The last third of the International Assembly was relatively subdued compared to the earlier parts as deals were finalized, negotiations were wrapped up and signed, and the poor La Sable delegation often finding themselves with unfavorable results or outright rejected as they pressed for unreasonable things. This supposedly led to a lot of angry yelling heard from the hallways where the La Sablicans were quartered as the Lord Presider made his dissatisfaction known.
"It's unfair," Katarina complained one night as she and Maria got ready to sleep. "Mircalla worked so hard to broker those deals, and she still got yelled at. She was the only one who got anything done! Why was that meanie yelling at her?"
"I would not venture to speculate, my squire," Maria said as she pulled on the vegetable sleepwear that Katarina had gifted her. She didn't know how or when, but sometime in the past week Katarina had somehow managed to arrange for such sleepwear for Shana. It was red and either a tomato or a pepper, and her young ward was greatly amused by it. The appearance of the sleepwear had concerned Maria, since she worried that the other children would become envious of it when Shana returned home, but apparently Katarina had also had such sleepwear delivered to the children at home. "You were the one who heard the rumors from the castles servants."
"Ugh…" Katarina 'ugh'-ed, making a disgusted face. "Mircalla deserves better. She works really hard whenever she asks me to translate for her! It's not her fault she can't get tariffs lowered."
Maria nodded, making an indistinct but vaguely agreeing sound as she lay down, Shana curling up next to her on the bed. Tomorrow… tomorrow was the last day of the International Assembly. While many nobles would probably take the opportunity to remain at the capital, or at least Sorcier, the heads of the delegation would most likely be leaving soon. Perhaps a day or two later, just long enough to have one last set of meetings.
Then it would all be over, and she could go back to her estate.
She could be with Rafael again.
Maria looked forward to it.
"The amount of people who'd been tainted by Dark Magic have increased over the past three days," Rafael reported. He swayed slightly on his aching feet, all the walking all over the castle having taken their toll. As soon as he had a chance to sit, he was going to use Light Magic on his feet. Again. "However, the magic feels the same as before, so I don't think we have any new Dark Magic wielders. Only the same one doing more."
General Solcrista nodded, glancing at the report Rafael had submitted with all the names of the people he'd had to cleanse of Dark Magic, at what time, where they'd been, and what they had allegedly been doing before he intercepted them. Many of them had been on their way to negotiations when he'd intercepted them. After he'd figured out the pattern, he'd been able to predict who might potentially have been put under the Dark Magic Wielder's influence, and had mostly been correct. "Good work, Vice-Director. Just a little more until we can get to the fogwall, and then it'll all be over."
"No runbacks expected then, General?" Rafael asked. He'd been raised a noble, after all. He knew his classics.
"No runbacks allowed, Vice-Director. We'll have to first try, easy this." So was the general, it seemed. "Get some sleep, Vice-Director. Tomorrow, we'll get back to work."
The last night of the International Assembly was a ball that doubled as a recital by Prince Alan. Normally, a prince would not be expected to perform, but his reputation as a musical genius was well known in the surrounding countries—among the nobility, at least—and so he was stepping forward as a show of Sorcier's musical might.
Maria, of course, would be on duty again as the king's bodyguard, which admittedly gave her some mixed feelings. On the one hand, it meant she didn't have to worry about having to put herself in a ball gown and could simply attend in her hunter's garb. On the other hand, she couldn't spend the event with Rafael, just dancing the night away…
Well, they had a lot of room in her manor. Perhaps they could dance together when they got home.
The grand ballroom was as large as its name implied. The windows on either side shown with the lights on the gardens on either side of the long space. On one side were the wide doors to enter the hall, tall enough for a giant and wide enough for several men abreast. Opposite those doors, a high balcony looked out over the ballroom, accessible only by an elevator that could be deactivated after it had been raised.
The heads of the delegations, whether representative or monarch—and the Lord Presider—were gathered there with their body guards around one of the circular tables always used when meeting. It was one last opportunity to semi-private discussion, and to give final closing remarks among the representatives themselves.
Maria let the king's words to that affect pass through her as she stood behind him and the queen, eyes flickering back and forth and up and down at the carpet she'd requested placed to make looking for invisible assassins easier as she remained vigilant. Around the table, most of the representatives' bodyguards did the same, although there were exchanged glances and subtle nods of acknowledgement here and there. They really hadn't spoken to each other while they were on duty, but they could appreciate each other's diligence. Well, all except the Lord Presider's gold-clad knight. The man had simply stood there silently, his head completely still, standing like a statue behind the Lord Presider. For all anyone knew, he could have been asleep behind his face-concealing full helm.
"—so let us drink to another successful International Assembly," King Artorias finally finished as he raised a golden drinking vessel made of delicte porcelain that seemed to glow with its own inner light. "May the peace and prosperity of our countries continue."
There were murmurs echoing the sentiment from the other monarchs and representatives as they drank. While not everyone would have managed to achieve every goal they had set out on when the International Assembly had begun—Maria had been present when the king had read the reports on the results of certain negotiations—everyone seemed more or less satisfied—
"I'd like to say something," the Lord Presider said loudly.
No one actually sighed—everyone had far too much self-control than that—but the feeling of a sigh was certainly in the air. Maria saw the hands of Prince Cezar and Queen Siegmidala drop to their sides, where their weapons would normally be. From the way their fists tightened, it seemed more out of an instinctive desire to calm themselves by gripping their weapon rather than drawing it in anger, but it was there.
Still, the king faced this latest episode of the Lord Presider being his usual self with grace, as always. "Of course, Donnar," he said. "I'm sure we're all eager to hear your well-wishes for the future." Well, maybe not that much grace.
Instead of staying at his place at the round table they were all seated up, the Lord Presider stood up and began to pace. "This whole assembly," he began, gesturing with his drink, "I've given you all several chances. Chances to do right by La Sable and to prove that you're truly friends." His bodyguard followed in his wake, so naturally the bodyguards of those present turned to face him, keeping themselves between the two and the one they were protecting. "And all through this assembly, all you've done has been steal our souls, throw us worthless scraps, and demanded we thank you for the opportunity." The last word was spat out.
"If you see our trade as worthless scraps, Lord Presider, then we shall take them elsewhere, as they are clearly unwanted," the representative of Etran, Councillor Ivanovna said.
"See?-! Even now, you shamelessly steal from us the essential goods we need for our country to grow!"
"You literally just called it worthless scrap," Queen Mylene said from the other side of the table as the Lord Presider.
"Lord Presider, were you drinking before coming here?" King Artorias said, giving the man an honorable way out, such as it was. Everyone knew how much he'd been drinking.
"I'll have you know I'm as sober as a judge," the Lord Presider said, for some reason deciding to punctuate his statement by throwing back the entire contents of the cup in his hand, then casually tossing the cup aside like garbage. It struck the table with a loud clatter, rolling dizzily until Lady Lady Zandra Ri of Drang caught it before it could roll off the table.
"That would explain so much about La Sable justice," Maria heard one of the butlers attending to the monarchs muttered. Near him, King Miquella's lips twitched slightly.
Fortunately, the Lord Presider didn't hear the comment. "When I became Lord Presider, I promised the people of La Sable change! I promised them an end to other countries exploiting us—"
Even the Lord Presider couldn't miss how nearly everyone around the table all snorted at the same time, no matter how quietly they did it. Maria, for her part, was proud she had managed to make her internal, even as she looked everywhere but at the Lord Presider and the bodyguard following him. Yes, the golden knight was a danger, but he was also a distraction as everyone kept their focus on him, providing an opportunity for a real attack from another quarter.
"There! Right there!" the Lord Presider suddenly raged. "Looking down on us! Giving us your garbage! Strangling our trade and heaping tariff upon tariff upon tariff on us!"
"Oh, it's back to being garbage instead of 'essential goods', I see," Queen Mylene said.
"Lord Presider, if you're upset about how the negotiations progressed for you, then you shouldn't have assigned the duty of negotiating to incompetents," King Miquella said. "It's the sort of thing that requires experience, and unfortunately you only get experience with age."
"You were all conspiring against me!"
"Hardly. It was a negotiation. We were also conspiring against each other. It's called politics. If you think my representatives treated Sorcier's any less harshly than yours, then you are sadly mistaken."
"Don't give me that!" the Lord Presider raged, pointing accusingly even as he continued to stalk around the table as if wishing to get to the blond king's side to loom over him.. "Everyone knows you girlyboy shorties are in bed together!" That last was said with an accusatory sneer.
Next to Maria, the King twitched at the reference to his height and delicate appearance. It also seemed to strike something in the king of Hallig, because the smile he made had an edge to it. "It's called sympathy, Lord Presider. Something born of shared experiences and travails."
The Lord Presider was close now, and Maria was forced to end her watch for other sources of attack as she placed herself between her king and the two foreigners. The La Sablican's expression had flushed such that he seemed almost orange, his lips puckered in dissatisfaction. "It's a conspiracy!" he declared. "You're all against us, against La Sable! You invite us into this 'International Assembly' dungpie with lies about 'working together' and 'forming bonds', but it was all a lie! It's all been an excuse so you can gank us from every side and just take what you want!"
"Says the country with a history of raiding Sorcieri towns near its border for children because you're all too lazy to run your own schools to train accountants," Xiarmen's First Queen of the Sword said with a sniff, looking down on the Lord Presider from behind the fan she'd just drawn and snapped open.
"That was a long time ago!" the Lord Presider cried. "We've changed but Sorcier hasn't! Still keeping everything to itself! Its wealth, its people, its magic…! Oh yes, we've changed!"
The Lord Presider was standing behind the king's seat now, and while the king had half-turned to face the clearly unhinged lord, Maria stood in his way. She had not drown her swords, but she stood solidly barring the La Sablicans' path.
"You kept magic for yourselves, hoarding it like the greed pigs you are!" the Lord Presider accused, raising a fist angrily. "And you actually had the gall to be offended when we try to have our share of the magic that should be for everyone! I wondered, you know. I wondered why no one else seemed angry with you for not sharing magic with the world. But now I know! I know about the secret magic you use! You tried to keep it for yourselves, but you've failed! Because now… I have the secret magic you use to control the world!"
And with that, the Lord Presider lunged forward, hand outstretched, dark smoke streaming from him as it had since the day Maria had laid eyes on him.
Almost bored, keeping her eyes on the golden knight, Maria kicked him.
He stumbled back, but in his flailing, he caught hold of Maria's ankle.
Around his hand, Dark Magic flared.
A/N: This is a work of parody. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
No animals were harmed in the writing of this fanfic. However, some species did become extinct during editting and posting.