The Emperor, dressed in an eggshell white tunic, and the Empress, in a fashionable azure blue hoop

skirt, appeared on the stage. Three spotlights turned to them: the sign for the Emperor to open the
ball.
“Welcome! Welcome!” he yelled excitedly, “Bonvenutti, as our Azurian friends would say. And
Valgekömmen to the Nothurgic delegation. But that is not the end of my greetings”.
The Emperor slowly walked across the stage and let his gaze drift across the audience: “For this
spring market ball is not like any of the previous editions. I am thrilled to announce to all of you that,
for the first time, we are welcoming dwarves and elves!”
Rimantos (the Emperor) stretched his arm in the direction of the Imperial lodge. Finn first thought
the Emperor was aiming for his group next to the lodge, but when the spotlights were aimed at the
figures in that lodge he thankfully realized that his majesty wasn’t talking about them.
“That short man with the impressive beard is the one and only monarch of Asnoc: Regent-Admiraal
Aster Obel!”
The man of limited height (just like you!) stood up and bowed deeply several times.
“Next to him, the ambassadress and princess of Melz’oxi: her majesty K’el Pitz’e”.
Just as the dwarf did, the slender elf bowed deeply, albeit with a whole lot more grace.
“But who’s that next to my lodge?” the Emperor pondered out loud, “Move the spotlight, please!
No, to the other side”.
Rimantos recognized them without a doubt, but if they wanted to be in the spotlight, literally, was a
whole different question.
“Look at that, some loyal subjects: the Stadtholder of Ontvurpen, his daughter, the countess of the
Logos Islands and, not to forget…’ Finn had hoped he would be left out, but not if the Lotharian
monarch: “My newest acquisition: a court cartographer”.
The audience didn’t know if they should applaud or not, thus the awkward situation developed
where only a handful of people put their hands together.
The Emperor knew how to solve this: “Put your hands together, come on! For our non-human guests
as well, of course. Or yourselves! Why not! Give yourselves a grand applause, thank you for coming!”
The Emperor smiled broadly to his wife -who had been standing next to him the entire time-, her
lukewarm stare spoke for itself. And thus, the Emperor, sad because he couldn’t entertain the public
anymore, announced the musical act.