"Are you ready, my knight?"

No. "As well as I will ever be, your majesty," Maria said. Her hunter's garb was impeccable, and while not applied with polished was so clean it still gleamed, as was only practical. The saber of Consequence Rakuyo hung from her left hip, and slightly behind that was her gherman, each chamber of the revolving cylinder filled with powder and bullet. Given the caliber of those she would soon be meeting, a single bullet was unlikely to kill them, even if her aim be so true she sent it into their eyes, but that was not how a hunter used that particular weapon.

At her right hip, Consequence Rakuyo's short sword hung, positioned to imply it was her backup weapon in tight confines, which it actually could, in a pinch. But again, that wasn't how she used that particular weapon.

King Artorias merely nodded, pocketing the magic tool he had shown her. The sight of the Light Magic tool had certainly been a surprise, but if it would help keep the king alive should she fail in her duty… well. He glanced at one of the nearby butlers—Maria hadn't caught his name, though she had no doubt her squire(!-!-!) not only knew him one sight but knew of his family as well—who nodded. "Very well, then. Shall we enter pass through the wall of fog?"

Maria nodded, stepping forward opening the doors before them.

On the other side, the heads of the other delegations, monarchs and the trusted of monarchs—and the Lord Presider—waited around a circular dining table. They rose as protocol demanded, though the Lord Presider of La Sable had to be prompted. Had… had he been asleep?

Maria didn't have time to consider more, as her eyes darted towards her opposite numbers. The bodyguards of the other delegates were standing to the left of their charge, the traditional position of one's shield. She felt their eyes on her in turn, weighing her in turn. From one snort she just barely heard, at least one found her wanting.

"Welcome, Our guests," King Artorias said, looking over the other delegates. They all wore what Maria was able to identify as elegant formalwear for their nation in either stylish cuts or expensive materials. Xiarmah's First Queen of the Sword was wearing a dress crafted from the silk of giant spiders, which had to be dismembered, secured to harnesses, and then trained to release their silk, while the queen of New Catarina was clad in white formal armor with pale makeup on her face and a false mustache in honor of the ancient heroes that preceded her. "We Thank you for accepting Our invitation to dinner before tomorrow's neogtiations."

"Well, it's not like we can turn it down, right?" the Lord Presider of La Sable said, tugging at the neck of his golden suit that… wait, was that made with actual thread of gold?-! No wonder he was so uncomfortable! That was only used for embroidery!

The king ignored the breach of protocol, although Maria noticed that the other delegates briefly glanced at him. Some of them hid their disapproval better than others. Instead, he smiled and rounded the table to take his place at the head. Of course, since the table was round, it was the head by virtue of the fact he was sitting there as the host. Maria took her place to his left, between himself and King Miquella of Hallig. Dame Finlay turned her gaze to Maria through her helm, but Maria was busy eyeing Sir Chelka, who stood to his Majesty's right, next to the Queen of Tasmeria.

Only once King Artorias was finally seated did the other delegates take their seats once more. There was a thump as someone dropped inelegantly into their chair, and Maria resisted the urge to let her eyes be drawn to the sound. She was not going to be aggro pulled, as the ancients called the practice. Instead, she kept her eyes on all, not letting her gaze particularly linger as servants began to move and lay down the appetizers.

"So, Cousin Miquella," the king said as began to eat with impeccable manners, "how do you see the coming negotiations fairing?"

Young-looking, golden-haired king of Hallig looked up from his bemused inspection of the small selection of Katarina-style fried vegetables with dipping sauces. "It all seems promising, Cousin. I can already see much progress happening this year."

"Oh, I can definitely agree with that," the Lord Presider said from across the table, giving the First Queen of the Sword a look, "I think you're all finally going to agree with me about how the Xiarmis are flooding the market with their cheap… trinkets. It's sucking the souls out of our economy and taking jobs from honest La Sablicans!"

"Trinkets?" the First Queen said tranquilly, holding an open fan in front of her face. "You excel at understatement, Lord Presider, referring to our fine goods so."

"Now, now," Queen Mylene said, "We'll have all of tomorrow to have our people deal with such matters. We're supposed to be relaxing tonight, remember?"

The Lord Presider exhaled loudly. "Hard to relax if all we'll be getting is peasant food," he said, looking down at the crispy fried vegetables on his plate. He raised his wine glass. "More wine!"

Maria tuned him out, but it was difficult. The man seemed to like hearing himself talk, just vomiting everything that came to mind. Sitting near him, Lady Ivanovna of Etran looked uncomfortable, though whether that was from how loudly he spoke or simply secondhand embarrassment, it was hard to say. On his other side, Lady Ri unfolded her fan and held it in front of her nose and mouth, but her eyes were quite expressive.

Fortunately, the wine seemed to settle him down and put him in a better mood. And despite how he complained about the fried vegetables—which used far too much oil to cook to really be commoner food except when cooked in large quantities to make the most of the amount of oil that would be needed to cook it—he devoured it them quite readily. In fact, all the guests seemed to enjoy them, with Lady Ivanovna calling for seconds, which the Lord Presider and King Miquella echoing her. Did that count as a political victory, or a cultural one?

The meal continued through its courses, and Maria remained watchful. Wisps of black smoke continued to rise from both the Lord Presider and the knight behind him—they still hadn't uncovered the knight's identity, and the latest theory was that whoever they were was not wearing their usual equipment—but there was still on indication as to what sort of effect was being had on them. Maria personally disapproved of the decision not to disclose the involvement of Dark Magic to the other delegations, as well as the decision not to use Light Magic on the Lord Presider and the other members of his delegation to cleanse them of the effect, but she understood. If this was from the female Dark Magic wielder that Maria had encountered before, then observing the direction of the La Sable's delegation's negotiatios would provide them with useful intelligence as to her intentions. Otherwise…

Well, they'd open that door from the other side when they finally got around to it.

Despite the king's warnings, Maria's opinion wasn't solicited, for which she was glad. But then except for the Lord Presider, who kept boasting confidently or complaining pointedly about how he thought La Sable would do in the coming negotiations, everyone seemed to be sticking to light topics.

"Is this… some kind of custard?" Lady Ivanovna said, staring at what Maria recognized as I Scream. From the color, it was chocolate and hazelnut butter, proclaiming how decadently expensive it was. Despite know how delicious it was, Maria was willing to admit the unfortunate colors might make one hesitant to consume it. The glass bowl it was served in sat on a small bed of ice on a platter to keep it cool, a further proclamation of wealth—or, if made by Water Magic, Sorcier's power.

"Indeed," the King said. "It's a new dessert invented by the daughter of Duchess Claes, which We were fortunate to be able to acquire." Rather than extorting his guests to eat it, he went ahead with consuming his own I Scream. Maria noted his manners were perfectly in compliance with 'The Noble's Proper Etiquette Reference and Manual of Propriety and Action', seventh edition.

The noble delegates watched him eating, then there was a sort of collective shrug as they proceeded to follow his example. Maria wondered who would make the mistake of letting the I Scream touch the roof of their mouth—

"Ah! Cold!" Prince Dahl exclaimed, clutching at his head at the inevitable headache.

"Have a sip of the hot chocolate, it will help the cold go away," his majesty suggested, and the prince reached for the beverage in question.

Fortunately, he didn't burn himself, having more experience with the beverage. Once he had banished the cold, he tentatively reached for another spoonful, and was just raising it to his mouth when—

"HMMMMMMM….!"

The indecorous, almost sensual moan arose, making everyone pause. With almost morbid curiosity, everyone turned to stare at the First Queen of the Sword, who sat with eyes closed, head thrown back and spine arching. The little trickle of melted I Scream coming from the corner of her mouth completed the unfortunately suggestive image.

"So it's that good, huh?" the Lord Presider said, leering at the Xiarmen woman and ignoring the glare that Po the Black was directing towards him.

Prince Dahl stared down at the spoonful in front of him, then back up at the still-writhing First Queen. Then he put the spoon in his mouth expectantly, pulling it out slowly. "It's delicious, but honestly it's not doing it for me. Am I having what she's having?"

They didn't go outside for the nightflowers. Instead, the king and the delegates retired to a sitting room with wide, glass windows and a partial skylight. Though the glass, Maria could make but the horn-like helms of black-clad members of the Royal Guard standing just out of view on either side of the bacony beyond the windows. More were barely visible on the edges of the skylight.

Perhaps they saw them as well, because Queen Siegmidala and the First Queen of the Sword—who had finished her bowl with icy dignity, as if trying to make up for her brief loss of composure—chose to stand near the edge of the room, away from the windows and not under the skylight. Their knights stood at their side. In Maria's assessment, dropping down through the skylight was unlikely to slay the knight that fell through it, so it was a sensible precaution.

In contrast, Queen Mylene and King Miquella seemed completely unconcerned as they and their knights followed the King to where some chairs had been laid out facing the windows. Lady Ivanovna glanced up at the skylight, but seemed not to notice the figures up there, and Lady Ri walked confidently, as if no possible danger could threaten her. The Lord Presider, for his part, went straight for the drinks that had been laid out at a side table, and the servant there hastily complied with his request for some dark, amber-colored drink. Prince Dahl, for his part, simply leaned on the wall opposite the windows, his undead Knight at his side, and gestured for the servant to bring him a drink.

And the nightflowers began.

A Sophia Totally-Not-The-Paledrake Interlude

Sophia Ascart let herself smirk smugly as people exclaimed excitedly while watching the nightflowers blooming in the sky above. They'd managed to develop more colors over the months, which had of course allowed them to raise the price. However, since the government was footing the bill, the souls had flowed like water.

"Tamaya! Tamaya!" Nearby, Lady Katarina was exclaiming excitedly at each explosion and burst of color, arms outstretched like she was praising the sun.

"Tamaya! Tamaya!" Sophia was surprised, though she really shouldn't have been, that some of the foreign nobles who were watching the display were imitating her. Possibly they thought this was the new Sorcieri etiquette, a supposition no doubt helped by the fact that Mary, the sycophant, had joined Lady Katarina in her exclamations. Keith had followed, because of course he would, and so had Lady Katarina's cousins…

Normally, Sophia would have been right there with her, but unfortunately… a greater priority loomed! While there were very few things that were more important than Lady Katarina, her Big Brother was one of them.

And so Sophia knelt down behind a decoraive planter, wishing she had a barrel, or even a box made of some stiff paper as she diligently observed her brother, who was sitting on a bench with the blind Lady from Hallig. No, she was not spying, she was diligently observing! To claim she was doing otherwise would be wrong! And very silly!

The two of them were sitting a very proper distance apart, the woman's maid and chaperone nearby and… well, trying not to look directly at Nicol lest she been stunned insensate with his good looks. The woman was managing it, however, which implied she cared very deeply for her charge. Few people had the strength of will—or, in Maria's case, simple lack of good taste—to not be flustered by her brother's presence.

Normally, her distance, not to mention the exploding nightflowers, would prevent anyone from being able to eavesdrop on the two but she had the power of romance and Wind Magic on her side! A little working of Wind Magic, and…

"—several red nightflowers exploded at once across the sky," her brother was narrating. "Now yellow ones are streaking across the sky leaving a trail… and they have burst, but with purple sparks, making shapes like grave violets in the sky…"

Ah, Sophia had been proud of that idea, to make them look more flower-like—no, focus!

Complicated feelings filled Sophia as she spi—diligently observed her Big Brother. On the one hand, she was glad that Nicol had met one more person that he could enjoy the simple pleasure of an uninterrupted conversation with. There were not enough people whom he dear Big Brother could simply just talk to, and if this woman could be one such… well, Sophia was already inclined to like her. She'd already managed to learn the woman was in fact really blind by the simple expedient of asking mother to ask father and explaining why. The fire on the woman had been in Sophia's hands by dinner, handed to her by that suspicious blue-haired butler who looked annoyingly familiar.

Lady Hyetta Carim, daughter of Viscountess Taniph of Hallig. Her eyesight had been weak since her birth, and had slowly faded until she finally became completely blind when she was twelve. It was a horrifying abyss that would have driven Sophia mad, knowing she would slowly never be able to read her beloved novels again, but the woman had persevered. And now she was listening to her brother describe nightflowers to the woman.

A part of her, one that just wanted her brother to be happy and felt sympathy for the woman's circumstances, wanted to push them together. Wanted to support their burgeoning relationship, the path of love where her Big Brother wouldn't need to betray his best friend to be happy,

Another part of her, however, raged. NTR was a trash fetish, and this woman was definitely trying to cuckold her brother from her Lady Katarina! That was unacceptable! That meant she was an enemy, and must be dealt with!

A small, tiny part of her wondered why everyone couldn't be happy. Why couldn't he have his cute, blind waifu and marry Lady Katarina so that she could still become Sophia's sister-in-law? That way she'd have two sisters-in-law!

The second part pointed out that would mean potentially introducing THE THIEF to Lady Katarina, resulting in ANOTHER rival, and HELL NO!

The tiny part pointed out that wouldn't matter because they'd both be married to Nicol, so it was okay…

The first part suggested just doing her plan, but the other two ignored her.

None of the parts was Seath the Scaleless. To say so would be wrong. And very silly.

Scene Deleted For Going Nowhere

"Beautiful," a voice behind Sophia said, making her stiffen.

Muffling a curse, the scaleless young woman straightened, turning around to face the wine-red suit and blonde hair of… "Mistress Ecks," Sophia said. There was something about the woman's face, like it was set in a perpetual smirk even when she wasn't actually smirking. Sophia kinda wanted to punch her. "I thought I made it clear that I can't make any binding agreements by myself."

"Oh, that was perfectly clear, Lady Ascart," the woman demurred. "I apologize if I disturbed you. Such was not my intent. Of course you must discuss the matter with your partners. I was simply commenting on the aesthetics of the display." Above them, another nightflower exploded, painting the woman in crimson light. "After seeing a live display for myself, I find myself desiring even more to come to some sort of agreement with you and yours." She bowed to Sophia. "But I shall disturb you no longer, Lady Ascart. If you will excuse me, I will take my leave."

A/N: So... in Elden Ring, we saw the Shadows (Wolfies) of Marika and Ranni. Shadows (Wolfies) are bestowed to Empyreans by the fingers. So... where are Miquella's and Malenia's (Blade of Miquella) Shadows (Wolfies)? Did the Gloam-Eyed Queen have one?