Zeke Constantine, for being a favored name on her list of potential husbands had surprisingly little biographical information for Herbert to gorge himself on. He’d given Alarice a thorough report on all the ones who possessed meatier profiles but for the green haired, third-realmer there was little more than mystery. But what a mystery it was. That anyone from the third realm at all should have been considered by someone as King Orion was enough to draw her attention. Their impromptu meeting aside, she didn’t have much to go on yet but it was still just the first day.
“You would be wise to pretend your current garb is beneath, not above you. I’m afraid Licia is…very critical of its nobles. There are hardly any who escape its discerning eye….” The advice, gently spoken and well-intentioned gave away a little more than the brunette royal wanted it to. Then again, most things did these days. “…It makes it so hard to breathe…” She whispered in a moment of unusually open melancholy, referring less to the slim fitting gown and more to the abounding pressure of her blossoming responsibilities. His small joke was far away enough from the feeling that it made her laugh; the sound rousing nightflying birds and sending more leaves tumbling down around them. “The tree and the flower?” She suggested with a small smile, her hands reaching up to remove the offending foliage from his similarly tinted hair. “Growing beside a lake while the rest of the world spins on in there? It does sound lovely, doesn’t it?”
Heaving a dramatic sigh, Alarice allowed herself the lazy comfort of the earth – rolling herself downwards until her exposed back was flat against the mossy ground. Trees refused to grow near the perimeter of the lake, leaving a window through their canopy where one might stare at the twinkling stars above. “Do you miss the third realm?” She asked, longing for word of some place other than where she had spent her life for the last decade-and-more.