~~~High King Indigo of Ethiria~~~

I shifted on my throne, bored out of my mind.

Today was the day of the monthly Noble's Gathering, where nobles could approach me and the Council and complain about issues that needed to be fixed.

In theory, a great way to make sure everyone stayed happy and things continued running smoothly.

In reality? A bunch of whiny nobles who wanted more power, less responsibility, were fighting with another noble and wanted me to take away their lands, or all three.

I was ready to punt my crown out a window and go rage bake bread or something in the kitchens. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that, so I just pretended to pay attention to whatever the prat in front of me was blathering on about and daydreamed about heading over to Vedera to cause some mild havoc.

The Council looked equally as bored, sitting at a circular table to the left of me, chairs decorated based on their responsibilities.

They were all my adopted siblings; according to Etherian tradition, only blood members of the royal family could inherit the throne, but often many children were adopted into the royal family and raised to be the future ruler's council, each taking a position depending on what they're best at.

My council had 8 members: Bethany, my head advisor and overseer of the council. Noah, the general of Ethiria's armies. Eleanor, the head of trade. Avalon, the head of defense. Cherry, head of the kitchens. Artemis, the head of diplomacy and also the royal ambassador. Avery, the head of healers and the royal doctor. And finally, Ashley, the head of spies and my spymaster.

We had grown up together, and I trusted them with both my life and the empire. I, however, did not trust them (read: Noah) to not attack anyone who bored them, which was everyone.

Not that I blamed Noah. I would have loved nothing more than to defenestrate the prancing peacocks yelling at each other in my throne room.

Unfortunately, neither of us could do that, so instead we traded annoyed glances across the room while I tried to keep a neutral look tacked onto my face.

"Your Majesty, what is your verdict?"

I startled out of my thoughts and glanced around the room. The nobles were all looking at me expectantly. Uh oh.

"My verdict is, uhh-" I stalled, scrambling to try and remember what this particular prat had been complaining about.

I looked over at the council desperately. Eli was waving its fingers at me under the table, probably trying to sign the answer to me. Beth was looking down at her papers, a growing look of alarm on her face.

They leaned over and whispered to Noah, who stood up suddenly, a gleeful look on his face.

"Alright, you fuckheads, complaining time is over, get out. The king has important matters to attend to." Noah announced, glaring at all the nobles with enough venom to keep even the most entitled and preposterous of them from saying a word in protest.

I sat up straighter, tilting my head at Beth in confusion. I couldn't remember anything I had to do important enough to cancel the Noble's Gathering.

Once the throne room was empty, Beth dropped her calm face and whipped her head around to face me.

"INDI WE FORGOT ABOUT THE ANNUAL MEETING-" They said, jumping up from their chair as I froze, shock rippling through my system.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit.

Half of my brain corrected its earlier statement. Yes, the annual Anuelan peace meeting was important enough to cancel the Noble's Gathering.

The other half of my brain yelled at the first half of my brain for not focusing on the current crisis, which was that I was late to the annual meeting.

"Oh shit," I said, sliding off my throne and wobbling for a moment as the blood rushed back into my legs, which had gone numb from sitting for so long. "I can still make it, right? Nocturne isn't so far, thank Luxen it's there this year."

Everyone had scrambled up from their chairs, some rushing out of the room to go grab things I needed for the trip while the rest converged on me to plan quickly.

"Okay, so I can fly there really fast, and then the supplies and Beth come slower by horseback?" I suggested. We had spread out a map on the council table, and I tapped Nocturne, a bit south of us. "And I can stop by Arcefracti too, to make sure Sylvie didn't forget to go as well."

Avalon shook their head, tracing a path from Ethiria to Nocturne. "Not enough time for that."

I frowned. "Guess we'll just have to hope they remembered, then."

Artemis raised a hand, saying, "I can send a messenger to Amissan to check whether ae left or not?"

I grinned at Artemis, reaching over to give them a quick half-hug across the table. "You're a genius, Arti- do that, yes, and I'll leave now as soon as Eli comes back with the documents."

Everyone nodded agreement, and Beth left the room with Avalon next to them, the two discussing how many guards to send with the entourage behind me.

Avery and Cherry left as well to return to their respective responsibilities, giving me a quick hug and wishing me safe travels.

Artemis stepped away, summoning a servant from outside the throne room to send the message they had just written to the crow post to get it sent to Arcefracti.

Meanwhile, me and Noah walked together a bit away, stopping by the massive window behind my throne, the sunlight shimmering in Noah's dirty blond hair with a fiery aura. His phoenix wings shifted behind him as he watched a bird gliding outside, the wind filling its elegant wings as it soared.

Noah had won his wings fighting a fire elemental outside the borders of Celeste, absorbing its power by accident when he killed it. As a result, he'd grown the fiery wings everyone had dubbed phoenix wings, since absorbing the power had made his heart stop for a few minutes before he came back to life with wings of fire.

"You'll have to be careful of the gales blowing from the Dynasty Mountains." Noah didn't look at me as he spoke, probably to hide the fact that he actually cared about my safety.

I nodded, not looking at him but lightly bumping his shoulder with mine. "I'll just dive when I feel them and move to a lower air current, don't worry. I've been flying almost as long as you now, you know."

Noah huffed, trying and failing to hide the small smile breaking out on his face. From Noah, that was equivalent to a laughing fit that ended in wheezing breaths.

Eli ran back in, a simple string satchel slung over its shoulder, one of the special ones that were oiled and protected against wind and water and anything I could run into midair that could ruin the delicate paper within, as well as the formal change of clothes for when I got there, since I would absolutely ruin the fabric if I flew with it on.

I took the bag and accepted the clothes Eli also had and ducked into a small chamber in the walls to change, created for that exact purpose.

Walking back out in a backless shirt and leggings, I picked up the bag from where I had put it on the floor, tying the strings on so the satchel laid flat against my shoulder blades, cool against my warm skin.

With a final hug to everyone, I ran out of the throne room, legging it for the closest balcony and warming up my muscles. As I flung the door open and reached the ledge, I did the mind twist that allowed me to summon my wings, great butterfly shaped wings in the colors of Ethiria, pale blue and amethyst purple, with gold edging and silver spots and stars swirled around.

I dropped for a moment once I hit open air, unfurling my wings and flapping them, soaring up into the air and catching a wind current heading south, spreading my wings and easing into an easy glide, relaxing so as to not tire myself out for the hour-long flight to Nocturne.

As I flew, I sent up a quick prayer to the patron god of Ethiria, Luxen, the god of light, and as it so happened, also the god I was champion of, as king of Ethiria.

Since the dawn of Ethiria, Luxen has been our patron, but no ruler has actually been their champion in centuries. The practice of kings and queens being champions of Luxen had become a myth by the time of my coronation, so when I had knelt to accept my crown and also gained a pair of giant magic wings that I definitely hadn't had a few minutes before, along with a magical mark on my back in the shape of Luxen's godly sign, I was quite shocked.

It took quite a bit of time to calm everyone down and keep them from hailing me as God King. I had enough work cut out for me being just plain King of Ethiria, I did not need to be called a god on top of it. Plus, I'm pretty sure that's blasphemy or something.

I had only talked to Luxen once since that fateful day four years ago, but I still kept up with them by praying about random things regularly and just chatting to them in my head throughout the day. I never did get any answers, but at least I look less crazy if I say I'm talking to a god instead of myself.

The predicted gales from the mountains swooped in as I flapped my wings to keep from drifting down, the sudden chilling winds making me shiver and lose my rhythm, my heart skipping a beat as I dropped in midair before I regained my control and glided to a lower, warmer current, away from the icy, powerful winds I was much too small to fly in safely.

Arcefracti passed by, my eyes automatically scanning the streets as I flew to see if I saw Sylver anywhere. Luckily enough, I didn't, which either meant they had passed out after another stint of not sleeping for a week and then crashing, or that they were already at the meeting and had better memory and planning skills than me.

A while later, Nocturne appeared ahead of me, the shimmering roofs of Tapire gleaming with magic as I soared over them, heading for the castle in the center of the city, the home of Queen Eve of Nocturne, the host of this year's annual peace meeting between all the empires.

It wasn't peaceful at all recently, but we had all shown up anyway. Or at least, I was showing up. I didn't know whether Oceania and Verdana would show up, especially after how I had tried to attack Queen Kassandra of Verdana over the table last year. I was more than happy for a rematch if she was there, though. If she thought I was a coward who hid from my enemies, then she could catch these hands as proof otherwise.

Landing in the courtyard in the center of the castle, I paused as guards rushed all the doors around, surrounding me with spears pointed directly at me. I froze, not moving but not putting my hands up either. I was a king, I surrendered to no one.

"Excuse me?" I asked, offended. Nocturne wasn't an ally of Ethiria, but we were on quite good terms. I wracked my brain to see if I or any of my allies had done anything recently to constitute hostile behavior, but I couldn't think of anything. "What is the meaning of this?"

The guards didn't reply, slowly closing in. I narrowed my eyes, wings shifting behind me. I would only take flight to escape if I had no other choice but to give up the fight.

I was outnumbered almost twenty to one. I grinned savagely, hands slipping into my hidden sheaths in my leggings, ready to cause mayhem.

"WAIT!"

I paused at the shout, and so did the soldiers, everyone turning to face the direction of the sound.

A little ways up, standing in a balcony a floor up, someone I hadn't seen in over a year stood, commanding and regal, eyes snapping with fury.

"I command you to release the King of Etheria, immediately." Eve demanded, hopping over the edge of the balcony and floating gracefully down, her dark purple dress brushing the cobblestones of the courtyard as she landed, her hands and forearms glowing a dark, starry violet as she ended the levitation spell, striding towards me and the soldiers.

Sparing me a quick smile, she turned to glare at one of the guards, who was wearing a medal I assumed signaled them as the captain of the guard. "What is the meaning of this, Captain? You are all aware that the rulers of the other empires are coming today, and yet you attack our close friend when they fly in?"

"Your Majesty, they flew right over the walls, we thought they were an intruder," the captain stammered, lowering their sword.

"Apologize to the king, and return to your posts, all of you," Eve commanded, and the captain turned to me, remorse and slight fear in their eyes.

"I am terribly sorry, Your Majesty, please forgive us," the captain said, bowing their head along with the other guards.

I waved the apology away with a laugh. "Oh, don't worry about it. It's good that you're defending your empire! It's good that your queen came when she did, though, or I might have slaughtered you all!" I giggled, sharing a grin that bounced back at me at the slightly horrified faces of the soldiers, before they all hurriedly bowed and marched away, almost running.

"Welp, guess I scared them away, how sad," I said cheerfully, not at all sad. L to the guards, I was just cooler. I went over to stand next to Eve, smiling up at my taller magical faerie friend. "It's been ages, Evie, how are you?"

"Absolutely wonderful, how have you been, my friend?" Eve responded, eyes twinkling with joy and mischief.

We began to walk towards one of the doors, Eve leading me as we headed inside, away from the near stifling summer heat of Nocturne in full summer bloom.

We strolled together, chatting idly as we headed to the meeting room, stepping in arm in arm as we laughed over a joke Eve had shared with me. The other rulers were milling about, eating small snacks from the food table at the side or sitting at the large round table in the center of the room, organizing their papers.

Eve had first taken me to my usual room at Nocturne when I visited for annual meetings or other things, giving me time to change into my formal wear that I had brought with me before heading to the gathering of royals and rulers.

A simple light blue tunic, embroidered with the insignia of Ethiria around the hems and sleeves, shaded over by a sheer lavender shawl and a delicate star-shaped clasp at the base of my throat holding it over my shoulders. I had simple amethyst, blue topaz, and blue sapphire stones studded in my ears, the royal colors of Ethiria, as well as my circlet crown placed in my hair with the crown jewel of Ethiria hanging on top of my forehead off the circlet. Even my boots were a specialized dark navy blue, matching my dark purple pants. Anyone who looked at me would immediately know which empire I owed my allegiance to.

Most of the emperors didn't look up as we entered, since a few others hadn't arrived yet and they weren't being called to order. I grinned as I spotted Lord Sylver of Arcefracti hanging out by the drinks table, flirting with Queen Cat of Verdania. They'd been together for years and had recently become betrothed, but they still were adorably cute and flirty with each other.

I didn't see our final ally, Their Excellency The Eclipse (Or Tsuki, for those who were close enough allies to know their true name and face) anywhere, so they probably hadn't arrived yet from the Pearlescent Dynasty.

It looked like Tsuki was the last one to arrive, too; I counted everyone there, even Queen Kassandra and Queen Ashlyn of Vedera and Oceania respectively. The sisters glared at me, and I glared right back, daring them to try anything. I'd happily fight them both again, and win because I was just that epic.

Luckily for the peace in the room, they looked away and went back to ignoring the room, sitting together and whispering to each other.

Giving a quick goodbye to Eve, who went off to see how the rest of her guests were doing, I walked over to Sylvie and Cat, grabbing a muffin from the food table and biting in as I walked. Oo, blueberry. Yum.

I hung out with my allies, talking about little things and just chilling, until the doors opened once again, admitting a masked figure, regal and terrifyingly mysterious.

They walked towards the table, heels clacking on the wooden flooring. Its masked face stared at everyone blankly, eerily judgmental. Stopping at the head of the table by abyss' usual seat, they stopped, letting everyone get accustomed to its powerful presence.

Everyone had stopped what they were doing, all talk and activities ceasing as The Eclipse walked in. No one wanted to accidentally disrespect the ruler of the most powerful empire in Empiria, easily capable of conquering the whole world with their terrifying army of carnivorous Miros birds and deathly trained soldiers.

In a practiced move, me, Sylver, and Cat walked over to sit on the seats to the left and right of Tsuki, the sound of our footsteps the only sound in the room as we sat down.

Eve, never one to be intimidated for long, broke the silence with a brisk clap, moving to her own seat halfway around the table from us as everyone else went to take their seats.

"Let us begin." The Eclipse's voice echoed from behind their mask, and Eve nodded.

"The Annual Peace Meeting of Empiria has now commenced."

A/N: For those confused, Anuelan is the name of the continent, replacing the term Empiria that I was using before :> 

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