Ozragad watched as the Princess trembled before him, her white fingers clenched around a leather bound tome she had drawn from the shelves. What was this? Fear or anger? Did it matter either way? Just another manifestation of the rift between their peoples, between their countries, and between them as people. Then she spoke and all became clear, it was anger, of course it would be anger. [color=f7941d][i]I should have known that about this Eorzian Princess by now.[/i][/color]

He felt her eyes linger over him as his own did the same. The black lace dress against her pale skin, it reminded him of the gown she had worn the night of the feast, the one that he pictured her in whenever the Princess crossed his mind. How different it was to the bright and gaudy colours he normally associated with the people across the border. There was something almost sculptural about it, the play between black and white, like marble and basalt. Regal perhaps. 

Ozragad wondered then what it was that she thought of him...

Suddenly she looked away from him, at the book clutched in her hands. She was embarrassed? What by? Had she noticed the way he had been staring at her, looking her over? Perhaps she mistook it for a sign of desire. Ridiculous of course, why should he have any desire for an Eorzian Princess, other than for the sake of his people?[i][color=f7941d] She is my enemy, that is I think of her and wonder what she thinks of me, no other reason necessary.[/color][/i] 

He coughed into his hand and broke his own gaze away, walking past her and deeper into the library. When she spoke again and he turned once more to face her. And she was smiling, complimenting him on the great trove of books and scrolls assembled within the palace. The King could swear he that he felt a light flush in his cheeks. Why would that be? He hoped he was not coming down with a fever. 

[b][color=f7941d]"Yes... well.. I cannot take credit for it. This was mostly the work of my mother, and my grandfather before her. I have made few additions."[/color][/b] He frowned then, realising that was not strictly true. There was a large collection of Eorzian literature he had plundered from the Royal Library of Novrandt before he had burnt the rest. Perhaps this was not the best time to mention that. 

The book she held up was one he was familiar with, Ysgollia's Genealogies of the Great Houses, it had been commissioned as a gift to his grandmother when she had wed the House of Gwydion onto the throne of Morganyth. It showed the lineages of all the ancient Formori nobles that still resided east of the Kazadum, and traced the roots of many of them back to the mythic Kingdoms and Queendoms that had once existed where now only Eorzian humans ruled. 

It would no doubt be something of grim read for her. Wait why should he care? [i][color=f7941d]It will just lead to some other fight, some other conflict with her. That is why I care, nothing more.[/color][/i]

[b][color=f7941d]"My cousin has a kind heart. But that is a dry and ponderous tome of history, Ysgollia was a diligent researcher but his prose lacks finesse. I would recommend 'Recollections upon the Queen's Court', less scholarly but a much but more colourful picture of life at court. More recent too..."[/color][/b] He stopped. That book had been written near the start of his reign, most of those it mentioned were dead, and it had been written before her grandfather had even been born.  [color=f7941d][b]"Relatively speaking of course."[/b][/color]

It was his own turn to feel embarrassed it seemed. How long had it been since he had commissioned a new work to sit in here? Some of his retired generals had set down memoirs of his campaigns that they had generously sent him, but he had not chronicled a single year of his reign, not since the war. 

Ozragad coughed and turned away again, pretending to examine whatever collection of books and scrolls happened to be in front of him. Which in this case were... the erotic poetry Idras of Iscarion. His face went pale. Thankfully most of it was written in old High Formori. She couldn't read High Formori could she? [color=f7941d][i]Wait! Why do I care if she could?![/i][/color]

He almost missed what she said, had he heard anything from Eorzia? Of course had heard from Eorzia, he had spies and scouts over the border sending dispatches, as well as envoys riding to and from the capital hammering out the exact terms of the peace treaty, the wedding, the dowry, the alliance that would follow, everything really. Then he saw the downcast look upon her face and realised she did not mean had he heard from Eorzia in that sense. 

[b][color=f7941d]"There are envoys travelling between our two countries regularly now. Lord Chancellor Iria oversees our correspondence, I will no doubt he seeing him later today. I will ask him when I do."[/color][/b]