A great deal of planned changes come about in the kingdom.

1. Clitheroe: A BaRKC
Round Five: Rheingold

2. ou’re saying you want… how many kids?”

3. “At least six. Maybe ten.”

4. “I just love Holly so much, your majesty. We just have to have a big family!”
“Awww, I love you too, baby!”

5. Hollitha and Cois Harveight had met as townies, you see, and had just gotten married mere days ago.
Still in that honeymoon phase. I was ready to grant their application to officially join the kingdom
together, but… they were awfully… eye-rollingly sappy. Yeah, that’s the official term.

6. “Six kids, you say?” I mused. “Well, I think we can find room for you. But you’re going to need a
bigger house than you might be able to afford starting out.”

7. “Probably,” Cois agreed.
“Well, then,” I said, “Why don’t I give you a boon? Say, an extra $50,000? With that, you should be
able to fully build a house with plenty of rooms for all those kids, and all I ask is that you…” I coughed
a little, “…grow some produce for the town, no big deal.”

8. “Really?” the couple exclaimed at the same time, at the same pitch, making the same gesture at the
same exact time. Honestly, these two.
“Sure,” I promised, smiling. “You can pick it up on your way out. If you have any leftovers, feel free to
funnel it into your first business. Which I do expect you to get started as soon as possible, by the way.”

9. “Oh, thank you, your majesty!” Hollitha leaped up from her chair to shake my hand. She had a firm
one, that was for sure.

10. She immediately turned and flung her arms around her husband. “Can you believe it!?”
“I know!!” Cois beamed.
“Alright you two,” I said. “Why don’t you head out to your new home lot and get started on that house?
And send the next appointment in, please.”
“Sure thing, your majesty! We won’t let you down!” Cois enthused.

11. And then they were out.
Cute couple. A little overly exuberant, perhaps, but cute nonetheless. I was looking forward to the next
interview much less than this one.

12. “You summoned me, Your Divine Majesty?” Imelda said humbly as she walked in the door. Her eyes,
though, made a quick appraising sweep of my very expensively-decorated office before getting to me.
I sighed. “Yes, Imelda. Please, have a seat.”

13. “I read your record of round four last night, Imelda,” I said as she sat down. Her eyes gleamed.
“Wonderful! Am I here to arrange a date between your esteemed daughter and my son, then?”
“No.” I pressed my lips together, thinking of how to phrase this. “This is an official reprimand.”

14. Imelda winced, clearly confused, but didn’t say anything. I held out one hand. “Imelda, you aren’t
really guilty of anything but massive indiscretion. I’m happy, too, to know just how badly you want to
advance yourself and your family. Your ambition is the reason why I chose you to enter Clitheroe before
anyone else did.”

15. “But you really need to remember your place, and keep in mind that I am reading these records you
submit. Every word. I don’t much appreciate your lack of thought in this matter, or your rudeness
towards other citizens of Clitheroe based merely on their being able to compete with you.”

16. “I suppose… I may have been somewhat out of line,” Imelda admitted.
“That’s right. The children will marry who they will; both Galain and Darion will have their fair
chances to meet and build a relationship with the princess. I repeat: both will receive a fair chance, you
understand me?”
“Understood, Your Divine Majesty.”

17. “Excellent,” I said, rising from my seat and so very glad that was over. “That’s all I needed. You can go.”
“Thank you, Your Divine Majesty,” Imelda deferred.
“And Imelda?” I smiled. “Why don’t you go home and tell your kids how much you love them?”
“What? They know they mean the world to me.”
“Still, can’t hurt.”

18. After the door was safely closed behind Imelda, I sighed and stretched, trying to work the kinks out of
my neck. Sometimes being queen was not as easy as it looked. And I was about to make it a whole lot
harder this round.

19. Well, while I was up taking care of kingdom business, Ryan was downstairs, helping our little prince
with his toddler skills. The men in my life are just much too sweet.

20. That afternoon, once she got home and rested a little, I took Andi out to learn the ropes at Queensgold.
Once I had dazzled a couple of sims to show her how it was done and to get some money flowing, I
totally turned her loose to build that badge.

21. It took a while, but we did indeed manage to get Andi up to her gold sales badge. *sniff* I’m so
proud…

22. We took a celebratory soak in the hot tub with some of our customers, and then headed back to the
palace. We also left with over $1.6 million in cash. Overall, a job well done.
You know, that got me to thinking. If I wanted to, I could use the royal treasury to fund a university
right now. As much as the boost in population appeals to me… I just don’t think the kingdom is quite
ready for it. Not just yet.

23. `
I went straight home from there for a well-deserved nap, but I think Andi went on to the town square to
buy some small electronics. I just don’t know where she gets the energy.

24. It snowed too heavily on Tuesday to hold school, and so we all stayed in as a family. Ryan was off
watching TV at the time of this picture, but it was so sweet to see my children playing together like this
that I just had to capture the moment. Lyas wasn’t this young for long, after all.

25. The kingdom does not yet have a royal painter, so Ryan and I stayed very busy over most of the week,
just busily working away behind the easels.
Erm… more on this later.

26. That is to say, we were very busy when we weren’t attending to family matters. The prince and princess
always come first.

27. Especially when it’s also their birthday!

28. “Lookit me! Lookit me! I’m FLYING!! Hey! I’m gonna go kill the dragon! WHEEEE!!”

29. Andi smiled softly. “He’s really pretty cute, isn’t he?”
“In the same way a kitten is as he’s tearing around the room and clawing at your face,” Ryan retorted,
then caught himself. “But in a good way.”

30. I took a deep breath. I’d been putting this off, but we were halfway through the round already. It might
as well be now.
“Andi, sweetheart,” I began, gesturing awkwardly with my hands. “When you’re done with that slice of
cake, would you mind joining me on the master balcony?”
“Of course, Mom,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. That was normal for her, though.

31. We’d held Lyas’s birthday pretty early in the morning; the sun was just rising when Andi arrived
outside, dressed in her warmest coat. It would be full daylight soon.
“It’s cold out here,” Andi murmured. “Um, wouldn’t the office be warmer?”
I waited for a moment, collecting my thoughts. Then I said, “Look around you, Andi.”

32. “Everything the light touches is our kingdom. Someday, the sun will set on my time, and you will be
queen instead. This will all be yours to rule and cherish and nurture.”

33. Andi looked out over the tiny kingdom with wide eyes. I grinned to myself at the reference I’d just
made, which my daughter had absolutely no clue about.
“I think you’ll be a great queen,” I continued, trying to hide my smile and maintain the seriousness of
the conversation. “And every great queen needs a great king-consort behind her.”

34. Andi gave me a puzzled look. “King-consort?”
“Oh, that’s your father’s official title,” I said nonchalantly, quite aware that wasn’t what she was
referring to. “You’ll officially be Queen Regnant Anduera Rheingold of Clitheroe, but generally people
will just call you Queen Anduera, or Your Majesty. You know how it is. Too many syllables.”
“It’s not that,” she put in, politely waiting until I’d finished giving the wrong answer. “It’s just… I need
a king?”

35. “Well, not to reign, no,” I said evasively. “Technically not.”
I paused to let Andi speak, but when she just continued to stare out at Clitheroe, I continued instead.
“It’s just that running a kingdom is a lot of work, and it’s easier in a partnership. Even when your
partner doesn’t actually have any law-making power.” I coughed. “Also, your generation is a bit of a
special case, but you’ll be finding out about that after you’ve made your choice. For that mysterious
reason, we need to have the royal engagement planned out well in advance.”

36. “And so that’s why I need you to decide between the kingdom’s two eligible bachelors of your age and
tell me who you’re going to marry for the rest of your life by Saturday evening, so I can make the
announcement Sunday afternoon.”
“Saturday? That’s in two days…” Andi shrugged. “I don’t know, Mom… I was just… hoping to date
around a little bit before getting married… you know? Find my… my charming prince.” She flushed.
“I think you meant ‘Prince Charming’. That’s an actual thing, you know.” I grinned. “You’ll find him,
dearest. Your prince just has to be either Galain Lariel or Darion Renaisse.”

37. “Galain is a sweet boy, of course, even if his mother is just a tad oppressive.”

38. “And Darion is a redhead. Need I say more?”

39. “I know who they are, Mom,” Andi whispered.
“I know.” The wistful tone in her voice got to me. The tiniest bit of guilt twisted in my gut. “Well,
sweetheart… take your time.” I patted her on the shoulder and turned to go.

40. And that’s when I saw we had a guest.

41. He touched my arm, and in the blink of an eye, we were somewhere else. I glanced quickly around for
Andi; luckily, she’d been left behind.
I recognized the place immediately, of course. He’d taken us to the astral realm—a place sort of
between “divine” and “mortal”. A family I’d watched over had used this place once.

42. “How. Dare. You.” I glared at the alien god, mustering up every ounce of divine regality I had.
“Give it up, Keika,” Meslar intoned, eyes looking directly into mine. “You made yourself mortal. That
means you’re going to need a god’s cooperation to get out of here. Oh look,” he said, some color
returning to his voice as he thumbed over his shoulder at his wings. “God.”

43. “I only want one thing, and you know what it is,” he continued.
I scoffed. “You’re not winning yourself any favors this way! I’m not going to listen to you. Not here.
Take me back to my balcony, and we’ll have a nice, long chat about every reason why this is not okay.”
Meslar’s eyes narrowed. “Look up.”

44. He grimaced. “That man up there is my son.”
I pressed my lips together. “Even if—”
“Let me finish.” He paced to stand beneath the prone demigod hanging in the air.

45. “I snatched him up out of the world as soon as he became an adult. The sparkles hadn’t even totally
cleared off. Handsome, isn’t he? I managed to get him away before the place’s corrupting magic twisted
him apart, or else the world just totally shrivels away. That’s getting closer now, you know.”
Meslar turned back towards me, smiling poignantly. That expression slowly dissolved as he looked at
me.

46. “I’m working on getting as many of my people into the astral realm as I can and putting them to sleep,
like I have my son here. But I can only get so many here, and I have to be careful who…” He paused,
slowed down, took a breath. “I want to make a compromise. Instead of housing all of my people on
Clitheroe, just take this one. Just Aiam. I’ll keep the rest of them asleep and wait for someone else to
take them in. Hopefully that happens before they get old and die,” he added bitterly.
Meslar started to wring his hands. I got the feeling he wasn’t aware he was doing it. “Please,” he said,
“Let me save my son.”

47. I stepped up to Meslar. I opened my mouth to reply, and suddenly found I couldn’t look at him. My
hand drifted to my face on its own.
“Meslar,” I said, “I really do wish I could help. I would take him in a heartbeat. But…”
“Keika,” he interrupted desperately. “Please.”

48. “Clitheroe has a Garden, Meslar.”
His shoulders slumped in defeat.
“I constructed it so we wouldn’t be invaded and overrun while we’re still small. I have to protect my
people.” I searched his face. “I’m sorry, Meslar. I can’t destroy my only barrier against the Corruption
to let a single man through. Not yet.”

49. The fabric of reality folded behind me. I knew without looking, and with a great deal of relief, that my
godling was there.
“Keika!” he gasped, stumbling a little on entry. “Are you alright!?”

50. I turned and took his hand. “Take me home, Béor.”

52. Colors blurred and gradually reshaped themselves into the familiar shapes of my castle. I took a nice,
deep breath of revitalizing fresh air.
“Meslar’s jump was a lot smoother than yours, Béor,” I teased, only half joking.
He shrugged. “Yeah, well, that’s kinda-sorta the first time I’ve been to the astral realm. Gimme a
break.”

53. “Even so, I’m glad you showed up when… you…” I hesitated, squinted at the horizon. “Is that the
sun?”
Béor snorted. “I don’t know. I guess it might be some other enormous ball of burning gas that your
world orbits around.”
“Béor. It’s going down.”

54. “Technically, the sun is in the same place. It’s just that the planet is rotating it away,” Béor said with a
smirk.
“I’ve been missing from my kingdom for the entire day!!”
His smile wavered. “Well, the astral realm is a fiddly thing! What was I supposed to do, leave you
there?”

55. I sighed in exasperation and stepped back towards him. “No, that’s not your fault, really. I really do
appreciate you showed up when you did. But right now, I kind of need you to get back to the Garden.”
Béor eyed me doubtfully. “You’re sure you’re going to be alright?”
“Positive,” I said. “Please. Go watch the Garden.”

56. “Well… okay.”
His transitions between Clitheroe and the Ether Glades were suspiciously good, I noted. The boy had
gotten far too much practice.
Now I needed to find my family members and make sure they hadn’t made too big of a deal of my
disappearance.

57. Andi obviously wasn’t on the balcony anymore, and so I made a beeline for the official rooms of the
palace, working on a hunch.

58. A hunch that turned out to be correct. When I walked into the throne room, Ryan was on his throne. Andi, as
acting queen in the event of my incapacitation, should really have been sitting in my throne and being in
charge, but instead she looked rather dazed, just standing next to it and trailing her fingers over the armrest.
The matriarchs of the kingdom, minus, for some reason, Evalyn ne Maeve, were all gathered together with
Ryan and Andi, listening to Dienda Renaisse.
“…found nothing,” she was saying as I opened the door. “We were super careful, but we didn’t find diddly
squat.”

59. “Hey everybody,” I called out as I walked in. “Miss me?”
“Mom!” Andi squealed as everyone in the room took a collective gasp of surprise. My daughter
immediately flushed.

60. Ryan didn’t waste any time.

62. I laughed when I could breathe again. “Missed you too, dear.”
“Psst. Holly,” Cois whispered loudly to his wife. “You wanna try that?”

63. “You can stand down, sweetie,” I said, having broken myself away from Ryan to take my place on my
throne.
“Mom… I’m so glad you’re alright… none of the search parties found anything… I thought…” Andi
whispered.
“We’ll talk about it later,” I promised, then cleared my throat.

64. “Thank you for your diligence tonight. I had some unexpected business with the gods that needed taken
care of. Everything is just fine. Thank you again, and feel free to return to your homes.”
“Shannath Lariel is watching the younger kids in the ballroom,” Ryan quietly supplied.
“And please take your children with you,” I said with a wink.

65. “Oh. Ah. About that.” Imelda piped up from the back row, and I couldn’t help but notice the silent eye
roll Dienda very pointedly performed. “We’re, um… ahem. Connor and I are currently refurbishing our
son Galain’s room.”

66. “Yes, he couldn’t possibly come home tonight. Maybe even not until Monday,” Imelda finished. Ryan
and I shared a Look.

67. “Dienda,” I said, “would Darion like to spend the night as well? We have plenty of very comfortable
guest bedrooms we can put him up in.”

68. “Eh, sure, I’ll ask him.” Dienda grinned.
“Excellent. Now that that’s settled, goodnight everyone, and thank you again,” I said.

69. “Sweet!” Darion’s voice echoed out into the hall. “All-nighter at the castle, man! How many bathrooms
d’you think this place has!?”
“Bathrooms?” Galain’s much softer voice said. “Uh, I dunno? I wasn’t really thinking about
bathrooms…”

70. “You can do it, sweetheart!” I whispered. “They’re only boys! Go talk to them!”
“Mom,” Andi whispered back, “Stop it… this is so awkward…”
“Kehehehe…”

71. “Andi and a boy, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-S-S—”
“I sent you to bed, Lyas,” I called over my shoulder to my son.
“Kehehe!” he giggled some more, then darted towards the stairs.

72. Andi took a deep breath.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

73. I surreptitiously peeked in just long enough to make sure everything was going well, and then quietly
crept upstairs to corral Lyas and go to bed. Silently. Like the wind.
I’m quite certain that none of them noticed me there. Positive.

74. Well, Andi walked the boys home the next day and then she and Lyas went off to school. The
headmaster was due that evening to do the paperwork to admit our little prince into private education,
but other than that, we had nothing to do but let Andi think over who she was going to choose to be her
king.
Ryan and I spent about 90% of the day together. He was very affectionate after having spent the last day
in a panic. I should suddenly disappear more often.

75. Andi spent most of Saturday pacing and fidgeting in her bedroom. I peeked through the doors once in a
while, you know, to check in on her. This was her last day to decide who her king was going to be, after
all.

76. When she came out in the afternoon I thought for sure she’d made her decision, but instead she went
downstairs to watch TV with her brother. No, I was not getting antsy, thank you.

77. I was in the office that evening when she finally arrived.
“Hey Mom… can I talk to you?” she asked, opening the door.
“Of course,” I said, and quickly shut down the draft of tomorrow’s proclamations that I was working
on.

78. She sat down and said without preamble, “Mom, I’m going to marry Galain. Uh, if he wants to.”

79. “Uh-huh,” I said, making a few mental notes. “This is what you want?”
“Yes. I think. I mean…” Andi took a deep breath. “I, I know you wanted me to pick Darion, because
he’s a redhead and all, and I know his family is a lot more chill than the Lariels, but I kind of think
Darion is kind of icky, I mean, I’m not, like, attracted to him at all. I mean, he’s a good guy and all, but
I think Galain is really kind of hot. I don’t mean hot! I mean, uh, attractive? Yeah, and he’s super sweet,
and he stands when I come into the room, and we have a lot in common, and he’s always kind of
complimenting me, at least I think he is, and I really like that, and I think he would be really good for
the kingdom too, because he’s really thoughtful, and—”

80. I pulled my daughter up into a hug. “You don’t need to justify your decision,” I said softly. “The choice
is yours, and for what it’s worth, you’re making a good one. I’m sorry I had to rush you into it.”
Andi sighed, I think in relief. “Thanks, Mom.”

81. “Hear ye! Hear ye! The God-Queen Keika Rheingold of Clitheroe calls to attendance this fine Sunday
afternoon a meeting of the town’s matriarchs, their husbands, and their teenage children! Hear ye!”

83. “Thank you all for coming today. We have a few very important announcements to make.
“First of all, we are very happy to announce the engagement of our daughter, the Crown Princess
Anduera Rheingold of Clitheroe, to Galain Lariel, son of Imelda and Connor Lariel. We visited the
Lariels in their home last night, and Galain accepted the engagement. They will be married on
Wednesday of round seven. Mark your calendars!”

84. “However, a princess cannot marry a peasant. For that reason, the Lariel family is from today onwards
considered Nobility. You may now address them as Lords and Ladies. Further, to make things simple,
for this generation only, Nobility may marry men from the Peasantry. Afterwards, we will be more
strict.
“You’re probably wondering now how you can advance yourself to the role of nobility. You may do so
first by becoming part of the Merchantry, by elevating your business to rank ten. You can then become
nobility from there by holding five rank ten businesses. However, there can only be three noble families
and five merchant families, so if titles are your goal, you ought to move quickly.”

85. “You will now by paying taxes to Lady Lariel—she is your Liege Lady. She will keep ten percent as
profit from her lands, and then will send the remainder to the crown. We will also begin using bank
accounts to keep track of taxes. Since I know it’s not feasible for all of you to purchase a computer, I
have constructed the Kingdom Tax Office, which has offices for you to pay your taxes in.
“Since there is now a greater spread in classes in the land, I’m afraid we must crack down on what
defines ‘peasant’ versus ‘merchant’ and ‘noble’. Most importantly, if you are a peasant, you may only
hold a single community lot business, and you may not sell anything you haven’t crafted, found, or
caught. Also, if you’re holding a job above your station, you’ll have to quit, I’m afraid.”

86. “Moving right along, starting next round, the royal court will be opening for business. From now on,
you will be able to come visit me, the queen, at any hour the sun is shining, right here at the royal
palace. I won’t be charging anything for the pleasure, but this is a time and place for you to present
requests to me in a formal setting. I will also resolve major disputes if you bring them to me here, but
please take them first to your liege lady. She is to be your judge before things are brought before the
crown.”

87. “Finally, the design work of the official flag of Clitheroe has been completed! You will each receive one
of these for free on your way out, to hang in your homes or businesses as you please.”

88. “Now that we have our first noble family, we are also introducing heraldry. Once we have multiple
noble families, this will make it easier to determine who is paying taxes to which liege lady. Also, they
look really cool. The heraldry you see on King Ryan’s left is the Rheingold colors.”

89. “I have temporarily displayed the Lariel colors in the hall outside for you to get a look at before you
leave. The version with stripes is the official heraldry, which only Lariel family members may display.
The one without stripes is merely the Lariel mark; this will be displayed on each of your lots, to denote
which households are designated as which noble’s land.”

90. “Finally, we appreciate that times are hard, and when you’re struggling to raise a family and run your
business at the same time, it’s difficult to raise very much money for essential living. I understand many
of you are still living without basic comfort items, like windows. That is why I’m sending home with
each of you a $20,000 boon. I expect you to use it first for your homes, and then if you have leftovers,
to put it into your businesses. Or keep it and use it to buy groceries. Whatever you need.
…these are coming directly out of the royal treasury, by the way, so don’t expect very many boons in
the future.”

91. “That will be all. This meeting is adjourned.”
End of the royal Rheingold record of Round Five.