Alara felt something nudging her in the side, and she groaned, turning over. "Wakey, wakey, Princess," came Rasa's amused voice. Alara cracked an eye open, squinting against the sunlight filtering through the leaves above. Rasa's face was right before her, a grin tugging at her lips.

"Is it morning already?" Alara muttered sleepily, rubbing her eyes. As her vision cleared, she noticed Rasa no longer wore her banquet gown. Instead, she was dressed in well-fitted leather-padded armor. Alara blinked in surprise, pushing herself up on her elbows. "Where did you get that?"

Rasa laughed, shaking her head. "Come on. Let's get you changed too." She pulled Alara to her feet, and Alara looked around, realizing just how close they were to the town of Port Sylen. She could see the edges of buildings peeking through the trees in the distance.

"Did you have money on you?" Alara asked, still confused, as she looked at Rasa's new attire. The sturdy and stylish leather armor was far from the simple acolyte clothes they had worn before the banquet.

Rasa sighed, muttering under her breath. "I have more money than I know what to do with now." She didn't elaborate, instead leading Alara by the arm towards the city. They walked together until they reached a small clothing store between two significantly larger buildings. Rasa pushed the door open, and a small bell jingled above them.

The shopkeeper, a plump woman with graying hair, politely smiled as they entered. She wasted no time helping Alara pick out some leather traveling gear suitable for their journey. Alara looked over herself in the mirror, adjusting the leather straps around her waist until she was satisfied with the fit. She looked less like the princess she had once been and more like a traveler, ready for whatever lay ahead.

Rasa approached the counter, paying the woman for the clothing and adding a generous tip. The shopkeeper gave her a knowing nod, her eyes flickering between Rasa and Alara. There was a silent understanding there, and Alara could tell that Rasa had secured the woman's discretion through the transaction—a typical tactic of the merchant's guild that ensured privacy in exchange for coin.

Once they stepped back out onto the street, Alara turned to Rasa, curiosity in her eyes. "What's the plan now? Who do we need to speak to? Why did you bribe that woman?"

Rasa looked at her momentarily, then sighed, running a hand through her braids. "I've already spoken to someone this morning," she admitted. "The Guildmaster, Rufus Faulkner. He's agreed to help us but wants to explain more once we get to his office."

Alara's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "You spoke to the Guildmaster already?" she asked, feeling a mix of awe and relief. They had a plan. Rasa had made sure of it.

Rasa nodded. "It wasn't easy, but I convinced him." She paused, her gaze softening as she looked at Alara. "It'll be okay, Alara. We just need to take it one step at a time."

Alara took a deep breath, her shoulders relaxing a bit. Now that they had a direction, the weight of their situation felt a little lighter. "All right," she said, giving Rasa a grateful smile. "Let's go see what he has to say."

Rasa brought Alara to the guild, knocking on the door. The man slid open the slat from before, but instead of inquiring after them, he immediately closed it and opened the door back up. He nodded his head toward the Guildmaster's office, and Rasa nodded her head in return. Not understanding the exchange, Alara nodded her head toward him as well and smiled. She held on tightly to Rasa's arm, the unfamiliarity of the busy room making her nervous. Rasa squeezed Alara's hand and brought her back to the room she had been in just an hour earlier. She knocked on the door and heard a muffled voice say, "Come in." She opened the door, and Rufus immediately stood, a smile across his face.

Rasa rolled her eyes as she closed the door behind them. Alara returned the smile, curtsying for him. "You must be Mr. Faulkner?" she asked when she stood back up.

He reached out and took her hand, placing his other hand on top. "Please, my Lady. Call me Rufus," he replied and nodded for her to sit.

She smiled and sat where he motioned, "Of course, Rufus." She looked up at Rasa, who gave her a brief, polite smile before sitting beside her.

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Rufus looked up at Rasa, who glared at him before he returned his eyes to Alara. "I am pleased you made it out alive, my Lady."

"You can call me Alara," she nodded, pulling her hand back. "And I'm glad you feel that way. My friend here tells me that you have agreed to help us. What are the details of the arrangement?"

"Straight to business, I see?" he smiled. "How close are you to the king of Vesperia?"

"Uncle Caldric?" She thought for a moment. "My father and he are quite close. Several times, I saw him at the castle. My father would become a different person almost when he was around, drinking more than usual and laughing more. I can't say I know him too well myself, but he was always kind to me."

"Your uncle?" Rasa inquired, having never heard about this relative before.

Alara shook her head. "He's not my actual uncle. He is some sort of distant cousin, but I call him my uncle because my father and he were raised together, in a way. My father sent him to Vesperia before the treaty when it was a liberated colony from the Asterians. He trusted him to run it and just let him keep it when it became too difficult to keep in contact with the colony."

Rasa looked between Alara and Rufus, who both seemed to accept this as a well-known answer. She sighed. "Can someone tell me where Vesperia is?"

Rufus reached under his desk and laid a map detailing the island of Marino across his desk. "Here are we," he said, pointing to a dot on the bottom right of the crescent-shaped island. He dragged his finger across to a larger dot on the bottom left side of the map, "and this is Stormhaven, the capital of Vesperia."

Rasa looked at them again. "And why is it difficult to contact a city that looks like we could sail straight there in less than a week?"

"Asterian blockades," Alara replied. "It was part of the treaty that they got control of the Inner Sea."

"So unless you come on an Asterian ship, there's no way you're getting through there." Rufus nodded. "The only other way is to go the long way around," he dragged his finger around the outside of the island. "This top part of the map, minus the land that belongs to Asteria, is mountains and cliffside. There are no stops for over a month of travel unless you stop in Asteria. So you have to come prepared and still have to give a wide berth near Asterian water. It's a deep ocean route with jagged rocks. It's not ideal."

Rasa nodded. "So how are we supposed to get to Vesperia then?"

"We're going to see Uncle Caldric?" Alara questioned.

Rufus nodded. "I believe he'd help you retake your home. But I agree that taking the long route is not practical. So this is what I propose." He tapped on a dot just over the Asterian-Emeresian border. "This is Vernan. It's a merchant city that we make trips to often. We'll take you there with us and arrange for you to have transport on an Asterian merchant vessel. It should be able to go through the checkpoints and take you straight to Stormhaven. You should be there within a fortnight."

Alara's eyes lit up, and they turned back to Rasa. Rasa shook her head again. "I think there's something we're still not considering. Why would Caldric help us? And even if he agreed to help, how will he push troops to Emeresia? He can't push them through the Inner Sea and cannot run them over land. And it sounds like a huge risk to ship them over the top of the island and pray that they don't notice an entire army going above their heads."

"That's easy," Rufus replied. "Because King Tiberian broke the treaty by invading Eldralore."

Alara's eyes widened. "Asteria broke the treaty by invading us? That's a serious accusation."

"It is," Rufus agreed. "I've been in contact with them myself." He pulled out a scroll and lay it in front of her. "I was given this this morning."

Alara hesitantly picked it up, unrolling it. Her eyes scanned the words written on them before slowly lowering them down in her lap. She looked over at Rasa, her eyes worried.

"What did it say?" Rasa inquired.

Alara bit her lip. "It's an edict, declaring war against Emeresia and allowing protection against any town that surrenders to Asterian authority, signed by King Tiberian himself."

Rasa reached over and picked up the scroll from Alara's lap, briefly verifying it before looking back to Rufus. "What does this mean with Caldric?"

Rufus smiled. "He'll gladly take half the Asterian territory to add to his land, perhaps offer him a bit more if he seems hesitant. Alara becomes Queen of Emeresia if her father is not still with us, and regardless, Marino has two rulers that happily coexist with each other. I hear he has a decent navy, so it shouldn't be too difficult to hit Asterian forces in the Inner Sea while Tiberian is focused on Emeresia." He made an 'X' with his fingers on the map over the sea. "Shortest war that Tiberian ever was foolish enough to start."

Alara glanced over and made eye contact with Rasa, silently hoping for a sign that she thought this was the right path. Rasa stared back at her, almost with a mirrored expression.

Was this what she wanted to do? She was never supposed to make decisions like this. She was supposed to sit in her temple, learn about the Goddess, and wait for Her to tell her what to do. Not to make decisions that affected not only herself but thousands or even millions of others. How many people would die for this cause? This is war. And something about how Rufus said Queen of Emeresia made Alara sick to her stomach. Alara was never supposed to be Queen. It was Davian's place to be Emeresia's ruler, and she felt she was stealing it from him. Davian...

She swallowed hard and turned back to Rufus, her sadness being forced down, and she allowed herself to feel anger bubble up inside her. She stood up, stared down at Rufus, and nodded. "What do we do next?"