“Listen, I know you think this is an amazing business opportunity, but trading with Ahlder, Telfor and your other surrounding countries won’t be a good idea!” Aura shouted angrily at the assembly gathered before her. She was definitely an unusual queen; no one had ever seen her wearing a dress before, preferring trousers, a shirt and something else that wasn’t quite a coat or a tunic but a mixture of both. And she was arguably the best knife-fighter in the world.
“But you don’t understand how much profit-” a tall, stiff man began to protest.
“I understand perfectly well about the profit and I know how much will be lost if we go through with this,” Aura growled. “As queen of this country, I refuse your offer!” she slammed her left hand into the table to emphasize her point.
“Your majesty, I can assure you that you won’t lose as much profit as you fantasize,” another member said in an attempt to calm her down. “Especially if you use our system as we proposed...”
Aura growled once again and placed both hands firmly on the table. “It wouldn’t work,” she snarled. “All of your countries are far too far away and-” Aura was cut off by a young, shrill voice on the other side of the thick wooden door.
“Mom? Mom? Mom?” it asked loudly. Aura stopped to glare at the door, hands placed on the table, shoulders slouched slightly like a cat crouched and ready to pounce. The room was silent for a few seconds besides the insistent child repeating the name of it’s mother before Aura slowly turned her fiery gaze back to the group waiting patiently for her. They all felt somewhat sorry for the poor child on the other side of the door who had somehow gotten it into her head that her mother was in the room.

Aura began speaking over the noise. “-They’re too far away and I see no reason why we should trade with you when we have plenty of other countries we can trade with.”
“The opportunity-” someone started to argue.
“I’VE ALREADY GIVEN YOU MY ANSWER!” Aura roared, grabbing a knife from her belt and slamming it into the wood of the table, where it stood straight as a pole, quivering slightly. The child on the other side of the door began to get more insistent.
“Mom! Mommy! Mom! Mom! Mommy!” this was accompanied by the banging of small, determined fists on a large wooden door. The queen of Aefre sighed angrily.
“At least let us discuss the possibility of a formal alliance,” a woman pleaded. Aura stared at her with so much force the noble shrank back a little.
“Fine,” Aura snarled, the child shouting and banging loudly in the background. “I know you’ll keep turning this back to trading, but I don’t care. All I want is for you to-”
“MOMMY! MOMMY! MOM! MOM! MOM! MOTHERRRR!” the child screamed, pounding furiously now with both fists like an enthusiastic drummer.

Many members in the assembly shifted uncomfortably. The nobles were starting to feel very sorry for the child now, and even more so for her mother, wherever she was. This queen didn’t seem to tolerate anything very easily and there was a high possibility that she would toss the poor kid out the window.
“-FOR YOU TO REALIZE THAT A TRADE ROUTE WILL ONLY BE TOO DANGEROUS AND TREACHEROUS AND THERE ISN’T ANY REASON-”
“MOMMMMMMYYYYYYY! MOMMMM! MOMMMMMMY! MOMM! MOMMY! MOMMY! MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM!”
“-BECAUSE WE’RE NOT GOING TO GAIN ANYTHING FROM IT, NONE OF US, AND-”
“MOMMMMMMMM! MOMMMMYYYY! MOMM! MOMM! MOM MOM MOM! MOMMMY!”
It became impossible for anyone, even the loud, impatient, undefeated queen, to say anything and be understood. Finally, Aura let out an angry roar and stormed over to the door, swinging it open and appearing to nearly rip it off it’s hinges. All the ambassadors winced, not sure they wanted to see what was going to happen next.
Aura growled, cursed and bent down in the doorway, scooping up the small blond haired girl and balancing her on her hip. She stormed back to the assembly table, clutching tightly to the little girl.
“Thank you, mommy,” the little girl said sweetly, grasping Aura’s cheek and kissing it loudly, lips popping away like a firework. Aura smiled and kissed her back on the crown of her head. Jaws began dropping all around the room from multiple people.
“You were very loud,” Aura told her daughter, sounding more proud than anything else.
“Love you!” the three-year-old sang happily, wrapping her arms around the queen’s neck.
“Love you too. Where’s your brother?”
“Buggin’ daddy.”
“Good for him. You stay quiet for now, okay?” Aura asked. The little girl nodded and stuck her fingers in her mouth, sucking on them quietly. All around the room there were sighs of relief and hope. Perhaps everyone could relax now. Those hopes vanished as Aura whipped back to the faces gathered around the table, face already returned to it’s usual angry scowl.
“All right, so where were we?” she demanded, shouting just as loud as before. The little girl didn’t appear alarmed at all and just continued slurping on her fingers.
“Well, um-” someone started to stammer.
“She’s yours?” someone else managed to squeak.
“OF COURSE SHE’S MINE! NOW SHUT UP AND LET’S JUST GET THIS STUPID MEETING OVER WITH!”
The room was silent again for a few more moments before someone brought up the issue of postage and everything continued as normal, with the queen shouting angrily while her daughter sat contentedly in her arms, wet fingers resting between her now silent lips.