Excerpt:

Pages and minor nobles and distinguished guests flittered back and forth though the halls of the castle, an uncommon scene during the first day after coronation. This coronation had been unlike all others before it, and there was much talk of what fate had befallen the last king, Henri. In fact, rumor, speculation, and grand scale retelling of King Henri’s death just a week ago was the only sort of talk more prevalent than the quick, hushed, but very serious reshuffling of ties and alliances within the kingdom. It wasn’t much to lose a king, but on that very night the Baron of Bacilkh had been killed in the act of treason, one of only a handful of elves in the entire kingdom had been slain on the scene, and tales of all sorts were swirling, mixing together a story of uncertainty for all those with power, land holdings, and assets. On top of that, as if a noble didn’t have enough to worry about, the King’s heir was only two years old, meaning King Regent George was installed on the throne. Next to the tales, which were at times ludicrous, and the selling and trading of political security and convenience, a larger group of people had never been gathered together, so interested in the weather; invariably; whenever a young man and young female elf walked together through the corridors.
King Regent George sat on the throne at the center of the flurry of uncertainties, plans, and impromptu forecasts, the eventual destination of the pair responsible for the snow, wind, hail, and unusual heat waves that were all soon to befall his recently attained dominion.