A Grand Affair

[Small Huts]

Thutmose glanced up as a messenger arrived with a scroll for the young King Tush, disturbing the afternoon stillness. He managed a glance up as the King finished unrolling the scroll and began reading before his own eyes could bear the weight of their lids no longer and they drifted closed again. No doubt the message was from the Queen back home. The two were in the habit of writing back and forth to each other since they had left. Even the most mundane of details were important to them, such was the nature of young love. Thutmose fanned himself lazily in the sun in the King's chamber's. He wanted to stay close in case the Pharaoh needed him. The sound of insects buzzing in the trees was occasionally complimented by by leaves rustling gently together whenever the breeze lifted. The shock of the King's gasp seemed like a roar in the placidness and by the time Thutmose realised what was happening the King was already on the way out the door, the scroll landing on the ground near Thutmose' feet. He looked down at the scroll as it landed, back up at the King as he disappeared from view and again back down at the scroll. He didn't read the whole thread of pictograms. He didn't need to. He saw instantly all he needed to see to understand what had broken the calm of the day and sent the the King into distress. There at the bottom of the thread he read the obviously tragic conclusion… "stillborn".

http://www.nationstates.net/nation=nebk ... /id=242896

[Venico]

Enzo walked forward with a large grin on his face. He came to the castle doors, put a hand on each one, and heaved them open. "Come all who were invited!" he cried.

Guards stood with halberds on either side of the entrance, checking for invitations bearing the seal of Romule.