“Who?”
“Trinne, you need water…”
“Who? How many!?”
“Five for now…But it is gone! Your plan worked!”
The young woman remained silent for a long moment. She accepted the water that the matron of the Soi gave her. She could not hold on to the goblet herself, her hands trembling so much they were hazy under her eyes. Or maybe that was because of the remnants of the drug, maybe it was the disbelief in her still being alive, or maybe it was horror and guilt, hammering her heart with its derelict nails.
“You are certain?”
“Yes, Duchess. We are saved.”
Trinne laughed mockingly, then her expression almost violently grew somber.
“…for now?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Why did you say, for now?”
Karmena looked at her pitifully. “We don’t know if E’lda is going to make it. She had a bad reaction to the flower.”
Trinne put her trembling hands over her face.
Past.
“Mom?” Nay was looking inside the apartment where her mother and sister were living. The place had been repaired for quite some time, under the direct orders of the Imperatrix. Everything was clean and put away. What the Legio was surprised about was the pile of clothes and opened travel bags on the big bed Ra’fa and Lisana were sharing.
“Nay! You’re finally here. Can you pass me the pestle and mortar? The one with the spices?” Her mother was cooking, and the young woman obeyed her automatically.
“Thank you.” Ra’fa said, taking the heavy stone pot from the Legio’s hands.
“Are you moving out?” Nay asked. She was perplexed, there couldn’t be many better places than this one in the capital, considering her mother’s income, but Nay couldn’t see another explanation.
Ra’fa grimaced, Nay felt guilt in her Rreico.
“M’a?”
“…I’ll explain during the dinner. Help me with the chicken in the meantime.”
For once, Nay did not sing while cooking and Ra’fa stayed silent as well.
The spicy chicken dish was almost done when Lisana entered the apartment. “I’m here! Big sis!!!” The little girl with blue eyes ran straight into her sister’s opened arms, who tried her very best not to cover her sister’s back in fat and spices.
“Oof. Let me wash my hands, Liz.” Nay gave a quick glancing look at her sister, feeling something in her Rreico that was disturbing her. Lisana was squeezing stronger than usual as well.
“How did your last lesson go?” Ra’fa asked.
“Last?” Nay tried to interrupt.
“He gave me that paper you asked.”
“Good. Put it next to our stuff. It will be important after we win the war. Don’t just stand there Nay, wash your hands and go sit. I told you I would explain.
The Legio obeyed, and sat next to her sister, looking like she was trying not to cry. She did give a quick glance at the paper that the Sage-Brother Berth had given to Lisana. From what she could gather, it was a summary of her sister’s knowledge, signed by his hand on the lower corner of the page.
“What does that…” Ra’fa put the meal on the table, cutting her off. She served Lisana and Nay before finally filling her own plate.
“Eat while it’s hot.”
The spicy chicken did not taste as good as normal. And it took half the plate before Nay couldn’t hold it anymore.
“M’a.”
Ra’fa gave an angry look at her elder daughter, as if annoyed that her dinner was being interrupted, but her expression broke down when she met the cloudy eyes of the young woman. “…We’re following you.”
“Uh?”
“We’re coming home with you!” Announced Liz unequivocally. “Mom and I decided.”
“What?” Nay asked the question but understood immediately after. “No. No way. Over my dead body.”
“I do not need your authorization, my girl.” Said Ra’fa with sad humour in her voice. “If we leave this week, we’ll arrive before the start of the siege. There is a military convoy leaving tomorrow for Gite: we are going to help the Lebe healers.”
Nay opened her mouth, looking at the apologetic expression of her mother and the sad one of her little sister.
“But…you can’t think of fighting…”
“No, of course not. You’re the one risking your life, may I remind you. Myself and Liz will stay inside the city walls, in the Lebe church, you remember the one across the Coral road, yes?”
“I…yeah.” The Legio felt like she had sand in her mouth. “But, why? It is more than dangerous. The journey, the war? Do you know what Carradin warriors do to captured women?” Nay gazed at her sister, who was too young to understand why her big sister was reacting so emotionally. She was holding back her tears.
“I am aware, Nay. And you know that I know. But soldiers aren’t the only thing that matter in a war. I will help with the rations and the lightly wounded, I have the skill to make a difference. As for Liz…I would have preferred she stayed here, but she was adamant to come with me.”
“I’ll protect you, if I don’t big sis will worry about you.” Liz nodded vehemently.
Nay could not even begin to answer. She had no idea how to react.
She would not need to worry…?
“I…no.”
“Nay, you can’t take all the risks for our sake. You aren’t the only one that wants to defend her home.” Ra’fa continued.
“I’m not going to take any risk at all!” Almost shouted Nay. “I’ll be defending Trinne or Hyn while they give orders, safe on top of the plateau!”
But Ra’fa shook her head. “No, Nay. We couldn’t do anything against an Angel, I was helpless. But here…I can. I do not want…I won’t let any more of our friends die if I can do something about it.”
Nay saw something in her eyes. “What are you…”
“Manna died a month ago. I received the letter two days ago.” Ra’fa announced.
Nay suddenly had a flash, a vision of the Jasminn owner’s terrifying expression. Then her maternal gaze. She would have felt less struck in the stomach if someone hat hit her there with a mace.
“What? How?”
“She could not handle Feryn’s death.” Ra’fa explained, with more than tension in her voice.
“Feryn? But…when?” The Legio hadn’t heard from her friend with eyes the green of a coniferous forest since she ran away from Gite.
“The Angel.”
Nay heard her sister sniffle loudly.
“She didn’t leave with Manna when…when It arrived.” Her mother’s teeth were clenched.
“No. Oh no.” Nay could imagine oh so well Feryn, her so rebellious friend, opposing her mother begging her to leave. Manna would have had no way to explain, could not have convinced the stubborn woman why a simple warning from Marke and Ra’fa was something to be taken deadly seriously.
“I’m sorry, Nay.” Ra’fa said.
Lisana stood up to hug her sister.
Ra’fa continued to talk a few minutes after.
Nay had a dry throat, and wet cheeks. She cleaned the tears on her sister’s face with a towel.
“You may promise your safety, but I know how false that is. You never lived through a war, and I guess I didn’t either, but I participated in a lot of skirmishes. And I was around the Imp…Hyn a lot. I almost died there once, in the middle of our troops.”
“What?” Nay asked.
“A story for another time. I am not a fool, that is what I meant. If you are ready to fight for the city where you grew up, I will be ready to fight for my children’s home.”
The Legio was short of words. She knew her mother, recognized her Rreico. Could she convince her not to bring Lisana? Except she felt Lisana’s Rreico as well, and that one was close enough to Marke’s to tell her everything she needed to know. She didn’t have the right to decide in their stead, and their army did need someone like Ra’fa, with extensive logistical experience.
“I need…” She began. Talk to Trinne about it? So she could decide in her place? So that Nay could share the blame with the young redhead if everything went very wrong?
“It’ll be okay, Nay. We’ll be safe. As long as the city holds, nothing will happen to us.”
“Yes! And you’ll be there to protect us! Carradins are idiots, they don’t know how strong my big sis really is!” There was no doubt about that in Liz’ voice.
Nay closed her eyes. Her own Rreico was pure chaos, she was having a hard time breathing.
Her mother’s hand fell on her shoulder.
“Nay. I know what you’re feeling. I know. It’s what I felt every time Marke left. But please, do not be scared, be proud.”
“…pride is an emotion for biachs.”
“When it is the pride for yourself. I am asking you to be proud of us, just like I am proud of you.”
Nay held her tongue. When she reopened her eyes, her Rreico had grown calm again.
“I don’t want you to leave tomorrow. No, don’t leave tomorrow.” She stared right at her mother.
“Nay…”
“No. The journey to Gite is too dangerous.”
“We’ll hitch along with the army, Nay. We’ll use the train.”
“Tomorrow is too soon! Travel with me.”
“Nay? What would that change?” Ra’fa countered. She had no idea that Nay could simply use the Conqueror’s door to bring them directly in Lebe’s church.
“I…don’t leave tomorrow. I need to talk to Hyn about something.”
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“You’re not going to ask the Emperor to bring us there himself, right?” Her mother guessed incorrectly.
“No…I can’t tell you now. Simply promise me not to leave tomorrow. I want to be sure that you arrived safely in the Church, I want to know exactly where you’ll be. I want you to accompany me.”
Ra’fa blinked, before finally nodding. “As you wish honey, if it is so important for you, I’ll promise. Thank you.”
Nay was losing her hold on her Rreico. She rose.
“I need to talk to Hyn…I…I’ll be there tomorrow morning, before your work.”
“I quit.” Her mother answered.
Nay nodded, but she was holding back a scream so hard it was almost painful, trying her very best not to beg her mother to stay here.
“That makes sense. Of course. I…I’ll be there tomorrow morning.”
“Big sis? Do you want me to come with you to the lift?”
Nay almost cried. “No Liz, take care of mom. You’ll accompany me tomorrow for our morning training after I tell mom when we’ll depart for Gite.”
“Ok.” Lisana answered obediently.
“See you tomorrow honey.” Ra’fa said.
“See you tomorrow M’a.”
Nay left the apartment on the eve of the evening. There was still sunlight at this hour, but as was common in this season, the rain made it feel like it was night already.
Trinne had gifted her an umbrella, that she was holding in her right hand, but she didn’t use it as she delved deeper into the well-lit streets of Leïn.
“Care to tell me why you’re drenched?”
“I…”
The Duchess of Gite sighed. “By Lebe you can be so brooding at times. What’s going on?” Despite her annoyed tone, Trinne went to grab a towel inside the little square cupboard next to the bathtub.
She was helping the Legio dry her hair when the young woman with cloudy eyes finally talked again.
“I need to talk to Hyn.”
“Uh huh?” Her friend invited her to continue.
“Ra’fa and Liz want to help contribute to the war effort in Gite.”
Trinne paused in her rubbing for a second, before starting again.
“I hope Lisana isn’t trying to fight.”
“No, she wants to help mom and protect her…”
“Ha, that reminds me of someone. Lebe’s temple, I suppose? The one on the Coral road?”
Nay’s eyes rose up. “How…ah, yeah, I guess there aren’t many places where Ra’fa could go to help.”
Trinne nodded. “It was that or the supply camps. But as an almost Jewel, your mother is too capable just to prepare rations…Would you have preferred for them to stay here?”
Nay did not answer, letting her friend dry her hair.
“You can’t stop someone who wants to fight for his or her home.”
“I know.”
“Why go to Hyn, then?”
“If I can bring them to Gite with a door, drop them off in front of the temple…I’ll know where they are, I’ll be able to speak with the head priestess…”
“It’ll reassure you. You know that the journey with the train will barely take two days, and that they’ll be protected by at least two companies of soldiers.”
“Yes, I know, but accidents happen, they could decide to send them to one of the churches close to the coast…”
“Hyn won’t like this.”
“I don’t care…” Nay started to raise her voice.
“Calm. Caaaalm. I won’t ask you to be cold and pragmatic when it is about your sister and mother. I am calculating, not dumb. It’s your power, and you’re not obligated to use it only for approved missions. We need the box though. Luring other Angels in Gite may be a good way to prevent the Carradins from invading us, but let’s try to avoid that, yes?”
The Legio snorted.
“That’s better. Ra’fa and Liz will be safe, Nay. I have at least five different plans to win the fight and end the war before it truly starts. And at least fifteen ways out if all of those fail.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Only slightly. In any case. You’re dry-ish, although your appearance is lacking considering the surprise I had prepared today.” Trinne moved in front of her, and used a comb to try to tame Nay’s half-long hair.
Nay’s left eyebrow rose, her expression growing anxious.
“What’s that face for?” Trinne asked aggressively.
“A surprise.”
“Yes, a surprise. That you will love. That I prepared for weeks.”
“I want to talk to H…”
“To Hyn. I got that. Let’s talk to Hyn, tell her we’ll be in Gite before schedule, and that we’ll take Ra’fa and Liz with us. Lebe’s church is a good place for you to rest after using the miracle, anyway. And after that, my surprise. She leaves at five, so we’re fine timewise.”
“Your surprise leaves at five?”
“Shh. You are forbidden to try to guess. Well, you’re almost decent now, let’s go.”
Nay almost told her friend that she didn’t need to accompany her, but she held back, having little doubt that would bring her a very dark look if she asked.
Finding the ex-Imperatrix was not hard. When they left the room they shared, the two young women saw the neighbouring door wide open, and Sapphire exit it. The Imperatrix’ jewel that looked like a nice grandma turned to face them, bowed, then left altogether.
The new room that the ex-Imperatrix occupied was completely overcome with all sorts of paperwork and documents. Paper and maps littered the whole place, and Hyn was standing in front of the room’s main table, both hands resting on it, her head low.
Trinne knocked on the opened door. “Our mother…Hyn?” She finally decided.
The most beautiful woman of the Ja kingdom turned around briefly. “Trinne, Nay. How are you?” She gazed at the table again.
The two women approached and were met with what was holding the former sovereign’s attention.
A map of Gite, with Comptoy pieces scattered all over it. Two Touched pieces, golden, were together on top of the Plateau. There were four golden soldiers inside the city, and all the others were on the northern coast, outside the city.
Four silver Touched pieces had been placed on the sea, and there were more than the total silver pawns of a full game of Comptoy facing the golden representation of Imperial soldiers on the coast.
“I am in thought, Trinne. What do you want?” The Imperatrix asked a bit brusquely. Her Rreico was troubled, as if her brain was boiling and had forgotten how to cool down, to such a degree Nay felt it was unsettling.
“Not me, Nay.” The Duchess of Gite corrected.
The Imperatrix turned around, her right hand scratching her left arm through the beautiful flowery grey dress she was wearing. “Tell me.”
“I…My mother and sister told me that they desired to go to Gite, in Lebe’s church to help the war effort.”
Hyn sighed. “I can’t stop them from leaving, Nay. I can stop them from using the train, but I know Ra’fa, she would do the journey on foot, and she’d arrive in the middle of the battle, and we lack the military means to protect the road to…”
“No, that’s not it. I am aware of all that. I didn’t come to ask for you to stop them.” Even if she really, really wanted to.
“Ah?” Hyn seemed surprised.
Nay felt her friend next to her tense up, but she didn’t know why. A question for later.
“I’d like…”
“We.” Trinne cut her off.
Nay paused, and looked at her friend, she had an unreadable expression. She recollected herself: “We’d like to go to Gite earlier than planned, using the Conqueror’s door, and bring my family with us at the same time. It would give me some time to verify their wellbeing and…”
“This miracle needs to…” Hyn started to interrupt her but stopped mid-sentence. Nay did not continue. The ex-Imperatrix thought out loud before addressing the Legio again. “…No. A few days before the invasion, it will not really matter anymore. What’s more, Defin said you were able to use it twice in a row now?”
Nay nodded. “It’s difficult, but yes. I am a lot less tired after the first time, but using it a second time knocked me out a few minutes later.”
“I see, I see. Use the box, obviously, and I want you and your family to stay discreet. Do you have a place in mind to appear without being seen?”
“The training grounds inside the Legio school.” Nay answered immediately.
The Imperatrix nodded. “Let me send a message to be sure there are no squatters in the school. Stand ready to leave in two or three days.”
Nay bowed. “Thank you, godmother.”
The Imperatrix’ Rreico grew hazy for a short instant, as if very briefly in pain. The Legio couldn’t stop a puzzled stare towards the former sovereign.
Hyn had turned her back to her, looking at the war map again. “You’re welcome. Oh, by the way, take the box with you to Gite. We will probably need your miracle during the war.”
“I…Yes. Goodbye godmother.”
“Don’t forget to rest, Hyn, you seem exhausted.” Trinne said before leaving the room, not waiting for the former ruler’s response.
Nay followed her out, glancing one last time at the ex-Imperatrix bowing down on her table.
Trinne wasn’t going back to their room.
“Where are we going?” Nay asked.
“Meet my surprise.” Trinne answered, not even deigning to extrapolate. There were cogs in her Rreico, and Nay waited a bit, until they reached the chamber’s stairs, before her curiosity took over.
“You seemed surprised when talking to Hyn.”
Trinne laughed mockingly. “I didn’t seem anything at all. My face was perfectly emotionless. I did perceive something, though.” Trinne had lowered her voice.
“Mh?”
“Like me, Hyn doesn’t see any easy way to win this war. And she’s on edge, too much so. I’m afraid she’s going to try something stupid.”
“The Imperatrix?” Nay could not believe that. The most beautiful woman in the kingdom of Ja was anything but an idiot.
“Don’t think that because you’re a genius, you can’t make mistakes Nay. Look at me, I am the smartest person alive, and I completely missed how Jarl used me to find you, last year when he brought me to Leïn personally.”
Nay blinked. “The smartest person alive?”
Trinne gave her a high-noble look. “Without the shadow of a doubt. And your insulting lack in faith in myself does not make me wrong. No one is perfect, and I have the distinct impression that Hyn is going to try a desperate tactic.”
Before Nay could answer, they had reached the top of the stairs. She paused a second to stare at the ever-beautiful painting of the Unbroken ones on the opposite wall.
Trinne went right, fortunately away from the accursed box.
“My surprise leaves at five O’clock and is on the floor reserved for the Emperor?”
“There isn’t only the Emperor allowed here.”
“You very well understood me.”
“And I expressively forbid you from trying to guess what my surprise was.”
Nay sighed deeply. “Fine. What do you believe Hyn’s desperado will be?”
“Bring Angels to Gite?”
“She would not have asked me to bring the box with me if that had been her plan.”
“Maybe not.” Trinne admitted. “It still needs some thought.”
“Are we going to the library?”
“Nay!”
“What? We’re going straight to the library. I can’t not guess that. What are we going to find in the library? Oh! Did you find a new book about Victori…aouch!” Trinne had just flicked her forehead.
“You could have dodged that.”
Nay grimaced. “I was too worried about what your surprise could be.”
“Ha. You faithless Jivynn.”
As they stopped in front of the large wooden doors of the Imperatrix’ library, Nay felt two distinctly similar Rreicos inside, although one was much more familiar and impactful than the other.
Trinne entered and crossed the rows of bookshelves without pause. There were piles of books stacked on the grounds, and many missing rows of books on the shelves. Someone was very obviously reorganizing everything.
“We have a new librarian? Didn’t he die of old age three years ago?”
Trinne turned to give her a look full of pity. “Really?”
“What I…”
She stopped mid-sentence, hearing a small whisper from the back of the room.
“No but seriously, by Lebe’s cavernous vagina, who sorts books by their title?”
This time, Nay understood who it was, the annoyed Rreico, even if it was overlapping with another very similar to it, was suddenly unmistakable.
The Legio hurried, passing by Trinne who was raising her eyes to the sky.
“Finally!” She said.
There were three large tables, almost curved because of the heavy weight of the books piled on top of them. A woman of medium height, with magnificent blond hair falling to her hips, was holding a tome in her hand. She was flipping through the pages serenely, but her Rreico was betraying how much effort she was exerting to not explode in anger.
“Why isn’t there an author? Who edited this!?”
“Véri!!!” Nay shouted.
The noble woman dropped her book immediately, one hand reaching for her heart and the other her lower belly.
“I didn’t touch Rö’s books, I swe…Nay!? By Ja you almost killed me just now.”
Nay laughed joyously. “What are you doing here?” She approached her friend, but hesitated one in front of her. She had gotten in contact with her noble friend a few times after she left Gite, but the letters had been sparse, and the Legio had asked herself a few times if Veri and Fredere had blamed her for what had happened in Gite and on the Plateau. Did they believe she was responsible for it? For the Angel?
As single answer to that question, Veri grabbed her with her two hands and hugged her fiercely. “Oh Nay! You are okay! I wasn’t sure I would see you before the war, Trinne told me that…Trinne! You lied to me!” Veri had spotted the duchess trying to be discreet behind the Legio.
“I did not. I was ambiguous. How are you Veri?”
The young woman released Nay as she answered.
“Oh, don’t try that with me. You think you’re funny, I suppose.”
“Surprise.” Nay turned her head just in time to see her redheaded friend shrug with a sly smile when she said that.
“You…you!!!” Veri pointed at the duchess, then faced the Legio again. “Oh Nay, I am so sorry about master Marke. I told you so in my first letter but…I am really, so, so sorry.”
Nay smiled weakly. “I…Thanks. What are you doing here? Last I heard about you, you said that you were going to stay in Gite with your family, even with the war on your doorstep.”
“Ah. Yes, you were going to the Hymere after that yes? I think my next letter never arrived, the flying Hivere never came back.” Veri took a big breath. “I wanted to stay with Fredere and help with the city defenses. I did spend my whole childhood in the Legio school, you know? So we both trained together to try and get back our former strength.”
Nay saw her friend’s cheeks blush a bit. Despite what Veri affirmed, she had taken some weight, her face was a bit rounder, and she had more curves than before. If Veri wanted to fight, she would need much more muscled than that. And still didn’t explain why she was in Leïn.
“I tried to tell you but with the war…You look a bit dumb right now, Nay.”
The Legio scrunched her eyebrows. “You make zero sense.”
Vere laughed, a clear, happy sound. “Sorry, I should be grateful you remember my name at least.”
“Oy!”
“Don’t tease her too much, she had a rough day already.” Trinne defended her, as she sat down on a nearby chair.
The young noble stared at her with puzzlement. “Did you just defend Nay? You? I heard rumours about you two being stuck at the hips, but I believed that even less than Fredere’s story about Jarl being a dragon’s reincarnation, and I’ll admit, seeing the number of beers he had drank beforehand, I was more than doubtful about that.”
Trinne scratched her cheek. “It’s a long story.”
“Did I just witness the duchess of Gite being bashful? My world is crumbling.” Veri’s perplexing look wasn’t long, as she turned back to Nay. She closed her eyes to empower her courage, then said: “I have something to tell you.” She sighed, and Nay tensed up.
“Erm…”
“…I am going to get married.” She said with her little voice.
“Oh? Really? To who!?” Nay asked enthusiastically. A feeling that vanished instantly when she saw Veri and Trinne looking at her with a mix of disbelief and despair.
“Hani. Seriously?” The duchess was holding back a laugh.
“Hani?” Veri echoed, not understanding. “No, Nay! How can you even ask that!?”
“What! Isn’t it normal to ask who you’re getting married to?”
“But…To Fredere of course! I have been trying to seduce him for years, you cannot not have noticed.”
Nay opened her mouth, then closed it again. She was reminded of a series of conversations, as well as a particular moment during Fredere’s fifteen’s birthday where…
“Oh.” She finally realized.
Veri put a hand on her face. “It is almost amazing how clueless you can be sometimes. Well, in any case, I would have liked to marry before the war, but I didn’t want to do the ceremony without you. And anyway, as long as we’re engaged, no one will gossip about my pregnancy.”
This time, Trinne was the surprised one. “You’re pregnant?”
“It was the only way for him to grow some and ask my hand in marriage.” Veri answered with pride, her hand holding her belly.
Nay grimaced. The second Rreico…it was so obvious now! Veri’s belly was also very obviously too round to be fat, visible even through the two yaeda cotton layers that composed her long dress.
“I’m dumb.”
“You look tired, really, Nay. When are you leaving for Gite? You are leaving for Gite, right?”
“Three or four days.”
“Barely enough time to catch up.” Veri sighed. “At least, with you there, I won’t need to worry about Fredere that much. Maybe we can have dinner together tonight? You have so much to tell me, but I still need to keep my job. My family needs this money.”
“I’ll invite both of you. I heard about a good restaurant preparing eastern food I always wanted to try.” Trinne intervened.
“You’re coming with?” The young noble asked.
“If you want?”
“I don’t care, but what about Nay?”
Trinne laughed. “That’s a good question. Do you want to spend a night without me for once?”
“If Carradins attack you, I will hesitate who to help.” Nay responded with a ferocious smile.
Veri looked at Trinne, then at Nay. “…I’ll wait for you down the lift at the end of my shift?”
“Mh. Do you want some help?” The Legio proposed.
“No, I need to show what I’m capable of. See you later?”
“See you later Veri.” The duchess of Gite nodded.