"The Hyperboreans are here! The Hyperboreans are here!" shouted the messenger as he burst into the central office of The Khrozada. Empress Khastria, who was deep in a conversation with her chancellor, Peries Arkhaurus, looked up in complete surprise.

"Here? In Khauran City?"

"Er. Well, no," amended the messenger, "they're actually just north of Arkrel. The Walking Dead are stomping all over Northern Kozaki!"

With a very authoritarian and Empress-like jerk of the head, Khastria shrieked at Peries, "Quick! Get the Corps d'diplomatique to Pomicia right away!" As Peries hit the expensive Zamoran carpet in a desperate run, she called after him, "gather as much lotus as you can find and give it to them! I don't care what color it is! Also, dig up any corpses you find along the way and bring those along as Tribute! And for Mitra's sake, man, HURRY!"

That said, she turned idly back to her perusal of the latest pork futures in Khauran City. The numbers were so enticing that she began to hum the National Anthem (entitled 'Ching!Ching!Ching!Got Money In My Pocket!' traditionally sung to the tune of 'Michael Row Your Boat Ashore'). Once she had completed her task, she headed out to run a few errands with her War Marischals. Surely, they must be doing something with themselves, and Khastria intended to find out what.

As she got out into the extraordinarily grandiose courtyard of The Khrozada, she happened to run into a friendly ambassador from Punt. After a brief conversation, he persuaded her that the age-old alliance with Khoraja was really rather unnecessary, and that the Khaurani people really didn't like the way Khorajans picked their teeth after lunch. Naturally, Khastria signed the declaration of independence from the alliance and happily made her way upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, she was nearly bowled over by a troop of guards who were busy apprehending a Keshani assassin who was desperately trying to latch his paws on one of her ambassadors. The ambassador in question was busy standing off to one side wailing like a child. Since Khastria didn't like loud noises, she quickly left the room.

Once out in the next hallway, she ran into a friendly Kosalan ambassador who told her that whenever Kothians stay as guests, they always sneak into the larder and lick all of the silverware. Not liking that idea, Khastria decided that the best course of action would be to end the alliance with Koth. After all, no one can tolerate licked flatware. Of course, if Kothian spit were worth money, then she'd have had a very different answer for the silly Kosalan. But it wasn't, so she didn't -- which led to her doing and saying several ugly things to the next Kothian she ran into.

After the row with the Kothian ambassador, and a very unpleasant confrontation with the Khorajan ambassador, she finally had a chance to get a little peace and quiet. Tragically, it was interrupted by some Shemite prisoner who had found his way up from the dungeons, leaving a swathe of dead Khaurani guardsmen in his wake. He hopped through her private study and out a window. This upset Khastria because he was letting all of the cold air out. She would have been more upset about it if there hadn't been a Shemite *assassin* right after him. Given as how the second Shemite was heavily armed and muttering about killing the first diplomat from Khauran that he could find -- Khastria decided that her day was a bust. Fortunately, the hired murderer was polite enough to ask for directions, so she gave him the address of a close friend who happened to work for the Corps d'diplomatique.

After that, things quieted down considerably, but she never did around to talking to her War Marischals.

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