8

Plenium spent several seconds simply watching his daughter’s face. He realized of course that she could see him as well and that she might easily notice he wasn’t entirely paying attention to what she was saying, but right at this moment, he felt a strong need to look at her. He always noticed the combination of wisdom and innocence in her eyes. He always noticed the vibrancy and sense of possibility in the timbre of her voice. For just a few seconds though, he wanted to absorb all of it, to remind himself how important it was to do this. He needed to remember that capturing the essence of his daughter was a vital thing to do whenever the opportunity arose.

He snapped from his reverie when he noticed Miea was no longer speaking.

“It’s worse than even I thought,” she said when he made eye contact on the screen with her again.

“I’m sorry, my dear, I just got distracted.”

Miea frowned. “You don’t get distracted, Dad. The only thing that would distract you is if you were thinking about an enormous state problem.”

“That wasn’t what I was thinking about. I was thinking about how remarkable you are.”

Miea rolled her eyes and shook her head at the same time. “You’re going to need to do better than that, Dad.”

Plenium grinned. “You don’t believe I think you’re remarkable?”

Miea tipped her head forward. “You know that isn’t what I’m saying.” She made a shooing motion with her hand. “What I was telling you, when you weren’t paying attention to me, is that there was a great deal of conversation on campus today about the mission now that you’ve officially announced it. Of course everyone thinks you and Mom are geniuses for making this overture. You’re going to have to teach me that trick. How do you get the entire kingdom to believe that every move you make is the right one?”

“You weren’t at this week’s Kingdom Congress. If you’d heard the accusations the representatives from the Pinzon Merchant Association were making, you wouldn’t believe the feelings about your mother and me are so unanimous.”

“Okay, so not everyone thinks you’re flawless. There have been quite a few rumors, though.”

“What kind of rumors?”

“About what’s happening down south. Some people are claiming that there have been many more incidents than have been reported. I keep telling them I would know about this if there were, and that you wouldn’t be going on a diplomatic mission to Gunnthorn if things were that bad. Of course they respond by saying that this is precisely what I would say if things were that bad.”

Suppressing the media had never been a policy of Plenium’s governance. However, because so much of Tamarisk was agrarian and by nature less connected to what was happening in Tamarisk City, it was possible to keep local incidents local by simply revealing less about them. There had been long conversations about how to treat the spate of recent acts of sabotage, and Plenium, Folium, and their advisors ultimately decided that if there were to be any chance of diplomatic accord with the Thorns, it was essential not to enflame the Tamariskian citizenry. He knew that increasing the wariness the people of Tamarisk had for the Thorns would make it exponentially harder for them to accept harmony between the kingdoms should Folium and he be able to negotiate it.

That wasn’t the reason he hadn’t shared the worst of this with Miea, though. That reason was far simpler and entirely unmotivated by politics: he didn’t want her to worry. At some point in her life, Miea was going to assume the burdens he currently carried. Even once she set foot off campus permanently, she would be responsible for a certain amount of statesmanship along with her career in botany. For now, though, she still had time to experience the pure joy of life.

Folium didn’t entirely agree with this sentiment about their daughter. She believed Miea needed gradual exposure to the political complexities that came with leading the kingdom. Plenium had prevailed in this argument, though, because so far he’d been able to convince the queen that there was always another day to begin Miea’s training as a sovereign.

“Tell your friends I’ll be happy to do a remote Kingdom Congress with them when I’m back from this trip and that I’ll answer any questions they have with complete candor. I’ll only put one condition on such an event.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“That your young man be in attendance.”

Miea chuckled, and it was the most musical thing Plenium had heard all day. “If you were to hold a remote Kingdom Congress, Dad, you’d have to post guards to keep Dyson away.”

“Then I should have thought of this sooner. I assume he’s still treating you well.”

“As well as he was treating me when you last asked three days ago. And since you’ve added to my security detail, you have even more people with whom to confirm that.”

Plenium didn’t realize until that moment that Miea was aware of the extra guards. He’d been briefed about the overreaction at the musical performance, but he was under the impression that only Hensis and Sinica had been involved.

“Increased security for royal children when both the king and queen are away from the palace for an extended period is standard, Miea. This simply hasn’t happened since you’ve been at university. You can check the archives if you’d like. Meanwhile, I’m not going to allow you to wriggle away from the topic at hand.”

Miea smiled at him wryly. “Oh? What’s the topic at hand again?”

“The man who is stealing your heart.”

Miea’s eyes gleamed. “Ah, that again. Well, you can’t steal what someone offers willingly, Dad.”

His daughter’s response set off warring emotions. Plenium certainly wanted Miea to be happy, and he was realistic about the fact that at some point a man was going to have a prominent place in her life. At the same time, though, he’d never heard Miea admit her feelings for Dyson so nakedly before, and he found this the tiniest bit disconcerting.

“I certainly hope you’ll be less obvious with your emotions when you’re negotiating with the Thorns,” Miea said when Plenium had trouble responding.

“Don’t be overly entertained by this, Miea,” Plenium said archly. “You’ll be a parent someday too.” Then his expression softened into a smile. “Dyson really means that much to you?”

Miea’s eyes warmed. “I’ve never felt this way before.”

Plenium wished this conversation was taking place in person. He longed to reach for his daughter’s hand. “Then I’m very happy for you. And Dyson is the most fortunate young man in all of Tamarisk.”

“I’ll make sure he knows that.”

“I would expect you to make sure he knows that daily. I can have Hensis remind him if it’s too much of a bother for you.”

Miea giggled, instantly reminding Plenium of the imagination games they used to play when she was younger. “That’s okay, Dad, I can handle this responsibility.”

“Do you have plans with him tonight?”

Miea leaned toward the screen. “We have plans, but he won’t tell me what they are. He’s being terribly mysterious about everything, which is not like him at all. It’s entirely possible I’m over-thinking this. The last time he seemed to have a big secret, it wound up being a special sprout of toiyabe that he’d been crossbreeding for weeks. For all I know, he’s going to take me into the forest to introduce me to some rare form of fungus.”

“Ah, young love,” Plenium said.

Miea pointed a finger. “No mocking from you, Dad. If I remember correctly, you once courted Mom over the birth of a brood of seapowets.”

Plenium feigned indignation. “That was a very tender moment.”

“As will be my fungus viewing.”

“Yes, I suppose it will be.” Plenium shook his head at the thought of the adjustments he was going to have to make in his mind if Miea and Dyson’s romance continued to develop at the level she seemed to believe it was developing.

As he considered this, an aide entered the room to let him know he was needed for some final preparations for the mission.

“I’m afraid I’m being pulled away, Miea. I’d far prefer to stay here with you discussing romance.”

“That’s okay, Dad. I’m just glad you got a chance to call before leaving.”

Miea knew very well that Plenium never would have left without checking in with her, but he understood what she was saying.

“How many extra guards are you bringing?” she said quickly, as though she thought he was about to signal off in that instant.

“We’re following standard protocol for diplomatic visits.”

“Is that enough?”

“It’s easily three times more than enough. Protocol is nothing if not overwhelmingly cautious.”

Miea nodded slowly. “Overwhelmingly cautious is good.”

“We’re taking care of ourselves, Miea.”

Miea’s eyes flicked up to catch his. “I know you are.”

“We’re going to have great stories to tell from this trip. If all goes as hoped, we’ll have a groundbreaking treaty at the end of this.”

Miea smiled, though he could tell that it was strained. “I can’t wait to brag about it to all of my friends.”

“Until again, my dear.”

“Until again, Dad.”

Plenium reached for the button to signal off the screen when Miea said, “Dad?”

“Yes, dear?”

“The extra guards truly are enough, right?”

“They truly are.”