Taste for diplomacy 

Xzander had nothing to add. He was shocked, once again, Zaelia was like a tornado. It was everything or nothing, she didn't know how to be moderate and take things one after another. He slammed his hand on his face. She understood nothing about love... He was a bit despaired and finally surrendered as all his hopes were gone.

"Zaelia, I said I will always support you. I said it and I cannot take it back."

She laughed, she was very excited by the idea of having companions. Xzander and her remained silent right after this discussion."

On the other side of the sky, Archanium raged, screaming, punching and throwing objects as he raged against Xzander.

"You couldn't stop her?! Pathetic creature! Why didn't you tell her this was not a good idea?!"

Archanium raised his hand to his face, his fingers around his eyes, he tried to take a deep breath.

"She will change her mind..."

Then the sudden realization that Zaelia was the most stubborn creature on earth struck him hard.

"Of course, she will not change her mind..."

She walked into the gardens in her light linen dress, Zaelia was a beautiful woman and the only reason why she was alone was her temper. She never had the time to appreciate the company of anyone, as she took an apple from a tree she thought of the fact that except for Zephira and Xzander, she never shared strong feelings and intimate thoughts. Zaelia sat under the tree, today was a calm day, and she had no important matters to manage. The new forges were working well, the Golden palace was grand, and she was only waiting for the report of her scouts in the North-Eastern Kingdom. 

She had time to savor her apple while she watched her palace maids at work. 

Even Alejandro had found love in this city of gold. Zaelia was the only one of their former group never to have experienced the warmth of someone's heart physically with her. She turned her eyes to the sky and watched the sun with a big smile on her face. She had always loved only him. More than anything, more than herself, he was the reason for her dreams, her ambition, and all her actions were for his purpose and glory.

She raised her hand and caressed her cheek slowly. He gave her golden eyes to show to the world that he approved of her. But deep inside, the time had passed and things were different. She felt deeply alone. 

The day flew rapidly, she almost fell asleep leaning against her tree when the scouts came back and took her out of her dreams in the middle of the night. She ran to the council chamber to find them and the news was not great. 

The northeastern chiefs wanted to speak the terms of war. The scouts returned with an ambassador to discuss the possibility of peace. Zaelia was in no mood for diplomacy. She was overwhelmed by the situation and the emotional difficulties she was experiencing, yet there was no question of admitting any weakness. Xzander joined her as soon as he heard that the scouts had returned. Xzander joined her as fast as he heard the scouts had come back. Zaelia and he entered together in the room when she saw the man in front of her with a grin. It was obvious that, to him, they were savages. They didn't care about manners and appearances. Zaelia was dressed in a transparent linen white dress and Xzander was half naked since he was sleeping when the man came. 

The ambassador had a chuckle as he turned his eyes away. Zaelia felt a chill, the rage inside her grew slowly, and her voice turned into a murderous tone while Xzander had no intention to calm her, and he let her speak her mind.

"A problem?"

The ambassador stared at them both. His expression was a mixture of amusement and dismay. He was trying to take it in his stride and hide his disgust at seeing these savages show up without even wearing proper attire. They were uneducated and didn't care about respect. The ambassador cleared his throat. 

"Everything is fine. I'm here in the name of King Faerdrid. Your scouts brought me here now, I didn't know I was interrupting anything. You should have told them to give me a room, and we could have discussed it tomorrow."

Zaelia and Xzander paused for a second and looked at each other. Then she understood and she started to laugh loudly. Xzander needed a bit of time before he also found the situation hilarious. He barely managed to speak clearly.

"This is what annoys you? Imagine we had a moment?"

Zaelia placed a hand on her belly, she started to have pain from laughing.

"The guy is in the Golden palace, brought by our scouts, alone in the middle of the night, representing an enemy and what annoys him is the fact that we maybe had sex together!"

They continued laughing together, almost falling to the floor. The ambassador started to show signs of anger. 

"These are not appropriate behaviors! You are savages!"

His anger only managed to make Zaelia and Xzander laugh even louder. If she wanted to resolve this treaty issue as fast as possible, since the enemy was quite powerful, this was a failure. The poor man was shocked, and they could not watch him seriously. Xzander patted her shoulder and turned himself.

"I cannot laugh so hard and be serious, forget it. We will see this tomorrow. Just let's give him a room to rest."

Zaelia stopped to laugh and caught back her breath. 

"No need. I only want you to transmit a message. I want to meet your leader in person. Tell him to meet me at the border in three days. I will be there."

The ambassador couldn't believe it, they were so rude that he had a hard time believing it. He saw Xzander leaving, followed by Zaelia. She turned herself and added in a chuckle.

"I promise I will have clothes this time."