The Proper Form of Address

Prologue

There were two kingdoms.

The kingdom of Euphonia clung to precarious peaks, high enough in the sky that the people of the kingdom claimed to be closer to the sun than to the other countries with which they shared the planet. And there seemed to be truth to that statement, in the clarity of the sunlight which poured out of pristine blue skies and bounced off of the snowbanks with which Euphonia was constantly ringleted. Euphonia was a land of enduring chill in both weather and population, according to those outside of Euphonia. Euphonians themselves were a hearty lot, free of frills, as befitted a people who had grown in a kingdom where the land made them work quintuply hard for every bounty it set forth, where small pleasures cost such dear prices. But they considered themselves warm-hearted and generous, if impatient of the outward veneer by which so many judged such things.

The kingdom of Jadenvale was positioned such that the mountain peaks of Euphonia were hazy on the distant horizon, and seemed always to be wreathed in storm clouds. There was a saying in Jadenvale, that only those who hated joy took themselves to Euphonia. Jadenvale considered itself blessed in every respect. It sprawled across a rocky seashore that met a sparkling blue bay, and past the cheerful pastel shops of the healthy tourist trade drawn by the beaches that Jadenvale had carved out for itself were rolling hills of the best farmland for miles around. Jadenvalians could not count their blessings, they were too numerous to name. The only thing they might complaint about was the oppressive stickiness of the heat inland, which was why so much of the population inhabited the shoreline, houses positioned to catch the sea breeze. It was, perhaps, the heat that made Jadenvalians somewhat lazy in disposition, or maybe the ease with which things came to them, but the country was known for its relaxed and leisurely nature, for the slothful pace with which all things progressed.

It was all of these differences between the kingdoms that created the odd, complex, codependent relationship between the two countries. They were separated by a great distance that was not easily traversed, given the general difficulties of reaching Euphonia in general, but the trade between them was nevertheless energetic. There came and time when their respecting ruling monarchs made great strides to formalize favorable trade relations, to make the intimacy of the two nations permanent. The king and queen of Euphonia had a son in line to the throne, Prince David, and the king and queen of Jadenvale had a daughter, Alexandra, and one might have thought it natural to engineer a betrothal. But the royal line of inheritance was passed on to the firstborn, and Jadenvale could not hand away its eventual queen; that would be pairing the two nations too closely. The king and queen of Jadenvale eventually had another princess, Alice, and offered her as Prince David's betrothed, but the king and queen of Euphonia were hesitant to tie their heir to an arranged marriage. Better, they thought, to leave the arranged marriage to their younger child, their daughter Ava, whose betrothal to the youngest child of the Jadenvale throne, Prince Archer, was announced before Archer had learned how to crawl.

It was a hell of a time, Archer thought later, for someone to have made a decision about the rest of your life.