One Between the Stars

Chapter 50

 Ionia sat in the white room, trying to focus on her breathing. Though it was hard, when all she could hear through the deafening silence was her breaths and heartbeat that threatened to go into a panic.

They kept this room unfurnished and painted a plain white, with only a white desk, a white chair, and the port screen mounted onto the wall.

Hugo had left her to meet the prince of Lia alone, as per the prince's request.

"Why?" She asked.

Hugo shrugged. "Perhaps he's worried that I'll influence your judgement. Maybe he wishes to see the real you, and not the you that lends her ear to the ambassador.

"But that's not a bad thing," she insisted. "You've never been anything but a help to me. Your judgement can be trusted."

"But he doesn't know any of that."

Ionia frowned, mulling this over. It occurred to her for the first time that she had no idea what Lia, or the people who lived there, were like. Maybe they viewed things like this differently.

"It's good to have you back, princess."

"It's good to be back," she said, though it was half hearted.

"No disrespect, Princess, but I'm not sure I quite believe that." And with a smile, he closed the door.

She turned the screen on, looking at the clock on her new port-pod. Five minutes.

It hit her then, the full weight of what she was about to do. She was about to meet her future husband. Strange, there was something in her that protested in a very different way than it had before she had left on her quest.

The screen flashed, and she sat up in her seat as the image of the Prince of Lia filled port screen.

Ionia had been required to study everything they knew about Lia, and that included its royal family. The crowned prince's name was Azra; he was twenty years old, and he was an only child. He was skilled in several instruments, but his true interest was cartography. He resembled his mother, and mostly had nothing to do with his father. He liked honey cake. A strange string of facts, one that Ionia had even been quizzed on once, because in truth Wynoa was terrified of Lia. Ionia had no idea why, only a guess that as a small port planet, they got most of their resources from trading with others. Lia was their main supplier of medicine, and they weren't known for being particularly giving, especially to a tiny planet whose main export was...well, almost nothing.

But the boy she had researched as a child hadn't seemed like he was from a kingdom of greedy overlords. Rather, he seemed a bit like her. Forced to live in the shadows, until one day someone deemed you ready to pop out into the world, expected to know how to run a kingdom with only theoretical experience.

The man before her now, she wasn't quite sure how he fit into that image her child-self had envisioned. His skin was a warm brown, his hair neatly combed and his plain shirt perfectly pressed. No finery. No crown. He didn't even look much like a prince. Then again, she didn't really look much like a princess, with the plain shirt and pants she had decided to wear, her hair braided back hastily.

In fact, the most intriguing thing about Azra was his eyes, which were a striking amber. They were quite nice, actually.

She blinked, then realized that they were sitting in absolute silence, staring at one another. "Hello. I assume you're Azra?"

The man nodded.

"My friend, the ambassador, called this meeting on account of some very dire circumstances which need to be - "