Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

Ch. 148 Royal Headaches and Wild Ulcers

"How do you figure that?" Alvidan asked as if he couldn't believe it.

Clera set about her work and continued to write while she talks. "First of all, she has an excuse to get out of work and go on field trips."

Fauna growled from her side of the desk in response.

"But more importantly, you may be the only peers she's ever gotten along with." Clera hummed. She handed Ves'rigand a handful of papers. She instructed her to check for any discrepancies in the math.

"Poor Shayley has been isolated for the last couple of centuries." Clera rested her head on her hand while she examined another paper.

"I didn't realize she couldn't leave the city..." Ves'rigand paused when she reached for a pen from the pile.

"Oh she can, but she doesn't. She hunts every once in a while, but other than that we've never gotten along with our neighbors. The other elves, anyway." Clera marked something and moved to the next paper.

"She does come off rather strong." Ves'rigand remembered the first time they met at the pier. "It can be a little intimidating to approach her."

"That isn't why, but I'm sure it doesn't help," Fauna sighed as she massaged her wrist. "She's gotten a lot better though. Enough to think she can lecture you at least."

"After the Age of Raids, the other northern elves were jealous and tried to obtain the City of Peril through every set of means, each one Calloway had accounted for, of course." Clera mused.

"Even that cursed engagement ring that she can't remove herself." Fauna broke the tip of her pen. "Son of a-"

"So they ganged up on us and tried to conquer us by force, you can see how well that went." Clera pointed at the room that held most of the governing body of the city.

"We decimated their armies to the point where it crippled their kingdoms, once they entered the city... well they became victims of their own hubris." Fauna said as she selected a new pen. "Each and every army that entered, vanished. Normally one retreats when twenty to forty percent of their army is defeated. They had no idea what to do when one hundred percent of their armies that entered the city disappeared. Arrogant pricks ended up having wars and civil wars among their heirs to the point where the entire northern forest was fragmented or vacated. All but the City of Perils."

"At that point they all figured we saw them as enemies, so no one visited. Until this last month Shayley hasn't met any other elven nobles that she can talk to. No one to ask if she is ruling her people the right way or able to compare notes on the matter. She can't even complain properly." Clera's pen slowed for a second and then picked up again.

"She has everything she could ever need within this city, that doesn't mean she has everything. She's spent many nights drinking with the wasp queen and letting all her frustrations out with her. The lamia queen as well. She reminisces and catches up with Cordillia and even seeks wisdom from the Arachne steward." Fauna moved her paper to another pile and scooted a new pile towards herself and started on it.

"But the nobles in the city are rather traditional and distant, so she hasn't really had any elf queens or kings she could talk to." Clera smiled. "She's trying to show off and it's rather cute."

"What about the Sylvan Knights?" Alvidan asked.

Fauna and Clera looked at each other and back at the elf nobles.

"We are her friends of course," Fauna stated.

"Sisters really." Clera followed up.

"And pseudo mother." Fauna looked at Clera knowingly and she didn't deny it.

"But at the end of the day, the City of Peril is all any of us really know. Other than Shayley the rest of us have lived here our entire lives. It's our home." Clera slid a stray black strand of hair behind her ear. "There is an entire world out there, and regardless of what you may think..." Clera pointed her pen at the two elven nobles. "...You've seen more of it than we have."

"Then you are all trapped here with her?" Ves'rigand asked unable to look at the numbers in front of her.

Clera giggled. "No sweetie, we can also leave whenever we want. The only ones truly bound to this place are the elementals since they must really on the magical energy of the Pearly City. But if we were to leave, where would we go? Where would we be welcomed or even just ignored? Until recently the sea was uncrossable, we were surrounded by standoffish neighbors and monsters. If we wanted to go anywhere: the dark forest is north, the noisy human empire is a sea away, and the beastkin are on the other side of the forest at the end of the continent. And if you had heard the Queen of the City of Peril intended to visit your kingdom would you sooner reach for your sword or a pot of tea?"

"I see..." Ves'rigand felt ashamed of herself since she knew that she would have armed her countrymen with swords before manners and hospitality.

"But then Cal crashed the party and changed everything." Fauna had made it halfway through her new stack while Ves'rigand hadn't even finished her first paper and suddenly felt even more guilty.

"How so?" Alvidan asked wondering how one man could possibly overcome those odds.

"Because we were waiting for him to come back." Clera answered. "Shayley has never been able to she herself as more than the city's keeper. Cal is ultimately the mastermind who determines the future. He is nothing short of a whimsical force of nature, I suspect his net of influence will only extend further. And Shayley isn't one to be left behind."

"Then what will happen to the City of Perils and the Kingdom of Calphian?" Ves'rigand asked.

"I suspect we'll go with him," Clera answered.

"More like, do you really think we could leave those two alone? If Selene went, I'd have a little more faith but..." Fauna paled. "Just thinking about those two overpowered idiots trapesing around is already giving me ulcers."

"You can't get ulcers, it's physiologically impossible. I understand the sentiment though. Even I don't know what Cal might get up to... I already feel responsible for unleashing him on the world and it hasn't even happened yet..." Clera also paled and held her hand over her stomach. "I think I'm also getting Ulcers..."