Morg: Heyo! Here I was thinking that I was doing a good job of updating this so soon.

Ikuto: But it's been six months.

Amu: That's not really a good job.

Morg: Yeah, I realized that when I went to look.

Ikuto: You don't sound very sorry.

Amu: I'm pretty sure if you did own us we'd die of neglect.

Morg: I have other stories that I have updated since then! I do not neglect you.

Ikuto: Sure you don't.

Amu: Right.

~Queen's Decree~

Amu couldn't help but feel excited as she stood on the grand front steps inside the courtyard. Word had been sent ahead that the Hoshina's carriage was approaching. They'd been expecting them to arrive within the day or so. A lot of the more important people that were attending the ball would arrive a week or so ahead of the date.

Some of them, Amu was looking forward to spending time with. The daughter of Duke Hoshina was one of them. Utau arriving first was just icing on the cake. Amu hadn't seen her in quite some time since Utau's family's lands were a fair distance away from the castle.

With her sister on one side and her mother on the other, Amu kept her face from showing too much of her emotions as the sound of the carriage and horses came through the gate. They just had to get through the formal welcoming before they could go inside and actually speak to one another.

Amu didn't move as the carriage stopped. The door was opened and Utau was helped out by a servant before her father followed after her. Keeping her eyes on the Duke, Amu waited for the man to approach her and bow before she tipped her head in return.

Kazuomi smiled up at the royals from the steps below them. "Greetings, Your Majesties. I trust you are well on this fine day."

Keeping a polite smile in place, Amu focused on the Duke. Her mother would escort him into the castle to speak with him about some issues. Amu simply had to greet him. "Yes, Your Grace. We are well. I trust you met with no issues during your travels."

"The roads are ever safe under your rule, Your Majesty."

Amu dipped her head once more before stepping to the side with a lift of her hand. "I'm sure that you are weary from your travels. Please do come in."

Midori moved to take the Duke's arm when he offered it to her. "I have things to speak to you about, Your Grace. After you've rested, we'll speak."

Kazuomi couldn't do anything but agree as he was led into the castle.

Amu waited just a moment to fall into step next to Utau. "How was your journey?"

Utau kept her face calm and her smile in place as she walked next to Amu. "Boring. Father is not a great traveling companion. All he wanted to talk about was who might come to this ball and who might not. He said we couldn't miss it."

Once they entered through the grand front doors, Amu took Utau's hand to pull her away from the people still coming in. She let her mother pull Utau's father away as Amu did the same with his daughter. "Mother said it was time to expand my social circle. She wants to celebrate my birthday in style."

"Father wouldn't stop talking about me meeting someone here that I could marry to further our family."

"Mother made it clear that I'm just meeting people. I don't have to like them."

Utau smiled at that. "I'm glad that you've got your mother here to help you until you're old enough to do it yourself."

Amu smiled at that. Not one of the polite ones she'd been forced to wear earlier, but a real one. "And I'm glad that you're here. This ball would be intolerable if you hadn't made it."

Laughing at that, Utau followed Amu into her bedroom. "You said in your letter that I had to come. I can't refuse the future queen."

"Stop that. You know what I meant."

"I did. Do you know when Rima is supposed to arrive?"

Amu shook her head. "Sometime this week, I suppose. Along with everyone else."

Utau paused in her walk around the room. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye on Amu's balcony but didn't dare bring attention to it by looking. "Uh, Amu?"

"What?"

"I think there might be someone outside your doors."

Amu turned to see that Utau seemed almost frozen where she was standing in the middle of her room. With a sigh, Amu moved to the balcony and opened the doors. "Ikuto, come in and meet Utau. She's a duchess and she's one of my best friends."

Ikuto bowed as he entered Amu's room. "Your Grace."

Utau stared with an open mouth at the man Amu was introducing her to before looking over at Amu and back again. "Hello?"

Ikuto straightened up before turning back to Amu. "There will be a lot of strangers around for the next couple of weeks. The castle will be very busy."

Nodding at that, Amu patted her hip. "I have my dagger."

Ikuto couldn't do anything but give her a look.

Amu sighed at that before turning back to Utau. "Ikuto is training to be a knight. He is also my bodyguard. He is always nearby me. Don't be surprised to see him."

"You need a bodyguard?"

Amu moved to her couch to sit. She motioned for Utau to join her but paid no attention as Ikuto slipped back out onto her balcony. She knew he didn't like not being able to keep watch. "I have had a lot of attempts on my life since my father passed. Ikuto has prevented all of them from succeeding."

"Oh," Utau said as she sat. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. "You didn't say anything about this in your letters."

Shrugging at that, Amu made herself a little more comfortable as Utau seemed to relax. "It isn't something that I can just put in a letter. I don't know who else might read them. I don't want just anyone to know who Ikuto is and what he does. I don't want him to become the first target."

"And now you carry a dagger. Is that safe?"

Amu nodded at that with a smile. "Ikuto has been teaching me. Some months ago, a man managed to enter the baths while Ami and I were in them. I kept him distracted long enough for Ikuto to fight his way in, but Ami was really frightened. I didn't like not being able to care for her. So Ikuto has been teaching me some self-defense along with how to wield a dagger."

Utau tried to process that. She nodded but she felt like it really wasn't sinking in.

Amu laughed at the expression on her friend's face. Utau was the daughter of a Duke. There weren't people lining up to kill her. She didn't know the worries that Amu had to deal with. "Relax, Utau. We've been doing this for a while now, Ikuto and I. We know how to handle it. And learning how to protect myself doesn't mean that I'm about to ride off to war. I'm pretty sure Ikuto would lock in me the castle if I even thought about it."

Nodding at that, Utau couldn't help but change the subject to the ball. She wanted to process everything Amu had told her before she tried to say something else about it.

XXX

On the one hand, Utau liked that her room was near Amu's room. They were going to be spending a lot of time together throughout the week. She was glad that she didn't have to cross the entire castle just to see her friend.

On the other hand, Amu had told her that there had been multiple attempts on her life. Utau wasn't sure how well she was going to sleep. She knew that they wouldn't come for her directly, but if someone got turned around and murdered her by accident then she'd be furious.

Still, she accepted her room and settle into it with the luggage that she'd brought. There were no doubt plenty of servants in the castle that could have put her things away, but Utau liked doing some things herself.

Every little creak or groan that the castle made had her tensing. With a dramatic sigh, Utau threw herself down on her bed. Amu had also told her that some other dignitaries were to be arriving the following day. Utau would not be able to receive them while standing at Amu's side while looking exhausted.

With another sigh, Utau moved to crawl under her covers. She kept one candle burning as she once again checked around her room for intruders. "Either I sleep and I wake up or someone kills me in the night. Those are the only two options."

With that, she turned onto her side and went to sleep.

The candle burned for several hours more before finally going out.

XXX

Amu forced herself not to yawn as she once again stood on the front steps in the courtyard. This time she had Utau behind her left shoulder and the Duke next to her mother as they watched another carriage pull through the main gates.

If just greeting everyone was going to be this exhausting then the ball was sure to make her stay in bed for a week.

"Her Majesty, Princess Yuiki Yaya."

Amu returned the bow that the princess gave to her. "Princess Yaya, welcome."

"Yaya is excited to be here, Crown Princess Amu!"

Though she'd never met Princess Yaya before, Amu had heard of her. It was hard not to when some members of her court had been to Yaya's little seaside country on holiday. The princess was well known for having a lot of energy and being slightly childish. She was also known for having a knight at her side at all times.

Amu let her gaze brush over Yaya's knight. She'd heard the rumors about Yaya demanding to be able to marry the stern man by her side. Amu knew that she couldn't address him while greeting the princess. Instead, she turned to Utau. "This is Hoshina Utau. She is the daughter of our most esteemed Duke Hoshina. The Lady Utau will show you into the castle, Princess Yaya. I am afraid another alert has come about another arrival and I cannot accompany you myself."

"Don't worry about it, Your Majesty. Yaya is sure that Utau is going to be a great friend."

Utau smiled before bowing to the princess. She led the younger girl into Amu's castle without as much as a backward glance.

Amu turned back to watch the gate as another carriage came through it. It was far more ornate than the previous ones had been. Amu held herself straight as it came to a stop.

"His Majesty, King Souma Kukai. His Majesty, Crown Prince Nagihiko."

Not letting the surprise show on her face, Amu watched as two different men exited the carriage. She knew the one with the long dark hair had to be the Crown Prince while the other was surely the King. It was odd to her that they arrived together considering they were from two different countries. Nagihiko was the prince of the country just north of hers while Kukai was the king of the one to the west.

Amu held her pose as the two men approached her to bow. Nagihiko's bow was deeper while Kukai's remained shallow. Amu bowed back to match Kukai's since he was technically her equal. "Welcome, Your Majesties. I am very pleased to finally make you acquaintances."

Kukai grinned as he stepped up to join Amu on the landing she was waiting on. "I wasn't about to turn down an invitation to your birthday party, Your Majesty."

Smiling at that, Amu took Kukai's arm as she turned to lead them into the castle. She glanced back at the sound of her sister's giggles to see that Nagihiko had offered her his arm. "And I am truly glad that you came, Your Majesty."

Laughing at that, Kukai escorted the future queen into her castle. He had every intention of getting to know Amu better. This week was sure to be fun.

.

Morg: One by one everyone will arrive.

Ikuto: Great.

Amu: Fantastic.

Morg: I don't know why you aren't more excited about this.