Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-Four - To the Victor, the Spoils

I don’t know why, but I sorta expected there to be something after the fight. Maybe not like a party or anything, but at least an opportunity to chat and relax. The nobles in the stands above dispersed to talk in clumps, Fransico left after giving Amaryllis a downright mean glare, and then Augustus escorted Caprica out of the arena.

My friends and I followed after her because there wasn’t much else to do, really.

Caprica waited for us in the corridor just outside of the arena proper, her guards standingat either end, as attentive as ever. “I suppose that was a grand success,” she said.

“I hope so,” Amaryllis said. “It’ll mean that, unless the main harpy delegation shows up between now and the summit, I’ll be representing the Harpy Mountains.”

“You’ll need to do more than just show up,” Caprica said. “Do you have a dress for the occasion?”

“I have something suitable,” Amaryllis said.

“And do you have anyone that can assist you at the event itself? A secretary, at the very least. You’ll want to study the reports on the other delegations, and you need to submit your text, prepare a speech for the opening, a main argument speech, and a closing. The closing speech will be tricky, you want different versions of it to respond to different likely possibilities.”

Amaryllis huffed. “I know that it won’t be as simple as showing up,” she said.

“It will certainly not be that simple,” Caprica said. “This summit is supposed to be a grand diplomatic event. Especially between Sylphfree and the Harpy Mountains. The... failure of the diplomatic meeting at Fort Sylphrot is putting even more pressure onto this event to be a success. And I think that your lord Francis isn’t the only one who wishes for war. We have more than a few generals and nobles who would be eager to do more than parade around.”

I puffed my cheeks out as I let out a big breath. “We’ll have to convince everyone not to start anything.”

“It won’t be easy,” Caprica said.

“Nothing’s ever easy,” Amaryllis said.

“Huh?” I asked. “A bunch of things are easy. I guess this might not be one of them, but I’m sure if we share the work it’ll get done!”

Caprica chuckled. “Well, I suppose at least you won’t have to do all the work on your own. I should have some free time in the coming day or two, maybe I can stop by your inn and assist you.”

I clapped. “That would be super! We could have tea, and have a study session. I’ll have to ask the innkeep if we can have more cushions.”

“Cushions?” Caprica asked.

“Don’t encourage her,” Amaryllis said. She gestured to Caprica. “What about the rest of the day? I can’t imagine it’s much later than noon.”

Caprica glanced up, towards where I imagined the stage was. “I should rejoin Gabrielle. She mentioned wanting to tour the city a little. She very rarely leaves the palace, and while I’m worried that it might put her health at risk, I don’t want my sister to be raised entirely in isolation.”

We started for the nearest staircase, back up to the parts of the arena that were better decorated. Amaryllis and Awen surrendered their borrowed gear along the way. I had sort of left my bucket and mop behind at some point.

“You mentioned that Gabrielle is a little sick a few times,” I said. “Is it bad?”

“It’s not great,” Caprica said. “But it's under control. Sylphfree has unmatched medical facilities and the best doctors on Dirt. Our medical and healing arts are second to none, and that’s in large part thanks to the same affliction that Gabrielle has.”

“Huh?” I asked.

Caprica nodded. “It’s not a secret. Quite a few members of the royal family grow up feeble, with fainting sicknesses or ill-health. In the past a few have passed away far too young. I have a great-uncle who poured a considerable amount of wealth into shoring up our medical facilities and building great schools to study and experiment with the healing arts.”

“That seems nice,” I said.

“He was moved when his sibling passed away from a wasting sickness,” she said somberly. “When the schools started paying dividends in the form of a healthier populace, the military started to see the potential as well. It became... well, suffice to say that in Sylphfree, the most honoured sylph after the royal family are the paladins, followed by the brass, and swiftly followed by those who dedicate themselves to medicine and healing. It’s seen as a very acceptable alternative to military service, though a costlier one.”

We made it up to the floor above, and found Gabrielle and the rest of Caprica’s guards waiting there. The girl grinned wide and stepped closer. “You did so well!” she said.

“We did what we had to do,” Amaryllis demurred. There’s no denying the smug aura around her though.

“Would it be insulting if I said that I didn’t expect Caprica’s new friends to be such talented warriors? All three of you,” Gabrielle said.

I shook my head. “We only barely won, I think. That was tough. If we were actually warriors, then we would probably have done much better.”

“I’m not so sure of that,” Caprica said. “You all fought in rather strange ways. I’m particularly impressed with Awen’s glass magic. It seems tremendously useful.”

“Awa? Oh, it’s nothing special. I hope I’ll be able to improve it as we continue to level and grow stronger.”

“So you three really do intend to keep growing?” Caprica asked.

I blinked. “Should we stop?” I asked in return.

She chuckled. “Most civilians will eventually make it past their first tier if they find something they truly love, and focus on it. I think most of our forces reach the top of their second tier eventually. But you all sound like you want to go far beyond that.”

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“I don’t see why more people don’t,” I said. “It’s not hard, is it?”

“It’s time-consuming,” Caprica said. “And more importantly, requires that one travels and reaches more and more dungeons, not to mention increasingly dangerous challenges to level efficiently.”

“I guess it’s not something for a complacent person to do,” I said.

She shrugged. “It’s admirable that you want to grow more personally powerful, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Now, we could stand here and chat, or we could be more efficient with our time. Gabrielle, I don’t recall eating out with you in a long time. Would you rather return home or stay with us for a meal?”

Gabrielle sniffed, eyes rolling ever as she placed her hands on her hips. “Obviously I want to go with you. I’m not twelve, Caprica.”

Caprica eyed Gabrielle up and down. “I don’t know. The way you were jumping up and down and cheering earlier, I think I could be convinced to believe that you were.”

The little sister’s cheeks reddened and her wings flapped furiously behind her. “Capri!”

Caprica grinned back at us. “We should all go. My treat, to celebrate your grand victory today.”

“Thank you!” I said.

Augustus greeted us by the exit. He made sure to shake everyone’s hands and welcomed us to fight at his arena whenever we wanted to. Judging by the number of nobles still milling around, our little fight had attracted a lot of attention.

I imagined that in a place like Goldenalden, where royalty was honoured, having two princesses visit someone’s establishment and come out looking pleased would be great for business.

Caprica’s guards ran out ahead a bit and formed something of a wedge leading to the carriage, that was, until Caprica waved over one of the guards who had more feathers on his helmet. “We’ll walk down the street a little. Take in the air, window shop, then likely find something to eat along the way,” she said. “Could you do a wide formation, please?”

The guard bowed, then spun and made a few quick gestures that had the other guards dispersing into an even wider net.

Gabrielle didn’t even seem to notice all the motion, she was too busy taking in the street.

It was a bit weird, hanging out with some new friends while being aware from the periphery that we were constantly surrounded. The worst thing was that it felt rude not to speak to the guards. Some seemed really nice, and when I smiled at them they smiled or nodded back. They were people too, and they obviously deserved to be befriended just as much as anyone else, but their job got in the way of that.

“Broccoli?” Awen asked.

I snapped out of my thoughts and gave her a quick side-hug to tell her I was fine. “So, are we going to get fancy food, or are we going to get fun food?”

“Fun food?” Gabrielle asked.

“You mean food we... like?” Caprica asked right after.

Nothing so simple,” I sniffed very haughtily and as fancily as I could. “Well you see, dear princesses, normal food is just food that’s meant to be eaten, as all food is. It can be tasty or not. Fancy food is all about the presentation, being all nice and prettiful, but fun food, now that’s food that’s meant to be fun to eat!”

“Sometimes I wonder how I became friends with you,” Amaryllis muttered.

Ignoring Amaryllis' interruption, I went on: "I don't think they have hot dogs or hamburgers here.”

“You eat dogs?” Gabrielle gasped, hands over her mouth.

I shook my head so hard my ears swapped together. “No no, I’m a vegetarian. Hot dogs are like... sausages placed in this piece of bread, usually with condiments on top.”

"Eating sausages doesn't sound very vegetarian," Gabrielle pointed out.

"No, they're not for me, I just like them. I wasn't always vegetarian."

"Oh." Gabrielle gave me a weird look. "So, these hot dogs are basically sandwiches?"

I held back a pout. “Nevermind that, I’m sure there’s some sort of junk food sold around here. There has to be.”

“I don’t know. The sylph are notoriously prudish, it’s possible that they don’t like the idea of such frivolous food,” Amaryllis said.

“We’re not prudish,” Caprica said... prudishly. “I’m sure we have plenty of fun food.” She waved the same guard captain over, and asked him if he knew where we could find fun food. He looked completely stumped for a moment, that was, until one of the younger guards cleared his throat and said that there were a few places some blocks over.

So off we went, chatting about this and that and nothing at all while pausing in front of windows to stare at the stuff within. I don’t think any of us failed to notice the small entourage of nobles snooping about some distance away, coincidentally always going the same way we were. I’m pretty sure that most of my friends didn’t notice that the city guard patrolled the same street six times in the space of half an hour. I think they were pretty much just going around the block in a big circle by the end.

The next blocks over had more shops, though they catered towards a less distinguished crowd. The clothes were more utilitarian and clean, and the things behind the windows had less silver and gold trim on them.

At long last, we found a restaurant where a very flustered young sylph lady made space for us, then shyly presented us with a menu. There were all sorts of wraps and sandwiches for sale, usually with goat meat prepared with sweet sauces and a few salads that had more bread and cheese and sauce in them than veggies.

We ate, we laughed, and we teased each other over every little thing.

It was nice to unwind after such a stressful day. And we’d need all the relaxation we could get. Things had reached a maximum level of complication, and I had a feeling deep in my tummy that things wouldn’t get any easier for a while.

***