Marabell was massive. A towering beastkin woman with horns like a bull and the same fluffy ears and tail her daughters had, but she must’ve been at least seven feet tall and built from a block of stone she had so much muscle. Her hair was a vibrant pink with bright green eyes, stunning and intimidating. She was playing with her daughter Harriet. Despite being twins, the two looked very distinct.

Olana and Harriet were both tall for their age, but Harriet had long hair tied back in a ponytail and more of a tan than her sister. She was also wearing boy’s clothes for some reason while she wrestled with her mother outside. Her horns were a bit larger than her sister’s as well, maybe five inches long? They curved a little so it was hard to tell.

She wasn’t winning by any means, but she was having fun. Her hair was slowly unraveling itself from its tie and becoming a mess. Alister supposed his cousins were strange, though cute.

Harriet stumbled as her mother stopped fighting and they turned their attention to the group. Marabell grinned wide, “Ay! It’s my brother-in-law! C’mere Blas!”

There was no formality anywhere in this woman’s bones. She hooked him into a hug, Blas laughing lightly, “Marabell come now, you’re far too excited.”

“Too excited? Not excited enough! You brought your kid this time! Alister, right? C’mere little pup!” she gave Alister little warning before he was lifted into the air and tossed like he weighed nothing. He let out a squeak of displeasure and surprise. “I tried ta tell Reese you guys were gonna be here soon but he’s gone on and on about some military stress or whatever so he didn’t listen.”

Harriet jogged up and gave her uncle Blas a hug, “Uncle I’m happy you came! You should convince my dad to let us get a pet!”

Reese, exhausted as always, shook his head, “Absolutely not. I hardly have time for you three as is, let alone for an animal as well. Besides. You said you want to be a brawler like your mother, didn’t you? Not a tamer?”

She huffed, “Berserker! Not a brawler!”

Alister was finally set down after being tossed like a ball over and over again, a little nauseous, “A-Aunt Marabell… I mean no offense but… you all don’t seem very much like nobles at all.”

“Pfft,” she laughed, loudly filling the room, “Being a noble’s overrated. I’m one by title by marrying your uncle, but I don’t care about acting like one. I’m a mercenary! My father’s the owner of the best mercenary guild in the region! That’s where my blood, sweat, and tears lie!”

Reese sighed, “I will admit my family is unorthodox… but as long as they’re happy I don’t mind it. Please don’t shun them for their beastkin features or their behavior, Alister. They get enough of that from their peers already.”

Alister folded his small arms, “I… it’s not as though I was going to be mean about it. I just… thought it was odd, that’s all.” He felt a little embarrassed since his uncle pointed it out, so he switched the topic, “Can you tell me more about this military thing and whatnot, Uncle Reese?”

The collective groan from everyone else told him this was a mistake, as Reese grinned widely as though he had just given a child candy.

Reese gave a large inhale before smiling and unleashing a floating wall of records connected by strands of lights, "You see Alister! Our neighbor to the north-west is Dusau. Which we have two major trade routes with and then a few minor ones. All go through the mountains except the southernmost one that goes around the tip of Severin territory. That southern trade route is managed by one of our cousins. The northern trade route is relatively close to the capital, just to the west of here; and is managed by Viscount Throllo. These two trade routes are shared by Dusau and Mare.”

He continued without taking a breath, “However, due to a recent drought as well as increased monster attacks from lack of food, Dusau has had to increase imports of grain from Mare - they’re a mountainous country so they don’t have much farmland as is - and that is causing severe strain on Dusau's economy which is riling up the citizens. As they've put an increase on taxes to try and counteract it. However the drought has not ended and if it continues, there will be another harvest season without a proper harvest.”

Still he continued, going down the rabbit hole, “The citizens won't have the income to handle the taxes. Dusau's royalty isn't stupid. So I believe they are planning a minor invasion to take full control over the trade routes and to enact tariffs on Mare to make up for the economic strain. This will solve multiple goals for the Dusau monarchy. One, if they enable a royal decree and have nobles use their private forces to serve as the first waves of the invasion, the nobles will take the heaviest losses to their military strength, giving the royalty military security. Two, by starting a war they can shift the anger of the general populace to be pointed at another, and stoke that anger through nationalism. Three, if they do take over the trade routes, Mare will have no choice than to launch a counterattack to retake, or pay the tariffs, but if we do launch a counterattack, they could merely shut down their end of the route and bunker there. Mare uses those trade routes extensively and are a large source of revenue for the country. It is one of the very lifelines of the kingdom and connects us with the north without having to risk the ocean. When that happens, it would turn into a war of attrition of which country could last without trade longer.”

It was as if this man did not heed the mortal concept of breathing. Every sentence that came out of his mouth was accompanied by a document shoved in Alister’s face with various spy reports. Alister only wondered if this was even allowed to be said to a child, Duke’s son or not, and was struggling to keep up with his rambling.

“All of this is further corroborated by the heavy military movements of Dusau that have been happening near the trade route. On public records the military movements are to handle a large scale monster surge in the wild lands near the mountains. However, there are too many cavalry and tactical mages for that. There have also been reports from Marabell’s mercenaries who had recently returned from a mission of escorting a caravan through the trade route, civilians in the Dusau kingdom have seen deconstructed siege weapons being carried in wagons by the ‘monster extermination’ army. I can't think of any monsters that would require trebuchets and battering rams. All of this simply leads to the fact that Dusau is planning an invasion to take over the mountain trade routes! There's no other conclusion!" He ended dramatically raising his voice before finally he remembered mortals need to breathe.

“I… see,” Alister muttered, processing, “Do you think they’d try going as far as to take the fort on our side of the pass that’s near the capital?”

Reese took a heavy gulp of chilled water Olana brought him and let out a gasp of relief. Alister wasn’t sure if it was from someone sitting there listening to him rant or because he needed air. All the same, he shook his head, answering, “Most likely... they would go for the Severin territory. As far as they know Blas is still living in a secluded town far away from the duchy’s capital. Attacking the trade route near the royal capital brings the chance they may anger Takrok’Vros’Rakei or that the Royal Knights will become involved. For the safest and fastest victory, Severin’s duchy would be the most likely target.”

“Do you think…” Alister was struggling to come up with something useful to say. He hated politics. But Reese seemed so enthusiastic about this. He wanted to contribute, “Mm… What about the whole thing with this transfer of power? Do you think that Dusau is taking advantage of it somehow?”

Reese paused, mumbling, "The transfer of power to the Archduchess…” He quickly scanned through various papers he pulled out of thin air before tossing them away, “...could they... no... but..." He seemed to be on some trail of thought in his mind. "Taking advantage of it.... That's.... they could... But that would lead to a lockdown......" He sat down, taking another sip of water.

Marabell just sighed as she wiped sweat from her face, "Well. Take a seat Little Alli, he's gonna be like that for a bit. You oiled his gears.... I love the skittish dolt, but even I have to admit he can spend hours overthinking things."

Olana just responded with a nod as sat down in a strange sitting posture on her knees. Harriet just plopped down on the ground. "Dad’s doing the thinky thing again!" she chimed, stretching.

Blas happily sat on the ground beside his nieces and stretched as well, “He’s very good at the thinky thing. It’s why he has the job he has. Very few people are better at it than him.”

“I look forward to becoming more involved again,” Alliana wistfully sighed, “I love this sort of work. Reese, dear, you know, I think there’s a decent chance they could stoke some of the egos of nobles that would’ve liked it if Nathaniel the second had become the head now, despite him and his twin sister only being ten, because that would’ve opened up marriage immediately. But Archduchess Callibella is very protective of her four children. Her eldest is the queen, Isabella of course, then Lonabella became a saint so there’s no entering the family that way, and then Julibella and Nathaniel the second. The two children are the way for nobles to increase their standing. Not to mention the extended family. I believe Nathaniel has… four living siblings? And each of them have their own children in turn. Many potential enemies and many potentially jaded people. Not to mention the effects something like this has on the commoners. They get tense when high noble families have drama. For good reason.”

That got Reese started again, "Oh god. And if general panic erupts during the funeral... who knows what could happen..." He stood up, “We need to go to the castle. Tell the king to increase security at the funeral. I don't care if I end up being wrong. I'd rather get called crazy than risk the lives of so many people by wondering if they would or not. Get a royal guard member to shadow the Archduchess until and during the funeral for all I care. If anything happens to her a full succession war may break out between the branch families either trying to become the main family or using the children like puppets!”

“Reese. The thought of stroking egos isn’t enough to base anything on. To get the king and queen, and especially their advisors, to listen to you, you’d need something concrete to denote a real risk.”

"....the beast king is here... With how unpredictable he is... He may end up causing more chaos than any attack that happens just by him retaliating against the attack..."

“Still not proof.”

" .....i think the thought of that idiot leaving a giant hole in the capital because 'they attacked first so it's fair!' Would be enough but..... Hmmm... I dont have proof... And i dont have enough time to get proof either...."

Blas sighed, “Brother I’m sure it will be fiiine. They wouldn’t be stupid enough to aim for the archduchess when she’s surrounded by knights and whatnot. Not with Xalo and the Beast King there.”

Reese deflated, realizing even if he felt certain about the risk there was no proof. Blas shook his head, “We can go talk to the king and get him to increase the number of knights on the archduchess and her family. How about that?”

Reese gave a small stutter as he tried to get out a “but…” then he slowly looked down and gave a nod, "Your right brother.... Sorry for wasting your time, let us head back inside.... I should at least be a proper host."

“We’ll ask for the increased security later today, don’t worry about it. I’ll back you up.”

Everyone started to move back inside, Alliana chuckling lightly as she stayed beside Alister, "He hasn't changed much. While he may have large bursts of energy like that, he's just as quick to deflate into what you just saw." Marabell and Harriet followed suit inside, with Olana seeming to have vanished though Alister caught a glimpse of her tail entering the door.

He shrugged, looking up at his mom as they walked, "Who is this ‘Beast King’?"