Ravish Me, Oh Great Wizard King!!!

On the morning of the second day in court, Mira showed up early. The Advisor from the Kingdom of Mer had gifted her a full set of the very rare dark purple pearls for no reason at all.

The handmaidens were all twittering about the quality of the set. Of course, this meant that they had to pick out the most ravishing gown to go with the pearls. In this case, it was the lavender gown with all the amethysts stripped off so that the pearls could shine on alone.

Mira did not care. She stood still like a mannequin and let them do what they wanted with her. This had turned into one of those things that she endured through because she had to. Who knew it was this painfully boring to be a Queen.

She missed her ripped jeans and tee-shirts...

While they worked on turning her into a figure-head of sorts, her mind absently went back to playing the game of Constructive Interference. She had been playing this game so much she now did it without much thought.

It was originally supposed to be something Mira did to stave off the jangly headaches which came at all hours of the day and night but now had turned into a sort of mind game.

She had gotten really good at it.

As soon as she felt any slight jangles inside her mind, she would immediately flood her brain with much stronger energy waves building it up higher and higher. The headache would completely disappear and she would get a feeling of slight euphoria. It also had a nice side effect of calming her down in the same manner that meditation could.

Once the handmaidens were done fussing with Mira they handed her off to Tinsel Pomfrey and Alfric Hobart.

"Alfric, how is Jana doing?"

Alfric bowed. "She is well, Your Highness. I made sure she had a safe place to stay for the night. I also gave her safe passage back on one of the trains departing for Amber."

"How do we get a travel pass for her so she can move around without having to worry about not having permission to enter cities? Is there such a thing as a general pass like that?"

Alfric shook his head. "I most humbly apologize. I do not have an answer for that question Your Highness."

"If I may, Your Royal Highness," Tinsel Pomfrey spoke up.

"Please speak, Tinsel."

"And that is?"

"You can create an emissary travel pass which will identify her as one of your own emissaries. She can then travel anywhere around the empire under your protection."

"Hmmmm. Why has something like this not been done in the past?"

"No one has ever needed a chimera to be able to move about before, Your Royal Highness."

"So if I create something like this, it will be a one-of-a-kind pass, is that correct?"

"Yes, Your Royal Highness."

"I understand. I have an idea. Let's discuss this later, after the King's Court Session."

As before, Tinsel Pomfrey continued to mumble in her ear as they walked until they reached the 20' blue doors. Although Mira had arrived ten minutes early, a large crowd of black-robed Advisors had already thronged the hallway outside the Great Hall.

As soon as the Advisors saw Mira approach, they parted to each side giving her access to the doors. The court announcer loudly proclaimed their entrance as Mira and her two attendants made their way up the dais.

The black robes queued in afterwards and filled every seat on either side of the blue carpet. It was a full house.

As soon as her buttocks hit the cushion, the gong sounded.

Court Session had officially begun.

It amused Mira to find out that it didn't matter the time of day---Court Session started whenever she walked in and sat down on the silver throne. She had a random thought about walking into the Grand Hall in the middle of the night to see if she could actually start up a Court Session at such an ungodly hour.

Heck, she would even ring the gong herself just to hear it go off.

The issue for the day started with a new Amber Advisor that had been ported in to replace the Advisor who had been mortally wounded by the Princess Consort. He stood on the blue carpet with a slight tilt to his head as he stared boldly into Mira's eyes.

"Greetings Your Royal Highness," the new Advisor bowed deeply. "My name is Jonas Bueller. I am the temporary replacement for the late Advisor Wizard Orville Torrence of Amber. I have come to discuss the matter of outsourcing food for Amber."

This new Advisor was strangely rotund for an Ashryan. He also had a high-pitched fluttery voice that sounded more feminine than masculine although he was obviously male. His attire flaunted such flamboyant details as ruffled edgings and woven floral patterns in the shiny unconventional fabric of the very conventional black Advisor's robes.

Mira gazed with fascination.

She suddenly realized she was looking at a eunuch.

His small close set blue eyes were in stark contrast to the mass profusion of blue spiral ringlets hanging down in long individuated coils. He also had an annoying habit of waving his chubby sausage fingers in the air as he spoke, most likely to show off the huge amber rings he wore on both hands.

"Jonas Bueller. State your case." The High Wizard Griswold Toblerone spoke up.

"Your Royal Highness. I am here today to continue the conversations surrounding the growing crisis of food and supplies shortages. The blizzard that hit Jade has frozen much of the supply wagons that take surface roads to deliver goods into and out of the various kingdoms across Ashrya." He gave a mournful over-exaggerated sigh.

"If it was just the blizzard, we could cope with it, as wintry conditions are things we deal with on a yearly basis. Unfortunately, we have been hit with a rash of strange criminal activities." Jonas Bueller's eyes bulged from their sockets.

"What strange criminal activities?" Mira tried to keep the annoyance from tinging her tone of voice.

"Your Royal Highness, we are suddenly beset with bands of roving pirates, both on land and at sea. These bandits are attacking the celadon wagons of soaps and medicines. Even the seafood coming from the merfolk have been held up at all the ports and robbed."

"What about the dwarven trains?" Mira asked.

"The dwarves have enough manpower to protect their cargo. They also have their underground trains which are almost raid-proof. However…" he moved his hands in a helpless fashion.

"Get on with it, you dawdling eunuch." The High Wizard Griswold Toblerone spat.

Jonas Bueller eyed the High Wizard with obvious distaste. "It's the dwarves. They are taking advantage of the crippling blizzards blowing across large portions of Ashrya and all these sporadic marauding attacks to gouge everyone on delivery costs of goods and supplies!"

Immediately, across the aisle, two Advisors stood up. "We object, Your Royal Highness."

With blue hair tied into a knot at the top of their heads and a frail look about their faces, these men looked identical to each other.

The High Wizard Griswold Toblerone rapped his scepter on the stone floor. "You will sit until we call your name."

The two sank back onto their chairs.

"Jesse and Jason Theobold. You may rise."

"You just told us to sit…" one of them grumbled as they both got back on their feet.

"And you must stay seated until you are allowed to rise. This is the King's Court, not your mother's kitchen." The High Wizard Griswold Toblerone leveled a haughty stare at the two.

Jesse and Jason Theobold grimaced but did not respond.

Griswold Toblerone harrumphed. "You may now state your objections, ."

The two Advisors shifted themselves and moved out toward the center blue carpet runner where Jonas Bueller was already standing. As they detached themselves from the group of seated Advisors, Mira stifled a gasp.

They were conjoined twins with only one set of legs!

This was going to be an interesting day.

"Your Royal Highness," one of the twins spoke up. "What Jonas Bueller spoke about in regards to price hikes for transporting food and supplies is true. However, as Advisors for the largest dwarven city in Ashrya, we would like to clarify certain things in regards to this issue."

"Go on."

"The price hikes are due to supply and demand. The dwarves are working around the clock, night and day, and they are barely able to keep up with the demand for their services."

"I'm assuming this has to do with the blizzard?" Mira asked.

"In part, Your Royal Highness. The blizzard has blocked off an entire central region of Ashrya. Food from the south cannot get past the central regions to get to the north. Meanwhile, supplies from the north cannot make it down to the southern regions. The only place where goods are still flowing with no interruption is through the underground railway."

"What about the regions that are blizzard-free?" She mulled. "Why are areas with no blizzard still being affected?"

The other twin spoke up. "Your Highness. As Jonas Bueller has mentioned, there has been a spate of road bandits that have cropped up recently. These bandits are making what little available surface transport so dangerous that merchants are unwilling to use the wagon transport services."

"Tell me more about these transport services." Mira leaned forward trying to get more comfortable. She placed her elbow on the armrest and propped her chin up with her palm.

This was certainly not how a proper Princess was supposed to sit, but dang it, her back hurt from having to sit perfectly still for such a long time. The chair was super hard and completely unsupportive of her lumbar region.

She wondered if she could get a softer chair with a decent cushion...

The second twin nodded. "The wagon transport services are run by a group of people loosely connected to the royal members themselves. They offer such services as bringing food and supplies from the farms and warehouses to the train junctions using surface roads."

"Do they have their own guards to ensure the merchandise is not robbed along the way?"

"They do have guards, Your Royal Highness."

"Then what is the problem?"

"The bandits are so bold nowadays, the wagon transport services have to decrease the number of outgoing wagons as well as hire many more guards to protect the fully-loaded inbound wagons. This bumps the price of their services much higher which then causes bidding wars."

"Bidding wars?"

"Yes. Some merchants do it out of desperation because certain goods such as milk and fruits must be moved quickly or they spoil. Others bid up prices because they have contracts to fill which will cost them stiff penalties if they do not fulfill the orders on time."

"And of course, there are the dolmian price hikes." The second twin spoke up.

"What dolmian price hikes?"

"The cost to procure dolmia has risen steeply within the last few years. It is triple what it was three years ago."

"Is there a reason why it has risen so sharply?"

"We are not privy to that information, Your Royal Highness."

"If I may, Princess Consort," Alfric Hobart spoke up beside her.

"Yes, Alfric?"

Speaking as a dwarf, I can tell you the reason for the dolmian price hike." He searched the crowd of Ashryan Advisors and settled his gaze on a single person in the crowd.

"The reason is over there," he raised up a finger and pointed to a woman in the midst of the black-robed crows. "The Duchess Hilda Cartier, Advisor of Dolmia."

Mira fixed her eyes on the woman Alfric pointed out.

Duchess Hilda Cartier had boring bland features that belonged on a head of cabbage. She was so plain, she would have been completely forgettable if it wasn't for her strange looking hairstyle.

Hilda Cartier had short aquamarine hair curled into tight rings around her skull. Her nose was broad and flat, and her jaw was thick and angular. Had Alrich not called her out by name, Mira would have been hard-pressed to determine if she was male or female.

All eyes swiveled onto the woman.

Mira could barely keep her mirth in check. A flaming eunuch, a set of blue-haired conjoined twins, and a cabbage head woman---the King's Court was filled with circus clowns today.

This was most definitely going to be an interesting day.