Stoludians never did sleep for long. Even before the sun had risen the Queen Annetan was already up and busying herself. She wanders out to the walls, padding quietly past the guards that were sleepily leaning on their muskets and then mounting the stone steps to one of the palace's towers. At the top, she stares out across the land, bathed in the dim pre-dawn glow of the Eastern skies. She could see the town with the smoke rising from it's many smokestacks, light from many lanterns, the various ships sailing from the nearby harbor... she could see the fleet assembling as she watched. Annetan smiles softly to herself, as she can recognize each ship simply from their appearance.

They were taking ambassadors and military trainers over to the Republic on the Northern Isles. She wouldn't be seeing these ships for a while, she knew, but she also knew that Stoludian sailors never minded a long journey. Four of Stoludi's best frigates of the [i]Whispers of the Wind[/i] class, the [i]Dance of the Lightning[/i] [i]Harbinger of Snow[/i], [i]Benevolent Typhoon[/i], and [i]Song of the Storms[/i], would be escorting three fat trading sloops across the Wide Sea. Each of these frigates was 115 feet long and outfitted with broadsides of 28 medium-sized cannons. The sloops had ten guns on each side but they were mainly empty, so they could carry cargo and the ambassadors in comfort. 

Annetan turns away from the sight of the loading and prepping of the ships as a squire ran up to her. He informed her of things she was already aware of... it did not surprise her that Admiral Virnam cancelled the search for the survivors of the [i]Eastern Wind[/i]. Annetan simply nodded her approval and told him to come back in a while after she had planned the funeral. 

The Queen, still dressed in her nightrobe, wandered down to the stableyard and sneaked past the sleeping stableboy to find her mare. Rubania was just as much an early riser as her rider was. Annetan smiles sleepily and reaches up to gently pet across her blocky muzzle, staring into her eyes and sharing breaths with the mare for a moment. This would look very odd to a foreigner, but a Stoludian took the bond between them and their mount very seriously. After a moment or two, Annetan finally went through the ritual of equipping Rubania with the ornate tack and seating herself into the dark leather saddle upon the horse's back.
 
She was about to the gates when a squire stepped into her way. The big white mare obediently wheeled to a halt before Annetan even did anything. He tossed her the gigantic queen's arquebus, then delivered a message: A tower in Geitumo had collapsed. Five soldiers dead, ten peasants dead. 

She acknowledged him and rode out of the gates with barely a pause to let the guards open it for her. Unarmored and looking like a peasant, the Queen of Stoludi rode into the forest with nary a purpose. It was all to clear her mind. There had been one disaster after another since she had opened the borders, it was starting to nag at her. Maybe it hadn't been the right thing? Stoludi was by no means prospering under isolation but now it seems that something bad was always happening. Maybe she had angered the gods...

...and there was a group of bandits ahead. They grinned at her and made Rubania stop with a nervous whicker. Annetan simply rolls her eyes and pulls the arquebus off of the saddle and points it right at the head of the bandit leader. Needless to say, a handcannon big enough around to comfortably fit your thumb into it was enough to dispel them. The Queen chuckles softly to herself and stows the gun, starting her mare on her way again.

She'd have to ask her High Priest about it. Maybe this was the wrong thing. Perhaps she did need to close the borders again... but there was also so much prosperity. Katiraka had blossomed and grown into a proud, clean city, compared to the shanty town it once was. Aurorasaki had positively exploded. New technology and people were pouring in, and Stoludi as a whole was growing and modernizing. 

Annetan was still troubled when she rode back into the palace yard, but at least she had calmed and reassured herself somewhat. For now, she had a funeral to plan, one with full honors, and a fleet to bless before they were sent on their journey.