In the far future:
Dressed in her bathing suit and bathrobe, Minerva walked through the dark heavy door of the spa. All was quiet at this time in the morning with large wet snowflakes falling outside. She needed a moment to clear her head after the meeting with the king. Winding through the luxury spa, she smelled exotic oils and could hear the trickle of water from the many cracks in the side of the mountain.
She was a council member of King Beau’s court. There’d been trouble at the northern border with the Briers, a ruffian kingdom with no morals. There had been a meeting with two representatives of the Briar kingdom. The meeting had not gone well. King Beau’s people of Ghrathar were unhappy with the nearness of war with the Briers and the frequent raiding along the border towns, however the representatives claimed that it was the Wild Rogues that scoured the country, not of King Archen’s doing.
Turning the corner to the hot springs, Minerva’s bare feet lightly pattered along the damp stone floor. Round orange lanterns hung dimly on the walls, guiding the way. It’d been too long of a meeting. Minerva had tried signaling to the king to put an end to it, but he had wanted to get to the bottom of the matter instead of trying diplomacy. That strategy was never going to work with the clever Briers, and now King Beau had shown that they were a loud, confrontive, and bullish people. She had gone to her quarters only for a few hours to read over the recorded transcript of the eight-hour meeting. It was now about three in the morning, and she would finally have some time for herself.
She stopped in front of the frosted, black glass doors of her usual hot spring pool. Number four out of ten. The amber hue of the large lantern glowed from inside. Hers was a private spring that had a lock on it, but when she put her skeleton key in the ancient door, she found it was not locked at all. In fact it inched open.
Reaching under the towel draped over her arm, Minerva’s fingers curled around the sheathed blade she always carried with her. No one else had the key to this pool.
The glass door soundlessly glided open and a cloud of steam billowed out as she cautiously peeked in. Lounging in the caramel light was the faintest silhouette of a man.
Minerva stopped, waiting for him to see her, but he was facing the opposite direction. He was leaning forward, resting his chin on his arms on the far side of the hot spring and looking out the wall of glass. It was a view of the lights of the kingdom seated at the foot of the mountain with the faintest light of dawn touching the clouds on the far horizon. She couldn’t see it from where she stood with all the steam, but she knew what he was admiring.
It was a dream-like scene with the foggy steam and the jets frothing the hot water, except there was someone else in it instead of her. She kept the door unlocked behind her in case she needed an escape, but that was highly unlikely.
Minerva drifted to the small table and lounge chair where his things were. Still he didn’t turn around. Being a little closer, she realized it was one of the Briar representatives, although with both men having the same short warrior haircut, she couldn’t tell which one it was. There was an ornately decorated dagger along with his heavy leather clothes laying on the table.
She shoved them all to the side in a heap and put her own things down, keeping her blade. The motors of the jets were loud enough to mask the sound of her wading into the hot water. Even though he was a representative, he had no right breaking into her private chamber.
Without creeping up in the slightest, Minerva walked right up behind him and put the point of her blade in the hollow of the base of his skull.
He perked up slightly, holding perfectly still as if he was a cat that knew he was spotted by an owl. A quite handsomely broad cat, she decided, primed for war. His back muscles flexed as he shifted his shoulder blades. She inched the blade slightly deeper, sensing the hostile tension quickly rising.
“Respectfully, what gives you the idea you can break into my hot spring?” she demanded, easing back as he turned around. She was met with the cunning eyes of Rone Althet, the quiet, brooding one of the representatives. Something in her sank nervously, as she’d kind of hoped it was Bryant Obino. While both men had been similarly specific with their words, and had an ominously looming presence across the room, Minerva could sense that there was much more to Rone than he’d shown at the meeting. She expected him to be surprised as he faced her, but there was nothing in his countenance that betrayed it. Almost the opposite, actually.
“I was waiting for you.” He arrogantly motioned to the space next to him for her to sit.
“Do not tell me I can sit in my own chamber. How did you know this was mine?” she asked, sitting down in the spot he’d just motioned to. A cryptic smile came to Rone’s features as he wiped the pouring sweat from his face. It seemed as if he was unaccustomed to the heat, which was something that was nearly impossible for anyone to hide.
“I asked a servant.”
“Which one?”
“Small thin woman with curly hair,” he instantly recalled.
“Hmm.” Minerva knew who he was describing. Adelaide was a kind woman with no discretion. She placed her blade on the edge of the dark rock. It was not going to be good having rumors of Rone looking for her private hot spring. It would be even worse if they were caught together. The laws on impropriety were ruthless, but Rone Athlet didn’t seem like one who would care about that, even if he would've been subject to the consequences. She remembered the door was slightly ajar. Taking a moment, she quickly got up to close it, checking to see if anyone was lingering outside before she did.
“There’s fresh water at the bar there,” she motioned to the counter on the other side of the room as she came back down into the hot pool.
“I don’t need it.”
“So why are you here?” She changed the subject, feeling impatient. They’d just been in the same room together for eight hours, what more could he want to talk about?
“I had a feeling you didn’t agree with the king,” he smirked. “I’ve also heard of your levelheaded reputation, and I need direct answers to take back to King Archen.”
Minerva took a deep breath and ran her finger tips through her hair. His eyes trailed them.
“We need to establish some sort of commerce with you. The Briers, I mean. Even though we’ve never had any sort of trade for a few hundred years, there’s a thriving black market I don’t need to tell you about that is nearly holding up our entire economy from the shadows. It’s making the rich people of our kingdoms richer and the poor poorer. It would benefit us all if the government facilitated it, making it fairer, putting taxes on imports and exports that we both agree on. King Beau is stupid for trying to use the soldiers to try and crack down on the thriving business that could be supporting us.” She leaned her elbow over the side and glanced out at the kingdom below.
There were thousands of people that needed the meeting a few hours ago to go well. Since it obviously hadn’t, it was nice to finally speak her mind instead of constantly being interrupted by the eighteen year old king.
Rone raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Very wise. I agree. I think we should be trying to make the markets more friendly towards one another, at least officially, instead of banning products made by each other. At least, that is what King Archen is wanting. He is ready to put it into place if Beau is willing. We will not appear to be kneeling down to him first when Archen has been successfully ruling Brier for more than twenty-nine years… Beau will have to be the first.”
“That was what I was afraid of,” she sighed. “But I am one of three counselors. I’m sure I can persuade them to all be on my side. We can’t afford to go to war with you, despite our larger population. Our armies are small and poorly trained. I might suggest we ask you to send a few of your best officers to train our military so we could stand against Yallifa together… I know that’s a stretch, but that would be the main goal that I would be working towards in the next ten years. Your people are strong, but they will most likely not be able to compete with Yallifa’s technology that’s in the making.”
“I assumed Beau was making deals with Yalllifa.” Rone shifted, only now revealing that he’d not known this.
“The king has had aspirations to seduce Queen Kurta for a while now, but hasn’t made any move yet. A few more extravagant parties, and a few lessons on wooing women, and maybe he could have a chance. I’m not banking on that, though. She’s much too guarded, which has made her kingdom what it is. Although we have more trade with them than you do, I have a feeling she will close the gates soon. She’s taken the western territory just a few days ago and doesn’t plan on stopping soon.”
“Really?”It was more of a statement than a question. He glanced out the window, studying the lights. “I was not aware of this… And, confidentially, I have people in there.”
“I don’t know how much I would trust them.”
“Why would you say that?” His eyes held an edge of sternness.
“Simply because your kingdom does significantly less business with them than we do. This meeting needs to work out peacefully between us because I know that Queen Kurta and her council are most likely going to stop being friendly with their ‘allies.’ It would benefit the Briers and the Ghrathars to start a mutually beneficial relationship with each other first before a surprise war starts, crushing us both.” Minerva was slowly shaking her head. There was a long pause.
“I see.” Rone pushed his lips together in frustration, contemplating. The sun was beginning to rise. It would be well above the horizon in an hour. After a few minutes of the two of them thinking to themselves, he wiped the sweat from his face again, bringing himself back down to earth. “Thank you for speaking with me this morning after such a strenuous meeting.” For some reason this brought a laugh out of her.
“Strenuous is a good word for that. It will be quite a job getting the king to see things this way, however these are my agendas that I will be pushing. I hope your king will see reason in it.”
“He most definitely will.” Rone side-eyed her as if he was considering something.
“What?” she blurted.
“King Archen is always in need of a smart mind on his team. He brings in nothing but the best. I know he would be quite impressed with you.”
Minerva felt her heart stop beating for a moment as he spoke the words. “You being here alone with me would get me into serious trouble as it is, let alone offering me a position to a potential enemy,” she chided. “I ask you to leave at once… please.” She didn’t like the desperate sound in her voice, but her life would nearly be ruined if they were discovered.
“There’s no one here.” He motioned around the room.
“Still, somehow people find out about these things.”
“You will consider it, though? You live in a dying kingdom with a boy foolishly leading you all to destruction. I’m offering you a chance to save yourself.” He’d lowered his voice and bent a little closer, almost hovering over her. She could feel herself being sucked in. His eyes, his body. Even if he was drenched in sweat. And with so little sleep, in the steamy glow…
“I… will consider it,” she awkwardly looked away.
“Please do. It-”
The door made a small thud as if it closed. They shot their gazes over to find a movement behind the dark frosted glass. Minerva swallowed as her body froze. They had an eavesdropper.
She exploded into action, climbing up out of the water and running over to the table.
“I see what you mean.” Rone was right behind her. “Will you be safe?”
“I don’t know.” She threw her robe on. Her mind was reeling. “I don’t know.”