Chapter Three
THE TALE OF TWO KITSUNE
EVELYN
After getting cleaned up and forced into the attire appropriate to a 'lady of my station,' the rest of our day proceeded according to the new normal of our lives. We arrived late to a disappointed etiquette instructor before sitting through several other lessons on everything from history to combat. By the end of the day, I was doing my best to stay awake and pay attention while my tutor was droning on about the history and heraldry of yet another group of nobles I was doomed to meet in the near future. That was another of the obligations that filled my life now – and one I could rarely escape. Just thinking about it made the weight of my elaborate dress and many adornments feel as oppressive as the heavy tomes that lined the walls around me. Each jewel and stitch of embroidery, meant to signify my status, instead felt like chains binding me to a future I had reluctantly accepted. As the setting sun cast long, lazy shadows across the opulent chamber, my mind wandered to the city beyond the palace, where freedom—unburdened and boundless—waited just out of reach.
Our days often passed this way since we'd arrived in Lihume, and I couldn't help but look back over the past several months and remember the many things that led us to this current situation. When we'd first begun our trip to Vigilance from West Peak, I had been determined to return home and move forward with my new life. I wanted peace and quiet, a safe place where I could be with my sisters, and the opportunity for us to learn and grow so we could decide who we wanted to be in this new world. In a way, I'd found those things, even if each came with concessions, negotiations, promises, and responsibilities. We'd had nearly a month before Aris Trupo finally caught up with us and delivered the dreaded summons to the capital. It had been a time of finally calming down and coming to terms with everything that had happened. I hadn't handled that very well. When I returned home, I'd done my best to seclude myself from all social interactions outside of the family for nearly a week. I needed the time to recover from everything and begin to accept some of the things I'd done. In the moment, it was easy to fight those battles and pretend that I didn't care about all of the evil people I'd killed. But when I'd sit in my room alone at night, I still had to deal with the fact that I'd killed them, regardless of who they were and what horrors they'd committed. It was hard to reconcile the person I wanted to be with the things I'd done. In the end, I spent many of those nights sleeping in Amélie's room, a comfort that we both needed. It was Grandfather who eventually took the two of us aside and talked with us about our troubles. I hadn't expected it. He always seemed so professional and aloof, but he knew what we were going through, and he had over a thousand years to figure out how to listen and the right things to say to us. After that, I think we both felt a lot more like part of the family.
This time had also given me the opportunity to start working on something important. I had a very large skyship that was difficult to manage on my own. I could do it in a literal sense, making the ship go from point A to point B, but I was terribly limited in how and what I could do otherwise. Grandfather was very helpful in this as well. Most people thought of the Dalen family as the gatekeepers that held the Fallen at bay from the rest of the world with their seat at Vigilance, but the city was also the capital of the large Aranthas Duchy. There were several coastal towns and villages, and even Vigilance itself sat near the Shallow Sea. This meant that Grandfather was one of the few nobles with a war fleet at his disposal. This was important because it allowed him to recommend several officers to me who were used to shipboard life. Initially, I had asked Amélie to help me work with our friends to crew the ship and planned to eventually make more friends to fill it out further, but she wasn't very interested. She had her own plans and intended to spend the time I was working on the ship using her healing to help the people of the city. It occurred to me that this would likely be the case with most of my friends, so when Grandfather brought forward his idea, I was incredibly relieved. First and foremost, he presented Aric Voss, who I immediately hired as the ship's First Mate. He had a good knowledge of airships even though he'd never served on one, and his wealth of knowledge from decades serving as a naval officer would be fantastic for helping me select and train a crew. For him, this was an early retirement of sorts – but though it would be a far easier lifestyle than a naval warship, he had no intention of holding back in his duties. He impressed me from the very beginning, and I never doubted Grandfather's recommendation. I spent some time every day working on filling out the crew and helping our officers train them on how to operate the ship. The time was also helpful to me because while Aric was technically the second in command of the ship, he was also teaching me how to captain it.
We also took some time to go through some of the items left aboard by the previous owners. Most things had been in the private cabins of the captain and first mate. There was even a small vault in the captain's cabin. It was a pleasant surprise to find the armory was fully stocked. I only understood some of what I found immediately, but we had plenty of time to study things. The only downside was that there was nothing I could use to replace my destroyed adventuring gear. I could technically use one of the armor sets in the armory, but those were meant for the crew. I didn't overly concern myself with this problem, however. I was in no rush to get anywhere near combat again any time soon.
It was inevitable that we'd have to go to the capital, though. We technically had a choice, but to get what we wanted, we'd need to respond to the King's summons. It had been explained to us in great detail why this was our best course of action. Being at court was incredibly important for our education. Many high nobles would attend court for the private tutors available, as well as the University. The majority of noble education was private or in small groups with tutors from a young age. If we'd been raised in the Dalen household, we'd have begun at four years old, and our lessons would have only included our family until we were near adulthood. It was fortunate that we had such a good education from our past lives, as it meant that we were not too far behind here in many areas of academia. We were completely lacking in the areas that were specific to this world, however, and the intense tutoring we'd been put through over the past two months really drove that home. World history, cultural etiquette, fundamentals of magic, leadership, estate management, trade law, resource management, and even political structure. Lacking knowledge in any of these subjects would have given us away as outsiders and would have immediately made our family look bad. More, it would be impossible for us to succeed without a proper education with any of the goals we'd set for ourselves.
Still, knowing all of this, I had been reluctant to stay in the capital. I understood the subtext of the invitation, and I didn't like that people were trying to control and spy on us. Soon after our arrival, this had turned into a negotiation in which we'd held more cards than we realized. The king was no fool, and he knew that we were irreplaceable. He also knew that there would be strong competition from other nations if we were open to leaving. We'd been given nearly everything we'd wanted, which primarily involved different types of tutors and training in exchange for our agreement. The royal family had been eager to help us with our goals and equally keen to keep us out of trouble. They saw my acquisition of Siren's Reach and our desire to learn more about managing estates and taking on leadership roles as a positive connection between us and The Spires. They were also very clear that education was not the only benefit of our extended visit with them in the capital. Our other major shortcoming was our social circles, which they were eager to expand and influence. When we'd arrived, they had amounted to very few people. We had very few friends and nearly no contacts within noble society. While our days were jam-packed with tutoring, our evenings were filled with hand-picked social events courtesy of the queen. More, just being at court had given us countless opportunities to make acquaintances with nobles near our age. To be honest, it was far more than I'd have liked, and the queen likely had a strong influence on who we happened to run into, but we did meet a few people who we truly got along with. Even with the strings attached, it had helped us immensely with feeling at home in Lihume, and the social events kept us busy and entertained enough to make life here finally feel real and normal.
But even those were not the only benefits. One of the most important perks was entirely unintentional. Before coming to Lihume, we tried to find information on spirits and groves. I had stubbornly refused to go near the temple of Earae. I never got over how she abandoned me, and even for something so important, I couldn't bring myself to ask her people for help. However, that was one of the promises made to us in exchange for going to Lihume. We would get help finding the information we needed. That materialized in the form of one of our new tutors. She was an odd elven adventurer who looked a few years our senior and went by the moniker Mirage. She had fallen into our lives unexpectedly soon after we arrived in the city. If our rune ship, Dawn's Light, pulling into the sky port wasn't enough to announce our arrival, the massive celebration to welcome us to the city ensured everyone knew. It was not publicly acknowledged that we were [Heroes], but our part in the liberation of Phoz Vazax and West Peak was well known. Unfortunately, not everyone was happy about that. A new group of fanatics we'd never heard of before, The Cult of the Betrayed, plotted an elaborate assassination for the celebration with the intent to kill Amélie and me. They bypassed even the royal guards before the night was through and might have succeeded, only save that Mirage cast several protective barriers around us and turned our attackers on each other with illusions at the last moment. We were more than happy to spend time with her afterward, and after learning our purpose in the city, she was quick to volunteer as one of our tutors. I don't think Grandfather or the king would have agreed had Amélie and I not insisted. She had no references, even with her obvious mastery of advanced magic, but we never questioned it. It is hard to explain, but we knew we could trust her from the moment we met her. After a few days of her lessons, we'd stayed late to talk with her one evening. Somehow, our problem with finding information about groves and spirits came up, and she revealed herself to be a trove of information on both subjects.
This had some unintended side effects. Shortly after we'd left West Peak, our Kitsune family had decided to take a more active role in our education. I wasn't sure if they'd decided we were more worthwhile by gaining our second tails or if they'd always been planning this when things calmed down for us, but we'd be pulled through our dreams to the spirit realm every few days to practice skills and magic. Our adventure with Sybil and the Spirit of Famine was a great example. They didn't use system magic at all and did their best to show us how important it was for us not to rely on the system or the deities of Aeos. We would spend hours working on this each time we'd visit, and then, if we were exceptionally lucky, one of the elders might end the dream by telling us a tale of the clan. For grumpy old foxes they all had a very epic way to tell stories. Unfortunately, once we met Mirage, they informed us that we would only be meeting at the "Lunar Apex," which was drama-fox for "Full Moon." That was when it was easiest for them to dream walk and when we would get the most out of our training. They had somehow known that we had a new instructor who was more than capable of continuing our magical instruction and maintained we'd learn much faster from her. It was very disappointing, especially being able to see Sibylla so little. I worried about her, but now that she was getting non-stop training and being included with the clan, she was far less lonely and miserable. She assured us she would be okay and the once-a-month limitations on our visits would end as soon as we could build a grove.
Despite that initial assassination incident, everyone seemed to agree that Lihume was the safer place for us to be. To say that it was safer from The Fallen was easy enough. It was much further from the Fallen Lands, and there was little chance of their kind making it to us. Political enemies of the kingdom were another matter altogether and the cause of our complete lack of privacy. Things were somewhat easier for Amélie. No world notifications had put suspicion on her as a [Hero] nor as a person of interest for any of our achievements. To me, that didn't make sense with the West Peak notification because I felt like we did that together. But to her, she was just grateful because she had no desire to be famous. I understood that completely. The subsequent three assassination attempts ignored her entirely, as did the two kidnapping attempts. Of those all, only one actually made it to me, and it wasn't a terribly unpleasant kidnapping. The gentleman was so polite that I hadn't realized it was a kidnapping at all until he was trying to sneak me out of the city. I even felt a little bad when Mirage made him think he was a turtle until the guards showed up. After that incident, we were never allowed out of the palace without an entourage of guards. It was already considered inappropriate for someone of our station to travel without an escort, but we had been able to manage by always keeping Lilith, Constance, Kira, or Mirage nearby. That last incident, though, was the final straw. Now, as evident around me in the study, we had seven guards any time we left our rooms. Two House Dalen guards, two House Solaris guards, and one guard each from House Ventris, House Marwyn, and House Grendel, everyone of them a classer. All of the ducal houses having at least one guard present at all times was intended as a show of solidarity within the kingdom and was a great honor, everyone assured us. I was reasonably certain it was just as much for each house to have a spy in our company as it was to show the other kingdoms that I was not for sale.
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As you may have guessed, the not-for-sale was only partly a joke. While some actors had certainly tried to remove or steal away the supposed [Hero], several surrounding nations had sent envoys with offers of land, money, titles, and gifts of all sorts to lure me in their direction. It was expected to get worse as word continued to spread. So far, I'd only received the one marriage proposal, from a crown prince no less, but I wasn't interested in marrying a stranger twice my age. Of all the awkward refusal letters I'd had to write, that was the one that made me cringe the most. I had heard through the grapevine that the offers were not only being made to me but also to both the king and Grandfather. Sometimes even as threats. I had high hopes that as time went on and I contently sat at lessons, prim and proper as a young princess who didn't make any waves or do anything crazy, things would begin to calm down, and everyone would return to their usual political ambitions. I still had to deal with all of the invitations to social events, but my studies were a great excuse to refuse any that asked me to leave the city.
With all that said, it would be easy to mistake things as overly eventful for us throughout the past three months, and in a way, they were. It just wasn't as exciting as all of that makes it sound. Our misadventures were infrequent, and most of the time, things were pretty normal. Well, at least as normal as things could be in a magical fantasy world. The majority of our time was filled with study and training. We had tutors in our subjects and spent time with each of them on most days. When we were not with them, we had to break out the books and continue our studies to be ready for our next lesson. This was sometimes broken up by social events, such as the palace's weekly Ladies' Tea, social dinner events, and once, even a ball. As we became more well-known, Amélie quickly built a reputation for her outgoing personality and fun-loving attitude. I had a bit of a reputation for being shy and for how quiet I could sometimes be when meeting new people, which was fair when compared to Amélie. Still, as people got to know me and I became more comfortable with our new lifestyle, that seemed to be fading. We were also becoming more well-known in the city as we'd sneak away to explore whenever we could. Each time we'd do this, Amélie would use the chance to heal those in need. It was something she had wanted to do, even if she couldn't yet build the clinic she had planned. In a bit of amusing irony, this earned her the nickname "The Saint" with the people of the city, and she nearly had a heart attack the first time she heard it.
We were, of course, sneaking into the city from the Palace. Part of our negotiations ended with us giving up on our plans to have our own home within the city or outside of it. There were many factors involved, but the reality came down to it just wasn't feasible with how much training and tutoring we needed. Being in the palace made it easier for the king to keep an eye on us, but it also made us much easier to protect. That was something that we needed. Not only the guards but the deterrence. In both circumstances where I'd been in danger in the city, I'd found myself unable to raise a hand to hurt my assailant. The assassins had been a surprise, but even after their weapons had struck the shields Mirage had placed around me, I'd only stared at them, unsure what to do. It was fortunate that I hadn't needed to do anything. I wasn't sure if it was because they were only people, and I didn't want to hurt them, or if I'd have trouble dealing with any threat in the future. I didn't really want to test it any time soon. In any case, the palace wasn't as bad as I'd expected it to be. We were always being watched, but so was everyone else. Who was let near us was somewhat selective, but I'd not yet interacted with someone less than polite, and most people were generally kind. After Amélie's experience in her previous visit, I knew that there were people being kept away who did not fit that profile, but I was okay with that.
One thing that was very sad about our stay was our missing friends. We had thought Ophelia would be staying with us as well, but it was agreed after the assassination attempt that it would be best if she were to stay home with Grandfather until things settled. Shiori, Nena, Jason, and Heskel had visited us once. The trip was both business and pleasure, as they were picking up important supplies for the restoration of West Peak. We were delighted to spend a few days with them, and they only had good news all around. Everyone was doing well, including Nena's siblings, and the reconstruction was going faster than expected. Something about the magic in the rock and ash that had been left in the city made it very easy for their few mages to work with. The prince had been crowned as the new King of West Peak and had raised Shiori, Nena, and Jason each to Valorant for their service. Jason and Nena were planning a wedding as soon as they made it home, and from some subtle hints Nena was giving off, I suspected that they already had a little one on the way. Heskel, for his part, had used the excuse of keeping his word regarding Haunt to join the trip. Haunt's training was complete, and while still very young, he was already the size of an adult wolf. Heskel's attitude had changed toward me as Amélie and I thought it might, but it was evident that it was a forced change. I wasn't sure how I felt about his new attitude, but it didn't hurt our friendship, and I couldn't ask for more than that. When they were preparing to leave, I had convinced Shiori to bring little Sophie with her. It hadn't been hard. She was excited to help teach the little Sky Corsair about her airship and entirely understood that I was grounded until my studies were complete.
I was very sad to watch them fly off, but my lovely sister had an entirely different focus. To Amélie, Heskel's apparent change of heart meant things with Prince Lucius were no longer complicated, and in her dramatic version of my life, I was free to pursue him. In my more realistic version of my life, I hadn't seen Lucius since our welcome party despite technically living in the same building. I suspected his family was keeping him busy, but it was entirely possible he was avoiding me. The effect was the same regardless of the cause. We'd never had that chat, and it felt more and more likely that we would not in the future. It was a sad thought, but I wasn't heartbroken over it. Our lives were complicated enough as it was.
There were still two unresolved things in my life, but they were not terribly urgent. Sebastian had yet to return. We were still bonded, and I knew he was still alive and in the direction of West Peak, so everything was okay. I missed him, but I was also happy he was spending time with his family. I wasn't sure if I could visit him exactly, so I was leaving that up to him. Then, there was Siren's Reach. Technically, it was my land, and I was responsible for it. I'd yet to meet Valoranthe Septimia Variala, but she was currently running the entire estate. It was something I felt a little guilty about. I never lacked trust that she'd do a good job. She had been running the estate before I'd obtained it, and so far as I could tell, she was still doing a great job. I imagined things were even a little better now as I had dedicated more funds to the upkeep of the domain, and the family had sent her several men at arms and additional staff to help. Regardless, I couldn't just leave things alone. I felt like the previous owner had ignored her, and I wanted her to know I appreciated what she was doing. I started by sending her a letter to introduce myself and thank her for her quick response in ensuring that everything was moving smoothly after the transfer of ownership. Less than a month later, I received her reply, and the letter was very professional and deferential, giving me a breakdown of how things were going with the estate and the expected forecast for the next year in production, costs, and profits. Feeling like I'd made her uncomfortable or perhaps worried that I'd judge her performance or try to micromanage things, I'd replied again. This time, I gave only the briefest thanks for the information before assuring her that I had complete faith in her abilities. Then I tried to make the letter more personal and friendly, telling her a bit about myself, inquiring about her, and generally practicing those pen pal skills. It seemed to have worked a bit, as I'd recently received her reply, which began with another report on the estate but also included a page for personal correspondence. It had made me smile and I was already looking forward to when I'd have a chance to meet her in person.
"Evelyn, have you heard a word I've said to you?"
I looked up sharply to see Lady Camelia staring at me patiently, hands folded in front of her. "I apologize, Lady Camelia."
The corner of her lip raised with amusement as she shook her head, "It is alright. It has gotten late, and we have gone through this well enough for you to survive dinner tomorrow."
I gave her a sheepish smile and stood, "Yes, Lady Camelia. Thank you for the lesson." Then, the rest of her words caught up to me. "Tomorrow? I thought we had a few days?"
She shook her head at me, "The state dinner is in a few days. Your private dinner with Lady Caeparia and her son Cossus is tomorrow."
Somehow, I'd managed to miss an entire planned event, and I wasn't even sure who those people were. Before I could ask and upset her, I saw Lilith wink, and I just nodded to Lady Camelia. With a curtsey, I excused myself and made my way to the hall. Leading the way, two of the guards moved to open the door while another walked ahead, and all fell into position as we moved from the library wing of the palace toward the residential wing. I still had trouble getting used to this treatment after so much time.
"So, Lily, how much trouble am I in?"
"Well, you didn't object when they announced you would be having dinner with the Scaevola family as they wanted to propose a courtship between you and their son, so about as much as you deserve."
I groaned audibly, "Lily, why didn't you warn me? I hate these awkward dinners."
She grinned at me, "I did warn you. Just now. And I don't mind them at all. They're always fun to tease you about later."
We turned a corner, and I saw Amélie waiting with her entourage, excitedly talking to a very patient looking Mirage. Their eyes met mine, and immediately, they began to move in our direction.
"Evie, you are just in time! We are heading to dinner!"
I smiled as her infectious happiness reached me, and as I closed in, we continued together. I gave her a sideways glance, knowing I would regret this but needing to ask anyway. "Have you met the Scaevola family?"
I could tell from how she looked back that she not only had met them, but she knew how much I didn't know about them and why I was asking. "Oh, Evelyn."
"It's not my fault! I've been studying so hard! I'm just a little exhausted."
Amélie giggled, but Mirage spoke from my other side with her gentle, melodic accent, "It is essential to find harmony between the pursuit of knowledge and the myriad other duties that call for your attention."
My shoulders slumped. I hated disappointing her, so I nodded, "I will try harder."
She gave me a soft smile and touched my shoulder, "Do not weigh your spirit down with undue harshness. Everything finds balance in time."
I sighed and nodded, "Thank you, Mirage."
Amélie shrugged beside me, "It is not such a big deal. Baroness Caeparia Scaevola is rumored to be a serious but not unkind woman. Her son, Cossus, is a couple of years older than us, but I have heard some of the women around the court speak well of him. It seems many of them know him well."
I snorted a laugh at her waggling eyebrows, "Well, that answers that."
Amélie only shook her head, "I doubt you would consider him even if he were a perfect gentleman. It is hard to compete with Lucius."
I sighed, "No one is competing for anything. I am not interested. Besides, Lucius hasn't spoken to me in, what? Two months?" I wasn't eager to have this conversation again, especially surrounded by guards who might report our every word back to someone else.
Amélie grinned, "Only because his family is keeping him too busy to have any personal time. I bet he is pining over you right now."
I didn't take the bait, "I hope the dining hall isn't busy. It is late, so perhaps we will have it to ourselves."
She only grinned back, not saying a word. We walked quietly like that for another minute before the scent of roasted meats hit my nose, and I happily followed it around the last corner to see a nearly empty dining hall. I grinned. I had to eat as prim and daintily as possible tomorrow with the Scaevola family, so I fully intended to make up for that. Just like Mirage said, I needed to find balance.