I stood still in the middle of the room, the centre of everyone’s attention. The welcoming ceremony was supposed to be a chance for the King to look over his guests without committing himself to a conversation. Perhaps a holdover from the early days, when everyone might not have been vetted to within an inch of their lives before getting into the Palace. These days though, the King knew a lot about me before I’d even met him.

He hadn’t arrived yet, which was why I was standing, waiting. My entire team — minus Rhis — was standing a little way behind me, all of us waiting for the King to bless us with his presence. While we waited though, there was an opportunity for every other member of the court to gawk at us standing there. I felt a bit objectified.

The whole room was set up to impress on the guests their inferiority to those gathered to watch them. The King’s throne sat on a dais directly in front of us, of course. He wasn’t occupying it yet, but I assumed he would be very impressive when he did. On each side of the room there was an additional dais, with three tiers of chairs, rising towards the back so that everyone could get a good view.

The top row held just four chairs, two on each side. On one side, both the chairs were occupied by richly dressed older men. Given their position and obvious status, I figured I was looking at two of the Kingdom’s dukes. Though why there were four chairs when there were only three dukes, I didn’t know.

Irritatingly, I didn’t know who was who. Portraits of important people, even as important as a Duke, just weren’t around. One of them looked older, but it just might be that his skin had seen more harsh weather. Aside from that, he seemed hale enough, and his full head of brown hair suggested that he wasn’t that old.

The other one had auburn hair, darkening to brown at the tips. Dyed, I supposed? A Duke could probably afford expensive hair treatments. He had paler skin, nicely set off by his darker clothes.

The next level held just one person I knew, and I wasn’t pleased to see him. Albert Duvost. He didn’t seem any more pleased to see me. Every time I looked at him, he was glaring at me, only to look away when I met his gaze.

Well fine, I thought. Be that way. Interestingly, he was all on his own. Most of the lesser nobles were seated in groups and were idly chatting as they looked us over. [Intrigue] kicked in, pointing out the obvious cliques. The two main ones were centred around the Dukes, but there was a group of barons that seemed to have banded together. And there were a few, like Aubert, that stood alone. Did that mean Duke Victor wasn’t present? Or was he on the outs with his liege?

There were other gawkers than the ones seated. A few people were standing near the King’s dais, all of whom were wearing official garb that I could [Identify]. There were also a few others standing about at the sides, either up on the noble’s dais, standing next to the chairs, or at my level. The only one of these that I could identify with any certainty was the one wearing all black, who had to be the Ebon Order’s emissary to Dorsay.

Tom had wanted to come with me, but he had told me that he was unable to and that I should contact Envoy Fisher if I needed anything from his master. It was just a guess, based on his stiff formality when talking about her, that they didn’t get along. She was examining all of the guests, myself included, with equal intensity.

She actually made for a pretty striking figure, her unnaturally pale skin setting off the unrelieved black of her ensemble. The look was somewhat spoiled by her curly brown hair. She should have gone full goth and dyed it black. Still, she seemed friendly enough. When her gaze met mine, she gave me a smile that was probably intended to be warm.

As for my fellow guests, they were an eclectic bunch. There were two other groups, seemingly each composed of one emissary and their entourage, just like mine. At least, like mine, one person was standing in front. None of them was dressed in what I thought of as Latorran fashion, so I guessed that they were from other countries.

The leader of the delegation next to mine saw that I was looking at them, and sighed. Dressed almost all in white, he had honey-coloured skin and hair of such a light brown that it almost matched it.

“Annoying, is it not? To be scrutinised like meat at a market.” He shook his head ruefully. “Such is the way that they put us in our place.”

I nodded in agreement, paying close attention to the actual sounds coming out of his mouth. It wouldn’t do to give away that I could understand his language if he stopped speaking Latorran. Now that he was looking at me, I could see that his face seemed to glisten wetly. Some sort of cosmetic? Or moisturiser? He was wearing makeup, the overdone eyeliner making him look even more exotic.

He grinned at me. “Ambassador Gavril, from Lyran, is very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

I bowed my head slightly. “Kandis Hammond, representative from the Talnier town council.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Your Level is unusual for that post is it not? Does not Latorran custom put the beautiful councillors behind high walls and stern guards?”

“I wasn’t always a councillor,” I explained. Since he’d brought it up, I thought to feel out his Level. He felt… less powerful than myself, probably Level Four, despite being older than me. I guess he was also a beneficiary of those stern guards. There was a Level Six in his entourage, a sour-looking woman, but the rest of them struck me as Level Four or less.

“I would have expected a high-status position like yours would have required a high level,” I continued.

“Oh no,” he replied. “We ambassadors are just the deliverer of messages, yes? So it is better if we are not a possible threat.”

“I see…” I said. It occurred to me that this might be how high-level social types avoided getting into social clashes. If they sent a proxy, it didn’t matter if the proxy got [Persuaded]. It would have worn off by the time they got back home, and the actual ruler would be entirely unaffected. In my world, ambassadors had the authority to make actual deals, but I would bet that the same wasn’t true here.

I was about to say something more, but trumpets blared out, signalling the entrance of the King. Yes, trumpets. I guess when you’re the King there’s no such thing as overstatement.

The King entered the room from somewhere behind the throne, appearing in front of us already standing on the dais. The pressure of his presence hit us like a blow.

Level Eight at least, I thought. I would have winced, but I was already descending, falling into a curtsey so low I would have fallen without my enhanced strength. Everyone else was doing the same or kneeling on one knee in the case of the men. We had all been briefed on the proper protocol.

“Presenting His Majesty Alexandros Pavlas, Protector of Latora, Duke of Risurn and Admiral of the Eastern Seas.” That was the Master of Ceremonies speaking, the boss of the fellow that had met us on arrival.

We all stayed close to the floor, our heads bowed. There was a brief pause, presumably for His Majesty to look us all over.

“Rise,” he said, lazily. We did as we were commanded, now able to look up at him sitting on his throne. He was certainly handsome enough. Looking about thirty-five, he had a lot of long blonde hair, dropping loose to his shoulders. Piercing blue eyes, even from this distance.

The Master of Ceremonies spoke up again. “Step forward, Shahbaz Savji.”

The leader of the third delegation stepped forward and bowed. He was bald, and dressed in a colourful, multi-layered set of silk robes. Each layer looked quite thin, but together they must have been warm enough for the cooling autumn weather.

“A merchant from Avald. We have not heard from that land in some time,” the King said.

“Yes, your majesty. Not since the mighty ships of your Empire left our shores.”

“And why is it a merchant has come to see us, and not a diplomat?”

“Your Majesty, my nation has only recently gained the strength to manage long voyages across the ocean. Travelling here is too high a risk for those of importance to my nation. I do bring gifts, and a message from my rulers pledging further diplomatic overtures should I return.”

I thought he had phrased that oddly. “Gained the strength.” Were long voyages something that required strength? I wondered if there were monsters in the ocean that had to be overcome. That would make trading a bitch.

“Very well, I will speak to you at a later date.” The man bowed again and stepped back. The Master of Ceremonies spoke up again.

“Step forward, Ambassador Oleg Gavril.”

The man in white stepped forward, bowing deeply.

“I enjoyed working with your predecessor,” the King said. “I hope we will have the same rapport going forward.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Oleg said. He bowed and stepped back.

“Step forward, Councillor Kandis Hammond.”

I stepped forward and curtseyed. Then I froze, still in the dip, as I felt the power of the King's [Intimidation] coil around me. I managed to look up — he didn’t look any different, but I could feel the power coming off him. Had the others felt this as well? If so, they’d hidden it well.

“Ah, the representative from Talnier.” The King didn’t sound any different from when he’d talked to the others, but to me his voice had a weight to it. I’d been told what to say, I’d already intended to say it, but there was no way that I could say anything different.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I hear you’ve been running rough-shod over my people in Talnier,” he said, and now a hint of amusement ran through his voice. “As you can see, that won’t be happening here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” I wanted to protest that I hadn’t expected to dominate him socially. That the profits I’d made already, the projections of future earnings… these should be enough to convince him to continue with the experiment. Free cities were just better than captive towns run by corrupt tyrants. But even if I had thought this was the correct time and place, I couldn’t speak up.

“We’ll speak again soon,” he promised me. “But do you know, there is another purpose to this ceremony?”

The answer to that question was no, so I just stared mutely.

“It lets my petitioners see who they’re dealing with,” he explained. “It gives them a chance to run.”