PeaceMaker

Hendrickson paused, his words shutting on his tongue before he let them out. He looked around the table, his hand clenching into a fist below the table. "I.. I have your highness, but not as much as she has," he replied, lowering his gaze to the table.

Dominic chuckled, his head tilting sideways as his eyes squinted in his smile. "Right," he nodded, straightening his head, "shall I continue then?"

Hendrickson leaned back into his chair, nodding his head silently. 'You'd do that even if I didn't reply,' he thought to himself, 'this is why little kids don't deserve to be in power, if only he was here to put you in your place I bet you wouldn't be speaking like this.' He glanced over at the empty chair beside Charles Morel, the second finance advisor. 'Come back soon, Grayson.'

"Are you sure about that, your highness?" Kalmin inquired, understanding the look in Dominic's eyes.

"Of course," Dominic nodded. 

"Ok then your highness, the promotion for Litian has to be done publicly after giving notice to the kingdom court," Kalmin commented as he jotted down notes on his notebook, "when will you plan to do that?"

"When do you plan to do the celebration party for my return?" Dominic asked, turning to face Kalmin. 

"In 2 days from now," Kalmin retorted. 

"Then what do you think about doing it at the celebration?" Dominic suggested, "Also, two days from now?? Isn't that a bit too quick?"

Kalmin's hand froze over his next word and he looked up from his word, locking eyes with Dominic. "In fact your highness, I would like to have the celebration as quickly as possible. Like tomorrow really, but I can't do that since you need to recover from your days at war and the soldiers need to be able to attend too. Besides, I'm sure that aside from Head Commander Litian, there are other people in the army that you'd like to promote."

Dominic grinned, agreeing with Kalmin. "You're right, I guess so.  In fact, I have another promotion to announce, but that'll depend on the ending of this meeting."

Kalmin raised his eyebrow, before shrugging and returning to his notes. "Understood." 

"Well then," Dominic exclaimed, his gaze shifting to Litian, "would you like to take a seat, Litian?" 

Litian jumped slightly, her gaze moving from Kalmin to Dominic and then the council and back wondering if it was ok. "Am I allowed to sit down?" she asked. 

Dominic nodded. "Of course you are. Amongst Axel and Desilva, you're the ones whose promotion can be easily proven as well-deserved and I'm sure trying to prove it won't even need to happen. You can take your seat right now," he insisted, his eyes scanning the table before landing on Grayson's seat, "right there. In Lieutenant General Grayson's seat. I'm not sure why he isn't in the seat, but I have a feeling that he won't be coming back."

Litian hesitated, her feet rooted in the ground as she eyed the empty seat. 

"Litian," Dominic called out, his tone firmer and more persistent, "go take your seat."

At that, Litian immediately moved, walking towards the seat and after a slight pause, pulled the seat open and sat down quietly, a wave of anxiety washing over her as she felt the cushion under her. 'A council member…' she thought to herself as she looked up at Dominic, who shot her a smile, 'is this ok?'

Before doubts could fill her mind, Dominic's voice cut into her mind.

"I'm sure it will take a little bit to get used to her presence, but I hope for you all to get on good terms. I, unfortunately, can't add Axel and Desilva to the council yet because I'm sure…" his voice broke off as his eyes pinned on Hendrickson, "that some people might have a few words to say about it."

Silence lingered in the room as Dominic allowed Litian's presence in her new seat to sink into the council members. He glanced over at Anateniz who was looking straight at him. There was nothing in her eyes, no look of dismay nor a look of anger. His smile reduced to a thin line and he turned to Helen. 

"Shall we get started now?" Dominic piqued to which Helen nodded her head, pulling up a stack of papers from beside her chair on the ground while Kalmin pulled out his own stacks of paper. 

"Of course, your highness," she smiled, "we'll start from a week after his highness went to war."

*

The meeting lasted for longer than intended, stretching to the 4 hour mark and eating into the afternoon before Kalmin had cut in, urging Dominic to end the meeting before the 1 pm mark. 

Ruffling of papers could be heard as the council members packed up as the meeting ended. 

Kalmin shuffled his papers into chronological order, notes that he had written down from Dominic to go over after the meeting and memorize in order to remain knowledgeable about the kingdom. He was about to place the last sheet of paper when he noticed the writing on it. It was a checklist of the topics that were supposed to be gone over in the meeting. 

There was one box that wasn't filled. 

He looked up from his papers to Boris who was seated behind the line of council members at the table, his golden eyes as attentive as they were when they walked in. 

Kalmin looked back at the empty box and clenched his jaw in frustration as he weighed the pros and cons of continuing the conversation. It was a problematic conversation, one that would propel the tension that was thankfully removed at the beginning of the meeting, back into the room. He glanced at Boris again before returning to the box. 

He knew the topic was purposefully skipped. 

"Kalmin?" Dominic called out, his voice snapping Kalmin back into reality. "Did you hear what I said?"

Kalmin flinched, his head snapping up to look at Dominic. "Ah- no your highness, could you repeat your sentence?" 

Dominic raised his eyebrows, eying Kalmin in concern and curiosity. 'I've never seen him unfocused before… especially when I'm speaking,' He pondered. "It wasn't something big, I just suggested that we all have lunch together! It's already 1 pm and I'm sure we all had the next  hour empty in case this meeting ran overtime so I thought we could all dine together in the dining chamber."

Kalmin picked up the sheet of paper and slid it underneath the stack he had made before nodding his head in agreement. "Of course, your highness." 

Dominic clapped his hands in excitement and grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me," he chuckled as he launched out of his chair, "Are we all ready to go?"

"Please do not rush your highness," Kalmin sighed, standing up from his seat as the rest of the council members stood up, "you still have to rest from the travel here. Your body must feel sore."

"What?" Dominic chuckled, his voice holding a teasing tone, "I feel fine. I had enough rest after my sleep yesterday." 

"If you say so, your highness," Kalmin shrugged, pushing in his chair, "please lead the way."

Dominic nodded, turning around and stepping forward. "Of cours-" his voice cut off when a wave of darkness overwhelmed him, clouding his vision as he felt his surroundings swoon slightly. 

"Your highness?" Kalmin called out, noticing Dominic's pause, "what is it?"

Dominic squinted as his surroundings darkened and the ground below him felt like it was slipping away from beneath his feet. "Wh-" it was like the room was tipping side to side before it slowly began to fall to the left, his feet losing their placement on the ground. He was slipping, staggering as he slowly tipped over, his vision mixing with black clouds as dizziness washed over him. Slowly falling-

He felt a light thud as his shoulder bumped into something hard, his body being wrapped around with a sturdy build. Slowly his vision cleared up and the clouds of dizziness lifted out of his head, his mind slowly returning to his body and feet touching the ground again. 

He looked up at the person that was holding him up and met eyes with Boris who looked down at him with incredibly worried eyes. 

"Your highness?" Boris softly called out as Dominic steadied himself, leaning off Boris. 

"Your highness!" a voice yelled out, rushing to Dominic's side. Dominic turned to face Axel, a light chuckle leaving his lips as he turned to look at the rest of the worried expressions on the council member's faces. 

"Why do you all look so worried," he smiled, "I just lost my grip slightly."

"You nearly fell!" Axel snapped back, shooting an angry expression at Dominic, "it wasn't just a slip of your feet, you nearly fell!"

Dominic shook his head and let out another light-hearted laugh, "You exaggerate too much. I just got a bit dizzy." He turned to Boris and smiled, "Thank you."

Boris turned away, his eyes filled with slight anger and worry. "You're welcome."