To:- Her Excellency Squadron Leader Angeliki Papadimitriou
The Kingdom of East Moreland is honoured to be among the first nations that Cassiopeia have sought to build relations with beyond just an ambassador exchange. We naturally would be delighted to host Queen Atalanta II for a formal visit to Northfort and look forward to welcoming her and her staff in the coming days.
May The Gods Watch Over You and Your Nation Know Peace
King David III of East Moreland.
It had been a while since Northfort had played host to any major visit by a foreign dignitary. In the last few months the King had taken any foreign visitors to the smaller cities and towns of the Kingdom. It was a way of showing the residents outside the capital that the royals valued them and gave the King a chance to visit friends dotted around his nation. The King though was now back at home in Northfort and had watched since the Cassiopeian ambassador requested the visit his staff go into well practiced routines of preparing the Palace for guests. The Queen's residence, a wing of the Palace, had been prepared for the Cassiopeian monarch to stay during the visit. Despite its name it had been unused for months with Queen Stasya spending her time in the King's suites or up at her own estate in Silverhills. This lack of daily activity meant it was given a good spring clean and was set up ready to recieve guests. For the Morelanders it was a bit of an unknown element as to how big an entourage the Queen would bring. By now the world knew if the Morelanders travelled it was a small group where as Queen Stasya's countryfolk from Lodja went en-mass with a huge staff. The Queen's Residence however could be utilised easily no matter the number and so David was confident things would go well.
Rhiannon meanwhile was not happy about the visit as it meant she was forced into wearing a dress. It also meant she was now standing on a rolled out strip of red carpet at King Robert International Airport rather than having her daily swordsmanship class. She fidgeted with her hair as she stood between her father King David and her step-mother Queen Stasya. David was wearing one of his extensive collection of blazers, this one with the nations coat of arms on the pocket and his small crown on his head. I wasn't often that he worse it but today was a formal occasion. Queen Stasya had been through three different dresses, one rejected as too "revealing" by her husband, another in a colour that for the autumnal morning wasn't correct and then the long black floor length dress she was wearing now topped off with her own crown that she enjoyed wearing. One thing Rhiannon was enjoying about the day was the Red Legionnaires in their silver breastplates stood waiting to provide the guard of honour. While these men where Legionnaires from the elite unit many of them were now counting down to retirement or had been medically discharged from frontline duty. They now formed the Guard of Honour for many occasions. Rhiannon liked hanging around with them and especially watching them practice their sword drill.
As the Cassiopeian aircraft touched down an Air Force band prepared to play their national anthem as the King prepared to welcome them. The aircraft stopped at the designated place and the Legionnaires drew there swords. "So cool" Rhiannon mused out loud as she watched them stand rigidly with their swords at salute waiting for the Cassiopeian Queen to pass by and allow King David to greet her.