Three Strikes [✓]

All In A Day

He dipped his head in a respectful and nervous manner, smiling sheepishly. "Yes, well...I hadn't planned on it, but General Parrish didn't want me to attend their meeting. I got a little bored standing outside."

Queen Annette gave him a knowing look, nodding as she reached for a nearby knife to cut the tomato she had. "Yes, well, François is a funny man. Never was the same after the last war, so we always let his weird behavior slide. At least, the King's cousin and his brother were fine with ignoring it. We weren't so sure, but we figured he was decent enough." As she began slicing the tomato, Henri was quick to find something he could do to help out to continue their conversation. There was some anger in her voice as she spoke of Parrish, unusual for her. Like Princess Cossette, she never was an ill-tempered woman. Short-tempered at times, but she always managed to get it under control and she'd mellowed out once her husband assumed the throne.

Henri took a couple of carrots and a smaller knife and began chopping as they continued their conversation. "I've never heard much about his time in service, before he entered into regular politics," he said. "He seems like such a...well, if you don't mind me being blunt, Your Majesty, he seems a little bitter. Especially, I've noticed, towards Osea."

She looked up from her slicing and narrowed her eyes for a moment, as if debating speaking with him about Parrish. At last, Queen Annette returned to her tomato-cutting and explained, "Well, he wasn't a pilot during the war, but many of his close friends were. His brother was, too. And you remember how badly ISAF's ace crippled our air force."

"Who could forget," Henri said, gently moving the chopped carrots to the side to get started on the next. Everyone knew of the legendary Mobius 1, although they knew very little about him. Just that he was a pilot with a ribbon insignia that fought for ISAF. Beyond that, every file on him released to the public had been redacted, save for any basic knowledge on him. He'd defeated the powerful Yellow Squadron and stopped a Free Erusea uprising a few years after that. Henri looked up at the Queen. "Are you telling me that Parrish's brother was shot down by Mobius 1? What would that have to do with Osea? They weren't involved in the war."

"Well, not directly, anyways," Queen Annette answered him with a shrug. She laughed, almost nervously. "It's an absurd rumor, really, that surfaced a while ago. Something about Mobius 1 possibly being an Osean. After all, we heard years ago that this ace just showed up one day and I guess just decided to fight for ISAF. Either way, I suppose that François just wanted somewhere to lay the blame and Mobius 1 and Osea were easy targets. But now that Mobius 1 has disappeared again and Osea moved in with the Space Elevator, well...you can imagine what that did to him. Now he's got a natural disliking of Osea and all those in it. At least in its military." The Queen paused and glanced at Henri. "I probably shouldn't be telling you all of this. But between you and I, I'm starting to trust Parrish less and less. I've been speaking with Cossette, and he seems rather harsh. He's seemed to turn my husband and child against one another...God, sometimes I wish we hadn't gotten involved in politics."

"I don't think you could have really chosen that. But I'm sure it's not all that bad. Your husband is a good man, and your daughter seems to have handled it well enough before now," Henri replied. Queen Annette looked up at him, as if she was asking what he knew that she didn't. He wasn't about to lie to her, and if Princess Cossette had been lying to her mother about how stressed she truly was then it was for the good of the family. He explained, "Well, Princess Cossette confided in me the evening after her speech. Her heart doesn't seem into her speeches anymore, and...it really isn't my place to say, but I don't believe that she supports the war as much as Parrish and the King do."

"I could have told you that, Henri," the Queen huffed, brushing a strand of hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear and smearing flour across her cheek. She huffed as she finished with the tomatoes, talking as she moved about, the rest of the kitchen staff pretending to mind their own business. "Even I don't support the war. It's a foolish, wasteful endeavor. Our capital has been attacked. Entire lives — families — have been uprooted. Countless people were killed. And all for what? This war is General Parrish's endeavor, and my husband is unfortunately foolish enough to follow along with it. Gunther Peninsula and the bay isn't even Erusean territory. The Space Elevator was authorized by the government of Selatapura, and building it doesn't 'threaten Erusea's sovereignty' or whatever garbage they've had my child relaying to the public." Queen Annette turned and gave Henri an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Henri. I shouldn't be dumping all of this on you. Parrish isn't a bad man, nor is the King. They're just terribly misguided and everyone else pays the price. Eventually it will come back around on them, but whether or not it will be too late by then..."