The palace was constructed out of white stone and had several towers that rose up into the sky above our heads. I remember wondering just how wealthy Serin was when I visited her house back in Dunshelm, but this place easily dwarfed that. Not that it should have been any surprise, Altria’s family were rulers of an entire county and race of people.

The main doors to the place were open and manned by guards that stood silent on either side of the door. They didn't move a muscle as we passed them on our way inside. We were met by a catkin servant as we stepped inside the entrance hall.

“Lady Altria, you’re early.” He said sounding a little out of breath as if he had been hurrying.

“Are we? We did walk here with plenty of time to spare…” Replied Altria.

“Yes, you are a little… Hold on you walked?”

“We did… You mean mother isn’t ready for us yet?”

“She is still getting prepared. Come on I’ll take you through and you can wait inside.”

“Thanks Timothy.”

Timothy led us along the hall and into one of the rooms that led off from it. We stepped into what was easily the grandest sitting room I had ever seen in my life.

“Please all make yourself at home. I’ll inform the queen of your arrival.” Said Timothy.

“Is father not here?” Asked Altria.

“I’m afraid not.”

“I see.”

Timothy left the room and everyone to settle down.

“Do you think we’ll have to wait long?” I asked as I sat next to Altria.

“That depends on mother, she isn’t the type to hurry. Unless it suits her that is.” Said Altria.

As she spoke the door to the room opened and a beautiful catkin woman, stepped inside.

“Unless what suits her?” The woman asked.

“Mother…”

Realising that we had been joined by the queen, Siofra, Serin and I got to our feet. The others bowed their heads, so I followed suit.

“Please there’s no need for that.” The queen said with a waive as she walked to her own seat.

“Thank you, your majesty.” Serin replied as we all sat back down.

“No need for that here. You are all my special guests today and good friends of my daughter. Please just address me as Olentri.” She explained.

I felt awkward as I sat back down. Olentri, Altria’s mother was incredibly beautiful, just like her daughter. But unlike Altria she was adorned in the finest of clothes and held herself with a commanding presence. I couldn’t quite explain it, but she seemed to exude authority.

“It’s good to see you again mother.” Altria said once Olentri had settled.

“You too Altira, it’s been far too long since you last came to visit us.”

“I know… Where is father?”

“Oh, your father… He’s off in our old capital seeing to his business.”

“Must be hard being the ruler. He can’t find the time to see his daughter when she is back home. I suppose it can’t be helped.” I said without really thinking.

Altria turned to me. She had a slightly concerned and confused look in her eyes.

“I suppose I should have explained before we arrived, so this is to be expected. Father isn’t the ruler of the catkin, mother is.” Altria told me.  

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed! How embarrassing.” I could feel my face getting hot as I spoke.

“Don’t be embarrassed. The different races all have different customs when it comes to their ruling classes. The catkin happens to be a matriarchy…. If you hadn’t had it explained to you, then you wouldn’t know. I was trying to be polite when I said business, but he is seeing his mistress there.” Olentri said without a hint of annoyance.

Not knowing what to do, I glanced at Altria for explanation.

“It isn’t a secret, and it isn’t unusual. We told you before, didn’t we? No one thinks anything of that here.” Altria said.

Right, they had said something like that before, but I didn’t realise it was something that was spoken about so openly and even amongst royalty. Olentri looked at my expression and started laughing.

“Sorry, I could help it… I’ve heard of the others and their exploits before, but seeing how little you know of us, can I assume you are the summoned one?” Olentri asked.

“Yes, I’m Theo. I was summoned to this world by Lillia.” I said in reply.

“Ah yes Lillia, of course. Altria hasn’t been keeping up with her duties, so you wouldn’t be hers.”

“I think she has her reasons.”

“Oh, so you are more than happy to speak up for her, even when talking to a queen?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to speak out of turn. I just know that it’s difficult for her to come to terms with.”

Olentri laughed again.

“It’s quite alright. Feel free to speak your mind with me. If anything, I’m glad that she has friends that think highly enough of her to do so. You know she thinks highly of you too. She might not have come to visit for some time, but she still talks…”

“Mother!” Altria interrupted abruptly.

“Oh, looks like she doesn’t want to talk to me about that… Well, there are a few things I would like to talk to you all about, but first please tell me about your quest. I’ve read the guild report, just like everyone else. I would be happy if I could hear the story from you all first-hand.”

“We would happily tell you all about it. Do you have time to hear the whole thing?” Asked Lillia.

“I do. I’ve set aside the time today just for that. Please tell away.”

After that we ran through the events of our quest for Olentri. Each of taking it in turns to tell the parts from our own perspective. We started from setting out from Lintz and explained everything that happened until we returned there. The only parts that were left out were the words that the demon woman had spoken to us and the uncertainty of how she died. We didn’t even need to share glances between us to know that should be left out. The queen listened to our story intently the entire time.

“I see, well it sounds like you all just about made it out of there in one piece. Even if it was a little close at one point. I did wonder if there was more to it than was contained in the guild’s report, but that matches up very well with what I’ve read.”

Did she know we had held back some information? I wondered, Altria had an eerie sense for double guessing things, it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise if her mother did too.

“I hope we didn’t bore you.” Lillia said, sounding slightly apologetic.

“Oh no, no. I wanted to hear it from your own mouths. I always just assume that some events are kept from the record. I suppose it’s unfair to expect to hear every single thing that happens to a party on their quests.”

“We told you everything mother.” Altira said, speaking up for the group.

“I believe you… I must say, I’m particularly impressed with you Theo.” Said Olentri.

“Me?” I asked, surprised.

“Yes of course, you. You managed to bring the demon to her knees and defeat her. Quite the inventive use of your powers too… Tell me, what is your ranking?”

“My ranking? I don’t think I have one.” I said, looking to Lillia for help.

“That’s right, Theo is currently unranked.” Lillia said, confirming what I’d thought.

“That makes it even more impressive. You will already know this, but each of these girls are all ranking adventurers. Even the lowest ranked among them, still appears in the top thirty. They are each an expert with their respective techniques. Despite that, it seems that they were all struggling with the demon, but you managed to deal with them. Very impressive!”

“It was luck as much as anything else and my skills just happened to be effective against her.” I said trying to play it down.

“You do have an interesting skill set, but there is no need to be modest.”

“Well, I know you didn’t call us here just to hear about our quest. What else did you want to speak with us about?” Altria interrupted. She seemed to be becoming a little impatient.

“I wanted to hear all about it. It’s the talk of the capital, you know how long it’s been since something like this last happened.”

“I do, but you’ve heard everything we have to tell you about it.”

“I also just wanted to catch up and get to know your friends a little better.”

“I can tell there was something else that you want to talk about you know.”

“I suppose there is no fooling my own daughter, I was just about to get around to it anyway. The first thing I’d like to ask of all of you. I’m sure you can guess exactly what it is?”

“You want to know when I’m going to summon next?” Asked Altria.

“Of course, I do… If you don’t do it soon, if I don’t do something about it, I’ll be called in front of the council. They will only give me two choices if that happens.”

For the first time, Olentri was sounding completely serious. The only waver in her voice was from the obvious concern for her daughter.