"No, that's not going to work." Persephone said to the scribe as she poured over the information at her disposal on the desk. "If taxes are raised on provincial exports alone, these are the provinces that would be hit hardest." She trailed a finger down a particular list. "They're all owned by Marikas. We can't afford that." After a polite enquiry on where the additional funds for the Harvest festival were due to be taken, Persephone scoured the documents and parchment before her. After discovering three provinces receiving additional funding that they were no longer entitled to, Persephone was able to piece together the amount required and the scribe nodded happily...

The annual taxes calculation would have found and corrected the funding issue in a few months, but the money was of more use now - not tied up on land they would then have to charge back against. Persephone made a note to increase the frequency of particular tax checks, in order to keep the money closer to the Royal Treasury for one it was needed. She would need to speak with the Master of Coin regarding the cost of such additional inspections and whether it would relegated the gain.

Three hours later and Persephone was still liaising with the three scribes, each of whom had occupied a desk in her living quarters and who she dictated to or addressed on different and particular matters - all of which were the basic day to day issues of running a kingdom. They didn't even touch on the required paperwork and challenges of enacting any changes within the Senate, which convened every week and then had a large conference every six.

How her father - a man who loved the outdoors and could never be still - had ever dealt with so much general document maintenance, Persephone would never know. But oh so happily for her, it was now her responsibility.

She was starting to realise why some monarchs are "lazy" and refused to allow any requested changes in the Senate. It was likely because they simply didn't want to tabulate and coexist laws, finances and public impression for any longer than they already had to. Three hours in and Persephone was already developing a headache right behind the eyes. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't sleeping...

At least she didn't have to sit here and explain to the three old scribes why the treasury suddenly needed to pay for a fifteen foot bronze statue... Now that would have been a disaster and a half to explain, and would likely spark far more rumours than anything else she could do this week. Ergo, she was paying for the damn thing out of her own pocket and, if anyone asked, it was coming out of the public arena budget. The owners of the arcus would just never notice a deflate in the money they were assigned.

When there was a knock at the door to her living room, Persephone looked up to see her sister enter the room. She smiled brightly for the first time that morning. She had sent a servant looking for Emilia before she had begun her sit down with the scribes - intent on speaking with her before the work day began. She had been told, however, that the Princess Emilia had been out shopping for material. If Persephone knew her sister, the girl would have been out touching the finer fabrics of the kingdom and choosing colours in all of the finer merchant's store in the Inner Circle and would not be back for several hours. After that she would be with the royal seamstress because Emilia was nothing if not impatient and would want to see the material merged and formed into the clothing she envisioned before she stopped envisioning it and became distracted with something else...

Persephone had therefore told the messenger - who had returned shamefaced for not being able to produce the younger of the Xanthos princesses - to wait an hour after the Lady Emilia returned from her trip and then summon her again.

Three and a half hours was about right for her arrival, Persephone mused to herself, as the young woman stepped inside the room and the three scribes looked to Persephone for guidance.

"That's enough for this morning." Persephone determined. "Leave everything and you may return at two hours past sun-high."

With a wave of her hand the men were dismissed and then left the room with a deep box to first Persephone and then to Emilia as they passed her on the way to the door.

When they were alone, Persephone got up from behind her desk and made her way towards the bureau beside the door, stopping in the way to wrap an arm around Emilia's shoulders and drop a kiss on the top of her head.

"Hello little one." She welcomed and then, letting her go, headed for the tray of goblets on the bureau. Carefully, Persephone poured out fresh water - a delicacy in a kingdom surrounded by the sea - into two bronze cups and handed one to her sister. "How was your fabric-hunting mission? You get anything for me?" She joked with a grin, before gesturing for her sister to follow her.

Leaving the room and stepping out onto the marble balcony of her chambers, Persephone took a deep breath in through the nose as she looked out over the city. The royal palace was the highest point in the capital, besides the Temple of the Gods and from their current position the entirety of the Inner Circle could be seen, before the streets dropped further down the land for the lower wars, and then disappeared entirely as they met the rocky edge of the cliffside. Beyond that was the port with the masts of a hundred ships, reaching for the sky, breaking the open horizon of blue.

Persephone smiled as her sister described the dress. Blue had been a preferred colour on their mother when they had been little and whether Emilia knew it or was behaving subconsciously, it was the colour she often picked out for Persephone. And it always made her smile.

"It sounds beautiful." She answered the girl as she described some of the additions she was having the seamstress apply to the dress. "I have complete trust in you."

While many thought her little sister to be shallow, Persephone was able to understand the value in the things that Emilia took so much joy in. It might seem like a silly game or idea to the men of the Senate but choosing what gown to wear or which accessories to accompany it with at certain functions could make all the difference in the politics between women. It was important to keep an ear out for what other ladies might be wearing - or you clash and insult them. It was important to ensure that the right colours were not, when worn together, an accidental banner of loyalty to a House's enemy. And as it was the women of the court who Persephone most needed to influence and befriend - in order to get the ears of their husbands - Emilia's gift at understanding appearance and visage was invaluable. Persephone hadn't had her gown cause an issue at any event yet.

Once they were outside, Persephone stood quietly for a moment, enjoying the view as her sister did. She leaned over and placed her forearms on the balcony wall, a slouching and inappropriate position for a princess to stand in. But her back hurt from sitting straight for so long that morning and it was only her sister present... So, she felt comfortable in letting her own princess demeanour drop.

"I'm sorry if the messenger scared you Emmy." She told her sister, catching the look of worry in her eyes when she said that the messenger had seemed urgent. "Father is fine, everything is fine..." She placated with a wave of her hand. "I just wanted to inform you of something before you heard it whispered in the corridors..."

Persephone took a moment to consider her words, knowing what a romantic heart her sister had and, how open she was with her opinions when it was just the two of them alone.

"We have a guest staying with us now in the palace..." She began, turning to look at her sister and her reactions to her next words... "Lord Iason of Dimitrou is here from Taengea." She took a sip from her cup, before continuing. "He is here to discuss a marriage negotiation... between him and I."

Fully expecting the kind of reaction she was witnessing in her sister, Persephone stayed quiet and let Emilia process the information in her own time. She did so, by spitting water all over herself, babbling, blinking and swinging her curly locks as she - whether deliberately or sub-consciously - shook her head, as if in rejection to the very idea of Persephone getting married.

"Nothing has been decided or written in stone yet." She told her sister, when Emilia finally calmed down enough to ask a question. "But if I do go ahead with this, it would be for several reasons." Persephone set her cup down on the balcony wall and took her little sister's hand in hers. "I've met with Lord Iason... He's nice, he's handsome and his family is the longest running royal bloodline in Taengea. An engagement between Dimitrou and Xanthos makes a lot of sense on paper, and an engagement for me would help sway the Senate when they vote on father's policy. A future marriage would indicate that I would produce heirs soon. Male ones." Persephone licked her lips as she tried to help her overly romantic sister understand the logic behind such a union. "I believe this would be good for both our families..."

She pulled a face and squeezed her sister's hand, hoping that there was some way she would make this more romantic or seem less... straight-laced about it all. But she also didn't want to lie or deceive her sister. She deserved to understand what Persephone was considering and why she was willing to go through with it.

"Come here..." Persephone cooed, her natural instinct to comfort her sister before arguing against that which made her so distressed. She hated seeing Emilia upset - especially when it was on her own behalf - but she gave a small smile to herself at the young girl's fealty and love towards her sibling and family.

Reaching out, Persephone pulled Emmy into a one armed embrace, turning her as she pulled so that her arm crossed over Emilia's collarbone and the younger sister was unable to see the elder ones face. She rested the side of her head on the top of Emmy's head, and squeezed in comfort.

Some people thought Emilia to be shallow, based on the enjoyment she took out of the finer things in life and such thoughts often lent to the follow-up rumour of her being uncaring of anything more significant or important. But Persephone knew this to be a complete falsehood. If anything Emilia was too emotional regarding the bigger issues in life. Passionate, enthusiastic and fully committed to a sense of right and wrong, Emilia had a slightly childish but oh so more optimistic view of the world and how the world should be. Therefore, it often distressed or frustrated her when reality didn't match her perceptions.

Persephone was harsher. More cynical and lacking in expectation. She had grown up knowing the world wasn't perfect and, perhaps, the loss of their mother when Persephone could remember her, but before Emmy really could, was an early experience that taught the eldest Xanthos princess never to trust in your hopes too strongly. Emilia was still very much of the mindset that if you built it they would come, and that good will and strength of conviction were enough to change the world.

It was a mindset that Persephone greatly admired and was even a little jealous of at times.

She had smiled when Emmy had argued against her point of the Lord Iason's good looks because she had thrown that tidbit in, in order to try and assuage that emotional side of the young girl. It hadn't worked as the distraction Persephone had hoped for, so she had let it drop. Instead, she had watched as Emilia had gotten frustrated and worked herself up, feeling empathy for her frustrations.

"Some things don't change just from people showing that they should." Persephone said before turning her head to rest her chin on Emmy's head. Soon the girl would be too tall for Persephone to stand with her like this, the eldest both behind and above her young sister, protecting her from all sides. "Sometimes you have to fight to make things change." She continued. "And while my getting married might not seem like I'm fighting, I can promise you it is." She rubbed her hand up and down her sister's arm. "I won't be marrying Lord Iason before the Senate vote. There isn't time to arrange it. Which means the Senate will still be voting on whether or not to make me Queen, not whether or not to make Lord Iason King. They pass that vote... and not only will I be able to rule. But every princess in the future who has no male sibling will by default be next in line to the throne." She sighed a little. "It might not sound like much sister-mine, but it is a step in the right direction..." She smiled a little as she looked out at the city. "Who knows... maybe it will be the start of a legacy that continues to grow. Perhaps in the future inheritance will be based solely on birth order and will disregard gender entirely." She shrugged. "But I doubt either of us shall live to see that. These things change only with much time. So... We must be important in our own ways."

Persephone smiled softly at her sister's suggestion, her eyes loving.

"Maybe a woman being seen as worth something even when not married and able to produce children will happen one day." She encouraged the younger princess. "But that day is not today. Nor, I think will it happen within my lifetime." She added sadly. "A political union or financial understanding would not be enough. This marriage will work to convince the Senate because it will encourage them to know that, were I to become Queen, the kingdom would not be rules by me - but by a man. And that I'll produce the next generation of heirs." She shook her head. "No other kind of arrangement would convince them of that."

Her smile spread a little more as her sister questioned whether it had to be Persephone to make these choices and decisions. Persephone reached out and twisted a lock of her sisters hair, considering.

"We were born to privilege, Emilia." She told her sister. "And we have been given the clothes, the home, the riches and the power and respect of those born to such." She let the hair go and her hand dropped back to her side. "But in payment for all of those privileges, we are beholden to specific obligations."

Picking up her cup and taking a mouthful to swallow against her own feelings of emotion, she kept her face calm.

"I am proud to do what I can as the first born." She smiled at her sister. "Never doubt that."

When Emilia moved onto questioning the Lord Iason and whether or not he would be a good husband - a good partner. Persephone surprised herself with the lightness of her tone as she pursed her lips and nodded her head - almost to herself.

"You know, I think that he would, little sister..." She said with a perfectly calm tone of voice. "On paper the arrangement works greatly to both Houses' advantage. Dimitrou has limited funds but a long heritage. We have excessive amounts of one and little of the other." She tilted her in a considering manner. "He seems to have a good character. He appears just, intelligent... brave but also thoughtful and proprietary." She nodded. "I'm not making any decisions right this second, but I think that he would be a good husband. And a good King."

And then, in a moment of sisterly bonding, Persephone leaned down low towards her sister - even thought they were the only two around and whispered conspiratorially. "And he is very handsome..." She stuck the tip of her tongue out between her clasped teeth, and wrinkled her nose at Emilia, lightening the atmosphere.