Their interactions had developed a rhythm of their own over time. Sometimes it was fast and emotional, like when they met in conflict over their ideals. Othertimes it was stilted and awkward as they struggled to find common ground that might lead them to become something more than acquaintances. As their meetings often did, this one began with them exchanging stiff greetings.

Solomon's head dips in acknowledgment as she offers his name, noting the subtle change in the way it is spoken. It makes him curious as to what the word king even means to her, considering what little he knows of her past. She has not shared much with him, but he has not yet forgotten her tales of a society in which women were the warriors of an entire people. Their pasts were so vastly different that he couldn't help but wonder what insight she might offer that he might lack.

"Valka," he offers in return, well aware of how the sound of it has changed in his own mouth. Once he had spoken it with only annoyance. This had faded to grudging acceptance as she carried his child and then in a strange turn of events in the past few months, to respect he had not expected to feel.

Her question spawns the first genuine smile of today's interaction and he chuckles softly. "Well, I seem to recall a vow I made before we fought." A lopsided grin twitches along his lips. "I'm certainly not perfect, but I try not to lie when I can help it."

Some of the mirth that had filled him just moments ago melts away and seriousness replaces it. "I don't believe the Arch or the Inlet are ready or willing to accept a Queen, but I do recall being told that you have plenty of prior experience." The smile flickers briefly, but it does not last. Valka has never seemed to appreciate his humor before, and at any rate, the matters he wished to discuss were not easily given to lightness.

He wondered briefly if she had been a Queen before. It seemed unlikely to him. Not because she seemed incapable of leading or fighting, given that she had thoroughly proved both to him in their time as neighbors. Rather, her emphasis had always seemed to have been on her prowess as a warrior, rather than a ruler. Still, the fact remained that he knew very, very little of her past or her experience.

"And while I have plenty of experience as a herd stallion, my experience with Kings is limited." His only experience to do with a self-proclaimed king was Warsaw, and that relationship had been fraught with distrust and frustration. Solomon had utilized the aging King's name for protection in the early years of his rule, and had quickly learned that a King was not so different from a regular stallion. It had not enlightened him in any fashion as to how to handle his new power over the other residents of Tinuvel. Still, it makes him uncomfortable to come to her for any sort of assistance, even if it is as basic as simple advice. It makes him feel beholden to her in a way that is cloying and oppressive, even before she has answered him. "Would you still be willing to advise me?"

A part of him still hopes that she will deny him with the same finality with which she had denied him access to his son for the first months. It would allow him to return to the familiar and comfortable territory of mistrusting her. But he knows, objectively, that this would not be good for either one of them. His success or failure as a King would affect them all, whether they wanted it to or not.

Solomon