Astra is Cautious

What she decided to say in reply was: "I agree that my attire is strange. I acquired it in a foreign land." She assumed that they had been referring to her clothes rather than to her person, when they said that she did not look like an Aqualarian.

She felt that it would be better not to reveal her identity just yet. She felt uneasy. Something was definitely not right. In an attempt to get more information, she continued: "I've been away for a very long time." In fact she had, by her own reckoning, only been away for a matter of weeks, but a long absence seemed like a good pretext for asking questions without arousing suspicion. "How fares the land?"

1. "Pretty well. Queen Maia continues to rule wisely." Queen Maia was Astra's mother.
2. "The main news is that Queen Astra is to be crowned in a week's time, following the death of her mother three months ago." Astra blinked. "I beg your pardon. I must have misheard you."
3. "Not well. Queen Teresa has found things difficult." Astra now knew that something was wrong, since Aqualaria had never had a Queen Teresa.
4. "Not well. King Hubert has found things difficult." Astra now knew that something was terribly wrong. Aqualaria had never had a ruling king.
5. "So-so. Queen Maria has had a lot of problems to deal with." The last Aqualarian queen to be called Maria had been 300 years ago!

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