In the far South, Queen Annetan IX was beginning to end her day. As the furthest East kingdom, the sun was setting whilst it was rising in the more Western lands. Today had truly been a busy day for the woman. Now, she approaches the gates of Gods' Keep, a massive, ancient fortress made out of dark stone that was meters thick. It wasn't exactly a pretty structure, with it's odd pentagonal shape, jagged towers, and blocky buildings, but it was nigh impregnable, and the gigantic cannons that gawked down at her with their gaping maws gave her a sense of safety and peace. 

Annetan IX took only a few moments to rest in her own thoughts. She draws her mind back to the real world, where her chainmail and leather suit clinked and squeaked and her enormous mare snorted and pounded the ground with great, ponderous steps. That mare was a breed meant for farms and utility work; with Rubania's strength, however, she could also carry a huge Queen clad in several pounds of armor. Even atop the huge white armored mare, Aleit was a big woman. Thick boned, tall, and angular, she was not even considered pretty, but that was not important to the people of Stoludi. She was a strong woman, and that was what mattered. Underneath her armor, Aleit Annetan IX had pale skin, as per usual for Stoludians. Her black hair flowed freely out of the back of her helmet and down to the middle of her back. The helmet framed a weathered face, faded blue eyes, and sharp features that made it look as if she were perpetually scowling. She had thick eyebrows and a pair of thin, hard-pressed lips, which did not help the rid that illusion of perpetual difficult thought. 


Combined, Aleit and her mount Rubania dwarfed Annetan's guards, men and women that would have been considered great even as Children of the Righteous Thunder. Annetan swept her eyes across them. They all regularly scanned the horizons, peering at the darkening sky for any threats, even within the range of the Keep's enormous cannons. Good. Caution was never a bad thing. All of them were mounted atop smaller black horses, uniform save for the white markings on their faces. Like their riders, all the horses wore chainmail with steel helmets, with various gemstones embedded in the foreheads. 

Annetan looks forward again as the gates swung open and the many chainmail-clad guards stepped aside to let the Queen inside. Inside of the Keep, it was a flurry of serving boys, pages, squires, and stablehands; after many minutes Annetan was finally at her dinner table, enjoying a plate of fish, potatoes, and small, hard, sugary cakes. Her King sat beside her in a smaller chair, the Princess and two Princes further down, and her two closest Guards at the other end. A roaring fire heated the small hall, and lit most of the room with help needed only from a few torches. Tapestries and hunting trophies lined the dark stone walls, and further up, the arched underside of the roof was hidden in shadow.

The fifteen year old Princess Zuzoya didn't take long to start conversing. The main topic of the day was almost instantly brought up, "Is there word on any survivors from the [i]Eastern Wind[/i], mother?" The Queen simply shakes her head, frowning slightly as she cut at a filet, "No... unfortunately not. There's still ten sailors missing." 

On that morning, the caravel [i]Eastern Wind[/i] had been running trials with the corvette [i]Questing Phoenix[/i]. They had lost sight of each other in the fog, however. Without line of sight, both ships got lost. The disaster happened when the much larger and much tougher [i]Questing Phoenix[/i] split [i]Eastern Wind[/i] asunder, detonating her powder magazines and quite literally fragmenting her. [i]Questing Phoenix[/i] herself was severely damaged, but [i]Eastern Wind [/i]didn't even look like a ship afterwards. All the other ships in the fleet fled from the fog, afraid of meeting the same fate. A couple of survivors had been found from [i]Eastern Wind[/i], but hope was quickly fading for finding other survivors. [i]Questing Phoenix[/i] had managed to find her way back to port, but ten of her sailors were dead and the ship will never sail again. Aboard the [i]Eastern Wind[/i], eleven sailors had died. There was little hope for the ten others. The only evidence that they had survived were reports from the [i]Questing Phoenix[/i] of men jumping into the water... but, they did have to contend with the freezing waters, strong currents, and whatever injuries they had sustained.

King Emmerik simply shakes his head and sighs, "May they rest with the Goddess." One of the guards at the end of the table visibly began to shake. He lifted his head and brought his fists to his chest, silently praying. The youngest Prince glanced at him, but his older brother quickly brought his attention back to his food. Aleit looks to him, then to the other Guard, Leiv, and asks, "How goes the construction of Fort Stormcloak?" Leiv wipes his mouth and bows his head, "It goes well, my Queen. The foundations are solid and the walls didn't bounce the cannon shots, they shattered the cannon shells." Aleit lets a smirk tickle her face, a rare and awkward emotion for her, "Good. I am glad that your new type of stone is holding well. Buxiang will never be touched at this rate." Leiv swallows nervously and nods quickly, then goes back to his meal. He was small compared to her, and Annetan's leviathan arquebus leaned against the table between her and the King. He had seen it fired a few times, mostly at bandits and criminals. It wasn't pretty.

The talk shifted about the various topics. Increasing trade, the slow progress with diplomacy, the storms hammering Geitumo, horses, weaponry... it all took a couple of hours. Afterwards, they all retreated to their bedchambers, resting for the day tomorrow. Annetan IX herself had a lot to take care of. Her diplomats had mostly been working with the RNI to try and secure better weaponry and architecture. Already, they had managed to convince the Republic to give the Kingdom a few galleons, though those would have to make a treacherous journey across the sea. Annetan knew she'd have to give them a big escort... there was also small talks going on with the Irodiens and the Drakuns. Those were mostly trying to keep peace, however. Even the warrior Queen knew that her Kingdom had limits. Even with all of these thoughts in her head, Annetan was tired, and soon enough fell asleep. Tomorrow would be more searching for survivors of the collision, more court hearings, more complaints about opening the borders... it wasn't as bad as it could be, and she hopes it doesn't get worse.