Chapter 68

Crowning Moment

Walking through Lenown Castle's redecorated great hall at this moment, it would have been hard to accept that it had only been used by the cast and crew of The Lost Kingdom within the last century. The draped and numerous tables looked as they had on the day of the Calamity, ready now as they were back then to accommodate Lord Wilhelm, Lady Brahne and their retainers with the feast that had ultimately saved Centra's second most powerful House. My Blue Heaven's budget-adhering dabbed drywall had been ripped out – with what few thin, damp boards were not hanging precariously off the older, crumbling lime render anyway – to be replaced with new render and a full paint job, readily completed by some of the Esthari colonists from the south willing to live as the restored Kingdom's subjects.

Covering nearly every section of these now pleasantly smooth walls was the royal banner, which had been recently designed to reflect the union of Steiner and Beatrix's Houses; Lenown Castle in all its splendour, how it had looked before the Calamity. The five gleaming white towers – the centremost being the most prominent – with Mount Ordeals in the backdrop, even though Ordeals was actually the nearest mountain to Mysidia, across the sea to the north. From corner to corner, Save the Queen was crossed over Ragnarok, the jewelled silver in stark contrast to the onyx. A behemoth stood in harmony with a red hart at the foot of the castle.

Traditionally, coronations took place in the throne room with only a privileged few present as witness, though Steiner had opted for the ceremony to take place in the grand hall on this day, to easier accommodate all those who had been invited.

Alas, it would have been impossible to extend this invitation to all of the Centrans in Lenown. Those without invitation were outside the once high and glorious stained-glass windows lining either side of the hall that had been shattered during the Calamity, shoddily refitted by My Blue Heaven stagehands. Flocking to them, many a Centran lady was on tiptoe to try and get a glimpse of the happenings within, with gleeful children sitting on their father's shoulders. Further back, hopefuls were heaped onto purpose-constructed podiums on the castle grounds, or alternatively tried to steal views from one of the five towers or even the rooftops – no risk taken to reach a prime vantage point for this grand occasion was considered too great. From even further away, where the plains gave way to barrows, nomads squinted through medieval looking glasses, discarded binoculars amassed over the last several generations, or even old sniper scopes.

There were also a number of moogles present, who's high-pitched squeaks and excited 'kupo!'s repeated above the din. The moogles had tentatively emerged from their forests, making themselves known to the descendants of the Calamity's survivors when Regis, seeing that the Fall of Jadis was inevitable, had finally resolved to return to the Cape of Good Hope. When the time came, these moogles would flutter down to levitate some lucky children for a pristine view.

Due to rapid developments on the western continent, with Esthar's offensive having already steamrolled the settlements across the redrawn border, important guests had been informed that all of the proceedings would now be 'hurried along'. After all, Steiner had lived the same nomadic existence as his people for his entire life; he had been happy to dispose of any tedious formalities, and none could stop him. The crowning moment was the most important. Furthermore, Steiner was eager to deploy the New Royal Army and bolster the Allies on the battlefield. Barely had the last shovel load of earth been smoothed over the graves of Kohel and Medea, the holes of which had been begun by Steiner and Beatrix themselves, before everyone moved to the grand hall to witness what they had come for.

Centuries ago, the Centran monarchy had split from the Temple of Hyne when the Archmaester would not annul the first marriage of a particularly demanding, overbearing and womanising king. The first nation to openly renounce the folly of living subservient to a vengeful and fallen deity, Centra had opted to return to the ancient custom of paying regular respects to the Guardian Forces – or Eidolons, as they had called them – and the Four Crystals of legend. Above all, the elements were everything, and were evidenced in everyday existence. For the first centuries after the Reformation, merely intoning Hyne's name was punishable with death by immolation. Thankfully, the Kingdom's first female ruler had ended this practice, making Centra more liberal all around. Yet by the time of King Adelbert, the Coronation had become a largely secular ceremony.

The last coronation had been documented on 35mm cameras, which had been a new invention at the time of the Calamity. This one had been so hastily and unexpectedly arranged that there had been little organisation as to how to capture it. The Media Club from Battleship Island had been given the honours of doing an official recording, and Euthalia had had to remind Laguna to bring a reporter with them from Galbadia. Francesca DiMarco, a president-in-exile, had not been able to provide the same, as much as she willed this event to be broadcast live from the gigantic, public screen in Timber City. In life, Shawn Argus could not have cared less. Otherwise, the spectators had been permitted to record such a momentous occasion on their phones, so long as they were on silent. Many were streaming live, social media for once being used for what it had been invented for, as Ultimecia knew of this event and where it would be happening.

Now, Steiner's broad form was seated on the carved throne in shone and reflective three-quarter steel armour, absent a helm. The Christophe throne, broader and higher backed than an average one, had been repositioned at the far end of the hall with Beatrix standing at one side, and Sir Clyde and Princess Relm at the other. The remaining six Pluto Knights were evenly placed either side, determined to hold their reserve at having suddenly laid two of their number to rest. Prince Noctis walked from the entrance of the hall; the premature grey sheen of his hair highly noticeable with his two raven-haired sisters, the princesses Garnet and Eiko, following behind.

So that they could all have a part in this, it had been determined that Noctis would hold the crown, while Garnet and Eiko jointly offered the sheathed Ragnarok. Thalassa watched keenly to see the if the girls were perturbed by carrying a greatsword, as they would be joining the ranks of her White SeeD cadets shortly. It was doubtless that Beatrix had forced them to repeatedly practise this past week, but no amount of dress rehearsals truly replicated the stress of the actual performance. The little princesses were carrying themselves gracefully in off-white dresses and shaking slightly, but this was to expected with so many eyes on them. They were also very comely, like their mother, but seemed to have inherited Steiner's darker Almaj colouring.

Steiner rose in his gleaming armour as his three heirs stopped before him. He took the crown from his firstborn and placed it upon his head; it was more modest than one might expect, golden and open without hoops, with a winking garnet as the only and central stone. Then he carefully placed one broad hand on Ragnarok's sheath and slowly drew it with his other, another practiced movement which made his daughters visibly relax when complete, the ancestral claymore having been earlier returned to him from Gilgamesh. The three heirs moved to stand with Beatrix, who looked eerily calm, considering she had spilt blood barely two hours gone.

The obsidian blade drew none of the early afternoon light and had grown dull, badly in need of a whetstone. Reportedly, Steiner had been using it more like a club at Mysidia, though its wielding had been symbolic. Now, he lifted it upright in both hands, its tip raised heavenward, and this was the cue for the audience to erupt with cheers. Beatrix joined him at the side with Save the Queen drawn, and Steiner changed the angle so his sword was crossed with hers, a testament to the union of their Houses that had first been sealed with their marriage some two decades before, and identical to the way their swords were crossed on the new royal banners.

Tot, the Speaker, had approached them. He was a short, plump and bespectacled owlish-looking fellow, dressed in crimson and white robes, topped with a red mitre. This was largely the part the of the Coronation that would be skipped, traditionally a series of mundane, obligatory questions that would be answered with robotic, scripted answers. Actions spoke louder than words, and the crowning moment had already taken place. There would be no signing of oaths or decrees either; those weightless parchments had been violated so many times during wars of succession or with brutal crackdowns on rebellions that it had proven nigh impossible to stick to idealistic promises, and the practise had stopped generations before the Reformation.

In this event, all Tot orated was, 'Steiner of House Christophe, son of Friedrich and first of his name, on the centenary of the Calamity with the Planet and Her Eidolons as witness, may you be proclaimed King!'

There it was, the singular moment the Centrans had yearned for, for one hundred years. The Restoration of the Lost Kingdom, and the ascension of the third Uncrowned King who would never again be referred to as such. The roars of its people shook Lenown Castle to its foundations and perhaps could have been heard as far as the crater where Edea's House once stood. It took many minutes for the fervour to subside, and when it did, an orchestra begun instrumenting the Centran national anthem, in which every Centran present started singing joyously.

The Pluto Knights started the process of moving Steiner's throne back to an adjacent chamber, while the royals repositioned to the high table that had been behind, and the feast got underway.

The crew of the White SeeD Ship had been allocated their own table, and Thalassa was seated on the cushioned bench between Tian, Sendo and Kintara, working her way through a plate of exquisitely roasted food, anxiously awaiting more questions about Gerra that knew were inevitably going to come her way. So used to rationing their supplies, buffets were a rarity for White SeeDs, and they were determined to eat until they burst. For Thalassa she resolved to carry on eating until she had sampled some of every delicacy, washed down with watered white wine. All the White SeeDs skipped the fish dishes, so used to eating seafood with almost every meal. In reconstructing a kitchen that had not functioned for decades, Thalassa would all take their berets off to the repairmen and the cooks.

'I'm gonna have to throw in the towel, soon.' Tian said. 'I don't have hollow legs!'

'Yeah,' Kintara agreed. He had hair, but otherwise bore a strong resemblance to his father, the late Kurin, preferring to wear the glyphic headband representing his mother and father's clans as opposed to his White Beret. 'I regret there will be no room for dessert!'

'Raiden's not slowing down!' the taciturn and sawtooth-haired Sendo mentioned.

Ellone, Fujin and their children were on Neo-SeeD's table, and for now, they were engaged amongst themselves. Indeed, Raiden was eating like a mesmerize from a trough during the height of a mournful Trabian snowstorm, talking to Rinoa with his mouth full, his lack of table manners likely stemming from his late father and not improved since Thalassa had been in a relationship with him. In his defence, he was still gangly, and his metabolism was through the roof.

Knowing silence would be noticed, Thalassa threw in comments from time to time, the way people trying to hide depression tended to. With all the noise, at least her interactions were limited to these two. The section of her bench to her right was empty.

'Hey, it's the first coronation for a hundred years,' she said. 'Who knows when Raiden will get to feast like this again?' She forced a laugh. 'When we stayed at the Eldertree, he would fill his breakfast plate three times at least!'

Except that talking about her first lover floodlit the question of the sudden departure of her second. Tian and Kintara's eyes met, and they both looked at her, but decided not to press. Thalassa pretended not to notice, her eyes scanning further up the Neo-SeeDs' table.

Notably, Laguna seemed to be keeping an extremely low profile. Euthalia would have fallen into her old advisory role in their rekindled relationship, a calming influence that would stop Laguna from embarrassing the Galbadian presidency and from making promises he could not keep. She would also divert his lack of tact, as she had before. Their reunion could not have happened at a better time.

Following Thalassa's gaze, Tian smirked.

'I wonder why Vice President Loire's so quiet?' she remarked.

One night while aboard their ship, Laguna had admitted to being highly ashamed about his portrayal of King Adelbert in The Lost Kingdom. His brown mane and reasonably good looks in youth had led to him being picked for the part, though standing some seven inches too short had been the first of many criticisms. Laguna's assimilation of a Centran strine had been so laughably bad that unschooled audiences would have thought Adelbert had grown up in the slums of Esthar City; the only thing absent had been the rhyming slang. Redeemably, Kiros had received praise for portraying his real-life great-uncle and Karnak pharaoh, Ramses Seagill, while Ward had played a mute Pluto Knight of Almaj.

Nowadays, it was not uncommon to see The Lost Kingdom's DVD for half a gil in charity stores and yard sales, though Laguna could relax somewhat in the knowledge that most of the Centrans had never watched it. His resounding success with The Sorceress' Knight remake had been his short-lived glory days, and it had not been infiltrating Esthar that had resulted in his acting career being cut short.

'Wouldn't you be embarrassed, Tian?' Kintara scoffed.

Now Thalassa looked at the high table, from Steiner carving his own venison from the carcass in front of him, to Beatrix lifting her wine goblet to a standing Jericho Vossler, and to Relm on her right.

They saw Relm excuse herself and make her way to the table's end. Thalassa was pleased that Relm had reconciled with her estranged father at Mysidia; Sir Clyde Marston, formerly known as Shadow, now serving as interim captain of the Knights of Pluto. Thalassa assumed that Noct would be taking that permanent post, but Clyde would be invaluable to the Royal Army and their future efforts to police the Nine Shires, due to his old ties and vast knowledge of the bandit country.

Before the feast got underway, Clyde had presented Relm with a doberman puppy. This was to be a replacement for Interceptor, who had met his end in Mysidia after picking a fight with one torama too many. Thalassa could see Interceptor the Second tottering after the princess with its tail wagging. Relm looked ecstatic as she lifted the pup from its tiny paws and nuzzle its dark fur.

'What a welcome home gift!' Thalassa commented.

'Aww,' Tian said. 'I heard about when Interceptor died. That was deep. Though it should have known the torama is king!'

Thalassa murmured in agreement. Of course Tian would say that; she was Xu's daughter.

'I heard Relm reached a limit break,' Kintara mentioned, who had also not been present at the siege.

'Yeah, she did,' Sendo replied, shuddering at the memory. 'The Ninth Element. Apparitions of Interceptor came at the Esthari from everywhere! They thought the gates to all Seven Hells had opened before them!'

Noctis had shown aptitude for the Ninth Element, too, which was a rare gift, as it far too volatile for most para-magic users to handle. Gerra had mentioned Leo had been able to use shadow magic in a limit break against Omega Weapon, leading Thalassa to conclude there was an affinity for it in the Christophe bloodline.

When dessert was presented, Thalassa forced herself to accept a small sliver of what would have been a mouth-watering chocolate gateau, if she had not eaten for hours. She did not drink often, and was at a nice, comfortable state of mellowness. Inwardly, she was relieved that nobody else had asked her about Gerra. She had caught Ellone and the Children of Fate looking at her on a few occasions.

It was well into the afternoon when Beatrix called an end to the proceedings. There was little rest for the weary, and all of the guests would be sailing back to the western continent before nightfall. Thalassa was about to reluctantly give the order to return to base when she saw Noctis approaching them.

'I hope you guys have had a great time,' the prince said, before setting his eyes on his former captain. 'Mother and Father would like you in the old War Room, Captain.' The prince inclined his head towards Neo-SeeD, too, where they saw Clyde standing before Squall and the others. 'They've got plans for the New Royal Army to assist the Allies as much as it can in Timber, and he wants to hold discussions with you, Commander Leonhart, and the western leaders before they leave.'

Thalassa's eyes widened somewhat. 'Sure thing, Noct! Let His Majesty know I'll be right over!' She steadily rose from the cushioned bench, draining the rest of her goblet. The gateau had gone down a treat. 'Kintara, get everyone back Home by 1800. We need to be at battle readiness by first light, because I think I know what Steiner's plans might entail.'

The assumption filled Thalassa with a small ray of hope that she may be able to free a currently incarcerated friend, one who's execution had been delayed, but she would have to see.