*We now return to the main, um, thrust of the story. Feedback very much encouraged.*
***
King Alleric of Barria looked across the table and smiled, somewhat awkwardly. He wasn’t looking forward to this conversation.
“I was told yesterday that His Supremacy will be vising His new palace here later this week,” the king said. “He’ll be staying for three or four days.” His Supremacy’s Barrian palace was completed months ago, at great cost and great inconvenience to the Subject Kingdom. It, of course, put the Barrian royal castle to shame.
“Okay,” Loard Markos replied. He wasn’t really sure where the old king was going with this. Markos was a young man in a hurrry, a top advisor to to the king and head of the royal treasury. He spent most of his time making sure that His Supremacy’s tribute got paid. Still, he had risen quickly for the third son of a rather obscure noble family.
“We will have to present His Supremacy with gifts,” Alleric said, clearing his throat. “Well, claims, I mean. To show our appreciation that he may grace us with His Sacred Presence.”
“I know.”