LOCATION
CERULEAN GATE PALACE
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For a few minutes after Renata Westaway curtsied and departed the audience chamber, Natasi Fortan stood at the window overlooking the river and, beyond it, the bustling capital of New Sterandel. Dusk was rapidly approaching, hastened considerably by the autumnal overcast, heavy with steel-grey clouds that threatened rain. The monarch tried not to notice her reflection in the windows, because it was something that brought her no joy. She had carried both George and Reima with the kind of aristocratic elegance that had swelled, to a degree barely noticeable, her abdomen and little else. Now entering the second trimester, she appeared to be roughly the size and weight of champion racing fathier. Her cheeks felt fuller, somehow, and she detected a noticeable rounding of her chin and jaw that made her want to smash whatever looking glass she saw it in.
She did not resent the lentils, as she and her husband Dyrn had taken to calling the little ones they were expecting. Not exactly. But she did have to remind herself that the fact that there were three of them was likely the cause of the rapid expansion of her form, and not the fact that her husband was built like a colossus. His proportions were often a comfort; it was hard to feel unsafe lying next to him, for instance. But she did feel a tinge of irritation watching as he maintained his statuesque form while it would be only a slight exaggeration to suggest that she was beginning to resemble a Hutt.
But there were more pressing matters to discuss to concern herself with today. The audience with Prime Minister Westaway had been productive, as per usual, and cordial, as per usual. But at the last moment, Renata had dropped rather a bombshell on the Sovereign. If Natasi weren't so tired, she was sure she would have reeled from the revelation. As it was, it simply stuck in her craw. She stayed there for a few minutes more before the ache in her feet got the better of her. She left the audience chamber, and Petyr Kenat bowed from his position waiting outside the door.
"Have we anything else today?" Natasi asked him as they began the walk back toward the private apartments.
"Nothing, Your Majesty," said Kenat. "The Princess Royal is deputizing for you at the RAF reception, and as it turns out, the Prince of Aegis was able to relieve the Duke of Suffolk's engagement on Eos."
"Was he?" Natasi's eyebrows lifted. It would be lovely if Dyrn were around. The audience with Renata had left her feeling -- off, somehow. Off-kilter, off-balance, just plain off. Unsettled. Dyrn was always the right choice to talk to in those moments. He had a way of setting things to rights. "That was generous. Does that mean my husband is in residence?"
"He is -- somewhere," Kenat confirmed. "I don't have eyes on him currently. The last I saw he was talking to Miss Wrythistle in the -- ah -- nursery. She had new fabric swatches to share."
The monarch smiled faintly, a dull ache in her chest throbbing in response to the way her husband had taken so enthusiastically to his impending fatherhood. "And I have nothing else until dinner?" After a brief consultation of his datapad to see if anything new had come in, Kenat confirmed it. "That's fortuitous. I shall go and see whether Dyrn needs rescuing from Miss Wrythistle. Thank you, Petyr."
"Your Majesty," Kenat answered with a bow. He opened the door for her into the royal private apartments, and closed it behind her. Natasi paused there, took a breath, and stretched her back before setting out again. The nursery was close enough to Natasi and Dyrn's bedrooms -- though typically his went unused unless one of them was ill -- that they could respond to night-time requirements.
Nanny's room, thankfully, would adjoin the nursery, making her even more responsive to night-time requirements.
The room set aside for the nursery was large, and three tall windows would ordinarily let sunlight pour into the room. Now, thanks to the overcast gloom, the lamps illuminated the place with a golden glow. Natasi peered through the crack in the door before pushing it open. "Dyrn? Are you in here?"
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