“Thank you for hosting us, Lady Windwhistler,” said Timur, bowing.

“Thank you for being such a courteous guest,” said Eleanor, grinning like a shark would. Timur winced. She must have heard about what happened between him and Frances.

Speaking of, she was standing beside her mother, expression impassive. They all exchanged their goodbyes and went to their mounts to ride out from under Erlenberg’s western gate.

All the while, Timur wanted to say something to Frances. Only, there was a gulf there that hadn’t been there before. He knew she was sorry, but to accept it… he didn’t want to. Not after what she’d said about his father and sister. They were lies.

Were they? Frances didn’t lie. She was as truthful as they came. She told him all of these things… out of concern, not to turn him against his father. And now that he thought about it, he hadn’t exactly received her concerns with an open mind.

Timur distractedly got onto his horse, barely sparing a glance to check his equipment. Swallowing, he closed his eyes briefly and turned to Frances.

Maybe they weren’t meant to be together, but… he didn’t feel right to leave it like this.

“Frances,” he said. Coughing to clear his throat. It felt like there was a lump there. “Frances?”

The human girl’s eyes widened, her amber eyes meeting his.

“About… what happened earlier. I forgive you. See you someday,” he stammered.

Frances’s eyes widened before a relieved smile burst across her face. “See you someday, and stay safe, Timur.”

Timur nodded and kicked his horse to a trot, following his sister and his brother-in-law as they joined their escort, led by Olgakaren. The lump in his throat was gone. He’d done the right thing.

“Ah good, you made up,” said Titania.

Timur glanced at his sister, because she hadn’t said that in her usually snide tone. No, she seemed to be almost giving him a look of approval.

“Did… you just compliment me?” he asked.

“Don’t get used to it,” Titania drawled. “You were moping around so much last night that it was unbearable.”

“Ah, I won’t.” Timur winced. He was strangely relieved that his sister was back to her usual self, though.

However, Titania wasn’t finished. Her features were twisting in a comical contorted expression. As if she was trying to spit something out.

“What the heck were you two arguing about last night anyway?” she asked, her voice adopting that oddly sincere tone again.

“Um, why are you interested?” Timur asked. This was getting weird. His older sister didn’t give a damn about him, and to have her ask… this was just odd.

Titania made a face. “Look, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but she is a catch. Frances I mean.”

Timur’s jaw dropped and he glanced at Antigones… who was oddly enough, smiling proudly at his wife. The orc general must have encouraged her, but still, Titania was willingly trying to talk to him… and compliment him.

“What. She’s a powerful mage, smart, kind, sensitive and cute too. You also seemed to get along famously, so why were you arguing?” Titania asked.

Timur sighed, eyes on the road ahead. “She was saying some really things about dad that I couldn’t believe. I mean, I get why she’s saying that but I’m sure they’re not true.”

Unseen by Timur was how the teasing smile Titania wore disappeared in the blink of an eye.

“What did she say?” Titania asked.

Something about how controlled his sister’s tone grabbed Timur’s attention. That was when he noticed her smile had gone.

“Well, she was saying that he abuses me, which… is ridiculous. Dad doesn’t hit me. I mean there was the time he cursed me—”

“Excuse me?”

Timur looked at Titania, like, actually stared at her. She’d yanked the reins to her boar so hard it was beginning to struggle against her and it was taking all her considerable skill and strength to wrestle the beast still.

“How do… what? How don’t you know? He must have told you. It was for messing up at Vertingen.”

“He did what?”

This time, it was Antigones who’d spluttered these words out. The general was gawking at Timur, hands clenched around his reins.

Timur stared at his brother-in-law and then back at his sister. They weren’t angry at him, which was good, but somehow, their horror filled him with a greater concern. Blinking, he found Olgakaren amidst their group. Surely she was going to act normally—

The harpy had covered her mouth with her silver-black wings. Her dark eyes were wide.

“Timur, why didn’t you tell me? I mean, mom’s Thorgoth’s chief consort. Maybe she would have been able to convince him to change his mind. And she knows you weren’t responsible for our defeat at Vertingen.”

Timur spluttered, “Well, dad told me I couldn’t get any help from any Alavari to remove it and it would be really embarrassing that I hadn’t figured out how to fulfil the conditions of the curse—”

“You’re still cursed?” Titania shrieked.

Timur winced. If the guards weren’t paying attention before, they certainty were now and now he felt… very strange.

General Antigones seemed to have paled and Olgakaren was in complete shock. That made sense. They were nice, kind people and Olgakaren was his best, and probably only friend other than Frances.

He couldn’t comprehend his sister’s reaction, though. She looked like her world had turned on its head. Titania’s eyes were actually filling with tears.

“Okay calm down I’m not going to die—”

Antigones raised a hand. “Timur, just… stop. We’ll continue this conversation when we are in private. And you all.” He glared at his guards. “Not one word.”

Timur swallowed and nodded. Somehow, he got the sense that this conversation wasn’t going to go well.

----------------------------------------

He was right. Sat down in front of Antigones, Titania and Olgakaren, with three pairs of concerned eyes on him, Timur had never felt so uncomfortable to be at the centre of attention. This… was very ironic for him as he usually wished more people would listen to him.

“Right, brother. Start with what the hell did dad curse you with and why?” Titania hissed.

Timur tried her best not to squirm, but he knew he was fiddling with his fingers as he explained to his interrogators. “I don’t know. I never actually got the name of it. He did it because I failed to kill the Firehand after she was wounded and helpless in the aftermath of Vertingen, and also failed to exploit the Lapanterian army’s weakness.”

“Wait, and you thought this was a good reason for getting cursed?” Olgakaren squawked.

“Um, I failed your mom when she needed someone to take command of the army,” Timur stammered.

“Timur, the Lapanterian army was capable of a fight and our advantage was gone. Thorgoth is right that we could have hit them when they were down, but we were so badly mauled it would have been a pyrrhic victory at most!” Antigones exclaimed. He wasn’t yelling, or hysterical like how Olgakaren and Titania looked. Yet, the rising tone of the general’s voice alarmed Timur almost as much as the horrified expression on his sister’s face.

“But—”

“Your Highness, I would have fallen back. Especially after the losses we took.”

It was warm, but Timur felt himself shiver. “No. That’s… that can’t be. That would mean… no, Frances meant well, but she can’t be right about dad.”

“Timur, focus, we’ll talk about what Frances told you later. What does your curse do? Where is it?” Titania demanded.

“Um, well, hold on, let me dispel the glamor.” Timur pulled out his wand, said the Word of Power and touched his arm. He didn’t have a chance to pull his sleeve up as Titania was beside him in an instant. She yanked his sleeve up to reveal the curse mark. He normally kept that under a glamor in order to not draw attention but he still could see it was glowing an ugly crimson.

However, now the mark was surrounded by a light blue circle of shifting runes and marks that glowed and danced. It was an oddly comforting sight.

“So um, the curse was meant to drain a little bit of my magic, bit by bit until, well… the obvious. Dad said that it would break if I killed the Firehand and that I couldn’t ask for any Alavari’s help in breaking it.” Timur pointed at the blue circle. “But, um, that’s new.”

Antigones leaned forward from where he sat. “Titania? How bad is it?”

“I… this…” Titania’s wand hand began to shake. “It’s bad. This is Queen Friganoth’s Agony. I didn’t even realize dad could cast that. It… it should have killed you a long time ago, only, it hasn’t.” Titania pointed Second Chance to the glowing outer blue ring. “There’s another spell feeding magic to balance out the curse. I’m not sure how it’s possible because it isn’t drawing on your magical reserves.”

“That must be Frances’s spell,” Timur said, eyes wide. As everybody started staring at him again, he swallowed and averted his gaze. “We met by chance. It was our first meeting. She was training in Leipmont and I was there too, on my way to… well I was going to make an attempt, but I couldn’t think of a way to kill Edana so I was just going to sit down and think. I mean I know it was a cowardly move—”

Titania seized Timur by his shoulders. “Brother, stop it! Just… you were sent on a suicide mission!”

“Well, yeah, but I made a huge mistake—”

“Do you know how you would have died?” Titania croaked. Timur blinked at that. The black eyes he was looking at her filled with tears. His sister, who hated his guts… was crying?

“It would have been gradual, and utterly agonising. A tiredness would set on before a growing pain that would just build and build until your entire body would be screaming for you to kill yourself, only, you would have not a single ounce of strength left. The clothes on your skin would feel like they were burning you. Water would have tasted like hot oil. Scratch the screaming part, you would barely be even able to draw breath as it would grate in your lungs like hot sand. That’s how you would have died, according to the ancient records of the Third Great War.”

Timur wanted to be sick. He had to be in a bad dream. This was some sick twisted nightmare. Only, he had no reason to disbelieve his sister, who was now crying, her tears dripping on his trousers.

“Oh Galena. How the fuck did I not notice it! I… I should have known. I thought I was the only one because he didn’t hit you but no, he just changed how he hurt his targets!” she sobbed. “How did I miss it? How did I—”

The puzzle assembling in Timur’s brain suddenly clicked into completion, and he suddenly remembered what Frances had told him.

“Wait, dad hit you?”

Titania froze. “Who… who told you that?”

“Frances… she… no. There’s no way!” Timur spluttered. He wanted to back away, but Titania’s grip on him was too tight. Something must have shown on his face because she let go. He tried to struggle to his feet, but he couldn’t find his balance. “She can’t be right. I mean… but… no, she was worried even when we first met. That’s why she worded the contract that way.”

“When you first met? Wait, what contract?” Titania demanded.

Timur reached into his jacket, and pulled out a small leather pouch he always kept on his person. His trembling fingers barely managed to undo the ties to the pouch and produce the contract he and Frances had signed all those years ago.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. She just… Frances just offered to balance out the curse with her magic. She just had two conditions.”

“What were they?” Olgakaren asked.

“I couldn’t force another human mage to break the curse. I also needed to look at dad and think if he was a good ruler,” Timur stammered.

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“That, wait, that’s it… the first one makes sense, but the second one is so vague it’s hardly a requirement. There has to be something hidden…” Titania gently took the contract and read the glowing words. “No. That is it. There’s a lot of legalese here, but no, that’s basically it. But why would she… you mean she just sacrificed a good portion of her magic to save your life?”

“Good portion? I thought… I thought it would be a trickle,” Timur said.

“Timur, Frances’s reserves wouldn’t be affected but it would take far longer for her to recover her magic. She basically handicapped herself.” Titania froze. “Oh God, I’ve been fighting Frances when she’s handicapped.”

“Frances… wait, Titania. Frances said that dad… that dad tortured you into becoming his weapon.” Timur shook his head, trying to force a smile to his face. “That can’t be true, right?”

Titania and Antigones didn’t answer. The tears in his sister’s eyes and the grim look on Antigones’s face said it all.

“Wait, you’re telling me my mother married a monster that hurts his own children?” Olgakaren stammered.

“Olga… I would refrain from telling your mom. It might put her in danger, and moreover… I’m not sure if she was completely in the dark,” said Antigones coolly.

“Sir? What the hell do you mean?” she snapped.

“Berengaria was involved with your father long before he married her. She was privy to many of his secrets. For what motives, I don’t know, but her proximity to Thorgoth makes it dangerous for her to know anything about this.” Antigones grimaced. “I let you in because I trust you and I know Timur does. Now… Timur, I’m sorry but what else did Frances say?”

“No nooo, I’m not saying another word until you tell me what the fuck did dad do to my sister!” Timur meant to sound enraged, but instead, the voice that came out was desperate, half-choked with the tears that were running down his face. “And how did she find out! She’s not even an Alavari! How the hell did I know nothing about this?”

Titania swallowed. “She has a Named Wand dad once owned called, Ivy’s Sting, which makes stinging vines. Dad used Ivy’s Sting and her special ability to torture me and just… keep me in line when I tried to defy him. I don’t know why, but Ivy’s Sting told Frances.”

Timur had officially given up trying to make sense of this. “The fuck how?”

“Your father gave Ivy’s Sting, or left it for Ixtar the Agoniser, who took the wand, used it to kill my wife Zirabelle before he was killed by Edana Firehand, who gave it to Frances. We’re not sure when exactly Frances got the wand, but she does have it now. Got that?” Antigones asked, the tension in his voice just barely reigned in.

Timur felt like he’d got punched again after being battered.

“Dad killed Archmage Zirabelle?” he whispered. Shaking his head, he struggled to focus. “Wait, Titania, does dad… does dad still torture you?”

“Not since I married Antigones. He didn’t expect us to fall in love. It forced him to compromise. I do missions, he can’t touch me, or hurt me,” Titania said, wiping her eyes.

Timur groaned. “I… Oh Galena, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I… he always made to—to praise you and make you sound like the example I should look up to.”

“Well, I wasn’t any better. I thought… I thought he was treating you fine.” Titania grabbed a handkerchief and snorted into it, before narrowing her eyes at her brother. “Was… was that his plan all along? To divide us?”

“I don’t know anymore. I just… I thought all this time… I wanted to think Frances was making it up, or just paranoid. Except no, she was right. About you… and…” He wiped his eyes again with his sleeve, but it was no use. He was sobbing, tears blinding him. “I’m sorry. I… what… how…”

Olgakaren wrapped Timur in a hug. “Timur, it’s alright, take your time.”

Timur grabbed the harpy, trying to breathe but only managing to sob. “Oh God. Frances… I should have listened to her.”

“What… what else did she say, brother?” Titania whispered.

“She… she said that we raided Erlenberg and tried to blow up the harbour and that you did it. That’s… that’s true, right? Dad said it was an accident,” he croaked.

Titania winced. “I organised it, yes.”

“She said that he probably made Helias kill all those humans and their children. Or at least, he sanctioned it,” Timur stammered.

Antigones nodded, his eyes bright as well. “Yes.”

“Then…” Timur’s chest clenched. “He’s been abusing me all this time? Hurting me for no good reason?”

Titania swallowed. All her life, she’d wished her brother would just wake up and see that their father was an asshole. Except, that was before she’d learnt how deeply her father had got his claws into the sobbing trorc in front of her.

“I’m sorry, but yes.”

She expected Timur to break at this, and her brother did let out a low moan, like that of a wounded animal. He sobbed into Olgakaren’s shoulder, shaking as he latched onto his friend, who was teary-eyed herself.

Except, suddenly he broke out of her embrace. Wiping his eyes with a handkerchief he tried to steady himself on his chair.

“What about our siblings? Has he hurt the ‘twins’—that is, Tula and Terisa? Or Terroria?” he spluttered.

“Okay no. Tula and Terisa’s mothers would kill him if he laid a finger on them,” said Titania with a frown. “I mean, you’ve met Gladia and Gunra, they adore their babies and they have the bravery to back it up.”

“And my mom dotes on Terroria. He… he seems to like her as well. I… I don’t think she’s being hurt,” said Olgakaren. She shook her head. “I’ll have to check, but Terroria spends a lot of time in mom’s home in the Valaria Eeyrie, so I can’t imagine him hurting her surrounded by harpies.”

Timur blinked, and wiped his eyes again. “Wait, that doesn’t make sense. That can’t be right.”

Antigones’s instincts suddenly screamed at him. They were telling him that there was something important at stake here. That if he didn’t press Timur, they might forget it. Yet, they were also filling him with dread.

The orc took a deep breath. “Timur, what doesn’t make sense? Is it something that Frances told you?”

Timur nodded. “Yes. The reason she told me all of this now, and tried to make me believe her was because she was trying to save me. Um, she said I was in terrible danger and… and… damnit.”

“Well she wasn’t wrong. You were being hurt by your dad,” said Olgakaren.

“No, it wasn’t that. She… she seemed afraid for my life. I don’t know why, though,” said Timur, running his hands through his hair.

“Timur, start from when she told you that you were in terrible danger. What did you do when she told you that?” Titania asked, in a gentle voice.

It was the gentlest he had ever heard his sister and the voice wormed its way into Timur’s head and sparked the memory.

“I didn’t believe her. I demanded that she show me some proof and she said she couldn’t because it’d put other people in danger. She told me to ask you.”

Antigones stroked his beard. “That makes sense. If she learnt what happened to Zirabelle and Titania from Ivy’s Sting, she wouldn’t want people to know or else they’d look for her wand to silence it.”

“Right, but there was something else. I… I was in such shock and disbelief that I didn’t want to listen any further but… it was such a weird turn of phrase I just… I kind of remembered it.” Timur shut his eyes, thinking back to the argument, her slapping him. The words they yelled at each other. The sorrow and guilt in Frances’s face. Wait, no, that wasn’t just guilt. There was fear. How had he missed it? She was scared for him, and… and it was also holding her back. She wanted to say more but she couldn’t and so she said something else that didn’t make any sense.

Timur snapped his fingers. “Right! She said that ‘you should know that Thorgoth has already hurt more of his children than just you and Titania.’” He opened his eyes, hoping that his friends knew what it meant.

Only, they were confused.

“What does that mean?” Titania asked.

“I don’t know! I mean… no, I am pretty sure I didn’t misremember it. She said he already hurt our siblings, apart from you and I.”

“But there’s nobody he could have hurt. Not Terroria, not Tula or Terisa,” Titania said.

“And we all know he loved Teutobal,” chimed in Olgakaren.

“Yeah, that’s the one thing we can agree on. I mean… in hindsight, there were signs that you were abused by dad. He never really complimented you. He never gave you responsibility. He kept you on a tight leash and made it so that he was telling you everything you had to know,” Titania went on.

Timur sniffled. “Yeah. It wasn’t like that with him and Teutobal. They… they had this banter that went on. Once they started talking you could barely get them to stop. When Teutobal’s ship went down in a storm, he locked himself away for days.”

“Oh no.”

Antigones had spoken up. He was gripping his beard so tightly it looked like he was trying to strangle the hairs. The orc general’s jaw had dropped open and he was shivering.

Titania stared at her husband with growing dread.

“Dear? What… what’s wrong?”

“Teutobal. Thorgoth. Frances… Frances thinks or knows Thorgoth ordered Teutobal killed,” Antigones.

Silence deafened the room as the half-troll siblings and the harpy stared at the orc general, poleaxed.

“Sir, that’s impossible. The Pride of the Greyhammer and its escorts went down in a storm! It was an accident!” Olgakaren squawked.

“There were harpies among them and they had boats too. They weren’t far off from the Erisdalian coast, and yet, every single Alavari on all these ships went down? Not a single one survived?” Antigones demanded.

“No! Dad loved Teutobal. He was his pride and joy. The perfect heir. There’s no way!” Titania wailed.

“They had the finest crew in Alavaria. Dad hand-picked the crew himself and—” Timur choked up. “Dad picked the crew. He picked the crew and most of the bodyguards.”

“It still doesn’t make sense! How would you cover up the murder of your own heir? You wouldn’t sail your ship into a storm. You can’t escape a storm. Assassins want to live as well!” Titania spluttered.

“And even if they didn’t, there would be tons of questions and suspicion. I mean… yes it would be hard to believe, but there would be evidence on the ships that would point to an inside job!” Timur stammered.

Antigones had been wondering that as well, until he remembered a particular detail in the incident.

“Not… not if there was a convenient scapegoat,” the general whispered.

“Sir?” Olgakaren whispered.

“They were sailing off of the Erisdalian coast. What if… what if the plan was never to get caught in the storm. What if the plan was to have Teutobal killed, and blame the murder on human—no, Erisdalian ships that attacked the convoy?” Antigones asked.

“He wouldn’t. He couldn’t,” Timur mouthed, sound barely exiting his lps.

“That’s insane!” Titania screamed.

Antigones swallowed. “Your father’s been planning to fight the humans for a very, very long time. You know he’s hated and feared them for years. And… and Teutobal never wanted a war to break out. That’s why he went to Erisdale, to try to deescalate the tensions.” The orc general froze. “Zirabelle… she wanted to make peace with the humans as well. She was friends with Edana’s master, Archmage Glimmer. Allaniel… he wanted to prevent war from breaking out and he formed the human-alavari coalition to bring Ixtar down.” The orc froze. “They’re all dead and Thorgoth was definitely involved in my wife’s murder.”

Olgakaren whispered, “And he could have been involved in Prince Teutobal’s death, but… no wait, the assassins would have wanted to live. Why would they end up in a storm? This would have been meticulously planned.”

Titania, between sniffles, managed a quiet, “No.”

“Dear?” Antigones asked.

The princess took a deep breath. “Teutobal… he was an exceptionally powerful mage and an amazing melee fighter. He’d be fighting to defend his bride-to-be, Neria and he was always prepared for anything. What if Teutobal, or some of his crew, survived? They would have realized what was afoot. If they returned, Thorgoth would have still used the attack as justification for war, no matter if Teutobal was alive or not.”

“So, he’d… he’d steer a course into the storm and sink the ship,” Timur croaked. He raised his hands. “Wait, no, wait. I… shit, Frances couldn’t tell me much so we don’t know if this was what she meant. I mean, it makes the most sense logically, but we have no evidence. I’m not even sure how she figured it out.”

Titania grimaced. “Did she tell you why she couldn’t tell you anything?”

“She said she’d put other people in danger,” said Timur. He stiffened. “She talked to a witness. Frances somehow knows people who survived, or witnessed Teutobal’s assassination.”

“Assuming Frances is telling the truth,” said Olgakaren weakly.

“There are ways to find out and you bet I’m going to look into this,” Titania hissed. The trorc turned to her brother. “Timur, when we get back, I’m getting my stepson and we’re going to break your fucking curse.”

Timur stared, “You will?”

“What. You think I can’t?”

“I honestly didn’t think you would,” Timur blurted out.

The words lashed seemed almost like a whip. A pained, guilty look flashed over Titania’s features. “Yeah… yeah no, that makes sense. I have been an utter bitch to you,” she sniffled.

“That wasn’t… Sister, it’s not… that’s not your fault,” Timur stammered. He never imagined thinking this way, but he preferred his sister to be angry, cracking quips and just insulting him. It was utterly horrifying watching her tear up like this.

Titania took a deep breath. “Maybe, but I could have been… oh I don’t know, a little more like that stumpy human mage who you’re in love with.”

“I’m not—that’s not fair,” Timur stammered.

Titania winced, but before she could say anything further, Antigones embraced her from behind.

“I love you just the way you are, Titania,” he whispered, kissing her on the cheek.

The trorc princess whimpered, and leant into her husband’s embrace. She sobbed quietly as the rest of the Alavari in the tent silently tried to process what they learned.

Nobody was sure how long they were silent, but Olgakaren was the one who broke it. The harpy drew herself up and asked:

“So, what do we do now? Are we rebelling against Thorgoth?”

Antigones nodded. “Yes.”

“Wait, we are?” Timur whispered.

Titania nodded. “If dad even gets wind that we know that he had a hand in killing Zirabelle and that he was involved in murdering Teutobal, we’re dead.”

“We don’t know if he murdered Teutobal,” stammered Timur.

“Okay, fair point, but we can’t allow a monster like him to remain king. Not what after he’s done to us,” said Titania.

Olgakaren frowned, “You’re going to have a problem convincing everybody else. Even if they are convinced that Thorgoth abuses his children, and that he murdered Zirabelle, he’s still popular, and most of all, powerful. Most people forget this, but he’s a mage, and an incredibly powerful one at that.”

“We know, and I honestly don’t expect either of you to join this. What I’m asking for is your neutrality. Simply not supporting Thorgoth will help us,” said Antigones.

Olgakaren flinched and looked down at her knees. “I… sir, you have my silence, but I don’t know how far I can help you. I need a bit more time.”

“That’s alright Olgakaren,” said Antigones quietly.

“Dad’s not as popular as you might think.”

All eyes snapped to Timur, who had buried his face in his hands.

“I… I never thought much about it because dad always told me it was such a minor task, but… I’ve been doing a lot of negotiating with town and city mayors, village reeves, and minor nobility.”

Titania regarded her brother. “Yeah, so?”

Timur swallowed. “People are unhappy with the war and with how dad’s continuing it. I’ve criss-crossed Alavaria and from the west to east, from Kwent to the Great White Forest. I hear the same thing. We don’t have enough people to farm the fields. We don’t have enough money to pay taxes. Now, of course, complaints are normal, but I’ve personally examined the land they were talking about and they’re right. Just as the Human Kingdoms are drained of resources, Alavaria is too.”

Antigones did a quick calculation. “That can’t be right. Thorgoth put up ten thousand pounds of gold to ransom our army. You said that’s a fifth of our kingdom’s wartime budget. So we still should be making fifty thousand pounds of gold a year.”

Timur sighed. “That’s only because we’ve raised taxes. We’re continuing to mint new, high-quality coinage, but it’s not sustainable. The taxes are strangling our economy, the war is draining valuable labour from our population, and taking up the time of skilled artisans. If the money and labour were put to economic development, we’d be fine, but that’s not the case.”

Olgakaren winced. “If we rebel, though, we’d be plunging Alavaria into a civil war. That would be even worse.”

“Holdon, I’m missing something. Isn’t our military spending going to the kingdom? At least indirectly? We are paying smiths, soldiers, and other Alavari who can spend their money goods,” said Titania. She took a deep breath and grimaced. “And um, I’m not sure what you mean by economic development.”

Timur blinked, hard. Not because Titania didn’t know, but because well, she was actually admitting it to him. Part of him wanted to gloat, but… after what had just happened, he consciously made the decision not to.

“So, you’re not wrong. The problem is a good portion of the people we’re paying for our military economy are dying and not investing in businesses that will grow our economy. And a significant portion of the money we are spending to fund our army and navy are being lost in the war and we aren’t taking enough new resources to fund the deficit. It’s just less effective than spending our money on economic development, which can include: building new roads, constructing a new marketplace, improving sewage systems that will allow more people to enter the workforce, and funding schools that will train better artisans.”

Titania nodded. “And I can imagine all of these projects would have created a lot of goodwill between the monarchy and the people, but we haven’t done these.”

“No and so common Alavari are… I wouldn’t say they are completely discontented yet, but they’re getting tired,” said Timur.

His sister took that in with a contemplative frown. “Alright. So… brother, are you going to join my husband and I?”

Timur shut his eyes. “Can I… can I just start with investigating him first? And… and gathering support? I can’t… I…I’m sorry, but—”

“Brother, that’s more than enough,” said Titania softly. The trorc awkwardly walked up to her brother and hugged his shoulders.

Timur felt odd. The hug was stiff, but he hugged back, not quite sure where to put his arms, so he just sort of put them on his sister’s waist. They broke it off very quickly.

Yet, when their eyes met, it was as if for the first time, they truly saw one another. Nothing was really forgotten, but everything was forgiven.