King Zhan was awake early.

The sun had risen and was shining from somewhere, though the sky was still dark and overcast. He sat with his wife, Queen Ina, as they ate breakfast together. She had been unable to sleep well recently due to a change in her health and Zhan wasn't sleeping well knowing that she was suffering. They quietly ate their way through plates of sliced cured meats, fruits, bread, salad and cheeses with a bowl of cereal on the side each and a glass of orange juice. The perfect breakfast in his eyes.

The King's Mother quietly entered from the door on the left of the room, surprised to see them both up already but greeting them both a good morning nonetheless. She fussed over Ina for a few minutes asking about her health and how she slept and if there was anything else she might like to eat if she wasn't feeling particularly hungry. The Duchess of Orr, timid as she was humble, politely refused all offers as she excused herself to use the bathroom.

"How are you finding things?" Yifa asked, accepting her own plate from the staff.

"It's fine I guess." Zhan shrugged. "Ara hasn't indicated there's anything wrong, so... so far so good!"

Yifa smiled at her eldest son, taking a cup of coffee that was freshly poured in front of her and mixing it with milk.

"You'll be fine, Zhan." she assured him. "You will grow into the role of King, though I think you and I - and your father - we all know you were born for this role. Ara even confirmed it, saw you as clear as day upon the throne. You have nothing to worry about. You are surrounded by good people - you have Ina and Ara and all your civil servants."

"I know, mother. I'm not worried about that." he sighed, picking at his plate, worry instead beginning to creep over him at the absence of his wife. "I just hope Ina is okay, she hasn't been feeling well recently."

"Are you sure it's not something else?" Yifa asked.

"Such as?"

His mother caught his oblivious gaze, a pitying look on her face. She said nothing, but held up a scone and chuckled as she watched the cogs tun in her son's head before he pieced it together.

"No! I mean... I don't think so?"

"Rumours were spreading like wildfire down at the council after Ara attended the monthly meeting."

"Why didn't she say anything to me?"

"Because it's only a possibility. She wouldn't want to get your hopes up, you know she's careful in how she interprets and shares information."

Yifa didn't miss the flash of glee over Zhan's face as he suddenly shoved a scoop of cereal into his mouth, grinning at the thought. Him? A father? He had been married for a few years already, never having thought anything of starting a family because he was so busy all the time and didn't want to give Ina too much she couldn't handle. Their house in his province was large enough and had staff, but there were too many issues for him to handle alone to devote energy and time to a family. Now though? Well. There was more than enough support for both of them.

Queen Ina came back after a few more minutes looking decidedly better than before she had left and assured them it was nothing more than an upset stomach. Yifa kept her lips sealed as Zhan agreed with Ina that it probably was just that, though he did so with a big smile on his face that made her wonder what on earth her husband was so happy about.

Zhan saw Ina back off to the Queens Quarters before returning with his staff behind him back through the Palace and out into the sheltered courtyard where he stopped at the end of the walkway. One of the staff members ran back to get an umbrella as the skies had opened up and rain was hammering down, splattering all over the gravel. He noticed that Ara was standing on the opposite side of the walkway under the shelter of the Palace roof, her expression unreadable - and that wasn't uncommon - but it did unnerve him.

She stood silently in her black and grey robes, her hands folded in front of her stomach as she faced him, her eyes piercing right through his. Something was wrong - he could tell that much. He ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair, recently having refreshed his undercut and adjusted his robes as he licked his lips in anticipation as to what, exactly, lay ahead. Before he could muse for too long, the servant came scurrying back and opened the umbrella, escorting him across the watery pathway where Ara greeted him appropriately on the other side.

"Your Highness." she curtseyed. Zhan wasn't sure he was going to get used to being called that, to being treated with respect and being kept at arms length by Ara of all people. She was the one who was supposed to antagonise him and his brother, to pull faces and make dry comments. They grew up together for goodness sake. This was... weird, but somehow it thrilled him, too.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Something's coming." she replied, her eyes travelling over the sky as though watching out for something, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. "Soon."

"Is it bad?"

"Yes."

Zhan's right hand never relaxed its grip on the throne in the court room that morning, the ominous warning from Ara having unnerved him. He had only been King for a few days, what degree of bad news would unsettle Ara like this? Normally she was relaxed, cool, but relaxed and but now her expression had turned stony as though bracing herself for something terrible. It was even worse that she wasn't privy to what, exactly, it was.

"The Representative for South Gate." the Speaker called as a man dressed in the usual garb stepped out into the centre of the room.

"Your Highness." he bowed slightly in greeting as he took his place before the King. "My constituents have been concerned with the lack of funding we have been receiving for our new environmental protection program to help preserve the population of endangered foxes in-"

"Excuse me." Zhan interrupted, holding his hand up to stop the man.

Silence fell over the hall as Zhan stared at the two large doors on the opposite end, the representatives in the room slowly turning their attention that way.

This was it.

The sound of hooves grew louder and before long the two massive wooden doors were pulled open, revealing several armed Royal Guards surrounding a young man dressed entirely in black, his robes a completely different style from those in the hall. Ara craned her neck, squinting to get a better look and she immediately stepped out into the centre of the room upon realising what, exactly, had come.

A Demon.

A Demon was standing in a court of Witches.

Without waiting for Zhan's instruction, Ara stalked forward, head held high, shoulders back and chin up as she approached the man.

"Explain your presence." Ara demanded, the guards stopping abruptly in front of her.

The man blinked, his gaze flitting between Ara and the King some distance behind her.

Well damn.

He turned to the small scary woman in front of him and reached into his robe pocket, pulling out a large jade token that was immediately swiped from his grip before he could get a word out. He tried his best not to smirk as the Witch in front of him examined the token, as though she had any idea if it was-

Wait.

The man's jaw dropped when she pulled out her necklace, his eyes fixated on the pendant as she whispered a basic 'Verify' spell and watched as the jade briefly emitted a golden flash of light confirming that it was, indeed, the official Royal Revenet token, complete with the King's seal on the reverse side.

"Ara?" Zhan asked as she turned around to face him, the token still firmly in her grip.

She gave nothing but a simple nod, striding back over to the King with the token in her fist, dropping it into the his open palm.

"Let the messenger come forward." Zhan ordered and the guards nudged him, prompting him to approach the King, the entire court room staring daggers at him as he walked. "That's quite close enough. Speak."

The young man stood before Zhan, his sandy blonde hair tied up in a knot on top of his head and encased in a silver accessory with a pin sticking straight through. He hadn't spoken a word yet, but his expression, his body language, his entire aura came across as arrogant and it unsettled Ara. For a man to be so hopelessly outnumbered should anything go awry he sure as heck was confident. He had strong eyebrows that seemed to be fixed in a natural scowl, his cheekbones were high and prominent and he had a smirk plastered on his face.

Ara didn't know enough about Revenet or their culture to know if this man was in any way high ranking. She only recognised the style of his clothing to be those of the powerful nation to their north, she didn't have the first idea what to look for in order to determine his status and so she instead focused her entire attention on the two men.

"King Yun of the Kingdom of New Revenet sends a message to the new monarch of Ranhara: A red sky is for new beginnings! Congratulations on ascending to the throne."

The room remained deadly silent.

"Thank you." Zhan replied courteously. "And?"

"And an envoy from Revenet will arrive in four days time, including our Crown Prince Jing Han. We will anticipate the hospitality that Ranhara is so known for and eagerly discuss how our relations will be going forward."

Zhan was not able to reply before the Demon gave a courteous bow and turned on his heel, dismissing himself and heading for the exit where the entire room let him leave without question. Silence plagued the hall before it erupted into chatter and it wasn't long before the old rumour about a Demon invasion resurfaced.

Ara didn't dare dismiss their concerns this time.

"Ara, didn't you see any of this coming?"

"No, Your Highness."

"You seriously didn't? How is that possible? Are you sure there wasn't actually something that you just interpreted wrong or ignored?"

Ara regarded the King before her.

All she had seen were visions of citizens on the street and a red sky. She knew for certain that the civilians fighting an unknown enemy was a sure sign of something bad, but at the same time... she didn't care so much. As terrible as it sounded for someone who had literally spent their entire life inside the Palace, she never felt very patriotic. But then again, being relied on from the age of ten to deliver visions of the future so that an entire country could decide its next move would do that to a person.

It only bred resentment.

Whatever was coming, Zhan could figure it out by himself.

"That's everything that I saw." Ara replied. "I'm sorry I can't be more helpful but I can't very well fabricate visions I didn't see and as you know I cannot control whatever I see, either."

"I know!" Zhan shouted, his fists slamming down on the table in the meeting room, shoulders heaving as he breathed heavily trying to control his temper. "But these ministers are coming soon and General Lang will arrive any minute, I can't be empty handed so would you just - just give me something!"

Zhan didn't like Ara's silence. He didn't like the way she looked at him. It was easy for her to stand there looking arrogant and judgemental - she wasn't the one who had to lead the country. Ara fidgeted with the ring on her left hand, glancing down at the shiny jewel on her middle finger before taking a deep breath and deciding it would be better to just be straight with him.

"Your Highness, my job is not to tell you what you want to hear, but the truth - do you understand? It didn't matter to you when you were governing your own province but things are different n-"

"Who the hell are you to say that to me!" he yelled, standing to his full height.

"Your Highness?" A third voice intruded on Zhan's outburst and the pair whipped round to see General Lang standing in the doorway looking between the two.

Ara waited for him to join them at the end of the table before speaking again.

"General Lang."

"Your Holiness."

"I was just about to tell His Highness."

"Please go ahead."

"We cannot jump to any conclusions about what the Demons want with us, but if the rumours of an invasion are true then we don't stand a chance against a military power like Revenet."

"We're going to fight!" General Lang interjected.

"I know." Ara almost laughed, folding her arms.

"We can't..." Zhan shook his head, his hand flying to his mouth. "We're a tenth of their size with an even smaller population."

"Your Highness!" General Lang protested. "We must!"

"How can we?"

"What do you suggest we do should they end up attacking?" Ara asked.

"I don't... I think you're right, if they do end up attacking us for whatever reason they find, we need to protect the people."

"So we fight." the General nodded.

"The military fights." Zhan breathed. "But the people... we don't know what the Demons are capable of - they're even more isolationist than we are."

"Exactly." Ara agreed.

"We need to evacuate civilians." Zhan decided. "Not right away, we need to wait until the delegation arrives and see what, exactly, they want."

"That's the best approach, Your Highness. A wise decision." Ara smiled. "If we're exceptionally lucky they just might want to open trade deals."

The two men laughed with her, the mirth quickly dying down.

"I need to contact our allies. Ara, can you please get Sixi for me? He can arrange talks."

"Your Highness, I've already been in touch with Western Pernesia and the Iske Federation's foreign ministers. They have arranged a meeting for the day after tomorrow." Ara said. "To discuss any eventuality."

The King simply nodded and thanked her while General Lang hid a smile. Ara sure as hell was on top of things, more so than Zhan, and that did a few things to his heart. They bid her goodbye as she excused herself and left for other business and Hunter sat down beside the King, trying to think of what he could say to make him feel better. Nothing came to mind, however, and so he simply said what was on his mind:

"Your Highness... for the integrity of our nation and for history... we need to fight tooth and nail for whatever we have."

"We will, General." Zhan began. "But the civilians have to go. Their lives are more important than avoiding embarrassment. Western Pernesia is incredibly far away but a few weeks on a train should get everyone to the other side of the world. The Iske Federation... should be willing to help, but I hear they've been having their own issues recently with an imbalance of power in their government."

"Then let's see what they have to say." General Lang sniffed. "But anyone who wants to stay and fight is welcome to join me."

Their quiet crisis was disrupted by the intrusion of twenty representatives flooding into the meeting room, already in the midst of their own arguments. Zhan sighed at the sight, a headache already creeping into his temples.

It was going to be a long, long day.