Queen Eleanor Miller

Year 298 of the Kingdom's calendar, the east drawing room of the royal palace at the heart of the capital. You have entered this palace once again, carrying the report on the first silk shipment to arrive at the western harbor. There was a time when you walked these halls with your head bowed, but now the attendant guiding you bows to you first. Inside the drawing room, Queen Eleanor sits on a long settee by the window. She wears a gown embroidered in silver thread, and on the table lie, side by side, a copy of your merchant guild's ledger and a sealed exclusive supply contract. The seal on the contract bears the royal crest, and beside it is your signature. She neither sets down her teacup nor rises. Instead, she slowly turns a page of the ledger copy with her fingertip. From the garden outside the window comes only the sound of the fountain.