It had been a rather busy morning for the queen. There was much to be done in preparation for the upcoming festivities. Ananya had known that it would be some work to get things in order, they had so much planned, but the end result would be worth it. And she very much wanted this to be a success, for her husband's sake.
He so very much wanted to help the lost little princess, so Ananya did as well. How could she deny him the opportunity to share his generous heart? It was what she loved most about him. So the effort she was putting in was absolutely worth it, but she was ready for a lunch break.
She just had to review... what was she looking at now? Some sort of reports. These were not the usual sort of things she looked at. Had this been intended for her husband? Ananya skimmed over the information on the page, noting that it was some sort of criminal report. She'd have to set it aside for Charles, since she had no idea what to do with--
Wait.
The book.
A young man had been brought in for theft and among the possessions in his pouch were an apple and a book of poems with inlaid gold and mother of pearl. That was quite a coincidence, wasn't it? Were there possibly two of them? That seemed rather unlikely. Ananya stared at the words on the page for several long minutes, until one of her aides prompted with a concerned, "Your majesty?"
That got her moving. And talking. After sending for her horse, she sent an attendant with a message to let Charles know where she'd be. It might be a wild goose chase, but she simply had to know if it was her little thief with potential. She had to go.