Although everything in Lupresia may look good from the outside, it isn't without its flaws. As of late, prices have been rising for even the average items, and that problem is getting worse ever so slowly. Across the land, bitterness is rising and River, this nation's new ruler, is unaware of how to handle it.

She sits on her throne in the castle, and before her stands a farmer from one of the countryside villages up north. He's much older than she is, having lived through the royalty of her father and the king before him. As such, he has rulers that he can compare her to be it good or bad. "Why have you... Requested this audience?" River asks him, still not comfortable with having audiences with subjects.

The farmer nods and looks up at her from the floor. "My neighbors and I are quite upset by the recent rises in price." He tells her, immediately getting his issue out in the open. But he seems to River to feel the need to hammer in more personal issues. Issues he has with the newfound queen in particular. "And then there's your rule. Oh, don't even get me started on that. From your horrible handling of this crisis and inability to rule, there are many things I could complain about. But hey, leave it to a woman and this is what you get." He says, making a lot of rude and unnecessary remarks, capping it off with that rather sexist jab.

"What...?" Stace, who stands off to the side of the throne, steps forward as she notices how this affects River's mood oh so negatively. This day is meant to be one of celebration with the parade that happens in the evening, and she is not going to allow her best friend, and employer, to be talked to in such a manner. "What's the deal? Why the sexism? Let me tell you something, do you know who was ruling the nation during the golden age?" She asks him, and he does not respond, instead glancing off and avoid eye contact. "I see you don't. Or you do and that's why you're avoiding eye contact, but I digress. It was queen Evelyn Burningham, the great grandmother to the king before last." She tells him, "If you can't address your issues, ones that actually matter without mindlessly complaining about something so benign, then you can get out." She says, looking over a River to her side afterwards.

The old man, with wrinkled features and receding gray hair, seems to think on what's been said, but doesn't seem to accept her words happily. Not even responding to what she has told him, seemingly in denial to what is the truth, he puts his hands behind his back, turns away, and walks to the door and exiting the throne room with a guard at the door following behind to keep an eye on him and ensure he doesn't do anything bad like steal stuff.

River watches as he and the guard leave, and once he's gone, what he said plagues her mind, as it makes her question her true worth as a ruler. Stace notices her thinking and can tell by her face that she is upset and having less than pleasant thoughts. Having been her friend for so long, Stace is more than capable at recognizing these tiny details. "Hey, don't listen to what that man said. All his life he's had male rulers until now, so of course he's behind on the times." She tells River, looking up at her from below the steps that lead up to the throne from three sides. "Frankly, it's very disquieting that people like that exist in this kingdom still, in this day and age. When women can even be soldiers. But guess it might always exist, as unfortunate as it is." She says with crossed arms, scoffing at what she just said.

River looks over towards Stace as she hears her words. "O-Okay." River smiles sheepishly, clearly sill bothered by that man's words, but attempting to listen to what Stace has told her, as she does think that they are right. Each day, she is even more happy to have selected Stace as her royal advisor, as she also looks out for her while still advising her about situations. "H-How do we handle that money issue?" She asks Stace for some of her wisdom.

"One would be to increase taxes ever so slightly, but given the state of taxes, I don't think it would be the right thing to do..." She tells River, rubbing her chin and looking up towards the ceiling in thought as she tries to think of ways it could be fixed. "We are in the midst of economic inflation, but I don't know what to do, completely." She looks back at River upon saying this. "I would have to go and read up about it. I know it's my job to know this stuff, but I'm new to this whole thing, just as you are with being queen." She says, "Sorry." Glancing off, she rubs her neck.

River smiles, happy she's honest and still willing to learn in order to get better at it. This makes her rather appreciative. "Thank you." She says earnestly, happy with her abilities still, and still happy that she intervened and helped her with that farmer. "Like, honestly. You do more for me than you could ever know." She tells Stace gratefully.

Stace looks up towards her, happy to see River's mood improved some and to know that she is being appreciated the way she deserves to be. "Oh... Thanks, River." She says with a small smile, "And uh, the next audience isn't as problematic, it seems." She pulls up the board she has the schedule on and reads it. "12:00 pm has an audience requested by someone we know. You remember Elias?" She asks River with a smirk.

River stands up from the throne from the shock. "Elias is coming?!" She asks Stace, surprisingly excited given their initial meeting at the birthday ball. The same ball where she met none other than the prince of Avantasia, Haden Holstein. Who was killed by Elias after he tried to overthrow the crown, funnily enough. River looks around and notices she's drawn attention from the guards in the room and Stace thanks to her over the top reaction, and sits back down, clearing her throat with discomfort.

Stace can't help but chuckle at the excitement, as part of it is cute. "Wow, wasn't expecting such a wild reaction." She says, smiling. "Have you two been getting close? I mean, he did defeat Haden, so it makes sense." She tells River, maintaining this smile at how adorable of an overreaction it was. "I nominate myself for the position of godmother." She laughs as she says this joke. It makes River blush though, and she glances off in embarrassment.

"We- We're just friends..." She says, embarrassed with a beet red face, exuding said embarrassment and her voice also making it pretty clear. "I just... Just started talking to him more, is all." She clarifies this to ease Stace's thoughts. Though she knows there's something there, even if River is too embarrassed to say. But Stace opts not to push it any farther since it was just a joke.

She smiles at River. "Fair enough." Stace says, "Sorry, just had to make a joke is all. Consider that as payback for when you embarrassed me in front of that guard." She says with a smirk, referencing what happened in the last story when they snuck out of the castle and had to bypass a guard that was at the gate they took.

The two laugh about that silly incident, continuing to chat about their shared past and similar incidents for some time. Meanwhile, Elias is doing other things, having completely forgotten about the scheduled audience as it reaches 11:00am and he only has thirty minutes left. At his manor, he's busy. In his home sword room, located in the basement, he swings his father's old sword around as he feels it's important to practice and stay in fit. Since Elias killed Haden, he's felt like dire straits are approaching, and wants to be prepared.

"A-rah!" Wearing a tank-top styled black shirt with pretty loose pants and going barefoot, he swings his sword at a practice dummy, hitting it across its hard plastic-y arm. "Hah!" He slashes again and hits it across the neck. After, he stops and stands upright, stretching his neck at either side, sword wielding hand down and the other placed on his hip. "God, I forgot how taxing this was. Important though." He says to himself after taking a few breaths to slow his heart and calm from it.

Trying to relax, sweat beating down his entire body, he walks over to a nearby table, grabbing a glass of water and drinking from it. He may be from a wealthy family that you'd think would rather drink wine or alcohol of any kind, which he does like, but even he is not lost on the value of water and the importance of hydration. As he stands there and gets his fill of machine fluid, a click from a door opening on the other side of the is heard, and he places the glass down, turning to look at who it is.

His head servant, Amelia, wearing servant clothing with tied back brown hair, walks inside of the room with some important news. "Master Elias, have you forgotten? You scheduled a rather important audience with the queen today." She informs him, and the shocked look on his face says it all. "I see that you did forget. Honestly, part of me was thinking you'd just decided not to." She says with a laugh that makes him snap to it.

"Uh, right." Elias walks over to a sword rack, where places the sword so that he can retrieve it later to continue his practice. "Thanks for... For reminding me about that. I'll go and get dressed now." He tells her with a look of 'Oops, I did it again."

Amelia closes her eyes with a smile and clasps her hand together in front of herself at hip level. "Yes, you'd best." She says with a friendly demeanor. Elias uses a towel to wipe his sweat and then walks out of the room past Amelia, who turns to watch him exit. Her face changes though, as she has thoughts on her mind, thoughts that seem to plague her, her face showing her inner conflict.

Back in the castle, River sits on her throne, anxiously awaiting her new friend. She is rather excited and honestly can't wait at all. The wait is agonizing though, and she waits for an entire hour. When 12:00pm comes, the time scheduled for his audience, and he hasn't arrived, River's mind wanders into pretty terrifying places. Worst case scenario thoughts start to race through her head, so she looks down at Stace, who continues standing beside the throne. "Hey, do think he... He'll come?" She asks Stace, genuinely worried that not only will he not come, but that something has happened to him. Something horrible, a nightmare scenario to her.

Stace nods, but then looks down at the schedule. "He should, but... Now I'm not so sure." She says, looking up towards River. "Hey, I think he will. He doesn't seem like the type who wouldn't attend a supposedly important meeting." She tells her, looking towards the door afterwards. Although Stace has said what she has to try and ease her mind, River still can't help but have such thoughts.

"O-Okay..." River looks in the opposite direction and out one of the high up windows, looking out of it to try and calm down and not get so frightened, as she knows her thoughts are simply thoughts, but still These thoughts are horrid. Thoughts of him dying in nearly any way imaginable. From being stabbed, to shot with an arrow, even to being ripped apart by animals despite how dangerous animals don't really infiltrate the city, let alone the wealthy district that has a huge fence surrounding it.

Waiting almost ten more minutes, finally the doors open and inside walks a guard with Elias walking behind. The guard moves aside to allow Elias to walk closer to the throne, and River can't help but feel overwhelmingly relieved as her thoughts fade. Her jaw practically drops, and Stace looks up at her with a smirk while Elias approaches the throne, now wearing a full garb that is quite fancy and makes it clear what his social standing is.

Reaching the proper distance for an audience, Elias stops in place and bows to her. "Hello, your majesty. Thank you for giving me your time today." He tells her, standing back up straight with his slicked back hair doing something to her. She blushes with her mouth agape, and Stace looks up at her with a look of not believing the 'just friends' thing too much. Elias also notices this, but decides to keep today's discussion rather formal and not so intimate.

River finally snaps to it and utters some words after a moment. "Yes. Um... Thank you for coming." She says to him, "What is it that you wanted... To discuss?" At this point, even the guards can tell that there's something there with how she behaves with him being around. She seems a bit too out of it, like he's the drug and she's the addict. Stace especially is confused by it though, considering that she hasn't even known that they had a thing going, friends or lovers. She doesn't know when it started, but she wants to find out, though does not know how to broach such a sensitive topic. Let alone in the presence of others.

Elias smiles as he looks at River, trying to be friendly despite the scene that's already been caused by River's rather red reaction. "Yes, well... I have a proposition for today's parade." He says, piquing River and Stace both, as they are rather curious as to what his recommendation would be. "I can tell that I've got your interest." He laughs as he says this.

River gulps as she tries not to cause a scene again, and nods. "Yes, we are." She looks over at Stace, "Aren't we...?" She asks, and Stace does in fact nod, which makes River look back towards Elias. "P-Please, enlighten us on what your proposal is." She realizes what she said, "I-I-I mean...! Business proposal!" She laughs quite uncomfortably with a beet red face.

Elias may not act it, but he can tell what's going on in her mind. Frankly, he didn't know that their interactions would leave her so thirsty, but it is a bit pleasant. "Uh, yes... Well, I want to be a benefactor. My company could help with the setup, and we've spent the last few weeks preparing said items that could help spruce it up even more." He says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Not that the royal staffers haven't designed a phenomenal show or anything. I just want to help out some." He looks back towards River, who clears her throat.

"Good. That sounds good." She looks down at him from her throne and is thankful he is offering to make it look even better. "Thank you. For everything that you try to do. From killing my father's murderer, to helping with infrastructure repairs, and even now." She says with genuine thanks, referencing past and present things that he has done to help the kingdom. The aforementioned infrastructure repairs are current things his company have been doing, repairing roads that lead to and from the capital from smaller towns and villages in Lupresia.

Elias bows one last time, looking up at her while holding his hand on his chest and leaning forward. "Thank you, my dearest queen. Your praise humbles me, as by all means, I should be the one praising you." He tells her, meaning to point out how it is most common to praise royalty. Yet to River, with her clear affection for Elias, it hit closer to home to say the least.

Watching River looking at Elias like he's a glass of wine and Elias still bowing as he smiles at her with closed eyes, Stace still very much wonders how they seem to have gotten so close, but that is an issue that must wait for another time. A more quiet and less public time, as Stace doesn't want embarrass River to death like River has done to her.

As River stands and walks down the steps to Elias to thank him up close, he kisses her hand as it's a common thing for a queen as a show of reverence and respect. But once again, it hits River closer to home, and you can practically see steam rushing out of her ears. All around, this show is pretty fun to watch to Stace, who stands by the throne and watches with a smile. It's been quite a day, all things considered, and this is a nice reprieve for both girls. Albeit for very different reasons...

To Be Continued...