Hours before the opening of Aciras palace, more precisely at four a.m., before the sun had risen, Karma was getting ready for his daily routine. Granted, how much of his routine could be followed was in question due to the change in location, but those were trivial concerns. Right now, there was something more urgent that needed checking on. Well, the urgency really was in question here; she [i]always[/i] needed checking up on in the mornings, but it wasn't as though he could actually do anything about it. No, that would be someone else's job soon. Karma only hoped whoever it was, was up for it.

	The tall young man walked upstairs to the room directly above his and sighed. Typical, he thought. The door was closed, but the light that shone from underneath the doors left no doubt as to what awaited him behind it. Without so much as a knock, Karma shoved the thick double doors open and announced, [color=00aeef]"Oi princess, isn't it a bit early for you to be up?"[/color] 

	He looked down on the only person in the large luxury room. She was seated on the floor, surrounded by newspaper clippings pinned to the walls, documents hanging from the ceiling, and reports arranged neatly in piles on the floor around her. Her long blonde hair flowed down her bare back and down to the floor, like a golden waterfall flowing into a river. It made for a strange yet attractive diorama, the kind that would be painted by surreal arts masters; a picturesque young lady surrounded by an endless amount of paper and photo's, looking through all of them as if a goddess considering the pleas of her patrons. 

	This young goddess was his half-sister, his master, his ward and his mission: [i]Delia Anne Oblitus-Veren[/i], first daughter and crown princess of the Verenoblitus Empire.

	Yet none of those labels mattered Karma presently. He had other concerns right now. [color=00aeef]"And really, you ought do something about your habit of sleeping in the buff. What if it wasn't me but someone else that barged in here?"[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"The only person with the audacity to enter my room with out so much as announcing their presence is you, fool, as anyone else know I'd have them whipped for the transgression,"[/color] the princess replied without so much as looking up at her visitor, still parsing through her files. 

	[color=00aeef]"Oh? What about me then? Don't I get a whipping?"[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"Whipping is meant to be a punishment; you'd most likely enjoy it, so that renders the action useless. Honestly, the only way to punish a combat sadomasochist like you is to marry you off to some wallflower woman. That way you can't hurt her, and there's no way she would hurt you. The lack of intensity be absolute torture for you."[/color]

	Delia said so much with absolute certainty that Karma narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his charge. [color=00aeef]"That's an oddly specific and unusual punishment you've thought of. I'm thinking you didn't come up with that on your own."[/color]

	By way of reply, Delia smirked and handed him a file next to her. At the forefront of the file was labeled 'Liviana Decima Traianus'. Karma looked incredulously at her before receiving the file and browsing through it. The longer he read, the more his eyes narrowed, until they were practically slits. Karma closed the folder with a snap, his mouth slightly open in disbelief, but no sound came out.

	His hands dropped with a sigh and he shot a glare at Delia. [color=00aeef]"Your mother is an absolute witch, you know that right?"[/color] 

	[color=fff79a]"Actually, it was [i]your[/i] mother that suggested the arrangement."[/color]

	[color=00aeef]"Sonovabitch,"[/color] muttered Karma disbelievingly. His mother chose [i]this girl[/i]? No, in the first place, arranging any kind of vow with him was a waste of effort. Everyone in the royal court of Verenoblitus knew that he only answered to three people: The Emperor, Delia, and himself. Wife or whatever, if they were not one of the three mentioned then he was not beholden to any promises or contracts made involving himself. [color=00aeef]"What about you then? Who's the unlucky bastard who got the witch's daughter for a bride?"[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"I thought we established that it was [i]your[/i] mother that arranged your marriage?"[/color]

	[color=00aeef]"Yes we did; but it still doesn't make your mother any less of a conniving witch. So, your betrothed?"[/color]

	Already accustomed to his regular, frankly disrespectful, attitude, Delia didn't bother to reply to Karma's slights against her mother. It wasn't as though the woman herself would actually be affected by such base comments. She might have even been flattered by them. 

	[color=fff79a]"Actually, you know my betrothed quite well already. You have contingency files for him in the Bingo Books."[/color] Seeing Karma's raised brow, Delia finally looked at him and said, [color=fff79a]"Prince Zhou Mei Xianshi."[/color]

	Karma's eyes lit with understanding. [color=00aeef]"Ah, the prodigal prince, and the pirate playing navy commander. Yeah, we've had him in the Bingo Books for awhile. First as a terrorist, and now as a potential ally. Looks like your mother's decided to go full swing for the latter, if she's arranged this. So, is he to your liking?"[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"I won't know until I actually meet him. You know as well as I do the discrepancies between written reports and the real thing. Still, going by the reports at least, I can only say I'll be having a trying time with him."[/color] Delia made a slightly sour face as she spoke. Still, her tone was simply tired and not at all as displeased as she made herself out to be. She was more displeased by thought of Karma having it easier than her, rather than the thought of marrying some random stranger. "[color=fff79a]I'm sure that you'll have an easier time with your bride."[/color]

	[color=00aeef]"Easy, yes, but also dull. Boring. Have you even read the file you just gave me? The girl is intelligent, but that intelligence is wasted on her cripplingly weak self-image. The Lusitanian royal house doesn't even make much of a secret of how worthless she is to them. Her whole arrangement with me is based solely on the fact that they want someone else to be her problem. She's basically a throwaway princess. Leftovers. So exactly what exactly is so good about that?"[/color]

	[color=fff79a]"Most men would have loved to have a submissive woman as their bride."[/color] In an lackadaisical manner, Delia promptly disregarded most of what Karma had just said to focus on that one point.

	[color=00aeef]"Do I look like I'm interested in having [i]any kind[/i] of woman right now?"[/color] Karma was sure that Delia was aware of exactly just how much he had on his plate right now as her personal guardian and the captain of her royal guard. He sure as hell didn't have time to address the needs of some wallflower third-place trophy-wife.

	From the sly glint in Delia's eyes, however, it was clear that she decided to spin his words in another direction. [color=fff79a]"Why Karma! It's taken years for you to do so but I'm glad you've finally come to terms with your homosexuality. Congratulations on coming out. Shall I inform your mother that the engagement is of on account of your interest in men? Shall I break out the champagne?"[/color]

	[color=00aeef]"Keep talking Prissy and I swear I'll -"[/color]

	Whatever Karma was going to do went unknown, as a tablet next to Delia began beeping loudly. The alarm went on for nearly two seconds before Delia promptly silenced it with a swipe of the screen. [color=fff79a]"Four-thirty. Time for me to get some sleep. Now if you would please step out of the room?[/color]

	Silenced looking peeved, Karma consented to stepping outside of the room. Rising to her feet, Delia stretched her stiff legs and crawled to her bed, ready to wake up again in a few hours to prepare for her visit to the palace of what was possibly the worlds cultural center, all so that she could meet he who would be her future husband. Well, if anything else, it should prove interesting.[hr]

	The royal family of Verenoblitus made its way to the palace after much fanfare. It was a given that the visiting of royalty would always stir a large amount of excitment, especially when there were so many of them. In total, they brought four vehicles to the palace; two were for members of the royal guard accompanying them, while the last two were for the Empress and Thirn, and for Delia and Karma, respectively. The eight present royal guardsmen shuffled out of there cars in a disciplined march, and stood in attention as their monarchs made way.

	Soon, the representatives of the noble house of Verenoblitus crossed the entrance of the palace. The Empress was dressed in an elaborate red gown, with high collars formed around the shoulders and extended sleeves that slimmed around her waist. She wore very little in way of jewelry, but what she did have on was eye-catching; a large, cornflower-blue sapphire embedded in a silver band ringed around her ring finger, and her earrings were solid gold, with diamonds cut into it just so that even the barest hint of light reflected on it made it sparkle. The Empress hair was done up in a simple braid, with a decorative net of gold stretched along the length of it.

	Then there was Delia. In comparison to her mother, she was dressed in a more simple, though still high quality, dark-orange dress. The shoulders were cut and exposed the milky white skin underneath while the rest was covered up with detachable sleeves. A good portion of her back was also exposed, though it was covered up long, wavy blonde hair. Like her mother, she wore very little jewelry - in fact, she only wore one piece of jewelry, but it was the kind that could not be ignored. A wide gold and silver necklace entwined together to form the petals of a blooming rose at its center. Along the way, small diamonds were studded across the piece, culminating at the center were the rose was. There, at the center of rose, was a large, pink diamond, as large as walnut. This was one of the most precious jewels of Verenbolitus, and its appearance was synonymous with the royal family itself; in other words, it was one of the Empire's crown jewels.

	Walking behind the impressive mother-daughter duo was the less-impressive but certainly-more-intimidating, mother-son pair of Thirn and Karma. The two were dressed in austere, navy-blue military uniforms, with no additional decorations asides military distinctions. Still, it was not as though the two needed to look good. With Thirn's scarred face and Karma's disarming smile, it would be impossible for them to be anything but 'intimidating'. 

	The Empress walked forward, and stopped just past the entrance. Making a small bow to the people already inside. She turned to Delia, who took that as her cue to speak. 

	[color=fff79a]"Greetings, your majesties. I am Delia Anne Oblitus-Veren of the Verenoblitus Empire. It's an honor to have been invited to your palace. Allow me to do the honor of introducing my sovereign mother, Empress Aliena Oblitus-Veren, and our General Chief-of-Staff, Thirn Kennen."[/color]

	The Empress gave a small bow and Thirn saluted in response. Meanwhile, Karma was waiting for his turn to be introduced. While waiting, he spotted a certain Chinese Naval Officer doing a rather impressive impression of a dragon. Judging from the shocked silence Delia had fallen into, he guessed that she had most likely seen it as well. Then the moment passed and Delia regained her bearings - but it was clear that she was going to have a [i]discussion[/i] about this soon. Which mostly meant her ranting semi-rationally. Mostly to him. 

	[color=fff79a]"And this is Karma Kennen."[/color]

	Karma waited for a description of his title, his importance to the royal family, his contributions to the military, but after a few minutes of silence, Delia glared at him. The glare meant 'why aren't you bowing' and suddenly Karma realized that he just got handed the short end of the stick again. Suppressing a sigh - it really wouldn't do to sigh in front of foreign royalty - he dipped into a low bow.

	Delia continued, satisfied. Oh she was aware that Karma would try his hand at revenge later, but for now, this was her victory. [color=fff79a]"As for my father, I'm afraid that he had urgent matters to attend to, and so was unable to participate. He sends his apologies."[/color]

	Of course, to anyone who was updated with the news, it was due to a number of skirmishes into smaller countries that the Emperor was occupied. Military advisers predicted the campaign to end in at least two years. 

	With her greetings finished, Delia turned to look at Zhou - well, more like stare at him with a mix of curiosity and puzzled irritation. Why would you even do something like that, she all but screamed with her eyes. Engaged though they were, Delia wasn't going to let him lord over her. A compromise, she could manage, and if it so came down to that, the first thing she was going to request was he stop acting like a clown!

	Meanwhile, a Karma spied a small, freckled figure in the crowd. It was an unremarkable face, but Karma was never one to forget his targets - and his betrothed most certainly counted as a target. A high-priority one at that. Karma stared unblinkingly at her, taking in ever inch of detail and every movement she made, cataloging it and comparing it to past experiences, to people that shied away in a similar fashion and how they acted, and tried to see if being royalty made her any more different than those ants. 

[hider=Summary 'cause that's a thing now]
[list]
[*] Karma wakes up to check on Delia; figures out she's researching on whatever
[*] They talk about their engagement
[*] The royal family sans the Emperor arrives at the palace, Delia makes introductions and disses Karma, oh, and also has a mild seizure upon seeing Zhou
[*] Delia stares disbelievingly at Zhou and Karma stares at Liviana Freud-psychoanalytic style. 
[/list][/hider]