Chapter 2 - A Good Mother

"Should I tie the dagger belt for you?" Kalin asked.

"Is it going to slip and roll down my thighs again? Seems to happen often after all. First my belt, then my trousers…"

"It might…" Kalin admitted with a sly smile. His dismay showed in an unbefitting pout as Sar'tara did her own belt.

"You can unfasten it when I return," she said, sliding her hands along his broad shoulders and stopping just behind his neck. She stared into his eyes, ignoring the loose sheets of paper blown to the floor by the open window behind him.

"You're amazing," he whispered.

"How so?" she asked, leaning, their lips almost touching.

Kalin pulled away. "I'll show you how when you come back."

Sar'tara shook her head. She pinned a dark grey soldier's cloak around her neck with a silver eagle pin. The shade-wisp flower at the corner of Kalin's desk had its petals closed. Sar'tara nudged the pot to the side and half sat on the table, crossing her arms. She stared at a sheet of paper before her feet. "More people bearing a raven tattoo on their bodies have been captured in Metsiphon, hmm? When will they stop bothering?"

"Never. Its criminal nature to continue prodding until they see an opening," Kalin said, closing the window. "I'd have never guessed my extended family members to be working with street guilds to undermine my authority. Especially not those from Exaltyron's Impoverished District. I'm glad you caught them early on. Else Metsiphon may have still been plagued by them."

Sar'tara nodded, kneeling down to pick up the fallen sheets. Others bearing the Serene name along with some minor nobles had once schemed to bring ruin to Kalin and his city while he was busy at Arcaeus. Sar'tara had caught wind of this while resting at Metsiphon with a baby Elizia, ordering a swift end to their operations, among which were included the trading of narcotics, corruption, and human trafficking. Kalin had most of the perpetrators executed upon returning to the city.

"Sar'tara, why is it you insist on berating me before the children?" he asked while she organized the papers in her hand.

"Because it's amusing. Why do you keep calling me Sara when I explicitly forbade it?"

"It slips out. And—"

"Slips out? Your own wife's name slips your memory?" she scowled.

"That isn’t… I've always wanted a different way of saying your name. You know, as in a way only I get to call you and no one else."

She thought of something harsh to say but lost the will when looking into his sincere woodland eyes. Specs of color formed on his face. Why was he mentioning this now, after so many years together? "Tara. It's what my sisters used to call me sometimes," she mumbled. Her beautiful sisters and past family. Now, just a memory.

"Tara…"

She blushed. Hearing someone call her that after so long was a strange comfort. Though, it brought back a pang of pain she still hadn't overcome. "I wish there were more I could have done for Dahlia," she said, changing topics. "With the capital's Impoverished District and all."

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"Her majesty wasn't the first to try and fail against them. Many a monarch have tried to improve the district since the fall of High House Zz'tai."

Sar'tara mumbled her agreement. "Anything important I should know for the mission?"

"Be wary, as always. The Empire's continued to harass us even after the fall of Kazir. They hardly scheme these days. But still…"

"Almost as if they're testing the waters. The eastern lands are thinning as Tarmia absorbs them. This so called War God will turn his eyes on us soon," Sar'tara said, eyes passing over the edges of the world map beneath every loose paper. She closed her eyes as Kalin brushed aside a loose strand of her hair, callused fingertips tickling her ear. "It wouldn't hurt to leave a little late," she whispered, slowly undoing the belt she'd already tied.

"Probably not. But you've asked your unit to prepare well before dawn, no? Lieutenant Faren will be knocking on the door at any moment." Kalin sat down behind his desk. He opened an empty drawer and raised an eyebrow. "No extra paperwork?"

"I've taken care of mostly everything," she smiled.

"Even the matters regarding the Temple of Trillia?"

"Yes." The Trillian faith was rapidly growing within Xenaria. It had been introduced around twelve years back. Troubling rumors followed after. Rumors of the Temple's leaders having ties to the Astral Union. "One day…" she breathed, looking at the clear sky through the window. Kalin held her hand. "Fifteen years. I hardly care about vengeance anymore."

She knew those words to be false. Knew Kalin knew them to be false. She often spent long hours of the night studying dust caked records of the Thousand Sun City, searching for hints of any sort of weakness. Any cracks in its architecture that could be exploited. There were multiple points from which an attack could have been launched, assuming this was the same city of centuries past. The city was now much larger and greater fortified than what ancient crumbling parchment showed. "I just want to see Elizia grow into a strong and beautiful woman," Sar'tara said. One free of all my enemies. Sar'tara squeezed back her tears, recalling her own Mother's words. She wished to gift her own daughter the life of freedom Ny'Danis had wished for her.

"As do I," Kalin said, smiling, reassuring her wavering heart.

The nightmares didn't hurt as they used to. They hardly appeared now. She had a happy life here. One free from most worries, save for her duties as a duchess and a soldier. But the nightmares —when they did come— served as a burning reminder like an uncured disease. She was convinced that they wouldn't end until her fallen family was avenged.

"Have I been a good mother, Kalin?"

"You've been a wonderful mother. And the best wife a man could ask for."

"Mm." She ran a thumb across the edge of her eyes. "That reminds me," Sar'tara began, changing topics again, "El is smart. But will a woman be accepted as the future ruler of House Serene? She will have to marry one day to carry the lineage. Won't she be changing her family name?"

"It isn't unheard of for a man to change his name if the family he is marrying into is prestigious enough. But if you insist…"

"Insist on what?"

Kalin turned his head away. "Another child," he mumbled.

Sar'tara's eyes narrowed, a smirk touching her lips. "I recall you asking something similar two years after Elizia was born."

"You declined then, and so I hadn't asked again…"

"Because I wasn't aware of how painful childbirth could be. What if it's another girl?"

"Then that's just how things will have played out. Wait. You're…interested?"

"Maybe," she replied. Kalin twiddled his thumbs and avoided eye contact as if he were a young man and not past the age of forty. "It's probably necessary. El hasn't the slightest interest in boys. At least our future queen has ensnared the young knight, timid though he may be."

"Timid? Azurus? The boy's likely to become one of the greatest swordsmen in the realm following myself and Sir Aegis. And probably Lord Coraine as well."

"And Rask."

"No. He's bested Rask five times in a row already."

Sar'tara raised an eyebrow. "And yet he follows Emeria like a hapless puppy."

"There are reasons for that," Kalin said, leaning back in his chair. "Go now. The faster you leave, the faster you will return."

"And the faster we can get to making a child?" Sar'tara asked, hoping to see his flustered expression. He scowled and made shooing motions. She laughed on her way out. Faren was rounding the corner of the corridor just as she left Kalin's office. Sar'tara walked past her second in command, flicking him on the forehead. "Ever the punctual one eh, Faren?"