As the day progresses, River grapples with the day in stride. But is hard to do so. Hard to handle the nightmare she had yet must go on with her queenly duties even so. Sitting upon her throne, the weight on her shoulders feels heavier than it has since she first assumed the role. Stace still stands at the side of the throne as she always does, being able to tell that River has had a tough night from her rather disheveled look. "River, what happened? You look... Out of it." She voices her concern to River.

River, who was kind of out of it and in a fairly big funk following the very restless night, looks down at Stace to her left. "Oh... Y-You can tell?" She asks Stace with a pretty nervous laugh. From the sound of it, it is very clear to Stace that something pretty major must've happened, which prompts even more concern. Before Stace can even utter another word, as her mouth is merely opening, River puts her hand out as if to tell her to keep quiet. "Just... Don't ask, please... C-Can we go for a walk in the garden?" She asks Stace, who nods.

Outside in the gardens, River and Stace walk down the paths through them. Per River's request, the castle staff who are tasked with garden maintenance are not outside whilst they walk. And guards aren't present either but given that the castle was locked down last night in response to the assassination attempt, it is perfectly safe. She wants them to be totally alone so that she can bare her soul without risk of embarrassment or seeming weak, and so commanded the gardens to be clear as they walk. "So, what was it? I'm worried for you." Stace says in a voice of worry, true to what she says.

"I... I had a dream." River replies, looking at a flower bed that they are passing. "A-A horrid dream." Saying this, Stace notices how River has begun to shake ever so slightly. A nervous tremble that shows this dream, nightmare rather, must've been just as bad as it seems. As River looks over at Stace and sees her concerned expression, she already knows what her next question will be. "It was about... Yesterday." She says, looking back down at the flower bed.

As both girls continue to walk in unison, neither makes another noise. River watches the flowers that they walk between along the winding paths, and Stace doesn't want to pry any more than she already has. Despite her caring, she feels that even bringing it up out of concern could make her remember it fully and bare the wounds that resulted. She decides to bide her time until the proper place to continue this discussion, and grabs River's hand. Hand in hand, the two keep walking and staying in peaceful quiet. It's pleasant, a nice reprieve from their humdrum days.

Meanwhile, a young girl with a thin figure and not-so-ladylike attire, as well as blonde hair worn in pigtails, gets off a ship in the harbor. In her hands she carries a large bag, which could contain literally anything. Yet surrounded by the harbors immense hustle and bustle, it is very unassuming. "Wow, big place." She thinks to herself as she looks around the harbor and sees the massive city lying in wait for her to traverse.

Walking out into the greater harbor after getting off the ship, workers and citizens alike walk about ad infinitum. Or at least it feels like they do, as there are so many doing so with seemingly countless boats and/or ships dotting the just as frequent docks. From the looks of it, the economy should be booming. Yet it is seeing insane amounts of inflation, which the girl is aware of. She though, is here for a very specific purpose. As she walks through the densely packed harbor, finding it hard to make it through, she walks with determination.

She does catch some attention, though not because anyone thinks she's suspicious or anything, but because she is quite beautiful. She's slightly older than River, Stace, and Elias, and is a real looker, catching the attention of many men and even some women for her looks. Though she finds a lot of the men's looks absolutely creepy thanks to their thirst-ridden faces, and women's looks uninteresting since she does not swing that way in the slightest. "Ugh." She audibly makes clear how she feels about this, a thing she gets a lot on her travels.

Frankly, it's always a bore. Some may love eyes on them all the time, but she isn't one for that. Especially if it is that type of a look. And that's funny because of her life-long passion and profession. Ignoring the continued looks she gets; she walks through the packed harbor and on towards her future. Sometime later in the day, River is sitting on her throne again, leaning to the side with her elbow on the arm of the throne, holding her head up using her hand. She seems rather bored, Stace standing to the side of the throne as she always does.

Stace looks down at a schedule for today's audience requests, and she sees one at the very bottom. "Next is an audience from... Abigail Adams." She says, looking over towards River afterwards. "It's the last audience of the day, apparently having been scheduled at the last moment, so we could squeeze it in. Just barely." She tells River, who nods with an uninterested look on her face. It's obvious how that dream has beaten her down, but Stace will wait until they retire for the day to continue talking of it.

After a bit, the time of the scheduled audience arrives, and unlike Elias, has arrived on time. Abigail Adams, the girl that got off the ship earlier in the day, walks inside of the throne room. Though, she looks different now, kitted out in an outfit akin to that of a court jester and in face paint that looks like it's come straight out of a circus. Needless to say, this does pique River's interest, who sits upright and isn't so bored anymore. Both girls, River as well as Stace, are confused yet intrigued. She approaches the throne and stops before it, bowing. "Good day, your majesty." She says in her smooth tones with a smile.

River wasn't expecting such a courteous greeting from someone dressed like a fool. "Uh... Good day." River says, still confused by this meeting. She had not anticipated meeting a jester on such a dull day, let alone a day following a near tragedy. "Why are- are you here...?" She asks, raising a question that is on most people's mind. Stace thinks that she's here to propose a circus to raise spirits after the previous day.

Abigail stands upright after her rather intense bow that leaned forward severely. One leg is positioned in front of the other. "Yes, that is a fair question, is it not?" She delivers an over the top and very circus-fitting laugh. It's easy to tell what her chosen profession is. "I am from the nation of Kaldinia and have travelled here to lend my aid." She says, "In recent weeks, a number of tragedies have transpired here, so I wanted to bring my gift of laughter to this humble kingdom. As your court jester." She tells River with a smirk, whose jaw practically hits the floor.

Stace had not expected this whatsoever, just as she didn't expect to meet a jester at all today. "My queen, if I may." Stace says. Even though she is River's personal friend, she tries to be formal when strangers are in their presence. "I know that the kingdom of Kaldinia is in the midst of a civil war and that there are a number of refugees fleeing to surrounding nations." She says, addressing Abigail directly. "Tell me, miss..." She looks back at the schedule to see her name and looks back to her. "...Abigail, are you a refugee?" She asks her, wanting to curb her own curiosity.

Abigail takes a brief moment to respond, looking to the others as if she is trying to think of how to broach such a question. "I-I hate to admit it, but I am." She answers the question, seemingly downtrodden about it. Understandably so, as any sort of immense tragedy might have transpired. "I had to leave... And even though I did, not all are so lucky. I fled to Avantasia for a brief time, but now I am here to move on with my life." She explains, being surprisingly open about this all. More than could ever be expected of someone who has had to uproot their life in the name of survival.

This sways both girls' thoughts on her, as they have sympathy for that misfortune. "I... I'm sorry." River says to her, emotion in her voice. "I hadn't imagined you had been through such hardship. I swear, if our economy was suited, we'd open our borders to all refugees." She says with an outpour of empathy for anyone in such a situation. She can't even imagine what that must be like. But she also couldn't imagine what it's like to be the target of an assassination at one point either.

Abigail smiles as she hears this. "I appreciate the thought." She gives another bow, and as she stands back up straight, she speaks more. "I would be utmost humbled if you allowed me stay here. As your royal jester. I have many skills from when I was in the circus back home, so I think I could bring joy into these walls." She says, looking back and forward between River and Stace intermittently, a smile still on her face. It's pretty clear that she is extremely excited, as if she could jump clean out of her skin.

The girls look at one another, both smiling as they completely know what their shared thoughts are. "Okay." River says, looking back at Abigail. "I'd like that a lot, actually. I... I could use a few laughs." Looking down at Abigail, it's easy to tell just how down in the dumps she's been as of late. Proving that she really could use some laughter in her days, as it could be the only escape that she may get anytime soon, given the current state of affairs in the kingdom and abroad.

Her eyes lighting up like she is the most excited she has ever been to date, Abigail bows down far, full of excitement. "Thank you!" She exclaims, standing back up straight with a smile. "I promise, I won't let you down, your holiness!" She tells River, and both of them find this odd, as that is not a royal title Lupresia uses.

"We don't use 'Your holiness' in this kingdom." Stace pipes up, bringing it to Abigails attention and pointing out her mistake. In Stace's mind, she knows that some other kingdoms may use it, but does not know the specific ones. All Abigail has said is that she's from Kaldinia and was in Avantasia before coming here, Avantasia being the closest kingdom on the mainland to Lupresia. The smallest width of the channel that goes between the isles and the mainland of the continent.

Abigail seems to piece her mistake together and have a bit of shame in that mistake. "Oh, gods... I'm so sorry. I was... Visiting Avantasia, like I said, so I've mixed things up." She tells them both, and they let it slide as they can understand making mistakes. It's easy to do so and cannot be held against a person, especially for a mistake so small and benign. Accepting her into the castle's folds, River feels like she could bring a great deal of joy to her life. At least until she learns how to better cope with the issues of ruling a nation.

At Elias' manor in the wealthy district, Captain Sheena and some of her royal guard stand in the manor's office room, where bookcases line the walls with some ornaments sit around the room. In the center is a desk where Elias now sits, light shining through a door leading outside to a balcony. Sheena leans over the desk and speaks with Elias. "Tell me; what is it that you can lend to our cause?" Sheena asks him seriously.

Looking towards her from his seat, Elias soon tells her what he can do. "My father had some private writings, some of which were about his... Less than pleasing pastime. His plans of political assassination." He explains, beginning to open a drawer. "It was through these writings that I discovered of the secret passage into the castle. Which is how I got in to stop Haden Holstein's attempted grab for power." The drawer opened, he pulls the whole heap, a stack of several pieces of parchment out and plops it onto the desk. "You can have them. I know that one of them is a map with a list of 'hideaway' locations marked in this very city." He tells her, making her realize what she already believed, which is that he really is a benefit.

Picking up the stack, she flips through them and looks at most pages briefly. It has info about secrets of the castle, as well as the aforementioned map and even a list of co-conspirator's names. "This is a massive help. With this, we could catch this attempted murderer within days." She puts the papers back down on the desk and looking back towards him. "Thank you, genuinely. I know you probably want to be directly involved, but this is already enough of a help." She tells him with a smile.

Despite wanting to, like she said, be more directly involved, Elias knows that helping in any way he can and is allowed to, is for the best. One way or another, he is helping his nation and his newfound friend. All he wants is to see the assassin captured and sent to the gallows. Saying their goodbyes for now and Sheena taking the writings with herself and the royal guard to study them and hopefully use them to reach their end goal, Elias continues sitting at his desk as they leave the manor.

Although he has helped more than enough according to Sheena, he still feels like doing more. All he can do is wait and bide his time. He'd rather work with authorities than go into vigilantism, as one is legal, and the other is rather dubious. He leans back in the chair and looks up towards the ceiling, thinking about what more he could do. Unbeknownst to him, his destiny would soon arrive.

To Be Continued...