and other plants native to Xoff grew thicker. "He suggested we sit over there. No reason to it, just a suggestion that I did not see why I would deny."
She turned her ears and head back. "He brought with him some tea from Noitaidarr in a kettle that must've been brought from the Xoff capital too." Frioke formed a conjured image of a tea kettle stood taller and slimmer than the ones used in Monster Country with a pipe bending down and up like a smooth ravine. "It tasted sweeter than what I was used to, but I found the taste quite pleasant. It was a bit lighter in its taste, which he explained made it easier to drink during the hot summer days in Xoff."
"I can attest to that," said Sir Gerson. "During my first visit to Noitaidarr Castle to help train their newly instated castle guard separate from the Noitaidarr General's I had with me Golden Flower tea which only exasperated the unbearable heat rather than relieve me of it."
Must've been the same tea that Rasliela served Cter the first time the two talked in the garden at Noitaidarr Castle.
After having finished his quick tangent, Sir Gerson handed the word back to Frioke with a small nod which she took after a swirl of her milk-infused tea.
"He had heard a lot about me, Manny said. Heard about how I had discovered human magic and how I had helped Prince Soulay learn how to see via his aura. Heard about how I had formed the Cooperative Connection, and how Ziki had talked about me being such a wise, understanding monster who had helped King Asgore and Queen Toriel become the wise, understanding Monster Royals that they are."
The turtle monster cleared his throat gently.
"Along with Sir Gerson's help, naturally."
The turtle monster did not need to clear his throat a second time.
"Manny spoke as if the sole reason he wanted to travel here to Jarasevo was to meet me," Frioke was allowed to have on her own though by Sir Gerson's grace. "About how he and the other children that lived at Clinic Village promised each other to travel to Jarasevo Castle together so that I could choose the next Royal Mage from one of them."
A bemused smile warmed the Monster Priestess expression, perking up her rabbit-like ears in the process. "With a rather child-like shyness he apologized to me for assuming that I would have time to audience a potentially new Royal Mages at the same time. A genuine apology which had me a bit surprised."
Cter could tell that there was something more to it by the way one of Frioke's whiskers tensed at their tips. "He told then that he was the only one left of the children that still practiced magic?" she hazarded carefully. Frioke nodded back, curious as to how Cter guessed at it. "He spoke with me the day before the council," she answered to clear the curiosity. "Guess it was to prepare himself for when he spoke with you."
The Fourth Monster Mage set her ego aside for the moment lest it began asking why that it was needed for Manny to have been prepared to talk with the Monster Priestess and not the Fourth Monster Mage.
Frioke agreed to the second guess with another, slower nod. "May so be," she said in thought. "How he said about the other children made it sound like he would be more upset about it, but he quickly moved ahead from it. Almost as if he had already done it once."
Indeed.
"What followed was quite a pleasant conversation, considering the Council of Three Countries." Frioke leaned back in her chair, letting her long ears fold down the white-painted metal backrest of her garden chair. "He was curious as to how the process of me auditing a Royal Mage would proceed should he, hypothetically of course, become a candidate in the future."
The growing bitter in her aura Frioke washed away with some of her tea.
"That he listened eagerly would be to downplay how much he took in my description of the different procedures. Of how I would go about analyzing the Cooperative Connection that would be used. Of how I would go about assessing the understanding the candidate had in their magic. Of how I would go about teaching them to improve their understanding further."
With each 'of' Frioke rolled her wrist in the air, stopping at the last with a raised index finger. Her pointed-up claw tilted slightly at her lower lip, tapping at it. "Thinking back at it again, he did not seem to be surprised by the facts? As if he already knew?"
The Monster Priestess brow furrowed. "He only showed a surprised reaction when I decided to ask him if he would want to hear the procedure for auditing a Monster Mage. He listened so intently and with all of his soul that I thought that it would be a natural follow-up, but..." Furrowed and arced with a somber angle over her eyes.
"In the span of but a moment he became distant and reclusive. The eager intent which he wanted to listen with washed away, leaving only an aside look and a respectful denial that he did not want to hear. He did not give me a reason, but I could see in his eyes and feel in his soul that he was afraid." Frioke looked to the three Monster Mages. "Afraid of what it would become of him should he become a Monster Mage. His mind must have been flashed with startling images like strikes of sudden thunder from clear skies for he flinched and wrapped his arms around him, breathing out an unsteady breath."
Frioke looked dejected as she shook her head with a weary sigh.
"The enthusiasm from him was quelled after that when I asked if he wanted me to take a look at his magic. I had an interest in looking at it since he seems to have gotten a good grip on the truth of the Cooperative Connection, but I asked in earnest to him if he wanted me to give him a lesson. He said that he wanted, but that he had to check with Rasliela and his father if he was allowed to."
The Monster Priestess' somberness began to shift into disappointed anger, tightening her raised index finger into a fist which she bit down on. "I do not know what came over me, but I asked him if he needed to ask for permission because I mentioned Monster Mages."
Her teeth made a dent in the scales on her fist. "He didn't answer me, only stood up and thanked me for having tea with him." Dents that deepened. "Said that I did not have to worry about cleaning up once I felt that I was done, someone from the Xoff delegation would come and get it later." Deepened until Queen Toriel had to put her hand onto Frioke's fist, easing it down slowly.
"Don't apologize," the Monster Queen said preemptively. "You should be angry at it, Frioke. You should be angry at not being allowed to bring out the potential in Manny. He might be the key to us navigating through the reveal of the truth of the Cooperative Connection." She angled up the scaly chin to look into the quivering eyes. "He might be the key for you to accept that the truth is out?"
The Monster Priestess looked away from her queen. "I shouldn't have asked… I was too forward. I was–"
"You asking him showed him that even though the Council of Three Countries happened, you don't see him differently," interrupted Queen Toriel again with one slow shake of her head. "That will be with him from now on. That will help him realize further the good of monsters. He is the future Royal Mage of Noitaidarr, there is no doubt about that, and I am sure you will help him come to realize what good he can do with the truth of the Cooperative Connection. Help him, so that you can help yourself, Frioke."
The Monster Priestess smiled. "Thank you, my queen."
And so did her queen. "Always, Monster Priestess."
The sound of an occupied metal tray shaking stole away the attention from the Monster Priestess over to halfway down the closest gravel path.
"Oh," perked Queen Toriel, "is that you, Idyll?"
Idyll?
"Why don't you come over here, please?"
Why was she there?
"And tell us about your brother?"
...Oh.