~~~High King Indigo of Ethiria~~~

The annual meetings were all pretty much the same.

Everyone shows up, meeting starts, one by one everyone talks about their empires and things that were going on, and then someone inevitably starts a fight with an enemy (*cough cough* definitely not me *cough cough*) and derails the entire thing.

The host of the meetings is usually chosen at random, but I had the sneaking suspicion Nocturne was chosen this time because it's neutral to everyone and because fae magic is very useful in suppressing fights.

Rei Rain of Viidakko sat down, having just finished their report on their empire. I didn't know the ruler of the jungle too well, but we had a trade alliance, so I had paid attention to their report in case I could help with any of their issues.

Viidakko was experiencing tensions on their border with Steamhelm, who's ruler I was also on bad terms with. This time, it  wasn't my fault. 

Verdania and Steamhelm had been enemies for years, since the day both their rulers had discovered copper's technological capabilities and both tried to claim a monopoly on it only to find out the other had it too.

Ever since then, they had been battling over who had rights to the copper and then invention business. I, of course, supported Cat and Verdania, which made Steamhelm automatically an enemy of mine, even if officially we weren't at war.

Never let it be said that Ethiria didn't support its allies. I supported my allies so much that sometimes I end up creating entirely new problems!

Like poisoning the Queen of Vedera after she called one of Cat's new tanks a stupid design...

The next person to stand up for their report was Sir Seth of Hylia. I leaned back in my chair, idly nibbling on a pastry I had swiped from the food table before everyone sat down.

What felt like a few seconds later but was probably half an hour, (thanks, time blindness, you're such a help) Tsuki elbowed me lightly, jerking my attention back to the reports being given.

Ruler Leah of Acelet was giving their report, and what they were saying was seriously concerning.

"...twenty seven people injured, twelve people dead, and so much property damage that we haven't been able to catalog all of it yet," Leah was saying. I blinked, alarmed. 

Had someone attacked Acelet? I tried to think of anyone who was on bad terms with the flower empire, but no one came to mind. Acelet was allied or neutral with everybody. 

Why would someone attack without provocation?

"The demon-" DEMON?- "seemed to be just causing chaos arbitrarily, it didn't seem to focus on any specific places or exports." Leah looked around the table. "One of my best squads of guards tried to take on the demon. We don't even have ashes to give to their families."

Gasps of horror and sympathy echoed around the table. Leah ducked her head down for a moment, gathering herself, and then looked back up, voice carefully steady.

"I tried to take on the demon, but it refused to fight me, only saying that the emperor's times would come and that the age of empires was over. It also mentioned something about how darkness was coming, but I didn't hear the rest because it teleported next to me and stabbed me."

It can teleport??

My thoughts were echoed by Codfather Azalea of the Codlands, who stood up, chair almost falling to the floor with the speed of their movements. "It can teleport? Isn't that dark magic?"

I felt a chill run down my spine at the mention of dark magic.

I hated dark magic. My parents had been killed by a sorcerer, leaving me to take the throne before I was ready, barely an adult at twenty years old.

Of course, I would never be ready for a responsibility that huge. To care for thousands of people, and protect them, and make sure they were fed and safe... those people who want the crown only for power really are horrible rulers.

To be king, you needed to care. You needed to be able to go days without sleep trying to figure out how to get everyone enough food during a bad winter, you needed to be willing to spend months away from home fighting in wars that weren't your own to protect the people of your allies and your own people, you needed to be willing to put your empire above yourself. It was a hard job. One I had been raised for, and never given a choice about.

No one had ever asked me if I wanted to be king.

But I was the only blood heir to the throne, so it was my burden from birth, since I was an only child.

A sudden headache pulsed behind my eyes, and I groaned inwardly. Of course.

I tried to focus on the conversation happening around the table as the empires tried to figure out how to defend themselves from the newest threat to Empiria.

So far, the demon had only openly attacked Acelet, although there had been sightings of a dark figure in Hylia, Viidakko, and Verdania.

"I saw something dark like that too in Ethiria," I said, standing up as attention turned to me. "I thought nothing of it at the time, since I was pretty tired and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I saw a person with shadows around them sneaking inside the castle."

I had been exhausted that night, barely conscious enough to find my way to my bedroom. I thought the figure was just my sleep-deprived brain hallucinating or something.

"That's alarming," Queen Duchess Stein of Steamhelm said, frowning. All animosities seemed to have been put aside in the face of this new danger. "Inside your castle? If it could get into your castle, it can probably get into ours too."

Queen Kassandra of Vedera snorted. "Maybe into the castle of a weak loser, yes. Vedera is too strong to be threatened by some edge-lord."

Not all animosities, then. I glared at the queen, hands curling into fists on the table. "You wanna say that again? Your castle was so weak I didn't even have to hide to break in! The demon probably didn't even bother with your empire because you're so pathetic it doesn't even see you as a threat!"

Queen Kass snapped her mouth shut as she drew back, rage filling her stormy gray eyes.

A few seats away, I heard Cat mutter a curse word under her breath as Sylver also stood up, slamming their hands down on the table. Empress Ashlyn also stood, spiky red fins swishing  with the motions and flapping out to their full length in what looked like an intimidation display, one I had seen many times before and no longer feared, because I was a dumbass.

"Take that back!" Kass demanded, looking at me with murder in her eyes.

I smirked, about to refuse, when a hand dropped over my mouth, keeping me from saying another word, as well as making me sit back down.

I blinked in surprise and outrage, turning around to see that Beth had arrived, slipping in to take her seat as my advisor, but not before shutting me up and keeping me from starting another international incident.

With her arrival, the advisors of the Ocean and Widow queens also tried to calm down their rulers, while Sylvie was dragged back into aer's chair by Cat, who whispered something to them that made them stay down, although not without sending a glare across the table.

After making sure I wasn't about to charge back to my feet as soon as she took her hand away, Beth stepped back and sat down primly, a completely blank and polite smile on her face as she unpacked her notes and waited for the meeting to continue.

The rest of the emperors watched the drama avidly. I even saw Leah and Azalea exchanging popcorn under the table, like they had prepared for an outburst to happen.

To be fair, we did fight a lot. But they had it coming!

A few moments later, Cat stood up to deliver her report on Verdania, and the meeting continued. I delivered my report when it was my turn, reporting a good crop yield and few summer storms to destroy things, as well as throwing in a few quips insulting Vedera, because I couldn't resist poking the hornet's nest. They had already delivered their reports, so Vedera and Oceania's rulers could do nothing but glare at me.

After I sat down, the rest of the rulers gave their reports, and the official part of the meeting ended. Most of the rulers chose to leave then, heading back to their empires to fortify them and prepare defense measures against the demon threat instead of staying for the usual afterparty and socializing most empires did, to strengthen their alliances and such.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two rulers had remained behind, pointedly ignoring each other as they talked with their advisors or other rulers.

I approached Rei Rain Soturi of Viidakko, bowing respectfully to the black panther felid as they ended their conversation with their advisor to bow back at me.

"King Indigo of Ethiria," they said politely, straightening up from the bow. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"It's always a bad time to be having border disputes with another empire, but especially when there's a demon on the loose," I said idly, picking up a cup of juice from the drinks table next to us and swirling the purple-red liquid in the glass idly. "Steamhelm is no friend of Ethiria's, nor our allies."

Rain also picked up a cup of juice, taking a sip but not drinking any while they looked evenly at me, their gaze piercing. "Are you proposing an alliance?"

I smiled. "Think of it more like, say, an agreement. Steamhelm can be persuaded to leave your borders alone, perhaps even indefinitely. I have powerful friends, after all." We both looked across the room to where the Eclipse was standing with Cat and Sylver, discussing something quietly. Probably either joking around or talking about the silliest nonsense, but only I knew that.

"And this demon sounds very dangerous," I continued, looking back at Rain. "Just a promise to help Ethiria recover in case of a demon attack, and the same for Viidakko if you are attacked, and I can make your border issues vanish like an ice cube in a volcano."

Rain blinked slowly, considering. "This is quite a proposition."

I nodded. "Is that a yes?"

Rain put down their drink, offering me a black-furred hand. I accepted it, shaking their hand with a grin. Their grip turned near crushing, and I frowned, looking up into their eyes, which were calm a moment ago but now were deadly serious, fire simmering just behind their polite mask.

"But know this, king of Ethiria-" the way they said my title made me tense up, hearing the implied threat in the sound- "if this is some sort of trick, or an attempt to drag my people into a war, we will not stop until you and all of your empire has paid for the mistake. Viidakko does not tolerate threats, and neither do I."

That was, understandably, terrifying. Viidakko was the second most powerful empire, right after the Pearlescent Dynasty. If my offer hadn't already been genuine, it would have become so now.

I nodded, grin turning slightly desperate. The tips of my fingers were beginning to tingle from lack of blood circulation.

After another moment of tense silence, they released my hand and stepped back, bowing. "May the winds guide your way home," they said, a common enough, if a bit formal, farewell. I echoed it back, rubbing my hand ruefully as they left, their advisor and guards in tow.

I returned to my friends, grinning proudly as Cat raised an eyebrow at me, tipping her head towards the door where Rain had just left through. "What was up with that?"

"Yeah, I was ready to go charge over there when that handshake got too long," Sylver said, hands drumming the spot on their belt where their battleaxe usually rested. Most of the rulers left their large weapons with their advisors or at home, just bringing daggers and small weapons in case of an attack. Sylvie was no exception, although I knew they didn't like being unarmed.

"As of right now, Ethiria now has a promise of assistance and alliance from Viidakko should the demon attack us, and they have our promise back to do the same for Ethiria, in exchange for us helping them with their border issues with Steamhelm." My grin was proud and just a tad smug, which earned me a lighthearted punch on the shoulder from Sylvie.

Tsuki tilted their head, thinking. "That's not a bad idea. Acelet is lucky that Hylia was close enough to them to provide assistance. Me and Cat are too far to bring immediate aid to Ethiria, and the demon could attack both Arcefracti and Ethiria at the same time with how close you two are-" It said, nodding thoughtfully. "I should do that too."

I jokingly half bowed in Tsuki's direction, prompting a returning equally mocking bow. We both snickered, Cat and Sylvie joining in as we walked out together, everyone splitting up to head their respective ways home.

I patted my horse, Jeffery, on his nose, mounting easily as Beth climbed onto her mare, the aptly named Horsie, next to me. Together we began the ride home, the repetitive sound of the horses' hooves on the packed dirt and gravel path relaxing as the sun slid across the sky. We would make it home just before dark, if not a little after.

The meeting had been very productive, for once. News of a demon, a new alliance, and a lot more work for me to do when I got home.

For now, I pushed all thoughts of all my responsibilities out of my head, choosing to enjoy the ride home, the nature all around me, and the easy companionship of me and my younger sister just hanging out together, as we rarely had time to do these days.

It was a good day. Hopefully the upcoming weeks would be as productive and uneventful as today.