Mai Mei of Mei'An
It had taken a moment for Niklas König to respond to Mai's greeting, but once the two began conversing she found him to be cordial and polite. He was neither overly talkative nor stoically silent. Mai saw that the seat where his father should have been was empty, but she supposed that it did not really make much of a difference. Soon enough, the seat where her uncle was sitting would be vacated as well.
When Niklas complimented her, Mai was struck by how genuine he seemed. She had blushed prettily and thanked him, and although the blush was somewhat fake, her thank-you was sincere. Sure, people at court in back in Mei'An called her beautiful all the time, but it was more of a courtesy than an actual compliment. And sometimes they said that she was just as beautiful as her mother-harmless enough out of context, but Mai could tell that they were thinking about her mother's failures whenever they looked at her.
While they talked through dinner, Mai was fully conscious of the fact that she spoke with a noticeable accent. She just hoped that her accent was not so thick that Niklas could not understand her. Apparently, that would not not a problem, since Mai found herself easily conversing with him, even if their conversation was limited to polite small talk. As dinner progressed, Mai deliberately began to slowly drop the facade of a docile and shy young girl, slipping comfortably into her more natural charm that came from her lightly teasing words and lilting laughter. She took small bites of her food and delicately held the utensils like she'd been doing it all her life, when in reality Mai had only learned the difference between a soup spoon and a butter knife once she moved into the palace in Meijing. Mai would have preferred chopsticks, but she hadn't been expecting any. After all, most of the nations represented had cultures vastly different from her own.
Niklas got up to go, and Mai decided that it would only be polite to accompany him. She carefully stood up, smoothing out her skirt and patting her hair before taking the arm he offered her. She noticed that a few other seats had emptied as well. Mai was slightly surprised when he whispered to her in Meridian, although she supposed that it was to be expected that he knew the language. Mai had learned multiple languages as well, and Niklas did not seem like the type to consider himself above learning the languages of other nations.
"We're both stuck in this position, whether or not we like it. Let's make the best of it, don'tcha think?" he said quietly. Mai hesitated for a moment before nodding, letting a small grin slip onto her face.
"Was that not the plan all along?" she replied playfully, a hint of mischief in her expression. Spotting her uncle watching them out of the corner of her eye, Mai turned around and spoke to him in standard Meridian for the sake of being polite. Normally the two spoke to each other in either the Black Mountain dialect or the Meijing dialect, which were both incomprehensible to those who had never visited the places, but Mai did not want to come off as rude. "I will see you later tonight, Uncle," she said. Ming simply nodded once and remained in his seat.
Mai let Niklas lead her out of the dining room and into the corridor. The floors were a fine, polished mahogany, and there were multiple paintings hanging on the walls. As she walked with Niklas, Mai found that her earlier distrust had faded considerably. Clearly, this Niklas König was a far cry from the other soldiers she'd encountered. "So, Niklas," she began, still speaking Meridian. "What is Königreich der Welten like? I've always wanted to visit other nations, but...certain circumstances have made that virtually impossible," Mai continued amiably, tilting her head slightly and turning to face him. Her heels clicked softly against the wooden floor as they made their way through the castle, and Mai found the coolness of the blades concealed under her dress as well as the weight of the large ruby ring hanging off the end of her braid to be strangely but overwhelmingly reassuring.
Although her question was fairly innocent, Mai wanted to know what a native of Königreich der Welten thought about the nation. She'd read and heard enough to know that their military was one of the best in the entire world; Mei'An wouldn't stand a chance if Königreich der Welten decided to launch a full-out invasion. She also knew enough about Königreich der Welten to infer that they could easily seize control of trade conducted by Mei'An if they wanted to-though they had not tried to during her parents' reign like other nations in the world, it was always a possibility. But most of all, Mai wanted to know how their soldiers were trained and taught. If it was anything like how the soldiers of her uncle's enemies were drilled, Mai didn't want anything to do with Königreich der Welten. Mai had vowed to never forget all she'd seen years ago, and she certainly wasn't about to go back on that promise she made to herself because Niklas König was
polite. Mai wasn't naive enough to expect Niklas to be entirely forthcoming with her, but she knew that she could always read in between the lines.
Mai realized that they'd arrived at the gardens without even noticing it. Content to stay on their current path, Mai admired the flowers as they walked. The gardens itself was nothing special, in her opinion-just another space filled with grass and flowers in a cookie-cutter formation-but Mai found that the individual blooms themselves were the most beautiful part of the gardens. As they strolled past a rose bush, Mai plucked one of the crimson flowers from it and held the dark red rose lightly in her free hand. Perhaps this was not such a bad place to be after all.
