Narda smiled and took his hand. "You shall have your sunset then," she said, leading him back out. She told him stories about the castle, about her family crest. "They say the first of us was a titan who walked among the first of the great beings of Amria. The dragons that would later sire the Wyverns, the element spirits who would make pacts with the first of mages, that sort of thing. Or perhaps we are just freaks of nature, given how the wards don't find magic in me. Which I find I like." She shrugged.

She walked with him outside, towards the gardens, where a pavillion stood, overlooking the meadows while providing shade. She described the sight to him until they reached the pavilion. Once they were comfortable on the seats, she held his hand in both of hers. "I haven't brought such pleasant company here in a while. Not that my good friends aren't wonderful company, but they are a rather excitable bunch, as you have seen." She chuckled. 
"Now, how does the magic work? Will I feel it?"

--

Kire laughed at his remark about the royal stores. "If I knew you liked that better I should have probably paid in silver," she teased back. She sat at a table while they waited for their drink, pondering his question. 

She shrugged. "All of it. The forest. The fire. Etta. And how long this will all play out." She frowned, crossimg her arms over the table, then slumping over it, resting her chin in her arms. "If I don't figure it out and get things in order in less than a decade, I'd just feel like a selfish shithead for choosing to abdicate then. And I already feel like a selfish shithead for even thinking about that while my people are suffering in uncertainty." She huffed. "Alternatively, I can abdicate sooner, leave Jan with the administration stuff while I focus all my energy on this."