I’d almost forgotten how sharp and vast my sense of the ocean was, especially of the incoming tide. It was a weirdly specific sensation granted to me by my bloodline, but hard to compare to anything else. Of course, here at the western coast things were subtly different than the eastern ocean I’d dove into, and we were considerably farther north than my first taste of this ocean during the war.

Though the waterfront was more controlled, as well, with harbors and docks, and the coast had even been straightened out here. Western Port was a decently sized city. Though the Empire really needs some help naming locations. I shook my head to myself as I looked over the settlement. There were a number of larger houses with many windows, filling whole city districts. Probably housing complexes. Many stood near the docks, but some also closer to large buildings I assumed were factories. Those, and the buildings close to them, all looked new, with fresh coats of paint and a few saplings planted outside.

I knew without having to ask that I’d never been here before. It didn’t feel familiar at all. At least the effects of my last venture were finally wearing off, and my mind felt mostly back to normal.

“This city is a trading hub,” Al said, coming up to me. “A good place to start some new construction and manufacturing, especially with the mountains close by and the forest not too far, either.” He frowned as he looked to the side, where the clouds were just breaking up and giving us a view of the mountains in the distance. “Is that why we traveled like this?”

I shrugged. “This is probably the main reason Mother let me go,” I admitted. “A small detour to the mountains on the way to pick up my fiancé.”

Al shook his head. “So now you’re here to welcome him to the Empire personally. Isn’t it a bit early, though? The negotiations are still ongoing, last I heard. Though I suppose Mother would have let them know she was agreeable.”

“Well, I’d prefer to have some time to get to know him before the wedding,” I said lightly.

There was no reason to drag the negotiations out unnecessarily, though some bargaining probably still needed to happen. It did seem like the prince was eager to leave the nest. Well, I guess that’s understandable. If I had nine older brothers, I’d probably feel the same way.

At that moment, Aston walked up to us, giving a short bow. “Your Highnesses, we have finished securing everything, and the area is cleared.”

I nodded. “Lead on, then. Let’s do this.”

I would have preferred to keep this low-key, but that wasn’t entirely possible. Officials from the city and a few functionaries from the palace who’d gotten here ahead of me had already organized things to welcome the delegation from the Kingdom of Terbekteri. My guards had arranged a coach for us, which would bring us to a dock set aside for official Imperial business, where they’d prepared things. In the meantime, I pushed back the curtains and looked out the windows as we rolled down the city streets. Guards surrounded the coach, but it wasn’t an official procession, at least.

People noticed us, of course, but they didn’t seem like they’d known about it. More like people gawking when a celebrity car rolled past, not that I’d ever seen that in person. They stared and sometimes cheered, but many just went about their business. The streets were pretty crowded, appropriate for a busy workday afternoon or evening. The sun was touching the horizon, starting to dye the sky orange to the west, but there was still a lot of light. It didn’t hurt that winter had just about left in this region. The street we were on was lined by many shops, which had colorful signs out, some of them glowing. The city’s houses were built higher than Blue Valley City, and it almost felt like a city on Earth. If not for subtle differences, like the qi used in place of electricity or the lack of cars.

We drove by some new construction, and I leaned forward to catch a better glimpse of it. There was a store nearby selling what looked like mass-produced clothing in predetermined sizes. There were factories behind it, doing some kind of mechanical construction. Perhaps building carriages or other industrial machines. On the next street, I saw a sign pointing the way to a telegraph office.

Sometimes, I loved this country, if only for how quickly it adapted these changes. But it was also a little weird. Have I been here that long already?

It didn’t take long for us to reach the docks. Here, things were even livelier, and I could see many people bringing in and processing the day’s catch, as well as moving a lot of trade goods to and from ships and warehouses built near the waterfront. Our carriage turned to the right to head towards a particular dock, making people hurry out of the way. The waters surrounding that pier were clear of ships, although I could see one just coming in.

Finally, we came to a stop. I waited for the guards to officially secure the area, sighing to myself, before I finally got to step out of the carriage and take a better look. They’d set up a sort of podium close to the pier, and cleared out a short way to a number of other carriages standing ready. Those were more brightly painted and decorated with expensive fabrics and shiny metal. Like the one I was disembarking from, there were no horses, so they probably ran on qi. I checked the crests of the Kingdom of Terbekteri and the Empire painted on them.

I stepped up, nodding to the guards and receiving greetings from the small group of delegates waiting there. They would take care of the Kingdom’s envoys, hopefully freeing me to focus on my own issues. Of course, I would need to welcome them all. But this was clearly the prince’s delegation. I’d received a few documents and knew there were some envoys to join the alliance negotiations and help set up the closer contact we would need afterward, but most of the group were his retinue. At least it wasn’t big. For local standards.

The ship was coming closer rapidly, and a few minutes later it docked at the pier. I glanced at it, noting the big flag they were flying and the artistically carved statue at the prow, but nothing really captured my interest. I shifted my weight, once more wishing Tenira or Lei were here, and glanced at Al, who was standing beside me looking bored. At least it didn’t take long for people to start disembarking from the ship. A few soldiers went first, then a few people in more expensive looking clothes. Then, at last, the man I was looking for. They walked down the short pier in good order. I took the opportunity to finally take a good look at him. I’d seen a portrait but who knew how accurate those were.

I’d guess the prince was only a few centimeters taller than me. He wore pants and a jacket instead of the billowing robes some of his companions chose. He was well-toned, but not too muscular, with more of a lean build. He had dark-ish skin, kind of hard to place. I would have put him as ‘mixed race’ on Earth. Probably the same here, really. He wore his straight black hair long, and had expressive dark eyes. His face wouldn’t have looked out of place on a movie poster.

I took a step forward, suppressing a smile.

“You look interested,” Al said, raising an eyebrow at me.

Mother was right, he was indeed handsome. And definitely in my ‘strike zone’. Hopefully just coincidence.

I shrugged. “I can be shallow sometimes, too.” I tilted my head. “Though, I wonder if I could get him to wear his hair shorter.”

Al snorted beside me. Then he shrugged. “Okay, I’ll give you that. He’s handsome enough, and the hairstyle could use a change, maybe.”

If Al was a bit older or more sure of his sexuality, I would have joked about keeping his hands to himself. But I swallowed the comment and focused on the approaching group. This had helped me be a little more relaxed, and I managed what I thought was a warm, welcoming smile. I knew that first impressions could be important, and I wanted to at least try to build a good relationship.

Once they stopped in front of me, one of the officials beside me stepped up to handle the introductions. He was a bit pompous, proclaiming more titles than I thought was strictly necessary, but it was probably better to be polite here. I tried to give all of them my attention, but my gaze kept coming back to the young man in the middle. I got the impression it was the same for him, though we both avoided too much direct eye contact.

When the official finished, I took half a step forward and bowed as gracefully as I could. “Honored guests from Terbekteri, please allow me to welcome you to our humble country personally, as well. In the name of my Mother, I bid you welcome in the Empire of the Sky. I am confident that we can look forward to a valuable, auspicious partnership between our countries, and our families. Prince Kajare, I welcome you especially, and I look forward to getting to know you better.”

When Kajare smiled this time, it reached his eyes, and gave him a bit of a softer, brighter look. He bowed to me as well, a little bit deeper than I had. Probably appropriate given I was the heir to a nation while he was a younger child. “Imperial Princess Inaris, I gladly accept your welcome. I am honored and delighted that you are receiving me personally. In the name of my Father and nation, I welcome the coming days of unity between our people.”

Well, this seems to be going well so far. I nodded and smiled again, then gestured. “You had a long journey, so we will not keep you. Please accompany us to the carriages, and we will travel to your temporary accommodations. Prince Kajare, I would be honored if you would share my carriage. With retainers of your choice, of course.”

He glanced at a few of the older people with him, then bowed his head, the smile now gone. “Of course I accept.”

It wasn’t a long walk to the carriages, although there was some shuffling about who would walk where at the start. On the way, Al said a few pleasantries as well, and managed to sound serious and princely all the way through. I noticed that Kajare and a few others looked at him with curiosity in their eyes, probably wondering why he was here as well. I wouldn’t enlighten them. After all, it wouldn’t show us in a good light to tell them that both of us wanted to go on a trip rather than stay in the capital and deal with politics or social functions.

Once we reached the parked carriages, I boarded the most ornate one, which also happened to be the largest, with the Imperial phoenix painted on the sides. Usually, I would take Tenira with me, but neither she nor Lei were here, and Al went to his own carriage. So Aston ended up in the seat beside me. Not sure how I feel about Mior listening in on everything, but alright. Kajare boarded with an older man and young woman, both of whom wore rich clothing but otherwise appeared unremarkable. Partly, that was their subdued demeanor.

The carriage started rolling, surrounded by other carriages and guards everywhere. There was a moment of awkward silence, before I started the conversation. “I hope your trip was pleasant?” The most cliché opening, but at least it shouldn’t risk anything.

Kajare nodded. “Indeed. It was rather shorter than usual, I’m told, and we had pleasant weather and avoided running into any dangerous spirit beasts.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Another moment of silence ensured, while I tried not to sigh. I wanted to talk about more meaningful things with him, but I got the feeling he was already a bit uneasy. Understandable, of course. Perhaps I had come on too strongly.

So I started asking about a favorite small talk topic, his homeland. There were a few awkward pauses at the start, but we managed to get a conversation started. The good thing was that we had a lot of conversation material, since we could talk about our different countries and keep to innocuous topics fairly easily. Of course, I still felt like I was playing a real-time puzzle game. It didn’t hurt that there were different expectations for small talk, what with his nation’s culture, Imperial culture, and what I was used to from my time on Earth. At least his Imperial Common was great, with only a subtle hint of an accent.

The conversation paused again after I shared an anecdote from the lab, and he asked about my retainers and extended family. I really didn’t have much to say to that, since I still didn’t know them well, and he was clearly expecting things to work differently. It’s like an awkward first date conversation, except neither of us chose to go on the date and we’re being watched by our minders.

I glanced at the other people in the carriage. So far, they’d been very silent, probably because of the status differences and rules of conduct. According to tradition, I wasn’t supposed to be alone with him, either. Which is just stupid. If we weren’t engaged there would be no issue. I could talk to nobles or diplomats alone and no one would really care, nowadays.

I straightened up a little. “We should be almost there now, Prince Kajare. There is a group of airships waiting to take us to the capital.”

He nodded. “Of course, my lady. I am looking forward to seeing the Empire’s famous airships.”

I smiled. “These are just some personal transport vessels, but I’m sure we can arrange to give you a tour of our military aircraft later on. Perhaps including the new planes currently in development, if you are interested.”

“I would appreciate that. Thank you.”

His two companions shared a quick look, as well. Probably considering how easily I would reveal secrets like that. Well, I hadn’t set a date and would probably wait until after the marriage, but we were building an alliance.

“The route we will take back isn’t set yet,” I continued. “We could of course head straight to the capital. But there would also be enough time for a more relaxed trip, perhaps visiting some noteworthy sites on the way. However you like.”

He shared a glance with his older companion and raised an eyebrow. “My lady, do I understand correctly that you not have an answer in mind, but wish to leave the decision to me?”

I shook my head. “Of course. You are our guests. I would be happy to accommodate your wishes.”

He regarded me in silence for a moment, then nodded. “You are being a most gracious host.” He hesitated slightly. “In that case, it would be best if I were to join my nation’s delegates and the ongoing negotiations quickly.”

I kept my face expressionless. “Naturally. Then we will endeavor to travel swiftly.”

Although I tried to hide it, I was a bit disappointed by his reaction. I would have preferred to travel through the Empire, both seeing more of it and taking the change to get to know my sudden fiancé better. Maybe I shouldn’t have given him the choice, just suggested that.

I shook my head internally. It was easy to forget that I was the one in a stronger position here. It was understandable if he was cautious. Hey, at least he clearly isn’t an entitled jerk. Of course, I was confident they wouldn’t send me someone like that, anyway.

The carriage came to a stop, and I waited for Aston to get out first. There was another awkward moment when Kajare and I tried to wordlessly determine which of us would leave before the other. In the end, I hopped out, although Imperial tradition would have called for the suitor to disembark first, which was probably him.

I just hoped this wasn’t indicative of how things would be.