Metafiction (BL)

8. dinner

Before dinner, Dan barely had time to practice his expressions in the mirror. He didn't get it–wasn't the human face a muscle? If so, why didn't it obey his commands like he wanted it to? As a result, he only managed to change his default smirk to a lightly mocking grin, which ended up looking too provocative in combination with his sharpened eyebrows and piercing gaze. Dan gave up and tried a neutral expression–he ended up resembling a human ice cube instead. 

But even that was better than a goading look, so he stuck with it. Besides, the Saintess was supposed to be a figure second in holiness only to the Goddess Herself. Maybe an aloof and frigid attitude was fitting under the circumstances?

Yet the moment Jonathon opened the doors and led them both in, Dan's face was beset by an extra layer of permafreeze. After all, everyone rose to greet him and stare! How was one measly extra supposed to deal with all the sudden attention? This wasn't the Goddess Blessing platform where he was hundreds of feet up, but in the same exact room as important figures who could easily headline their own novels! Stiffly, he allowed Jonathon to lead him into his seat and push in the chair, whereupon everyone else sat down too. The rectangular table had the head priest and himself sitting at each end. On either side of him, going from closest to farther away, were seats for Elweruan (empty but for a scepter) and Oldstuz (unoccupied), Brog (with the chancellor) and Krazi (with the young prince), and Klovs (general) and Valia (grand duke). Thankfully, the first row of unoccupied chairs acted as an invisible buffer between him and the rest of the guests.

The head priest said a few words that Dan didn't process before the dinner began–simple, homely fare, but all very fresh and delicious dishes from crops grown out of the Goddess's blessed fields. Dan forced himself to eat so as to not ruin the mood, but soon enough the meal delved into the dreaded small talk.

"Dear Saintess," began the grand duke, who held the highest rank and authority in the room with all the monarchs missing and the Prince of Krarzi just a child, "Have you given Elweruan's proposal any further thought? His Imperial Majesty is quite interested in your answer."

Sudden silence greeted his words. Before Dan could even think of an answer, General Orsic had stepped in. 

"Approaching the Saintess before he even begins his duties is in poor taste, grand duke."

"His Imperial Majesty is used to thinking ahead," the grand duke replied easily. "Naturally, with someone as important as the Saintess, both Elweruan and Valia are quite impatient to meet him as soon as possible. He's a newcomer to this world and we would have much to teach and help him with."

"If you would pardon me, Your Grand Ducal Highness..." it was the thin chancellor who spoke next, delicately pushing up his monocle in the process. "Traditionally, the role of Saintess has always been to address the most pressing concerns of the continent as its protector after the Goddess. Seeing as the sea beasts are attacking Brog again, His Majesty the king had thought to extend an invitation to the Saint—"

"How terribly barbaric," the grand duke cut him off. "You would let the Saintess see such bloody scenes as soon as he descended from the Higher Realms? I've heard that Brog's kings have managed the monster tides just fine every time–or would you have him do all the work for you for another 150 years, simply because of his convenient blessings?"

The chancellor bristled faintly, but remained calm. "We are simply thinking for the good of the people. It would be in all of Aleria's interests if the beasts were quelled quickly–it is not only Brog's shorelines that are affected by their attacks."

"That is a choice to be made by the Saintess himself," Orsic pointed out sharply. "He's barely arrived in this realm. It is well within his right to remain in Jokoskia and learn more about our lands and its people before running off to distant nations on a whim!"