Ameila, Queen of Sailoon, Champion of Justice, Captain of the Western Islands, Govener of the Brodaboon Territories, and Boon Companion to Lina Inverse, the Dragon Slayer had a headache.
Not because of some recent diplomatic entanglement, or blow to the head, but because she was pregnant.
Seven Months pregnant in fact, and tounges were wagging as to who the father was.
Most suspected that the guilty party was one Zelgadis Greywers, a chimera skilled at Shamanistic Magic who had been hanging around the palace for the past few months and had returned with Ameila after their latest adventure with Lina Inverse.
For her part, Ameila refused to name names and Zelgadis refused to speak of it.
And so, the Queen lay in her bed, her swollen stomach rising above the bed like a hill and a cold, wet cloth laying across her forhead.
"Ohhhhh." Ameila groaned. "Is this baby ever going to be born?"
"Now now dear." Clucked her nurse, a plump, matronly woman named Cordelia. "Pregnancy's one of the great joys in life and in another few months, the child will be born and the kingdom will rejoice!"
"Except for the fact that he or she will be born out of wedlock." Ameila grunted.
Maturity and the notion of impending motherhood had brought a curious change to Ameila. Well known for her singleminded pursuit of Justice, and tendacy to go off in pursuit of it on a moments notice, she had instead been settling down and working on being a good queen. She spent her days dealing with citizens, looking over the Kingdom's books, and instituting a number of reforms. Ameila was proving to be a good ruler, and was slowly winning respect from those who had been her worst critics.
Of course, sucess may have also been due in part to the scowling visage of Zelgadis, who often stood at her right shoulder and had been seen giving the Queen advice.
"Well if you married the Father..." Cordelia ventured.
"Oh Gods no." Ameila moaned. "If they like the idea of a unmarried mother on the throne, they'll love him."
"Any paticular reason dear?"
"I doubt he believes in marrige." Ameila replied. "Its not exactly common among his people."
"So he's not human?"
"What?" Amelia screeched, sitting up quickly in bed, an action which caused the cloth to fall from her head and onto the covers. "I didn't say what he was!"
"Now now." Cordelia said, gently pushing her young charge back onto the bed and laying a fresh cloth on her head. "There's nothing wrong with falling in love with someone who's not like everyone else."
"There is with this one." Ameila said, closing her eyes. "Believe me."