*sips tea*
9 June 1013
‘’And, is the tea to your liking, Empress?’’
‘’It is excellent, Herald. My compliments to whoever brewed it.’’
‘’It’s a blend I claw-picked myself. I had a feeling you would enjoy it.’’
‘’Of course you did.’’
There was that giggle again. It made Grover nervous.
Not that he wouldn’t have been nervous if the alicorn had remained silent. Just being in the room was uncomfortable enough.
There he was, just a ten year old griffon, sitting on a chair that was too large for him, holding a hot cup of tea in his claw at far past his bed time. If there was a clock in the study, he might have been able to tell what the actual time was, but alas, there was not.
Just his luck, of course. He’d have yawned, but that was disrespectful, and if there was anything Grover didn’t want to appear as in front of perhaps the only being in the world that could go claw-to-claw (or claw-to-hoof, as it happened to be) with his caretaker, it would be Daybreaker, Empress of the Solar Empire.
‘’Grover?’’
The powerful, otherworldly tone of that voice. He’d thought he’d gotten used to it, in the three years that he’d known his caretaker. But as he was startled out of his half-sleep, he realized that wasn’t quite true yet.
‘’I’m awake, I’m awake!’’ he said immediately.
Two pairs of eyes, one glowing with divine light and the power to destroy cities, and the other belonging to the alicorn, watched him.
The Herald of Boreas chuckled softly. ‘’I know it is late, child, but the Empress and I needed to meet, and this was the first hole in our schedules.’’
‘’As you might imagine, ruling all of Equestria, with the Crystal Empire, the Changeling Lands and Olenia as an added bonus, doesn’t leave much room for free time,’’ Daybreaker said. ‘’Of course, my children deserve every moment of my time, but still… I am only one mare.’’
‘’While I do not rule over half a continent and only about half of the population your empire contains, satellites included,’’ the Herald said, ‘’I feel I can sympathize.’’
Why am I even here?
A question Grover desperately wanted answers to. But asking would probably not get him much in the way of answers. The Herald was nice, and a good teacher, but he wasn’t always very forthcoming with his reasons for doing things, beyond ‘The will of Boreas’.
Grover tapped his left index claw against his cup. The tea was nice, sure, but he liked lemonade more.
I’ll have to write Auntie Gabby, see if she can get me another bottle of that nice strawberry lemonade of hers.
While he was musing, Daybreaker and the Herald had continued talking.
‘’Your sister,’’ the Herald said, ‘’has appeared in the Riverlands. From what my preachers tell me, she has visited Jezeragrad, Rijekograd, Wittenburgh and then Nimbusi, before vanishing there.’’
‘’There are griffon preachers in Nimbusi?’’ Daybreaker sounded amused.
‘’Converts. Your sister is not the only one to communicate with dreams.’’
‘’Then that is how she found you out,’’ Daybreaker declared. ‘’Like it or not, my sister still has more experience with the dream realm than the rest of the world put together, me included.’’
‘’I had figured as much,’’ the Herald replied. ‘’She was probably leading us on, before disappearing somewhere neither of us can track her.’’
‘’Zebrica?’’
‘’Or further north. If I was her, hiding among the hillfolk probably doesn’t sound too bad.’’
‘’She never did fully adjust to the modern world,’’ Daybreaker mused. ‘’A place like Farbrook might just be right for her. You don’t mind if a few of my agents cross through your kingdom on their way there, I trust?’’
‘’Of course not,’’ the Herald agreed, ‘’as long as passing through is all they do.’’
A smirk appeared on Daybreaker’s muzzle. ‘’Of course.’’
So. Boring.
Grover would have leaned back, but with the mug in his claws, that probably wasn’t a good idea. He took a small sip, careful not to spill anything onto his pyjamas, and then put the cup down on the small table next to him, wringing his claws to get the tingle of the heat out.
Suddenly, Daybreaker looked away from the Herald and straight at him. ‘’Am I making you uncomfortable, child?’’
‘’N-no,’’ Grover lied, while averting his eyes to look at the painting of a starry sky on the far left wall. ‘’I’m just tired, ma’am.’’ He tried to fake a yawn, but even to him it didn’t sound very convincing. The two gods probably saw right through it.
‘’Oh, please don’t keep yourself awake for me,’’ Daybreaker looked at him with what appeared to be a mixture of pity and motherly care, ‘’I’d hate for you to be tired tomorrow just because your caretaker wanted you to meet me.’’
‘’It’s alright, ma’am,’’ Grover lied. ‘’I can stay awake. Don’t worry.’’
‘’In any case, you won’t be staying for much longer,’’ the Herald spoke up. ‘’The Empress and I have many things to talk about, and not all of them are safe for a young griff’s ears.’’
Grover nodded, indifferent. He was used to that. Grown-ups talked about stuff all the time. ‘’But I can stay a little longer?’’
Because despite everything, he was also curious. Curious about the Empress, what she was doing here. Was there going to be a war? If it was between his country and the Empress’, they’d probably lose.
Grover didn’t actually know a lot about the industry or the army, but he knew that while the Kingdom of Boreas was big on a map, covering the Herzland and all of western Griffonia as well as Griffonstone, the Solar Empire was a lot bigger. And bigger meant more powerful.
‘’Yes, you can,’’ the Herald affirmed. ‘’Ten more minutes, then it’s off to bed for you.’’
‘’Okay!’’ Now if only I could see how those ten minutes passed...
Daybreaker chuckled. ‘’You remind me of my niece, Flurry Heart. She always wants to stay up longer too.’’
The Avatar tilted his head a little. ‘’Children, no?’’
‘’Indeed.’’ Daybreaker nodded.
Grover settled back into his chair a little, and continued to listen even as he began to close his eyes. It was, after all, a really comfortable chair.