A special relationship.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

(Benjamin, Alexander and any Captain of the two nations that wish to join. Otherwise PM me.)

The news of Benjamin's successful diplomatic mission quickly spread throughout Unda. It surged an already strong patriotism that had grown after the civil war, people cheered all throughout the country at the victory of regaining some of the fishing grounds.

Unda's media played the entire event spectacularly, one newspaper proclaimed Santo-Luce to be the 'Only friend Unda needed'. Others wrote long columns praising Santo-Lucian-Undian friendship and theorizing how it would grow.

So needless to say, when word came that the King of Santo-Luce would be arriving on the island it made the people go crazy with excitement.

Of course there was the critics of the arrival as well, one particular paper called it a 'move back to the old ways' and quickly advised the government of Unda to 'Send the old ways packing or loose legitimacy with the people'. However, the good thing was that the majority of the people liked the idea of him visiting and were simply shocked that the King himself would come.

Alexander would arrive at the capitol city of Unda and than they'd meet at the castle (the President's new residence was still in construction). Members of the High Senate were waiting to greet him along with the President.

The city itself was a giant festival, Santo-Lucian and Undian flags flew side by side, some people even dressed as Santo-Lucian did. It was simply an insanely large turnout, people crammed the streets in attempt to get sight of the King while the Military forces and City Guards did a great job of not letting anyone get to close to the area.

"If I didn't know any better, you'd think we're bringing in some sort of national hero..." one of the Senators remarked to Benjamin who simply laughed.

Santo-Luce was pretty much a hero to Unda, the first and only nation to accept them was a pretty big thing.

"At ready!" One of the Military officers yelled as Alexander's ship came to port, the armed forces formed a line as they readied for him to come.

[alexanderthegreat]

"We've arrived, your majesty."

Alexander smiled as he received the news, taking a final sip of his half-finished tea before connecting it back to its saucer on the way down to the table. His grin traveled across the table to Zeke who'd joined him in the extravagantly-decorated cabin of soft blue and gold hues, and a fantastic painting or two--one of them done by Alexander's favourite artist who was currently staring at him at the moment with bright green eyes. For the briefest of moments he couldn't help but remember how lucky he'd been to be blessed with such an artsy boyfriend, Alexander had a strong sense of music and poetry and Zeke with unmatched imagination in just about whatever tool he used, any surface he had.

Both men rose from their chairs and headed towards the doorway, Alexander taking special care to check over his white coat suit for the slightest wrinkle or bunching that had been created while sitting and white was so annoying to keep clean but he managed it fairly well. He was going out to represent his country that he always claimed was so 'neat' and 'lavish', he felt it important he gave off that image in himself. After straightening out his gloves he instinctively reached over to his side and gave Zeke's hand an affectionate squeeze, it'd be their last display of love until they returned. Once they walked through the door outside onto the main deck everything between them was a fine display of formality--captain escorting the king on his excursion and nothing more.

Even before approaching the dock they could hear many, many people. Seeing what seemed like waves of them mixed with Undian and Santo-Lucian flags was a little overwhelming, even to the young king who wouldn't dare admit it and instinctively tightened his fluttering stomach while momentarily displaying a highly successful poker face, just long enough to stabilize himself as the welcoming put him a little off-guard; as quickly as it came, the nervousness and light-headedness was suppressed smoothly enough that Alexander could trade his neutral look for his usual bright grin with very little notice.

"Geez, you'd almost think you're important," Zeke teased, voice so quiet it was almost entirely inaudible with the amount of chattering and noise in the streets going on. Alexander's grin widened.

"I am this good looking," Alexander's response was louder than Zeke's, to the other guards and servants around him who heard it appeared more that he was stating this fact openly upon seeing his welcoming party, of which spurred on light laughter and chuckling around him. Zeke's face twisted awkwardly as he tried to stifle his own chuckling with a single thought of 'typical Alex'. None of them needed to know that it was this open statement of his that actually helped him smack his confidence fully into place, a little ego boost went a long way with the young blond man.

They made their way from the ship to the streets, carriage meeting them to take them the rest of the way to meet with the President and his Senate. Zeke moved to watch over Alexander as he climbed up, joining him only shortly after. A trail of guards would follow along to further ensure safety. Everything was going fantastically.

"How are you feeling, your majesty?" Zeke asked as they traveled slowly towards the castle. Alexander was silent for a long moment as he watched the enthusiastic people they passed, finally turning his head to face Zeke to answer him.

"I'm actually missing Holmes right about now. Had he been here, I wouldn't have had to do all that reading days ahead to prepare me for any of this," Alexander said with a light chuckle, knowing full well regardless of Holmes's presence being there or not he should have been doing his research anyway. 'Resources are a king's best friend' or something like that his dad used to say. As far as Alexander was concerned his only resource should have had to be Holmes, that was the man's job, wasn't it? To know things for him? It was a shame there was only one of him, it meant when international affairs were being tended to only one of them could leave the kingdom while the other kept the nation in smooth, working order. This particular event was only a little too big that Alexander had to be here, he had a feeling it'd come off as extremely rude to send a representative in his place.

"You'll be fine; not too much longer now," Zeke smiled, trying to enjoy their ride but knowing he had to be prepared at any moment for anything that might endanger the king. Over the horizon the castle was quickly coming into view.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

Flowers rained onto the carriage as enthusiastic citizens attempted to reach out for it, thankfully this didn't even budge the strong soldiers that were lining the carriage's path. Meaning the only threat to Alexander was the thorns on the roses that were being tossed at him.

The castle gates were pulled open as he arrived, following behind it was a group of young Undian children tossing flowers from behind, lining the dirt with white and blue flower pedals (colors of the Undian flag). The carriage rolled past the sleek Honor guard who stood like statues, the sun glinting off the recently shined armor and weapons.

Finally it came to a stop at the entrance of the palace, a worker opened the door and announced his presence as a General barked orders for the Honor guard to change positions. Benjamin wasted no time, he half way down the line than stopped. It was a symbolic reference: both leaders would meet each other half way, the Media loved those symbolic stuff.

Benjamin's presence was powerful yet calm at the same time, looking very professional as he waited for Alexander to begin his approach, ready to shake the King's hand when he arrived at the 'half way' marker.

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander was greatly appreciating the colourful shower as they rode by, everything was so lovely and in an odd way almost reminded him of home already. Perhaps that was a good thing.

"Almost like a wedding or something, eh?" the amused Alexander commented very lightly to Zeke, who in response turned a flushed face away to watch the other side of the carriage and threw in a quick, "y-yeah, totally." Had Alexander noticed, he would have given the other man a good teasing later for it.

The carriage came to a stop and the door opened, and Alexander could feel his stomach trying to fight back again and give him another fluttery, sickening feeling. He paused only to take another breath and forcefully control it before throwing his head back as he traditionally did before making an appearance in public, something about the way he did it always whipped his hair into perfection and the young people in Santo-Luce always loved seeing it. Alright, now he was ready.

Alexander stepped out and decided to 'show them how it's done'. Head and chin up, shoulders back and fairly relaxed (as opposed to his father who always insisted they be tucked in), hips slightly forward and a smooth, light and elegant stride out to meet Benjamin. By now Alexander was expecting to just shake hands whenever they met or departed, and by now he was sure he had it mastered.

He grinned almost like a little kid, too enthusiastic as he stopped in front of Benjamin and got as close to him as he did--Benjamin had an odd effect on him, easily flustered like he used to be by Seigmand--following precedent Alexander gracefully offered his hand to the man and mentally declared himself a winner. He wouldn't know it until much later that his handshakes were actually still quite weak.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

"Welcome to our country," Benjamin smiled warmly while shaking his hand, "It's good to see you again, King Frexton."

Benjamin took a step forward motioning for him to follow him to the palace, "By the way people are acting, one may think you had just saved the nation from a massive creature of sorts."

He laughed a bit as they approached the Senators, "I've even seen children playing with dolls modeled off you. It's all really amazing, I think."

He coughed into his hand to stop himself from speaking any longer, it appeared he himself was caught up with the excitement of the visit that he completely forgot to ask, "Erm, enough about dolls, was your travel suitable?"

[alexanderthegreat]

"A true pleasure it is to visit your land, President Benjamin."

Alexander followed lightly with Benjamin towards the palace, predominantly keeping eyes on him but still letting in what he could see out of his peripherals; gardens, Alexander loved those. He always felt a good government home needed a sweet and neat garden, not too many colours but enough to arrange something eye-catching and lovely. Something unique, as well.

He kept his facial features fairly calm as Benjamin told him about the Undian citizens' behaviours, dolls and all. It was a great feeling but a little odd, he'd been used to people being excited about something he'd done but never to an extent such as this. He couldn't even remember a time when his own father had something this seemingly big happen. It was good, he figured. Really good, perhaps he'd already surpassed his father and wasn't aware of it yet. The thought of it and feelings that accompanied said thought where the felt good felt also very awkward, almost to the point of being wrong because of how foreign they were. Holmes hadn't been worried, though (not anymore), that was Alexander's sign that everything was alright.

"My trip here was quite enjoyable, I can't remember the last time I've been on the sea," Alexander answered Benjamin thoughtfully, knowing the answer to his own unasked question was a long time ago when Seigmand was still around, before he went missing, "I used to make semi-frequent trips to Roccia when King Dezmar was still in power." His tone was a confusing one, sounding almost bitter but laced with a sadness at the same time to give it its own category--he didn't have necessarily the best relationship with Seigmand, he stupidly thought they were good friends but as he found the older (and clearly more wiser and experienced) man tended to use Alexander's naivety as a handy tool to gather information or some other desired result for himself. Alexander hated the feeling of being used, he hated even more knowing it was actually happening yet he could never pry himself away from the man. It was a sad truth that Alexander found many things he could learn from Seigmand, things that even though he didn't want to admit it he knew deeply he had to learn lest he fail entirely at managing his own nation. It was just lucky he figured that Seigmand never had a need to destroy Santo-Luce in any sort of way.

"It's exciting to come out here to see what Unda is like under new rule. I'm glad your people are as supportive as they are," Alexander added in fairly quickly, desperate to direct the subject back at hand.

[Brea Cao-Wei]

Brea hated wearing wearing metal armour. He occasionally wore lighter armour during combat, but at big social events such as this, he was forced into wearing a proper, shiny, polished plate cuirass that weighed more than he would have liked, for his fighting style it was near useless, but still, it was his job today to look pretty. The other guards were there to protect the Senate, Brea himself could easily handle Benjamin and dispatch anyone who would think about making a move towards the President.

The Captain remained in constant communication with the soldiers on the ground through the use of scouts on the roof's of the buildings. Messages relayed across the town before being passed to Brea via preset hand signals. Already, four potential assassins had been detained, with one more trying to escape from their clutches, forcing the cross-bow armed guards above to take him down. It was a sad thought that such a beautiful event need be ruined by the pettiness and selfishness of others, but such was the way of political events.

Letting out a small sigh, Brea made sure his two swords were properly attached to his waist, and straightened out his cuirass with a small grunt. His blue headband, displaying an engraving of the Undian national flag, rather than the symbol of the Itan-Sha, was already firmly in place. It had been the first thing Brea had sorted out, along with making sure that his blonde spikes were out of his face, he needed to look 'presentable', so the Senate had told him.

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

Benjamin glanced over at his friend, Brea, who was doing his absolute best to look 'pretty' for the rest of Unda. He had to hold back a laugh as he thought about the fact that an Itan-Sha, who faced Duo's army and survived, had been made to fix his hair and wear armor that he was uncomfortable with by men and women who will never see any of the things that Brea had witnessed.

Speaking of those people, as Alexander and Benjamin approached the Senators they did their best to be polite. They weren't sure how they should greet a king, so for a brief moment it was slightly awkward moment before one finally said, "Welcome King Frexton, it is a pleasure to finally meet you."

As the Senators greeted Alexander, Benjamin took a small step back and patted Brea on his shoulder, motioning for him to follow as they finished greeting Alexander and they presumed walking towards the stairs. He looked back towards Alexander, "Unda is doing great right now, the people are happy and are optimistic about the future. I myself am optimistic about the future between our two nations..."

Benjamin paused for a moment as they entered the castle, the grand entrance was decorated with Undian and Santo-Lucian flags that hung from the handrails of the upper level. The noise from outside though was none existent, except for a few guards, they had the castle for themselves for this discussion.

"I hope you have considered the purposeful we talked about early," He said as he led him through the hall and into the throne room, which had been converted into something of an office for Benjamin to use. There was a couple different tables around the room, holding large plates of food for the two to feast on while they worked, large windows brought plenty of sunlight in which was only shielded by the navy blue curtains that hung from them. The actual throne had a blanket thrown over it, during the civil war the throne was wrecked when civilians over-ran the castle walls (which was the beginning of the civil war, it sparked the dissolution of the countries constitution and the quest for a new government). Benjamin ordered them not to repair it, feeling that it should stand as a reminded of the past rule.

[alexanderthegreat]

As Alexander was greeted by the Senators he simply smiled and nodded politely to them, throwing in a quick, "I'm pleased to be here" before he continued along with Benjamin towards the stairs and up to the castle.

Without trying to gawk at anything, Alexander took in the large hall and throne room and noting every detail he could about it. He couldn't remember a time every actually visiting the Undian castle, though considering Unda's track record of leadership it was probably no surprise that his father had very little to do with the country. It was a shame that both nations had always been in close proximity of each other and yet nothing had come of it until now...hopefully, anyway.

"There has been a lot of talk going on about it all, indeed," Alexander spoke slowly, "but we're still going through with it. It hasn't entirely been made official in Santo-Luce yet as we're still figuring out budgeting but everyone is fully aware of major changes to be made. They've been kept happy knowing that their king has something for them, that they're not being made to just give and not receive anything for their efforts and support. It hasn't been easy but it's been going quite nicely."

((sorry dear, I meant to post yesterday but ended up working a 16-hour day D: ))

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

Benjamin took a seat at the table, sitting very casually he took a grape of a vine and popped it into his mouth, "That's good to know..." He nodded, "So you're people are okay with our military using your ports as a resupply center?"

(Yeah... um... sorry for taking six days to respond. Been a long week.)

[alexanderthegreat]

Alexander sat comfortably across from Benjamin, watching as he lightly snacked but made no effort to follow the same suit at the moment. The older man's question sat uncomfortably in him despite his putting on the best effort to show a calmness or neutrality about the whole situation on Santo-Luce's side.

"My people..." he paused for a very long moment, acknowledging this pause was a dead giveaway of something ominous, "...are aware that there is a transition in progress. They will be accepting this."

His hands fell softly into his lap, folding into each other for that brief moment when the voices of the initial announcement was made came back to him, every negative comment he could have ever imagined (and thankfully prepared for in full or in part) came from it.

"Allowing heavy weapons into Santo-Luce's borders contradicts the laws laid by you yourself!"

"Santo-Luce isn't here to support a military that could attempt to overrun us at any time if you let them in!"

"We're not supporters of war, those days are long over!"

The comments and outbursts went on and Holmes furrowed his brows, glancing over to the young king who reacted quite differently than his father would have. Holmes had always been used to the king who stood solid as a rock with hardened eyes and pushed back when the situation started getting too out of hand.
Alexander had quite a different air about him, though. He let them yell, get it out of their system and stood with a solidly cool, calm expression, facial features forever soft and the only sign of any panicked or frantic movement about him was his eyes darting here and there to meet those of the ones who complained. He never yelled when it was his time to speak, or rather when he decided it was--his father yelled, Alexander raised his hands assertively to command silence and undivided attention, having only as much patience as he needed to settle everyone down.

"It's been awhile since we were at war but it wasn't that long ago that you all should have forgotten how important it is for a country such as ours to claim what security we can," was how he started to put the fire out, "remember that in our darkest of hours we managed to seal an alliance with Crepusculum which turned out to be to only our greatest of benefit--they weren't as close as within our borders but we all remember how happy we were to send as many of our own men into foreign territory to support them as they protected us. The problem we had then and still have now is having an actual crisis, a time of war to make us decide that that is the time to act and put together such arrangements when we should always be prepared from the start. If we can all remember that and agree to it, it only proves this decision a highly viable one. We're not strengthened on land but on the sea, we have laws that must be changed and even created to further ensure full-time security..."

The memory briefly went on, quickly re-highlighting the topics of security (being number one on the list), what it means for the economy and its growth, and so on. Regardless of what was said, it all came down to Alexander's agenda being still quite full as now that he'd already introduced such dramatic changes whenever he was called upon to clarify or reiterate (and at times even abolish rumors before they exploded into being dangerous--literally, at times) the specifics of the situation he had to address it personally and immediately. It was good for morale among other things, and Alexander found that if he kept up with it things seemed to move relatively smoothly.

"Honestly things were a little more shaky than I expected, though I can assure you we're accepting this change among several others. Time will be our best ally, that's for sure," Alexander spoke softly but managed to smile now to try to show Benjamin that things truly were going to be alright, "they'll see that the help we give you and your own people here will only help us. We were in your situation once...I reminded them of that as well as the feeling they all experienced when another nation unexpectedly opened its doors to us. I've laid out how important it is for us to never forget that, and that good things come to those who can pass such kindness along."

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

"At this rate I'll be out in the streets cheering your name as you walk by as well," Benjamin said cheerily, in his own private thoughts though he felt a tad guilty of putting the young leader in an awkward position.

Young leader? He may be young but his experience in the field far exceeded his own. Benjamin followed a similar life as Alexander did, being a cousin of the Queen he was taught the politics of the realm and the way they expected him to live but choose to forgo them for an easier life in the country side with his family. He never had to deal with the Sumata problem that Alexander did, and the King did it expertly.

"If it helps at all, we're simply using the ports at the moment to supply aid to Vuoto which is deep in civil war... it's a humanitarian mission." He placed a finger on his chin for a second before speaking again, "Our soldiers are there simply for the protection of our workers and the civilians."

[alexanderthegreat]

"I vaguely recall you mentioning your Vuoto mission before, though I think the problem with the citizens of Santo-Luce is more the scare of what could happen as opposed to what is happening," Alexander answered, directed entirely at Benjamin but his eyes drifted to stare at the wall and gave the strong appearance that he was deep in thought, "my father mentioned before that people react quite unwell, unpredictably even, when you give them reason to be scared. And in those times where there really is very little to fear it's the change that upsets them because they create their own fears from it."

Alexander's voice was still quiet as he glanced back at Benjamin with a smile and continued, "I'm not a genius but I do know that change scares people. It's not me turning loyalties on Trucido Damnedblood again--that was truly a reason to be scared--this is simply a change. I'm not worried about what will come of this, it's just a lot of work to extinguish verbal fires until they settle down."

He couldn't help but chuckle then as he quickly threw in, "It also resulted in me putting a delay on telling them I'll be having to raise taxes soon. Can't do everything at once, it's like playing a constant chess game half of the time. Such is the life of the leader, hmm?"

Alexander said it now light-heartedly, though when it was first shared between himself and Holmes it turned into two-minute laughter, morbidly so because they were laughing at the events that could have happened if Alexander would have made such a silly mistake. Too easy to make, so disturbing if made, and yet they laughed. Even Zeke had mentioned several times that he "didn't get it".

[Benjamin Kírix-Unda]

"The entire world only seems to be filled with empty thrones and the streets of their kingdom appears to be bustling only with the life of rage and blood."

"There's too much to fear in this world, to be honest. Take Roccia for instance; Undian intelligence suggests the government is about to crack down on Protesters in the capitol. Vuoto lies in the heat of an ethic and incredibly bloody civil war, and Chaybls suffered an attack from a creature that provoked a city-wide riot."

"I think people fear change because they see all this happening and fear that their country may be next. However, change is not necessarily a threat... no, it's when things become stagnate is when you must be afraid."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "We're living in a time of chaos my friend and Santo-Luce will be remembered as the country that stood strong throughout it all. In the coming years I predict that things will get worse for Allorum. I beg of you not to let Santo-Luce become a isolationist nation, Crepusculum can no longer be the voice of calm in the world any longer, I predict Santo-Luce will be the rock against the wave of chaos to come."

He sat back in his chair before adding at the end, "I suggest you be ready."

[alexanderthegreat]

Benjamin's message sent a whirlwind of thoughts through Alexander's head again. Just a little over a year ago it was Alexander who needed the help in Allorum, Santo-Luce was too weak to stand alone against an army such as Trucido Damnedblood's and he'd found himself meeting with Queen Milicia Lunestise in Crepusculum--at the time it was the only kingdom that stood strong against the tide. With her and several other royals gone, Benjamin was right.

Who was in charge in the world?

It appeared that by default, Santo-Luce did turn into Crepusculum and Alexander was now the voice of reason in the war-raged world.

"This comes as a message to me that my--our--actions will be what reshape Allorum. A refurbishment project that can go either good or bad depending on how much we care to open our doors to the world," Alexander spoke as he furrowed his brow, "or at least how much we open our hearts to the people in need. We need leaders, they're out there somewhere. Someone just has to be awakened to recognize their potential and then take control. I think that would be the hardest part, is finding the right people for those positions."

He paused for a moment while he fidgeted with his hands, thumbs circling each other gently as he thought it over before he continued with open thoughts, "I wouldn't have a problem sending peacekeepers to some of these other lands. They don't need fighters, they need protection and stability and at least that's what our military could offer..."