Warm summer winds rustle Queen Illa's red curls from her terrace. Her lunch contained various finger foods and fruits beautifully arranged on a silver plate. It was a beautiful day today and she wasn’t going to waste it inside on her royal duties. The Midsummer Ball was 2 days ago and she still felt exhausted.

Her terrace overlooked the city from the hill, and each breeze that passed by her calmed her more and more. Here, in her favorite spot, she could just watch the city bustle about and think for once.

However her peaceful alone time was oh so rudely interrupted by Eris. “Your Majesty,” she greeted with a small nod of her head.

Illa groaned. Great. She’s come with some work to do, surely. “Good afternoon, Eris.” Illa popped a grape in her mouth. “Isn’t the weather lovely today?”

Eris sat down in the chair next to her. “The temperature is perfect for outdoor gazing.” Even though no one is supposed to know the Queen’s element, Eris had known her longer than she was Queen. An older friend when she was young. Her best friend in their later years after all that time spent together. Eris grabbed some of the food on the table. “Your Midsummer Ball was quite the success the other night. Many folks talked about you and Peacekeeper Yarro all night.”

“Yes, I heard. Some don’t believe me though, not that I care. What’s important is that they don’t raise the alarm bells and abandon my ship.”

“Oh, I think you succeeded in that regard rather easily. Nobody suspects anything about the Deities’ quest.”

“I can count on their support for our meddling with Lacruss, at least. If we are to adapt to a decline in elementalists, then we should look to the north for guidance."

Eris scoffed. “Those Lacrussian machines required too much metal. We’ll have to import, and the economy is fragile enough as it is. One wrong move and it'll come crashing down.”

“It's not that bad. But that’s why we need to invade Obraria, so we can take what we need. Those barbarians are just sitting on tons of resources and aren’t using any of them.”

“We don’t have the current resources needed for an invasion, either. The Turtle Tanks that Keford are making aren’t suited for the forests.”

Illa pouted. “You’re always against all my ideas.”

“Illa, I’ve known you long enough to know that you don’t think those sorts of things through. It’s my job to stop those rash decisions. Just ask Quince, I’m sure they’ll agree with me as well.” Eris ate more of her food. It was only harmless banter, so why did she insist on teasing Illa?

Of course she wasn’t serious about invading Obraria. She had enough to deal with in Listhua already, she didn’t need to add a whole other country to the mix. The turtles were an idea from her husband, to help aid the military in the event of a surprise attack.

“You don’t need to bring Quince into the conversation…”

“Ah, and speaking of our lack of army troops, we may need to deploy 2 or 3 soldiers sent to the Southern District.” Eris frowned, evidently displeased at that district for whatever reason.

“Hmm? What’s wrong with the district?”

“Oh, it’s just a petty little riot. The Guard Captain came to me yesterday saying her guards were ineffective at controlling them and she needed the help of a few soldiers.”

So that’s why she came over here. The non-elementalists were the future, if the trend continued to decline. If she didn’t lay the groundwork now, while they were unhappy, and set a precedent, she would quickly lose control. The easiest, and quickest way is through force. Illa nodded to herself. “Very well. If you think they can contain the situation, then send them off. Have them make an example of those protestors.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Eris bowed her head. They continued to chat for the rest of her lunch about various mundane affairs. Her mind was off with the wind though, and gave mostly non-committal answers until Eris left.

Silently though, Illa found the idea interesting. Protests? Riots in the Southern District? She didn’t know they were capable of such things. It couldn't have gotten too far damaged either way. They don’t have any elements to use to destroy the place.

If she could just sneak out of the castle, she could see for herself what they wanted, instead of relying on people closed on the idea of non-elementalists as people. She trusted Eris and the Guard Captain, but they have a more traditional view of non-elementalists, and as far as she knew, both of their children had elements as well.

Ever since word let out that her children didn't have elements, she began to see the looks of the people in the castle. Her Lord Council. The servants. Even her own husband. It was still ingrained in her mind to this day. They all looked at her twins with disgust and disdain.

No one ever said anything to her face but she was sure they sneered behind her back. Made comments. Spread vile rumors about why her children didn’t have any elements. Rumors that targeted her and her children. To this day there's still a rumor about her nasty temper because she dared to blow up at the moron who called her children invalid. It was the reason an assassin came to her almost a decade ago. They called her unfit for Queendom for a Queen who can’t bear any children with an element.

Her children never said anything though. They never complained, or looked at her with anger. She missed them so much. They would have been right in the middle of those protests. It didn’t matter what they were protesting, just that they were. Illa was determined to find out for herself what the non-elementalists want. If she could give it to them, she would. But first, she needed to stop the destruction of her city.

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Later that day, it was almost time for the soldiers to be deployed. Guards were positioned outside her office to protect her, but she also knew they were there to stop her from sneaking out. But they never followed her to her room. Illa straightened out her outfit and opened the door. They turned to bow deeply before her, as practiced. “I will be retiring to my room. There is no need to accompany me.”

One of them looked concerned. “Are you feeling alright, Your Majesty? It’s still quite early.” It was still a few hours from sunset. The concern was understandable. But any more than that and it will start to foil her plan.

Illa waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine, no need to worry.” She began to walk off to her room and the guards bowed once more. She did, technically, need to visit her room, if only to change into her commoner disguise. It was the same one she wore the last time she went out with her husband and Quince.

She hoped Quince was doing well in Obraria. Last she heard from them, there was still no signs of the company or the spies sent to find Seila, nor was there any word of the child herself. Something wasn't right, but she was confident they would figure it out and bring home Seila.

After dressing in secret, She jumped out of the castle window, used her element to soften her fall, and took a hardly used path outside the castle grounds. Luckily, no one recognized her as she left. They for sure would have stopped her and scolded her. Many were used to her escapes since she was a child and felt comfortable with doing so, and they knew if she truly did need to go incognito into the city she would merely use her authority as Queen to stop them from stopping her. It was merely in her nature, a side effect of the element. So they couldn’t fault her too much for not wanting to stay inside a stuffy castle.

Outside the castle was a breath of fresh air, though. Despite how crowded it was, it was much livelier and open than she was used to. A simple breeze here could detangle a thousand joints in her body. She loved the bustling city more than anything. It was the work of her, her mother, her grandmother, and all her matriarchal ancestors before her. A great city, forged from centuries of growth, conflict, and progress. Illa saw all of this in the buildings and the people in it as she made her way southwest.

To avoid having to go through the checkpoints the Southern District had set up, she decided to go over a broken-down wall. This was one of the few times she could use her element freely and without worry. With her power over wind, she used her element to lift her feet to climb the wall, and used it again on her descent to her jump down. However when she turned around her heart broke.

The state of the district was a disaster. Even ignoring the part with trash all over the place, the amount of near-collapsed and abandoned buildings were unnatural. What happened to the culture she was just seeing? Why did no one tell her the state of this district? She only heard of the riots, not the absolute disaster of their living conditions. Illa walked through the district in distress over the entire thing until she heard screaming and chanting.

Following the noise to the entrance, Illa was greeted with a mob of people. It wasn’t a "small riot" like Eris said. There was no way a few soldiers would be able to handle this or even stop it. She had half a mind to stop them from coming in at all. Illa tried to push her way forward through mounds of sweaty bodies in a thick crowd. The noise was almost overwhelming in the thick of it. A bit claustrophobic, even. Her gut was telling her to escape or get out of there—partly because of the perceived possible danger, and partly because of her element. Illa shook her head to force those thoughts out of her and forged on.

In front and on a stage of some sort, she would see the 3 army soldiers that Eris had sent. They looked a mix of nervous and afraid. She couldn’t blame them, she would be feeling the same way if she had to stand in front of this crowd. All around her, people were pushing and shoving. Shouting at the top of their lungs with their pleas. People in the buildings overlooking this road were crowded in their balconies and windows. There were children watching.

And she said to make an example of them. This was about to get ugly.

One of the army soldiers stepped up. “By order of Her Majesty, Queen Illa, this protest from henceforth of this moment is to disperse and cease all destruction of property. Any such disobedience will be met with swift action and shall be punished to the full extent of the law, up to and including death.”

These soldiers were met with, quite predictably, a roar of boos. The hair on the back of her neck rose in fear. Illa wanted to escape the crowd before something happened. Who knows what was planned. She tried to push and shove her way to at least the edges of the crowd. This mass of people were all huddling together and shoving each other further in as more people arrived. She never made it to the sides since there was no free space there in the first place.

“Ow!”

Illa turned around. One of the soldiers clutched her head. Something must have been thrown, but she couldn’t tell what. A hand came away bloodied. “Grab them!” A shout came from the middle soldier. She and the third one used the earth to grab hold of a suspect. Whether the accused was actually the one who threw the item remains to be seen. When they did bring her up, more things were thrown at the soldiers. Food, toys. She even saw nails. The soldier who was initially hit used a wall of water to block the incoming projectiles.

The accused woman was forced to kneel on the stage in front of everyone, and held in place with a soldier’s earth. The first soldier formed a point with the earth and speared the accused through the face. Her body fell limp on the stage as it was released from the earthen hold. Everything was silent for half a moment before all chaos broke loose. Pushing and shoving, screaming and shouting, and yelling over each other. Illa was unintentionally elbowed and slapped and scrapped. She couldn’t go where she wanted and her feet dragged her against her will towards the stage as the crowd moved up and clamored to get on the stage. At times like this, it was more a death wish to go against the grain.

Illa watched in horror as the crowd turned into a mob and tackled the soldiers. Her back was thrown against the edge of the stage and she almost crumbled in the pain. She couldn’t go forward anymore but people still shoved her. Some were even trying to climb on top of her! What can she do, what can she do? At this rate, she was going to get trampled.

Illa took a sharp inhale and forced herself to the side. Any side, really. She had to get out of the mob. She forced her way through, secretly using her element to help move people to the side. If they saw she was an elementalist, no doubt they would turn on her too. Behind her, she heard screams. A different type than the angry mob. The kind someone let out when they were in pain. Or being murdered. Illa didn’t dare look back. This mob was too far gone.

Finally, eventually, Illa made it to the edge. She stumbled out of the mob, breathing hard as she tried to catch her breath from the extraneous activity of escape of a deathly mob. She looked around to see windows now shut, and fewer people remained from the buildings that were watching before. Very few children remained, but Illa couldn’t see any parents near them to pull them away. Orphans probably.

Once Eris gets word that her soldiers were murdered she would bring down the full might of the army onto the district. She would have no choice but to go along with it. A civilian murdering an army soldier was not only illegal but a grave offense. But here, it was an entire district. They were all seen as complicit in the law, and especially to Eris. Her authority as Queen meant nothing now to the punishment they were going to receive.

She shut her eyes to the mob behind her, and ran all the way back to the wall where she first entered. She could still hear the shouts of the district. Sleep tonight will be difficult.