As both Allie and Cyrus made their way down the halls towards Princess Andaret's throne room, Cyrus asked Allie, "Hey, what's this whole Union about anyway?" Allie's shot open as she exclaimed, "Oh shit, that's right! I didn't tell you that! Alright, sorry, here's the deal - basically, it comes down to a case of marital affairs between my father and Andaret's mother." Cyrus was confused, so he said directly, "Wait, I thought your father was already married. What happened to your birth mother? The Queen of Abon?" Allie rolled her eyes and sighed, "Yeah, she's a real piece of work, alright. Look, I'm not gonna into the whole list of stuff she did over the past few years - what matters is that tensions built up between him and her, and it resulted in a... night of passion between my dad and Andie's mom." Cyrus couldn't help but wince a little. "Uh, too much info there, Allie." Allie snickered, "Right, sorry."
"Anyway," she continued, "the two of them had an affair - or, rather, my dad had an affair with Andie's mom, Queen Stefanianna. Steffie's husband, the Late Great King, had only died a couple weeks prior to having meeting up with my father for a business meeting. Now, she was emotionally vulnerable, my dad's always been a compassionate man, they started to open up to each other, bing bang boom, the rest is history." Cyrus nodded in understanding. "Go on," he told Allie. "So, fast forward to today," Allie continued, "and now both kingdoms are at risk of a full-on war over this scandal - at least lots of shouting, finger-pointing, and he-said/she-said. Regardless, there's some civil unrest that will result from this - so, Steffie proposed the idea of the Union to my father, and he thought it was a good idea. But, that's only the first step." Cyrus responded, "Then what's Step 2?" Allie said, "Well, Step 2 is for them to get married once the Union is complete, and then rule over the newfound kingdom together - they're not officially an item just yet, and that's why this needs to be kept quiet. If word gets out about their little hook-up before the Union is set into motion, it makes both sides look bad - like the marriage is just a sham." Cyrus couldn't help but blurt out, "But isn't it, though?" Allie stopped walking, and Cyrus did so as well a couple seconds later. Allie's face was unusually serious - she wasn't mad, nor was she sad, just stern. Cyrus turned to face Allie and said, "S-Sorry, I just--"
"It's OK - it's a good question," Allie assured Cyrus. There was a pause before Cyrus replied, "So, you don't even know, either... do you?" Allie closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "That's actually part of the reason Andie and I don't get along - she doesn't trust my dad... and I'm not sure if I trust her mom. Not ye, anyway." Cyrus started to put the pieces together in his head. OK, I'm starting to see the big picture here, he thought silently. So THAT'S why it concerns the two of them - if they can come to some sort of understanding, then some of that tension can be eased between both them and maybe even their parents. And if THAT happens, the Union can proceed as planned. Now, the question is, even if those two DO make up... where does that leave the King and Queen?
Allie started walking again, and Cyrus followed right beside her. "Cyrus," she said, "what do you know about Steffie? Or, rather, the Queen?" Cyrus said in earnest, "I don't know yet - I haven't actually met her myself. I've only met Andaret so far... but..." Cyrus started to trail off, thinking of his next words carefully. "But what?" Allie asked in silent anticipation. Cyrus looked into Allies eyes and said, "But I choose not to believe that she's a bad person - not until I can see something that can prove otherwise. I believe that it serves no one to assume the worst of people, especially if you don't know them. That goes for both her and your father - I don't know either of them... but I choose to think that they're good people." Allie stared back into Cyrus' eyes before she started to smile. "That's... that's a pretty good way to look at it," she said back at Cyrus. "I hope you're right."
"I do too," Cyrus stated, right as the two of them reached the doorway to the Throne Room. Cyrus cleared his throat and said, "Well, here you are - this is official business, so I'm gonna stay out of this. See you afterwards?" Allie smiled and nodded, saying "Yeah - see you later, Cyrus! It was nice get to know you more." Cyrus smiled back and said, "Likewise, Allie." With that, Allie entered the Throne Room, closing the door behind her, and leaving Cyrus alone outside, keeping watch.
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About half an hour had passed, and nothing noteworthy had happened in all that time. Cyrus started to get lost in his thoughts. Man... Allie's something else. I've never even HEARD of a Princess quite like her, let alone even thought I'd ever meet one. She so much more... casual than I expected out of royalty. I actually kinda FORGOT she was royalty while talking to her. Cyrus laughed to himself as he continued thinking, Guess that's not too hard to imagine - after all, she's gassier than probably all the men I've ever met in my life. COMBINED. But, that's what you get when her is supercharged with Slyph's magic, I suppose... that's still crazy to think about, even after she's already told me all about it. It was then that Cyrus started to blush slightly, thinking, Damn, and her butt too... it really was pretty cute... H-Hey, alright, Cyrus, try not to be a creep. Besides, do I even really LIKE her all that much? Does she even like ME all that much? She's probably not even my type... even if I DO have a thing for girls with freckles. Cyrus' face then started to fade into a frown as he thought, Although... even if I DID like her that way, would I be willing to put with her farts all the time? Sure, they didn't bother be back when she helped me, but what about later on? Maybe I can only take so much of her at once.. and, that wouldn't be fair to her. She deserves a guy who can treat her better than that... provided he CAN stomach the smell.
Cyrus' mind hung on that word, "smell," and his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Speaking of smell, Andaret's probably gonna blow my armor off, she'll be so mad... that's a lot of gas to take all at once, and apparently, it's only gonna smell even WORSE than it did before. Ughh... I'm not sure how long I could take something like that - so much has already happened in less than a week, what'll happen in 20 days? I might as well kiss my nose goodbye - I can't leave even if I wanted to. The guild would never let me work again, not after denying to work with the PRINCESS of all people. Cyrus then let out a heavy sigh. Well, I'm stuck here no matter what... might as well make the most of it.
Just as Cyrus finished that thought, he glanced over to his right and noticed something - or maybe someone - over at the end of the hall heading towards another part of the castle. At the distance he was standing at, Cyrus couldn't tell for sure, but he thought it looked like:
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