Alya liked fact that the royal palace was huge and imposing. She always believed that a nation’s power can also be assessed by the greatness of the sovereign’s palace. She also appreciated the fact that it was old, more than old in fact, it was ancient. It made her think of the Royal palace of Clysperis (ooc: a nation north of Tamora), which also was ancient and which she sadly never had the chance to visit it.
As she entered the room where the king was waiting for her she could smell the cigar. “It would seem Zerchea has another thing in common with Tamora” she thought. While she personally didn’t smoke, many in Tamora did which was in contrast with many Mundus countries which had veritable crusades against smoking in their countries.
The couple of moments she pondered that left her with her guard down and Lysander managed to take her by surprise and shake her hand, something she had avoided doing since it was against the customs of her religion for men and women to touch unless they were married or very close relatives. She did her best to hide the fact that she was startled by this and said:
“Thank you for having me. Allow me to express the best wishes from the Emperor himself. I am also honored to meet Your Imperial Majesty in person” she added.
“I would first like to congratulate Your Imperial Majesty for your decision to end the isolation and engage the rest of Mundus. It is not an easy thing to do and facing the rest of Mundus can at times be a blessing and a curse at the same time but I believe in the end the advantages outweigh the cons.
Secondly, I believe that Zerchea is a very important addition to the world stage. And not just because of its exceptional geographic position but also because of its preservation of its traditions and unique way of life. Tamora strongly believes that those are not part of the…“ a few moments passed as she tried to find the right word “mainstream cultural norms need to be encouraged and supported to express their perspective on the world stage. “
“But perhaps more important than that, we want to open avenues for cooperation between Zerchea and Tamora in particular and the
Midaranye region in general. “
Alya stopped and gave the Emperor a chance to reply. She was under the impression that Lysander was generally less of a formal person but Alya, like most Tamorans, was not. So she remained formal in both her speech and gestures.