Tanhya
As I walked briskly down the corridor, a warm humid breeze swept by, forcing the strong scent of rain into my nose. I was reminded once again of the less-than-favorable weather conditions that had hit the kingdom recently.
It was late in the morning as I made my way to the Royal Court building. My entourage followed close behind me; my knight and lady-in-waiting.
A faint sigh escaped my mouth as thoughts of the meeting I was about to head into came to mind.
It was going to be a long one. Upon my arrival, my knight opened the large doors to the courtroom. An attendant who was waiting nearby looked in my direction. Realizing who it was he quickly turned to the audience in the building.
"Her Majesty Queen Tanhya has arrived!" he loudly announced.
Everyone stood up for me as I entered. I was taken aback by the rare sight of a full courtroom. All the dukes and duchesses of the kingdom were present.
The courtroom was commonly used for private discussions concerning the kingdom but only myself, the king and high ranking dukes attended.
However, when an important event occurred in the kingdom, such as in this instance, all dukes would be invited.
I moved towards the Queens throne in front of the room and took my seat.
Upon having settled down I turned to my right to see the empty seat of the king next to me. He hadn't arrived yet.
Normally, the king and queen should arrive together for court meetings, the previous king and queen did so, but it wasn't mandatory. So he didn't. That upon many other things he wouldn't do with me. Whilst I didn't care that he refused to escort me, it did make me look bad in the public eye.
I turned to look at the dukes that had long since settled down, to meet the stares of contempt directed towards me. Particularly from those seated close to the front. The dukes were seated in terms of status. Those of a higher status at the front and those of a lower status at the back. It wasn't that the higher ranking dukes hated me, more so that they didn't respect me.
A few minutes later an attendant from the opposite side of the room I'd entered from announced . "His majesty King Osric has arrived."
Once again everyone stood up as Osric walked in, except for me. I watched him from my seat as he made his way towards his throne.
He was tall with a muscular body that showed through the well tailored red and black suit he was wearing. It was one that was traditionally worn for official meetings. He brought a hand up to his striking dark hair and fixed a strand that had gone astray. He had his usual serious facial expression, which although was intimidating it was also equally mesmerizing. The combination of dark brown eyes, full plump lips and a sharp jawline would leave one awestruck. It was painful to admit but he was handsome. Then our eyes met.
Osrics' cold, unflinching eyes stared me down for a moment before looking away with disinterest. He then quietly sat down next to me and focused on the audience in front of us. As usual he barely acknowledged me and acted as if he couldn't see me. I wasn't hurt by his cold behavior though. Not anymore.
As soon as he was seated the meeting commenced. Osric's secretary, Duke Daiel came to the center of the room he bowed once in front of Osric and I, then turned to face the audience in behind.
"Lords and ladies of the Cerus kingdom, on behalf of their majesties I would like to thank you all for coming at such short notice." he started. "Given the circumstances of the situation it may have been difficult. We are truly relieved you all arrived safely."
Duke Daeil's voice echoed as he paced from one end of the room to the other. Making eye contact with all who were seated .
"Without wasting any time, I would like to get right to addressing the issue. Six days ago our kingdom was hit by heavy rains which resulted in serious floods that affected many areas. As you all know the rainy season is upon us and whilst we usually anticipate it with excitement, this year an unforseen problem arose. "
The mood slightly changed at the mention of the floods.
"Numerous towns and cities have been badly damaged. Many of our valued citizens are homeless and have no access to food and clean water. There is a risk of diseases spreading across the kingdom. Crops have been destroyed, Mines filled with water, businesses slowed down." He paused as he spoke. "We must act quickly if we want to prevent any further issues. After a discussion with their majesties a relief plan has been organized in order to return this kingdom as it were...."
The damage from the floods was devastating. As Duke Daeil said the rains had completely taken us by surprise. Initially, we had thought it was just slightly heavier than usual rainfall. We never thought it would be something of this extent. The worst of the damage was in the southern and Eastern part of the kingdom.
"....We've decided that in addition to funds given by the palace we will also be sharing our resources those that were least affected will have to give to those most affected."
I scanned the faces of the seated dukes and duchesses. Many of them had a combination of depressed and frustrated looks. I knew all too well what was on their minds.
Dukes were given authority to govern towns and cities as well as ownership of farming land and Mines. For example, a duke could be responsible for a single town and own one farm. Whilst another could govern multiple towns and cities and have multiple farms and Mines. It all depended on status.
As a result of the floods a number of their private businesses had been affected. I could only imagine the stress they were in from the money they are losing.
I continued to scan the crowd until my eyes landed on one duke who had quite the distressed look on his face. Among the lower ranking dukes towards the back of the room sat Duke Remdon. A lanky man in his late fifties. He sat alone, his wife/duchess having passed a long time ago. He had been quite the topic of discussion as of late.
Before the floods Duke Remdon had filed for bankruptcy. His son had gambled all of his wealth including the palace funds given to the Duke in order to look after the town he was responsible for. As a result of displaying such irresponsible behavior, he was going to be stripped of his title and replaced. However, the disaster hit soon afterwards, so his title being revoked had been delayed. He would stand in as duke for the mean time.
".....we hope that all has been understood and that we will have your full cooperation to aid with kingdoms recovery. Above all else we must stick together."
With that Duke Daiel ended his speech and went to sit down. Osric then stood up to say a few words and finally the meeting was over. The audience waited for Osric and I to leave first. Of which Osric didn't waste any time and immediately left with his entourage from the door he'd entered from. Shortly aftwards I too left from the door I'd entered from.
I made my way to the main castle building and to my office located in the Queens' wing. When I entered it my eyes caught sight of the mountain of paperwork that lay on my table. My workload had increased tremendously this past week and with so much still to do, I really had no time to waste.
I went through the papers and took out some folders that I had finished with. They contained plans on budgets for each of the affected regions that now had to be handed over to Osric. I then organized the folders that I was currently working on and had to finish working on before the end of the week.
The worst of the damage was in the eastern regions of the kingdom where the rains were heaviest. With some towns and cities being completely destroyed. Regions in the west had the least amount of damage, with little to no damage at all.
I left my office and headed for Osrics'. My knight, Sir Arden, trailed behind me carrying a large amount of files. Osrics' office was on the other side of my wing. Usually, I would just ask a servant to deliver any documents I had to give to him instead of walking all the way but he and I had something important to discuss.
Making my way to the king's wing I saw many of the Dukes and Duchesses that had attended the meeting earlier moving around the castle. They were all waiting for a private meeting with the king before they went back to their territories. They probably wanted to air their own personal grievances about their finances with Osric.
When Sir Arden and I reached the large doors to Osrics' office, one of the two guards standing on either side of the entrance went inside to let Osric know. "Tell them to enter." I heard his voice feintly from inside.
A few moments later we went inside. Osric was seated at his desk at the end of the room. He didn't look up when we entered, he was engrossed by whatever it was he was signing. Either that or he didn't want to give me any attention.
"I greet Your Majesty, King Osric," I said whilst bowing when I reached his desk.
"Queen Tanhya," he said in acknowledgment as Aden placed the files on his desk which already had a mountain of paperwork.
"I've finished with the reports of the supplies needed and budgets for the repairs of all the affected regions," I said to him. "I'll have the rest done before the end of the week."
He finally looked up at me and said, "Good, I'll have a look at that by the end of the day."
"Anything else?" he then said with a tone that told me he was wondering why I was in his office when I could have sent a servant to deliver the papers instead.
"I wanted to talk about my trip at the end of the week."
"Right, I completely forgot you were coming," he said then let out a disgruntled sigh. "Please sit down."
I ignored his sigh as I sat down across from him.
As the Queen of Cerus I was tasked with ensuring the kingdom had all its required resources. I was in charge of the agriculture, mining, imports, and exports that took place in the kingdom. I was also in charge of the social aspects such as royal balls, and festivals. l was the one in charge of planning them all. While the king dealt with politics and the military.
With the floods having happened I had to travel around the kingdom to boost the morale of the citizens whilst inspecting the repairs being done to the affected areas.
Osric and I's interactions were strictly formal. There was no small talk, a brief discussion of the weather, nothing. A relationship outside of that was simply non-existent. That's the way he wanted it because he didn't have romantic feelings for me.
I didn't mind that he didn't love me, he didn't have to. However, why couldn't we at least be friends? At the end of the day, we were king and queen and had to work together. Our relationship right now was no different from strangers.
"A lot of the roads my team and I will use to get to the different territories have been flooded and there's a chance that even more might get flooded over the course of my travels." I said to him getting taking a seat.