A Visit is Arranged

"From what the princess said, it sounds as though Aqualaria may be running out of patience with these shifters, if their Queen is anxious to improve relations with us. That's shown by Princess Astra's willingness to arrange for us to meet them. I doubt that they would think it wise to refuse an order that they should meet us that came from the Aqualarian royal family. Of course they are hardly likely to admit to anything, but even so we may be able to learn something useful. Especially if we can take a mage with us. It's a pity that Belboz is no longer a candidate for that... No, I don't want to hear your justification for what you did to him, Fred."

"All right. Changing the subject a little, then, I'm a little worried that the princess said that there were two clans of shifters in her country but that one is unaccounted for. How do you lose track of an entire clan?"

Sir Toby shrugged. "If it's a clan of people who can turn into dragons, and fly a long way very quickly, then it seems quite plausible that you wouldn't know where they were. Especially since I believe that much of southern Aqualaria is still jungle. Hiding there would be easy for them. If that clan is still based within range of Allaria, and is responsible for the attacks rather than the clan that we will be meeting, then we may not get very far. But it must still be worth a try. After all, at worst we are likely to gather some useful intelligence concerning Aqualaria."

Three weeks later a message came to Caemlyn, the Allarian capital. It said that an invitation was being extended by the Queen of Aqualaria for Lord Fred, Sir Toby and at most two others (who could be chosen by King Emry) to pay a visit to Aqualaria in order to: "discuss matters of mutual interest, with the aim of improving relations between our two countries now that the threat posed by the dragon of the Northern Caves (known as the Southern Caves in your country) has been removed". The matter of the shifters was not mentioned, though Fred and Sir Toby knew (or at least thought that they knew) that this was the real reason for their visit. They supposed that Aqualaria wished this to remain confidential, known only to those who would be in their party and to the King.

1. Astra would meet them at the border and would be their escort. They would not be permitted to go anywhere within Aqualaria without her.

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