Lanthra had not heard the elf enter her chambers. The queen was used to people knocking, and making themselves known as they entered her private rooms. But when Kali had finally arrived and started talking to her, She could not help but suppress a smile. She could have known that her old flame was not one for knocking on any door she wished to enter. She had never been a person to have abided to any rules, socially or conventionally, and that had been exactly the reason why Lanthra had loved her so much.<br/><br/><b><span style="color: DarkOrange">''It would have been rather unconventional to have been called your desert flower in front of my subjects, my dear Kali. Even though I prefer the love of my people above their respect, it must be said I'm glad you keep these names for me to be spoken out loud in private. They have more meaning as well, when they are wrapped in the shroud of little secrets.''</span></b><br/><br/>The queens hazelnut eyes glittered in the faint shimmering of a magical chandelier that hung above the extravagantly decorated dinnertable. Her ivory-white skin almost resembled a perfectly white marble stone, caressed gently by the ever so long drapes of her golden-blond hair. Even here, in her own chambres, the queen wore a small diadem of the purest gold anyone would be able to find in the desertsands of Gha'mos.<br/><b><span style="color: DarkOrange"><br/>
''Sevenhundred and seventy-six years to be exact. Nevertheless, even with your absence on my coronation, I've never given up the hope of ever seeing you again.''</span></b><br/><br/>Lanthra laid down her papers and her quill that she had been busy with before Kali had entered her room. Carefully rolling up the parchment and putting them in a drawer at the other end of the room. She could smell the perfume now, the mixture of blossoms and honeyed spice lingering in the air from where her brown-skinned friend had walked. She could not help but smile at the thought of days gone past, where she had first been introduced by the scent of that particular concoction.<br/><br/>As the queen walked back to her friend, she smoothed out her glittering robes of a fine thin silk, with small weaved diamonds inside. She knew that she looked like a glittering gem, as she had carefully picked one of her most beautiful night-gowns just earlier that night. Now she was standing in the middle of the room, and she was almost able to forget that it was her that ruled the seven kingdoms of the elves. Lanthra could feel her heart beating at the sight of her friends smile, hoping that she would still find her as beautiful as she had been those seven-hundred something years ago.<br/><br/>Her gown hugged her body tightly, showing of her curves so unlike the body of Kali. Lanthra was not fat, but her muscles were nothing like those of her tanned friend. One could see that she was a queen, and that she had been trying to keep herself fit in a way, even though the luxury and leisure of her status had formed her body in a more soft and curvy way than that of a traveller that had been adventuring on the road for most of her life. A soft pink blush spread over Lanthra's skin as her own eyes gazed over the numerous scars that Kali's body showed. She lifted up her hand, almost as if in a way to touch one of them, before she realised her position once more and spoke with a soft and gentle tone again.<br/><br/><b><span style="color: DarkOrange">''You promised me the tale of your latest adventure, the one that has brought you here into my castle. Would you care to share this with me over a meal and a wine?''</span></b><div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>