>>5980252“A fan of that girl? As PRINCESS, of course. But as QUEEN? No, no I can’t say I am,” Edmondo Fanucci grouses. “I’m a loyal subject, don’t get me wrong, but she’s FAR far too young and soft to be sovereign, I think. Her family’s of course been good for all of us—”
“And are CHOSEN of Moroth and Marese, who know what They are doing,” Ines Fanucci quickly interjects.
“—but her father, King Archos, knew how to keep the PEACE, I’ll tell you. With SWORD and SHIELD, and gryphons on patrol! No orc or goblin or DRAGON dared threaten us then!”
“You don’t think Queen Ekaterine has done a good job following up on that?” you ask. “She WAS the one who helped enable me to cure the dragon-pox…”
“After her foreign ADVENTURER husband and that dilettante Lord Yosef let lizards into the city to spread it, and dragons scorch our fields!” Costella’s father asserts. “And where was he when the worst of the plague came? Where was SHE? Holed up in her palace, her husband off cavorting in the Far East or wherever, and LORD YOSEF took off and ran away to wherever he came from. So much for all that talk about ‘equality’ and ‘dignity for all’, huh? She pawned off all THAT responsibility on you—”
“Dear, there isn’t much should could do,” Ines Fanucci tries to temper her husband’s mounting frustration.
“Paladin Prince ALEXOS wouldn’t have let it get that far,” Mister Fanucci asserts.
“Gods rest his soul,” Missus Fanucci sighs, bowing her head and clasping her hands again. “If only those nasty Southmen hadn’t cut the poor man down… And when HE went to negotiate PEACE!”
“Not that those black bastards ever ADMITTED it,” Mister Fanucci snorts. “Like we don’t know. But I guess it could be worse—it could have been Prince Rufos on the throne, locking us down every time anything happened rather than punching BACK at our enemies like a strong ruler ought to.”
“Not especially pious, he or his sister,” Missus Fanucci admits in a whisper, wincing at the impropriety of the criticism even as it leaves her mouth.
“Right! The way I see it, what we NEED,” Mister Fanucci asserts, “is a PALADIN KING, a PROPER one, like Archos and his father and HIS father. THAT would make Hawksong great again.”
You hold your tongue throughout this tirade. Partly, you’re just interested in the perspective. Another part of you is afraid to interrupt or contradict the narrative, lest the focus turn upon YOU again. The biggest part of your silence, though, shares a source with yours and Costella’s mutual awkwardness. The two of you are among the very few people in or around Hawksong who know the full truth of the Queen and her ‘adventurer husband’ Prince Long Wang.