Chapter 154 - In His Honor

Chapter 154: 154 - In His Honor

A palace attendant intercepted Adrien on his way back from the eastern wing to tell him formal clothes already waited in his rooms. Until then he had assumed Laurent meant something modest for the people involved in Elowen’s rescue, though the list the attendant carried argued otherwise.

Several noble families from the capital had confirmed attendance, along with senior officials, members of the royal court and representatives of houses tied to the border investigation. By the time Adrien reached his rooms, servants were hauling extra tables and decorations toward the central hall, and Amelia found him there reading the schedule left on his desk.

"You heard?"

"I did. I thought it would be smaller."

"So did I."

Adrien looked toward the formal coat laid across the back of a chair. "I assumed it was mainly for Elowen."

"It is partly." Amelia moved closer to the balcony doors. "But what happened at the border came close to becoming a war. People here know that now."

Adrien joined her by the windows, the river below throwing back the late morning light.

"You didn’t only help bring Elowen home. You helped expose the people trying to turn what happened into something much larger."

"So tonight is political too."

"Yes, it needs to be. Sylvamir publicly thanking a Clairmont sends a message after everything that happened."

That suited the evidence better than a celebration did. Adrien had grasped the diplomatic consequences well enough, yet watching an entire royal court assemble around them made the scale impossible to overlook.

They left the castle not long afterward. Amelia had offered to show him more of Sylvarin before they had to return and change, and Adrien welcomed a few hours free of court schedules and attendants.

The royal district opened onto a broad avenue lined with trees. From there they crossed one of the rivers on a long white bridge thick with foot traffic, and without yesterday’s escort the city felt less like a capital being presented to a foreign guest and more like somewhere people actually lived.

Market stalls crowded the first plaza beyond the bridge. Most sold ordinary things, food, cloth, carved wood and household crystals, while the larger shops farther in displayed spell components, enchanted tools and low-rank grimoires behind reinforced glass.

Adrien slowed near one of the windows. Polished crystal cores lay beneath the glass, each marked by affinity and purity, and although none were especially rare, the prices reminded him how expensive magic became once somebody sold it in a capital.

"You can find almost anything in this district," Amelia said.

"I can see why people come here."

They pressed deeper into the commercial streets, and the first to recognize Amelia was a guard near one of the crossings.

"Lady Edevane."

"Good afternoon."

The guard inclined his head as they passed. Adrien registered the ease of it, though the second person truly made him pay attention.

An older elf in dark administrative robes halted outside a bookshop and greeted Amelia by name. He asked after Selene and Caelan, remarked that years had gone by since he last saw her here, then carried on toward the government quarter.

Adrien waited until they were moving again before glancing over, his voice low while the crowd carried them down the street.

"You know more people here than I expected."

"I spent a lot of time in Sylvarin when I was younger."

"I guessed that part. The guard looked too young to remember you from then."

"He probably recognized the name."

That proved the sounder explanation. Over the next hour a woman leaving a government building greeted her, an elderly noble stopped to ask about Vael, and the owner of a small apothecary near the second river came around the counter to take Amelia’s hands and ask how long she meant to stay.

None of them treated her like royalty. Nobody bowed deeply or cleared a path, and the street went on exactly as before, yet every one of them knew who she was without an introduction, and Adrien began to grasp the distinction.

In Elyndor, Amelia had seemed almost ordinary because everyone had known her for years. Vael was her grandfather, Lucien had grown up beside her, and the Edevane name needed no explanation because it formed part of the city itself.

Sylvarin lent the name a different weight. Here it arrived in rooms ahead of her, carried by a family people plainly knew even if they had never met her.

They eventually stopped beside the river with two cups of chilled fruit tea and claimed a shaded table over the water. Boats slid beneath the nearest bridge while the white towers of the royal district stayed visible upstream.

"How much does Edevane actually mean here?" Adrien asked.

Amelia weighed the question for a few seconds before lowering her cup.

"Less than some people assume, and more than I usually think about. My mother’s family is distantly related to the royal line, but very distantly. The connection exists in the records. Nobody sensible would call me a princess because of it."

"And Vael?"

"That counts for much more."

Amelia looked toward the royal district as she continued, her gaze fixed on the distant castle.

"My grandfather has been involved with Sylvamir since forever even though Elyndor is independent. Most important families know him, and my parents spent years in the capital. I had tutors here for a while too."

That clarified more than Adrien had realized. Amelia had crossed the castle yesterday without directions because the place was not merely familiar to her; portions of her childhood had been spent around it.

They stayed beside the river until the light softened, then made their way back. Formal carriages and mana-powered vehicles were already converging on the royal district, carrying guests who had come early enough that the roads around the palace grew busier by the minute.

Inside the castle, servants ferried flowers, covered trays and silver tableware through the halls. More guards held positions around the main entrances, and through the open doors of the central wing Adrien could see the royal hall being dressed beneath rows of suspended lights.

Another group of attendants vanished inside with a long seating plan while Adrien slowed beside Amelia. The scale was impossible to miss now.

"This is larger than I thought."

"You should probably get changed soon."

Adrien looked once more toward the hall before turning back to the guest wing. Laurent had not arranged a private thank-you for the man who helped rescue his daughter; he had arranged for Sylvamir to watch him do it.