Aiela

Aiela did not sleep again that night. She lay awake, concerned about the course she and Venza were on. Oma had said Venza would be bound for great things but with the way things were, Aiela couldn’t see how that would happen.

Deciding she’d wallowed enough for one morning, she moved to leave her room but stopped when she remembered she had one last bit of business to tend to. She approached her window, where a pepper plant soaked in the dim light.

"Good morning," she spoke to the plant. It bore peppers that had no right to be the size they were, being nearly three times larger than normal. It was a wonder they managed to stay attached to the plant, but careful application of magic could fix almost anything.

With a thought, she sprinkled her new botany project with water before heading out. Water Magic was incredibly useful, she found. She was glad she managed to pick it up during her stay here.

___________________________________________________________________________________

At half an hour before seven, Aiela made her way to the kitchen. With a thought, she ordered some of her Hidden to pick up damp rags and give the hallways a bit of polishing. A clean home was a happy home and all that.

As always, the smell of food being prepared assaulted her nostrils like the sweetest temptation. She smelled bacon and eggs, just like her first morning here.

"Miss Aiela!" Milly greeted at her approach. "Good morning. Do you want a snack or-"

"Good morning, Milly," Aiela responded quickly. "No, I'll hold off until Venza comes down for breakfast. I'm just here for the usual."

"Of course. Thank you for your hard work, as always," Milly spoke with a hint of reverence.

In six years, her magic had assisted enough people around Verdeholm that she'd gotten quite popular with the townsfolk. She'd modified their crops to grow larger, better food. She'd nursed a few people on death's doorstep back to the living. Many times when the local healers deemed someone a lost cause, they came to her, instead, and she could find solutions they couldn't. The satisfaction of showing up Healer Jones was all the thanks she needed, but she never turned down promises of favors or the occasional stipend. They needed money for the ‘war effort,’ after all.

One of her next projects involved replacing the town's pulley-and-rope wells with something a bit more expedient, but it was a work in progress.

She could have settled for a simple pump and a few pipes, she supposed, but that required having to teach some of the townsfolk how it worked so they could maintain it when she wasn't around. She'd rather work on something else. Especially if it was something no one in neighboring regions could replicate.

Aiela pushed her musings out of mind and focused on her daily task. The kitchen housed several barrels of water pulled up from the well by the staff. She thought of a great, cleansing wave destroying bacteria, and then released her Purify spell.

A soft, green light enveloped the barrels for a few seconds, cleansing them of harmful substances. She willed her Hidden to provide her a cup, and then used the Manipulate Water spell to siphon water to the cup straight from the barrel.

Scan, she thought, and a heads-up display appeared before her eyes:

Substance: Water

Acidity: pH 7

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Turbidity: Clear

Potability: No Bacteria Detected

She nodded to herself, satisfied with her work.

"I'm done," she said, almost absentmindedly.

"Thank you again."

She nodded to the servants in the kitchen. She wasn't sure why they were so grateful. She drank that water. Obviously, she would want it clean.

Aiela turned an eye to the wall clock, noticing she still had fifteen minutes before seven. Venza would be in the middle of her workout, despite having been out late at night.

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Seventy-six," Venza counted aloud as she pushed her weight off the floor. "Seventy-seven. Seventy-eight."

"Seventy-two," Aiela said as she entered Venza's room. "Seventy-one, seventy-four."

Venza groaned, but didn't stop her push-ups. "Must you always try to make me lose count?"

"I'm doing you a favor," Aiela responded. "So you can do more."

Venza worked out in her room nearly every day before breakfast, only missing it when she had urgent business or her body was too sore for it. Honestly, Aiela had expected her to skip considering she’d spent the night brawling the town’s ‘Half-Troll.’

Still, Aiela made no complaint as she perched herself on her usual chair, finding her eyes glued to Venza's toned, powerful form. Venza's body was not overly bulky with muscle, but anyone paying close attention would see she was at the peak of fitness for her age. The most astute would even realize her strength was not entirely natural. She had the strength of the average grown man, at least, though she would still lose to the most athletic men in the realm. Or Russell. There was only so much Aiela could do without directly editing Venza’s genes, after all. "Almost done for the day, then?"

"Maybe," Venza answered between gasps for air. "Unless you're up for some sparring?"

Aiela considered. She supposed she could use a workout. "Before lunch, maybe."

"Sounds good," Venza said, panting. She counted herself up as she approached her goal of a hundred push-ups. With a final sigh, she hit her hundredth repetition and promptly collapsed on the floor.

"Good work," Aiela said. "Do you want me to-"

"No," Venza answered, pulling herself up to sit on the floor. "No Relief spell today, thank you. I can't rely on your magic to pick me up every time."

Aiela nodded. "Such a hard worker you are, my lady. I’m glad your face didn’t bruise."

“Thank you, really,” Venza said. “Sorry. I just really had to let off some steam.”

“You stress yourself too much,” Aiela remarked.

Venza shrugged. "Have to be ready. Bloody civil war in the south and all."

"Ah, yes," Aiela responded. "Some of the nobles in Serian broke off and formed their own principality a few months back."

"Yeah, they're calling themselves the Principality of Savaryn," Venza answered, repeating what she'd heard from Vosmer. "They don't share a border with Astamarr, but the strip of land between us is hotly contested so we've got to keep on our toes in case they want to expand their territory."

Aiela nodded. That strip of land was unsettled wild territory home to a number of monsters. It was close to where they’d met as children.

"They'd be fools to attack the Empire so brazenly," Aiela said, unconcerned. "They have a fraction of its population and military strength. They'd be annihilated."

"But if they do, we're the first line of defense," Venza said.

"You mean the Grey Guard are the first line of defense," Aiela reminded her. "You and I are not part of the military. Not even Astamarr's local defense force."

"I-" Venza stuttered, letting out a sigh. "You're right."

Aiela blinked. She hadn't expected that. Her jibes were usually met with a roll of the eyes or indignation. Right now, all she could see in Venza was reluctant acceptance. She swore internally. She should’ve realized with how rash Venza had acted last night.

That wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all. She needed to fix this, and quick.

"We've been doing good work," Aiela began. "They have to accept you eventually."

Venza perked up at that. "I suppose we have."

"We've helped patrol the roads before," Aiela reminded her. "Even put down our fair share of monsters."

"Without permission," Venza reminded her. "Without acknowledgment, either."

"Not true," Aiela said. "Vosmer acknowledges us. So does your grandfather. And most of the people of Verdeholm."

"I guess that's true," Venza conceded. "But they're not the ones who need convincing."

"Then we do more," Aiela said. She had no concrete idea what she was suggesting, but this was what humans did when they needed to perk others up, right? "I'll keep an ear to the ground for problems that need solving. You can try asking Vosmer for things that need doing, too."

Venza seemed unconvinced. Eyes that belonged to someone who'd spent nearly a decade trying to prove herself with little to show for it stared back at Aiela. "I suppose."

"Come now. We have work to do," Aiela told her. "Your father is away on the crown's business as usual and the Grey Guard are stretched pretty thin."

"Fine, fine. Not like I had anything better to do, anyway," Venza said, but her lips twitched into a small smile.

Aiela resisted the urge to sigh in relief. Venza needed the nudge. She didn't need to see Aiela worried about her.