Kayo Hinazuki

To Frances: "What is your plan in the unfortunate event that you get sent home?"

Frances: Well the plan we made up with Edana if we got home was actually covered a bit in the chapter, but in detail… I’d wake up where I left Earth, which would be the library in my highschool. It’s likely that I’ll still have the bruises and scars from when my parents beat me.

The first step would have been to tell a teacher, say Mr. Thom, the librarian about what my parents were doing to me. At the very least, getting my injuries documented would make it harder for me to be returned to my parents. I’m not sure how… the people who take care of children, would handle my case, but at least they wouldn’t return me to my family.

If they do return me to my family, the contingency is to protest any return, or run away if they insist on doing so. Edana doesn’t think that they will return me to my family, but it is possible.

Elizabeth has mentioned that in the event that I am taken away from my parents, her family would probably be happy to sponsor me. Moreover, if I run away, she mentioned that her family would be happy to take me in. Regardless of the outcome, I’d like to go to university, but I’d probably focus on getting a job as soon as possible and saving money? Possibly as a cook? But yeah, that’s the plan.

To Edana: "What has been the most powerful spell you have cast?"

*Edana closes her eyes.* The most powerful spell I have ever cast is known as Forest’s Lament. This requires some context.

When I was seventeen during the Lapanterian-Erisdalian war, Lapanterian forces under Princess Akuze of Lapanteria, now Queen of Lapanteria, had managed to break through Vertingen and begin to rampage through our western territories. Their army, about fifteen thousand men and women, were marching through a forest known as the Greywood forest as it has a lot of birch trees.

With reinforcements days away, I laid a trap for the Lapanterian army, planning to take out as many as possible. A small team of Red Order mages, and soldiers, all set up smaller forest fires around the army’s marching path. I used my magic to whip them into a fire.

*Edana sighs* It… worked far better than I ever could have anticipated. Perhaps it was Poker, perhaps the winds were just right, the firestorm that engulfed the army made the trees pop with sap. It was, as some chronicles say, as if the forest was lamenting the screams of the people trapped in the fire.

That forest… doesn’t exist anymore, or at least, it doesn’t exist as it once did. It got burnt almost to the ground.

To Frances: "What are some things you are looking forward to doing after the war is over, do you have something in mind for a career, or do you want to continue being a mage?"

*Frances crosses her arms* I honestly haven’t given much thought to it. *she sighs* For a long time, I didn’t know if I was going to see tomorrow. I still think in the short term. I can’t help it. It’s… habit. I just… enjoy things day by day, treasuring all the good things I’ve experienced. I mean, I look forward to just not having to kill people, but… well, there are things that I like doing in the war.

I mean, I know I definitely want to be a mage when the war is done. I… I don’t love fighting, but I like having a purpose, saving my friends, helping people. I like travelling from place to place with a sense of direction. Orders… are easy to follow. So… I definitely want a job of some kind in magic. Mom said that many White Order mages travel around, suppressing bandits and solving problems, and then having a nice drink and meal at the end of it all.

Yeah, that sounds like fun.

To Frances: "Do you have a crush on anyone?"

*Frances blushes* I… I’m not sure. I mean… I know what a crush is. I know that it’s that feeling you get when you want to be with, or want someone to say they like-like you, but I don’t know if I’ve felt that toward someone. Like...say Prince Timur. I want to know more about him, but… it’s more because we’ve met in such strange situations and he seems like a nice person to get to know.

Maybe I have a crush on him? *Frances turns even redder* Um, I want to get to know him better, but I know so little about him at the same time? *splutters into nothing and goes quiet.*

Coulykos

To Edana: What is your favorite subtle spell to use in war or in general?

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Edana *smirks*: So levitation is something that is highly underrated in war. My daughter tends to use it in a fairly flash way, throwing people, pushing them away, or pulling them out of cover. This is indeed one way to use levitation.

However, I’ve actually found levitation to be very useful in say… causing people to trip, slip, knocking them off balance. It requires very little power and can be extraordinarily subtle, allowing me to make opportunities for me to use more powerful spells. One of my favourite tricks is to disrobe someone mid-combat.

Frances *glances at Edana*: You mean you pull down someone’s pants?

Edana *smirks*: Oh yes. It’s a highly useful trick as it tangles up their legs and makes them lose all concentration due to embarrassment.

Frances *takes notes*.

To Timur: Do you think you and your people could be content with a true balanced peace with the human kingdoms, if it came at the cost of your father's lifeblood?

Timur *looking very uncomfortable*: I don’t think so. My father is a popular and respected ruler in Alavaria. Yes, he has his detractors. But a lot of Alavari think that what we had before the war wasn’t particularly balanced, and that included my father.

To Frances: Do you prefer to have your hair at a length that is compatible with armor & helmet or would you prefer to see how long you can get it to grow?

Frances: I like my hair this length. It does make putting on a helmet and armour easier. I have thought about growing it out. I do like my mom’s long hair, but at the moment, I think I’m happy with my shorter hair. It’s… I don’t know. I think it’s pretty.

To Igraine: What is your favorite place you've been to in your travels as a Ranger?

Igraine: So, in Alavaria, there’s this place called the “Fortress of Kallistos” which is this massive castle set before a mountain range. It was built by orcs to guard the northwestern passage into the Kwent valley. It’s a beautiful and terrifying castle, faced with red brick that gives it a sunset-red colour.

Underneath that… is my favourite place that I’ve ever visited. Because Kallistos is just the tip of an iceberg to Kallistos, the homeland, the seat of the former Great Goblin Empire, which existed before the 1st Great Hero War. Kallistos is a massive network of underground passages, caverns and rooms, dug into the mountain range that forms a city like no other. It’s mostly a ruin now. All old dusty rooms, shrouded in darkness and ghosts of a formerly glorious past. Before, the goblin empire imported food into Kallistos to maintain this network of caves. When their empire collapsed, they couldn’t maintain the city any longer. They did grow a lot of food and you can find wild underground gardens, oases of life (mostly because they have shafts dug to let sunlight and water in) in the midst of a maze of barren tunnels. But now only the upper parts of Kallistos are inhabited and even then only by a few thousand goblins and their families.

It’s just…. a beautiful and desolate place. It’s awesome and sobering at the same time.

some_kid_lmao

To EDANA what is your professional and personal opinion of Igraine, and how did you two originally become friends?

Edana: To make a long story slightly shorter… Igraine and I became friends during the Eridalian-Lapanterian War. She was assigned to me as a ranger because as a ranger, she knew very well how wooden things burn. Before I fully developed the skill and knowledge I have about fire, the mechanisms of fire and such, I didn’t quite grasp how quickly different woods and other materials burn. She also was one of my guards and as a talented war mage, well I needed guards like her. In time, we grew to trust and rely on each other.

*Edana pauses* My professional opinion of Igraine is that she’s worked very hard to become the Baroness of Leipmont, a title that didn’t exist until she was granted it. She’s an amazing fighter, a good tactician and I trust her with my life.

My personal opinion… *Edana closes her eyes.* I still have feelings for Igraine. I know she still has feelings for me. We just… when we were in a relationship, we were much younger, far less mature and well… we hurt each other badly. Not out of malice, but the timing just… wasn’t right. We’re slowly working on our relationship again, but… this time we’re taking it slowly, trying to figure out how we still feel for one another. So… I do care about her, deeply.

To --Franceth-- Frances what's the hardest thing you've had to explain to a durranian (is that right? Someone from durranon) about earth?

Frances *sighs*: Computers. I don’t entirely understand how computers work myself. So I find it doubly hard to try to explain to… to Erisdalians, Lapanterians and Alavari how they work. Um, oh and yeah I have not heard a word that describes people from Durannon.

Another thing I find really hard to explain to someone from Durannon, such as my mom, are airplanes and iron ships. It’s just… not something people find intuitive. Steel in Durannon sinks, and only birds can fly. Trying to describe how planes fly and ships float is… really hard.

To timur do you feel that the Alavari’s cause is justified, and why so or why not?

Timur: I think it is. I mean… I um, I’m not sure if the war was the perfectly right decision, but… there are humans in the human kingdom that want us destroyed and we had to act. That and the human kingdoms hold land that is ours by right, like the south-western bank of Kwent.

*Timur goes silent* I… I need to think about this. Because… it’s been two years and we’re no closer to winning the war. Our cause is just, but… I don’t know.

To Elizabeth: how much can you bench and can you bench more than the strongest person in Durannon?

Elizabeth *frowns and does a couple of bench presses, three reps*: Huh so I don’t know who the strongest person in Durannon is. But say… my mentor Igraine, who is about a hundred and sixty pounds, said she can bench press more than two hundred pounds ish, but she’s a trained archer and is hella strong. I can bench press about three hundred easily and if I push myself… I can just four hundred and I weight only about one-hundred and thirty pounds. I attribute it to being an Otherworlder, which seems to give us roughly three times the strength most people of our size have.