The amber wards at Blaze volts’s door pulse once, then melt away like honey in sunlight. Queen Elara steps through the threshold, violet robes trailing behind her with quiet command.
Clara shifts to her mother’s side at once. The Courier bows so low the scroll nearly brushes the floor, relief and alarm tightening their posture.
Queen Elara
Easy. You are under my roof now. Stand, and tell me why you come trembling to my child’s chamber with a sealed crest in your hands.
The Courier
Your Majesty, I carry a message that must not reach the wrong eyes before sunrise. I beg sanctuary, only until it is safe.
Elara’s gaze sharpens on the wax seal, then softens by a hair as she takes in the Courier’s exhaustion. She gives a small nod toward Blaze volts, plainly inviting the story to continue without forcing it.
Queen Elara
Then you have it. Clara, keep the door watched. Courier, give us the scroll, and speak plainly. If danger follows you, it meets the Volts Empire at my side.
“Is the courier hiding something from us?”
YES (VeryLikely, rolled 29)
Blaze volts
The courier's hands tremble, but not from the weight of the scroll. There is a second, smaller seal hidden beneath the cuff of their tunic, one that does not match the imperial crest.
The Courier
My name is Elian, Your Majesty. I have served the border watch for years, but this scroll... it is only half of the truth I carry.
“I ask why the scroll is only half true”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled -1)
Blaze volts
Why is it only half the truth?
Elian
Because the scroll names the sanctuary, but not the reason I needed it. If I spoke that part aloud on the road, I would have condemned more than myself.
Queen Elara
Then speak it here, under my roof. No harm comes to a messenger who tells the whole of a burden.
Elian
I carried a warning from the border watch, and with it a second seal for the palace alone. The two must be joined, or the message is worthless.
Elian loosens the hidden seal from beneath their cuff and lays it beside the scroll. The wax marks match the old imperial crest, but the inner stamp is a watchtower sigil, cracked down one side.
Elian
I seek sanctuary because the watch turned on me when I refused to hand this over to strangers. They want the contents before dawn, and they want me quiet with it.
Queen Elara’s gaze hardens, not at Elian, but at the broken sigil in their palm. The chamber falls still around the simple truth now laid bare.
Quest Complete
Learn why the courier seeks sanctuary
New Gift: Royal Intuition