[i]Collab by [@TheDuncanMorgan] and [@Sundered Echo][/i]

Lana noted with disgust as the men of the mercenary company marched past her carriage. She tried not to let the degree of her disdain for them show on her face, but only encountered moderate success. Not that it mattered. They would simply see her as an uptight noblewoman annoyed at the noise they were making, not knowing the true reason for the scowl that marred her otherwise pretty face. She clambered into the carriage as quickly as she could to escape their presence.

The trip was as uncomfortable as usual. The carriage was too bumpy, the air too stuffy, and it all took far longer than it needed to as they snaked a route through the winding streets of upper Nyhem. When she arrived at Miserth keep and stepped out of the carriage, she composed herself, wiping the irritated expression from her face and ensuring her illusory jewelry spells were all still cohesive. Duncan had not come down to meet her. Of course not. She was not that important, and he was almost certainly far busier now than ever before. The coronation may not have occurred yet, but Lana suspected that the man had not wasted any time in taking on all the rights and responsibilities of the King already. He didn’t seem like the type to get caught up in technicality.

She had heard so much about Duncan De Reimer, and of course seen him in court in passing, but never really met him. This would be interesting indeed.

The kings chambers was not to Duncan's liking. The room was too big and filled with pointless ornaments, half of which he didn't even know what they were. The room had a wooden floor that was fully covered by a thick red carpet and smooth stone walls. A bed that was five times bigger than his former one was positioned in the middle of the room. The rest of the room was filled with lavish dressers and tables with ornaments of gold and silver resting upon them. The only thing that was familiar to Duncan was the desk he had taken from his room. The desk was very clearly out of place what with it basic design, however it was the only furnishing in the room that he actually liked. It was also where he was currently sat as he went through various documents regarding the coronation. There was a knock on the door before Alenius walked in.

"Pardon the interruption my lor-" She paused for a moment before correcting herself "your grace" She was still getting used to the change in title "Lady Lanaya Dionisa has arrived to speak with you"
"Very good" Duncan replied "send her in, lets hear what she has to offer".

As Lana entered the lavish quarters allotted to the King, she couldn’t help but admire them. She would give a great deal to be able to call such an environment her own. She couldn’t understand why Duncan looked so uncomfortable with his surroundings.

“Your grace.” She said by way of greeting, before bowing. A small part of her cried out against showing such deference to a mundane, but she was far too disciplined to let it show. “It is a great privilege to meet you. I am Magister Lanaya and I come to you with an offer I think you will be very interested in.” She wasted no time cutting to the chase. She knew the new King would be busy with all manner of tasks, and she didn’t want to come across as wasting his time.

“I am here to represent a collective of circle mages who desire to work for the crown aiding the war effort. Before you dismiss me out of hand, I am not here to ask for a ludicrous fee, I do realize the unfortunate state of the Kingdoms finance.” She spoke with as sympathetic a tone as she could muster - she wasn’t here to insult the King, it wasn’t his fault that money was scarce. In fact by all accounts Duncan had significantly improved the kingdoms finance in the short time he’d been King, something she was quite impressed by.

“I have a different offer, if you’d hear it.”

As Lanaya Walked into the room Duncan looked at her from head to toe. She was a woman of average height and had pale skin. Her eyes were green while her hair was copper red. After she finished her introduction Duncan gestured to the chair opposite him.

"Please take a seat" He said. He waited for her to sit down before he continued. "Aurelia has spoken highly of you. Tell me, what do you have to offer"?

Lana took the offered seat before continuing.

"Forty Mages, ranging from healers to battle-mages, willing to serve your cause." She began, pausing a moment to let the number stand. "We ask a mere tenth of the usual fee for our services, as well as several new laws protecting our kind…” She was not entirely sure of herself asking this now that the time had arrived to actually do it. It was one thing to plot it, thinking of the king as an abstract, but now she was actually here in front of the man himself. What if he turned her down? Or worse?

“We ask that the burning of mages be considered murder and villages carrying out such acts of barbarism be punished as any other murderous mob would be. I understand that it is already frowned upon, yet little has been done to stop it from occurring. In addition, we ask that should a capital judgement need to be carried out on a mage, it be the same as it would be for any other citizen, and not burning.” Once had begun speaking, it was less daunting to make the requests - she had been over what was desired in her head so many times before.

She went into detail on several other minor requests improving the law’s treatment of mages, though never did she aim to make them superior in the eyes of the law to the common people.

“Finally, we ask that when a mage is judged for any sort of crime, a representative of the circle be present to advise the judge.”

Duncan listened carefully to Lanaya's offer. His facial expression remained static for the most part, though he did occasionally raise his eyebrow at some of her proposals. Once she finished he paused for a moment before replying back to her
"Tell me, what benefit would your mages give me exactly? After all we already have several hundred mages under our command, Cawanor alone has up to 150 battle mages for the imperial concord. What do your mages have that they don't" Duncan asked, intrigued at potential these mages may have to offer the Imperial Concord. "As for your requests: I have no issue with many of them, both Aurelia and I have been looking for ways to improve the status of mages. I was already thinking about abolishing burning as a execution method, afterall the law should judge everyone equally, regardless of who they are". Duncan paused for a moment "The only request that I would have to deny is the execution of villagers for witch hunts. You must understand that I do indeed agree with you, those who break the law should be punished accordingly. However if we were to start executing or severely punishing villages for Witch hunts then it would cause an uproar among the country-folk and even a possible riot. They would consider it a betrayal on my part for siding with the mages over them. I do hope you understand" Duncan said sympathetically.

“I understand. It pleases me to hear that you are so partial to improving life for mages. After the way King Heylot treated my kind, a sympathetic ruler is welcome indeed." She shuddered visibly at the recollection of the Mad kings reign. Though she had not been present, she had heard the news of burnings all too often. "I’m sure that through the progressive application of law and education, the barbaric practice of witch hunting will be abolished during your reign. Many a mage would be forever in your debt. But for now, I see why you cannot implement such harsh punishments.” Lana’s tone conveyed that she was genuinely content with his statement that he was happy to accept many of the laws but had to deny one. She hadn’t really expected him to agree to every law right away, and though this was by far the biggest of them, it was one that she would acknowledge could be tackled better slowly at a later date.

“As for what my mages bring to the table, many of them are healers.” She continued, addressing his earlier point, beginning in a serious tone. “Whose services off the battlefield could be quite invaluable… Besides, accepting my proposal would mean you would have 190 mages in the service of the Imperial Concord. Who says no to a near one third increase to overall troop strength for one tenth the normal price?” She finished with a mirthful smile.

Overall, her impression of the new King was shaping up to be a good one. He was already in favor of supporting mages. It wouldn’t take much to steer him towards mage centric edicts. Of course she also had to avoid ruining his impression of those with the ability to bend reality to their will.

"A good point. I accept your offer, after all it would be foolish not to. The mages under your command will be very useful in Telmarion; a battle will be approaching soon and Claus Rotstein will have need for more mages" Duncan said as he reached for a jug of wine on the table. As he started to pour a goblet for himself he looked up toward Lanaya before pouring another goblet for her "A toast to our new founded alliance" He finished with a smile.

Lana took the goblet, raising it into the air and added, with a coy smile "To our alliance, and to the new Monarch. May his reign be long and prosperous." Goblets clinked and Lana drank, noting the quality of the wine.

When the glass touched the table again, silence descended. The deal was done, but Lana did not get up to leave. After a moment, she spoke again, this time in a more cautious, guarded manner. "Your Grace... If I may be so bold as to ask something of a more personal nature..."

She began before continuing quickly. "Aurelia has told me often of how good a friend you are to her and I was wondering... She has not been herself for a time. It is quite unusual for her to be so reserved. I was wondering if she might've told you what is bothering her so? I ask only from a desire to help a good friend..." She was both worried she might somehow offend the King, and also extremely curious as to what his response would be. Thus, she watched him intently, picking up the goblet again and sipping it, as much to obscure her face as enjoy the liquid.

Duncan smiled as he raised his goblet in response to Lana's toast before drinking. However as Lana asked her next question Duncan's expression hardened and the smile on his face slowly disappeared.
"I too have noticed her being more reserved than usual, though I am afraid I have no idea why" Duncan lied. Though he couldn't know for sure, but he was near certain that this was linked to his last conversation with Aurelia. "Though I thank you for bringing this to my attention, I will talk to her soon in regards to this. Now if you pardon me I have a lot of things that I still need to do, unless of course you have something else you would like to discuss"? He continued as he quickly tried to move away from the subject.

Lana noted Duncan's swift reply, he was clearly concerned. Yet he was also clearly very eager to move away from the subject. Lana immediately became suspicious - he likely knew more than he was saying, but she also knew that if he hadn't said it upfront, he likely wasn't going to. She knew when not to push. She would just have to press Aurelia more later.

"I see. I'm sure she it's nothing too severe. If she were in need of assistance I'm sure one of us would know." Lana stated, sure that that reply would reassure the King. "That was all I wished to discuss. It has been a pleasure meeting you properly your Grace, and I look forward to when next we meet." With that she stood, bowed once again and left the opulent room, satisfied with the meetings results.