Go! Go! Go! Go For It! Prince Lee!

HIBAGON

 To the people of Starliana, the greatest gift in the world was life itself. After nearly being torn apart by centuries of bloody civil wars, the reigning Queen Janine unified the whole realm under a golden age of peace and prosperity. The queen’s very words at her coronation resounded with the people to this very day.

We all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and we all see the same stars at night with the same eyes. From the tiniest termite to the biggest bear, we are all part of Starliana.

Bears? Termites? To count animals the same as people would be a controversial ideology for sure, but the one person capable of convincing a haggard populace was her. Whether they walked the earth on two, four or even eight legs, flew in the skies, swam in the rivers or seas, had fur, feathers, or scales, every creature in the kingdom lived in a harmony not found anywhere else in the world.

 Then something strange happened out of the blue...

An attendant wheeled a barrow overstuffed with papers into the office of Queen Janine.

“I’m deeply sorry Your Majesty, but I’ve brought another bunch of complaints for you.”

Deeply remorseful, the worker simply dumped the pile of parchment straight inside. Any semblance of organization had long been abandoned with how much had already been delivered. The new batch washed into the room, lifting and carrying Janine’s desk and chair with her in it. When the wave settled, all she could do was look with distress at the flood of grievances rising beyond her control.

“Oh my stars, Lee-Precious, have you been making any headway?”

She slapped down the batch of letters in her hands and called out to her son.

The future ruler poked his head out to report. “Hardly, sorry Mom.” Skimming through another handful of randomly pulled files, he breathed a hopeless sigh at reading them. “These are all the same too; ‘my new cows and pigs have barricaded themselves in their barn and won’t come out.’ This one; ‘my chickens have been cooped up in their coop for days now. Don’t get me started on how moody my ducks are.’”

Dropping her shoulders hopelessly, Janine asked. “What about you, Captain Elliot?”

The prince’s royal guard surfaced. “Pleh! Puuuh! Ptooie! Pahh!” Spitting out files he accidentally swallowed, one was lodged so deep that he had to reach his hand inside his throat to yank it out. “No luck, Your Majesty.” He sped through a gathered stack of his own. “‘I thought I ordered horses, not cats. These get startled at the drop of a hat.’ ‘My goats won’t eat their oats! I can’t give them a groat or even so much as a mote! I’m so desperate, I’ll end up eating my winter coat!’ ‘My honeybees have left me on ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ for days now. Was it me? Did I do something wrong to upset them? Please help!’ This one came with pictures.” He supplied the submitted sketches depicting scenes of the hives with those warning signs strung above their entrances.

“What in the world is going on?” Janine cried, leaning back in her chair with her hand upon her forehead. Processing so much grief racking her kingdom was overwhelming.

The stress weighed equally heavily on Lee as well. He couldn’t hide it if he tried. Nibbling at his thumbnail was all he could do to cope and attempt to think.

“Something is fishy, and it’s not the goldfish at last week’s summer festival that were as white as pearls.”

Elliot lacked the words to so much as speculate.

It was all so perplexing. Though they put their heads together to think of an explanation, no one knew where to start, let alone where to end.

Their deliberation was interrupted by the noise of someone fighting to open the door. The sounds of rough grunting mixed with wood knocking together. It was quickly forced open by a pair of squires belonging to a member of the Starliana Samurai. They used push brooms to clear a section of floor, then dropped to one knee in time for their master to step into the office.