"Hm... A party in the Green Hills Kingdom. Doesn't that sound wonderful?" King Alexander Rose said with a hum, handing the letter to his wife. His voice lacked any real enthusiasm, though it hardly ever did when he spoke to her.

Queen Ailinda Rose inspected the letter, her eyes half-lidded with a perpetual disinterest she'd had for years. "Interesting..." She whispered, her words not matching her tone.

The queen looked up to the window of her bedroom, watching her daughter Princess Amelia in the garden. All while her little brother, Prince Miguel, ran around the grass. The older of the two looked at him and called for him to calm down and help.

Amelia was helping some of the garden-keepers plant new flowers, pink carnations and red hibiscus. The sound of windchimes floated through the air, carried by the breeze that rustled the leaves of the forest surrounding the kingdom.

"A party..." Ailinda's eyes were always distant with thought, like she was never exactly there.

She left the bedroom without another word to her husband and slipped down the hall. She entered a dimly lit room with paintings of spirits and fantastical creatures surrounding it or statues. She approached a table made of marble at the back of the room. incense sticks and candles atop the stand along with offerings and pictures. The room always smelled like an overwhelming mix of jasmine, vanilla, and peppermint. Or a mix of anything else when the candles got to the bottom of the wick or in incense. It always gave Amelia a headache when she came in there, but she tolerated it for the sake of the guidance the spirits offered, or if she was just coming in to respect them.

She took some cards out of her pocket - each with "yes, "no," and in betweens - and set them on the shrine. The charms on her sleeves made small tink sounds as she stepped back. The edges of the cards began to glow as magic swallowed them up.

"Should we go?" Ailinda whispered, her voice the faintest noise in his room.

The queen always consulted the spirits when it came to decisions like these- political, social, or other. It gave her a sense of security, all with fortunes, card-readings, and spirits being a major part of the Floret Kingdom's culture. So the shrine room was a safespace for anyone who entered.

One of the cards fell back onto the table, reading "yes." Ailinda tugged at her white gloves, humming a bit with thought. It must be important if they said yes, or at least politeness that would cause no trouble.

Ailinda ventured back out to her husband. "The spirits permit our presence at the party." She reported back to him. Now, it was no longer even a question of if they wanted to go.

Alexander nodded, not looking at her. "We go then." He verbally confirmed what they knew.

"I'll inform the children." Ailinda said, walking off. The Queen ran her fingers through her light hair, messing it from its updo. She went to the garden, staying on the stone path to avoid the dirt and grass that would surely stain her shoes.

Amelia just chatted happily to the gardeners, dirt and mud digging into her nails and chipping the hot pink nail polish. Her light pink curls were tied in a braid to keep it away from her face. The gardeners went quiet, looking up at the queen, and Amelia caught on. She looked over to her mother and quickly stood up, her red dress stained beyond repair with green and brown. Embarrassed, she wiped her hands on her dress before realizing that wouldn't help.

The Princess cleared her throat. "Mother." She greeted.

"Hello, Amelia." She hummed, eyes flickering to her daughter's dress. "The Green Hills Kingdom has sent out an invitation to all the kingdoms. For a party. We're going." Ailinda continued, finally looking her daughter in the eyes.

Amelia's jade eyes darted away from her mother's. Eye contact with the woman made her nervous. Just something about those dull, uninterested eyes made her fidget and tense.

"That sounds... very interesting. I'll be quite happy to go." She responded.

The young Princess had been very aware of the tension in the royal areas. She knew how her parents spoke in hushed tones whenever they discussed politics around her or her little brother, Miguel. She also noticed the military forces in many areas growing, including her own kingdom's.

It was a terrible shock, since for the hundreds of years her family ruled, they'd never had more than a couple hundred soldiers. But things were different now.

And she knew why.

The Eggman Empire.

The Emperor, Ivo Robotnik, had been troublesome to say the least. Making subtle threats to all the royal areas, encroaching on the territory of the Amnesty Republic, using force to get more imports from the Aerial Lands. Even demanding her own parents to give him access to the shrines, which they adamantly refused.

Everyone was getting very anxious. Even the Anti Empire, which was usually so arrogant. And even the Kitsune Empire, which had been reclusive to the point that if you weren't a Kitsune, you weren't let in.

If there was a war... No, she didn't even want to think of that possibility.

A party would get people calmed down, she decided. A party would get the other rulers to see each other eye-to-eye, or at least relax around each other. Maybe they'd be able to see that even the most frightening rulers - like Leader Regan Margo from the Gardener Clan - were still people. And everyone would calm down, even Emperor Ivo.

All she wanted was for everything to be calm.

"Yes," Ailinda said, looking around the garden to see where Miguel was. "The party will be wonderful." She added. With that, she spotted Amelia's little brother and broke into a smile (So rare to see). The nine-year-old Prince ran over to his mother and she embraced him immediately.

Amelia couldn't remember a time her mother had embraced her like that.

One of the groundskeepers looked at her, smiling gently as if he could tell she wanted to leave. "We'll finish up here, Princess Amelia. Thank you for your help." He said.

Amelia broke out of her solemn cloud and smiled at him. "It was lovely. I'm glad I could help, you're all doing such a wonderful job." With that, she rushed back inside, reminding herself to change her dirty clothes as she remembered a tea party she was supposed to meet her friends at.