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luverofralts · 2 years

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Arkhelios University

“Duke Goldman! How lovely to see you again.”

Maura kept her tone polite as she’d been trained to do since birth. The day had already been incredibly long, and it was barely over. After the duke’s visit, she still had several more appointments and a meeting to go through that she was dreading. It was a beautiful day out and despite ruling a country, Maura wasn’t free to go out and enjoy it. While other people got to swim or take long walks on the beautiful beaches of Twikkii Island, Maura would be reviewing graphs and approving budgets. No wonder her grandmother had been miserable to her family; the job as monarch felt more like a prison than anything and it took all of her strength not to run out of the castle in defiance. This was her job. She had a nation to protect and she knew it. It was all up to her.

“It’s great to see you again, Your Majesty,” Ewan Traver, Duke Goldman said with a smile. “I know you’re busy, but I had something I wanted to discuss with you. A close friend of mine thought he might be able to help with your initiative to update the palace gardens. I know you’re looking to maintain security while still having the garden look impressive and I thought....”

Maura tried to retain the smile on her face while still looking interested in talks about the back gardens. Couldn’t any of her family members just come to her like they had in the past? Did she really need to listen to a grand proposal about lawn care? Ewan had fun; she often saw him at the family cottage laughing and playing with his wife and kids. He had a small estate to run and all the time in the world to do what he pleased. When she and Ulyssa had children would she ever have time to play with them or would she be stuck in meetings all day?

“King Charley and Prince Vrai of Strangetown have arrived, Your Majesty,” a voice behind Maura interrupted. “Security is just clearing them now.”

“Thank you.”

What was the Strangetown king visiting about? Maura could hardly remember. Something about their shared security treaties? The upgrades to the ferry service between their two nations? Whatever it was, it would undoubtedly be tedious.

“And if I had even a limited contract, I’m sure that I could improve those statistics in as early as three months.”

Maura focused again on the man eagerly awaiting her response and smiled.

“Submit that proposal in writing to my office and I’ll have someone evaluate it,” she replied politely, completely unaware of what had just been proposed. “It certainly sounds promising. Thank you for your time.”

Ulyssa happily played on the drum set in the ballroom, feeling her frustrations leave her. She was supposed to be en route to the home of the recently revived Duke Siew, but his estate wasn’t far from the castle and Ulyssa would simply teleport there instead of drive. Teleporting meant that her security would teleport with her and she wouldn’t have to spend twenty minutes in a car, staring out the window while four armed guards watched her. It wasn’t as if there were any real threats to her safety. Most of the recent “threats” had all been fraudulent- bored people looking for attention or teens who underestimated the reaction of the castle. And her doctor’s appointment after seeing Adrian? That would be a breeze to get to; what would be hard was protecting any conclusions of that appointment.

“King Charley. Prince Vrai. Welcome to Twikkii Island.”

Maura forced a smile. It wasn’t like the two brothers from Strangetown were difficult people. Maura usually enjoyed their company at balls or formal events, but did they really need to visit and add one more appointment into her schedule? Surely a secured phone call or email could have been just as effective and she could have read or spoken to them in more comfortable clothes and without a heavy tiara.

“Your Majesty,” both brothers replied in unison, Vrai quickly bowing to the queen with higher rank.

“Shall we sit down to discuss your business with Twikkii Island?” she asked, gesturing towards the comfortable chairs in the throne room. “I can have some drinks brought in if you’d like.”

Maura watched the prince’s eyes dart around the throne room, clearly uncomfortable with standing in it. That made some sense to Maura as Vrai was once married to her now deceased grandmother and had probably spent countless hours in the throne room with the woman he loved. As far as she suspected, Vrai had been the only person her grandmother had ever loved, though Maura’s mother would have angrily corrected her if she were still here. But her mother wasn’t there. She never would be again.

“On second thought, let’s move our meeting to my office upstairs,” the young monarch said tactfully. “It would make my security team much happier and I’d much prefer the change in scenery from this room I’ve been trapped in all morning.”

Both men nodded their approval and followed Maura out to the hall towards the staircase. Vrai paused briefly, looking very much like he was evaluating something in his mind. After a moment’s pause, he cleared his throat and looked sheepishly toward Maura.

“Before we do have our meeting, there’s something I should mention,” Vrai announced quickly. “Someone is here- someone I didn’t bring, you have to know that. They usually follow me around -long story- but I didn’t bring them here. They’re not a threat-or at least they’re not usually a threat, but you should still probably know that they’re here all the same.”

Maura raised an eyebrow, suddenly interested in where this conversation was going. Beside Vrai, his brother groaned, massaging his temple.

“Oh god, here too?” he groaned. “Where?”

“The visitor entrance near the parking lot,” Vrai replied. “I couldn’t be sure until I saw the kid. It’s definitely him though.”

“Him? That’s against the treaty!” the king sighed, looking towards the door they’d just entered through as if it could explode at any second. “Why did we ever sign the agreement if they never intended on following it?”

“I told you that you can’t make a deal with a tornado. Order is against its very nature. You can’t order a god to listen to you.”

Maura stared at the brothers, completely lost.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” she said diplomatically. “Are you saying that we’re in danger?”

“No,” the king replied. “But your jewelry might be. Usually their husband makes them return it within a week, but they’re like a magpie, always on the hunt for shiny objects to hoard. How lucky for me that they’ve chosen my brother as their newest pet.”

“What?”

“Smile, Davis! Daddy will want to see all the pictures from our tour of the castle. We’ll get him a keychain from the gift shop when we go for ice cream.”

“No need. Daddy can come along with you for ice cream, after we all do the tour.”

“Daddy!”

The pale, stereotypical tourist groaned, realizing that they’d been caught.

“Who told you?” he demanded, holding his arms defensively. “I brought our son, I’m not going to do anything with Davis around.”

“No one needs to tip me off; I just wanted to spend some time with you. Although, the red hair and glasses you use in most of your disguises certainly helps.”

Death stared at his spouse kindly and Lukas sighed dramatically in response. This was a game they frequently played together, a playful game of hide and seek of sorts. Lukas would frequently get into trouble among the humans, and then wait for Death to come “stop” them. The living mortals were often frightened by the game, adding to the legend of Life and their constant struggle against Death. To the two deities however, it was simply how they flirted with each other.

“Dearest, you know the agreement you made with the living,” Death continued. “I’ve caught you fair and square, now you must use the form their security officers have been made aware of. I’m certain that you’re not going to try to steal their throne for yourself, but you know how they worry. The children need a positive role model while they’re young.”

“You steal a throne once and they judge you forever,” Lukas grumbled, waving their hand and transforming into their feminine form. “Here you go, right down to the clothes in the security alert. You ruin all my fun. The queen has the most beautiful set of earrings I wanted to try out.”

“Next time,” Death promised with a laugh.”I’ll try to arrive a little slower if you promise to put more effort into your disguise. For now though, let’s just have a nice outing with our son. I may even try to consume the mortals’ desserts that you love so much.”

Ulyssa wandered through the hallway of the living quarters listlessly. She had a long list of places to be and people to speak to, but she struggled to find the energy. She was just so tired and there was just so much to do. At least she had a reason to be so tired, aside from the long hours she kept. Her doctor’s appointment had confirmed what she had been hoping. She was pregnant.

She tried thinking of romantic ways to tell Maura know this news, but she struggled. The way things had been between them since Maura’s coronation, a text might be the fastest way to tell her this news. Before Maura’s coronation, Ulyssa could have planned a romantic dinner or made a card or surprised her with a box of baby clothes. But now? Maybe she could tell Maura when they went to bed together. Maura was usually first to fall asleep though. Maybe a note left on her pillow?

Ulyssa sighed at the thought. How unromantic. She stared at the many photographs on the castle walls with new respect. A small piece of all the people who had lived in this castle before her was now living inside her. Ulyssa carried both Twikkii Island’s past and future inside of herself which was an overwhelming thought. All of these people had made Maura and walked down these same halls. She was bringing the Durant family into this crowded bloodline in a way that she hadn’t understood until this moment. She was going to be a mother.

“There’s not a lot of new pictures posted here. I figured that Maura would have the walls covered with all of the pictures she takes, but I guess she’s busy now.”

Ulyssa turned around to find Trent alone, standing behind her. Cindra wasn’t anywhere that she could see, but if Ulyssa knew her sister, Cindra would be down in the kitchens, grabbing the pastries Ulyssa had smelled baking earlier.

“She doesn’t take a lot these days,” Ulyssa replied, grateful to see a friendly face. “Plus it feels wrong to take these pictures down. They’re historical. This whole place is historical.”

“These are my grandmother’s pictures,” Trent insisted. “These are all the people she knew and loved. There’s not even a single picture of me up there, or even your wedding photos. It’s time for you to make the space your own. This is your home now; we just live here. Have some fun in your life. I promise you, Grandma’s not going to come haunt you if you change the lamps in the hall.”

Ulyssa smiled at her brother in law fondly.

“You’re right,” she said. “There has to be some upsides to living here. You’re a good guy, Trent. If you hurt my sister though, I’ll have you murdered. Don’t think that that’s a joke. If I don’t, then my dad will.”

The two laughed together and Ulyssa could feel the slightest bit of peace flare up inside her. She had a loving wife and would soon have a child that they would love together. She had so many good things to look forward to and a family that would support her through the rough patches. For the first time in months, the future looked bright.

#sims 2 #arkhelios #arkhelios university #ulyssa durant #trent siew #sim: Trent Siew #maura siew #sim: Maura Siew #vrai toyonaga #charley toyonaga #lukas lane #davis lane #sim: ewan jr traver #Ezra hope

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