One of the greatest decisions taken by the Imperatrix, may her reign be long and prosper, was the fusion between the Clergy and the doctor’s Orders.
As the two once opposing groups saw the benefits of collaboration, through the Imperatrix’s wisdom, it greatly improved the quality of life of the common citizen. Gods’ miracles and powers, when joined with the clear and logical mind of scientists and doctors, brought a better understanding of Ja’s world. Believers of Adienha, the Sage-Brothers, are the perfect association of the two doctrines. In less than fifty years, on their own, they have invented disinfectant, the mass production of parchments, the war cannon, etc… to only mention a few.
The rising population of the Empire is another undeniable result of the Imperatrix’s brilliant decision-making.
Imperial Domestic Policies, Chapter Four: Miracle and Science.
Nay would always remember the next years as some of the most peaceful. Only once was this peace disturbed. One single event. One man: Commandare Redrick Darkstar.
Nay was eleven years old, or at least, that was the age her parents had decided to attribute her. She had not grown a lot since her sister was born, and all the children in the school, even those much younger, had become taller than her. Physically, she looked nine.
In all those years and a few to come, it would be the only night where Marke had left and cancelled their usual training.
Ra’fa was cooking, her back turned away from her children. Lisana was sitting on a little chair, that she was beginning to overgrow now that she was two. Her sister had an anguished expression, as if she could see a ghost floating in the air.
Nay, dressed in her dark training garb, was trying to comfort her distressed sibling. As Lisana could not stop sobbing, the young girl spoke to her mother.
“Mum, what is happening? Where is dad?”
The cook did not answer immediately.
“I…Read this, you’ll understand.” She pointed at the strange parchment that was laying on the table. Nay had not commented on it, but now that she looked at it in more details, it seemed more than the usual piece of paper. Golden and silver, she had never seen such craftmanship. As she rolled it open, she first noticed the impeccable calligraphy. Her eyes darted to the butter knife stuck in their wooden table, just next to where the paper had been. The harmless blade had penetrated the thick wood to the hilt.
Nay refocused on the letter, it was not hard for her to read it, the Sage-Brother’s lessons had been perfect.
Congratulation.
You have been chosen by the Noblesse and the Gods. This inestimable opportunity has been given to you according to your exceptional abilities. It could grant you, if you succeed, the honor of becoming the first female Virnyl guard in Gite. In the year 125 after the War of the Firantes, you shall be expected at the Meridional gate, to start your three years of internment at the Academy.
Some more was written, but it was a list of signatures. Even the Duke’s. But the last stamp stood out from all the others. It was that one that explained why the letter was addressed to her, why there was this strange change in ink to add this “the first female”.
She read his name; her eyes fixed upon it.
“Commandare Redrick Darkstar, chief of the Virnyl guards.”
She reread the letter a second, then a third time. She couldn’t believe it.
Then she remembered what her father had told her two years prior.
“He wants to break you, then take the pieces and put them back together how he sees fit. Then, when you will be grown, he’ll pluck you…”
She knew what this document meant. It was the end of the year 121, and she was eleven. So, he would wait for her coming of age, fifteen, then forcibly enrol her in his soldiers. He was not giving her any choice, it was not an invitation, it was an order. Internment, the word was appropriate. The Academy was a subject she knew all too well. Everyone talked about it in school, you lived and trained there for three years, only exiting the Ducal plateau for special missions. Practice was more than harsh, but it was also very sought out by all big families. All bourgeois families tried to enlist their children there, and even some of the lesser noble families.
Contrary to what one could believe, most of these applications were accepted, but very few children managed to get past the Selection: an event organized by the Academy that, as its simple name suggested, sorted out the best potential candidates. Then, even the ones that managed to pass usually did not make it past the second year. All gave up during the first or died in the special missions during the second.
She had been told those stories so many times, but she had never cared, as it did not concern her. She was not afraid of the Selection or the missions; she just did not want to become a guard.
Trinne, her red-haired classmate, was the complete opposite, trying her very best to enter the Academy since her first day in the Legio’s school. She dreamt of the letter Nay had received. A special invitation, giving the title of Aspirant or more commonly referred as chosen. It let you enter the Academy without the need to participate with the Selection. It was rare, never given to more than one or two teenagers every year.
Still, this was such a letter, choosing her, forcing her to come to the plateau four years later. And as soon as she would step inside the Academy, she would be stripped away from her family. She had no doubt the second-year special mission would not let her see her parents either. The Commandare would not let her.
All of that she understood.
During those three years he would try to break her. Her and everything she built here.
“Where is dad?” Nay asked. She was shaking, her scar pulsing in pain.
“He went to refuse.” Her mother answered. She was not looking at Nay.
She was aggressively cutting vegetables.
With such strength the noise bothered Lisana even more, who’s sobs became cries.
Ra’fa stopped and began humming a calming tune to cuddle her youngest. Lisana’s tears ceased.
Late during the night, Nay was woken up by a muffled thud.
She heard voices, recognized her father’s.
Quietly, she opened hers and Lisana’s room’s door. Her sister was sleeping soundly just next to her.
The living room was only barely lit up by the light of a lone candle.
Ra’fa had her back turned towards her and prevented her from seeing clearly, but she could distinguish her father, slumped on the ground and wall. He was bare-chested, letting his perfect muscles out in the air. His silver armour had been removed and was sitting next to him. Nay thought he had sold it.
In between the sweat dribbling from her father’s head and torso, Nay saw some red liquid. He was bleeding, and she could smell the metallic taste even from where she stood.
“What have you done you stupid, stupid man.” Said Ra’fa anxiously. She was softly wiping his face with a towel.
He only answered with a deep grunt. Then, he put his hand in front of his heart and throat and tried to bow.
“Stop that!” Her mother said with emotion.
Peaceful times always end. Sometimes through a simple parchment.
Even Marke could not prevent it.
Nay slept badly that night. She woke up in a jolt when the sky was barely lighting up. She knew she had been haunted by her usual nightmares, but once again, she did not remember them. She only had this ominous certainty that had followed her outside her dreams. A blue ocean surrounding her as she was falling, engulfed in it completely.
If it found her, she would be nothing more than a bloodstain on snow-white sheets.
The next morning, Marke was standing up in the living room waiting for breakfast, wearing his usual leather clothing as if nothing had happened the night before.
Nay saw him wince in pain for a fraction of a second during their evening training, and that was it.
Nay had not spoken about her being an Aspirant. Still, every student knew about it. It was not surprising, her admission parchment was signed by more than twenty people, some of them student’s parents, like the Duke, Trinne’s father. Nay found solace with her friends Fredere and Veridienne. For her bourgeois friend, coming to the Legio’s school was a way to free himself from the constraints of his family and to avoid going to the Academy. As such, he understood perfectly well how it felt for Nay, and he was far from jealous. In Veridienne’s case, the idea of going to the Academy had not even crossed her mind, so she was not jealous either, but she thought the opportunity was still very fortunate.
Contrary to her friends, the other students were not as understanding. Most of them had been sent here to prepare them for the rough life at the Academy. That a lowlife low-Gite girl could receive such a formal invitation from the Duke and the Commandare, it did not bode well with them.
The fact that she was the first girl officially chosen was especially problematic, because already well-established jealousies became much worse. Trinne was openly hostile towards her, and often tried to punish the one who had overtaken her.
At first, it was little things.
“Today, we shall discuss about what you’ll do when you will be coming of age. Everyone shall come at the front of the class to introduce their dreams. You have ten minutes to prepare your speech, and I’ll ask you to write a few words that synthetize it all on the blackboard afterwards.” Such a little thing happened during the Sage-Brother lesson. He had taken a habit of trying to create activities that relied on the recently bought blackboard. He seemed to like it.
Nay had no idea what to write. She was looking at her parchment blankly. Droplets of ink were falling from her dove feather pen onto the paper, creating small lakes of black on the yellow earth.
She felt a bit stranded on her little desk, separated from the others by an abyss.
Finally, dejected, she laid down her pen and looked beyond the window.
After ten minutes, the Sage-Brother announced the end of the allotted time.
“So, for once, we shall begin with those that sit at the back. Gervier.”
The boy, sitting at the far end of the class next to the door, stood proudly and stepped to the front.
Nay sighed. In this order, it would be Gervier, Trevier, Fredere, then her. She inspected her tainted parchment. Nothing had miraculously written itself upon it. She sighed again.
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“Very good, Trevier now.” Said the Sage-Brother as Gervier was going back to his place.
Nay had not paid any attention to the previous boy’s expose.
“In the future, I shall inherit my father’s harbour and I shall construct ships. They will be big, bigger than my father’s, and I shall sell them at a higher price too! I also would like to marry a beautiful lady!”
“Very good Trevier, but what you are talking about is not only your father’s, and it is not only a harbour, but also a shipyard and a frigate construction site. Write it on the blackboard.” Said the Sage-Brother.
‘What?’ Nay was puzzled. ‘That’s all? It wasn’t even remotely interesting!’ She internally complained, but then had to admit that at least, Trevier had done what was asked, unlike her.
Still, nothing came to her mind.
“Well, Fredere!”
Her friend stood up and went towards the front of the class, but not before giving her a sympathetic smile. He had spotted the blank paper on her desk.
He climbed on the stand underneath the blackboard, then started talking. He spoke easily and with confidence.
With the years, he had thinned out considerably, you would never have thought that he was the same chubby boy four years ago. He was almost good-looking even.
“Later, I dream about becoming a merchant. Like this, I will be able to travel the world, discover new places and meet incredible people!”
Nay smiled; she recognized her friend well in those words. He was a dreamer of adventures, always talking about explorers of the past. He loved all the books about them, and even lent some to Nay. She didn’t really see the point of all the dates and scientific terms inside, so she found that genre of literature a bit dull, but when Fredere himself talked about it or read them his favourite parts, the texts came alive. Nay and Veridienne alike loved to listen to the heroic tales he expertly related.
They each had a favourite hero.
Nay’s was Victoria, cold and calculating Jewel, a spy directly under the orders of the Imperatrix, that had overturned whole empires with only words and well-placed gold coins.
Veridienne’s was Janis the White, a charming troubadour that lived during the previous century, and who had collected more than a hundred historic ballads about all the different places in the world after the War of the Firantes.
Fredere’s hero was…
“With that, I’ll be just like the prestigious Herr Grindenbask!” he added.
The Sage-Brother cut him off.
“Yes, yes, we all know who Grindenbask is.” The teacher did not seem to want to learn about the stories of Herr Grindenbask for a third time this week. “Write mathematics on the blackboard, because if it is a merchant you want to become, that’s what you’ll have to focus on in priority. Right now, you are clearly lacking. You can go back to you seat.”
Fredere blushed at the teacher’s comment and went back to sit down with a lowered head. There was some snickering amidst the children. Massimo was grinning.
“Nay.” Finally called Sage Berth.
She stood up, the white with specks of black parchment in hand.
She was not usually prone to stage-fright, but this time, in front of all those eyes, she felt uneasy.
“Erm…I have no idea what I want to become in the future.” She explained sheepishly.
There was a big burst of laughing.
“Silence! Silence!” Shouted the Sage-Brother with weak authority.
Still, the children obeyed, after a few seconds.
“Really Nay? You have no idea about what to become in the future? Do you need more time to think about it?”
“No Sage Berth, I just don’t know.”
“But, but…you are enlisted in the Academy, and with your talent, you’ll obviously make a very good Virnyl guard. Why not talk about that?”
She grimaced.
“That’s because she’s going to fail miserably.” Said someone.
Nay recognized Trinne’s voice, but the Sage-Brother did not have her hearing.
“Who said that?” He said with anger. “I don’t want to hear such things! Nay, go sit back down, I’ll have a word about this with your father later.”
Was he serious? Nay had no idea if she needed to be aghast or furious. She liked her teacher a lot, but right now, he could not have done her more harm.
First to talk about her enrolment, then talk about her father?
Did he want all the other children to hate her? Was he taking revenge for something? The kitchen? That was more than two years ago, that could not be it.
She still stood on the stand, trying to decrypt his expression.
He looked back at her confusedly.
“Nay?”
Well, apparently, it was not on purpose. She could not understand how such an intelligent and cultivated man was so blind about the things happening around him.
She went back to her seat.
“Poor Gypsy!” Whispered Trinne as Nay passed next to her.
She did not react, and just went to slouch on her desk.
The other children continued the “future dreams” exercise as she was losing herself looking outside. Birds had nested on the stone wall. The training dummies had some mould on them. The rock in the middle of the cloister, her rock. Did he feel lonely now that all his other rock friends had been removed?
“Veridienne.” She heard.
She tried to focus on the class.
The blackboard was filled with words now. In front of it, her friend stood, red as a Figua tomato.
Nay tried to reassure her with a kind gesture, but Veridienne’s eyes were glued to the ground.
“Later, I’d like to become a good wife and mother.” She whispered quickly.
“Could you say that a bit louder please?” The Sage-Brother was far from being harsh with the blonde girl. He knew how hard it was for her to express herself in public. With Massimo, she was his best student, so he pampered her with care.
“I want children and to marry.” She said with a normal voice.
She did not wait for the Sage-Brother’s approval and ran back to sit down on her chair.
Nay was surprised, and so was Sage-Brother Berth.
“But? You could be so much more than that! Doctor or researcher, the Imperatrix’s bookkeeper if you wanted to!”
Veridienne kept her head low, not answering.
The teacher sighed.
“Stay after the lesson, we’ll talk about it.”
The young girl nodded.
The teacher stood up to write “Housewife” on the blackboard, then called for the next student.
“Massimo.”
The aforementioned rose up.
“I want to become a Virnyl guard to gain a nobility title, for me and my family.” He said without looking away from Nay. It seemed as if he was saying that to her personally.
She did not even bother looking at him.
He turned around and wrote “Determination” on the blackboard.
“Perfect Massimo, determination is exactly what you’ll need to achieve your dream. You can sit back down. Trinne, your turn.”
With a sure and elegant stride, the Duke’s daughter came to the front.
“I shall become the first woman to become a Virnyl guard.” She too, only looked at Nay.
‘Would you forget about me please?’ Thought Nay, having quite enough of having to look at the wall behind her.
“It is a beautiful objective, but you need to consider that combining your duties as the Duke’s heir and those of a Virnyl guard are almost impossible. And to add to that, the first? You should abandon this idea, Nay is already enlisted after all, and the Selection is hard even for trained men.”
Nay stopped staring at the wall to look at him. She could not believe he just said that. Was he really not doing it on purpose?
“Don’t worry Master Berth, I may not beat her with the sword, but on the other subjects, I’m from a superior caste.” The red-haired girl was grinding her teeth, her eyes sending bolts of lightning towards Nay.
‘Great, she hates me even more.’ Nay laid her head on her desk. She met Fredere’s gaze out of the corner of her eyes. He was looking at her pitifully: “I am sorry.” She read on his lips.
She sighed again.
After this event, Trinne’s bullying stepped up a notch. Little venomous words became more common, she and her “friends” or as Fredere liked to call them, her private lackeys, mocked her clothing, her way of eating and so on. Trinne called her the flat plateau. As the years had passed, the Duke’s daughter had gotten even more beautiful, and nature had given her assets Nay did not have, which explained the sobriquet. The young girl had not reacted at first, she did not even blame Trinne. She understood perfectly well why she was granted such hatred. But things got even worse. The attacks had stopped being only verbal. She was pushed around during lunch, knocking food out of her hands, she was being splashed with water, her clothing were thrown into the lavatories… The situation was becoming unbearable, and she was seriously considering talking about it. But she did not know if it would help, could anyone touch the Duke’s daughter?
As is would seem, she did not need to do a thing. Trinne was the one who went too far.
The Duke’s daughter had trapped the last training sword in the armoury, by planting needles inside the shaft.
Nay was usually the one taking the last pieces of equipment, but not that day. She had forgotten to put away her weapons the night before when training with Marke; she wanted to play with her sister, so she just took the wooden blades she had stashed behind her rock.
In result, the trap did not fall on the right person.
Trinne seemed guilty as she saw the unlucky Gervier shout in pain.
He had a needle sticking out of his hand, courtesy of the last of the training weapons inside the chest. The armoury was dark, but he had to have been quite distracted to miss a needle of this size.
Tiër was not far away, and alerted by the cries, he entered the armoury. As he saw blood and needle on the boy’s palm, he immediately understood this was not an accident.
He was livid. For one full week, he insulted all the students, forced them to run without pause in the courtyard, and except the hurt boy, they were not allowed to eat. During lunchtime, the teacher forced them to throw all kinds of projectiles, from rocks to daggers. They could barely stand when arriving at Sage Berth’ afternoon lessons. Tiër threatened them, intimidated them to know who was responsible, but no one dared to say a thing. No one wanted to have the Duke’s daughter on their back, and especially not Nay. Since that day, Trinne had completely stopped harassing Nay, and the young girl did not want to give her a reason to try again. She was also seeing how the red-haired girl was reacting. It could have been guilt, but it was also definitely fear. If the Duke heard about this, it made no doubt Trinne’s dream of entering the Academy would burn asunder. Gervier was a noble, the Duke would have to take actions against the one responsible, everyone knew that.
During this infernal week, eight students fainted. Veridienne was the first.
Nay had been tempted to confess everything then, but she had refrained.
In the end, it was Marke that, after the sixth day, had to intervene. He did something he had never done before as a teacher: to take his daughter apart from the rest.
“Free duels! Nay, you’re with me.” He announced during the afternoon lessons.
The instructions were unheard of. He had never faced a student one on one. Sometimes, he asked Tiër to help him demonstrate some techniques, but never with one of the children.
Nay felt all the eyes fall on her. She really hoped whatever her father was doing, it would not reignite the jealousies against her. She met Massimo’s eyes.
The short interaction already told her that in his case, it was already a failure. He seemed furious.
“FREE DUELS I SAID. DO I HAVE TO REPEAT MYSELF?” Shouted Marke.
The children made teams of two and bowed. They did not seem as focused as usual, their gazes gathering around Nay and the Legio, but still, they began the exercise.
No one wanted to run or hit a dummy five hundred times.
Nay looked at Marke, brows furled.
“What are you doing?” She asked in a whisper.
He raised his weapon; she did the same.
“Not a way to talk to your fencing master.” He said in the same tone.
“Right now, you’re my father. My master would never have picked me out from the others.” She retorted.
“True.” He had a serious look and launched his attack. It was not a real one, his movement had been too slow. She deviated the strike with her dagger and a flick of her wrist. “What’s going on?” He asked. “Why are none of you denouncing the guilty? Your punishment would already be over and the one responsible, expulsed. Actually, why are YOU not telling me? I’ve given you a whole week to talk.”
She thought about his words for an instant, as she was dodging a sword going straight for her ribs.
“What if it was me? And that no one wants to talk because they’re all afraid of the Legio’s daughter?” She countered provocatively.
His eyes widened.
She used his surprise to counterattack, her right arm fused. It was a feint; she was using the sword to hide the dagger in her left. She aimed for the trachea but only grazed his shoulder. Hit, but not deadly, it did not count. In a real fight, the wound would not have mattered. He had decided in a fraction of a second to counter the dagger with his shoulder, even as he was distracted.
She smiled anyway; it was not every day she managed to get him like that. If she had said such a thing outside a fight, her father would have been furious. In a fight though, it was a trick her father himself had taught and encouraged.
“Well done, Nay, you are improving.” Marke commented flatly. “But you are way too cute to be feared...” He continued.
This time Nay was surprised. That had to be the first time he complimented her on her appearance.
And now the tip of a wooden sword was sitting on her chest.
“…But there remains some room for improvement.” He finished.
She grumbled. “This is unfair!”
In other circumstances, her reaction would have made him smile.
“Nay, now, seriously. What is going on? I have an idea, but I want you to say it.” He was not laughing.
She sighed, stepped back, and readied herself again.
“The trap was for me, a pretty bad one to be honest. She should have counted the swords before planting the needles, she would have seen one was missing. Honestly, the plan was so rash, it’s probably not even hers, she most likely just pushed someone else to do the dirty work.”
“She?”
“Trinne.”
Her father did not seem surprised in the least. He backed off as well, all the while flamboyantly doing circles with his sword.
‘Show off’ She thought. Some of the children looked impressed, completely forgetting they were supposed to spy discreetly.
She continued.
“You do know that since you asked me to duel, and that we’re talking in front of everyone, if Trinne gets punished, they’ll all know I was the one to give her up, right?”
She was upset. Duel or not, she would not have normally dared to provoke him like that.
The scrutinizing glances of the others did not help her mood.
Could they not concentrate on what they were doing, instead of spying? She gave the curious teens a dark stare, and they immediately looked away.
“What you’re saying is true. But that is exactly why she will not get punished. Actually, Tiër’s punishment ends today as well.” Marke said in a low voice.
“Wha…?” Reacted Nay way too loudly. Heads turned in their direction again.
“I won’t kick out the Duke’s daughter, I like her, and I think she’s repenting. You cannot see her as she is behind you, but she is white as a banshee. Quite funny.” Contrary to what he said, he looked everything but amused.
The young girl refrained from looking back.
“Why couldn’t we talk about this at home?”
“Because now, everyone will think you did NOT give her away, and that you even managed to convince me to let the whole affair go.”
She opened her mouth wide; no sound came out.
“You’re welcome.” He had an annoying grin on his face.
Her father’s plan was a success. Or more likely, her mother’s. Nay knew that under the rough edges, Ra’fa was subtle and thoughtful. Which her father was not, meaning that this plan was coming from her mother.
When the students learned of the end of their hellish days, without the guilty one found, jealousies and hatred against Nay dropped considerably. Trinne stopped bullying her, and even seemed grateful sometimes. Nay was finally left alone, except for the flat plateau nickname that was unfortunately still popular. She could enjoy her time with Veridienne and Fredere, and focus on the Sage-Brother’s lessons again, and that was the most important in her mind. She had not become a bad student, but with all the harassment, her performances had dropped considerably.
Nay saw the time pass through the Sage-Brother’s stories. He told them about the history of the Empire, how the Imperatrix came to be. He taught mathematics and the religion of the Gods. He explained to them the basics of economy, politics.
The more she learned, the more she understood her chance. She now knew that her fate would have been vastly different if her parents had not adopted her. She would have found herself married, prostitute or weaver, maybe midwife if she had been lucky.
Only nobles and bourgeois had the possibility of an education, and even then, girls rarely had the chance.
Even if it had been years now since their fateful meet in the Canyon of Sables, her heart always warmed when she thought about what her parents had given her. But as her father’s good daughter, she would never have admitted those emotions out loud.