Embers of Sun and Flame (Fuegoleon Vermillion x OC)

Chapter 46 "What am I to you?"

"I see," she replied without as much as blinking before letting out a shrug. "So, if it's not an allegiance per se, I take it that there's more to it?"

"There's a lot of history associated with it, and I have my own speculations as to why some events had led them to be what they are."

"This is starting to sound like dealing with Theans shouldn't be an issue for you," Solara smirked while rolling around, laying onto her stomach and facing him.

He let out a sound that was half a scoff and half a chuckle. "I'm not saying that darling," he turned to look at her. "Clover has a history with Heart, thus it's easier for me, and us Cloverians, to navigate through the relations between the two nations. Thea, though with similarities, is still very different. There are no predetermined behaviour patterns or customs to follow. As in, international customs that would be known by both parties that would-"

"Yes, dear I know," she interrupted him. "I was only teasing you." She gave him a sympathetic smile while tilting her head with a rolling motion over the soft covers under her.

He paused for a moment, knowing fully well that she knew. "Which is why I would hope that there was a given set of guidelines to follow."

"Guidelines as in... customs or laws?" She inquired, making him quirk an eyebrow at her. "What I mean to say is that when, and I do say 'when', not 'if', Clover and Thea form an alliance, you'll be given a list of 24 laws we expect you to follow as well."

He smiled to her as she spoke the word 'when', but the smile faded slightly with the syllables that followed. "A set of laws? I assume some of them compel us to refrain from giving out information about Thea, or any other allies you might have?"

"Yes, there's a law for that too," she pondered. "But the emphasis is more on human rights, trade and other forms of exchange; information as one. More of... collaboration between nations because knowledge can be traded as well. And it's not like we'd be only requiring *you* to follow those, but it's about us requiring our allies to follow the same set of 24 Cardinal Laws as we do. You're of course free to tweak your subclauses as you please, but as long as they follow the law itself, there's no issue. Or... there shouldn't be an issue since after the incident of 438, our list of Allies was reduced from the maximum of 20 to 19 because of a violation against the 7th law."

"You have a maximum number of allies? That seems... constricting."

"In a way I suppose," she thought out loud. "But then again, how many allies do nations have? And considering how much time and effort can go into upholding those relations, it was established that we can do 20, but no more." She paused for a moment. "Yes, I know, I know, we are highly secluded and don't go out much. And... shipping goods in and out of Thea can be tricky business if the gates aren't working, or even with the gates in some instances. And that we could visit all of them more often, instead of doing correspondence. It's..."

"Complicated?"

"Yeah," she chuckled.

He put his brush down and got up, making his way back to her. "Relations are most often complicated. And all parties associated with those relations, have internal affairs of their own to deal with," he reminded her while sitting down next to her.

"True," she smiled, turning her head to him as his fingers began drawing circles onto her back.

"And..." he began, hesitating for a moment, wondering if he should ask or not, as his gaze turned to the side.

"Hm? What is it?" She looked at him, placing her hand onto his leg.

"I... assume that they won't be closing borders, so would it be-..." he paused for a moment, still trying to choose his words. "I would like us to start building relations between Clover and Thea as soon as possible. Concretely, I mean," he turned to look back at her; with a question painted all over him.