The dining room was small, meant for private meals, and tucked away well back within the palace. It contained only two occupants, sitting side by side at a table that likely wouldn't have seated more the four people comfortably. The painting on the far wall showed the former queen, Raquel the Just, who had courted scandal and very nearly been deposed for dissolving the high courts and turning even noble disputes over to the commons.
"Your majesties?" asked Isabelle. "I beg your pardon, but I believe you know this man."
The King rose immediately. "Indeed I do." He came around the table, and the Queen was close behind him. "He was introduced to me as a young squire, and then returned to assist the kingdom with a... small problem, while you were still and apprentice."
Isabelle hesitated as the king came forward and hugged Remant; then the queen came forward and kissed him twice, once on each cheek.
Remant flushed. The last few years had aged them both -- hair streaked with silver, lines around the eyes and at the corners of their mouths -- but Dorrin still looked to be in fighting trim, and Lorraine was still slender and beautiful. He was out of practice with any sort of intimacy these days, even between old friends. And those are the only kind I have.
"You haven't aged a bit," the king observed. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by that."
Remant shrugged. "I don't know whether to call it a blessing or a curse."
Queen Lorraine smiled at that. "Both those things can be true," she said gently.
Remant found himself smiling -- genuinely smiling -- for the first time in a very long while.
"Isabelle, it's up to you whether to stay or go. I assume you know who this is?"
"He is Remant, then," she said. "I didn't think he could be much of anyone else."
King Dorrin nodded. "Keep that to yourself, if you would." He turned back to Remant. "And you! What brings you to our table? I assume this isn't a social visit -- you were never much for those, even before you disappeared into the wilderness."
"It should be," he admitted. "It should have been the first thing I did. But you're correct. I'm here because I need a favor."
