Minaveil Province
The entirety of Minaveil Province encompassed a capital town and eleven smaller towns—nine towns riddling north towards the Great Sea Dividyr and a pair of towns embracing each side of a large valley, aptly named Northern Rindea Valley, in between the Rindea Mountain Range down south—with a collective total of around four to five hundred thousand citizens content with the provincial life of agriculture and simplicity.
By foot, and with rests in between, the estimated travel time from the capital town, Minaveil—named after the province itself for simplicity and due jurisdiction—towards either town of Rindea Valley was around three days. Even with Kristel’s Meiyal Arts-assisted speed it would take her a day—assuming she wouldn’t rest—but riding yumas trivialized this distance in a convenient way.
Depending on the breed and their upbringing, a giant winged canine known as a yuma could either be faster on the ground or in the air.
Testra, Princess Kristel’s yuma, was born as a pure bred Minaveil yuma which specialized as beasts of burden, pulling merchant carriages in packs, or as personal mounts outfitted with saddles for heavy loads.
While Testra was trained to pull carriages, she had a temperament to ride alone, and with a genetically gifted set of legs, wings to fly over obstacles which essentially made the route a straight line, as well as stamina capacity meant to carry weight of at least twenty times that of Kristel for hours on end, the Princess skipped an entire trek over the mountains and reached the town of Alvo’Rindea in just about under an hour.
Liona—atop Frill’s yuma, Stiry—lagged behind for a good ten minutes. By then, the Princess had finished preparing meals for both yumas to enjoy while they waited.
“I think she just keeps getting faster,” Liona said as she dismounted and immediately retouched as much of Kristel’s garments and effects as best she could. They’d been protected by the Princess’s Meiyal Arts, only suffering mild misalignments despite the speed she had gone through.
“I think so, too,” The Princess said while giving Testra a few strokes of appreciation, her hand sinking into Testra’s white fur. The yuma snuggled up to her for a moment before Liona casually pushed her back to her meal. Testra retaliated with a sneeze, but Liona blocked with a flicked Meiyal Art and tsked in a soft commanding way. Kristel had to pat Testra down before the two glared each other to death.
A handful of kids from all over town gathered around the stable, jumping and tiptoeing over one another for a chance to see the princess, or the yumas more like it. The stablemaster, who was also the town mayor, Joryan Alvo, kept the kids in line, not necessarily shooing them away.
“I apologize, Governor, the children are very fond of you, it seems,” Joryan said as he gave up maintaining order.
“It’s not a problem, Mayor Alvo,” Kristel replied. She brought out a pack of candies and snacks from Testra’s saddlebag and passed it on to him while giving the kids an apologetic smile. “We’re a little busy today. We can play next time, okay?”
Just like that the kids let her go, distracted by the treats.
Alvo’Rindea Town pressed itself within the Rindea Mountain Range’s embrace, settling a small territory well beneath the northern mountain overlook and surrounded by the mountain’s lush trees underneath. With the town being so close to a flattened peak of the mountain, it naturally became the established spot for scouts and watchtowers.
Kristel never really thought too much about it, but no matter what sort of climate or natural disaster—be it a natural storm or earthquake—those flattened peaks never so much as dropped a pebble. As if the peaks were there to protect the people underneath it rather than crush them on accident.
Only the peaks above Alvo’Rindea and its sister town, Sel’Rindea, had been flattened. While the records were blurry as to how they became plateaus, all point to the fact that it was before the Divine Severing and had been providing the people of this town with its natural protection since.
A few minutes down the streets—greeting the people who knew them by face but never stopping for more than a few seconds—Kristel and Liona found themselves approaching a cave into the mountain. The guards on standby recognized them and immediately scrambled to prepare their way. They greeted the both of them with respect and ushered them unhindered within a manmade cave housing a large mechanical lift designed to carry mounted soldiers by the hundreds. The lift carried them straight into one of the watchtowers stationed at the flattened peak.
Granted the two could effortlessly traverse a path to the tower by foot, but going through the entire process not only allowed them to assess how quickly the people in-charge could react on an unannounced visit, they could also provide some morale boost with their presence. Though most of the time, Kristel worried how much her presence stressed people out due to her royal position, but Lor had been consistent enough to assure her otherwise.
The watchers were already lined up by the time Kristel and Liona reached the watchtower’s ground floor.
“Greetings, Princess.” Their leader, Erim Dale, gave a respectful bow. The rest of his group—a company of seven—did the same. The rest were probably sleeping.
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“Anything from the South Valley?” Kristel asked, heading for the stairs. The watchtower was a simple construction of granite and wood. Narrow and tall, sectioned to four different floors accessed by a stairwell in the middle. Each section allowed for a few chairs, a table, and a bed all strategically cramped together. It was function over form. Besides, the plateau had enough space for actual lodging so that the people on duty could take proper breaks.
“Nothing unusual, Governor. We do have an increase in migrating animals brought by the season. They make the view from up here a tad lovelier.” Erim followed after them while the rest stayed outside.
Kristel looked around. A lot of unorganized litter were all over the place. She acknowledged that, despite her frequent visits, the watchers had made no effort for tidiness. Preferably, she wouldn’t allow it, but the building wasn’t of her direct ownership. She learned not to mind their lack of cleanliness so long as they stayed true to their duties, and that it wouldn’t go overboard.
“Do you have enough supplies here?” she asked.
“Yes, Governor.”
“And the night shift?”
“Their reports indicate very minimal movement. Only interruption from nearby animals losing their way in the evening. Other than that, everything is normal.”
“I mean, are they getting proper compensation?”
Erim staggered a bit. “Oh, yes, most certainly, Princess.”
Kristel went to the overlook as soon as they reached the top. She found the cleanest chair from her immediate surroundings, took it, and rested. Liona made a quick waving motion and all the dust from the chair went away. Kristel was glad her maid understood subtlety.
The fair breeze caressed and rejuvenated her as she gazed upon the Flat Lands, a vista as far as the eye could see. Packs of different animals gathered in groups, relaxing in the shades of trees, or drinking at the eastern river, or flying in the open sky, or migrating from one side to the other. Far on the horizon stood the silhouette of the other end of the Rindea Mountain Range, enclosing the Flat Lands in its protective embrace with the southernmost territory of Minaveil anchoring as the northern valley.
As much as the view mesmerized the Princess, it also gave her a truth of how small she really was. Not that she was unfamiliar with the feeling. It took her a second and a sigh to soak everything up and return to the matter at hand.
“Do we have news from our scouts on the Desolate Lands?”
The leader opened his M.O.B.I.L.E. and ran his fingers through pages of reports. Scouts sent out to the south traditionally relay reports once a week by the time they return from their patrol, unless important matters would arise. They were trained to be as discreet as possible with their signals to avoid attracting attention from potential enemies. Jammers and interceptors from Vyndival Kingdom had been an issue for a time back then.
“No signs of movement from the Desolate Lands, reported from two days ago.”
Kristel made a soft sigh of relief and stood, making her way back down to the lift. She really only wanted to do a quick check and take her mind off things. “Good. Can we get a copy of the reports?”
“Certainly.” Erim motioned to copy his reports to Kristel’s M.O.B.I.L.E., but Liona intercepted with a smile.
“Princess, we still have some time, should I give the yumas a stretch on the fields?” Liona thanked the watchtower leader as the transfer finished just as soon as they reached the cave. Kristel wanted reports all the way from two weeks prior. Even though they had copies from the week before, redundancy shouldn’t be an issue.
“I don’t think that’s necessary. Besides, Stiry might want to return to Fittey soon.” Kristel reviewed the reports as they made their way back to the stables. “How is she?”
“Fittey’s due soon. It makes Stiry a little on edge, but my sister guaranteed he’ll be obedient to me at least. I just have to make sure he makes it back before noon.”
Kristel watched as both yumas displayed different behaviors. Testra, with her white coat, enjoyed trotting and sniffing here and there—Mayor Alvo had learned to just let the yuma walk around, trusting she wouldn’t cause any trouble—while the brown Stiry lay down on his belly seemingly absent. Just like his master, Frill, they mimic statues when troubled.
“Then we have time. Let’s check the other watchtowers as well. I want to make sure our fisheries are well accounted for and probably check the Nightmare Lands, too.”
On the far north of Minaveil was The Great Sea Dividyr, separating the province from its neighboring provinces and the major territories of Irista Nation. Far beyond the borders on either sides of Mount Rindea was the Nightmare Lands, a terrible place where monsters lurked and none who ventured alone—except for a chosen few, members of the Order of the Void—ever returned.
The Nightmare Lands had two other names pertaining to it. One was, the Void Region, named so due to its generally uninhabitability of most species aside from the festering monsters. The other was, Zerax’thum’s Wake, named after the Fallen Dragon who had caused the Divine Severing. But because these lands were infested by nightmarish monsters, the name Nightmare Lands became more popular among the three.
The Order of the Void, coined during the popularity of the Void Region name, maintained the center of the Nightmare Lands from extending beyond its reaches. But The Order had not been in contact with them for the longest time now. All the more reason for the Princess not to drop her guard.
Liona glared at her, reminding her what day it was supposed to be. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Yeah,” Kristel resigned. She didn’t intend to stop, but she had to give in. She could practically hear Liona’s gears whirling on plans and calculations on how to drag her back to manor. Besides, there was a meeting she had to prepare for anyway. “We’ll just check on Sel’Rindea and then go home.”
Being the nation’s farthest territory, Princess Kristel had to insist on being thorough as much as she could.
They had to stop for lunch, choosing a random hill looking over a field of crops and eating on the ground after Liona prepared some blankets. Stiry was getting restless, but as soon as Liona promised they’ll be back home soon, the yuma lay on his stomach and puffed in disappointment. Testra was quick to comfort him.
Without as much of a rush this time, they returned after another good hour. Liona went with Stiry and Testra to the stables, while Kristel went straight to her bathing chambers. She heard clattering and chatter from the guest’s dining hall, but ignored them all the same.
Bathing, unless she would be able to convince Liona or Frill to join her—unsuccessful over the years—was the only time Kristel enjoyed being alone.
She had a thing for baths, and there she immediately lost herself in meditation.
An hour or so passed. Royal Knight Princess Kristel stayed motionless floating on the hot waters as if asleep.
“Princess Kristel, they are waiting for you.” Lor’s voice echoed. His clear voice gave away his position just behind the dividing marble wall. He must have called out a few times before she noticed.
“Have them wait a while.” Kristel remained calm despite her exposed situation.
“As you wish.” Lor’s steps decreasingly echoed and eventually vanished.
“Maybe if I spent an hour more, they’ll just go away.” Kristel could only sigh.
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