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Natla flicked the chime on the door and then came in without prompting. She walked across the sun-lit office to the desk, its occupant so immersed in whatever he was reading on the screen that he didn’t give any indication he’d even noticed her. Natla set her hands on her hips. Good thing she hadn’t waited for an invitation then.
“What has you so engrossed?” she asked with a hint of humour.
He didn’t react, and it took a moment before he finally tore his eyes away from the screen. He looked at her, sighed, pushed his glasses up to his forehead and rubbed his eyes. “Nothing for you to worry about, I will manage.”
Natla huffed, took the last two steps to the desk and sat on top of it. “It’s been two months since your coronation, you really should have figured it out by now, Tihocan.”
“Figured what out?”
Natla glared at him, unsure if he was serious. But he was, of course he was. “That there is a reason why there are three of us,” she waved a hand with three fingers raised. “You don’t need to figure out stuff alone, especially when you’re so new at this.”
“I am not new at politics,” Tihocan pointed out. “The council is working closely with the Triumvirate.”
Natla forced herself not to roll her eyes and threw one leg over the other. “How long were you on the council?”
With a small frown, Tihocan answered. “Six years, but I suspect you know that.”
“See, I served there for nine years. And, being of noble birth-” she waved her hand when Tihocan started making a face. He wasn’t as subtle as he was probably thinking. “-don’t take it badly, being the first ruler of common birth elected in nearly three hundred years is an accomplishment. But the thing is, I grew up surrounded by politics. And do you know what I’ve done in my first month as a queen?”
Tihocan shook his head, his face a mix of curiosity and a sort of bracing-himself-for-something-painful grimace. Natla grinned.
“Now, the public wouldn’t know about it, but during peace talks, I almost offended the Olctian king by a badly worded letter.”
Tihocan breather out slowly. “We… were quite close to another war back then.”
“And there would have been a war, if Hetri didn’t happen to ask to read the letter before it was sent,” Natla gave him a crooked smile. She could admit that it had been a pretty effective wake-up call, understanding the enormity of her influence.
Tihocan pushed his chair away from the table, crossing his arms. “You know, this must be the first time I have heard you say anything positive about the late queen.”
“Oh I disliked her,” Natla shrugged, then looked left, where a map of the whole continent of Atlantis covered the wall, “but I still tried to work together with her. We had to – me, Hetri and Qualopec. We had a whole country to run.”
She slipped off the table and faced Tihocan head on. “And now it’s me, Qualopec and you. If one of us has a problem, all of us have a problem. It’s not a secret to be kept.”
“I don’t think this has a potential to fan a war,” Tihocan argued, but he was wavering. Oh, he wanted more convincing? Natla was happy to oblige. Playing with the communicator in her pocket, out of Tihocan’s sight from his position at the table, she tried to keep her voice serious:
“No problem is too small, and even if we might not be needed to help, it’s still better if we know in case something goes wrong later. You know how Qualopec felt sick yesterday after eating the plums? Good thing I knew, I had to fill in for him at the meeting this morning, because he spent the whole time on the toil-”
“Alright, alright, I get the idea,” Tihocan interrupted her quickly, covering his face with one hand. “I still think you had something to do with it,” he murmured.
Natla let out a surprised laugh. Tihocan would have kept this thought for himself two months ago, still too prim to comment on such things back then. “Well I say!” She straightened herself, trying to turn her expression serious but failing, “I don’t appreciate these baseless accusations.”
They were baseless, to Tihocan anyway. Unless Qualopec had revealed to him that it was Qualopec who accidentally spilled water in front of the couch Natla had been lying on, boots off, so she had spent the rest of the day in wet socks after she’d inevitably stepped in it.
“You do seem to argue a lot,” Tihocan shrugged.
“And you’re smart enough to know we don’t mean it.” At Tihocan’s sceptical look, she amended: “Not that seriously, anyway. We’re still capable of working together when it counts, evidenced by the fact that we haven’t burnt this country to the ground yet.”
Tihocan didn’t seem assured by her words, or her winning smile. She wasn’t trying very hard to hide her amusement, to be sure.
The door chime sounded, and after Tihocan’s press of a button by his hand, indicating to the person behind the door that they could enter, Qualopec walked in.
“Tihocan, Natla,” he greeted. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I’m sorry?” Tihocan stayed confused for only the briefest of moments before he turned to Natla in suspicion.
“What?” she set one hand on her hip. “I messaged him to come the moment I realized you were being difficult about this.”
“About what?” Qualopec let his mechanical legs carry him closer, halting by Natla’s side.
“Cooperation,” Natla cocked her head. “Not keeping his problems to himself.”
“You are really making this a bigger issue than it is,” Tihocan sighed, then glared at the screen before looking back up at them.
“No problem is too small,” Qualopec walked around the table, and behind his back Natla signed “See? What did I tell you?” at Tihocan. He pushed up his glasses so she could see him rolling his eyes at her.
Natla bit her lower lip to keep from laughing. Tihocan has really made great steps since his too-serious disposition. Then she walked around the other side of the table than Qualopec to also look at the screen. Her humour left her.
“Oh gods no, not the Prelis trade route.”
“Of course they would try to adjust the terms again, the Prelisian royal wolf had a litter of four pups two days ago,” Qualopec said with bitter acceptance.
“Four? Why didn’t you tell me?” Natla hissed.
“I am sorry, what is the significance of that?” Tihocan looked from one to another, crowding him in his chair.
“It’s an even number, a sign of bad luck,” Qualopec explained.
“And the king only agreed on the current route after a young apple tree in his garden sprouted exactly nine apples,” Natla continued.
“Which is an odd number, and that means good luck?” Tihocan guessed.
“Exactly,” Qualopec nodded. “In summer, the route may be flooded on the southernmost passage, but it rarely happens, maybe once twenty years.”
“Yes, I am aware of that,” Tihocan flicked a finger to display the relevant map on the screen. “I was under the assumption that he agreed to this shorter route because the danger was so low...”
“No, it was the apples,” Natla sighed.
“Does he decide many things based on odd and even numbers?” Tihocan asked. Natla could hear the dread in his voice.
“Not enough to make most people realize,” Qualopec shook his head. “Those decisions too must come in odd numbers to have a chance of success in his eyes, and even three important rulings at once might be difficult, therefore he usually keeps it to just one… once in a while.”
Tihocan’s lips were pursed tight, and Natla was imagining what swear words could just be running through his head. She couldn’t wait to hear him swear for the first time. “ Is there more I should know about his deciding processes?”
“If something significant happens, which can be counted, such as the litter of pups,” Natla spoke up, “there’s a good chance he might make some decision based on that, but no, nothing more specific.”
Tihocan nodded, accepting this unhelpful answer. “Was there another way to learn of this other than asking either of you?”
“The Scion,” Qualopec said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, give him a break,” Natla rolled her eyes, “in two months, Tihocan can be glad to not get random visions by touching it when thinking too hard. Do you really expect him to search up such a random information, when he doesn’t even know he’s supposed to be looking for one?”
“I was merely answering the question,” Qualopec told her.
“And I appreciate it,” Tihocan said quickly when Natla opened her mouth to speak. Damn, he wasn’t letting them argue in peace? They had to release some tension, now that they would be dealing with this mess. “Is there a way to convince him to keep the current route, based on rational arguments, such as our trade deals which neither side will be able to fulfil if the path nearly doubles in length?” Tihocan continued.
“No,” Natla said in an overly cheerful tone. “Now we will need to negotiate new terms with him, going back and forth for months while hoping that no countable circumstances in his life will change his answer again.”
“Amazing,” Tihocan said in the blandest voice possible.
“On a positive route, he is growing quite old and may be succeeded by his son in a few years,” Natla added on. “And we have no knowledge about the future king being obsessed with numbers in this way.”
“That is for the future,” Qualopec ruined the hopeful mood. “Now we must focus on the current circumstance. Compile his past reasons for refusing various routes and compare them with the current situation, determining the one we prefer the most, while still having some possibility of him accept the change.”
“I suppose I won’t have time tomorrow afternoon to work in my lab as I’ve planned,” Natla groaned.
“Maybe for the best,” Qualopec grumbled.
“Oh screw off,” Natla narrowed her eyes at him.
“Anyway,” Tihocan spoke up with a raised voice. Ugh, his more open attitude really was giving him a liking for ruining their arguments. Who would have known it would have downsides? “If that is the work that is needed, I will get to it right away. Are there any other sources where can I find this information?”
Natla shook her head and wordlessly tapped the Scion hanging from her neck.
“Of course,” Tihocan sighed.
“It’s a good opportunity to practice its use,” Qualopec pointed out.
“Yes,” Natla agreed dully, “searching for some really weird, scattered around pieces of information.” Then she hopped up on Tihocan’s desk again, trying to be encouraging. “But it’ll go faster when all three of us work on it together, you see?”
Tihocan gave her a crooked smile. “I suppose so, yes.”
“And I will make sure to give orders to the kitchens for when we are done,” Qualopec said, and Natla perked up at his words, “we will need a lot of wine afterwards.”
“You suggest we get drunk when we finish?” Tihocan asked in disbelief.
“Don’t try to wiggle out, you’ll be happy for that, trust me,” Natla patted his shoulder. “If we gotta do annoying but important stuff together, we also get wasted together after. That’s how the Triumvirate works.”
Tihocan stared at her, then turned wordlessly to Qualopec, as if hoping for a denial of those words.
But Qualopec only nodded. “That’s how the Triumvirate works.”