In the present...
As the memories of the meeting's earlier events cease their assault on Tessa's mind, she snaps herself from her daze, reminding herself of her new environment post-fainting.
Once again focused on the present, she notices that everyone in the room is quietly staring at her with expectant expressions. She realizes that she's probably just been laying in silence for quite some time since waking.
It's not hard for her to imagine that she's been unconscious for quite some time, given the change in location, so she quickly sits up properly on the couch, trying to gather her bearings. Then, she clears her throat nervously.
"Ehem...sorry, have I missed anything? While I was...out." (Tessa)
To her surprise, Mizuki hands her a plate with kur'kes and a tea cup on it, meeting her gaze politely. She accepts it with a stunned expression, and he nods at her before moving to answer her question.
"Well, you actually missed several things.
"Essentially, with you and Lord Jorah indisposed, the rest of us quickly realized that discussions about my and Ilina's marriage were pointless until you rejoined us. So, I teleported everyone back to the royal palace, you two were moved into this room for your comfort, and a guard was left to monitor you.
"In the meantime, the rest of us met to iron out the details of a few minor topics that we mentioned earlier but never reached a final decision on. Your respective heirs participated as proxies.
"However, first, I had to clarify my status as an alien and a Nephilim. Helena and other regular elves weren't keen to move on until they were also brought up to speed about what your people know about Nephilim from your fables. I insisted on waiting to discuss further details about my race and origins.
"With that out of the way, there were questions about the trains and MMCs that I agreed to build for the other nobles, in the event that you all decide to support our marriage. Regarding the details that were decided upon, well..." (Mizuki)
Mizuki turns to Ilina expectantly as he trails off. She nods and fixes Tessa with a very stern gaze, her voice broking no argument.
"Allow me to explain. I've asked him to build a single train system for each noble that connects Avalon to their capital city, where your family homes are located. I've decided that those trains will be managed by the royal family, specifically me. All train operators will be hired and paid by us, and approved by Mizuki and Nina.
"At no time, ever, will the nobles or those in your employ have direct control over the trains' enchanted items, and Alara's current train operators will also be moved under the royal family's employ. To make clear the severity of this expectation, tampering with the trains, trying to study them, or interfering with a royal train operator's job will be officially ruled as high treason, punishable by death. I have the Queen's full support in this matter."
Tessa, who's largely stunned by the influx of clearly important information, glances at Elira inquisitively out of habit, causing Ilina to pause her explanation. Elira merely nods seriously to confirm Ilina's words, then Ilina continues speaking.
"With my threats out of the way, let me also confirm that all profit generated by the trains will still go to the noble whose territory it connects to. We will also leave you – within reason – in charge of deciding on the fares for your train system, setting operating schedules, and negotiating any kind of cargo shipment deals with merchants. We will only be responsible for the trains' direct operations.
"As for the MMCs, Mizuki will build exactly one per noble, in your family homes, in a private room that you can assure the security of. To start, the items will only be capable of receiving messages from the royal palace, not sending them. That will allow our Queen to instantly summon you or convey important announcements, and you can send response letters by train if needed.
"After some time passes, and I'm assured that you'll use them responsibly, Mizuki will fully update the MMCs so that all royals and nobles can exchange messages freely. If you never convince me that you can be trusted with the full MMCs, then you'll never get them. Simple as that.
"Finally, understand that these conditions are not up for even the slightest debate, and the other nobles have already accepted them. I wholly understand and share Mizuki's concerns about the rest of you having access to these revolutionary enchanted items, and it's my trust with my fiancé that is on the line here. So, I'll be doing everything I can to make sure I live up to the considerable trust he's placed in me by granting this request. That's all." (Ilina)
Ilina turns to Mizuki and nods politely, signaling both the end of her declaration and the resolve behind her words. Mizuki gives her a wide, appreciative smile and nods in return. He then glances at Tessa, presumably waiting to see if she has any questions or comments about what she's heard so far.
Truthfully, she's registering the information, and she understands it in a detached way, but she's not really capable of caring about it properly right now. To her, things like what kinds of gifts Mizuki grants them seem so inconsequential in the face of the revelations that caused her to faint. When it comes to how she'll respond to their requests – when she recovers enough to do so – trains and MMCs are a non-factor.
Unaware of Tessa's inner thoughts, Mizuki assumes that her silence means she has nothing to say, and he continues updating her.
"Thank you, Princess Ilina. Now then, back to what else you missed, Lady Tessa. Another thing that we all discussed was my impending negotiation meeting with the Empire. Specifically, I wanted advice on whether any demi-humans should be given a seat at the negotiations, and whether I should visit all the demi-human tribes first to apprise them of the situation and potential consequences. Ultimately, we agreed that I should at least inform their elders of my plans, but that I should avoid including them in the actual negotiations if possible.
"After that, we got word that Lord Jorah had woken up, and everyone joined together to update him on what he'd missed. To recap, that was my and Ilina's engagement, our desire for his help in facilitating a public, official marriage, our offer of trains and MMCs, and of course, my inhuman nature and origins.
"As for Lord Jorah's reaction to all this information..." (Mizuki)
Mizuki trails off with a thoughtful, conflicted expression on his face as he glances at Jorah, as though he's trying to decide on a delicate way to describe something. Before that can happen, however, a giggling dragon interjects.
"Hehehe...the poor elf lost his mind. That was his reaction." (Nina)
Jorah scoffs indignantly.
"Given the absurdity of the information I was being given, my response was that of any sane person." (Jorah)
Tessa jumps at the sound of a short bark of laughter from Elira. The Queen's face twists into an exasperated expression as she shakes her head.
"Sane? Is that what you call your reaction? When this moron regained consciousness and Mizuki and Ilina reiterated their expectations surrounding their engagement, he started screaming for the guards! He claimed that Mizuki had sexually assaulted our Princess, and if I hadn't preemptively told the guards to ignore any calls from Jorah, no matter how desperate, someone could have died!
"Once we finally subdued him enough for us to continue the discussion, and he found out that all the conscious nobles had already given their approval, he started trying to strangle himself with his bare hands. He was convinced that he was having a nightmare – the idiot was trying to wake himself up. It took Zakariah's help to convince him everything was real and talk him off the metaphorical cliff!" (Elira)
Tessa glances at Jorah with a bewildered expression, her eyebrows raised as she waits for confirmation. Jorah just sighs, shrugs, and nods. After a few moments of stunned silence, she can't help but notice that, as of now, Jorah is sitting within hugging distance of Mizuki...completely calm.
'So far he's been acting like Mizuki is his old drinking buddy...what the hell happened?'
Tessa raises her eyebrows at Jorah.
"Jorah, if I may say so, you aren't exactly acting...eccentric, anymore. In fact, you don't seem like you were bothered by the discussion of Mizuki's and Ilina's relationship at all just now. What happened? I thought you hated Mizuki so much that the mere mention of him being so familiar with our Princess would make you turn hostile without exception." (Tessa)
Jorah gives her a puzzled look.
"That's not true. I never hated Mizuki...per se. I just have zero room in my heart to believe that anything a human does is remotely trustworthy. Still, even I can't deny that, on record, he hasn't done anything but benefit us. I was just convinced that, as a human, we must be missing the true, nefarious goals of his actions. So, the lesser his interactions and influence with our people, the better.
"However, once I learned that he's not human, and from another world no less, I changed my mind. Humans can't be trusted, but I see no reason to distrust a...err, Nephilim?" (Jorah)
Jorah glances at Mizuki inquisitively, as though confirming that he got the name right. Mizuki just nods politely.
She's largely remained in stunned silence since waking up, but hearing that word...the severity and implications of it send her into an internal turmoil no less severe than what first caused her to faint. Tessa's face reeks of incredulity, and she can't keep it out of her voice either as she interrogates Jorah further.
"And you believe him!? About being a Nephilim!?" (Tessa)
Again, Jorah just shrugs.
"Well I sure as hell don't think he's human after everything I've learned today, and that's good enough for me. As for him being a Nephilim...why not? I confess that I didn't know what they are before waking up earlier, but everyone else conveyed their known qualities from our fables.
"Based on that and what I was told about Mizuki and his people, which was confirmed by Lady Alto, Lady Nedonera, and the Princess...they are strikingly similar. He even told me that there are stories among his people about them coming to that planet from among the stars. Even more compelling, he says that even though his race is the only sentient one on their planet, and supposedly always has been, he already knew about elves from their own fables. How could that be a coincidence?" (Jorah)
Tessa's mouth nearly drops open at the revelation, which she admits is pretty damning evidence of Mizuki's people being Nephilim. She turns towards him in open disbelief, desperately seeking confirmation.
Mizuki is secretly more than a little embarrassed about the mention of his people having stories about coming from the stars to Earth. Naturally, and unbeknownst to anyone else, he was actually referring to just one of dozens of fringe conspiracy theories about how life came to be on Earth. Similarly, they also have stories about most of the creatures on Azura, not just elves. Needless to say, he knows those two pieces of 'evidence' are far less compelling than they sound.
So, he simply nods at Tessa sheepishly, who is too stunned to notice his odd behavior. After she's silent for a few moments, he's quick to change the subject and move on.
"Ehem...and so, after Lord Jorah was updated, everyone that's not here now went to discuss the defensive preparations for the country in case of an invasion by the Empire. At Selena's behest, your other escort joined them to act as your proxy, as Dargo and Zakariah did for the royals and the Abel house. Jorah stayed here since we figured you'd want to talk to him.
"And...that about covers everything you missed. Any questions?" (Mizuki)
With her eyes wide and her face pale from the recent revelations, Tessa reaches for the kur'kes on her plate, only to realize that there are none. Her face twists in confusion as she notices the crumbs everywhere. She could swear that the plate was full of them when Mizuki handed it to her.
In actuality, she's been absentmindedly stress-eating all of the kur'kes while Mizuki spoke.
Realizing her blunder, she quickly pulls the cup of tea to her mouth and drains it in one, long, embarrassed gulp. Then, she returns her attention to Mizuki, who is just staring at her silently, though he's clearly somewhat bewildered by the sight of her behavior.
She clears her throat nervously.
"Ehem, uhm...I see..." (Tessa)