2

Miea sat in front of the elaborately framed screen on her dorm-room desk. Her father had given it to her before she left for university this semester, and it was easily the most ornate thing she had with her. When she protested that she was perfectly happy with the phone the school provided, he offered one of his signature understanding smiles and said, “I want to look my best when I’m talking to you.” The first time they spoke on the phone, Miea dropped the pen she’d been absent-mindedly playing with, and when she leaned forward to get it, her forehead touched the screen. When she leaned back, she saw that her father had touched his forehead to his side of the screen as well, and they laughed for a good minute about it and subsequently started all of their talks that way.

Neither were laughing now, though. For the past ten minutes, Dad been telling Miea about the council meeting that had led to the decision to send a Tamariskian diplomatic delegation – led by her father and mother -to the land of the Thorns. Tamarisk and Gunnthorn, the kingdom to the south, had experienced nonstop tensions for so long that no one could remember how they began. Occasionally, the tensions erupted into something hotter, and this was one of those times. There had been moments in the past few years where it seemed that relations might actually improve. Now, though, this bitter turn made the circumstances between the kingdoms seem as dire as Miea had ever known.

“Do you really think this is the best idea?” she said, wishing her father couldn’t see her face so he wouldn’t have any idea how concerned she was. “Diplomacy seems so futile with them.”

He moved a bit closer to the screen. “Diplomacy with the Thorns is an option we need to exhaust,” he said, sounding much more like the person the rest of Tamarisk knew as the king and much less like the man who used to sing her to sleep and could chortle in her presence at the silliest thing.

Miea gestured with her left hand. “Why can’t you send diplomats, then? Why do the king and queen need make this trip – and why by car?”

Her father closed his eyes and then opened them slowly, the action he always used to indicate she was getting overly exercised. “The prime minister has expressed some willingness to discuss a treaty, and you know very well that he won’t do anything of the sort with anyone other than your mother and me. As far as the motorcade is concerned, we decided that this was a good time to show our faces in the southern territories. You know that the people there feel less connected to Tamarisk City than I would like them to feel. We need to remind them that they’re valued and cherished citizens of our kingdom.”

Miea frowned. “Well, at least you 11 accomplish something on this trip.”

Her father seemed genuinely confused by this statement. “That’s awfully pessimistic, Miea.”

The air felt heavier to Miea. “I’m not saying it to be pessimistic. I’m saying it because I don’t want to pretend that I think the Thorns are capable of compromising. And because I’m worried. It’s been a long time since Tamarisk was involved in a war.”

Her father allowed himself several seconds before answering. “I’m trying to avoid a war, Miea.”

“I know you are, but -”

“ – and the Thorns have ample reason to avoid war as well. In modern times, their aggression has never resulted in anything other than skirmishes because they know they can’t replace what they get from us.”

Miea leaned forward in her chair. “What if they’ve figured it out? You know how brilliant their scientists are. What if they’ve learned how to feed everyone within their borders. If that were the case, then they’d have no reason to maintain a truce with us. If that were the case, they’d have an advantage over us that we couldn’t counter.”

Her father steepled his fingers, looking as professorial as the university lecturers Miea would be spending the rest of the day with. “There’s nothing to suggest what you’re saying. We still enjoy a healthy trade surplus with them, and there has been no decline in our agricultural shipments to them. Yes, their scientists are brilliant. However, one doesn’t simply invent food out of one’s imagination. Growing conditions are greener there. Science isn’t going to be able to change that. Not in my lifetime, your lifetime, or the lifetimes of your great grandchildren.”

Miea knew she wasn’t going to win this argument. She wasn’t even entirely sure why she was engaging in it. If she were willing to be even moderately generous, she would acknowledge that there had been occasional improvements in Tamarisk-Gunnthorn relations over the past few years. The current prime minister was as moderate as any in the recent history of the Thorns. If they were going to make diplomatic progress, now was as good a time as any. She just had so many misgivings about this trip, though. So many.

“Enough about these matters,” her father said, shaking her from her reverie. “When are you bringing that man of yours to dinner?”

Miea’s smile came unprompted. “Bringing a boy home for dinner is a little more complicated when ’home’ is the royal palace.”

“We’ll make it very cozy for him. No more than forty-five or fifty people in attendance at the reception. We’ll make it a quiet event.”

“I’m sure that will completely ease his mind. He was thinking that if he ever showed up, you might make a big deal about it.”

Her father chuckled. “Your sarcasm isn’t going to deter me here. I need to look this young man in the eye. I need to know that he’s worthy of my only child.”

“Right, Dad, you don’t know anything about him,” Miea said, continuing with the sarcasm anyway. “I’m sure you haven’t gotten a report from my bodyguards after every date Dyson and I have ever gone on. How many generations back did you go on the profile of his family, three or four?”

He looked back at her sheepishly. “I’ve done no such thing.”

Miea leaned toward the screen. “You do realize I can see your face, right?”

Her father cast his eyes downward. “I only went back to his grandparents. It appears they’re relatively clean. Did he tell you that one of his great uncles was once cited for picking a flower during the Rainbow Fair?”

“Yes, Dad, Dyson confessed this to me tearfully just a few nights ago,” she said with a smirk. “It’s his family’s greatest shame.”

Her father pointed a finger at her. “You’re not usually this wry with me, Miea,” he said, smiling. “I’m not sure I like what this relationship with Dyson portends.”

“Dyson is not having a bad influence on me, Dad, don’t worry.”

“But he is having an influence on you.”

“Well ... sure.” She couldn’t keep the grin off her face when she said this, and of course her father picked up on it.

“Maybe I need to make a complete overhaul to your security detail,” he said. “Your guards have already let this man abscond with your heart.”

Miea laughed boisterously. “That’s a terrible pun, Dad.”

“You’ll have to excuse me for that. I’m not accustomed to seeing my daughter smitten.”

Miea felt her face warming. “I think we might be better off talking about the Thorns.”

Her father scoffed. “The Thorns I can handle. This Dyson, however, might be too formidable a foe.”

Miea saw an off-screen hand lightly touch her father’s shoulder. He turned, exchanged a few words, and then looked back at her. “I’m needed back in the conference room. It’s amazing how much work goes into a little car trip.”

“I’ll talk to you again before you leave, right?”

“Yes, of course. Until again, my dear.”

“Until again, Dad.”

A moment later the screen softened to indigo. Miea knew she needed to get to class. For some reason, though, she couldn’t stop staring at it.