A flowered carved carriage traveled full speed towards the east. If the horses' hooves clacking on the stony road weren’t enough to warn people in their way, the golden inlaid carvings shining a reflection of the bright sun would. Inside, Asha leaned against an open latch observing the landscape changing. She would much rather put her attention outside than listing to her mother’s mumblings.

She had traveled through this road many times, but it was the first time she realized how well-maintained the path was. Involuntarily, scorn came to her lips but she quickly suppressed it before attracting the attention of her mother. It wasn’t an uncommon decision to invest in the maintenance of a road that led to the Capital but Asha would prefer to repair the dirty path to the bookstore and the forest. That’s where the town’s future was, in her opinion.

Ailen had been especially concerned about her daughter’s behavior. Although she was usually unruly, the girl had never refused to accompany her on a trip, nor would she usually ignore her mother like this. When she learned of Asha’s visits to the bookstore, Ailen thought that her daughter might finally accept her path but it seems the girl had grown further rebellious. Still, the mature elf wouldn’t impose on the storeowner to get information. Sooner or later, Asha would pour her complaints and worries to her mother, as she always did.

This time the ‘invitation’ had come a little hastily, so she had dragged Asha without notice, and maybe that was why the girl was angry. But what could she do? The family blood ran stronger in her daughter, so those people would always demand her presence. And Ailen wouldn’t put past them coming to her doorstep if they failed to respond to the summon. She could only hope the girl would come to her sense and start behaving properly before they entered the Seat.

Time flew by and a week passed. They had traveled day and night except for stopping the night in the Province Capital for the drivers to rest. Asha was practically silent the entire trip, observing the withered lands give place to lushfull mountains then the bountiful Seat. Contrary to what her mother would expect in case she followed a different path, her gift had become stronger.

Actually, the elf finally felt comfortable enough to let her anthomancy flow through the land. Asha wasn’t just ignoring her mother, she was ‘feeling’ the land and learning to let go of her individual shell to be part of a bigger something. Because of the Wall falling, Mountainend had become too treeless for her power to truly manifest, and when she came to the Seat in the past she was too focused on hiding her gift from those leeches to feel anything. But now she was free and would never be restrained again, neither by others nor fear.

The green mountains closer to the town had given her a sense of sturdiness and tightness as if the trees there grasped strongly at the soil to resist the wind and erosion. Now, the plains near the Seat would give her the sense of vast and friendly freshness but with some urgency to it. She guessed the latter would be a result of the pressure of care from the farmers to their crops. Trees and plants here wouldn’t need to struggle for survival but their existence would be short.

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When the giant stone boulders that formed the walls of the Seat appeared she reluctantly retrieve her ‘gaze’ from the greenery. From now on, they had entered the domain of the Clows and she knew well to keep the depth of her power hidden.

The carriage stopped for a few minutes before being allowed privileged passage into the Seat. For anyone who had passed any of the province capitals, the Seat would be a shocking experience. One would expect the largest city in the nation to be more… dirty. The lack of slums, beggars, and the usual public hygiene problems was disturbingly strange. Of course, nobody would miss those things.

The Clows wouldn’t allow others to run amok in their home or anything that wasn’t pleasing to their eyes for that matter. And nobody on their sane mind would challenge that family, clan, or whatever they were. They might as well call the city Clows Seat instead of Emperor Seat, after all, the Emperor was and would always be a Clow.

The flowered carriage traveled deeper into the city passing by through neatly arranged districts, everything built in a similar size and architecture to please the sight of the strict rulers. They passed by quite a few knights and carriages with the carved ‘W’, the symbol of the Clows. Soon, the enormous Clow Castle came into view separated from the city by a huge lake.

Asha held her breath as they entered the bridge. The symbols of neuromancy drawn conspicuously all over the castle walls made dread grow in her heart as they got close. The Clows made sure to leave them visible to mark their domain and power as if saying that anyone who entered would be at their mercy. Whether the oppression was an effect of the craft or an illusion created by fear didn’t matter.

The carriage stopped and a servant helped them out of it. The mother and daughter pair were treated with respect but without a single indication that they held any power here. Then, they were escorted to two rooms on the second level where they would clean themselves and prepare for the meeting.

Asha took her time in a warm bath, she wasn’t ready to play royal etiquette with two groups that she held no love or care for, but she still minded the time, offending them would only attract unwanted attention. Fortunately, she didn’t need to concern herself with the proper dress code since her mother would be all over it. And as she predicted, a silver dress with blue lace and some fine elven adornments waited for her in the hands of a servant.

When she saw the golden flower ear clip and the sapphire necklace she almost chuckled. ‘So much for subtlety’, she thought, her mother was trying to pass messages to the elven court through their wearing again. Well, if the Clows didn’t punish them for it before they wouldn’t start now, would they?

After dressing up, Asha met an elegant Ailen dressed in light blue and with similar wearings outside and they followed the servants to the meeting hall on the castle's fourth floor. They exchanged a few glances and nods but refrained from talking, in such a dangerous place every word had to be carefully measured. They stopped by the beautifully carved arch and waited to be announced.

“The Countess Ailen Treefehl and Lady Asha Treefehl.”