The next morning, I left my room at what felt like the right time, my watch was over on the other side and I had been too involved in meditating to go and get it. I made the bedrooms east facing though for precisely that reason. The sun was still below the horizon, but casting long shadows of the mountains in the distance.
I stopped in front of Eve's door, hesitating as to whether or not I should knock, just open it, or just walk away and then it opened, and my breath was stolen.
The woman before me was glowing, the most overwhelming smile I had ever seen her wear stretched across her face and she threw her arms around me and pulled me down for a kiss. "Good morning, Adam! I hope you managed to get some sleep at least, if you didn't, do not threat, I am so happy I think I will cook breakfast this morning!" She beamed as she took a step down the hallway ahead of me.
"Did you really enjoy last night that much, or just pleasant dreams?" I laughed as I stepped to follow her.
As I stepped though, she span on her heel and placed a hand on either cheek, pulling me down for another kiss. "Even more, also that, and more that happened between the two." She replied, kissing me again after before continuing on her way.
It was incredible seeing her that energised, it was clear things had been wearing on her a lot and as usual a lot had happened. I wasn't arrogant enough to believe it was as much to do with our time together the night before as she said but I was elated at how happy she was regardless. At least, I should have been, I felt the desire to feel that way certainly and yet I was acting no different as if I were merely content.
Eve must have sensed my confusion. "None of that." She said as chipper as can be. "You are a phenomenal man in every sense of the word and I say that as I know something you don't know... But, I win." She smiled, leaving me in blissful ignorance and infecting me with her suddenly contagious merriment.
'Contagious merriment? Better double check the tap water here later.' I thought, making Eve burst out laughing.
"That one wasn't my abilities, Eve said your face tells her you were just thinking about checking the tap water here later." I smirked and held my hands, surrendering to the most terrifying combined awareness that those two possessed.
Eve grabbed my raised arms, lowered them 90 degrees then jumped into them to be a princess. "Now, take me to see our daughter." She ordered before wrapping her arms around my neck as I obliged her demand out of sheer dumbfounded obedience.
As we stepped outside, Quatal stirred and quickly changed to human form to run over. "See. Auntie Astra was right, you two are happy! Especially Mama, did something good happen to her?"
Eve looked at me amused, eager to see how I dodged the awkward question. "She fell in love with an idiot... Seems it's contagious."
"That's not good! Auntie Astra said Papa needs you to make smart choices." Quatal asked, throwing Astrael under the bus with something that was likely meant to stay secret.
"Wait... Astrael... She went to the divine realm last night, you don't think?"
"Oh no, I think we need to apologise when they get here. " Eve muttered guilty, realising that she probably would have peeped in, with her sisters, to show them where they were visiting.
"Well, I mean, nothing they haven't seen before, semi omniscient and all I mean. Surely they watched it with a more clinical perspective." I added, as Eve jumped down and picked up our daughter.
"Now should we go cook breakfast for everyone and give Papa a break?"
"Yep, yep, yep. Oooo, we should cook boar!" She said as Eve kidnapped her away from me, leaving me alone on the other side wondering what the hell had just happened.
"Don't care what they said, I'm checking the bloody water." Which is exactly what I did, collecting three samples which I took to the lab on my way back through the basement.
As I returned up stairs everyone turned to stare at me from the table, then gestured to the two people dancing about the kitchen, both humming different songs and both painfully out of tune. "Look not everything is my fault." I said, pitifully unsure of my own sincerity.
The others simply looked back at Eve and Quatal, when Eve noticed she chuckled. "Look, last night, Adam..." At the mention of my name, the others turned to look at me again so fast and in unison they managed to interrupt her. "...Last night, Adam, revealed to me how to solve his emotional problem, so yes, he done nothing wrong and I am very happy indeed. I still need to figure out how to solve it exactly but the basis is pretty simple."
"My god, don't tell me his stupidity is contagious, it seems that Eve has been infected." Halsan joked triumphantly, with the expression of someone who finally managed to show a rival they are equals.
Unfortunately for Halsan, Eve had already heard it before and two adults saying the same thing close together is basically a guarantee in a child's eyes and Quatal loves her parents just how they are. "Papa said the same thing, Mama, are you really sick." I honestly felt a little bad for Halsan as everyone suddenly painted him the devil.
A little, but no enough that when then he turned to me in desperation I didn't avert my eyes and make my way over to Quatal to comfort her.
"Only men are stupid... That's why you should stay away from them for a thousand, no make that ten-thousand years." I said as I picked her up, confusing everyone greatly. "Did we not mention it? Surprise, the kingdom's princess is immortal, yay!"
As Everyone watched the vein in Halsan's forehead pulse and swell, I coughed. "Which is why, as someone who will be raised on the founding principles of this nation. Rather than make her crown princess first in line. We instead make her national regent, so that she will never have the right or ability to rule until the end of time whilst ensuring their is always a royal to stand-in."
Halsan looked satisfied by that suggestion and I walked over and kissed Eve, making her instantly blush and simmer down, or at least that what others saw, in truth as I kissed her I whispered that her audience looked about to start asking questions about last night.
People were still shocked by the casual displays of affection, but we kind of just didn't care, Halsan said it wasn't proper for royals and out reply was simply. "So? We do what's right, not proper. Besides when royals start doing it, others will to."
He then went on a long rant about creating a society hedonistic degenerates, but I just asked him if that was really the worst case scenario for a country I was ruling and from there it simply didn't seem as big.
"Worst case? No, I guess not, the worst case would be an extinction event."
Everyone laughed at the totally serious expression on his face. "Oh, Astrael went to the divine realm to grab her sisters already, so the schedule will be changing again. After all they might be moving their domain into the other side."
Halsan's nose began to bleed, not in a "haha the idea of identical triplets made him pop a vessel" kind of way, but in a "If i kill this guy, it would simply be self-defence right?" kind of way and with that came an option I had been holding back on telling him up to then. A way to make this land truly prosperous and solidified as the south-eastern bulwark of the continent.
"By the way I had an idea that I think you will love. Actually I think everyone will love it." I declared, knowing full well he had reached a point he couldn't get more angry.
"Oh? do tell. What inspired idea have you formed to wither my sanity and erode my soul now." He asked, with the quiet rage of someone at their wit's end.
"Eve, Quatal, Astrael and Kriel will be leaving after the crowning on our coronation tour two weeks after the ceremony right?"
"Yes and if you think all of us going on the trip is possible you're wrong."
"It's nothing like that. I was going to make us the only nation the dwarves trade with. I have a good history with the stout folk of other eras and I would like to rekindle that friendship." The others all looked shocked, for good reason to, the dwarves were even more insular than the demons and had been for far longer.
"I don't know what other Dwarven nations have been like in history, but that won't be an easy promise to fill. They hate us and have good reason."
"They always do... To put it bluntly, humans are despicable and in most of the eras they existed we have treated them as second class citizens, in some enslaved them,in at least two we wiped them out. That my friend is why they won't mind our little group."
"Hmm, none of you are human, yet you rule over humans. True, they might be more inclined to deal with us on that basis, but-"
"Hail stout folk of the mountains, I bring booze and ore. That is the magic phrase for doing business with the dwarves." I stated it bluntly like it was the most obvious and simple thing in the world.
"What ore exactly will you take, surely they have greater quality and quantity."
"I will take my own. I will give them enough to make a weapon of kingship, dwarves love that stuff. I will also give them Doran if it comes down to it, he was supposed to stay at the clinic but what needs must."
Doran stopped dead, halfway through downing his coffee. "Needs must? Why me?"
"Because you look like an overgrown dwarf woman." I joked, making everyone laugh, including Halsan as he settled into agreement with the plan.
"So, you will solidify good relations in the north-eastern mountains, creating a break water between the north-eastern kingdom that was crippled in the war, solidify us as the south-eastern bulwark and... Wait, why are you strengthening the continents perimeter?"
"War is coming, all the plans in the world won't stop it, don't forget that when I arrived that god said "This is the end". Astrael even considering moving here is a sign that the divine realm is in turmoil and gods are surprisingly proactive when their lifestyles are at risk. Things are clicking into place in ways I can't be certain of, but we need to be ready for everything, make no mistake, compared to a god we're all weak."
"Not to be rude, but from mine and your commander's perspective, you're all weak. If you want to survive long enough to grow strong, I suggest you live as the weak do and employ coexistence and cooperation." Leeson said, grinning as he quoted the speech I had given to his men at our first meeting. "Well I guess we can't really argue with a man trying to follow his own advice."