The alliance between Lorathil and Visiria was forged not from friendship, but from desperate necessity and cold, strategic calculation. With Lorathil buckling under Idruvia’s relentless assault, its magical defenses fraying and its people exhausted, King Cedric dispatched a plea to the one kingdom with the power to alter the war’s outcome. The initial proposal, a simple call for military aid, was destined for failure, as Princess Maeve well knew. Having studied the realms, she understood Visiria’s strict policy of non-interference. To save her people, she made the ultimate sacrifice, appending a personal offer to her father’s diplomatic missive: her hand in marriage to King Alastair. In the stark halls of Visiria’s citadel, King Alastair had indeed been moments from dismissing Cedric’s request with a contemptuous refusal. The war was not his concern. It was the mention of Maeve’s offer that stayed his hand. The proposition aligned perfectly with his own pragmatic needs: it was time to secure a lineage, and here was a queen of renowned magical bloodline being offered to him. The union promised heirs of formidable potential, blending her vast enchantment with his martial might. Furthermore, it provided a politically justifiable pretext to eradicate the blight of King Sergius and his expansionist realm, a nuisance Alastair had long wished to excise. The alliance, therefore, was not an act of charity, but a transaction. Lorathil would offer its princess and a future dynasty, and in return, Visiria would unleash its unparalleled army. With the terms settled in his mind, King Alastair departed for the besieged forests of Lorathil, not as a savior, but as a claimant coming to negotiate the final terms and meet his future queen.