Later today the Empress will be joined by youth from across the First Empire for the annual Youth Diet session. This year features foreign guests; with Empress Serenity serving as guest speaker and a delegation from Vicheshire School, led by Student Body President Kikyo Hase who reached out to the Empress on Twitter noting "Understand if you're busy but I've got voters to answer to and they wanted me to ask." The Empress took to Twitter a couple of minutes later congratulating Kikyo Hase on her victory while placing one of her Imperial Air Transports at the service of the Vicheshire Delegation adding, "you can tell your voters promises made, promises kept. See you in Pyrettania."

The Empress promised that there would be no controversies at this year's event, looking back upon the 2020 Youth Diet Session which caused a stir. "There's a few topics we'll be discussing and approaching though I will not offer any spoilers here. I can confirm, however, that they will not provoke great controversy beyond the walls of the Imperial Diet. It will be a valuable learning experience for all involved and one I will be looking forward to hosting for many years to come."

In other developments the Task Force centred around IRN Kitsune and IRN Alexander Vaughan has been ordered to the Strait of Shaw, where it will then form the southern component of Task Force Vigilant Watch. "The First Empire, in concert with its allies and partners, is preparing for all possible contingencies in the Troyes Affair. We are confident that Kitsune and Alexander Vaughan, in addition to the capabilities of our allies and partners already positioned in the region, will ensure a robust response to any possible contingency may be adequately responded to," a statement from Rear Admiral Forrester stated.

The Imperial Palace also held a press conference in which it stated that "discussions with the Kingdom of Seaforth are ongoing," however, declined to answer questions as to the status of those discussions.

Group A

Iwi 33-7 Theocracy of Kaitaine (Iwi bonus point win)
Gusano 12-24 Mktvartvelo

Group B

Achkaerin 24-18 Irtref (Irtref losing bonus point)
Themyscira 18-21 Kaitaine (Themyscira losing bonus point)

Group C

East Moreland 45-0 Asadal (EM bonus point win)
Renaku 18-10 Ui Cenneslaig

Group D

Lodja 24-15 Abertone
Fusan 21-10 Jugland

Mens Standings

OOC - As in previous years a win is worth 3 points and a draw is worth two points. a bonus point win is awarded if the winning team scores more than 28 points (the equivalent of four converted tries), a losing bonus point is awarded if the losing team loses by less than seven points (do note scoring in wheelchair rugby will be different)

Speaking on behalf of the Empress, who spent the better part of the day with Princess Sophia following her rescue, Imperial Liaison for Foreign Affairs James McKenna spoke with the RBC on the matter of Troyes. "High level diplomatic talks are presently taking place between our nations and, while little movement has been reported, the Empress has remained unmoved in her position on the matter of Troyes. The Empress supports, fully, the right to self-determination for the Peoples of Troyes and Marseilles and, just as a day dawned where the military presence of Rokkenjima was no longer required in the Illumic, the day has long passed that a Seaforthian military presence in the Strait of Shaw is required. I say this as a proud Seaforthian," he took pause, "and I would hope that King Andrew sees the folly in clinging to past glories and prestige; neither such pursuits are worth the sacrifice of Seaforthian dignity, no, this is a pursuit in the folly of ego and it's one which will be lost if this course is insisted upon by the Kingdom. As I said nearly a year ago, "There is no question in my mind a continued Seaforthian presence in Troyes has long outlived its welcome and Troyes must be returned to Marseilles and finally answer the call President Papin made in January of 2017 for all CTOMM forces to withdraw from the nation. Regardless of Seaforth's incorporation of Troyes, a decision the Imperial Government does not recognize as holding any legal basis, Troyes must be returned to Marseilles. There is, quite simply, no other path forward. Seaforth must go."

"Regional determination does not stop at the waters of the Illumic; just as Rokkenjima's military presence was no longer necessary in the Illumic so too is Seaforth's presence in the Strait of Shaw no longer necessary. A continued insistence of King Andrew to keep his forces in Troyes, I believe, is something that will be continued by the forces of ego and the pursuit of prestige, opening the Kingdom up to the greatest threat it has faced since our victory over the Seaforthian Catholic Church, only this time our undoing will be at our own hands. As a Seaforthian, and a McKenna, I call upon King Andrew to reconsider his position and not consign us to a path which sees us fighting the inevitable; we won't win this one, and we'll deserve the defeat we'll be handed if Seaforth insists on maintaining a heavy hand over Troyes. As the Imperial Liaison of the Empress I would add, Rokkenjima will see that the spirit of regional determination which saw Rokkenjima evicted from the Illumic will inevitably see Seaforth evicted from the Shaw. It's only a matter of whether Seaforth walks away with more dignity than Rokkenjima did from the Illumic at this point, this is not a process which any man, regardless if he's King or not, in Seaforth can bring to a halt."

In related regional developments the Imperial Rokkenjiman Navy announced that a transit of the Illumic Channel would occur for the Excalibur and her associated vessels, which includes the battleship IRN Edward Truden returning from a visit to Clysperis. The vessels of the Action Group will be rendezvousing with elements of the Imperial Fusanese Navy for replenishment just south of the Illumic from IFNS Kaiketsu, a Kyōkyū-class Fast Combat Support Ship, and IFNS Heike, the lead ship of her class of replenishment oilers.

"I believe that is quite fair, let's go forth with that understanding. And yes, the elephant in the room in regards to that line of discussion, but I believe I may have a solution. What if, for our purposes, nuclear cooperation takes place in the academic sphere? Our schools could collaborate on research, something such as this would not see an exchange of materials yet it would allow for the Clysperi to learn how best to utilize, operate and deploy the resources at our disposal. In return, the Kingdom would be willing to provide natural gas at a discounted rate, as I do not see our membership in OPEN surviving another year as it is."

Prince Maximus Astralix looked over the table that was set up for the conference. It sat in the Baron's Chamber, a room that in truth had little to do with the nobility. It was simply a room in the Palace attached to the main throne room, which in truth was more of a large function space nowdays, that in days past someone waiting to be enobled could wait with their retinue. Some of those retinue's in the distant past were large and so the room would be more than sufficent for their needs. It had no windows as it sat in the middle of the Palace but a large domed skylight made it feel airy. The walls were made of white plaster with columns holding up the roof more for decoration than purpose. The room itself was perfectly square as was the table which had been set up, "No head of the table, no foot of the table" Romilius, the Palace's head of staff, informed him. "I believe it will be the best form of symbolism for what you are trying to achieve. Each delegation we've given three chairs at the table but they can fit up to five people if they want, the tiny Lodjain ladies maybe seven." He chuckled. "We've then given each delegation a table behind that has many more seats." He pointed to the electronic tablet in each delegations place. "We've sent word to their aides that the tablet will allow them to summon drinks, food and anything else we think they may need." He picked one up and tapping on the screen it was not to disimilar to the tablets used by the staff at various restaurants. "We've a nice Abertonian red, a local white, whiskey from the Cenneg and a host of the other good stuff."

"Very good Romilius" the Prince said as he returned the tablet to its place stepped back and not satisfied returned to the table and straightened it. "Who are the guard of the day?" He asked.

Without needing to consult his notes the ever efficient Romilius said "The Iron Guard Sir"

"Well its not as good as the Vostroyan but they look pretty enough" the Prince was ever prideful in his old unit and even though he believed they were better troops he had to admit the Iron Guards dark blue and yellow trimmed dress uniform was the nicest of the two uniforms. He walked through the Palace casting an eye over the staff who were hurriedly preparing final touches for the meeting. He made his way outside as he was told that his guests were beginning to arrive. The handful of tourists who had got up early enough to see the Palace this morning were moved out the way of the gate by members of the Navis Imperialis who were manning the outer guard today and thus not in dress uniform. The khaki clad naval men politely but sternly gave instructions to those slow to move and one old lady found her shopping bag picked up by a small naval rating who offered a supporting arm to help her cross the road. He tipped his hat to her as he rejoined his friends guarding the entrance with rifles easily held should any action begin.

The first of the mini-covoys entered the palace. It was a duo of black limo's with a green military patrol vehicle at the front and one at the back with motorbike outriders at the flank. Tanith was nothing if not overefficient at utilising its military. The next would arrive in two minutes and the Prince knew that would be almost to the second and so as the Iron Guard formed an honour tunnel to welcome the first guest Maximus moved into position. "Welcome to Tanith" He said warmly.