==This piece was drawn in mid-2023. Following my first art commission, my Ko-Fi supporters voted for me to begin uploading art here, including pieces that have been up on FA that I still like. This is one of those pieces.==

The guards stood ready, but she could tell from their stances there was a slight uncertainty their training could not hide. Those assembled in the formal hall were far more clear in their unease, the noble merchant lords, industry leaders, explorers of the occult, and otherwise unprepared for such a brazen entrance. And the intruder himself, clad in red-stained black wraps and carrying a old sharpened glaive...his back foot displayed a sense of surprise that the face-cloths disguised.

After all, if he even understood the attack that struck him from all around, as if the air itself had attempted to crush him, he would not have expected druidic magic to be in the halls of Castle Braek.

Amelia kindly stepped forward to identify herself as the caster, right hand raised as a mystical glow channeled through it. She used her left to draw her weapon of honor and hold it low yet readied; the exotic shape of the hooked hilt and slight curved blade were enough to show its alien origins. If the magic and blade did not identify her as an outsider, her exotic layered and tasseled dress of bright green, red, and gold certainly would. And yet...she would not be in such trusted proximity of the king and queen with weaponry were she an untrusted outsider.

“Your Majesties, lords and ladies, rest your arms. I shall address this.”

To the assailant’s shock, the royalty nodded, and the guards stepped back to interpose themselves between the others assembled and the announced threat, leaving the intruder and Amelia to face each other.

“Warrior, assassin, rebel, or freedom fighter...whatever you may call yourself,” the lioness announced, a wave of presence pressing down upon him, “if your cause is just, I invite you to sheath your weapon and speak with me. If you are a foreigner, I am as well. If you are of nature, I am as well. And if you are of Altradere, I am its daughter too. I will carry your cause and speak with your voice.” Her green eyes glinted in the glow of her hand. “You will account for any violence you have already committed, but I will put my honor on the line to see your words heard and your just heart taken into consideration.”

“However, if you only mean harm…” The blade flicked up and to the side in her wrist, her stance shifting to that of a noble of the sands. The slight gesture of her blade in the air was enough for a seasoned warrior to know...she was not a noble without threat. “...then I will cut you down. Upon my honor, I will not forsake my second home and you will not find my blade as kind as I.”

The amount of trust this foreigner had been given proved her words were not without weight. What noble but Lady Amelia Majesty of Juaccai could be trusted to lay their life down for those not under her formal rule? And yet...the glint of ambition remained in those eyes, the glint he knew well.

It would be truly a queen to fear: one selfless enough to step on the front lines, noble enough to be cheered on by friends and rivals both...and desirous enough for all the rewards that would come afterwards.
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Amelia Majesty is, on the surface, my most Mary Sue character. That, however, ignores the fact that she is actually a master of none. She also is painfully yet strategically ambitious, a trait she has unknowingly inherited from her most important childhood role model, Valerie Meskhenet. At first it seems she is purely a just, honorable, and kind lioness that is self-sacrificing, good with her words, capable of magic, and strong with a sword. But her sense of ambition, her childhood culture of warfare and intrigue, her increasingly posh standards, and her body sensitivity makes her a far more complicated character, especially when considering any specialist will distinctly outmaneuver her in any field.

This was meant to depict Amelia at her self-imagined ideal self: an expert in all her fields, respected and honored, and mere steps from a throne once more. While she would never take a throne dishonorably, she would not be so selfless as to step down from an opportunity to take it without dishonor. I had fun with this one. I think I did a lot of tricky things and ended up making it work, and it was the perfect piece to jump off of into the next piece I did. Lots of learning was had, and I’m not displeased with the results!

Art and Amelia Majesty (c)  MavenTreecat

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