Ebony
Ebony waited for her unexpected guests to come through the door.
When one of the gate duty gheyos came in and relayed a request for an audience for asylum, Ebony almost thought he was joking. That just didn't happen. But the gheyo was completely serious and Ebony did want a break from the endless paperwork that being an acting Crown Royal came with.
So she sent him back with a request for an audience accepted.
Now to see the two boys her guard gheyo had mentioned.
Her first sight of the boys was behind a grinning Zandian. It seemed he found this whole situation as amusing as she did.
The taller boy was obviously of Merrow descent, with slightly fluted ears, bright blue eyes, and fluffy hair that was a very light shade of blue. The boy beside him, however, was much more hard to discern, with messy black hair, lightly tanned skin, and bright green eyes. She would say he was an earth elemental by his eyes alone, but something within her told her it wasn't so simple.
The taller boy gestured for the shorter to bow, and the boy followed the other's prompting.
“Crown Princess Ebony, my friend would like to request asylum,” the Merrow boy said respectfully.
“And can your friend speak for himself?” Ebony asked, slightly playfully.
The Merrow halfling floundered as he wasn't sure how to respond.
“Ah, yes, my lady-- I mean,” he began stuttering.
“My name is Harry Potter,” the shorter boy introduced himself.
It seemed the boy had a hint of some steel in that short spine of his.
“I have come requesting asylum,” he continues, parroting the Merrow halfling.
“And why have you come requesting asylum?” Ebony asks with a calm regalness that she had to be taught.
“Because I've been kidnapped,” Harry says, completely serious.
Ebony blinks. What?
“What?”
The boy takes a big breath in before rushing, “I'm not from here. I'm from Earth. I was in a tournament at my school when I was kidnapped for a ritual that ended with this man, Voldemort, who killed my parents, coming back to life but also inheriting as a merrow? And then his mentor came and helped Voldemort kidnap me again to Nevarah under the water and apparently Voldemort is my father because apparently I'm a dragel and dragels have three parents but it makes no sense because, again, Voldemort killed my parents.”
By the end of his explanation his voice had a hysterical tinge and Ebony couldn't help the low croon of comfort she gave to the panicking youngling if she tried.
To start with, the thing that will relax the boy the most.
“Asylum granted,” she said succinctly, “Now that that's out of the way, do you mind telling me in more detail what exactly is going on?”
Harry looked stunned, with wide green eyes staring up at her. The other boy nudged him slightly with a smile and he jolted before nodding hurriedly.
“Thank you,” he said, still stunned.
“This is my job,” Ebony said ruefully, “Now please explain.”
Harry watched in stunned disbelief as the actual princess paced and raged on his behalf.
She had had him sit down and tell his story from the beginning, and Harry did mean the beginning. Harry hadn't even gotten to gloss over his home life.
Needless to say the princess was on his side and that honestly surprised Harry. Heck, it surprised Harry that they had managed to get an audience at all. Zandian, as the man who had led them to the room introduced himself, was also beside himself in anger, his hair in fierce flames of blue and green as he stood at attention at the door to the room.
Caspian, from his place seated next to Harry on the small couch they were directed towards before Harry began his long tale, took his hand and squeezed it comfortingly.
“I will have you set up in one of the Royal Guest suites until more permanent arrangements can be made,” Princess Ebony stated as she stopped in front of them.
She turned towards her desk and strutted over before grabbing some paperwork and began filling it out.
“I will have my advisor expedite the paperwork for your citizenship of Nevarah. As for returning you to Earth, I believe that would be a fairly awful idea with everything you have told me about your life there. I'll see about a way to gather your things from Earth, however.”
Harry wasn't too happy that his choice to return to Earth was being taken away but the only things tying him there were Ron and Hermione and Hogwarts anyways, and with Ron's and his friendship on thin ice from the tournament and Hogwarts becoming hostile towards him, all that was really tying him back was Hermione. He would miss her dearly but the chance to never return to the Dursleys was a chance he would never want to lose.
Caspian stood from the couch with his grandmother's purse in his hand.
“The healer's papers from his visit with Healer Koama Malifors and Runemaster Heroy Laguna are here,” he said, reaching in and grabbing the papers that Eris had sneakily copied for them.
“Thank you,” the princess said, taking the papers in hand and flipping through them, frowning all the while.
“I will have you set up to see another healer soon, to check on your status as you heal from the prior seal removal. You also have seals bearing the Peverell and Evanson family crests. I will reach out to both families to see about when we should have them removed. The other seals are more problematic and I will leave to the healer's to decide the next course of action.”
“Zandian,” she said, turning from the paperwork and looking into the eyes of the gheyo, “I need you to alert the guards that we have a refugee from Merrow Waters. Any merrow is to be accompanied in the palace until Harry's safety is assured.”
The angry looking gheyo merely nodded before casting a glance at the boy in question before sweeping out of the room, dramatically leaving a trail of blue-green flames in his wake.
“Can I stay with Harry?” Caspian asked and Harry's eyes widened in shock. Harry thought Caspian would go back to his grandparents now that Harry was relatively safe, but from the determined look on his friend's face, he was serious about staying by Harry's side.
The princess narrowed her eyes thoughtfully as she looked at Caspian and was quiet for a few moments before she finally nodded her head.
“You may, but be aware to not break any rules in the palace. You are not claiming sanctuary,” she said.
Harry felt a well of relief bloom in him. He hadn't been aware of how much he had dreaded his future parting with Caspian until it was postponed indefinitely. Caspian, who despite only knowing Harry for a few days had been able to learn to read him quite well and nudged his shoulder with a fist as he sat back down.
“I told you, I'm staying by your side,” he said softly.
Harry gave a shaky grin and jokingly asked, “Forever?”
But Caspian's serene blue eyes just looked into Harry's seriously as he repeated, “Forever.”