Chapter 28: Chapter 27: an emissary arrives

After a good night's rest, I woke up early. Way too early. Not because I wanted to, but because someone was knocking on my bedroom door. 

 

"What?" I said, still half asleep. 

 

Then I heard "stop! Who goes there?" It was Tomoko.

 

"Ahhh! Who are you? Let me go, you creep!" Mizuki shouted.

 

I jumped out of my bed, realising that this was going to be another one of those days. There is always something going on around here. I open the door and see Mizuki being forced to the ground by Tomoko. Both of them looked surprised at me. 

 

"Ah ha ha, good morning " I say, realising that I am not fully dressed. Well pyjamas are good enough right?

"What are you doing here, knocking on my door at this hour?" 

 

"I was not me, she wanted to enter your room, Greya! I could barely prevent it." 

 

"Ouch," the floor made some sound. No, it was Mizuki.  

 

"Mizu, what are you doing there? Tomoko, release here, she is my sister."

 

She released Mizuki, and said "my apologies Greya, I didn't know."

 

"You are fine Tomoko. You did an excellent job. Mizu shouldn't be rushing. That's what you get for disturbing me, Mizu." I said smiling and giving a thumbs up at Tomoko.

 

Mizuki stood up, and glared at me, "Greya, you don't understand. There is an emergency, father orders you to heal a guest."

 

I quickly grab a blanket, put it around me and say "go, go, go already Mizu!  I am right behind you."

 

We ran towards one of the guest rooms, Tomoko following me as well. 

Two guards were already stationed at the door, quickly stepping aside when they noticed Mizuki, Tomoko and myself. In order to prevent more potential issues, I told the guards that my companions are allowed to enter. They opened the door for us, and the three of us entered.

I was still panting from the early morning running we did, when father quickly called me to come forward. 

 

In the bed in front of me, lies a man with dark fur. Unlike anything I have seen around here before. He is a cat-kin. But I have no time to be amazed. I asked "what do you want me to do? What happened?"

 

Father replies, "he seems to be a messenger, but is not yet able to speak. He is severely dehydrated and our court healer is not in the palace at the moment. Heal him in whatever way you can, quickly!"

 

Alright, so it is a general healing. Not one location, but more a restoration kind of healing, got it. I walk towards the man, put my hands on his shoulders, and immediately feel the energy flowing from my heart towards my hands, then flowing into the man. I continue to do this for a minute, then the man awakens with a sudden deep, deep inhale, his eyelids now fully open, he focuses and stares at me. 

 

"Aaahh!!!  What happened! where am I " he shouts.

 

"Easy now," I say softly. "You are safe here, among friends. I am healing you. Just relax for now, we can talk later."

 

The cat-kin starts coughing for a few seconds, then sits up straight. "Thank you miss, it is alright now, you can let go of me."

 

I sat down on a chair next to his bed. "Are you truly fine? I can continue healing you for a while, just to be sure."

 

"No no, child, I am alright. Ah, I feel better now. Thank you. Might I drink some water please?"

 

Nanami jumped at the command and gave him some water. She must have been here from the start.

 

"Thank you miss," he said.

 

"Are you ready to talk, or would you like to rest for a while?" I said.

 

"No, I must urgently talk to the king. <cough>  I am an emissary, on an <cough> important mission to preserve <cough> peace between our kingdoms."

 

"Alright," says father, "I see that this will take a while. I don't have the time for this right now. I have my general  waiting for me, even at this hour, he might shed some light on this situation. I will therefore leave him in your care. Report to me when you can, Greya!"

 

"And you, dear visitor, you may relay your message to my daughter at your earliest convenience. You will be a guest here for a while."

 

"Yes <cough><cough> I unders.. <cough> ..stand" the cat-kin tried to speak but couldn't do so properly.

 

"Yes father! Ah, Nana and Tomoko, you stay please." 

 

"Of course" they both say.

 

After the others left the room, I focused on my guest again. We gave him another glass of water, then waited for him to recover some more. I asked him if he wanted to eat, but he said it could wait.

 

"Good, now introductions are in order. My name is Greya, I am the princess of this kingdom, heir to the throne. That is Nanami, my loyal servant and that is my guard Tomoko. They are also my friends." Let's not tell him about the head-priestess and demi-goddess part for now...the poor man.

 

"Truly an honour to meet all of you. My name is Baldric of Astworthy, emissary and loyal subject of 

the kingdom of Acria. I apologise for my appearance. The fact that I needed to be healed before I could speak is disgraceful." He said.

 

"It was no trouble at all. Acria? I have never heard of it?" I said that part out loud again. Stupid me.

 

"Ah, you have never heard of us cat-kin before? We are your neighbouring state. Surely as a princess, you..."

 

I put my hand up, the universal stop sign. And he indeed stopped talking. 

I then replied "sorry for interrupting you, but it is my fault. I have only recently recovered from many years of illness. So my duties only started recently. My apologies Mr Astworthy, there is still much for me to learn. But the language of diplomacy I understand well."  

 

"I am happy to hear that, princess." 

 

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"Greya."

 

"Wha? Ah yes, I see. Greya it is then" the cat-kin smiled. "Then kindly call me Baldric."

 

"Alright Baldric, let's get to the point. Why did you arrive here in such bad shape?"

 

"Greya, as much as I hate to admit it, I got lost on my way here. The unforgiving desert between our countries has already claimed many lives, and it almost claimed mine as well. Please, may I now convey the royal message as was ordered to me by my king Osmund Sapphire?"

 

I motioned him to continue, that he did.

 

"My people are preparing for war with your country. I am only a messenger, I mean you no harm. 

Our king is desperate, he claims that your people have cut off our main river. We assume that this also prevents rain from falling on our lands. Our previous emissaries have never returned back home. My king assumed that they were assassinated by your people. This was the last chance for our king to contact yours. 

Our lands are dry, there is widespread hunger. Only a few children are born each year. To be blunt, Greya, our people are dying."

 

"Well", I thought, that explains why I haven't seen any cat-kin around here.

 

"Baldric, I know you are only a messenger. And please know that you are safe here. We need you to return a message of peace, but you are in no shape to travel. I assure you, I may not know of our full history, but we do not assassinate anyone. It is not our way. We will gladly help your people who are in great need, we are neighbours after all."  I said, smiling warmly.

 

"That is good to hear, Greya. But I must leave for home as soon as possible. War can only be avoided if I report back home within two weeks. It took much longer to get here than we thought. In case of my death, I have a royal necklace that proves..."

 

"Nobody is going to die, Baldric. You can return that necklace to your king yourself. Now if you will excuse me, I will see the king, my father, immediately. I need instructions on what to do. Nana, please provide our guest with food and drinks. Please treat him with diplomatic honours."

 

Nana nods and leaves for the kitchen, while Tomoko follows me like my own shadow. 

 

Before I leave the room, I say "she will be back soon, Baldric. There are guards on the outside, so you are safe here. I will go see the king now, this cannot wait any longer."

 

"Of course princess." He then laid down and relaxed into his bed.

 

Finally, my father was available again. But he was already going to another meeting, things must look bad if he needs to talk to more people this early. I was just in time to stop him. I quickly gave a summary of the situation, and my father then informed his waiting guests that he would be delayed. 

 

Father, mother and I are currently seated in the study. 

 

"Greya, dear, I only have a few minutes time for you. This is bad timing, or I would have dealt with this myself. You did well to come to me. I am afraid that I am the bearer of bad news. You see, it is your job to serve our country, which is also the reason I called your mother here urgently."

 

My mother looked sad, not making any eye contact, she obviously knew more.

 

"I am running out of time, so, let me be quick about it. Greya, I trust you. This is a matter of great importance.

Your performance in the next few days may as well decide our fate. If you fail, there will be war between Eshar and the kingdom of Acria. You are hereby ordered to escort the emissary back to his home and prevent a war from starting at all costs."

 

My eyes grow large once his message registers in my brain. 

 

"Relax dear," mother says "you can do that. I have my work here with my husband. It is therefore your duty to go to Acria as representative of our kingdom and to smooth over some ruffled feathers. Any other representative of our government might be seen as insulting to a royal, so it must be you.

Another reason for choosing you is that you are uniquely qualified to investigate what is going on in Acria as you are also our head-priestess and a demi-goddess as well. Your relation to our goddess might be an asset in the coming days. I am sure that is why she told us these things: so we could prepare you for exactly this situation. You can do this. You must do this." 

 

"But father, mother, I have no experience in those things? I just arrived here, what can I...." 

 

"Greya dear," father interrupted, "I don't have the time anymore. You will not go alone. You will escort the emissary back to his land, and bring along your two personal guards. You can't take anyone else, as speed is essential here. You just go on horseback, only rest or sleep when absolutely necessary. Find that king and stop the war. While we do trust you to succeed, I believe it is still prudent to prepare for a possible attack. So I will now order reinforcements to the border. You will leave today as soon as possible. Good luck Greya."

 

"Yes father" I bow to him and he leaves the room. I sit down on the closest chair I can find and almost collapse.

 

"Sweetie, you will be alright, I know it is a big burden, but believe me you are the only choice. Your father should go, but he needs to prepare for possible war. And you..."

 

"Yes mother, I understand. Really. But it doesn't mean I agree with this."

 

"Come here, Greya" 

 

I stand up, reluctantly, and get a hug from my mother. 

 

"Alright then sweetie. Prepare for your travels, have Nanami do the packing for you. But she can't come with you."

 

"Yes mother. See you soon, I hope."

 

"Greya, don't be so gloomy, you can do this." Mother said.

 

"I wish I had your confidence. It is not fair. I just want to have a normal day once in a while. Stuff just keeps happening."

 

"There is one thing I still wanted to tell you, maybe it can brighten your day a bit. The timing for this news is not right, but still. Your father and I wanted to tell you that you indeed are allowed to visit Kenji soon. I truly am sorry that this came up and interrupted your life. Dear, I must go as well. I must attend the same meetings as your father. Be safe dear." She kissed me on the forehead and left.

 

I should have said my goodbyes, but I am still in shock. Guess Kenji needs to wait. I will write to him later.

 

Nana prepared our travel equipment and made sure that our horses were ready for a long journey. This is just one of those days, juck.

 

Baldric had already eaten and was eager to go home immediately, even though I doubted that his health would allow it. He was healed properly, but he is still dehydrated.

 

One hour passed quickly. I quickly washed myself and changed my clothes into comfortable travel clothes. No high heels, no expensive dresses. I almost look like one of my guards now, dark green clothes, perhaps designed with camouflage in mind for the forests. We are prepared for much walking and horseback riding. My guards would know how to set up a tent, campfire and stuff like that. My job would be to discuss details with Baldric, while en route to Acria, hoping to find a way to reason with his king.

 

It was still early in the morning when we departed from the palace. Only Mizuki and Nana wave us goodbye and wish us good fortune on our mission. 

 

When looking back, I saw the palace getting smaller and smaller, until a hill blocked my view of it. I desperately wanted to go out of the palace, but not like this.

 

We followed Baldric, with the sun slowly climbing, as he was heading for home. 

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