𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑤'𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑏𝑜𝑥 ⋆ 𝑛𝑜 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠

AMZEN
𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝 Brownie
{ Country: Toora Sea , Region: Mooon Wrasse Reef }

If the palace was in a panic, Xanbar was something else entirely. What little concern occupied his expression vanished when he spotted her. It was his demeanor that tipped her off immediately that something had happened with the queen. Helette was the only thing which everyone seemed to care about save him.

“No, I haven’t seen her,” Amzen answered. How could she have when she was exploring the shallows with Yste? In fact it had been at least twenty four hours since she had laid eyes on the queen. Their formal dinners were routine for all the palace occupants, and Helette always sat at the head of the table. The night before she had seemed distant, but that was nothing unusual. Amzen had thought nothing of it at the time.

When Xanbar suggested they check the throne room, Amzen consented despite knowing they would not find her there. With all the palace in a panic, the queen could not have gone unnoticed in the most obvious room. Even still, Amzen gestured for her lover to lead the way. They wove through the panicked guards and advisers to the ornate doors to the throne room. As she suspected, it was silent and empty within.

Once they were out of earshot, Amzen pitched her voice down to avoid being overheard. “Do you think this is it?” By it she meant the moment he had been waiting for for several years—the moment when Helette finally vanished from the face of the earth. Amzen’s pulse quickened, and she could hear her heart drumming in her ears. She recalled the countless nights when dreaming of the future with Xanbar. He had such a clear vision for the reef, for her own reign as queen with him by her side.

Yet even in those moments it had all seemed so far away, little more than a beautiful but unattainable dream. And she did not hold the same resentment toward the queen he had always harbored. Her own feelings were more complicated, as evidenced by the sudden jolt of guilt that struck her in the chest. It was almost as if they had spoken the event into existence.

“She must have left the reef,” Amzen theorized, drawing closer to Xanbar so her voice was barely more than a whisper. “Her guards are hooked to her hip, as are all of the ladies of the court. If she was somewhere in the palace the alarm would never have been raised.” Helette rarely left the palace these days. With all the criticism she faced from her people, she was hesitant to be seen at all. She spent most of her days in her private rooms or wasting hours in court speaking of frivolous things.

Amzen searched Xanbar’s face, looking for any signs of emotion, whether it be concern or elation. Her own feelings were in turmoil, and impossible to sort through in that moment. She felt as though they needed to do something, but she did not know what. The empty throne hovered in her peripheral vision like a spectre. It was too soon to imagine herself upon it, not when the current queen’s name still rang through the halls.

In that instant, the doors swung upon and a steward entered. “Lady Amzen. There you are.” His voice was breathless, each phrase coming upon a pained exhale. Instantly Amzen’s gaze fell upon the tablet in his hand. “The queen left a note. She has departed for the landnations. She seeks an alliance with Keirsa.”