A strange duel happened yesterday on the Duchess plateau.

The Goddess of Night faced the commandare Quar Birrebus. Our investigation team, hearing about this 'training exercise' was on the scene.

They witnessed it all!

First, She made the commandare swear his everlasting loyalty to the duchess of gite should She win.

The right-hand man of the renowned best swordsman who has ever lived then pulled out his blade.

And the Darae unsheathed Lake.

The immense pressure of her Divinity crushed us.

If some in the cloister of the barracks of the Ducal guards had doubts still, those were blown away there and then.

There was no fight.

Quar Birrebus managed two steps forward before falling to his knees.

His only uttered words were mysterious.

“So, he was right. As always.”

Leïn’s newspaper, N°228 of the year 128 after the war of the Firantes, p.2

The Duchess of Gite was sitting on her throne and looking at her subjects with disgust and arrogance akin to a Goddess staring down at her slaves. At least, that is what she would have preferred instead of this. After three years, she had lost most of her childish traits, but adulthood had only increased her phenomenal beauty. She didn’t have the most attractive expression on her face at the moment though. Sitting on her desk, she was trying to focus on all the monetary accounts involving two noble families clearly not paying enough taxes, all the while the Archbishop of Ja was in front of her with a creepy smile on his face.

She couldn’t get rid of the taste of salt in her mouth, which didn’t improve her mood either.

The red-haired woman let the man hang for a few more minutes, before finally raising her eyes toward him.

“What can I do for you, Archbishop?”

Defin’s smile hadn’t budged, even after waiting for two hours in the waiting room, and even now after having to wait for ten minutes in expectative silence for the Duchess to deign look at him.

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“I was coming to propose the construction of a cathedral in your beautiful city.”

Trinne grimaced, carefully laying her pencil down on her desk. She struck the dark wood of the furniture with her middle finger in a slow rhythm.

“With what money?”

“Entirely taken care of by the Church, of course. We have as an objective to buy thirty of the broken-down houses due to the angel’s coming, around the Coral road.”

“…I am but the humble servant of the Gods. I do not possess the authority to accept or deny your request.” Trinne knew perfectly well that the area had been bought already.

“It pleases me to hear this.”

Silence.

“Will that be all?”

The Archbishop’s smile grew. “I was also coming to inform you that the cathedral will be dedicated to the Darae.”

Trinne closed her eyes for one short moment. So that was why the man of faith was really coming. She sighed.

“I do not believe the Darae will be happy about a place of worship built in her name.”

“I guessed as much, as the Goddess of the Night prefers to stay in the dark. But we thought that the Cathedral could also serve as an orphanage for the orphans of the war, and a second location to bring our Touched apprentices.”

Trinne stopped tapping her finger on her desk. She examined Defin for a few seconds.

His objective was clear. He wanted to build something close to Nay so he could observe her, worship her, and probably many other things that would give her goosebumps just imagining. After all, it was secret to no one that Nay was residing in the Duchess’ home, even if she was almost never seen inside. But dinners were served, and the cooking was hard to miss.

Still, Defin was a smart man. Instead of acting sneakily, he was announcing what he wanted loudly, but brought it in in form of a negotiation. A place to worship his Goddess, in exchange for an orphanage that Nay would love, and a place for the God-touched that Trinne would approve of.

“I don’t want you around Lisana anymore.” The Duchess finally answered.

“I swear I did not want to annoy her mother and…”

“No. Na…the Darae would like her sister to be left alone. And your last visit almost forced the Darae’s mother and sister to kick you out in the street, which would have brought problems for everyone. But your cathedral is most welcome, my city did lack a central location dedicated to prayer.”

The Archbishop seemed to think for a moment. “Unless our youngest Touched of Darae shows issues with controlling herself…I do agree that my last coming was less than diplomatic, I will do my best to respect their private lives in the future.”

Trinne knew she would not get a better offer than this.

“We have reached an agreement then. Good day to you, Archbishop.”

“The same to you, Duchess.” The man rose, and reached for the door, but stopped before fully exiting the room.

“Duchess, if I may?”

“What?”

“Is the Darae…”

“She is not here.”

The Archbishop did not seem to believe her.

“If you want to know, she is currently in Salcity.”

“Salcity?”

“The mining colony on the salt peninsula.”

The Archbishop grimaced like those that ate extremely sour foods. “Ah.”

“Good luck asking her for advice.”

“Could you…”

“Archbishop. I apologize but I am quite busy, and cannot be a mere messenger, even if it is for the Darae. If you wish to talk to her, you will have to wait for her to show up on her own. She will be present during the marriage of our Mother of us all, that is the only certainty I can offer you.”

“…Once again, sorry to have bothered you, Duchess.”

Trinne nodded, and finally, the Archbishop left her with her tax statements.

Half an hour passed, until the red-haired woman finally laughed victoriously.

“Aha! Got them!”

“Who did you get?”

A Nay entirely covered in white powder appeared next to her. Trinne didn’t seem surprised at the Legio’s sudden presence, and answered automatically, without looking at her. “The Hatrior family and their branch family the Jannors.”

“Big fish?”

“Yes!” Finally, the Duchess looked at her friend, and the cloudy-eyed woman’s appearance made her eyebrows spike up.

“Hani. You are covered in salt.”

“Ah. Yes. It seems like the desert was not as empty as I thought it was. I had to strategically fall back.”

“Mh mh. You are putting salt all over my carpet.”

“Don’t I deserve a little…”

“Go wash.”

Nay sighed. “Well, see you soon Hani. Still coming with me tomorrow?”

Trinne smiled.

“Yes. I can’t wait.”