Shireroth

George Paine, head administrator of MiniEx, was enjoying a pleasant dream. In the absence of an appointed MiniEx, he was taking on responsibility for the division, and in his dream, the Kaiser was just appointing him the new MiniEx. Then, in the middle of the ceremony, there was a phonecall. When no one answered it, the Kaiser told him to, and he picked up the phone, but the ringing continued, and … he woke up.

The phone was ringing. Grogilly he picked it up. “Paine here,” he mumbled.
“My name is Cla’Udi, and I’m the Count of Melangia,” the voice began.
“It’s 5 am in the morning,” Paine said sleepily. “I don’t care what time it is in Melangia, ring me back when it’s day here.”
“The Lord General of Gralus wants to visit my island tomorrow morning,” Cla’Udi interrupted.
Paine sat bolt upright. “You have my full and undivided attention.”

………………………………..

Half an hour later, Paine was at the office. The Lord General of Gralus had decided, at one day’s notice, to pay a state visit to nearby Melangia. At first, Paine had questiond the wisdom of such a move – Shireroth had much more important matters to deal with than some bigwig from those magic morons in Gralus – but Cla’Udi had patiently pointed out that a visit at such a time showed support for Shireroth internationally; that he may well be coming to announce more substantial support; and that specifically requesting Melangia instead of Shirekeep might be to counter the Antican murmurings to claim the island. Besides, at such short notice he wouldn’t expect the Kaiser to be there, and so his niftiness could then continue the important work he was doing negotiating with Elwynn. Paine had acknowledged that this all made sense. But it was still going to be damn annoying setting up the visit officially, and at such short notice.