Cemi watched as Amethyst fidgeted in the chair she had conjured for this impromptu meeting; though she couldn’t for the life of her understand why the young woman appeared so nervous? If anything, Cemi should be the uncomfortable one, shouldn’t she? 

After all, once she confirmed who exactly she was meeting with Cemi for the first time in a very long time felt somewhat inadequate. Before her stood a young noblewoman from a family known around the entire world on top of being a saint of all things. Amethyst Lapidary, despite her young age, could very well be one of the most influential people in the entire world, by far the most important person Cemi had ever met face to face, and here she sat in a seat made from dirt on the side of the road… Cemi wasn’t exactly happy with the location when she thought she was meeting with the eldest Lapidary child, but now?

Though Amethyst did seem reasonable at the very least; unlike many other nobles Cemi has met, the young woman appears quite… grounded. A fact Cemi was very relieved to find out when one of the escorts had the audacity to ask for proof of the young woman’s identity! Really, whom else could it have been?

Initially Cemi had her own doubts but the moment the young woman displayed a proficiency with space magic, simply teleporting her gauntlets off her hands before extending one in greeting, it was obvious to Cemi who she was. After all, who would be insane enough to impersonate not only a high ranking noble but a saint? The scorn of mortals is fleeting but the grudge of a god? Cemi couldn’t imagine anyone would be foolish enough to risk it. Not to mention have the skills in space magic to back up the claim. 

It would not have been uncommon for someone in Amethyst's position to take offense to such a question, Cemi could think of a few people off hand that may have even requested payment for such an insult, or worse. Amethyst, however, just calmly produced two separate forms of enchanted identification. The first being an adventure guild card, the golden S-A rank card was no surprise to her, but the other card was something different entirely. 

Along with the adventure’s badge Amethyst produced a second card that looked as if it had been forged from glass that labeled her as the “guild master” of a religious guild inside of Crown. Specifically, the “All-faiths” guild. The former was a common thing anyone could acquire but the latter, that was something even Cemi had not expected. 

The enchanted crystal card was surprisingly simplistic, just like the adventurer's guild-card, it displayed the person’s name along with their most relevant title and position in the guild… Well minus the fact it had the Empire of Crowns royal crest emblazoned on the front of the card. 

To have a royal crest in any capacity was not a simple thing, despite the young woman’s instance that it was not a big deal. Cemi found it hard to believe Amethyst didn’t understand the weight of what she held when she had flashed that card to them. Even as Amethyst tried to explain that a normal religious guild card would display the symbol of one’s faith on the front. 

Since the All-faiths guild was not only considered a scholarly organization, a fact Cemi had not known, it lacked any meaningful symbology of its own. The Queen of Crown, who had endorsed the creation of the guild to show her support, had given her a royal seal on the front of Amethyst's own guild card as a way to solidify the guild's standing. She pointed out that the other member cards for the All-faiths simply had the guilds name, but the queen had insisted that Amethyst’s card be special, as a way to differentiate her from the others. 

What Irithyl did not tell Amethyst, however, was simply having that crest on her card was a way to show that within the Empire of Crown Amethyst was the highest authority on religion, behind the Queen herself of course. Though the Queen hadn’t exactly told Amethyst that just yet, it was just something she had done in preparations for the future, besides Irithyl was certain Amethyst wouldn’t abuse having a royal crest despite the protest of giving such a thing to a child at the time.

Taaffeite was understandably annoyed that the queen had roped their family into more responsibility at the time, but since the position of “religious head” hadn’t been formally created and it was just a “possible” future the queen had been preparing for; she had not pressed the matter. Given the state of the world now it hasn’t exactly come back up between the two; though Irithyl is currently hoping that maybe Taaffeite had forgotten about it. She hadn’t. 

Amethyst hadn’t really figured out the weight of the crest, though she knew it was important, she couldn’t have understood just to what level; after all, both her parents also had royal seals of their own for being Marquesses. It was just a fancy thing that sat on her mother’s desk her entire life, right next to their own family crest. Hers just happened to be on a guild card is all. 

Cemi was thankful the Alagos had followed that other woman into the forest, the man would likely have claimed the two enchanted cards could have been fake; and Cemi doubted this young woman’s patience was endless, she was a human noble after all. They are not exactly known for their understanding dispositions. 

Though that also led to her current confusion. Here was a woman, a high-ranking member of nobility, hailed as a saint, carrying a royal crest… and she couldn’t seem to sit still. “I do apologize for not preparing a proper greeting for you.” Cemi offered as she took her own seat across from the young woman. Despite the smile on her face she couldn’t help the bead of sweat forming on her own brow. 

I have this, Cemi reassured herself in her mind. It’s just like any high stakes meeting in the past. Cemi was no stranger to high pressure meetings, having run a very successful trade company before becoming the chairman of foreign affairs; she has met with dozens of influential people in the past. Hell’s she had even met with one of the princes of Ocelina before this war, and several chieftains of Ecrein. She’s nowhere near as intimidating as the centaur chief… 

Braving a look into the young woman's bright purple eyes, her brow furrowed in what could have been confusion… or anger? Cemi rescinded her mental comment, Amethyst Lapidary was somehow even more intimidating than the nearly 9-foot-tall chieftain. After all, the centaurs hadn’t had the entire Empire of Crown backing them, even without her title as a saint, Amethyst could potentially plunge the entire nation of Felnnor into chaos if Cemi wasn’t careful here.

Then again, Amethyst herself kept saying… odd things. “A proper greeting?” The young woman’s confusion seemed genuine as she replied. “I should be the one apologizing, after all, we did show up unannounced. And you came all the way out here to see us…” She bit her lip as if thinking before continuing. “And Hecatolite kind of… well, I am sorry if my sister offended you, lady Cemilla.” 

Cemi nearly leapt from her seat as the young woman bowed her head. “Please, Lady Lapidary,” she couldn’t help but wave her arms as she pleaded with the girl. “Raise your head, you have nothing to… apologize… for…” Cemi wondered if maybe she had misheard the young woman’s words. “Your…. Sister?” The realization that the strange girl that Alagos had followed into the forest was related to Amethyst herself… She looked far too young to be Alexandrite, meaning this Hecatolite must be the rumored 4th child of the Lapidary family… in the forest alone with Alagos… hunting down a criminal.

 “Please, Amethyst will do fine.” Amethyst didn’t share that even her mom didn’t like being called “Lady”; now that she thought about it, Taaffeite didn’t care for being called anything other than her own name… “And yes, my sister, Hecatolite, is… well she isn’t one to stand on formality to say the least.” Amethyst’s wry smile was lost on Cemi who was certain her heart was about to fail as she sank back into her own chair.  

Cemi swallowed hard, it… it will be fine. Alagos isn’t a fool, besides who better to keep the girl safe than him… and their family is known for being powerful mages aren’t they? I’m sure they will be back any minute now…

Much to Cemi’s horror Alagos and Hecatolite had in fact not returned in an amount of time that would have been reasonable. And though the past few hours had been greatly informative, she couldn’t help but start to worry about the two as the sun crept across the sky… 

“I am positive they are fine.” Amethyst reassured her as she looked to the elven woman who had been introduced as Eryl. “Right?”

“She’s still wandering around north of us.” Eryl replied bluntly. 

Cemi didn’t know what to make of the elven woman who had stood off to the side as the two of them talked. Cemi was unsure why Hecatolite had asked her to translate for them since they both spoke Solresol... 

Does she have some form of tracking spell on Hecatolite? Cemi eyed the woman, still trying to make sense of this strange dynamic the three women had displayed. Why would she do such a thing?

She hadn’t had much of a chance to speak to Eryl, or the other woman while talking with Amethyst. But neither woman strayed far from their side, both had even interjected several times much to Cemi’s surprise. Eryl reminded Amethyst that Crown and Felnnor were in fact very distant from one another, and she needed to consider that in any plans to collaborate with one another; as well as the occasional update on Hecatolite’s position relative to their own. 

The other woman, Himari, had actually put a stop to their conversation completely when it was lunch time, though Cemi was confused why the woman seemed more concerned about her and the guards rather than Amethyst. The dark-haired woman had all but demanded Cemi change out of her heavy robes, something along the lines of “making me sweat just looking at you”, and threatening to “whack” her over the head with her cane if she didn’t put something more sensible on. Then again, Cemi had been rather flush by then, having spent the better part of the afternoon sitting in the hot sun so she may have misheard.

She had only been slightly embarrassed to learn that though the heavy robes she had chosen were in fact high end traveling clothes from Crown, they were winter clothes… and out of style apparently. 

That did lead Cemi to ask about Amethyst's own armor though, hoping to emphasize her own choice of attire. 

Cemi should have expected the armor to be enchanted, Amethyst was part of the Lapidary family after all. Of course, her armor would have been more comfortable than any run of the mill travel clothing. Though Cemi did feel bad when Amethyst had apologized again if she had offended her, not to mention Himari’s offhand comment about Hecatolite’s retaliation if anyone tried to take her sister's armor off. She would eat her hands? What a weird saying, must be a human thing.

It was after that Amethyst and Cemi finally relaxed enough to have a proper conversation; Amethyst admitting she was not actually in Flennor on official business of any kind helped a lot in alleviating Cemi’s concerns, though it did bring up the question on how someone accidentally ends up on the opposite side of the world from their own home. However Cemi was not brave enough to ask.

Once that was stated however, Cemi was able actually learn quite a bit about the young woman in the short time they had. Amethyst was, much to Cemi’s surprise, rather…. Normal, all things considered. She had wanted to make contact with the council because she felt it was her duty to do so, even if she herself was unable to make an alliance on her own she had said, “I can’t just not do anything. If I am here, I can at least tell you Crown is open to the idea.” 

Cemi was taken back by the girl’s passion, but also respected the fact in all the time they had been talking not once had Amethyst brought up any of the various religions. Even when speaking about a potential alliance she didn’t try to leverage the gods as many in her position would have done, hell’s the girl hadn’t even brought up the church of Valor which is no doubt the cause of all this turmoil. 

Instead, Amethyst had tried to speak of the potential benefits of an alliance, though Cemi had to admit the young woman was… optimistic, in her predictions. But Cemi had found the entire experience refreshing. Amethyst, despite all her worldly pull, had shown herself as an intelligent hard-working young woman who was just out trying to do what she thought was best. Or that’s at least what she had shown to Cemi.

She knew it could have all been some elaborate lie, something to get her to let her guard down but something about Amethyst’s naivety was endearing to Cemi. It wasn’t that she just believed her words, Cemi had found herself actually wanting to believe her. She wanted to think that someone who appeared to genuinely want the world to be a better place could have just stumbled into a position of power as she had. 

And though Cemi found it hard to believe that a saintess from another nation had come to this land on complete happenstance she did feel Amethyst really was just trying her best. Although one thing did grate on Cemi’s nerves, Amethyst apologized… a lot. Not just when Cemi had corrected her on a few points during their talk, nothing major, just a few little things about Felnnor or the cost of transport, things that Cemi only knew because of her position and had no expectations that anyone else would have known otherwise. But about other things, like being unable to answer some of Cemi’s more specific questions. 

But the biggest one of all that bothered her was Amethyst's insistence that she should have been able to do more. Apologizing that she herself couldn’t sign an official agreement between the two nations; though neither of them knew the royal seal on Amethyst guild card could be used to form such an agreement. Eventually Cemi had been… just a little fed up with it. 

Here was a girl, who somehow on her own power ended up on the opposite side of the world from her home and one of the first things she had done was tried to make contact with the ruling party simply because it was “the right thing to do”? who despite Astari’s transgressions against her and her group, a topic they will have to spend much more time on once Alagos returns hopefully with the man in question so Cemi can have a word with him, still extended an offer of honest hospitality to her people. 

If Amethyst Lapidary hadn’t already been deemed a saint, Cemi may have thought her an angel. And here she was apologizing because she couldn’t do more?

Maybe it had been the overly familiar way the two had been talking for the last few hours but Cemi couldn’t help herself. “Stop apologizing,” it wasn’t her place to speak so bluntly to someone like Amethyst but… “There is always more work, more that can be done, things that you will not be able to do. So stop saying sorry for the things you can’t do but instead take pride in what you have done. Amethyst, you are the first person from the Empire of Crown to appear before a council chairman in my lifetime, to travel across the entire world to try and form an alliance is no small undertaking and yet here you are.” even if it wasn’t Cemi’s place, something about this young woman struck a chord in her heart. Like speaking with her own daughter Cemi felt the need to… reassure her. 

“Sometimes, Amethyst, you have to be ok with just being the messenger, to be the one who can set the ball into motion even if you wont be the one to see it cross the finish line.” Cemi sighed, suddenly feeling every bit as old as she was, “ And I believe that you are in a very special position, maybe not to make what you spoke of today a reality but give it to those who can. The moment I get back to the Great Tree I will begin setting up an expedition to go to Crown myself to formalize this alliance and…” Cemi paused when she heard a strange sound…

The others had clearly heard it as well as everyone started looking around… “is that… crying?” Amethyst asked, looking back to her companions for confirmation. 

Eryl’s ears lifted as she stared off into the distance… “I think it's…” 

Cemi didn’t see what happened, one moment she was looking at the other Elven woman the next Eryl was laying flat on her back as a crying Hecatolite sat on her chest clutching what looked like… is that a skull?

“Eryl!” the small girl whined as she clutched the strange skull in her hands, “you told me I couldn’t enchant it and… and… it broke!” and just like that all the seriousness of Cemi’s declaration was lost as Amethyst appeared next to her sister and tried to console the other girl.

It may have been a welcome distraction as the tension left Cemi, the worry that something may have happened to the strange girl within the great forest; but still.  She sighed as she settled into her chair. Having been caught up in the young woman’s passion reminded Cemi that, just as she had said, there was always more work to do. but maybe, when all is said and done; it will all be worth it in the end.