Within the royal court room of the Utshani Kingdom
Inside the spacious room that was filled with portraits and sculptures of the predecessors of the royal family as well as the previous members of the royal court, five minks were sitting around a stone table that was located at the center of the court room having a meeting with each other.
"The new laws that His Majesty wishes for us to implement are absolutely outrageous! How does he expect us to convince the people of our nation to go along with such outlandish proposals!" a muscular lion mink with a black mane and a scar diagonally going over his muzzle shouted out in outrage. He was wearing a beige coloured military uniform that was decorated with a number of medallions that were pinned on the left side of his chest.
"Calm yourself, Minister of Defense, the things that His Majesty is proposing are not that outlandish." a lean cheetah mink with reddish brown hair that was combed back told his colleague as he looked over the paper in his hands. He was wearing a loose grey robe.
"But I have to agree with the Minister of Defense on this matter. Some of the proposals that His Majesty has been telling us to implement have been pretty radical and it will be difficult to execute them on the ground should he give us the order to do so." a buffalo mink with a sturdy build voiced his agreement with the lion mink with a deep voice. The only article of clothing that he was wearing was a loincloth made from the skin of an alligator.
"While I agree that the wording of the king's policies are controversial, the changes that His Majesty wishes to introduce have their merit." a leopard mink with light brown, shoulder length hair that was braided stated in a calm manner. He was wearing a black sleeveless shirt, a pair of grey cargo pants and brown military boots.
"Regardless, we have to make an effort to-" a bespectacled wildebeest mink with a somewhat skinny build adorned in a lavishly decorated gray robe began to speak before he was interrupted by the door leading into the court room was burst open by a monkey mink of short stature holding a transponder snail over his head.
"I apologize for the sudden interruption, oh honourable members of the royal court, but the princess has requested an audience with you on the matter of escorting the mediator into our nation." the monkey mink reported with an apologetic tone while bowing his head before the five leading figures.
'Why does she have to call us during such a time?' the members of the King's Royal Court simultaneously thought in their minds when they heard that the princess wished to have an audience with them.
'Great, the spoiled brat just had to interrupt us during a meeting. She must have faced some sort of difficulty in order to ask us for aid. Pathetic.' the leopard mink admonished the princess in his head as he rolled his eyes.
'If there is one person from the ruling members of the royal family that I will never be able to tolerate, it would be the princess in succession to the royal throne. She is nothing like her father.' the cheetah mink complained internally as he cleared his throat while dialing to a particular number from the transponder snail.
'I knew we shouldn't have sent the princess to complete such an important task. I was certain that she would have called us the moment things didn't go her way.' the wildebeest mink reaffirmed his previous prediction of what the princess would call them as soon as she encountered an obstacle while undertaking this mission.
'Oh princess, it was easy to know that you would come running to us as soon as the famed mediator didn't accept your plea. And why would he? You are a woman who hasn't been in a life and death predicament while he is a man who has fought for everything that he has for a very long time. I knew that we needed to send in a warrior to relay our message to Mr. Fushi.' the lion mink speculated on the princess' failure to accomplish her mission while clenching his fists.
"Very well. We shall call the princess ourselves. You may leave the room." the cheetah mink ordered the messenger while pinching the bridge of his nose.
Once the messenger left the room, the wildebeest mink then proceeded to pull out another transponder snail before calling to the princess of their kingdom.
"How goes your day respected members of the royal court?"
"We were in the middle of discussing some of the policies that your father made before you interrupted us. You should know by now that we hold meetings during this time of day, princess." the cheetah mink stated while he bit his lower lips.
"Go on, tell us how you failed spectacularly at completing the task that you volunteered to undertake why don't you?" the leopard mink sarcastically asked the young princess, soon after which he loudly sighed.
"I am calling for your aid because the one you wish to seek as a mediator has declined to personally come with me to our home and decided to send one of his former students as a mediator who will act on his behalf." the young princess told the members of the royal court what the elderly martial artist had said to her.
'I'm willing to bet that he refused to come over here because you were the one to bring him the message.' the leopard mink suspected as he sneered at the princess' words.
"Why would he send a human as a someone who would act as his spokesperson when he could just send a letter for a representative for each faction to deal with the great dilemma that our nation is facing at the moment." the buffalo mink stated while folding his arms in front of him chest.
"He is famous among the humans in the South Blue, no? I would assume that he views them in a more positive light than we would, seeing as a number of the more reputable martial artists born in the seas of the South Blue have been under his tutelage. It is not shocking that he would send one of his former disciples to act as a mediator on his behalf. Still, he should know better than to send a human to come to our island." the cheetah mink speculated while he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"It would appear that my theory on him no longer being a worthy mediator are true after all. He sure has grown soft from the way that our predecessors talked about him." the leopard mink declared as he shook his head in disappointment.
"I for one believe that it is a good that he will not be coming with you to the island. He is not truly a biased member, seeing as he was close friends with your grandfather. But can we say the same thing about the human he wishes to act as a mediator on his behalf?" the lion mink pondered as he clasped his hands together and leaned forward from his seat.
"But we do not have anyone else that we can reach out to in order to solve the current power struggle that our country faces." the cheetah mink added to the conversation as he raised his eyebrows at the lion mink.
"Then I believe that it is time that we consult-"
"We shall not go and seek that man's advice! Why would you even suggest that at all? He was stripped of his title as a member of the royal court for conspiring with that cursed outsider to topple the princess' late grandfather, which is a crime in and of itself." the buffalo mink interrupted the wildebeest mink as he was about to suggest that they request the audience of one of the older residents of their kingdom.
"I approve with what Minister Pembe on this matter, Minister Mjuzi." the Ushtani princess agreed with the words of the buffalo mink before she continued to address the members of the royal court as a whole.
"That traitor's advice is not something that we should take under any circumstance. And must I remind you that the elders working for the ruling members of the family are not united and picked the factions that they wish to support. We had come to a consensus that we would go to the one known as Grand Master Fushi for help in order to bring in an unbiased third party. Sadly, the man himself has revealed to us that he incapable of acting like an impartial party on the matter concerning our power struggle, hence why he suggested that his former disciple come with us in order to act as a mediator in his place."
"We know that he is-"
"Let him speak his mind, Spots. He is the king's royal messenger after all." the cheetah mink interrupted the leopard mink while raising a hand in his colleague's direction.
"Thank you Minister. Now as I was saying, the Grand Master will not be able to act as a neutral party, but his disciple will be able to play the role of an unbiased third party in the power struggle that we are currently facing. I would also like to add that I do not share your sentiment when it comes to the Grand Master's disciple. And that is because based on the information that I have gathered on her, she is a capable negotiator who will do everything in her power to carry out her role as a mediator." the Ushtani royal messenger declared with confidence.
"Huuuuuh?!" four of the members of the Royal Court and the princess shouted out in shock.