Many weeks later.
Nora picked up a teapot and a teacup with a saucer as she placed it on a silver tray and she set the tray with other things as well as she picked up the tray and sighed to herself internally.
"I hope her Majesty will eat this time" said Nora to herself as she walked out of the kitchen with the tray in her hands as she walked past a few guards and knights and she continued on her way deep in her thoughts that she could not even hear someone calling her.
"Nora" called Zuph as Nora did not reply to him, which caused him to be worried, seeing as Nora did not reply to him so he ran to catch up with her.
"Nora, are you alright, I called you but you did not reply" said Zuph as Nora turned to looked at him.
"Oh Zuph, I am sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts that I could not hear you" said Nora as she apologized.
"That is alright Nora, are you sure that you are alright though?" asked Zuph.
"I am fine Zuph, do you need anything?" asked Nora with a smile.
"No I am alright, only that I wanted to inform you off the…" said Zuph as he was cut off when he heard the not so pleased voice of Mero coming from behind him.
"Zuph, did I not tell you that you had to go and oversee the training of the troops?" asked Mero as Zuph turned around and smiled sheepishly.
"Yes, you did, but Elihu is there" Zuph.
"Do not give me that nonsense Zuph, you of all people should know that I do not trust Elihu with something that serious, so you better go there now before I do, or else" said Mero.
"Yes, yes, I apologize, sorry Nora, we can talk later" said Zuph as he quickly apologized to Nora and he left before she could even tell him that it was no problem at all.
Mero shook his head in annoyance as Zuph rushed off and he walked to Nora.
"Good Morning Mero" said Nora with a small smile.
"Good morning Nora" replied Mero as his eyes studied Nora's face carefully, there was something strange about them today.
"I was just on my way to give her Majesty her breakfast before Zuph stopped me" said Nora.
"I see" said Mero as Nora nodded.
"Yes, let me quickly go and do that" said Nora as she turned around to walk away but Mero stopped her.
"Wait Nora" said Mero as Nora turned back to look at him.
"Yes Mero, do you need anything?" asked Nora.
"Yes" replied Mero as Nora looked at him wondering what he wanted.
"I want you to tell me what is bothering you, you do not look like yourself this morning, did something happen?" asked Mero as Nora sighed.
"Is it that noticeable?" asked Nora.
"Barely, but I can tell the difference between your usual happy mood and this one, care to share what makes you unhappy this morning?" asked Mero as Nora sighed, it was times like this that she did not like that Mero could easily see through her.
"I am just worried about her Majesty honestly" said Nora.
"Why? Did something happen?" asked Mero.
"Well she has not been eating well lately, whenever I bring her meals to her, she tells me to leave it on the table, assuring me that she will eat it later, but she never does. And even on rare instances when she does eat, she does not eat enough, she barely eats a quarter of it" said Nora in worry as Mero sighed.
"She should not be doing that it is not good for her" said Mero as this was worrying him as well.
"I know, and It worries me a lot, if she becomes ill what are we going to do?" asked Nora.
"I am going to have to talk to her about this, she cannot continue to skip her meals" said Mero.
"No Mero, do not confront her about it, she hates it when she is forced to do something, and she will be upset with me as she will know that I am the only one that could have told you about this" said Nora.
"I am still going to speak to her Nora, things cannot continue like this" said Mero as Nora sighed, and that was why she did not want to tell anyone what was bothering her, and yet, here she was, telling Mero of all people exactly that.
"I cannot stop you now can I?" asked Nora as Mero shook his head.
"Then can you at least try to be gentle with her, do not scold her about it, because it will only make things worse" said Nora.
"I can try that" said Mero.
"Thank you Mero" said Nora with a sigh of relief as she looked at Mero weirdly, and he noticed her doing so.
"What else is on your mind Nora?" asked Mero as Nora blinked at him and cleared her throat.
"*Ahem*, nothing more, that was all" replied Nora.
"You are a terrible liar Nora, you know that" said Mero as Nora looked away and frowned.
"I am… I am not…" she replied as Mero smiled at her.
"Oh so you want to be a good liar?" asked Mero prompting Nora to look at him.
"No, of course not" replied Nora.
"Tell me what else is on your mind" said Mero as Nora was silent.
"What is stopping you Nora?" asked Mero.
"It is something personal, I do not want to… to seem nosy" said Nora.
"It will not be being nosy Nora, tell me what it is" said Mero as Nora a sighed and she looked away.
"Your… I mean *Ahem*, Are you not going to shave off your beard??" asked Nora in a tiny voice as Mero still heard her anyway and he was surprised that she had asked.
Honestly, Nora knew that it was not in her place to ask, but he had asked her to say what was on her mind, and she had only just noticed the beard that Mero had been growing on his face, it looked weird to her, he did not usually have a beard, but a little clean stubble.
"Oh this, honestly, I have been too busy to remember to shave" replied Mero.
"Ahh I see" said Nora.
"Yes…" replied Mero.
"Why do you ask, do you not like my beard?" asked Mero as Nora looked at him.
"No… no, it is not that…" said Nora as she shook her head.
"So what is it then?" asked Mero.
"Ahh I… I mean, it makes you look older than you are…" replied Nora as she thought that Mero's beard made him look very old.
"And you would like for me to shave it off?" asked Mero.
"No, of course not, I cannot ask that of you, who am I to ask you to do that?" asked Nora as Mero just smiled at her.
"I will shave it of since you do not like It" replied Mero.
"No I did not ask you to do that for me" replied Nora with wide eyes.
"I will do I for you and for me" replied Mero.
"You should know by now Nora, I highly value your opinion" said Mero as Nora felt her heard race as she looked at him.
"I want to know what you think, and I love it when you are honest with me" replied Mero.
"Besides, we did say that we would give things a try, and I apologize for not being able to do that properly with everything happening around us right now" said Mero.
"I… I know that, the Kingdom is at a very delicate time right now" replied Nora.
"Thank you for understanding" said Mero as he gave Nora a kiss on the forehead that made her freeze.
"I will see you later" replied Mero as he walked away and Nora blinked and turned around and went on her way.
…
Mero walked into Wura's office as he saw a tray with food on a little stool, for the past few weeks, both he and Wura had been busy with their respective duties, he with preparing battle plans just in case the East tried anything funny and Wura focused more on relief and providing aid and hope to those at the border affected the breakout of the war.
They had both kept their distance and they rarely met or were alone together, they usually communicated through other people and when they saw each other around it was not like they were cold towards one another, but they were professional, and to be honest both Mero and Wura agreed that it was for the best for things to remain that way in order to avoid any problems.
"My Queen, may I speak with you?" asked Mero as Wura turned to look at him surprised to see him here, but nevertheless she was happy to see him for a change.
"Oh Mero, of course, what is it?" asked Wura with a smile.
"I hope I am not disturbing you?" asked Mero.
"Not at all, on the contrary I was just about to come and see you, I also need to speak to you" replied Wura as what were the odds, she needed his assistance with something and he suddenly showed up.
"So what is it Mero?" asked Wura.
"Before I begin my Queen, tell me, have you eaten today?" asked Mero as Wura frowned at him.
"Let me guess Nora went reporting me to you?" asked Wura in a hint of annoyance, she should have known that Nora would go telling everyone that she had not eaten, it made Wura a bit irritated, she felt like Nora was making a fuss over nothing serious at all.
"No, the untouched tray of food over there gives it away" replied Mero and he pointed to the tray on the stool.
"Oh Mero, please do not start right now, eating is the least of my problems right now" replied Wura with a sigh.
"My Queen what is happening now should not influence your eating, what if you become ill, what will we do then?" asked Mero as he frowned, he could not get how Wura did not see the importance of her health in this.
If she was ill there was no way she would be able to be involved in this, a sick Queen would be of no help to anyone including herself.
"Mero what do you want me to say? In a multitude of troubles there is no appetite" replied Wura.
"More towns have been attacked by the East and I feel helpless being here, able to do nothing, or show my support and concern for the people affected, since you will not let me go anywhere Mero" said Wura in anger.
"So what do you want from me Mero?" asked Wura.
"My Queen, all I want is for you to at least try to eat half of all your meals, if we can make a deal on that, we can go together with the relief troops for you to show your support and concern" said Mero.
"Can I really trust that you would let me Mero?" asked Wura as Mero nodded.
"I asked Lown and everything is alright, he does not see any East troops near the town, so we can go together" replied Mero.
"We have a deal then" said Wura as this deal made her happy, finally she could do something more than just sitting in her all day giving orders while she was sure that the conditions out there were worse than she could imagine.
"Eat your cold breakfast then" replied Mero as Wura looked at him and scoffed as she walked to the stool, uncovered the tray and ate some of her eggs.
"Is that enough proof for you now?" asked Wura as she looked at Mero.
"Yes" replied Mero plainly as Wura scoffed as she walked back to her seat with her plate of eggs, she had to admit that now that she ate some eggs, she truly was hungry, but she would not tell Mero that before he felt proud that he was right.
"So how are you doing my Queen? And I mean really... how are you?" asked Mero suddenly as Wura looked at him calmly.