The next morning Sammy came down to the dining room with a bit of trepidation. She knew she had to go with Dista to the capital and everything, but to say she was nervous about would be to call a dragon a dog. “This is stupid crazy,” she muttered. She felt like she had no escape routes. No, she knew for a fact she had no escape route, probably for the first time in her entire life, and she was scared.
Dista, Jenna and Sir Tane were already at a table and the prince waved her over. “Good morning,” he said as she approached with cautious steps.
Sammy glared at him as her normal greeting, and said, “This is all your fault.” She then turned to the other two. “Good morning Jenna, um sir? Tane.”
“Good morning,” Jenna said with a smirk at Dista.
“Indeed it is, young one,” Sir Tane said. “We were just speaking of the return to Terendos’ capital, Istaph. The queen has agreed to temporarily open the city’s portal seeing as you have placed your Contract Flame now. Also, as this shall be a bit of an event with many a dramatic sub-event, I have decided to be a witness.” He inclined his head to Sammy, “With your consent, of course.”
Sammy blinked, her mind parsing what the grande daring had said. “That sounds good. If you have anyone else that could help ward off the onslaught of stupid nobles I am about to meet, let them know too. The more common sensical energy surrounding me, the better, is what I say.”
Sir Tane quirked a smile, his eyes twinkling. “I shall give it some thought.”
“Thank you,” Sammy nodded, her eyes twitching toward the prince. She half wanted to make a snide comment about him staying away, but could not quite do it. For all her problems with the man, she actually had a decent opinion of his anti-curse abilities. She would not admit that she liked him though. It was the anti-curse success he seemed to have and that was all.
Dista spoke up then. “After we eat, we’ll should go to the portal terminal. As you have restored power to your land’s infrastructure, the portals there will already be ready to go. All you’ll need to do is authorize one to connect with a portal in our capital, Istaph. This means that instead of having my mother teleport here to retrieve us, we will be able to use it instead. Mother was quite relieved to hear of this.”
Sammy blinked, uncertain. “I, um, did what?”
Dista paused and then smirked. “Ah, I should have known. You were once more viewing things from the eye of the storm.”
“Argh,” Sammy snarled. “What the heck does that even mean? You keep saying it, but what the infernal heck does that even mean!?”
The other three exchanged looks and then Dista sighed. “I should have known that too. Sammy, there is a type of storm called a hurricane. It can span over a hundred miles in diameter and winds will often approach, or even exceed a hundred miles per hour. The strongest of them can take a piece of straw and stick into a tree. All such storms are a huge disc, the winds blowing around a center point, which itself can be miles in diameter. That center point is always extremely calm, even the storm clouds hiding, the sun shining bright and warm. Really, it can be amazingly calm and uneventful there. It is called the eye of the storm, or the eye of a hurricane. You, Sammy, are a high tier hurricane, but you only see the chaos you cause while standing smack dab in the middle of the eye.”
Sammy stared at Dista with a blank stare for a moment as she processed what he said. She then turned puppy dog eyes on Jenna.
“No,” Jenna said, as firm as ever. “Even if he deserves it, you may not.”
Sammy pouted and said grumpily. “He did not have to say all that stuff about chaos.”
“It appears somewhat accurate,” Tane said with a bemused expression. “Although a bit of hope and order is somehow manifesting itself as well. As I said, you shall bring a nice breeze to wipe away the stagnation. Yes, I nice stiff breeze indeed. Nice analogy, young Dista.”
Sammy shot a disgruntled look at the daring super-power. “I’ve been betrayed. How deplorable.”
Sir Tane chuckled in response. “Well, whether you take it as a jab or as a compliment, I am thrilled by it. I am truly pleased that one such as yourself has finally manifested. All the yahoos currently floating around all comfortable in their little lifeboats need a nice big storm to get them back doing what they ought to have been doing from the beginning.”
Sammy tilted her head. She knew he was talking about the nobles, at least mostly, probably. And, well, she really liked him calling them yahoos, so found it really hard to stay miffed at him. Sitting up straighter, she made a decision and grinned at Sir Tane. “Very well, I accept. I will endeavor to be the biggest, baddest sower of chaos I can be. A goal has been obtained.” She then turned to Dista and declared with all the snarkiness she could muster. “I have become self-aware.”
Dista turned to Sir Tane. “I hope you are ready to take responsibility for you have just done.” The man just laughed in response.
After eating, the small group snuck over to the place Dista called the portal terminal. It was located at the base of the cliff that bordered the city, or rather the enclosed bay where the main lighthouse was located. A triple wide wharf ran a fair distance from the shore inside the city along the cliff to a large cave blocked by a massive set of metal bound gates. Sammy was amazed that she had not even noticed them the day before and said as much as they approached.
“There are illusions in place making the area blend in,” Dista explained. “Even if you knew this was here, most people would not be able to see it from the port. The glyph tech used is quite common, but once in place there are not many things able to penetrate them.”
“Oh?” Sammy said, her eyes scanning around as they approached the massive gates. She wondered if it was similar to the stuff hiding her home. “Can you show me?”
“You will learn them once you begin formal schooling,” Dista said smoothly. “Which we must instigate as soon as possible. Having you running around randomly activating every glyph that tweaks your curiosity may end up destroying the world one of these days.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad,” Sammy objected.
“So much for being self-aware,” Jenna, Dista and Sir Tane all said in unison, as if they had rehearsed it.
Sammy could just glare at them for a moment, before slumping and acknowledging their point. “Fine, whatever.” She then perked up. “Hey, that means I’m going to be getting books about it, right? That’s pretty sweet.”
Dista showed Sammy how to open the gates, which responded to her touch without so much as a sound. A rather large, man-made cavern lay beyond them, a bunch of horizontally placed, oval portals were spaced in an orderly pattern around about the area. The prince led to one of the larger portals towards the back of the cavern.
“This is the gate that connects to Istaph,” he said. He walked up to a pedestal set in the floor a few feet to the side of the portal oval. “Sammy, place your hand on top of this. It will identify you and pull up a hologram interface. I’ll go over how to activate it and how to set security restrictions. For now, we will set it so you must manually grant each transfer personally. Once you find trustworthy people, you can transfer that authority to them, but it would be best to restrict who can sneak into the city as much as possible.”
Sammy agreed with that sentiment, at least the restricting sneaky people. She was not sure exactly what that meant for these portal things. Still, she glanced to the side since she was in fact self-aware enough to know she was a sneaky person herself. Why did I even start thinking about being ‘self-aware’ anyways? I’m not sure I like being self-aware. It’s more fun to just do stuff as it comes around, right? And then the unbidden thought that she did not want to think popped up. It’s fun creating chaos.
Once the portal was configured following Dista’s instruction, the prince used a spell to contact someone in Istaph. A few minutes passed in idle chatter, but then the portal shimmered to life, a nigh black purple color filling the oval. It rippled like water, or maybe loosely hanging silk, but then smoothed to a mirror like sheen. A moment later, several armored knights passed through, the fabric of the portal rippling again as the passage. After them, the queen stepped through.
Queen Linda glanced around the large terminal and nodded. She then approached her son’s group and inclined her head to the daring knight. “Sir Tane, I am well pleased by your presence. I imagine the very land was demanding your attention, but your presence is truly a great relief.”
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“Queen Linda Ista,” the knight said, bowing to the lady. “It is my pleasure to meet you once again. I trust the concerns you had before you wedding have been alleviated?”
The queen laughed, the sound as pleasant as always. “Indeed. It was as you said and my dear Morstan has proven a magnificent husband. Your wise advice was and is most welcome, Sir Tane.”
The knight smiled at the woman in response. “This I am glad to hear.”
The queen then queen then turned to Sammy, “Young lady, I had heard Count Iona had a most impressive terminal, and it is true. I am glad to have seen it during my lifetime. You have done much, even while running away.”
Sammy blushed and glanced away at the mild rebuke.
The queen saw the expression, but did not relent all that much. “It pleases me that you are now ready to add in the restoration of the mess this has become.”
Sammy’s expression darkened.
The queen smiled, and added in a placating tone, “Not that you are to blame for what happened, nor is my son for that matter, no more than anyone is to blame for any act of nature. We have no real say in that kind of thing. That is, the land chooses whom it will, and no human has the right to object to its whims. I believe a number of arrogant people are finding out they are not the end all they thought themselves to be. Unfortunately, they won’t see it that way, not at all.”
Sammy sighed, her expression easing. “I’m not looking forward to it.” Then she grinned and added, “Not at all.”
Dista covered his mouth with his hand while a moment of silence extended a bit.
“Yes,” Queen Linda said, breaking the pause. “In any case, it would be best to move over to the castle right away. Are you all ready?” Upon the confirmation, they followed the queen back through the gate, the queen’s knights taking the rear.
Upon exiting the gate, Sammy found herself with an enclosed courtyard park. Red rock paths made plus sight, where each quadrant was filled with grass of the riches green. Each of the paths ended in large double doors, four in total. The center where the paths met had an additional circular path of white, and the small quadrants thus formed were filled with flowers, a magnificent display of vibrant color. The gate itself was on a raised platform where the red paths all met.
As soon as the new location snapped into focus, Sammy could not help but notice the large number of guards with weapons drawn. A man in armor a bit different than the rest stood next to the gate they had emerged from, and Princess Maryl stood beside him.
Queen Linda spoke to a man standing near the gate. “Commander Raulk, all is well. Stand the troops down, but this gate will need a standard guard henceforth.”
“Yes my queen,” the commander said, his hand rising to the level of his ear, index and middle fingers held together and pointing upwards. He swirled his hand twice in a counter-clockwise direction. The gathered troops all sheathed their weapons at the same moment and then broke up, streaming through three of the doorways. In less than two minutes, all of the troops except four were gone. The remaining four took up posts around the gate.
As the last soldier left the courtyard, three men entered from the fourth doorway and hurried over to the queen and company.
Queen Linda stepped forward and raised a hand, silencing the men before they could utter a word. “Allow me to introduce the new arch duchess, Sammy Miceah, successor of the Iona bloodline.”
The three men started, but then bowed to Sammy, who glared at the queen. She hated this and certainly had no intention to stop showing her disgruntlement at the title. She suspected they were tired of it already, but she did not care in the slightest.
The queen continued. “As she is progenitor of her bloodline, which has riled the flames across the continent, she has graciously agreed to perform the rite to assist in relighting all whose Flame has been extinguished.”
“Except jerks,” Sammy said, crossing her arms. She needed to be clear on this point, because she was pretty sure this exception had not been brought up before.
The three men glanced at each other, clearly a bit put off by the assertion. “My lady queen, it would appear that a number of seats are already requesting assistance. Additionally, several rebellion factions have used the extinguishing to foment dissidence in the Marchioness Voriest's march. She is en route, but has request the royal family's assistance in teleporting to the capital as she considers the matter urgent.”
Sammy swallowed nervously, but her eyes narrowed as well. That all certainly sounded quite serious, but at the same time there was no way in hell or heaven that a bunch of rebellions spontaneously burst into flames overnight just because some noble's flame had gone out.
“Understood,” the queen said with a small smile. She glanced at Sammy and sighed. She really needed to delay the meeting for at least a bit. Sammy and the Marchioness would probably spark a bit. She answered the man, “Unfortunately we will be unable to allow any who have not sworn fealty to the king to use teleportation into the capital at this time. Please inform Marchioness Voriest to make her best time overland. Now, we need to ensure all petitioners are briefed on certain, hm, unusual considerations concerning our young lady here. Above all, please stress the need for them to remain calm as the present themselves.”
“Of course, my queen,” one of the men said.
Maryl stepped forward and smirked at the man. "Mother, I will go over stuff with him. You will need to get Sammy ready." She and the man then departed, the princess whispering, "You need to listen close, because it hilarious."
Sammy glowered after the two, disgruntled because she just knew the princess had deliberately said that loud enough for Sammy to hear just to poke fun at her. But even as she glowered, she paid attention to her surroundings. Unfortunately, she could not see any easy escape routes. She had known there would be no escape from the beginning, but seriously, she really did not like this situation at all.
“Arch Duchess Sammy,” one of the men began, but faltered at the flames that seemed to dance around the teenager’s eyes and the steam coming from her ears that might actually have been more real than imagined.
Prince Dista stepped forward quickly. “Sammy, you really need to give that a rest. First off, he is not aware of your weird taboo. Second, it’s getting old.” The prince turned to the man. “Chancellor Greggory, you should just call her Sammy for the time being. Please inform the rest of the staff to refrain from using Sammy’s proper title.”
The Chancellor glanced at the queen, but she nodded her assent. “I will see that it is so, Prince Jerome.”
The prince then added, “That will save not a few the Arch Duchess’ ire, good Chancellor.”
“Hey, what are you implying, you stupid royal jerk,” Sammy blurted out. “And you just blurted the stupid title out yourself. You need to start taking your own advice, you crazy jerk.” Sammy placed her hands on her hips as she made her proclamation. She was super nervous and snapping at Dista put her at ease for some reason.
“Oh, I did, didn’t I,” Prince Dista said as if he just realized it. “But it is your proper title, so it should be okay.”
“Grrr,” Sammy growled in an impressive imitation of a wolf.
The Chancellor and his companion both looked utterly shocked and at a loss for words at the exchange.
Prince Dista put his hands behind his back and turned to Jenna. “Jenna, we should retire. I’m sure Sammy will be just fine in the Chancellor’s good hands.” With that he sauntered toward one of the doors, Jenna following.
“You’ll be fine,” Jenna said to Sammy. “The chancellor isn’t too bad.”
Sammy felt like crying as the only ones she felt she really knew at all left, but there was absolutely no way she would ask Dista to stay no matter what. And asking Jenna to stay would be basically asking Dista.
The Chancellor took one step too close to Sammy and, as usual, she shifted a yard away without seeming to actually move her feet. She looked narrowly at the man and demanded, “What do you want?”
Just then, Countess Dorimor entered the courtyard. The countess raised a hand toward Sammy and called out, “Good day, my queen," she first greeted the queen and then turned to Sammy. "Good day to you, Sammy. I am glad to see they have found you safe.”
Sammy hesitated, but then raised her hand cautiously. “Um, hey? If it isn’t a Katalynn. Do you live here or something?”
The countess dropped her hand and gave the girl an inquisitive look. “A Katalyn? Rude as ever I see. And, no, this is not my home. I am merely present because my assistance may still be needed. I will also be requesting assistance in relighting my Flame.”
Sammy nodded and then looked thoughtful. “Actually, do you mind if I practice with you?" She glanced to the side. "I might be, um, a bit nervous about all this.”
The countess smiled at her, “I see that you are bit more honest, Sammy. There is no reason for me to decline such an offer, unless the royal family objects?” She glanced at the queen.
Queen Linda smiled at the countess. "By all means. This is of course acceptable. In fact, Countess Dorimor, would you please accompany Sammy for the time being as her liaison? I suspect that such will alleviate a great deal of difficulty over the next few weeks. We may use such service as an excuse to any who might object.”
“It would be my pleasure, my queen,” the countess said, bowing to her sovereign. She then smirked, "It is unfortunate your daughter is not here as well. She would probably enjoy such an assignment."
"She ducked the responsibility," Sammy interjected into the conversation. "I was wondering why she pounced on explaining me to that guy."
The queen and countess paused and looked at Sammy. The queen cutely bapped a fist into a palm. "I see it. The little imp." The countess looked a little confused, but quickly smoothed out her expression from the lapse in control.
The countess moved to stand next to the chancellor, but remained the required distance from the touchy girl.
Queen Linda sighed and glanced at the chancellor before addressing Sammy again. “Sammy, we shall go to the reception hall to perform the rites for the nobles as they come. It appears there are some nobles who need your assistance immediately. But before that, we will need to make you presentable. Going as you are now would cause avoidable conflict.”
Sammy frowned. Things were moving too fast. She needed more time to scope out the necessary escape routes. Even if she could not escape the larger predicament, she just knew a bunch of smaller events were about to take place that would probably need such per-determined ways and means scoped out already. She felt her chest constrict and a sense of pressure weighed down on her mind. She was much too vulnerable right now, playing into these stupid noble plans, even if they were royals. She could feel the weight slowly alter to the flutters of panicking butterflies in her stomach.
“I heard him,” she said, her eyes darting around the courtyard. “But there’s no way things could fall apart overnight just because someone's Flame went out. You, you should let me explore a little bit.”
“We should relight the Flames as quickly as possible,” the queen said in a firm voice. “Princess Maryl and the countess will give you a guided tour as you have time.”
Sammy bit her lip. She really, really needed to find at least one escape route. Even in the Camp, she had managed to map seven in the first few days.
“Come,” the queen said and led the way out of the courtyard. “There should not be many of the actual peerage present in the city, so it will take but a moment young Sammy. After that, you can explore for the rest of the day.”
Sammy sighed. “Okay I suppose,” she said, her frustration heard by all.