Oman stepped in through a side door, nodding at the monarchs of the land before settling across from Silver and his company, beside the concubines.
Wajdi snorted softly. "You're throwing off the pattern of loveliness, Oman."
Oman gave a snort in return. "I apologize, your majesty. Would you like me to put on some eyeliner?" Their ribbing seemed light-hearted, and his eyes moved across the tables to peer at Silver directly. "I trust I'm here for him?"
Wajdi nodded. "Of course. I trust you'll forgive me, but I've had a keen interest in you, young prince. How could we not? Your character and disposition could make or break our enduring ties with Equestria." He smiled. "I'm happy to report that I've liked what I've seen so far. You still have more growing to do, but you are a fine pony, overall."
Celestia raised a brow lightly, nodding. "We're glad to hear you think so." She focused her attention on Oman. "Are you here to help us then?"
Oman clasped his hooves together and bowed. "As my king and queen demand it. The artifact needed to free Silver is not within this kingdom. It is within the land of Turkey."
Turkey? Silver tilted his head a bit. No pun? His mind clicked softly. "It wouldn't happen to be ruled by actual turkeys, would it?"
Oman raised a brow. "You guess correctly. They are a proud people, once quite warlike, but they've settled quite admirably in these more peaceful times, and have been valued trade partners and allies in most matters. They value our craft, and their own demands a good price in the market."
Wajdi frowned slightly. "I didn't want to send him so far away, but this is for his own good, and I won't stop him if that's where he wants to go. Prince Silver Stars, we are aware of the artifact that is a blight on you." He snorted softly. "I wouldn't mind a day or two with that."
Jawa cuffed Wajdi across the head roughly. "You will banish that thought from your head immediately."
He rubbed at his sore noggin. "Yes, my lovely. You can't blame a stallion for thinking it. Let's focus on freeing our new friend from it. Would you like an escort? No pirates will dare to approach a royal vessel flanked with two ready and able ships, primed and ready to defend you."
Celestia held up a hoof. "I would rather come in peace."
He nodded. "I figured you might. You've always come through in the end, and I trust your luck to hold true." He turned his gaze to Silver. "An entire pirate crew..."
Jawa smiled gently. "But that's for tomorrow at the earliest. For tonight, let us enjoy some fine food, and fine company."
Oman looked at Bottom curiously, looking her over quietly as she timidly ate. "Bottom?" She looked up at him, and he scowled in reply and looked to Silver. "Why is Bottom a mare?"
Bottom shrunk a bit at the scowl, but thrust a hoof in front of Silver. "B-because I asked him to do it, sir..."
Jawa blinked at the exchange. "You were a stallion?"
Bottom flashed a smile at the Queen. "Yes, ma'am."
Silver put a hoof to his head. "As she said, she wanted it, and here we are."
Oman rose to his hooves and stared at Bottom. "Is that the whole of the truth?"
Wajdi clopped a hoof on the table. "There will be no interrogation at the dining table. Seriously, Oman. Sometimes you forget all semblance of civility. Don't embarrass us."
Oman sank back to his seat with a grunt, clearly unhappy but accepting the order.
Bottom put down her own hooves, standing up. "Why is it so hard to accept!?" She thrust a hoof at Silver. "I love him. I want to be his concubine. I'm happy like this. He doesn't flinch away when I come close to him, and I'll help bring his love into the world. I'm happy!" She sank to her seat, head thunking into the table. "Happy..."
The ongoing conversation was murdered brutally at the loud speech. Silver put a hoof over the softly crying Bottom, wanting to comfort her despite the growing awkward tension. She hugged him tightly and cried into his neck, and he rocked her, the two swaying back and forth.
Celestia took a slow breath before forcing a smile. "I think we should move the conversation along. Turkey, you said?"
Oman nodded. "It is being held in an art repository. You'll have to convince them to sell it to you, and they're rather fond of the piece. I don't think waving a large sum of bits is the best course, but it is your quest, not mine."
Shei tilted her head. "It's in a museum? Well that's better than the middle of some trap-laden ruins or something like that."
Bright snorted. "Give me an able-bodied crew and I could get me hooves on it..."
Celestia inclined her head. "Our dealings with the Turkish empire are limited. We can remedy that and retrieve the artifact. Two birds hatched from one egg, as it were. Do you have any advice?" She looked to the King and Queen. "Are there topics we should avoid, or bring up in particular?"
Jawa considered a moment before nodding. "Send word ahead of time. They are prone to surprise, and don't enjoy it. Do nothing alarming or unexpected around them, and they will warm to you."
Oman looked across at Silver. "I doubt that will be easy."
Silver flushed at the implication, but couldn't directly argue it, somewhat agreeing that he was a source of the unexpected more often than not. Bottom had stopped crying, but was still enjoying hugging and snuggling. Silver gently parted from her, putting her back to her plate and nipping an ear fondly. This got her back to enjoying dinner. Freed of distraction, he looked to Oman. "Alright, so you're going to tell us which one it's hidden in and what it looks like and that'll be that?"
Oman raised a bushy brow. "I should think not. The process for uniting the two halves is not as simple as pressing them together. I will be accompanying you until this quest is complete."
Jawa looked towards Oman. "And you will be on your best behavior. Neither of them owe you anything, Oman. You travel at our command, not as a favor to them."
Oman huffed indignantly. "As you command, my Queen."
Wajdi looked towards Bright Eyes. "I'm given to believe you were a pirate captain."
"Was," she emphasized with a snort, poking a slice of some thick fruit with a fork held in her magic.
Wajdi inclined his head. "One that has preyed on no small number of my vessels." He pulled a paper from beneath the table and displayed it. It held a crude picture of Bright Eyes, with a promise for a reward for her capture, and a smaller reward if returned dead. "It seems you've been captured by a bounty hunter far kinder than we imagined."
Bright Eyes grit her teeth, looking incredibly nervous and glancing for the exits.
Wajdi held up a hoof. "Before you flee, know that I am aware of your circumstances. If you have put your thievery behind you, we will let it remain there, in your past. Would you stand for us?"
Bright Eyes went stiff a moment before slowly rising up to her hooves and staring at the king.
Wajdi nodded. "Our young prince has left his mark on you quite visibly. Do you intend to follow him forever? Are you seduced, as the former-stallion?"
Bright Eyes clopped the table. "No! I don't love the daft stallion. I barely tolerate him." She turned up her nose. "My talents are being wasted, and for what? To serve as a brood mare?"
Wajdi smiled and brought his hooves together. "A full pardon, and a payment in the form of twenty bits daily, and perhaps we could lure you to serve our navy?"
Bright Eyes sat up with keen interest. "As a captain?"
Wajdi rolled a hoof. "What other position would we consider?" His eyes moved to Silver. "Assuming your old employer releases you."
Silver felt on the spot. Did he want to keep Bright Eyes? Not enough to keep her from what seemed a much better fit than his growing harem. He looked to her to see her trying to look nonchalant about it. "Well? Do you want to go?"
Bright Eyes snorted. "Of course I do! Back in the water, with a mighty crew! It's what I was born to do."
Silver nodded lightly. "Then she's yours. Treat her well."
Jawa rolled her eyes. "I'll make sure he doesn't." She made a wave and a servant hurried over. Whispers were exchanged, then the servant scurried off, only to return with a platter weighed down with a bag overflowing with bits. "You've captured her, the reward is rightfully yours."
Silver accepted the sack of bits, holding it aloft in his magic as blood rushed to lower regions. He quickly put it down beside himself before it could progress too far. "Thank you. It's good to bring ponies back into the light, er, of harmony."
The dinner continued as Celestia began discussing matters of trade routes in the region. The exacts of which were beyond Silver's feeble grasp of geography or economics. He settled for eating instead, enjoying the local fare until a hoof softly brushed against his semi-hard member. He glanced and saw Bottom was starting to work him under the table, though her eyes were gazing calmly across the way.
Being given a hoof-job in the middle of a royal dinner hardly felt proper, and Silver gently swatted at her arms, trying to dissuade her, and she thankfully took the hint. He relaxed with a soft sigh only to feel the teasing continue, but it wasn't Bottom. Shei had attacked him from the other side. He grunted softly before the feelings redoubled. They were both working him to distraction, making him squirm with building delight.
Wajdi raised a brow at Silver. "Seat not to your liking, young prince?"
Silver sat up sharply, slapping against the underside of the table with a muffled thump. Wincing, he shook his head. "Not at all! Everything is quite... perfect."
Despite Silver's attempts to dissuade the two, he was powerless to keep both sets of hooves away without using magic, and decorum demanded he not speak of what was going on, and so he was slowly worked up higher and higher. Just as he felt he would lose the struggle, it stopped. Both sat with such peacefully innocent faces, and their hooves made no move to continue. They just left him to cool down on his own. By the time dinner was over, Silver was more than ready to flee. Chancing it rather than waving his disgrace around, he thanked his guests profusely before vanishing, carried off to his room with a teleportation.
Bottom and Shei could help him work off his steam properly when they returned.