Nine Princes and Princesses from across the realms receive a mysterious letter, that they must attend an important gathering of unspecified content; one to be held in a peaceful land which has no quarrel with any of the nobles. Indeed, the ruler there declares no knowledge of the invitations nor that he had ever heard of the sprawling palace where the nine gather with their servants and favorites. What unfolds next surprises everyone involved… -- Deathshead419
Eighteen letters. Each on high-class paper, by the same unknown hand. Each edged in gold and marked with a unique, if small, gemstone. There were no implied matches. Not even in the advance warning to the Duke Phurlydow, so he could make ready to host them all.
He had a magnificent garden, and the weather was pleasant, so he had prepared a garden party and ready the biggest ballroom, just in case.
Phurlydow apologised frequently for the lack of appropriate accommodations. The young heirs to kingdoms were just as confused as he was, and forgave his lack if it meant solving the mystery. Therefore, there were nineteen detectives attempting to crack the case.
"I got mine at precisely nine in the morning," said a Prince. "Nobody delivered it, it just appeared on my desk as I was writing my letters. One blink it wasn't there, one blink it was.
Phurlydow took notes, but did not say anything. The next Princess didn't notice the invitation had joined her correspondence until half-past the hour. There were a few like her who were less observant, but all noticed that the missive had arrived close to nine in the morning.
All on the same day.
All without anyone seeing who delivered it.
Phurlydow had to wonder why none of them were concerned about an assassin getting to them the same way. Obviously an assassin would have done them in without a care, and they wouldn't be there at all. And since none of the security measures thought up could work, they should just be grateful that it was merely an invite.
One held that the entire event was the will of the gods. Naturally their patron god was at the top of their list.
But the purpose was peculiar. Until Phurlydow realised that his little realm was right in the middle of the eighteen polities. Some of whom had been rattling their sabres at others since time immemorial.
This wasn't a meet cute. This was an alliance in the making. A unified ring of crowns to befriend each other at first, and then protect each other from outside forces next. With no one ruler declaring themselves above any others.
Phurlydow, who had always been worried for his little Duchy, would give immense thanks to Shai in the fullness of time. But first... he had to worry about the hors d'oeuvres.
[Photo by Filipp Romanovski on Unsplash]
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