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[solitaryrose]

This is Queen Anora of Ferelden.

I am not delusional. The lack of a country to rule puts me out of a job. But as a country is not geography, I would like to know whether any Fereldans who survived are currently out of stasis. I have no political power, but I can at least serve as an advocate in these difficult times. I know the proper channels and I'm an excellent negotiator, as you well know.

For the rest of you, I am a volunteer aiding the sick. If there is anything I can do for you, please do not hesitate to ask.

Comments

[solitaryrose]

[There's a stifled smile. Then, there is a quiet, but very genuine, chuckle.]

I know who I am. I don't stop being me just because my career has...hiccuped.

[tummyflowers]

Well, you know it's more than a hiccup, right? Your entire kingdom is nonexistent. Gone. Kaput. The vast majority of your subjects are frozen in metal boxes and no longer subject to your rule. And even though you have a title, you can't actually tell anyone about it or they'll think you're crazy. I mean, that's all fairly clear, right?

[He wants to be sure she's not in denial about this!]

[solitaryrose]

My job is no more, yes. My career has suffered a setback.

[She understates like a true Mac Tir.]

It's not unrecoverable. I'll never be a queen again, of course, but it was never about owning a heavy crown and an uncomfortable chair. That was the realization I had to come to, when I first arrived.

[tummyflowers]

Oh. Oh I see.

[She makes some very fine points, but there's one thing that just doesn't seem right to him. No, not just that, it's outright wrong.]


I had a really comfortable chair. Sort of the first thing I did when I was made king. Lots of cushion and very ergonomic. If you're going to be ruling a kingdom, then you really can't afford to be distracted with a sore back.

[solitaryrose]

[A surprised laugh.]

I'm sure someone designed mine thinking a king or queen ought to be uncomfortable on the throne, to remind them of the burden they bear. Not that it helped.

[tummyflowers]

Wow. Whoever did that did not know what they were doing. Talk about a total braincase there.

[solitaryrose]

[And now, Richard is the first person here who gets to hear Anora laugh. She touches her hand to her forehead, as if she has to hide in order to have mirth. Her father would probably say something similar.]

I agree. A suffering monarch is so much more romantic in theory than in practice.

[tummyflowers]

Speaking as a suffering monarch, there is absolutely nothing romantic about it at all. And it doesn't matter how much you try otherwise.

[Okay so maybe he's thinking of a different kind of romantic, but he tried really hard to make his wife like him. It was suffering all the way down.]

[solitaryrose]

[It takes her a moment to put it together. And it makes her smile even more when she does. This is someone she can relate to. Her tone is a little softer.]

Mine was going to leave me to marry an empress from a country that used to enslave ours. Yours?

[tummyflowers]

Mine convinced my long lost brother to return and usurp my kingdom so she could keep my arch rival as her private playmate, while nearly getting me killed in the process. Which I'm afraid really sort of soured the whole relationship between us.

[And that's why you never go looking for wives in peasant villages. They just aren't suited for marriage, no matter how gentle you are kidnapping them.]