Not Particularly Distasteful

[Sinty]

Lorem Ipsum knew that Albrook was a small country, in the general scheme of things. He also knew that small countries do not, as a rule, live out very long existences. He was also very well aware that Albrook, being the first country to use an electoral system of governance, would have the whole world against it. Therefore, there was one thing he knew above all others: Albrook needed allies.

Lorem Ipsum had tried to ally himself with Figaro. He had never particularly liked Figaro, but he had tried to establish good relations. Yet, despite all his politic words, the miserable country of food had denied him their "friendship". Lorem ipsum, you must know, did not like being denied. And when he was, he got even.

Therefore, even though Albrook owed its existence to breaking away from Ambala, Lorem Ipsum, Presider of that nation, had gone to the King. King Edgar XIV of Ambala, to be precise. Lorem had had many meetings with the King, and believed that they were now ready to hammer out a treaty. A treaty of war.

"Your Majesty," Lorem said, strutting around his room as he practiced his speech, "you and I have had many productive meetings together, and it is my opinion that we are agreed on several matters. First and foremost is the belief that Figaro is a danger to the wellbeing of the world. A country ruled by food! It's patently ridiculous! Are the centipedes going to be creating their own little country next? Hah!" Lorem puffed out his chest, which, with his cocky voice, he hoped would inspire confidence in the young stripling who was King. "Due to this, it is my belief that we should sign a treaty, between our individual selves and our nations, that we shall, together, henceforth war against the Kingdom of Figaro, which land being in rebellion against Your Majesty is your own lawful territory, and that of those to whom you see fit to give it." Lorem had worried over this sentence for several nights, thinking it too obvious; but had eventually decided that, were he not obvious, Edgar would not understand that Lorem was proposing a deal, rather than an alliance.

"Also, Your Majesty and I seem to be in agreement upon the subject of my own nation. Though it, like Figaro, declared independence from Your Majesty's domains, by your very act of seeing me, Your Majesty has recognized our legitimacy. I am sure that Your Majesty sees the numerate differences between Albrook and Figaro which make our independence an act of all freedom-loving avians, whilst Figaro's was a direful act of rebellion." The difference being, Lorem thought, that we are not rabbits. "Therefore, I propose that Your Majesty sign a treaty recognizing the existence of Albrook as an independent, free state, and pledge your Royal self and descendants to protect and guard Albrook against those who would seek to destroy it, as we shall do with you.

Now came the difficult part. Lorem cleared his throat with a yarp, swept the pellet out of the way, and continued. "Now, Your Majesty, I would like to propose a third sign of friendship and amity between our two countries. Your sister, the Princess Erika, is a Royal owl, and her marriage should thus be to the leader of a nation. I therefore propose that... that the Princess Erika be wed to myself, and become the First Female of Albrook. While this may seem a drastic move to Your Majesty, I assure you that I shall be a good mate to your sister, and that I have developed a bond with Her highness during my period at the castle. I also believe that Your Majesty, upon enquiring of your sister, will find that she shall not find this arrangement particularly distasteful."

Lorem winced. He didn't know how Edgar would react - and that was the dangerous part. He could predict the King's response to his first two proposals: a show of blustering, then acceptance. But a proposal of mateship? With the King's own Royal sister? That was a rather risky thing to do.

Yet, truth be told, Lorem had done more than develop a bond with the Princess Erika. He had fallen head over footclaws in love. And part of the fright welling up in his gizzard came from a niggling thought constantly pecking at his brain. Did the Princess Erika find the thought of mateship not particularly distasteful, or was he imaging her pretty smiles?

[TurquoisePheonix]

Erika roused herself that morning from her slumber, and struggled to get out of bed - despite being a princess, and getting the opportunity to sleep in a bed, such a form was not one that an owl's body was made for. She gave a girlish sigh, blinking and groaning as she managed to finally fully wake herself. The Princess threw back the moth-eaten curtains from her window and winced; the sun was no further than the sky just above the castle; it was perhaps just reaching midday. Yanking the curtains back into place, the owl groaned. Why was she awake so early? Usually, she slept in, for despite her modesty, she was not shy of taking advantage of some of the privileges she was afforded as princess. She lay back down on the bed, shifting uncomfortably for several moments until she found an agreeable position. Finding that returning to slumber was not so easy, she sufficed to close her eyes and think.

It had been nearly a month since Lorem had taken up residence in the room next door; her brother had, of course, invited him to stay as long as he pleased, and Erika found this arrangement most pleasing. For, despite what she had previously thought, she found Lorem attractive, though perhaps not necessarily in the physical sense. It troubled the young and innocent girl; her usual thoughts had little to nothing to do with physical attraction or otherwise to males. Perhaps it was that delicious familiar-yet-foreign accent of his, the way he curled his tongue on certain sounds and clicked his beak on others. Perhaps it was the way he gazed at her over the champagne, or perhaps the way he was so kind when he led her out of the room. Then again, there was the simple fact that he was handsome, of an experience but virile age and had much knowledge to share with her on any number of topics.

Of course, it could simply be all of these things that combined to make Lorem Ipsum the object of the young girl's affections. In any of these cases, she was quite infatuated with the older male; first, they had merely taken a drink together, then this became more frequent, and then they had begun to sit together at meals. Now, they usually took their meals privately with one another; it had something of a romantic context, but neither of them had directly acknowledged this yet. Of course, with thoughts of Lorem in mind, she could do nothing but imagine herself with him. And so Erika drifted to sleep, her new friend running through her mind in her dreams.

~

When she did wake that night, Erika found herself quite refreshed and satisfied, and went about her day as usual; she spoke briefly with Lorem, but that day he was busy in his room, preparing a speech to give to her brother. This was a bad sign for her; this meant he would leave after asking whatever favors he had of the new King. Worried, she had thought of what to do to prevent his departure, and decided that it would be best if she first learned what he was intending to ask of her brother; it would be easier to come up with some sort of plan if she knew what he wanted, first. Intending to go into his room later that night and inspect the diary he kept, she found herself in a much-different position: listening to him through his door, her beak wide.

She had not known he had adored her so! The young owl girl was ecstatic as she listened in. She had only thought her enjoyed her company, but never had she suspected that he wanted to be her mate! But what to do? Should she go in? He would know she was spying on her. An idea came to her; she reached and knocked on his door.

“Lorem…? I…may I come in?”

[Sinty]

“Oh.” Lorem blinked in frustration. “Erika. Ah… yes, do come in.” He hopped over to the door, which he unlocked and pulled open. “Yes. Your, um, Highness, yes…” Lorem attempted to keep himself from yarping. He succeeded – barely. “Now, um… what is it you wanted, Erika? That is, um, Your Highness?”

How much had she heard? The Presider of Albrook felt as embarrased as a little chick. Why had she needed to come up to his door then? He quickly went from embarrased to a little more than faintly annoyed. This girl – for girl she was – needed to stop strolling about this castle like it belonged to h- … Oh, wait.

Straightening up, Lorem settled down in one of the room’s “chairs”. This entire castle was filled with Other contrivances. Beds filled each room, chairs ringed every table. Yet, even more abundant than chairs and tables was – Dust. Dust covered every surface of the building, inside and out. Lorem’s face had had to struggle against a sneer when he first arrived in the centre of King Edgar’s kingdom. He had seen the dust as a symbol of the degeneracy and crumbling of the Ambalan monarchy. Now, having lived in the castle for nigh on a month, Lorem no longer viewed the dust as a symbol. He viewed it as an annoyance.

It was all very well, after all, to sneer at a building inhabited by a child-king of a disparate, decaying kingdom. To live in said building, however… Well, then one no longer cared about symbolism. One wanted cleanliness.

The Presider’s mind drifted to his house in Libertatia, Albrook’s capital. It was not so big as Edgar’s castle, but Lorem did not wish a house so large. It was too unwieldy and, frankly, a waste of the labour of the populace. For, after all, was not every Albrooker equal? Only the will of the people – or, to be precise, the top 10% of the people; yet Mr. Ipsum thought not of this – made him the ruler of his country for the rest of his life. When he died, he could be assured that someone equally as able to lead would follow him, rather than his chicks, however miserable they may be.

To return to the house. Lorem was very pleased with it. It was not too small, but not as extravagant as a castle. It was a nice home for a large family and a couple servants, with several State Rooms for receptions and such. Then, in case the occupant should yearn for a more simple home, the tree nearby was rented in perpetuity to the Presiders of Albrook.

Yes, indeed, Lorem thought, the perfect place to raise a family… Casting an eye upon Erika, he imagined taking her with him to that house near Libertatia, then the coming of eggs a-plenty… Lorem smiled. How nice it would be to be a father, and the mate of this beauteous creature opposite. The fact that she was a Princess with some influence over her brother certainly added to her charms, too.

“Ah, Princess?” Shaking his head, he realized that the lady Erika had spoken. “I’m terribly sorry… Would you remind repeating that? My… my mind must have drifted…”