Go to the Marketplace and mingle among your subjects

One could not have asked for a better day for the opening of the festival. The sky is a bright and nearly cloudless blue, the Sun warm without being uncomfortably so, and soft breezes blow down from the nearby mountains, bringing a scent of evergreens and snowmelt. You ride from the castle gate on Steelheart, waving to the people as you pass, and all of them wave back, pleased to see their king. A young girl of no more than twelve runs up to you to present you with a flower, which you dismount in order to take properly, kissing her hand as if she were a princess. She blushes bright pink and runs back to her friends, clearly thrilled at this unexpected bit of excitement in her day.

Back on Steelheart's back, you resume your slow trot to the marketplace, looking with approval at the preparations for the festival. The people have outdone themselves, and after all, this is the first real chance they've had to celebrate since your coronation. Each previous year there had always been some greater need, and a festival would have been frivolous; this year, the kingdom has enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, and the people have lavished the credit for it upon you.

You arrive at the town square and turn Steelheart over to your squire, who leads him to the stables. It feels good to be able to walk among the people, and you are glad that you still can; one of the more troubling aspects of being king was the possibility that you might have to ride about with an armed guard. But here in your own city, at least, there is no real need; only Captain Navarre of the Kingsguard accompanies you, as he generally does when you go into the city. Although he is vigilant as always, his sword remains sheathed and he clearly expects no serious trouble. You doubt any monarch in history has so enjoyed the love of his subjects as you do.

Today, though, you're seeking a slightly different sort of love from the people... that of a potential queen. And there is an interesting tradition which emerged during the settlement of Elyssia, which is that when an eligible bachelor is searching for a potential wife, women who are interested will often seek his attention by offering themselves with much more freedom than they ordinarily might. As King, you’ve tried to avoid those kinds of indulgences and temptations... but if you’re “officially” looking for a wife, then you can certainly expect the interest of almost every unwed woman in the kingdom, and for you to respond to their advances would simply be following tradition!

There are any number of places you might venture first. The Inn of the Dancing Maiden has a tavern within and is a popular place among men and ladies alike; you are a frequent customer there, and you've always found it enjoyable as people seem to quickly get over your royal status and treat you almost as an equal. The proprietor, a woman named Melisande, is perhaps not exactly the sort who makes a queen... but then again, she is the widow of a former nobleman, and has experience running an inn if not a kingdom. In any event, she knows everything that goes on in the kingdom, and even your more skeptical advisors consider her trustworthy.

The bathing pools are another possibility. Elyssia is blessed with a mountain spring which produces a continuous flow of warm mineral water, and the ancient Romans (at the command of Emperor Caligula, it is rumored) constructed a series of stone pools for bathing and relaxing, creating an outdoor bathhouse which may be unmatched anywhere in the world. During your first week as King, you ordered that the pools be repaired and enlarged, and a high wall built around them to provide privacy - and most importantly, that the facility be made available to all, rich and poor alike. This proclamation made you instantly popular with the masses and effectively established the sort of King you intended to be. While the more privileged classes objected at first, in time they came to appreciate the wisdom of how much it boosted the general morale and well-being of the people. Inside those walls, the common standards of modesty are held not to apply. There are separate areas for men and for women; but as King, you are of course permitted to go where you wish, and most of the women who frequent the pools welcome your presence there. The proprietor is known as Arethousa, it is said that she can trace her ancestry in an unbroken line back to an ancient Greek priestess of the Temple of Aphrodite.

You might just walk down the street; the Innkeeper's Road is always lined with merchant's carts, and they are even more numerous than usual due to the upcoming celebration. There's no telling who you might meet there, especially since many of the merchants here today will be those who only rarely come into the city.

Then, your eye catches the sign above the silversmith's shop, and you remember his daughter Pia. You have good cause to remember her; after all, it was Pia who gave you your first kiss, out behind her father's shop. You were only a lad at the time, apprenticed to the blacksmith, and had just delivered some new tools to her father. Pia had pulled you out the back door into the alley while her father wasn't looking, and kissed you quite unexpectedly. "My father is taking me with him on a long journey in the morning," she had said at the time, "and I wanted to kiss you goodbye, in case I don't see you again." She did return, but by then you had been king for six years, and affairs of state had to take precedence over old romances. You're not even sure if she's already married, but perhaps it is time you found out.