So the project clean-up swung into action, over the course of the next few days, the Queen made up an excuse to keep the ministers in the palace and arranged for one on one meetings with each of them. Vale was impressed at how smoothly the Queen could direct the conversation to various topics allowing Vale to pick up emotional responses on that subject.
In total there were five ministers in charge of various aspects of the kingdom;
Minister of International Affairs
Minster of the Treasury
Minster of Trade
Minster of Security
Minster of the Interior
After looking at the compiled information on each minister Alex spotted a glaring problem, that problem being they were in the wrong role, aside from that all the ministers harboured no ill will towards the crown or the Queen. The only exception was the Minister of the Interior who for a unknown reason bore great hatred towards Alex, it's unlikely the one brief crossing of paths they had is enough to devolve to outright hatred, this made Alex curious, so he arranged a meeting with the Minister.
A knock sounded on the door to the meeting room a guard poked his head in.
"The minister of the interior is here to see you my lord"
"Show him in please" Alex said, already sitting down on a stool thanks to his wings and tail making it hard to be seated on normal chairs. Nearby sat Vale no longer disguised as a maid as there were any number of excuses to have her with Alex she was his fiancé after all.
Soon the minister arrived and strode in, seeing Alex not even standing to greet him a look of annoyance flickered across his face, but he quickly suppressed it.
Alex first impression was not good, if the elf couldn't even keep his face straight over such a small slight how could he expect to deal with difficult situations?
"So minister how are you on this fine day?", Alex asked him in a pleasant tone of voice.
The minister snorted, "Let's get this farce over with shall we, what did you call me here for?".
Alex looked amused, looks like we will be replacing at least one minister he thought to himself.
"Very well minister seeing you wish to be done with the veneer of civility we will do it your way", Alex said a somewhat menacing look on his face. "Now sit down"
"You hold no auth.."
The minister didn't even get to finish his sentence.
"I said sit down", Alex growled out, the threat evident in eyes.
The minister gulped and sat down, not so sure antagonizing Alex had been the best idea.
Over the next half hour or so Alex grilled the minister on various topics, finally he turned to Vale who passed him a sheet of paper, on it were the emotions that pertained to the various questions.
A pattern was readily visible, anything pertaining to races other than elves was met with negative emotions, to put it bluntly the man was a raging racist which is not what you want in a position of power. He was added to the list of removal targets, while he wasn't slated for elimination he couldn't be allowed to hold position.
Alex made his way to see the Queen, Vale walking next to him, "Thank you for your help so far Vale, honestly without your help this would have been damn messy.
"I'm just glad to be of help for once, most of the time I feel so helpless", a note of sadness in her voice.
Alex took her hand in his and brought her to a stop, stepping in front of her, he raised his free hand to her chin and gently raised her lowered head to look directly into his eyes.
"You have never been nor ever will be a burden to me, just because you aren't a skilled fighter doesn't make you worse than anyone else. I love you Vale, for being you and no other reason".
Vale stared deeply into his eyes not sure what she was searching for letting his words wash over her, she continued to stare as the little voice in the back of her head that she couldn't seem to get rid of was telling her that he was just using her for her abilities just like her parents. All she could see in his gaze was love, affection protectiveness and small amount of possessiveness, just like when he looked at the other girls and suddenly the little mind in the back of her head was silenced forever as she finally came to the realization that Alex loved her not for what she could do for him but just because he did and the little nagging voice had been the insecurities she had developed as she grew up with her abilities.
Shedding the insecurities of her past at last Vale felt a huge weight was lifted from her heart and a radiant smile appeared on her face, "Thank you for being you Alex" she softly spoke.
"Any time" he smiled back.
Hand in hand the continued their walk to meet with the Queen. Along the way they met up with Kayla who was exploring the palace while Anna and Lily spent time with the guardian dragons.
Tagging along, Kayla claimed Alex other hand, they reached the audience chamber shortly and were asked to wait a moment as they were in a meeting with a delegate from the beast tribes.
They stood to the side chatting while they waited. Without waiting too long the doors opened and the delegation exited the chamber one of the beast kin guards spotted Kayla speaking with two other people. The man rushed over calling out to Kayla.
"Long time no see Kayla, it's me Brom".
Kayla nods, "Since we were kids", she keeps the reply short and the look on her face isn't very welcoming
"Kayla there is something I want to ask you about in private", he said eagerly eyes starting to roam.
Kayla sighed deeply, "If this is about the topic you brought up as kids the answer is still no, besides I have my chosen mate and I will never leave him".
Brom looked stunned, then anger flashed across his face, "Which bastard dares claim you I will destroy him", Brom almost yelled out
"Oh, you will destroy me will you?", came an amused voice from beside him.
Brom turned and looked at the man next to him and froze, he hadn't noticed many details of the man from the rear and Alex had his wings tightly tucked in so it somewhat looked like a pack on his back if you didn't look closely, they wings were slightly flared out now revealing themselves. Brom saw a man as tall as himself his bare torso showing the musculature of a warrior two horns adorned his head and golden eyes stared at him.
The delegate recognizing a demi dragon form called out to Brom, "Get back in line Brom we aren't here to socialize with old friends".
Reluctantly Brom returned to the delegates side, before they could depart Alex spoke up.
"Has Lady Melliandra returned to the beast tribes yet?"
The delegate turned to look at him with an appraising eye, seeing nothing hostile in the person's attitude he replied "Yes she returned a few months ago".
"Could I ask you to pass a message on to her for me please?", enquired Alex.
"Certainly, what is the message"
"Just tell her that her disciple Alex and daughter are doing well and will visit the beast tribes sometime in the future to come see her".
"Whom should I say this message is from", the delegate questioned.
"Well from me of course, Alex her disciple", Alex grinned at them.
Kayla giggled at the stupefied look on the delegations face.
The delegate bowed seriously, "I am happy to finally meet you Alex, Lady Melliandra speaks a lot about you, although she didn't mention you being a dragon".
"Technically I'm not a full dragon, due to certain circumstances I have now have this form", Alex chose to be honest, there was little point to hiding the fact that he wasn't a full dragon.
"Well then we will be on our way", The delegate nods politely and they head off.
Alex turned to Kayla and joked, "So childhood sweetheart huh?".
Kayla punched him in the shoulder, "Idiot, he was something of a childhood nuisance, he would go around claiming me as his future mate and chasing of any other kids that got close to me when he was around, to say he was possessive would be an understatement".
Alex laughed, "I can also be a bit possessive you know".
"Yeah but I like your possessiveness", she laughed.
The three remembered the Queen and hurriedly headed into the audience chamber. The Queen took them to the guardian dragons and they all sat down and discussed the state of the ministers. Alex explained that for the most part the ministers were fine just in the wrong role for the skills and temperament, he suggested shuffling them around into better suited roles, as for the minister of the interior he needed to be removed from his post as you couldn't have a hardline racist in a position of such authority. Alex wanted to nominate Quintus for the role but held his tongue as it would be seen as favouritism which wouldn't help the situation, they would just have to get a new minister the normal way.
Taking a deep breath Alex spoke, "Well that's the house plan ready to be sorted, but we can't make any changes until we are ready for the highlords. We need to create an opportunity for them to act so we can grab them all at the same time.
"Why don't we just rely on my reputation for once and announce a grand gala and invite all of them along with any important figures in the elven kingdom, then during the event I can ask the highlords for a little one on one chat Vale can do her stuff and then before the end of the night we have them all in the palm of our hand" said the Queen in an oddly serious voice.
"Who are you and what did you do with my aunt?", Alex quipped
Even the guardian dragons were looking at the Queen in amazement.
The Queen pouted, "Even I can have a good idea alright".