“Well, with them out of the way, let me have some soup before we start to talk a lot,” I said, looking around to see if anybody had a reaction

Donna looked at me while I lifted the bowl up to my mouth. She tried to look away but kept looking back. I created a small dimensional storage hole in my mouth that the soup went down into. I could have just cleansed it, but I wanted to find out what kind of poison was being used. The soup probably tasted really good, which was upsetting because I wasn’t able to taste it yet. I put the bowl down and looked towards Don while keeping an eye on Donna out of the corner of my eye.

“So that was poisoned.” I said as I put the bowl down. I quickly cast a silence spell to block all noise from leaving the room.

My guard took a defensive stance, moving to my side. “WHAT IS GOING ON? WHO DID IT?!?” he yelled, looking furious.

A look of shock came from Don, but the look on Donna’s face grew icy and flat. Her eyes constricted, her body froze. She embodied a racoon being caught with its stolen garbage in its mouth. It seemed that she was a villainess in training. A flood of thoughts entered my brain.

Was it my fault for scaring her? No, wait, she couldn’t have set up the attack on the refuge with such short notice. Wait, how do I know that? Maybe it was my fault for scaring her, but that is still no reason for her to try to poison me or hurt others.

I could show her what I am actually capable of. I should just freeze her now and rip open her mind and go for a dive into her memories. No, no, I shouldn’t do that yet. I need to leave this as a warning. She can learn her lesson. Her father seems like a good man trying to take care of the refugees when he could. I need to leave here and come up with a plan on how to deal with the little villainess.

I came out of my negative head space and took down my silence spell, feeling that it wasn’t needed. What I actually needed was to handle this in full view of everyone involved so that no one would question my abilities to lead.

“HEALER!” Don yelled, looking panicked as the situation hit him. A guard ran through a closed door. The guards were on edge staring at Highthorn’s defensive stance. He had been one of their leaders. So either they were scared of what he could do or didn’t want to shoot him, possibly both.

“It’s okay, I am immune,” I said, wanting to calm the situation down. It would look bad if I exaggerated the severity of the issue.

“Are you sure?” questioned the king, wanting to make sure.

“Yes, I am. There aren’t many things that can affect me. Can we figure out what kind of poison that was so we can better ascertain who the culprit is?” I asked, keeping an eye on Donna’s reaction. Her mouth twitched slightly. It had to be her!

“Then we all will sit here until he arrives,” I said, leaving no room for questions in my voice.

A few moments later, the medic arrived to check on the situation.

“WHO NEEDS HEALING?” He said panic stricken on his face fearing for the worse.

“No one, not anymore, but I need you to test the soup for poison and try to figure out which kind,” Don said, signaling to my soup.

He nodded and came over and removed the soup from in front of me to put a greenish stone inside of the soup. It lit up brightly. Donna feigned shock, but I could tell she knew what was going on. The medic leaned over and sniffed the soup. “It was poisoned with a high level nervous system attack. I don't know the specifics of this particular one, I just recognize some of the ingredients. Anything else, your highness?” He must have gotten ahold of himself and realized the severity of the situation.

“No, that is all. Please find out who made it if you can. Any information would be valuable in finding the culprit.” Don answered, looking visibly upset trying to hold it in. He looked down at the table, trying to figure out what to say.

By the sounds of it, that shouldn't be too easy to get hold of.

The medic collected the soup and left. My guard relaxed but still looked very tense, causing me to feel a little bad about not warning him of my suspicions. I would need to have a talk with him going forward. He really didn’t need to protect me. I am far more worried about him getting hurt. He is a retainer that had a family to live for.

“Lady Astrid, I don’t know what to say.” Don said, looking up at me.

“I do. This is an attack on not only me but also the goddess and the leader of a neighboring nation. You can handle the investigation on your own, but as remuneration, we shall discuss terms,” I said, straightening out my posture, staring at him with a gleam in my eyes.

He seemed to be at a loss for words, but Donna seemed very aware of the situation and remained cold, looking past me, trying not to make eye contact. I was likely to get anything I wanted within reason. His time sitting there silently thinking, allowed me time to come up with a list of demands. Obviously, books were going to be a part of the deal.

He took a deep breath and looked back at me, trying to be confident, but his eyes didn’t show it. “Yes, I apologize without reservation. I have been unable to properly host a guest. I hadn’t realized the magnitude of which I was lacking as a leader to deal with these problems. What do you ask for, Lady Astrid, or would you prefer another name since you are a nation’s leader?”

Wow, that was actually a pretty good apology, but there still need to be consequences so that Donna gets the point. Though if it wasn’t an easily obtainable poison, then someone else might be in on it and there may be a larger play going on.

“Your apology is accepted, but here are my demands; All the books in your study must be sent to Astraville, Astraville shall be formerly recognized by this kingdom as its own territory shall take its location plus 200 acres out from around the base of the hill to be its land as well as the hill itself both air and underground, I am to be recognized as its formal leader in all documentation, a fair open trade without taxation shall be enforced no markup just because it's the refugees, and lastly any citizens or more specifically animal cursed shall be allowed to move there without reprisal,” I said taking a breath before continuing.

“This is all for now and the formal establishment of my nation. Right now we are on peaceful terms, but if something like this happens or my previous demands are not followed, then we won't be so peaceful. If this doesn't seem like such a threat because there is no military, then just realize who needs one when they have me,” I said, finishing off my demands by looking directly into Donna's eyes.

Hopefully, that should give some careful consideration to whomever helped Donna. I needed to find a way to have a little talk with her. She must’ve underestimated me today, but she may do something that hurts others in the future. I hoped today served as enough of a warning.

“Oh, and don’t try to put anyone to death. Just send them my way when you find your scapegoat this time,” I said out of frustration as to what almost happened to the Highthorn’s.

His eye bulged like he was unaware that I have the capability of speaking in such a manner. He looked down a little, seemingly defeated, before speaking, “Yes, that seems reasonable, but we will need time to get these things achieved.”

“Well, I don’t see a problem with sending the books over immediately.”

“That one can be done, but a lot of documentation needs to be done to recognize you as a new allied country. We haven’t had a new civilization come up on this continent in almost 700 years. There are rumors that there are cities coming up all the time on another continent, but I haven’t gotten any solid information. Your church, the academy, and the corporations are pretty quiet about it. We mostly just see domes fall to one issue or another.”

“Thank you for that information. It's not really my church, but I do plan on taking the reins soon. Well, maybe after I get a chance to read some books. What about my other demands?”

“Getting you recognized is attached to the second issue, but no one will argue about you being its head and weapon. There has never been any law stopping people from going to the refugee encampment, I mean Astraville. Merchants do go out there, but they never have anything to offer. They always ask for high prices because it is normally not worth the trip. There is a lot of risk involved in going out there for anybody except for you. Do they have anything new to offer? We could offset the price of transportation if they had some supplies we didn't know about.”

I could probably set up some sort of underground tunnel that would make transportation safer. I don't want the merchants’ lives to be at risk and anyone that wants to travel back and forth.

“Mushrooms that are made by me, they are rather healthy and there are some medicinal ones as well. Also, they are going to be writing books and making copies, so books will be one of the things we sell. If I were to set up an underground tunnel between my nation and yours, would you allow for my people to come over unhindered and un-harassed?”

“Books are a great supply, of course. We will have to try out the mushrooms, but I'm sure members of your church would love something that you created. The tunnel is a great idea for trade. As long as no one causes any problems, then they can freely come. I shall put the word out to leave them alone. Since they have been absorbed by your nation, they are no longer exiles from us. They are now allies.”

“All right, please make some designs and give me a location on the map as to where to make the entrance. Do you know who Firth is?”

Don seemed slightly annoyed at the mention of his name. “Did he cause you any problems also? This will be his last straw. He always tries to demand so much and causes so many problems.”

“Not at all. I'm really glad you said that because he is my chosen leader for Astraville when I am unavailable. It is always good to have a strong subordinate.”

“Why, of course, we shall communicate with him. He is good at what he does.”

He really causes problems, doesn't he? I will have to keep an eye on him just in case he goes too far. I wouldn't want him usurping my name to push some other agenda. As long as he tells me first, though, I won't mind if it helps the otherkin.

“Well then, I don’t want to keep the professors waiting much longer, I will be off for now,” I said, hopping out of my chair and stretching after a long talk and battle of words won. I immediately headed out the door, Highthorn following along. I heard a loud sigh from Don as the doors closed behind me.

As we went down the hallways, Highthorn tapped my shoulder so I stopped. “Are you sure you’re okay? I saw you drink it.” He whispered into my ear.

“Yes, I’m fine. Something like that isn’t an issue for me. We should discuss this later. These walls probably have ears. Besides, I really want to see if the academy has any good books,” I said before picking up my pace again. We headed to what I hoped was an even bigger library than the king’s study.