Magnus
The royal palace was larger than any estate that Magnus had ever seen. It was surrounded by a large green park with plenty of trees and wildlife while much of the world of Bastian was filled with large towers and the cities that surrounded them. It was two or three times larger than the estate of System-lord Weylin on the world of Bloom where Magnus had spent much of his youth.
A visit to the royal palace of the King of the Commonwealth of Drala was the last thing that Magnus had expected or wanted. He understood Lydia and Richard, they were both children of System-lords, and powerful ones at that. It was Edwyn’s home, and his father was the one who was marring the sister of Lord Tusk.
The prince had requested that he join them. Lydia had told him she would not go without him, and so Magnus had relented. He much preferred to be in the shadows of those with power, like when he was a kid and ward to the System-lord of Bloom, growing up with his own children.
In those days he and his brother Payton were often on the sideline as Erland, Judith, and Henrick were called forth to stand with their father, and other children of powerful lords. Magnus liked that the focus was never on them, although his brother had always hated it. That had changed with his recent election as High Thane of the Eight Systems. Power systems still ruled by the Furse but sworn to the Commonwealth and King Oswald.
Magnus arrived to the royal palace with Richard and Lydia. The shuttle which brought them there cost more than Magnus earned in a year as a member of the Commonwealth Forces. Richard fine clothes likely cost more than Magnus made in half a year, and it made him think of his own old, worn clothes with the colors of clan Underwood with a small faded badge of their sigil.
Lydia took his breath away. To Magnus she was easily the most beautiful woman on the ‘Greymark’. She had stood out from the moment he saw her, and their bond had only grown stronger. It was rare for Magnus to see her in anything but a Commonwealth Forces uniform, fatigues, or nothing at all. When he first saw her in the light dress he didn’t think it was possible for anyone in the galaxy to look more beautiful.
Lydia wore her hair down where the long dark ash brown hair fell in curls and rested above her cleavage which the dress showed off. She had only laughed at Magnus’s stunned face before kissing him on the cheek and telling him to get into the shuttle with Richard.
Magnus caught his breath when they landed at the royal palace and took in the sights with Lydia and Richard. He was in awe as he took them in from the bright rays of the moonlight through the dark air which make sections of the palace light up.
“Come on, hurry up,” Magnus heard Edwyn as he appeared from no where. “I thought you guys weren’t going to show up and leave me to this by myself,” he said with clear worry on his voice.
