Building Bridges

“What do you think it’ll be like in Candentia besides probably freezing cold?” Shenxin asked, pulling at a small wrinkle in the cloth that went over his left shoulder. He wore his usual clothing for meeting with other rulers, finding it easier to look dressed and princely rather than show up only in his gold laurel. For some reason, others found him more believable and took him far more seriously if he dressed up.

As he finished clipping the armor onto his shoulder clip, Firefly turned to his right to grab his face plate. “I’m not quite sure. I heard the place is pretty extravagant.I just hope it isn’t up in flames when we get there from Radiance’s magic backfiring,” Firefly giggled to himself. Lesser Deity Radiance was well known for being the silliest and clumsiest Deity around. Everyone would say that you never know what to expect from her which could be thrilling but also exhausting.

For the tenth time, Shenxin fiddled with his gold laurel crown, attempting to get it sitting on his perfectly -- always ending up in the same place that it had started at. “I wonder why she had even agreed to meet me of everyone else there is.” He sighed looking up in thought. “I hope I do not disappoint her.” 

“I’m sure she’ll be delighted to meet you, Sire.” Firefly replied, fastening his face armor on. 

Shenxin suddenly turned toward Firefly with his ears pinned. “I thought I told you not to call me Shenxin, Firefly! We’ve known each other since we were kids, grew up together! I think that gives you the right to call you by me name!!” he snapped, probably harsher than he should have.

Firefly simply rolled his eyes and grabbed the pendant Genesis had given him in order to teleport to Radiance’s place and back. “Perhaps I will try to be looser with what I call you when I get back home, however, I do not intend to shy away from formalities while we are there. We must be at our very best to make our best presentation. While it is highly likely that we will alliance with Radiance, there is also a chance that we will not due to how we behave.”

Shenxin let out a long sigh, rolling his shoulders. “Understood.” He eyed Firefly with the necklace, realizing that they both seemed ready to go. “Shall we be off?” he asked.

“As you wish,” Firefly replied, bowing his head to Shenxin before activating the amulet.

Once both Shenxin and Firefly had fully materialized safe and sound without a scratch, a black and white stallion with fiery orange hair stepped up to greet them, “Welcome to Cadentia Prince Shenxin, and I presume this is your Captain of the Guard, Firefly?” This stallion bore no clothing, but it was obvious at a glance that he held some sort of importance by the way the brown white spotted blue-glowing mare beside him looked between him and the two visitors to know what she should say or do next.

The two stallions bowed low in respect. Shenxin then stood up tall. “It is a pleasure to finally meet. I am Prince Shenxin and you are correct that I have brought along Firefly the Captain of my Royal Guard.” 

Once introduced, Firefly nodded at the two. “It is truly an honor to be invited to discuss relations with a Lesser Deity such as yourself.” Radiance let out a little giggle at that statement, most likely because she found it amusing to have such high praise be put on to her, but Firefly was not quite certain.

The stallion that greeted them smiled and gave a small bow in return. “I am Psychomyth, known as the advisor to our -- .” he tried to reply before being promptly cut off by Radiance.

The mare jumped up excitedly and started circling the two. Shenxin watched anxiously as she circled the two popping in and out of existence, sometimes only a hoof seemed to stay in one spot while the rest of the body shot forward, like a glitched teleportation. “My name’s Radiance!” she squealed in delight. “Oh wait, you probably already knew that huh? Well! I’m super excited to meet you and really can’t wait to show you around the place! You have to see the Gardens! Oh and the beaches! They might be made of ice but I promise they’re really pretty! Oooh you know what might be cool to see -- .”

“Radiance,” Psychomyth sighed, grabbing her tail and pulling her back to his side, “please remember what we discussed. Negotiations first, then a tour of the land. Time is short.”

Radiance let out a little “Hmpth!” but then settled in next to Psychomyth. “Fiiiine, but then we have to show them the library.”

“We probably will have to show them the library anyways so they can meet Luxaeterna,” Psychomyth mumbled under his breath, well aware that Radiance had probably already forgotten much of the details he tried to get her to remember about this meeting. 

Radiance seemingly ignoring or maybe not even hearing Psychomyth’s statement pranced towards a gate. “Follow me this way! Psychomyth and I decided it would be best to discuss these matters in one of the courtyards rather than a stuffy room.” Her nose crinkled at the idea of being stuck inside one of the meeting halls. While nice, it was hard to not ignore the faint scent of burned wood. “Since it’s summer right now, the weather is just sublime!” she squealed in delight. It seemed the mare was extremely excited to have guests and show them something nice.

“Right,” Shenxin replied, following behind the excitable Deity. Psychomyth followed along to his right while Firefly hung a little bit back on his left, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Shenxin could feel a ball of anxiety begin to grow in his stomach, he was not sure what to say or do about this situation. Did they expect him to speak first or should he? Usually he would speak first at his own place so that his guests knew the kind of pacing he would like, but he was quite unsure if that was how they did it here or if they far preferred to keep it simple and easy, letting the flow come to them. 

After a few moments of silent walking, Psychomyth cleared his throat, “Ahem, so we are honored that somewhere so far away would reach out to our kingdom for an Alliance. We have many things we could offer you such as -- .”

“Being able to stay here whenever you would like!” Radiance turned around her eyes sparkling excitedly. Psychomyth shot her a look and she stuck her tongue out at him. “But of course I know the most valuable thing we can offer you would be of the magical beings we have here, including myself,” she added on to avoid a scolding from Psychomyth. 

 Firefly raised his head in question at what she was inferring with that last statement. From what he was aware of from the research he had done in order to prepare for this meeting, Radiance was the most powerful being here save for her various offspring. He decided to stay quiet and see if there were any more hints of who this other strong magical being is. Or perhaps he would find out later should they need the help of this being. There was a reason they weren’t stating it, and so he decided it would be best to not push the matter.

Psychomyth turned towards Shenxin questioningly. “While we know it is not a lot to offer, we know that what we are offering is invaluable. So what would you offer us in exchange?” he asked, his head cocked to the side.

Shenxin felt his heart jump into his throat at the question. He really wished that Genesis had given him far more time to think about what to say and offer. His mind raced with everything he could say, but kept drawing up a blank. “I know that we are not as formidable as other lands, but I believe that we could provide your kingdom with not only intelligence of the outside world, but also resources that may be difficult to obtain. I understand that Cadentia is fairly isolated from the rest of the world. We’re happy to provide any information or resources that you may need given that we are in a fairly central location and have connections beyond the scope of our world.” He let out a long breath once he finished speaking, hoping to satisfy whatever secret conditions the duo may have come up with to decide whether to ally with them.

Psychomyth and Radiance shared a guarded look before Radiance spoke up, “What kind of information would you be willing to share? What if we asked you to look into certain situations for us or give us sensitive intel?”

Firefly spoke up for this question, “We would be happy to give most any information that is easily available in our area. Sensitive information such as looking into situations depends on the context and nature of our relationship. We are not fond of meddling with relations unless it is something that will benefit us or we must do. “

Shenxin nodded in agreement. “We do not expect to meddle in your personal relations on behalf of us either, unless it is beneficial to you.”

Radiance seemed to light up at this response and Psychomyth nodded. Finally the stallion spoke, “We’re glad that you care more for your Kingdom’s health rather than becoming our pawns. It shows you’re someone who cares for your people and a worthy ally.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be a good ruler if I was so willing to disregard others,” Shenxin chuckled.He was glad that the question was more of a test of how far they’d jump if asked rather than wondering if they could get them to jump as high and far as they would like.

Psychomyth snorted. “No, you wouldn’t,” he replied with a smile. He shared a look with Radiance and gave a small nod. 

At that small nod Radiance lit up. She leaped up into the air in excitement, some sparks and smoke shooting out of her mouth. As she landed, she stood face to face with Shenxin. “We would love to alliance with you! The reason you gave to alliance with us is the exact reason we were looking for.”

Psychomyth gave a look of sorry for his excitable Deity knowing that it can be overbearing for some. “We are aware that the main reason you want to alliance with us is due to the threat that Aberath brings. Someone close to us has informed us of visions they had of this individual and we agree that this Aberath could potentially be more of a threat than we would like. It wouldn’t hurt for us to alliance. “

Shenxin felt the stress leave his body. “I am honored that you want to alliance with the kingdom of Zaquar.”

Firefly stepped up next to Shenxin and bowed his head at Radiance and Psychomyth. “I am glad we’re on the same page when it comes to Aberath. I am not sure who you heard about Aberath from, but whoever it is, we are happy to extend any help and protection they may need in case he, too, threatens their livelihood.” He looked at Shenxin who seemed to understand his look with the slight nod he gave. “We are of course happy with being able to call upon your aid should we need it if we alliance and hope that holding up our end of the bargain will be satisfactory for such a generous offer.”

“Well,” Psychomyth replied, “we do have one more thing we ask of you in order to have this alliance.”

“One more thing…” Firefly felt himself mutter out loud at the same time that Shenxin was thinking it to himself.

“Yes!” Radiance replied. “Since you are so far, we thought it would be best to have a diplomat from our land in order to communicate with us.”

“I would be delighted to house one of your own, especially one that will help better our communication,” Shenxin replied.

Firefly gave a little nudge and a concerned look at how willing Shenxin was to house a stranger. Of course this wasn’t anything unusual. Shenxin loved to have visitors and often his castle held people from various species and areas. It always made his life so much harder at having to screen them. Shenxin seemed to not notice Firefly’s anxiety at another random stranger being added to the castle grounds. “Will we get to meet this individual before they should arrive at the castle?” Firefly questioned. 

“Yes of course,” Psychomyth replied, seeming to understand Firefly’s anxiety.

Radiance jumped with joy. “Oh yes! I’m so thrilled for you to meet Luxaeterna! He’s the lovely Librarian and often helps out with the land too! I’m sure you’ll get along well! Oh! I’m so excited that we get to go to the library! And then after the library we could go on a tour and take Lux along with us! Oh this is such a perfect thing.”

Psychomyth chuckled. “Yes, it will be such an exciting afternoon now. Let’s try not to tire them out please.”

“Hurry up slowpokes!” Radiance yelled out already far ahead of the group. 

Firefly, Shenxin, and Psychomyth trotted together trying to stay where they could see the Deity who kept glitching in and out of existence as she kept excitedly teleporting. 

Shenxin had to wonder what the rest of his afternoon was going to be like and whether that diplomat of theirs was going to be as excitable as Radiance. He couldn’t help but hope for himself and Firefly that was not going to be the case. As he followed the Lesser Deity to the library, the stress of the alliance completely left his body. Genesis and Firefly was right. He really had nothing to worry about. Now if only he had nothing to worry about for whoever this diplomat was and the supposed tour that Radiance was going to take him and Firefly on. He had a feeling that it was going to be anything but peaceful.