The Royal Thief Unbound

     When Veifira arrived at the main sitting room, Astael was pouring over papers and hardly noticed her arrival. Veifira watched her sister for a while, watching Astael do what she loved most, before clearing her throat.

     “Vei!” Astael exclaimed, standing up and smoothing out her flowing white Altadorian-style gown. She had changed out of her black getup and was back to looking as ethereal and dreamy as usual. Gone was the black glove from earlier, and the sapphires of her now-exposed Ring of the Lost Desert were reflected in the clear crystals of the ceiling chandelier. “I was just looking over our voting stances one more time before passing them on to you.”

     Veifira shrugged, sitting down and gesturing for her sister to do the same. “You know I’ll agree with whatever you think is best.”

     Astael laughed gently, sitting back down. “I know that, I know you trust me, but it would mean a lot to me if you knew what was going on.”

     “Sure,” Veifira grumbled. “I’ll read it.”

     “Thank you, thank you,” Astael said, grasping Veifira’s hands and gently placing a small stack of papers in them. “I’m going to check on the preparations, we set out tomorrow.”

     The Neopian Leaders Summit was to be held in Tyrannia this time around, at the Town Hall. The meeting was held every three years, and this would be Astael and Veifira’s first time representing Lost Desert. Their grandfather and late father had attended the last summit, and now the responsibility had passed onto the princesses.

     As Veifira flipped idly through the papers, her grandfather Vitellis entered the room. Veifira, whose hearing had been honed by her training, had already known he was arriving minutes ago, when the door to his chambers opened.

     “Grandfather?” she asked tentatively, pretending to sound surprised to see him. Although the two were close – he was the one who taught her basic combat and weaponry skills – he was rarely seen outside of his section of the castle. He was more of a warlord than a king during his time, and during times of peace he had no interest in the day-to-day rulings of the desert. After the war, he retired from the crown early, passing it on to his son.

     “My dear,” he replied, stepping into the room.

     Veifira quickly stood to meet him and bowed with respect. “I’ve missed you,” she said, walking over to grasp his arm and lead him to an armchair. “What brings you here?”

     “I hear the summit is tomorrow?” her grandfather asked, sitting down.

     “It is,” Veifira nodded, settling down across from him.

     Her grandfather sighed, taking his time to find the words. “The summit, it’s… it’s really just formal balderdash. I hope you can be a spot of reality for your sister there. Contracts and agreements made there – as anywhere, as promising as they can be, often lead to nothing.”

     Throughout their lives, Veifira and Astael had always been told by their grandfather to be wary of politics. Although his words fell on deaf ears for Astael, who was as idealistic as ever, Veifira could see the advantages of being cautious. After all, under the veneer of striving towards utopianism, everyone involved was ultimately self-serving.

     “I’ll be sure to look after her, grandfather,” Veifira reassured him. He really didn’t have that much to worry about. Although Astael tended to want to see the best in others, she had become more realistic, jaded from her time leading the Lost Desert and dealing with the council. But their grandfather, who had become somewhat of a recluse, was not present enough to see the changes in her.

     “Thank you, Veifira,” her grandfather said. “I’ll leave you to your work.” He got up to leave.

     “Uh, wait!” Veifira called out, suddenly inspired. “Grandfather, I know you chose to give up your rule when you knew you were not right for it, but do you think there is ever a way to balance our birthright with our choices?”

     Her grandfather turned back to look at her. “Veifira…” he began, “I know that I, at some level, inspired you to make choices away from royalty as well, but know that I always regret bestowing the crown on your father when he was still so young. I should have taken more years of responsibility so he could have a longer childhood. There is a balance between the two, Veifira, but I’m not ashamed to say I don’t know what it is.”

     She nodded with reverence. “Thank you, grandfather.”

     After he left, Veifira tossed the stack of papers onto the desk and sat back, sighing. If there really was a balance between her royal responsibilities and the life she wanted to live, would she be able to find it? Although Astael was happy to take care of the Lost Desert on her own, it didn’t mean that she had to. Veifira could return home between missions and help her sister, take up some work and help counter the rumours that she had abandoned her land…

     “Something on your mind, princess?” came a voice from an open window.

     Veifira whipped her head around towards the voice. “Thalse?!” she exclaimed, before lowering her voice to a whisper. Even with her improved hearing, Veifira had no chance of tracking someone with Thalse’s sneaking expertise. What was with thieves always entering through windows? Vatalyn had done so earlier and now Thalse. “What are you doing here?”

     Thalse, who was sitting on the window alcove, shrugged. “Bored. Summit doesn’t start until tomorrow, so I have nothing to do today.”

     Veifira narrowed her eyebrows. “But you said you weren’t part of our ‘little clubhouse,’” she said, emphasizing the last part with air quotes.

     “I meant I wasn’t a part of you and Vat’s little thievery games. This?” he said, gesturing to the papers on the table in front of her. “I’m totally a part of.”

     “What do you mean by ‘this?’” Veifira asked.

     “Playing with politics,” Thalse replied. “Haven’t you learned a single thing from all your excursions with Vat? ‘Knowledge is power,’” he said, returning her air quotes with his own. “And the summit just seems to me like a convenient way to roll up everyone with both knowledge and power into one…” He pinched his fingers together. “Tiny package.”

     Veifira tried her hardest not to scoff. “You have a strange way of looking at others.”

     “Yeah?” Thalse retorted. “And what way would that be?”

     “You just look at others and value them according to what they can do for you.”

     Thalse chuckled. “How else should I value them?”

     Veifira just shook her head, choosing not to respond to his question. “There’s no getting through to you, is there?”

     “I suppose not.”

     “What will you do at the summit?” Veifira asked.

     “I have some business to attend to…” Thalse trailed off. “And of course, I want to see how you’ll do for your first summit.”

     Veifira reached out to straighten up the papers she had tossed on the table earlier. “Meetings are closed to the public.”

     Thalse chuckled. “Who said I was part of the public?”

     Veifira’s eyes widened as she stared at Thalse. What did he mean by that? The Neopian Leaders Summit was only open to rulers, well-known figures, and royalty, and was limited to two representatives per land, which usually meant only the top two attended. Although Astael had told Veifira countless times to acquaint herself with the other leaders, of course Veifira hadn’t. Could that possibly mean that Thalse, the disheveled mentalist thief sitting in front of her, was –!

     “Of course not,” Thalse said lazily, reading Veifira’s thoughts from the expressions on her face. “I’m neither a ruler nor royalty.”

     “Then what?” Veifira asked. “Are you sneaking in?”

     Thalse shook his head, clearly offended. “Nothing that amateur.”

     Veifira just stared at him. By now, she knew that Thalse would say only what he wanted to say, and not a word more. If he wanted to tell her how he would be present at the meetings, he would. Pressing him further was no use, so Veifira just waited to see if he would speak.

     Thalse smiled at her, proud that she had him more figured out now. “And you say I haven’t taught you anything,” he mused. “I’ll be there as a stand-in representative for Tyrannia.”

     Veifira furrowed her brows. “Why?”

     “Business,” Thalse answered. “And that is all I will be saying about that.”

     Naturally, Veifira was curious about that, but she just nodded instead. “Well, I can’t say I’m not looking forward to seeing you at a formal meeting, either, surrounded by the suits.”

     “Laugh it up now,” Thalse said. “But I think you’ll see that, contrary to your beliefs, I am quite skilled at adapting to my surroundings.”

     “I’ll be making that decision for myself,” Veifira said with a small nod. There was a lull between them before she spoke up again. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’ll be getting back to my papers. I suppose you have some preparations to make yourself, then?”

     “In a way,” Thalse replied. “I’ll leave you to it.” He nodded once before disappearing in a silent flurry, upsetting the gauzy curtains that framed the window.

     Alone again, Veifira shook her head. Thalse was truly a unique character, but weren’t they all? Veifira and Vatalyn were both royals who preferred a life of thieving, which couldn’t be ordinary either. Now the three of them were going to attend the most important meeting of Neopia, just days after staking out in a small apartment in Mystery Island. She picked up the stack of papers Astael had given her, determined to finally give them a read. Nothing about this was ordinary.

To be continued…